Chapter Text
She was two again. Or that's what she started to notice around two years old. Her dad had long blood red hair, and would stare at a deja vu inducing headband at night. The language everyone spoke was familiar and made her want to trace symbols on the ground with her fingers, symbols that meant something, that were words. Ones she'd been taught here, again. It always felt like she’d done them before and caught up quickly with all of them. There was also the strange calligraphy her Tou-chan always did, ones with complex lines and energy she felt she should know of.
Mom taught her how to make fabrics. How to sew them, feel them, stitch, tell how they're good. And praised her for being a genius. She taught her how to throw them in beautiful arcs, and she wondered why she had to learn and why it felt like she should know the answer.
She was two and a half when things were finally starting to make sense.
Chakra. There was chakra all around. She knew she'd felt it before. In another lifetime. A long one. She'd been Sakura. Haruno Sakura. Rina was the proof of that. But she was asleep, like always. She'd have to wait for her, get strong in the meantime.
This was a world you needed strength in. Otherwise nothing changed.
Her dad’s name was Yoshio. Uzumaki Yoshio. Seals. Fuinjutsu. She craved to know more about it. To become a Master this time. Medical ninjutsu and the sealing applied to that were a piece of cake to dig from her mind but the other million possibilities… she would have given almost anything to have known about those in her other lives. They would have been so useful . Even if they hadn't worked. She was resolved to become a Master this time. So she asked for lessons, was given lessons and got praised for getting them quickly. She was called a prodigy by her parents. The child herself knew she wasn't but kind of was. And she had heard it before. From her many previous families.
Didn't mean her emotions weren't that of a child. She was happy getting praised. Ridiculously so. Which was why she worked around her short attention span and made better and more complex seals by the time she was three. Her fabric work got better too, to her mom's, Tsukiko’s, delight.
Their little family lived at the outskirts of a farm village. She found out when she went there for the first time with her mother to sell the clothes and fabrics Tsukiko had made 'with Ayume-chan’s help’ as she proclaimed to everyone around her, proud of her daughter's accomplishments. Not that she wasn't happy to be praised.
Her dad worked too.
“Kaa-chan, where Tou-chan?”, Ayu had asked one day when she wanted help with a seal she couldn't figure out and needed more ideas.
“Your Tou-san is working with the villagers on the fields. He’ll be back by evening, Ayu-chan”, her mom told her, “How about you and me gather some herbs to go with dinner? Hm?”
And Ayume laughed as her mother tickled her before agreeing. Her life was easy then, much easier than the life before that one. But in this world she knew it wouldn't last that long, not if Naruto wasn't Hokage yet.
If he was even born yet. Hopefully he was already an adult. She would want his lonely childhood to be but a memory if he was here somewhere, that brother of hers. Or not born yet so she could save his parents.
Ayu learned to use chakra again when she was something over three. She learned her Tou-san had wanted to wait until she was five but she progressed so fast he could teach her then. She got it right almost on third try. But… it felt much different than before. Much harder to control precisely. Like it was… bigger, more potent.
No wonder Naruto had trouble with control.
Uzumaki chakra was almost wild. It was as annoyingly hard to control as her butterfingers. It was amazing she could sit still with all this energy inside her. At least now she knew why it was her body seemed to be in motion all the time. Her thoughts too were almost jumping all over the place when she didn’t want them to. Perhaps that was why it was so unusually easy to grasp the complexity of reality breaking seals.
“Ne, ne, Tou-san? Tell me 'bout Uzushio!”, she pleaded like she always did since finding out where he was from.
As always, Yoshio would laugh and show her his old forehead protector with the spiral announcing the Whirlpool Country shinobi. Then he would tell her of white beaches and red sunsets over the ocean, the sky painted in the color of the clan’s hair and buildings bathing in orange light. He told of missions on the borders, of seals written in the groundings of the village that were built upon generation to generation. Libraries full of scrolls and knowledge that had gone up in flames as Uzushio was brought to ruin.
How he had escaped the burning village of his childhood, his life, with the orders of the Uzukage. How the teleportation seal was the last he saw of the village he loved. Of how his last mission consisted of continuing Uzushio’s legacy and how she was the best daughter he could hope for. He told her she was the one who he would teach the Whirlpool Village’s techniques and secrets. Who would inherit the scrolls he was ordered to keep safe just for that purpose. Teaching his children the art of Uzushio’s sealing.
Ayume wanted to be what her Tou-san told her she was, what she could be. It fit with her plans to be seal master quite nicely. And she wanted to make him proud.
Tsukiko Kaa-chan taught her the arts of manipulating fabrics with chakra. The woman could make them tough as armor, weave them together, stiffen them, make them light or heavy by infusing them with her chakra. And she taught Ayu all of it. It was a bloodline, one which had chakra that could easily slip into structures and coach them into thinking it’s a part of its molecules, convincing the material it can do what she wanted it to do. Other shinobi could learn it… though it would be much harder to do so for them. Her Fukunui clan had been the ones who worked fighting with fabrics into an art form.
There had been three main sister clans with her bloodline, or so Kaa-chan told her when she asked. The Megami of Paper, the Kinzu of Metal and the Fukunui of Cloth. Now only some were left, scattered into the winds. The three had been put down during the Second Shinobi War.
That was also how she found out the Third Shinobi War was ongoing.
What she hadn’t known, was that their little farm village was a crucial place of supplies for the Land of Fire. And when she found out it was too late to do anything. The Iwa ninja attacked at night some months after she turned four. She also hadn’t known that Yoshio and Tsukiko were living there as a service to the villagers. It was that evening her Tou-san saw them coming and put up the countermeasures. A barrier strong enough to ward at least three SS-rank jutsu at the same time.
It wasn’t enough.
The village was destroyed, or so she heard later when she was handed her parents’ body scrolls. She had gotten away via the teleportation circle her father activated with what was probably the last of his chakra after activating a seal he had probably put on her when she was a baby.
Ayume was thrown through time and space with the last glimpse of the village burning just like Uzushio.
xXXx
Pitch black.
That’s what she saw through her tears as she sobbed quietly. Her Tou-chan’s seal had taken her to somewhere entirely dark. It was a stark contrast against the flames their house had been surrounded in and she clutched the bag that had been put in her arms just before the seal was activated.
‘It will take you away from here. To Konoha, Little Dreamer. Konoha is safe’ , he told her, blood pouring from his mouth as she shouted in protest.
But she was lying somewhere cold and dark and everywhere hurt and nowhere looked safe and she was panicking! Four-year-olds weren’t supposed to go through this, no matter their mental age. She knew from experience it was hard to forget traumas of childhood. It didn’t matter how many times she went through them they were always awful and scary and oh please no! Not again, not now ! Where was Kaa-chan? Tou-san?
Someone help me…!
She wanted to go home !
A hiccup left her mouth as she sobbed again, the sound echoing in the silence.
“H- Hey”, a young, raspy and weak voice called out with barely a whisper.
She abruptly stopped making any noise, staying stock still and eyes wide with fear. That didn’t stop her harsh breathing but she tried to calm it. Someone was with her in this… cave. It must be a cave. They might be the enemy. Someone wishing her harm.
She didn’t dare make a sound.
“You- “, there was a wet and weak cough, “o- urgh … !! -kay…?”, the voice faded away a little.
Ayu’s tears stopped for a moment to hear better. Whoever it was… was hurt. Badly . Wet coughing usually meant death was close… in the ‘normal’ world, but this wasn’t exactly normal. Scrambling to sit up through the pain, she hit her head to the cave’s ceiling in the process, she thought back on every medical technique she once knew for this before noting her chakra control was very not suited to those. She still crawled towards the voice because there had to be something she could do…!
Her hand hit something warm as she reached out to drag herself further in the small, small cave. She pushed her shaky hand against it to feel an arm. It was the hurt person. Someone who would put others before himself even though he was dying .
Ugh! She needed light !
Sneaking chakra into her palm until it emitted a soft and weak glow she tried to see the damage, at the same time folding her legs under herself as she unconsciously noted there was room to sit. Her breath hitched. The young boy, maybe thirteen, had half of his body crushed under a rock. His eye was closed, unseeing and probably empty. She didn’t want to check. He shouldn’t be alive anymore!
“Wh… o?”, he asked weakly, one lung definitely gone.
Ayume shook her head sharply and tried to figure out ways to move the giant rock in the way. There were ways, she knew. Ninjutsu would be best. Earth, maybe. She hadn’t learned that here but Sakura had in another lifetime a long time ago.
What were the handseals!?
She tried to remember, hands moving even before she completed the thought process.
“Doton: Earth-Style Wall!”, her young voice called out into the small, small space that somehow still echoed, her chakra surging and moving into a wall under the giant rock.
The whole place shook . That might not have been the best idea if the cave collapsed on them, but she couldn’t stop what she started now. She only raised the wall a little, enough to give her access to the boy’s other side that… she made her chakra glow in her hands again and felt sick. It was totally and utterly crushed . Flattened like a pancake. Her mind raced through medical techniques from different worlds and in fuinjutsu.
Fuinjutsu took too much time.
Nothing else would work here, except… the only thing she learnt she had here.
She forced him to bite her forearm.
“Eat my chakra!”, she commanded.
Not in a state to protest he weakly sucked the potent chakra and she could feel his surprise when it made his breathing, being, everything easier. She, though, felt her chakra drain and she staggered. The earth wall had taken maybe a sixth of her big-for-a-child (big for an Uzumaki child) reserves. Giving others Uzumaki chakra for healing took much more. She had stopped the glow and could only guess at how much he was healed but she knew it was not enough . Biting her lip she took her arm away, reserves only maybe an eighth of what she had had. Barely. But he wasn’t in a danger of dying just yet now.
“What…?”, his voice too was stronger, if only a little.
“No speak”, she snapped, slipping into toddler talk under pressure as her small hands felt for his other side, trying to understand what needed fixing. She growled with her childish voice at not seeing a thing, “Light, pwease?”
He complied, lifting his good arm and infusing it with his chakra. It was stronger than her meager glows had managed to be and good for this situation. She nodded in thanks, mind flashing through medical fuinjutsu before settling on one that could fix his hand and leg to a semblance of a working order, crutch for life though, and another that could make his internal organs stop bleeding . Hmm, the organ thing might be better done first. She didn’t know if she had enough chakra for even that.
Wait, what was she thinking!? Her patient had almost full reserves that were bigger than hers from the start!
The medical seals were just about to get bigger and better . And she could probably still draw on natural chakra…? She bit her thumb to draw blood and opened his jacket before starting on his stomach, biting out a quick order of 'no move’. She did quick and precise strokes, or as precise as her toddler hands could. The seal was done in an hour, maybe two or three, or even eight. It was hard to track time. She eyed her work critically before looking to the boy’s face, opening her mouth to tell him-
Her heart skipped a beat. He had a sharingan.
For a second she saw Sasuke, her other brother she never forgot.
But that made her think about the thing she had been avoiding unconsciously.
This boy was Obito Uchiha.
She shoved that thought and all its implications away faster than she could blink and focused on healing the twelve or thirteen-year-old boy . She could do this.
“Seal s’posed ta heal you. Use you chakra”, she told him seriously with a determined look in her eyes.
She would still need to focus his input and channel it a little with her own chakra, but it would last for this. It had to. The boy swallowed before doing as told and pushing his chakra into the seal. It started glowing and Ayu put her hands over it, manipulating the seal to fix his internal organs first and then into stitching together nerves and joints and fingers before moving to the leg and muscles. Her own reserves were starting to dwindle and she split her attention to drawing and purifying natural chakra to power and direct the seal.
Really, this seal had been a stroke of genius after comparing notes from Orochimaru’s experiments and medical seals. Tsunade had been an amazing help. As well as Jiraiya with the Sage techniques. And her sweet darling brother, Naruto, the little fuinjutsu master. On a path she had set him on.
She missed them all.
Obito would be left without bigger scars, which was no small miracle for this whole thing. There would forever be white lines on his skin, though. And his mobility on the right side wouldn’t be at it’s best unless she could get her hands on someone with beyond phenomenal chakra control to rework his chakra network and nerves. Tsunade would do. As would the old Sakura Haruno she had once been.
Ayume couldn’t do more.
She breathed a sigh of relief when the seal disappeared, its purpose done. Then she swayed as she realized her chakra reserves were alarmingly low.
Took… more than I thought , she mused as gravity took hold of her small body.
She fell gracelessly beside him, dazed and exhausted but feeling accomplished. She would black out soon enough, that she knew. Healing someone was certainly a good way to distract oneself from grief and loss.
“Oi!”, oh, his voice was back, if a bit raspy, “What's wrong?”, and he was alarmed.
She struggled to stay awake to answer. Her dark blue eyes were glazed as she searched for his face in the dim light his chakra provided.
“Rest… you bo… dy”, she whispered as her eyes closed, strength slipping away, “Lemme… sleep”
I wonder how long the oxygen will last in here…
And she was swallowed up by darkness, her last thought fading quickly.
xXXx
Obito’s mind could barely focus when he heard muffled crying in what he supposed was his grave. He wanted to comfort the child that was too young to be here… here… where? There was crying. A child was crying and he… wanted to help… hard to focus. The child. He couldn't hear his voice but his lips moved slightly, breath passing painfully through his chest. He didn't hear anything and everything was… fuzzy. Had he heard something just now? He couldn't remember…
A touch on his arm. A feeling. He felt someone touch his arm. His lips moved again, forming the word who.
There was no reply but… someone used a jutsu. He felt nothing but shaking. The ground was shaking. Or was it him? No it was the ground. Something was shaking. Didn't he think that already? He didn't know. His thoughts were shaky.
Light? There was a faint light. Someone gasped. Something in his mouth. He wanted to spit it out. But he couldn't muster the energy to.
“Eat my chakra!”, a childish voice ordered.
A child? What was a child doing here? He sucked the chakra anyway, following the order instinctively.
Wait what.
He felt… better. Easier. Like energy flowing through him, fixing him and the more he got the easier it was to breathe . He took the chakra in and in and it was taken away far too soon. He wanted to reach for it but he was so weak and tired and now he could feel a full ache on his right side. This was impossible.
“What…?”, he asked weakly, not knowing how to end the question but noting his mind was clearer.
He was ordered not to speak in the same childish manner before getting asked for light. Lifting his hand and shining the collapsed cave with his chakra he finally saw who was healing him.
It was a child. A toddler. What. He would've been more surprised but now he was just too tired to bother.
She was doing something on his stomach. He didn't mind and wouldn't have been able to do anything if he did. Her hair looked black. It was black and wavy and stopped on her shoulders. But the light was small and probably altered the color somewhat. It could also be a dark brown. Or dark whatever. He didn't really care right now because what was she doing here!? And she could do sealing! How? Why? It didn't make sense!
Obito didn't know how long he stared at her working on his stomach but it felt like forever. He waited patiently as he felt his chakra draining a teeny tiny bit for keeping the light. Then she was ready. And turned to him, eyes sharp. They widened in surprise upon seeing his eye but she shoved it down and told him he basically just had to activate the seal. Fine by him. Pushing his chakra to it he could feel himself get put together. And how much chakra the seal took. The little girl kept her hands above it and probably controlled it too. Then, bit by bit, he felt his nerves and feeling return. There was no pain, surprisingly. Only the decrease of it. His arm got fixed, his leg, places he didn't even know . And then it ended. The seal didn't take any more of his chakra. His reserves were shot . Like he had a teacup’s worth of it left. Probably less.
The girl swayed and fell bonelessly next to him.
He cried out in alarm but couldn't bring his just healed body to move. He worried because if his reserves were almost empty he couldn’t think what it’d be like for a toddler . Her reply made him only slightly less worried.
Plus, now that he was thinking clearly, they wouldn't last here for long. Oxygen would be precious.
So he had to get them out. But… he had no chakra for any jutsu. They had just enough space for a toddler to sit and him to lie down or get propped up on his elbows. Besides the cave could collapse with the use of force and even if they got out, Iwa-nin might be there when he was in no condition to fight. Scratch that, there was no way he could fight with an unconscious toddler anyway.
Huh. Looking pretty bad. Though it could be worse.
He flexed the fingers of his right hand and marveled at how the child had fixed it when he was sure his entire right side had been like potato mush. She was a miracle . He didn't get how a kid like her had gotten into this mess but he would find a way to get her out.
That's a promise!
But… he was so… tired …
xXXx
When Ayume woke up it was still pitch black. But it was warm. Someone had wrapped themselves around her and… was snoring slightly. She giggled quietly, remembering she had healed Obito last night.
Last night…
Her smile faded, replaced by a gripping loneliness and sorrow. Her parents weren't there. They might not be anywhere . Dead bodies left behind by Iwa-nin. She felt her eyes sting with tears as they fell and her body shook slightly. A sniffle escaped her and her body looked for comfort, burying her face into the boy’s jacket and fisting her hands into it.
That seemed to rouse him as the slight snoring stopped and he started rubbing her slim back with the previously hurt hand.
He patiently waited for her to stop crying before talking.
“What's wrong?”, he whispered for the second time, only this time she could answer.
Should she? She wanted to. Did she need another reason?
“I- “, her throat clogged up so she settled on, “I’m all alone”
It came out strangled. Like a fact she desperately wanted to be wrong. The soothing circles didn't stop.
“Shh… I’m here. It’ll be okay…”, Obito soothed.
She huffed out a breathless laugh, “I know… But Kaa-chan and Tou-san ain't okay”, she whispered, mannerisms unusually grown up for a child, “No family no more…”
The hand stiffened in surprise and sadness. Obito was very empathic. She wanted him to stay this way. It was thousand times better than the villain version she'd fought as Sakura. But now she could only focus on the loss she had been through. She needed a distraction. Her companion was happy to offer one.
“Ne… What's your name?”, the boy asked after a while.
She wondered, what name to use. She had two to choose from. Fukunui or Uzumaki. Her parents hadn't specified. But…
“I’m Uzumaki Ayume”, she introduced herself with a solemn and sad air, “Who’re you, nii-san?”
He had frozen once more, remembering a certain redhead before snapping out of it, “Uchiha Obito, Ayume-chan. How… old are you?”, he asked, trying to act naturally and not be too interested.
“Four”, Ayu said into his chest.
His already stiff arms tightened slightly, protective. She could feel determination running through him in waves.
“Don't worry. I’m gonna get us out of here”
She believed him.
Wait, they were still in the cave? Why didn't Zetsu come and get him or them?
And her bag was still in that tunnel.
Squirming for freedom she was given easily she started crawling where she thought she'd been teleported. The bag would be there. It had to be there. And it was. She sighed in relief and pulled it against herself. Then she registered a slight breeze. And how they hadn't died from lack of oxygen.
“Obito-nii!”, she called quietly, “There's a tunnel!”
There was a sound of fabric as someone shifted around, “Eh? Really?”
“Un!”, she confirmed non-verbally.
As it turns out he didn't fit inside the path she had found so they had to get… creative. As in Obito used his over half filled chakra reserves to use the Hidden Mole technique and dig through, Ayu on his back and clinging like a monkey. If their chakra reserves were that full they must have been It felt odd to know the kind boy making sure she wasn’t hurt could become the villain of the story. Though she never really thought of stories as stories anymore. Not when she could live them through in her the next life.
Obito could be stealthy, it seemed.
He was fast, rushing through trees and making sure no leave was rustled or strands of hair left behind. No footprints either. They made no noise as they passed. It was basic but pretty good. He had yet to learn how to block his scent and warmth though. And his chakra could still be sensed by experienced sensors, like herself. Not that Ayu had had reason to try concealment this time. It would be… interesting to see how Uzumaki-slash-Fukunui chakra worked with those ANBU techniques.
Speaking of, she should try something now. Her chakra reserves were almost full after chakra exhaustion induced sleep (neither knew how much time had passed) and would probably be a beacon to any sensor around her.
...Obito hadn't even asked if she could or not.
Huffing out of her nose she considered her chakra and started tugging it inside herself, into a tight ball in her chest. She should make it fast to make it feel like someone died there. It wasn't uncommon in war.
Huh? It's easier than I thought…
Sakura had had what could be called perfect chakra control even as a kid. It seemed she had a little of that left if she could get her chakra curl into a ball that small. Obito’s shoulders stiffened under her hold before relaxing. Good. He noticed what she did. And didn't think she just… disappeared.
They traveled for what felt hours like that.
It was awful. Because hours to travel meant hours to think and she knew she had lost her parents before… many times… but it just- the loving parents that cared she- it seemed she'd never get over them in just one lifetime. She went through the 'what if’ phase on that journey, coming to terms with the fact her parents weren't alive. But there still was that one spark of hope, the spark that said she didn't believe until she saw. It was a slim, slim chance.
She was used to the fact that hope usually died last.
Obito stopped. He leaned against a tree with harsh breaths. It had been maybe three hours of slower than normal travel phase. He was clearly still healing. Getting your right side crushed was no little thing and recovery took time . Even with maybe the world's best medic by your side. His right side might never be up to full strength after this, though.
“Obito-nii?”, she asked quietly.
She could feel him shaking with exertion and tiredness.
“Ha, hahahaha! I’m fine! Can still- continue…”, he laughed and straightened before falling against the tree again, making Ayu make a startled sound as she slipped a little.
The little girl leaned over the boy's shoulder to see his face was sweaty and his both eyes were closed. It had taken him a little to tree jump with one eye but he managed. And they’d made it pretty far away from the border. Ayume made a decision.
“We’re makin’ camp!”, she declared, jumping down next to him a bit unsteadily. She wasn't used to it in this body, not at all. She would have to learn tree and water walking soon… Chakra manipulation came pretty easy, chakra control though…
It was like trying to draw an amazingly detailed drawing with a two-year-old’s motor skills and attention span. She also had playfully wild chakra. It was like a limb that didn’t know how to stay still.
Obito was too tired to make anything but small protests. Ayu eyed the ground and looked for a good place to sleep before nimbly flinging herself to the lower branches and falling down. Unfortunately her landing went a bit wrong and her left ankle rolled painfully. She winced. Luckily it wasn't broken or really injured. Just… ouch.
She walked to the place she saw with a barely noticeable limp and started thinking strategies to surviving wild animals and enemy ninjas. She hefted the big and pretty heavy bag her Tou-san had given her and sat down on the grass to explore its contents. What she found made her sweatdrop. It was fireproof inside out. And full of scrolls. There were maybe seven hidden pockets and the scrolls held more scrolls, fabrics, clothes and food supplies. Also weapons. Can't forget those. Basically anything a ninja would need and much more. It was like she'd been left with her whole house, because some of those definitely contained furniture, pillows and blankets. That wasn't even counting the secret pockets.
She felt her eyes tear up as her chest swelled and breath hitched.
Her parents had left her a treasure trove of both her clans.
Obito had managed to catch his breath for long enough and he stumbled down beside her, about to make a smug remark with a grin. And saw the droplets sliding down her cheeks. His face fell a bit and his eyes moved to the open bag she held on her lap. Scrolls. Lots and lots of scrolls.
“Eeh? Did they give you a whole library or something!? The thing’s full of books!”, he sounded scandalized.
Then his brain caught up with his mouth and he slapped both hands over his lips while looking at her in frantic worry. Ayu felt dumbfounded. Then laughter bubbled up from her chest and she started giggling, tears almost forgotten. It was a bit hysterical, but it meant she was healing from the emotional trauma. She couldn't remember anyone able to make it that fast, except maybe Naruto.
“They- They're sealing scrolls , Obito-nii!”, she laughed happily.
The Uchiha blinked in surprise, mouth forming a little 'oh’ before he crossed his arms haughtily, “I knew that!”
It sent Ayu in another fit of laughter she tried to muffle, shoulders shaking as she doubled over the bag. Unseen to her, Obito glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and smirked. He crept closer and attacked her with tickles. That escalated into a tickle war and childish games until Obito noticed it was getting dark. Both sheepishly realized they had forgotten to prepare camp and got to work, the boy setting up traps and the girl a basic fuinjutsu alarm system. It was something she'd learned from Tou-san.
A light snack later they went to sleep with the knowledge that if someone got a few hundred meters near them they would know. Ayu easily buried herself into Obito’s side who stiffened in surprise before wrapping himself around her. Just like last night. She felt safe and warm.
Tomorrow she would check his lungs and muscles and then they would head straight for Konoha. The village she hadn't seen in ages . Her once home. It might take a few days with how weak Obito's right side was but they would manage.
They would get home safely, no matter what.