Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1:

She had just gotten her red belt, then he had to show up and ruin everything.

She and her father never had a good relationship in the first place, the same went with her mother. When she and her brother lived with him he wouldn’t be seen until late at night. Breath rancid with the stench of alcohol and his mind even more so.

She hadn’t seen him since she was eleven.

So, when he showed up at her foster parents house, where she and her brother were planning a small celebration of order-in Vietnamese food, with a hunting rifle, she was shocked. Shocked enough to freeze. Shocked enough to start crying and just...watch. Watch while Tobias rushed him, barely knocking the shaft so it shot the couch instead of his face. 

Her brother managed to tear the rifle out of his hands, he already was a black belt in Taekwondo after all. But that didn’t erase the fact that their father was bigger and stronger than a seventeen year old. After Toby threw the gun across the living room their father punched him and he collapsed for long enough for the older man to reach the girl and strangle her until her vision went black.

Surprisingly, she didn’t die.

The girl woke up with a cast around her neck and Tobias asleep at the side of the hospital bed. Soon, her foster mother showed up too, sobbing and dragging her upper body into a hug. She sobbed apologies and the girl wondered how the woman could have prevented it.

Stronger locks, maybe.

Soon, a doctor arrived only to have Toby and the woman follow him out to talk about the girl.

She was lamenting the fact that she wasn’t being included in a conversation about her own well being when she felt it.

A sensation like nothing before, something she had never heard anyone describe. But she knew exactly where it was.

At the windowsill, a fiery hot energy. It flooded the room and soon her skin was burning from it. She swore she could feel my hair waving, as if wind was blowing.

“Child,” it whispered, “come to me. Wear me and I’ll make you strong.”

She had realized that she was already standing beside the bed. Almost against her will, bare feet began to patter towards the source.

“ Yes... ” the voice said as the girl approached the source. There was a whirring in her ears, she could feel the insides of them vibrating- like the deap rumbling of a base.

She had looked down and a necklace sat there, it was a thick chain tangled with itself. On the chain was a pendant, black and scale-shaped.

This time she knew it was against her will, her hand reached for it. 

“Wear me and you won’t be weak anymore.”

The necklace fell onto her shoulders and oh god it hurt.

Her weakened throat screamed and fire spread from her chest to everywhere then her vision went blackblackblack and she couldn’t see anymore.

And then, there she was.

Standing in the middle of a black void, facing a blonde man with green eyes named Inoichi Yamanaka because when the goddamn Hokage showed up after she woke up she couldn’t understand what they were saying because they were speaking in Japanese and apparently it was a lot easier to communicate when you’re literally in somebody’s mind.

What the fuck.

She felt the same burning sensation in her head as she did when she put on the necklace, but somehow this wasn't as bad. At least she could hold a conversation.

“My name’s Erin,” she said, “and I’m not from anywhere near here.”

~0~

Apparently in Konoha the ripe age of fifteen years is a full-fledged adult. So as soon as Erin learned enough Japanese to get by, she was going to be given an apartment and an allowance until she gets on her feet.

She couldn’t lie, she felt relieved when she found out she wouldn’t be put into some random family. Where the pretend parents are just as bad, if not worse, than  the real ones, or they tried desperately to replace something that the kids never had. Not to mention for at least a year it kept her and her brother from seeing each other.

Really Karen? You have five foster kids and are ready for one more but you just can’t handle this eleven year old’s teenage brother? Because he’s a teenager?  

To many foster’s horrified realization, Erin was actually the bad one. 

While Erin kicked and screamed and stabbed in the strangers' homes, Tobias must have suffered in silence. He had clearly lost weight when they were finally reunited and had refused to speak of it. Erin thought that maybe he didn’t want to burden her with his experiences, he had always been that way anyways.

The fellow redhead had snuck leftovers into her room early in the morning when she had gotten in trouble the night before, a gentle smile on his face. Always checking on her, taking her to the park hand in hand, consoling her, packing school lunches...

Now there she was, sitting in a hospital bed, in a world in which she had no connections and nobody else spoke English and she didn't even know the plot past the fight between Kimimaru and Rock Lee.

Alone.

The energy fields in the ceiling, which she assumed were the chakra signatures of ANBU operatives, begged to differ, but they didn't count.

She came to the conclusion that she coild sense chakra, who would have thought that would ever be an actual thought that would cross her mind?

She was in the world of Naruto, many people would see that as a great chance. She could fix plot points, save people’s lives and all of that jazz. But unfortunately, due to her current condition (not knowing where in the plot she was at the moment, not seeing the whole anime, apparently having no chakra network, or chakra), she would be opting out of all of that.

It appeared as if the best thing that Erin could do for her survival was stay out of the plot.

Yes, I will be leaving Konoha before it has a chance to cause my early demise.

“Erin-chan!” The girl jumped because somehow despite the fact that she could pick out the ANBU hiding in the ceiling, she did not sense the regular nurse entering her room.

Come to think of it, there was four more individuals waiting behind the door.

“Ohayo,” she greeted and the nurse smiled.

Her name’s Minami, and Erin was still bitter towards her because when she first heard “ohayo”, she thought that it was the same as saying “hello” and she let her keep doing that for a full day before she corrected it. No, apparently it was exclusively for the morning time.

She said some things she didn’t understand before she handed her a bag and pointed to the bathroom. Erin took a second to pull it open and observe the contents.

Clothes…

Am I going out today?

Minami said something again and this time reached out to, what Erin assumed, was ushering her out of her bed.

“Alright, I get it,” she huffed and hopped to the floor, promptly heading to the bathroom. The door slammed shut behind her and she could sense the nurse settling onto where she estimated the bed was.

It looked like Erin would finally get to wear something other than the hospital’s provided pyjamas, this last pair had little cats all over it. Cute, but not something someone wants to wear outside while they’re still sane. 

The nurse had brought a simple pair of shorts and a t-shirt, underneath the two there was a pair of ninja sandals… For a second, Erin wondered if this meant that the woman used to be a shinobi. It didn’t matter, anyways. It looked like everything should fit.

 Luckily, it did. Erin glanced at the mirror to run pale, freckled fingers through chin-length red hair. She might just pass as a local. According to what Minami communicated to her, she looked just like an Uzumaki. She frowned at the thought- the only thing that she and Naruto Uzumaki had in common were blue eyes.

Minami called her “kawaii” as she exited the bathroom and Erin barely kept her face from contorting in disgust from hearing the word used in an un-ironic way.

Japanese people use Japanese words, this isn’t the same thing as the gross weeb in your science class. 

Minami said some more things as she ushered Erin towards the door. Meanwhile she mentally prepared herself to meet whoever was waiting on the other side. Probably a shinobi team to escort her.

The nurse opened the door and-

Oh god oh fuck.

Upon realizing that she was in the Naruto world, Erin quickly decided that she didn’t want to get involved with the plot or anyone who’s a main character.

Rock Lee’s team isn’t that important… right?

~0~

Two months had passed since Erin woke up in a fictional world.

Despite her valiant efforts (using very restricted Japanese to tell him that she didn't want to be friends and then feeling really bad when he started crying so Erin apologized and took it back), she and Rock Lee had become friends of sorts. Most days, after his team was done with training and missions, in which Erin sat under a tree and tried to read while Lee kicked a beat-up stump for an hour or three.

It wasn't as bad as Erin was expecting. She has to admit that it was… nice to have a friend. She hadn't been caught in a major plot point yet, and one of her biggest regrets from her childhood is never making friends. Erin was just figuring out the friend thing before she was shoved face-first into this world.

It was becoming more and more difficult to avoid the main characters the longer she stayed in this village. Especially since she moved into her apartment, where fate decided to put her directly across the hall from Naruto Uzumaki and all of his depressing childhood glory. There had been too many times where Erin had to either wait for his chakra signature to disappear before entering or exiting her apartment, or even having to hurry when she failed to sense him and she ended up getting a look sent her way that looked hauntingly similar to a kicked puppy.

Makes her feel shitty, but not shitty enough to lose her resolve.

Other than that, the apartment was lonely even after two weeks. Though, it made perfect sense. she had never lived alone before. It didn’t help that when people spoke, she could only understand about a fifth of what they were saying, yet knowing that much Japanese was good enough to live, laugh, love all alone in the Hokage’s eyes.

At the moment, Lee was the only person that she would consider a friend. And even then, he’s twelve and fourteen year olds who only hang out with twelve year olds are gross.

“Erin-san!” The sun hit Erin’s face and her hands curled around the grass under her, she looked up to see Lee grinning. “Did you see that!?”

She shook her head.

He said something, slowly so it was easier for the girl to pick up, it was about a tree. He pointed and his hand led her eyes to some fallen woodland. Erin assumed that it was his handiwork based on the way he smiles proudly. He said something about “beating Neji”. Erin nodded.

“I’ll show him he’s wrong,” He said slowly, “I’m not useless!” A frown soured his expression.

“Did-uh-did Hyuga-san say that?” Erin’s mouth stumbled through the question in a way that made her brows furrow in frustration.

Lee sat beside her, grabbing a bottle from his bag. “He said I’ll die outside of the village.”

Neji had to be one of the most pretentious brats that Erin has ever met. Talking to Lee and Tenten in a way that made her blood boil from just the little bit that she could pick up. She had only ever met him thrice but god she could just tell that he thinks of himself above his teammates. And for what? Being part of a large clan? Being born with natural talent? Going through 'more bad shit'?

To think, she was anything like that when she was younger...

“Hyuga-san is an… idiot. Yes, an idiot.”

Lee sent her a wide-eyed look, “Neji isn’t an idiot! He was-“ something to do with the academy.

Erin shrugged, “That didn't mean anything.” Internally, she hoped that he didn’t say anything that would make her sentence not make any sense.

He seemed to understand though, and he stood up, “I’ll fight him! I’ll fight him tomorrow,” he said something else and jogged back into the clearing.

Fighting culture among shinobi was strange. They love to fight people who they love, who they hate, anyone. And seeing that Lee’s doing more push-ups and counting (to probably some impossible number), and that it was four O’clock, Erin felt inclined to get her groceries.

“I have to go,” she huffed as she got out of her sitting position.

“Alright! See you,” Lee didn’t look up. Erin nods and quickly made her exit, using a beaten path to find her way to the local market. On the way there was a quiet whoosh as a team of shinobi passed from high in the trees and the girl looked up with a pang of jealousy.

Some bitch of a necklace offers me power, somehow forces me to put it on, transports me into a fictional universe, and doesn't give me any of the power it promised? 

Not fair. Definitely not fair.

~0~

A snake disappeared into the underbrush, leaving a man and several teammates with the message it carried. 

“ Another one!?” A woman snapped, “We’ve already done one difficult haul for that snake-looking asshole and he’s seriously expecting more!?”

“Shut up, this one doesn't seem nearly as challenging,” the man held the scroll at arms-length away, he hummed, “rumour has it that there’s a girl in Konoha who can survive with no chakra.”

“What!? How?” A shorter man asked in disbelief, “That can’t be possible.” He leaned in as far as he could to get a better look at the paper.

“Beats me,” the supposed leader said with a shrug, “all I know is that no chakra means no fight, means no more water bullets or any of that bullshit.”

“But we haven’t even delivered our last catch yet, plus we have to get to Suna in three days,” the woman said.

“So? We just go to Konoha, get the girl, go to Suna, then make our delivery to Orochimaru. If that bastard wants these brats so bad he can wait,” the man folded the paper and stuffed it in his pocket, “the kid's name is Erin, by the way.”

“No surname?” The short man asked with a frown, the leader shook his head.

“Must be an orphan then,” the woman said.

“Good. Then she won’t be missed.”

~0~

Erin was weighed down with groceries and rapidly losing her patience .

A cart with a stubborn mule was blocking the way to her apartment complex and didn't seem to be interested in moving anytime soon. Other people simply trying to carry out their day were becoming equally as frustrated as she was, occasionally shouting and groaning to each other. Some people begin to turn around in search of a better path after about five minutes.

But see, Erin couldn’t do that. The mule conveniently chose the spot just a few buildings down from hers. The best she could do was go down an alleyway and just hope that it takes her to the other side, and Konoha’s regular roads could be like a maze at times. Plus, it wasn't like she could just ask for directions. Grocery shopping was a nightmare on its own, at least then she knew numbers. Now all she could hope for was her own gut instincts to be right, and when was that ever a reliable source?

Or, that goddamn mule could just fucking move!

No police are around, no shinobi, no one who apparently knew how to properly train a mule.

You know what? Fuck it.

If she didn’t find a place to put down her groceries soon, she was sure her arms were going to fall off. Besides, she saw children entering the alleys every day to play their ninja games so it couldn't be that difficult to find one’s way through.

She huffed as she carried her groceries.

And of course, she quickly found herself lost. 

Not only that, but she sensed someone trailing from the rooftops.

Erin internally cursed herself for being such an idiot. Back in Toronto, there'd be no way in hell that she’d ever enter a foreign alley alone. How could she have possibly thought that Konoha would be different? But, if worse came to worse, most people don't fuck with someone who shows that they willing to fuck them up even if they are creeps following in an alleyway.

She tried to hurry but to no avail, she was tired and she had no idea where she was and the chakra signature followed her with ease. Her throat starts to tighten and she can feel her pulse rising through her chest. Her head aches.

Maybe it's an ANBU making sure I’m not doing anything suspicious.

“Hello?” There was no answer. Something in the air smelled sweet, her nose burned.

She squinted as she looked up, her eyes started stinging. “Uhh-I see you…” She fumbled for the words. Of course, she couldn't see them, she only knew where they were. “I’m lost?” She tried a frase she had had to use many times since leaving Konoha’s hospital.

There was a flash of white light and Erin’s head screamed in agony that she didn't even have time to understand before her mind was gone.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2:

Suigetsu's POV:

“You call this just a basic genjutsu, dumbass!?” The woman’s voice was shrill and irritating.

“I swear that’s all I did,” the short man crouched in front of the bounty hunter’s most recent captive, “all it was supposed to do was make the girl fall asleep for a couple of hours.”

It had been twenty six hours, Suigetsu had counted. And only then, did the woman decide to use her medical ninjutsu to check if anything was wrong.

“She has a concussion, there’s no way it could have come from a basic genjutsu,” the lady scoffed, “watch, the kid’s gonna die and suddenly we’re gonna be on that snake’s bad side.” 

“Don’t make such a big deal out of it, we have two more days before we reach Suna and I’m sure we could figure it out before then.”

“Yeah, if she doesn't die of dehydration first, like how I’ll be soon,” Suigetsu added from his spot, hands behind him around a pole, in chakra cuffs. A dagger was promptly pointed in his direction.

“We told you to shut the fuck up, brat!” The woman snapped, “last time I checked, you’re in no position to piss us off.”

“What’ll you do? Kill me? Last time I checked, it sounds like you three can’t afford damaged goods,” he smirked a bit, feeling one of his sharp teeth poke out.

The wagon shook when the third member of the group, the leader, climbed in. He was holding a bucket with something sloshing inside of it and Suigetsu’s mouth suddenly felt extra dry. He watched in disappointment as the contents of the bucket were dumped over his fellow prisoner’s head.

The girl jerked up, hitting her head on the wooden pole she was tied to. She dropped her head back down and let out a groan of pain.

“There. Problem solved,” the leader said before disappearing through the wagon’s curtains. His teammates stared at the spot where he disappeared for a moment before turning back to the girl who looked to be very focused on breathing.

“Oi, we’ve got some ground rules we’ve gotta tell you,” the short man said. The girl didn’t respond and her brick red hair created a curtain over her face, “hey!” He snapped.

The girl lifted her head and finally squinted at her capture, “...huh?” Her eyes widened when a knife was pointed at her, dangerously close to her throat. Suigetsu noticed that they were an icy blue.

“Try anything funny and you’re dead, got it!?” The woman snapped and the girl flinched.

“Sorry… uh, no Japanese,” Suigetsu took note of the heavy accent to her voice, but he couldn’t think of anywhere that matched it. And no Japanese? There wasn’t any other language that he had heard of. Sure, around the world there were different variations of the language, but in the end, every country could understand each other.

For some reason, the woman seemed to think that repeating her phrase slower and louder would magically make the girl understand what she was saying.

“Could you give it up, already? All you’re doing is giving everyone a headache,” Suigetsu said and it looked like the woman was just about ready to point the dagger at him again. The girl looked over at him like she just noticed he was there, which was probably true. She looked him up and down, probably noticing that he was also tied. Then, she sent a glare in the woman’s direction.

A possible ally.

The girl could tip the scales on whether or not he managed to escape. Her hands were only tied with rope while his were trapped in chakra cuffs. He’d already managed to reach a kunai which had been left half-hazardly on top of a box within knocking-over distance, which he currently kept tucked between himself and the pole he was handcuffed to. If he kicked the kunai to her she could cut herself free, but then she’d have to get the key for his chakra cuffs, which jangled on the short man’s belt. A completely untrained civilian with supposedly no chakra and who apparently had a severe language barrier with everyone in existence.

Great. This is just perfect.

He would have to work with it.

The two kidnappers said a few more threatening things to the girl before also making their exit. It was dusk by then, so they had to make camp. Which finally gave time for Suigetsu to try and get a plan across.

“Hey, my name's Hozuki Suigetsu,” He forced a smile on his face in an attempt to quickly make friends.

The girl stared at him for a moment before nodding, “I’m Erin.” Good, at least she knew enough Japanese to understand him introducing himself. She looked around again, “we need out.”

“Agreed,” he said, “right now they’re taking us to Suna, that should take two more days. Then, they’re taking us to this guy named Orochimaru.” He tried to talk slowly, with simple words so the girl could catch at least some of what he was saying. But she maintained a frown until he uttered the name Orochimaru, then her expression became one of pure panic if he'd ever seen it.

“Orochimaru is...bad! A very bad man, we need out now,” she cried, despite the fact that there was a silencing seal on the curtains, Suigetsu felt the need to shush her. Luckily, she quickly quieted down.

“I have a plan. We can’t get out now because then we’ll be stuck in the middle of the desert,” he twisted his hand and managed to grab the kunai he had been hiding, “I’ll give you this kunai but you have to use it later. Do you understand?”

The girl nodded, and with a bit of struggle, the kunai was slid within her reach.

~0~

Erin had to wait until they reached the Hidden Sand before she cut herself free, at least that’s what she picked up from Suigetsu. Communicating was a nightmare, especially when it seemed like he was trying to tell his life story.

He’s from Kirigakure, apparently. His teeth had been sharpened because he was training to become one of the seven ninja swordsmen. She wouldn’t have been able to figure that out without having watched the show. At the moment, he was trying to tell her something about goals and swords.

It was amazing how talkative someone could possibly be in a crisis.

Erin had the habit of either flipping her shit, or shutting down. And since going apeshit wasn't  much of an option at the moment, her mind had chosen the latter. She was desperately trying to grasp Suigetsu's words, searching for a distraction.

“I’m going to find the swords, and bring them together,” he said with a grin.

Yeah, if we manage to get out of this.

“Then, I’ll fix Kiri.”

Like I said, if we get out.

It had been a day and a half and things were beginning to seem hopeless. Erin’s head ached, both she and Suigetsu were dehydrated, and the heat of the desert made it feel like her blood could start boiling. They were being hauled off to Orochimaru to become test subjects. Erin felt nauseous, thinking of stabbing needles and more unethical torture. The shinobi who kidnapped them had to be experienced. There was no way a malnourished thirteen year old shinobi and random civilian could possibly escape them.

“What are your plans, Erin-chan?” Erin could tell that he was trying to keep the mood light while they waited for their chance, but it was just irritating.

“I don’t know,” She had been hoping to possibly leave Konoha- get the hell out before everything went to shit. Maybe settle in the middle of nowhere or just keep moving. Leave a place as soon as someone or something relevant in the show arrives. Now, that would be impossible. Even if she managed to escape, Konoha had proven that they couldn't protect her and there was no way in hell she could protect herself on her own. No chakra and already being targeted within two months of being in this world.

At the time, the first thing that came to mind was that she would rather die than land in the hands of Orochimaru. A fate that she could never avoid, whether or not she escaped this time.

“Really? You must have dreams of some kind,” he was being so nice, simplifying his speech and taking time with his words.

“I said I don’t fucking know,” Erin snapped, adding a word she picked up from the drunkards who spend day and night at the bars of Konoha. Suigetsu’s already struggling smile dropped and Erin tried to look away, look at anything else, “sorry. I’m… tired.”

“It's fine, me too,” he said and Erin let out a breath of relief. It didn't seem like she hurt his feelings, “we should rest.”

Upon that agreement, they fell silent. Erin let her head fall forward a bit to try and give her back a break, but it put a lot of strain on her neck. Her arms were twisted painfully into the ropes that bound her and her fingers had been numb since she had woken up. It made her worry about the possibility of permanent damage. Luckily her fingers still twitched when she commanded them to coil around the kunai she was gifted, a good sign. She didn’t want to think about what would happen if their chance came to escape and her hands weren’t even strong enough to cut herself free.

The only problem with the plan that she had picked up on, is Suigetsu hadn't explained how to get the keys to take off his handcuffs.

~0~

“Erin-san!”

She swore that she had only blinked and it was suddenly dark, and there was moonlight fighting its way through the curtains of the wagon.

“Start cutting!”

Erin looked up blearily and spotted Suigetsu, expression urgent and almost panicked and she remembered. They had to escape now.

With a great deal of struggle, the kunai was in her hands and she was forcing it through the ropes. She took note of how stagnant the wagon was, so she assumed that they were in Suna. With a snap, she was finally free and God, her arms hurt. 

“Now what?” She asked urgently, forcing her fingers to stretch.

“Wait,” Suigetsu said and turned his head towards the curtains expectantly. Erin frowned for a second and suddenly realized.

Oh fuck.

The short man’s chakra signature was approaching the cart. She promptly leaned her back against the wooden plank and her arms screamed as she forced them back into their previous position. Her hands clutched the kunai tightly.

She could hear keys jingling. Probably the ones for Suigetsu’s handcuffs. If both of them are going to escape tonight, she had to get those keys.

The cart dipped to the side from the man's weight.

Suigetsu didn’t tell her how to get those keys. 

He entered the cart and sent the two of them a glare.

How the fuck was she supposed to get the keys if this turned into a fight?

His back turned away from her as he rummaged through a box, Suigetsu sent her an urgent look and nodded in the man's direction.

Oh Jesus fuck.

She knew what she had to do and felt sick. But there was something cold there too.

It's him or me.

The voice said it simply, and a memory flashed through her mind. Sitting in a courtroom, arguing against her mother’s case.

“ She did it."

"NO! It was only your FATHER!"

"She beat us."

"HE beat ME!"

"She locked me in my room and wouldn't let me out."

"You're a liar!"

Her mother screamed and cried. She was a victim too, she said. She couldn’t have protected them, she couldn’t have left Him. Erin told the judge that Mother had hit her too.

“I wasn’t allowed to eat sometimes.”

I won’t be allowed to eat.

There was a choking sound ringing like a bell and blood coated her front half, her shirt clung to her stomach. The man’s hands groped at the kunai deep in his neck, but they were too slick with blood to grasp anything. It didn't take long for him to collapse.

“Alright, hurry,” Erin heard Suigetsu’s voice and reality slapped her in the face. 

She just killed a man.

Erin dropped to her knees and gagged, but she hadn't eaten in days so nothing came out.

“Erin-san the keys,” Suigetsu said, borderline shouting. She reached forward and grappled for the keys on the (dead) man’s belt, and just like his hands in his last moment, hers were slippery. It took her ten seconds (she knew, she was counting) of fighting to finally get them off and luckily it only took her one to snap off Suigetsu’s handcuffs.

The boy stood quickly, as if he hadn’t spent at least three days sitting uncomfortably and as if he hadn’t seen a man get his neck stabbed. He leaned down and cruelly ripped the kunai out of the corpse.

Erin heard a sharp tone and whipped her head in its direction. The woman’s face appeared at the end of the wagon, morphing into a shocked expression. Suigetsu smirked and pointed a finger in her direction and her face exploded. Erin gagged again.

“Let’s go,” he walked toward the body and jumped over it with ease, landing on sand which had already drank most of the blood. Erin hesitated, staring at where the woman’s face should have been. It looked like a bloody pulp. She felt a hand grab her wrist and tug, she barely managed to avoid landing on the corpse but she felt bloody sand swell into her sandals, “go!”

she was shoved forward and immediately picked up the incentive to start running. Erin recognized the shouting of the kidnapping leader’s voice and she was sure that Suigetsu wasn't following her. 

She resisted the urge to turn back and look, she could feel her feet squelching in her blood-soaked sandals. There were buildings made of sand and stone on both sides, none with their lights on. Her legs failed and she found herself on the ground with a mouthful of sand when they gave out.

Getupgetupgetup!

she was running again and blood was roaring in her ears. Adrenaline had to be the only thing fueling her now. There was a white flash beside her and she barely registered Suigetsu passing by.

How does he run that fast?

It was his chakra, obviously. Despite the situation, Erin’s chest swelled with envy. 

The boy leapt high and landed on a fence. He shouted something and reached his hand out and Erin quickly picked up on the invitation. She jumped as high as she could and reached . Their hands brushed and for a split second she was sure that the two of them were going to make it out.

Suigetsu wouldn’t have caught up with her if he hadn’t taken care of the last man, right?

Her shout was abruptly cut off by a perfect line cutting into her neck. She reached up and tried to shove her fingers between the skin and the chain that was keeping her from breathing because something had hooked her by the necklace. The one that she couldn't take off. The back of Erin’s shirt was being torn apart by the ground and her bare back was scraped as she was dragged backwards. 

All of the pain was overridden by the need to breathe as she thought of cruel fingers wrapped around her neck and identical eyes to hers glaring icily. To think she would be triggered twice in one night. Erin couldn't believe it only took two months for her to find herself in a situation like this. She thought she was done with getting fucked over and could finally move on

And to think that the very necklace that got her into this world would be her downfall.

Power my ass. I fucking hate you. 

Finally, the necklace went slack and she gasped for air, but didn't get a chance to fully breathe before the man grabbed her hair and dragged her up. He snarled something about his money and how he was going to get it.

Fuck you.

Erin wanted to scream but she felt so fucking tired. She had to fight but what was the point? it was impossible for her to win. She needed chakra like the necklace must have promised, she needed it to tear him apart.

She mustered enough energy to reach up and try to pry his hands away from her hair. A pathetic attempt and the man laughed. 

Weren’t they in Suna? Shouldn’t a shinobi or anyone have noticed what was going on? Where did Suigetsu go?

He left her. He had to and she couldn’t blame him, he clearly couldn’t beat the leader in the first place. But somehow, it made her so angry, like a bitter betrayal.

“Let me go,” she gasped. There’s a burning feeling blossoming in her chest. Erin dug her feet in and tried to wrench herself out of the man’s grasp.

It burned in a familiar way. Far more painful that Inoichi’s, and Erin remembered screaming because of it. It brought her back to a hospital two months ago that was back home. 

Was this the chakra that’s indebted to her? Was she finally getting what she was promised? But it hurt so much. How could she possibly use it?

it was dragging itself through her veins, reaching her forearms at a pace that she imagined sludge would. 

The man was saying something again and grabbed one of her arms. Her bruises screamed.

You’ve already given him a warning.

In a split second decision, she turned with an intent, and the chakra did exactly what she wanted. She wanted him to hurt the way that she hurt, as revenge. For kidnapping her, for threatening her, for choking her. So, she hit his face with a chakra-full fist and the man dropped screaming.

His hands clawed at his face and they dropped down to his neck, his breathing became laboured. He was fucking frothing at the mouth and that was when Erin realized that she had sealed his fate. 

There was a bright light shining over the two of them and Erin wondered if this is some sort of a vision. Seeing her capture dead in the spotlight felt almost poetic and perfect and her mind jeers about how he had it coming and Erin didn't even get the chance to digest how fucked up that was.

Erin heard shouting and she realized that the spotlight wasn’t actually a vision, but a Sunagakure shinobi shining a flashlight from the rooftops. Fantastic that they showed up now instead of when they would actually be useful.

Erin looked up at them and raised her hands above her head the same way you would to a police officer. Suddenly, she was hit with a pang of nausea and dizziness. Black was creeping into the edges of her vision. 

She stumbled for a second, but she was out cold before she hit the ground.

~0~

Sunagakure didn't have anyone with an ability similar to a Yamanaka’s.

What would you do if you found a girl covered in blood, standing over a man’s body? What if you found two more murder victims at the scene? What if the only things that the girl could properly communicate was that she was from Konoha and her name?

Put her in jail, probably under surveillance.

Erin stared through the bars of her cell, watching the genin stationed. What a coincidence that it was the sand siblings. She wondered if Gaara has killed yet, like she had.

Said redhead leaned against a concrete wall, staring at nothing. Was he thinking about something?

Is he imagining all the blood like I am?

The medics in Suna hadn’t healed her wounds so her entire body felt bruised as she hugged her knees to her chest. The first time she ate, her body promptly rejected the offer and despite drinking what had to be gallons of water she still felt dehydrated.

When she woke up she had been tied to a chair with an angry shinobi in front of her. He yelled questions that she couldn’t answer and shoved photos of corpses in her face. Erin had wanted to throw up again but it just felt like her body simply didn’t have the strength anymore. 

Why can’t this just be over? She had asked herself then and continued to ask herself in the cell.

Erin didn't know if Suna had contacted Konoha to come and get her or if the Kazekage planned on letting her rot in the cell she was in. The previous night played itself over and over again. she was a murderer now and nothing could reverse that.

Well, at least she wasn’t in Orochimaru’s disgusting snake man clutches.

She had chakra that she could conjure up, the only problem was that the second she tried to practice with it, it set every shinobi within a few blocks into absolute panic. It made her wonder if her chakra was on steroids or some shit because she had never noticed anyone react as badly to even an explosive seal going off. It would make sense, since when she let it engulf her hand once, it was pure black, she was reprimanded quickly but she learned a lot in that moment.

She had something special. She could become a shinobi now. She killed a man just by punching him. 

A scream echoed through her mind and she thought of the bruised face in the photos.

Gaara’s eyes flicked in her direction and she promptly moved her own to the ground. 

Since she could become a shinobi, then there was no need to leave Konoha, and since Konoha couldn’t protect her, she would learn to protect herself. If she was going to stay in Konoha, that meant that she would be around for the chunin exams, which meant that it would benefit her to befriend Gaara. Just to make him less insane. Erin didn't know how, but she can and should and that’s what mattered.

She had to wait for an opportunity for it to not seem awkward. But, she had no idea how long she was going to be stuck in this cell nor how long his team’s going to be around.

She needed a distraction from her thoughts anyways…

Erin was building up the courage to say something… anything, when her chance was snatched away.

The boy turned to her with cold dead eyes, and asked something about her chakra.

~0~

Gaara’s POV:

Gaara had heard a curious hum at the back of his mind when that girl’s chakra filled her cell. 

He had turned around to watch Shukaku through his bars.

Despite his usual vow of silence, he engaged Gaara.

“I know that chakra,” he grunted, “I haven’t sensed it in a good hundred years.”

The monster shifted into a sitting position and his gaze moved to something past the boy, staring longingly at freedom.

“That girl is a Jinchūriki, just like you.”

“...Just like me…” Gaara mumbled.

Suddenly, the prison shook with a booming laugh, “to think you’d meet another cursed child here! And to think the two of you have something in common,” he lowered his head and glared at the boy through the bars, “both of you are natural killers. You share the same purpose.”

Gaara by this time knew when the demon was trying to get under his skin, even if he was telling the truth. So, he tuned him out and watched the other shinobi stop her from using her chakra.

He had spent the rest of the day observing. 

The young teen didn’t move very much. Her eyes were far off, Gaara wondered if she was talking to the beast that she carried. Occasionally her eyes would flick towards him, but only for a second. He noticed that she would do the same for his siblings and Sensei.

She thinks all of us are the same. She doesn't know me, she thinks that I’m normal.

But, she didn’t know that she and Gaara had everything in common. He had to tell her that they were the same.

“Where do you get your chakra from?” He asked, after nearly two days.

She stared at him with a shocked look. After a long pause she spoke with a heavy accent, “sorry… I know barely any Japanese.”

Frustration welled in Gaara’s chest and he felt Shukaku waiting for his fury. How could he possibly connect with her without her knowing how to talk?

“Your chakra,” he repeated, the frustration was being replaced by desperation. His siblings were busy watching other inmates.

The girl frowned for a second, “my chakra…?” Then, her face brightened, “it comes from this!”

Her hands grasped a pendant attached to a chain around her neck. Gaara had been wondering why she was allowed to keep, while in the prison. Rumors had been spreading throughout the workers and shinobi that it was impossible to take it off. The doctors apparently couldn't find a way to cut it when she was initially brought in.

He felt relief wash over him, she was talking to him.

“My name’s Erin,” the girl smiled at him.

“Gaara,” he introduced sheepishly.

~0~

Gaara was batshit crazy, but at least he was a distraction. It had been at least a day since she and her fellow redhead started talking. Well… more like simply interacting. The language barrier was frustrating at first, but soon the boy had the thought to leave and come back with some pencils and papers. So they started communicating through drawings.

Some of it was… worrying.

The first thing Gaara felt the need to tell her is that he was the jinchuriki of Shukaku, which his siblings did not seem to be a fan of based on their expressions. At the time, Erin simply smiled and nodded as she didn’t know exactly what the correct response was, Gaara had seemed shocked but then he shyly smiled too.

After they got past the formalities (how old are you, where are you from), they quickly lost things to talk about so they sat in silence, doodling. Erin had shown him zentangle, the art style of simple squiggles and lines that she had learned in grade three. She thought it might be therapeutic for the boy when she ultimately left. 

Drawing worked for her in hard times. She did it through her entire life. It was easy to focus on what her hands were doing in the moment instead of things that did happen, would happen, and might happen. Suddenly, it didn’t matter because all she could focus on was creating perfection.

Hopefully she would successfully pass this onto Gaara, giving him a coping method even if it was a temporary distraction.

His siblings were terrified by him, it was easy to see from the way they kept their distance and yet wouldn't stop staring. 

Her heart ached, at least when she was his age she had Tobias. 

Has his uncle betrayed him yet? 

She glanced up through the bars and spotted the mark on his forehead, remembering when Tobias told her it spelled LOVE.

Will he think that I’m betraying him if I go back to Konoha?

Erin wondered how to draw something that said 'I promise we’ll see each other again,'. 

~0~

Her escorts to Konoha arrived the next day. 

Erin didn't recognize the three shinobi and she was glad for that. She felt especially glad when she had finally let out of her cell but the feeling quickly soured when she saw one of her guards' expressions.

Gaara looked sick. Face pale, eyes wide, and lips stretched into a blank expression. Most people would write it off as the boy simply feeling nothing like the monster he was. But Erin could recognize it for the expression of early childhood horror that it is.

Her escorts were leading her past the team when she stopped

“Hey,” she said. Gaara jumped a bit and the far away look left his eyes, Erin reached forward and grabbed his hand, “I’ll see you later.” She forced a smile on her face to push away the guilt of leaving.

The boy stared at her for a second before his grip tightened and he nodded. Erin was somewhat satisfied with that. And with that, their brief companionship drew to a close.

The journey back to Konoha was absolute hell. At least she didn't starve and wasn’t tied to a pole but her feet were hurting and after the first day the skin on her shoulders started to peel from the burns.

‘Skin cancer,’ the back of her mind chanted. All that the tanned shinobi had to offer was aloe vera but only after Erin had been severely burnt.

In the night out in the desert she dreamed of mauled faces and blood-soaked hands.

‘I wish I had this power five years ago,’ a sick and growing part of her brain stated. She had jerked awake.

By the second day, they finally reached the forest path that would lead to Konoha. Despite the fact the journey had been relatively silent, Erin finally spoke.

“I have to see Yamanaka Inoichi,” she said in a way that she was sure was terrible grammar. The team seemed surprised, but they nodded.

And so she did, she figured that she was likely to see some Yamanaka, to explain what had happened in the time that she was missing, but she wanted to make sure that she spoke to the right one. 

“I want to become a shinobi,” Erin explained to the blonde, “I found out I actually have chakra, so it was possible.”

A smile was plastered on her face.

“I’ll talk to Hokage-sama about it, but I’m sure that he’ll be happy to hear that!” The man smiled back.

Chapter Text

Erin met Ebisu in training ground three a week after the Hokage heard the news of her interest in becoming a child soldier.

The man was stiff and unimpressed. Which made sense, given that on top of his regular duties, he was being forced to teach a girl with no experience with chakra who also couldn't understand or speak Japanese. Even if he didn't snap, Erin could feel his irritability as he instructed.

“Chakra,” he had the faintest hint of a frown in his expression, “take it out.”

Now that was something Erin knew how to do. She had spent the whole week waiting for his lessons playing around with the chakra, which still burned much more than she thought it was supposed to.

Black flames engulfed her hand and the man took a sharp step back.

“ Not like that .”

Then how the fuck else????

She closed her eyes for a second, focusing. She imagined reigning it in, grabbing it…

And then the chakra exploded right in her face.

She was shown home, where she layed on her couch with a damp rag draped across her eyes.

Even though she could mostly see, she wasn’t allowed to come back to training for another three days.

Yeah… fuck that.

She needed to learn how to fight now. Orochimaru could come after her again at any time.

That was when she suddenly remembered something: she hadn’t seen Lee since she’d gotten back.

So, she quickly found herself at his favourite training grounds, where she was immediately smothered by a sobbing preteen.

“It was my fault,” he babbled, “I should have walked you home!”

Erin quickly shook her head, voicing her disagreement, “No, it was my own fault.”

She had decided to walk down that stupid alleyway. She was the one to put herself in that situation.

She had decided to kill those two m-

“Anyways,” Erin said, “I’m becoming a shinobi.”

Lee stopped his crying for a moment, his guilt quickly patched up with surprise, then joy.

“We’re gonna work together!” The boy beamed and Erin couldn't help but smile back. Suddenly, he became dead serious. “Erin, do you know what that means?”

She sent him a bewildered look.

“We have to train together!” He said a word that Erin didn't know yet, but based on how excited he looked, it couldn’t be too bad. 

So, Erin got exactly what she wanted that day, training. He wasn’t very helpful in the chakra-control department, but hey, at least she knew what it should feel like when somebody punches you in the gut so hard you throw up.

She went home battered and bruised, but still feeling satisfied because at least she was getting somewhere.  

The next day Lee wasn't there, but she decided to train on her own. A single tree falling victim to her hellish chakra. She also practiced Taekwondo, which she had been missing for months.

She was wrapping her fists in a new set of bandages when the biggest mistake of her life revealed itself to her.

Apparently an ANBU operative in a boar mask had been watching her training session.

~0~

Danzo’s POV:

Hiruzen had always been a soft idiot in Danzo’s eyes. Never hard enough to truly defend his village, and so naive.

Simply allowing an outsider with the ability to kill anything she touches to live unsupervised, giving her low-level Jounin to train her.

“What a waste,” he said simply, pacing behind his desk, “I can’t allow Hiruzen to get away with this.”

The shinobi in the room were dead silent, as they should be.

Orochimaru expressed interest in the girl, and Danzo had taken it as a chance to get a thorn out of his side. But now that she’d shown so much potential, managing to kill her captures with ease, he was grateful that the girl had escaped.

“I’ve decided. Once Konoha is done with her, then you can do whatever you want,” the man had said as Orochimaru examined one of the sharingan eyes embedded in his right arm, “she could be of great use to the Foundation.”

The snake had fallen silent for a moment and Danzo could sense his distaste. “I hate to wait,” he said simply, “but it would be a shame to ruin our current arrangement.”

It was simple, Danzo provided product and subjects, and Orochimaru provided him with power.

“Erin-san is eager to learn and picks things up quickly,” Boar bowed in front of him, “I have no doubt that she is suited for the Foundation.”

“Very well,” Danzo examined his most recent set of paperwork in distaste, “bring her in tomorrow.”

~0~

Erin’s POV:

“Good morning, Boar-san.”

It was the closest to a name he had given her, but she didn’t really care. 

He simply nodded in acknowledgment as she approached. Despite the language barrier, he’d proven to be a great teacher just from one day. Now, she could build up chakra without it exploding anything, which is a lot better than what Ebisu did.

So of course, when he told her to follow him the next day, she did so eagerly. Maybe he knew a better training area.

But, as they walked for longer and longer, it seemed like they were growing in circles through a forest. Maybe this was some sort of training exercise? See how long she would last? Her legs were getting tired and her head was starting to burn .

But suddenly, the man turned around and held his hands in one of the chakra hand seals and she sensed a flash of chakra emanating from him. She watched him curiously, waiting for something to happen. The boar turned back to her and didn't say a word.

“What?” Erin asked, her head was hit with another wave of pain.

He raised his hands and simply did it again. This time she frowned.

“Should I do that?” Perhaps this was another chakra exercise, she couldn’t think of a reason why they would have to walk all of the way through the forest for it though. The man nodded and she eyed him curiously, before complying-

Oh.

Oh.

They were not in a forest and it wasn’t just the two of them.

A room lit by only torches on the walls, carved out of stone. It was cold, Erin realized. Before her and Boar stood two men. One appearing old and feeble, he wielded a cane and his entire right side was wrapped in medical cloth, but when she focused, his chakra showed that he was anything but weak. The other man also wore an ANBU mask and she could see red reflecting off of his hair.

Boar kneeled to the old man, uttering something along with Danzo-sama. Erin, not quite sure what to do or say, simply copied him (leaving out the speaking part). 

Where am I? She wondered as she stared at the stone floor.

The old man, Danzo, said something and Boar stood, Erin awkwardly followed. 

She looked up to a hand sign, something she remembered quite vividly from a certain Yamanaka.

Oh fuck no-

~0~

Erin was getting pretty tired of this 'not asking and just throwing her into genjutsu and mind altering chakra' shit. Her head, as usual, ached.

“The man standing before you was Danzo-sama, the leader of our organization.”

“What organization?” She asked.

“The Foundation is the Root of all of Konoha.” The man was seemingly expressionless as he spoke, “Every member is highly elite, we do missions that require a higher caliber than average.”

It piqued her interest, she wouldn’t lie. However, it was sketchy how Boar didn’t tell her where they were going, but she was willing to bite.

“So, why am I here?” 

Please tell me you’re offering training.

"Danzo-sama has decided that you show a great deal of potential, enough to offer you a position,” Erin grinned instantly, “Also, right now I can give you the ability to speak and understand Japanese since I originate from the Yamanaka clan. All that it takes is to communicate all of the information at once.”

Erin’s grin widened. For a split second, she was annoyed that it hadn't been offered to her by the Hokage, but all that mattered was that she could take the chance now.

“ Of course,” She said, “I accept the offer.”

~0~

She now understood why having the entire Japanese language crammed into her brain at once was not something the Hokage was willing to hand out. It felt like her head was about to split in half. 

Erin didn't know how long she had been laying in a dark, stone room but at this point she didn't care. She just wanted the pain to end.

It didn't help that her tongue burned too. Due to confidentiality, immediately after the shitty painful chakra-deposit to her brain, they decided to put another one in her mouth so she could only talk about it with other members of the Foundation. Fair enough since it was a secret organization, but God it hurt. 

At least she was being left alone to recover aside from the occasional medic checking to make sure she wasn’t dead. Even those meetings were quick, and mostly silent. 

She curled around the pillow that she held tightly, she’d love to just sleep but every time she was close to dosing a new wave of pain dragged her ass back. A medic gave her a pill for it a while ago, after she had asked the third time, but it didn’t make much of a difference.

Erin squinted as she saw a line of light open up on the stone wall, igniting a new pain in her eyes.

“Are you awake?” A voice asked.

Her mind jumbled for a second, English and Japanese clashed, mixed, and then separated.

“Yes,” It felt odd and unnatural on her tongue.

He didn't pause like she had, “It appears you have a concussion. We sent a message to your tutor saying that you can’t make it to your training tomorrow.”

Erin let out a long sigh. She wasn’t surprised. She has had concussions before but this one in particular had to be at least the third worst.

“Alright,” she said.

She heard footsteps approaching and she stiffened, it must have been another medic checkup. A pit formed as she was hit with memories of a few of the previous ones. The contents of which made her sit up while they passed a hand of chakra that made her skin feel like it could start blistering at the pins and needles over her head.

She gathered her strength and turned back to the approaching shinobi, but was pleasantly surprised when she recognized the mask.

“Hello Boar-san,” she forced a smile on her face. He had to be the most familiar thing she had seen in hours.

He didn't answer but instead offered a water bottle and a pill, which she sat up and took with no hesitation.

“That will make you sleep,” the man turned around and headed for the door.

“Oh, thank-“ the door closed, “-you…”

~0~

Ebisu’s POV:

For somebody who had skipped training, the girl came back looking pretty goddamn smug. 

Although she did make her apology believable, Ebisu was quick to notice that she hadn’t followed his orders on her days off. He asked her to build up a bit of chakra, she did it with ease and he wondered if that was why she took an extra day. The idiot probably hurt herself trying to train on her own. 

“Alright then…” he had said with a frown, trying to think. After all, he’d planned on spending the whole day focussing on building chakra, “take this leaf.”

The girl- Erin, reached forward and grabbed it. She examined it as if it was supposed to do something.

“Now,” he grabbed his own leaf and placed it into the palm of his hand, “use your chakra to stick it to your hand.” He raised his own and waved it around, showing how the leaf didn’t budge.

He turned away. Now was his chance to catch up on his latest romance novel. This should have kept her occupied for a few days, after all.

Emphasis on should have.

“Ebisu-sensei,” the accented voice called after him and he turned back with a frown.

The frown turned into a gape.

“I did it,” the girl smirked. 

There it was, the leaf stuck proudly to her hand, although with a bit of smoke sizzling off it. 

He decided to switch her to throwing stars, which she luckily didn’t already know.

Now, he sat at the counter of his favourite bar, just trying to think. Yes, the sake did, in fact, help, rather than impair his thinking. Thank you very much.

How was it possible? There shouldn’t be any way for somebody to learn chakra control so fast, much less without tutoring.

“Heya four-eyes,” Ebisu flinched at the all too familiar voice, “How goes it?”

“Perfectly fine, thanks for asking,” He took another swig as Mitarashi Anko sat down beside him without asking. He looked over her shoulder, “I see you brought the local chain smoker with you.”

“ Hey,” Asuma feigned offence, “Is that any way to greet a friend of yours, Ebisu?”

Ebisu grumbled under his breath as the man sat himself on his other side. He could never get a moment of peace.

“So,” Anko’s tone changed, “I heard you got a new student, the foreigner from a land that doesn't exist.” Her eyes shined with something, nosiness.

She wasn’t going to let up until she got the information that she wanted, so Ebisu saw no point in dragging this out. “She’s bright even if she doesn't understand a word I’m saying, suspiciously bright.”

The woman raised her brows, “suspiciously bright?” She prompted.

“Three days ago she couldn’t focus even a speck of chakra without it exploding in her face and today all of a sudden she can make a leaf stick to her hand.”

“She must have trained pretty hard,” smoke puffed out of Asuma’s mouth, “most adults just starting take about a month to do that.”

“That’s the entire point, it was simply impossible,” Ebisu said.

“I don’t know, Ebisu,” Anko smirked, “sounds like you just don’t like a student who might be better than you. You never were very talented when it came to ninjutsu anyways.”

“Wow thanks Anko, that observation was very appreciated.”

~0~

“Let me ask you this, if there’s evidence showing that another country intends on attacking yours, but they have made no action of doing so, should you stop the problem before it starts?”

“Of course,” the girl said, “the fact that there’s evidence means that they have taken action.”

Dim fires lined the stone hallways. Danzo smiled ever so faintly, “you and I think alike.”

The room they entered was also lit by flame. Upon entering, Erin scanned the room. The walls were covered from top to bottom with ANBU masks. Many were copies of the ones which grinned at her as she passed by other Foundation members within the stone catacombs.

“Pick one,” Danzo said, bringing the girl’s attention back to him, “you’ll wear it from now on down here and on missions. It will also be your name in the Foundation, so choose wisely. You’re one of us, now.”

You’re one of us.

She couldn't help but smile at that. A member of Konoha’s hidden Foundation, Konoha’s very roots, a force to be reckoned with. 

She’d like to see Orochimaru try and get his slimy hands on her again.

A mask caught her eye. It smiled friendly-like rather than grinning in a haunting way. She picked it up and ran her fingers experimentally along its ears. “this one,” she said.

“Welcome to the Foundation, Rabbit.”

Surprisingly, the mask didn't affect her vision, she had to work to tie the straps tight enough. Danzo began to exit the room and she had to jog to catch up.

“The next class of genin graduates in four months,” he said nonchalantly, but it quickly piqued Erin’s interest. What could that have to do with her? “I want you to become a genin at the same time.”

There was a moment of silence before Erin noticed the expectant look in the old man’s showing eye. “I’ll try my best to do it,” was all that she could think to say. Four months was a very short amount of time for that goal,l after all.

“You’ll try? Or you will?”

Erin felt a flutter of anxiety but quickly stealed herself, Danzo clearly had high expectations for her. He wouldn’t give her something that he didn't think that she could handle.

“I will.”

~0~

There was a clanging of blades and feet scuffing on the stone. Erin barely bent out of the way of a kunai to the face (mask) and made an attempted stab at her enemy’s torso. Her target suddenly dropped and she felt a painful blow to her head, which she could only assume is the blunt end of a tanto.

“You’re too slow,” a low voice said, “and you leave yourself out in the open.”

Erin gasped for breath on her on the ground. Everything felt bruised. 

Boar was the one who had been training her every day. Other than the occasional couple of hours with Ebisu and interruption by Rock Lee, she spent all of her days underground, often getting the shit beat out of her. Boar was a total hardass and didn't let up, which probably meant he’s taking Danzo’s goal seriously.

Or he was just an asshole.

“Get up. You’d be dead by now,” Erin groaned but began to comply.

“Maybe because this is training and not real goddamn life,” she snapped back. Boar seemed uninterested in answering.

The people in the Foundation were odd at best. Never bothering with conversation and appearing to have no connections. No one spoke to each other, no one laughed, there was no smiling unless it was for practice. Occasionally, she could hear children crying, recently taken from the orphanage. Most of Erin’s days, other than commands, were spent in silence. Because what was the point of talking if nobody was going to answer?

“Again,” Erin was barely up before she was attacked. She clumsily jumped out of the way, but managed to land a sharp blow on Boar’s back. It didn't take long before she stumbled again. 

“You need to work on your strength. That felt like a child.”

“I know,” She snapped. 

Erin had always been a fighter, often getting into school scraps. But even then, she wasn't what could be considered  'mean'. She’d stop as soon as the other person did even if she had malicious intent during the fight itself. She knew when something was too far .

At one point, she was dodging an attack when there was a ripping pain on her head and she was clothes-lined onto the ground.

For a second she layed there, shocked, because the guy just pulled her fucking hair!

“Ow, what the fuck!” She snarled as she sat up. When she felt the back of her head it didn't seem like there was any bleeding. 

“Shinobi are going to use whatever they can to win. Either become good enough to have long hair or shave it off,” the man stood there, just looking at her. Erin’s hair wasn’t even that long, the red ends hung at her mid-neck in a simple bob. “I think that we’ve done enough for today, go and rest.”

That was a good call on his end because if she had the chance in another round, she would go for blood. 

I’ll just have to save that for tomorrow.

The Foundation’s bathrooms didn’t have mirrors. What’s the point of seeing your reflection in a world where you don't even show your face? There was another shinobi splashing water into her face as Erin brushed her teeth after her shower. She wasn’t a fan of the communal showers, but underground she didn't have any other options. 

She finished quickly, heading to her stone room. She slept underground now, there was no point in making the trek to her apartment. The only use for it now was as a storage unit, since she spent no time there and the Foundation fed her.

She impressed Ebisu consistently, she could be proud of that. Before he figured out that she could understand him, he often mentioned how he’d never seen someone progress as quickly as she did.

Despite this, there was a constant struggle that plagued her. No matter what she did, or how hard she tried, she couldn’t even do the bare-minimum ninjutsu. Every attempt either fizzled out or exploded. The only thing that her chakra was good for was enhancing her body’s performance. She could push past exhaustion for hours. But her skin was littered with bruises and her insides ached worse with every training session. There  were plenty of times where she watched the chakra spreading through her veins and she had spotted several black vessels breaking under the pressure. It was enough of a problem that she was banned from attempting ninjutsu underground, and a sample of her chakra was placed in a seal and sent off for testing. This was by the Foundation of course, Ebisu seemed almost happy that there was at least one thing that she couldn’t do.

It had been a month since she started her training and all she could hope for was for the sample’s results to get back within her time limit. Otherwise, she would definitely fail to meet Danzo’s expectations.

~0~

“You have an extremely severe chakra imbalance,” a man in a grinning cat mask sat across from her at a metal table, “The worst I’ve ever seen.”

He folded a file and slid it over to her, which she immediately opened to inspect herself. “You’ll never be able to perform proper ninjutsu. In fact, it's a miracle that you’re alive.” She frowned a bit to herself, the writing was extremely formal and probably required a shit ton of education to understand. However, one thing that she did understand was a graph labelled yin and yang, one nonexistent and the other skyrocketing with notes indicating it continued off the paper. “You only have yang chakra, so it's practically impossible to control. The only thing it can do is explode and rip things apart.”

A memory of strangled screaming flashed in her mind, “that would explain something,” she started hesitantly, “back in Sunagakure.”

“What happened?” The cat asked in a monotone.

Something in her throat tightened a bit, Erin hadn't talked about it since she got back. “...When I was taken by Orochimaru’s shinobi I attacked one of them with my chakra. All I did was touch him and it killed him.”

He was silent for a moment, “that’s an extremely high advantage. Even the highest level of shinobi struggle to find a jutsu that powerful. I'll inform Danzo-sama." He stood.

Erin nodded her.

“Take this and show it to your jounin instructor. You require accommodations to become a genin.”

~0~

“When on earth did you get tested?” Ebisu asked inquisitively.

“A few weeks ago,” Erin answered with a shrug, “I didn’t think this was normal, so I went to a doctor.”

Her voice was still accented, despite everything. She didn't think that she'd ever grow out of it. 

Ebisu shut the folder and pinched the bridge of his nose, “this’ll make training a lot harder. To be frank with you, I think that you should give up on being a shinobi. It’ll be extremely difficult to control your chakra, you’ll never be able to perform conventional ninjutsu. And…” he turned his gaze to her arms, “it looks like there’s serious consequences to using your chakra.”

Erin folded her arms and rubbed at the bruises self-consciously. She couldn’t stop now even if she wanted to, Orochimaru was still out there and she had expectations to meet. “I won’t quit."

Ebisu let out a sigh. He seemed tired, as he always was. “I’ll make a meeting with Hokage-sama.”

Of course it took a few weeks, and he spoke to the Hokage without her, which she wasn’t a fan of. But Ebisu came back to their next training session with a different energy.

“So, with no yin chakra, you have no way to maintain your chakra’s form. Medical ninjutsu and genjutsu are out of the question. You also have no chakra affiliation, which means you can either use no elemental ninjutsu or all of them so we’ll have to experiment.”

Erin raised her brows, all of them? This could be interesting.

"The most important thing at the moment is to find a way to control your chakra. There's no way you'll ever perform ninjutsu without a way to keep your chakra from fizzling out or exploding everywhere." Erin nodded along because finally it all made sense. "You could try out ninja tools with chakra-conducting metal, seals, or maybe…" he stopped with a frown.

"What?" Erin asked, beginning to grow impatient.

"Maybe the elements themselves," he said it like it was a great revelation. He quickly turned around, seeming to be in search of something.

She watched him with curiosity. Ebisu seemed to be abandoning his snippy, unimpressed attitude and that must mean something.

Finally, he reached down and scraped up a handful of dirt, "take this and try putting chakra into it," crumbs of it quickly escaped Erins' hands.

It only takes her a second to focus and dark veins quickly emerged from beneath her sleeves with a sense of burning. She did it as she always did, despite the chance of it exploding. Of course there was a chance, but now she was ready for it.

The dirt was floating in her hands, " my God," she said, mostly to herself. 

"I can't believe it," Ebisu muttered, "Erin, you're something out of this world."

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

"You're leaving a trail." 

The wind was whipping her hair but the mask protected her face as she flew. Boar slowed down to leap alongside her.

"Fuck off," Erin knew that she leaves a trail, but she also damn well knew that there's nothing she could do about it. it wasn't much of a trail anyways, just a few scorch marks where she made her climb to the tree branches along the trunk. After that, she only needed the chakra in her legs to power her flight.

It was not her first mission, although it was still simple. Only carrying a scroll with a message to other members of the Foundation. Though, it was the farthest she'd been outside of Konoha.

She was supposed to become a Genin that week, yet, at the same time she was tearing around with an ANBU mask. She could control water, earth, fire, and lightning as long as she had access to them. Some people say that it was ninjutsu, others say it was impossible since her chakra couldn't create any of the things that she controlled. Erin didn't care either way. All that mattered was getting strong enough to survive and impress; and with these abilities, it didn't take much. After all, people were always amazed by the Avatar in the kids cartoon.

It didn't make it easy though. She always had to be in contact with whatever she was controlling, since her chakra could't stretch away from her body for more than a foot without fizzling out. Earth and stone were heavy and fought against any molding, water was slippery and constantly threatened to collapse in on itself, and fire and lightning were in short supply. When she did get access, they were also incredibly dangerous, she had had to find ways to explain away the scorched scars shown when her sleeves slipped up.

As of now, her outfits consisted of black and gray with gloved hands. The only part of her body exposed were her arms, and her left shoulder proudly bore the signature tattoo of the Foundation. Though, she always made sure to wear something that covered it in public.

"It was quiet today, no news to send back." Dog took the scroll out of Boar’s hands. He nodded before he launched and Erin had to rush to catch up.

"You should have been ready," this time she didn't answer but she rolled her eyes. Luckily, the asshole couldn't see.

~0~

"Ebisu's confirmed with the Hokage that you're going to become a genin."

It wasn't how Erin was expecting to get the news; from Danzo instead of her tutor.

"I've already chosen a team for you to join as the fourth member." Erin didn't know that Danzo had that level of power, although he was a member of Konoha's head council. "Your team will be team seven-"

Erin felt herself freeze. "-Your Jounin instructor's name is Hatake Kakashi. He's an extremely high level shinobi with nearly thirty years of experience."

Sometimes Erin's life felt like her life was a joke. "Haruno Sakura is a civilian child with average abilities. The second member of your team will be Uzumake Naruto if he passes the genin exam, but based on his record, it's unlikely. If he does pass, it's important to note that he is the Nine-Tailed Fox's Jinchuriki, and there’s always a chance of him losing control. As well, he's the son of the Fourth Hokage; Minato Namikaze."

Of course. From the beginning, her main goal was to be uninvolved. Completely detached from the main characters of the show. Now here she was, being forced into the very team she had fought to avoid. She was already being fed information which she had no clue about before.

"The most important member of your squad will be Uchiha Sasuke. The heir of the nearly extinct Uchiha clan. His brother, Uchiha Itachi, murdered his entire clan except for Sasuke in cold blood." Danzo placed the identification cards for each member of her new 'team' onto his desk. "Your mission is to keep these children, especially Sasuke, on the right path. That boy carries rage and a motivation that has nothing to do with protecting Konoha."

Erin frowned beneath the mask. So much just to 'keep them on the right path'. What about her presence made enough of a change that Danzo felt the need to have someone watch over the team?

"If Uchiha Sasuke ever shows signs of deserting the village, you are to kill him immediately and bring me his eyes. If the Uchiha ever turned against Konoha with his full potential, it's nearly impossible to measure the damage that he could do." Her chest felt tight and bile threatened to rise in her throat. "Be thankful that Itachi has never come back to finish off Konoha."

She was meant to view Sasuke as a threat. One of the protagonists of the show.

"Do you understand? Train with them, complete missions, teach them, and nourish their loyalty." 

She understood, but it felt so wrong . And to bring Danzo his eyes when she killed him. There was a knot building in her gut that she knew would probably last for weeks. And Danzo was waiting for her to answer him.

"...I suppose it shouldn't be too difficult," she said cautiously, "they're just children. Younger people are impressionable."

"Don't underestimate that boy, there's something sinister in him that the world has yet to experience."

Erin wasn't a fan of Sasuke in the show. Acting stuck up, trying to seem better than everyone just because his life was tough, being a shithead when he didn't get his way, being an idiot in fights. There was all that but he was twelve, and in some ways reminded her of herself when she was younger. Danzo made him sound like the embodiment of evil. Keeping an eye on him was simple, but killing him rather than even arresting him seemed harsh. 

But in the Foundation, what Danzo says , goes.  

"I understand," Erin said with a nod.

I'll just have to make sure that it never gets to that point.

~0~

For once, she spent the afternoon in her apartment. Puddling around, making it appear as if someone lived there. All for when Kakashi and the Hokage evaluate his team's living quarters.

It should be happening any time now. Although the rest of the team would have their inspections the next day when the teams were supposed to officially meet, Erin had gotten a letter saying that she would get a visit that day. It was 3:00pm and she was starting to wonder if they were planning on coming later or if they were waiting for her to leave the apartment. Either way, she'd rather be doing something productive at the Foundation right now. The urge to return tugged at her thoughts constantly.

But, if they really were waiting for her to leave, how would she know when and where to meet the team? The question forced her to stay, moving through page after page of a book on sealing techniques which Boar had told her to review. They'd recently discovered that she had a knack for creating bomb seals, so she had been ordered to invest more time into it. The concept was pretty simple to her though, just draw the seal and add chakra and it explodes. It made sense, especially since most of her focus when using her chakra was put into preventing an explosion in the first place.

Luckily, it only took another hour before there was a light knock at the door. She answered promptly. She didn't think that they would be surprised that she had been waiting for them anyways.

"Good afternoon, Hokage-sama," she sent him a squinted smile and tilted her head in a slight bow as the old man passed. She paused to note that she was quite taller than the old man was and as Kakashi stepped in, hands in his pockets, it appeared as if she was only shorter by a few inches. She didn't remember being this tall.

"Good afternoon to you, Erin-san," Hiruzen sent her a wrinkled smile back, "so it was true, you really have improved on your Japanese."

"Well, it was a work in progress," she gave a small chuckled and eyed Kakashi as he made his way into the kitchen without a word. His hands were still in his pockets and he moved with a slouched posture, as if walking was just catching himself before he fell. It was odd, he seemed to be more cheerful in the show.

He inspected the space with his exposed eye. The look seemed oddly similar to an instructor checking the stance of their student. 

"Sealing?" The textbook on the table seemed to catch his eye and he reached forward to lightly touch the page, likely to skim it.

"Yeah, I just started making bombs," she said sheepishly.

"This is Hatake Kakashi," the hokage interrupted, "with any luck, he's going to be your Jounin instructor starting tomorrow."

It didn't seem like he wanted to be her instructor.

"Sadly, it looks like you're only going to be a Genin team of three, unlike how it was planned. One of your teammates failed the exam earlier today," the old man started with a somber tone, "it was too bad, he was the only one in his class not to pass."

"What a shame," Erin summoned a sad look, "that must be so difficult for him. I was looking forward to having a larger team too, it probably would have distributed some of the work and all that." Hiruzen nodded in solidarity and placed a hand on her shoulder, seeming to try and comfort her supposed disappointment.

"It may have been a blessing in disguise. A smaller team means less people to worry about." Kakashi said it absently before opening the fridge. "You don't have much in here. Do you prefer takeout?"

Erin stifled a laugh. Jesus Christ dude, he couldn't make it more obvious he didn't want to be an instructor. Meanwhile, she had been worried about being the downer of the group.

"Ehh, food pills save time so why would I bother to cook? They're more than enough most of the time." 

The man gave her a curious look before moving on, seemingly wanting to check the bedroom. She quietly followed, not wanting to leave him unattended.

"So Erin-san, how have you been finding living on your own? It can be a pretty big change for some people, especially at your age," Hiruzen said this with a seemingly unconcerned tone. It seemed like he was just trying to fill the silence.

"Actually I don't really mind, I can do whatever I want during the day." She smiled at the old man once again. "It's like I told the Shinobi when I first got here, it's always been just my older brother and I. We were really independent so I've got no problems on my own. Of course I do miss him sometimes but we've been separated before."

She stopped for a second, that was more than what she'd wanted to say.

"I see." They stopped as Kakashi scanned the bedroom. "What was your brother's name again?"

"Tobias." Erin felt something in her stomach tighten. "So uhh-when and where am I supposed to meet my team?"

Hiruzen didn't pry anymore, which was what she preferred.

"Tomorrow, 4:30pm, on the roof of the shinobi academy." It seemed like Kakashi was satisfied and without another word, he walked between Erin and Hiruzen and entered the main area.

She may have just picked it up, but he really didn't seem like he wanted to be there. Was it her, or did he just not want the job? Either way, she was starting to get a bitter taste in her mouth.

"So tell me Hatake-Sensei, what do you want from your students?" She asked with a curious tone, raising her brows.

He stopped himself to look at her again. He seemed determined to keep his hands in his pockets. 

"Well, first your team will have to pass my exam to see if I'll actually take you on. So, if I were you, I'd worry about that before you jump that far ahead with the questions." What an ass. Erin’s smile dropped to a neutral expression.

"Don't worry Erin-san," it was at that point that the Hokage cut in, "even if your team fails, Ebisu's already confirmed that you're ready to become a Genin. If that is the case, you'll be added to a pre-existing team that's missing a member."

Erin simply hummed in acknowledgement. She eyed Kakashi, "well Hatake-Sensei, I hope we're not a disappointment."

~0~

"Uchiha Sasuke is the heir of the Uchiha clan, which his brother, Uchiha Itachi, murdered in one night. He graduated at the top of his class and will likely develop the sharingan." A bead of sweat dropped as Erin dodged an uppercut.

"Correct. Now, Haruno Sakura." Erin took the chance to whip the earth with her chakra, sending a spray of sand at Boar's mask.

"She comes from a civilian family with parents Haruno Kizachi and Mebuki. While her physical abilities are subpar, she would have been at the top of the class if it were only based on written exams." She landed a blow to the man's chest and quickly leaped back.

It was 4:00am. She had been given news that Naruto had stolen the forbidden scroll at 10:00pm, then was told that he had become a Genin by 12:00am.

Luckily, Danzo had decided to keep the Foundation out of the mix since essentially every other shinobi in Konoha was on the case.

She planted her foot, sending a wave of stone towards Boar. "Uzumaki Naruto failed his Genin exam yesterday, but his Academy instructor vouched for him late last night." Boar dodged the stone, sending a ball of fire. Erin took a deep breath and prepared a burning chakra in her palms. "Despite his poor grades, he is the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki." She blocked with her hands and allowed the chakra to branch away, stopping the fireball's momentum and instead allowing it to expand and fizzle out.

Erin felt the heat of the fire radiating through her mask before the night air whisked it away. The forest loomed above and it was impossible to see the stars through the leaves.

"Danzo-sama is putting a lot of trust in you, despite the short amount of time you've been a member of the Foundation." It was safe to talk about it there. The seals on their tongues knew that there were only members nearby. "He believes that the little training you have is what made you the only option for this mission."

"You know, most people wouldn't call what I've been doing a 'little' training." She headed to lean against a tree as she pulled out a bottle of water. "All day and all night. Whenever I can, I come and I work."

"Compared to all of the other members of the Foundation you've done nothing, aside from the youngest children." His mask followed her as she lifted her own and drank. "The reason you're getting this mission is the same reason that Danzo-sama never recruites people as old as you are."

Erin swallowed and sent Boar a curious look, hoping it would encourage him to keep going.

"You feel things. Anger, sadness, happiness, pettiness, everything there is and it influences your decisions. Nobody in the Foundation is meant to experience that. That's why people have to join as young as they do, once somebody learns emotion it's impossible to unteach. It impedes on they're abilities as Shinobi."

"And? How would 'emotion' be helpful for my mission?" Boar's words sent a small wave of irritation through her, possibly proving his point.

"Something that comes along with emotion is being able to understand it. You can understand how those Genin feel and why they feel it and find a way of relating. Relationships are important in this mission, so they value your influence."

"You think so?" Boar started walking, heading back to the entrance of the underground. "How old were you? I mean, when you were brought here?"

"A similar situation," he said, "I was eight."

~0~

Boar had refused to say anything else about his history that night.

It was 4:00pm and she surveyed from the roof of the academy. She knew that Kakashi could be hours late, but she still found entertainment in watching the world beneath. 

It didn't take long before a group emerged from the doors behind her. It wasn't her team though. Despite never having met them, when her gaze turned she could instantly identify team ten. It seemed that Asuma wanted to do his briefing somewhere on the roof. 

The man seemed surprised when he spotted her, probably not expecting to see anyone else up there. He gave a small wave before leading the kids to a more isolated spot. Shikamaru frowned at her, his gaze lingering before following his new teacher.

Luckily, the roof was more than big enough for the different groups. While she opted to lean against the railing in front of the steps which team seven sat on in the show, team ten found a sort of seating area behind the planted trees where her vision was mostly blocked.

She would be wasting her time watching them anyways. She needed to think.

She had to keep Sasuke from turning on the village. She may have known some of the future, but not all. He definitely makes an attempt to leave after he wakes up from the Tsukiyomi, but she doesn't know how it turns out.

Preventing Sasuke from being bitten by Orochimaru in the first place would be great, but that was only a small step towards his choice to leave. She can't let him fight Itachi. She can't let him feel he needs to leave.

In the show, Sasuke chose vengeance over Naruto and Sakura. She had to make him believe that they were worth more than that. Maybe working on the teams' relationships-having them work together could fix it.

"You know, having Naruto and Sasuke train completely separately with different teachers was the worst thing for their friendship," Tobias had known what was going to happen, "it made them even more competitive."

She won't let the wave mission happen, she'll be strong enough by the chunin exams to protect the kids, she won't let Sasuke face Itachi by himself. In fact - she'll have convinced him to drop his revenge by then.

She had started pacing, her gaze had moved to the ground ahead of her.

"-Uhh…" Erin stopped herself and looked up. Team ten seemed to have appeared in front of her.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Erin smiled and looked to Asuma, "I was kinda in my little world. -Is there something that you need?"

The man returned the smile, "I thought the team should just meet you, since you're probably going to work together at some point and you didn't look busy… erm-"

"Erin’s fine," she said to him. It was a common issue. While the people in this world typically used first names, they still preferred to start off with a surname, which is something that she had chosen to drop the second she realized that she could.

"So, are you supposed to be a Jounin instructor or something? You're pretty young for that," Shikamaru asked. It would be easy to tell that she was a few years older than the team, with Asuma only being about half a head taller.

"Actually no, Nara-san. I'm a member of team seven, it's nice to meet you."

"There can be four genin in a team? I've never heard of anything like that," Ino asked with her hands on her hips.

"Well, what do you think happens when a class of genin graduates who can't be separated into groups of three?" Asuma stated the obvious. "They try to avoid it, but things like this are inevitable."

Choji didn't seem to be paying attention, occupied by a bag of chips.

"Wait- but she wasn't part of our class." Of course, Shikamaru would point that out. However, he seemed to be talking to Asuma more than her.

"Sometimes people don't go to the academy and decide to become shinobi later in life and find their own way to train," the man explained, "in fact, Erin-San started training several months ago. Isn't that right?"

"Yeah, I didn't want to be a shinobi up until then." She nodded.

"So what made you change your mind?" Choji asked with his mouth still full.

The question was entirely innocent, Erin knew that. But, it had been a while since she had let herself think about those days where she was bound in a wagon in the desert.

"Well, I uhh…" In a dream the previous week, the man that she killed with her chakra had peeled his face off when he clawed at it. She wondered if he was haunting her, along with the one she had stabbed.

"...I…" Erin shook her head in an attempt to disperse the memories. "I was always told that I couldn't, you know? I have a condition. They thought that I didn't have any chakra, but I learned on my own that I actually do have it, with just an imbalance. So I thought, why not? It helps to learn to defend yourself too."

Asuma had to know some more of her background if he already knew that she trained under Ebisu. He probably knew that she was withholding a significant amount of the backstory. Erin hoped that he wouldn't pry more, since all she'd come up with was an oversimplification.

The kids seemed satisfied with her answer and Asuma sent her a look of… sympathy? Understanding? Was that what it meant?

"We should get out of your hair, I promised these three some Barbeque anyways." Asuma ruffled Choji's hair and the boy grinned in return. "It was good to meet you, Erin-san."

Erin nodded. She also noted how oddly close he already seemed with the kids as they left the roof. The three members waved goodbye before heading back into the building.

Alone again, her mind drifted to an all too familiar cycle; reliving bad memories.

Aside from explaining what had happened to Inoichi, she hadn't talked about the kidnapping since it happened. Occasionally, the topic was brought up in the Foundation, mainly as a form of motivation.

'You can't let that sort of situation happen again. You'll have to use your chakra to kill again, especially with your new team. Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto are going to be targeted for their abilities, and you cannot let Konoha lose them.'

She would have to kill again, sooner or later. It was easy the first time, she barely had to do anything. Yet, she still woke up gasping for breath when her dreams replayed the murders. They had essentially replaced the nightmares of her childhood that had plagued her. It was nice to have that burden taken off her mind, however, it made her body react so much worse. 

The pitch black of the stone room made it easy for her mind to paint dancing shadows of screaming and choking faces along the walls. When Erin tried to cover her head with the covers and tightly shut her eyes, the faces reappeared beneath her eyelids.

There had to have been some other way! Why did I have to do that!? Why'd I stab him? Why did I like it!?

They had it coming! There was nothing else that I could do! I was helpless!

Erin had her elbows against the railing and was letting her head hang down, staring at the concrete of the roof. She counted her breaths. Inhale… one, two, three, four. Hold… one, two, three…-

"Hey. Sorry I'm late. -I just got lost on the way here"

" JeSUS!" Erin nearly jumped out of her skin. "You scared the shit out of me!" She snapped on the man, who had materialized balancing on the railing.

Kakashi only held his pointer up, "language." Erin rolled her eyes. "And, shinobi should always expect the unexpected!"

He seemed far more cheery than the day before. Where he was dragging his feet around her apartment. Probably a facade, maybe getting his mind in the state to deal with the kids.

"Whatever," she said, "what time is it, anyway?"

"Erm…" Kakashi averted his eyes and reached to scratch the back of his head. Erin noticed that he was guessing based on the position of the sun. "Six, I think? Maybe six thirty?" He said awkwardly.

Erin checked herself. She hadn't realized how much time she had lost. "Yeah… you're pretty late. You should go get the kids."

"Will do." Kakashi waved before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Erin sensed his reappearance somewhere within the academy.

Erin decided to place herself on the same steps that her teammates would. That way, she could be on the same playing field.

Luckily, the wait was only a couple of minutes rather than two hours for Kakashi to come back. Upon standing to greet the team, she was met with a shout.

"Hang on! What the heck are you doing here!?" Naruto shamelessly pointed at her.

"You know this person, Naruto?" A pink haired girl, who could immediately be recognized as Sakura, asked.

"Yeah, she's my neighbor from across the hall!" Erin wondered if the blonde only had one level of volume: shouting.

Sasuke didn't say a word, but eyed her curiously.

"Actually, we've got a surprise for you three. A fourth member," Kakashi gestured to Erin.

He was met with silence.

"...Surprise," Erin tried to do little jazz hands for an effect.

Sasuke's curiosity morphed into annoyance. "What? So the Hokage thinks that we aren't good enough on our own?" He sent a glare to her.

"Jeez dude, that's a bit of a leap." Erin said sternly. "No. Sometimes, new genin can't be separated into perfect groups of three, so here I am."

"But I've never seen you at the academy, how're you a new genin?" Sakura said it like she almost didn't believe Erin was a shinobi in the first place. However, the headband loosely hanging off her neck proved otherwise.

"I'm just a late bloomer. I didn't use the academy, but instead had my own tutor teach me to be a genin," Erin explained.

Simple as that, the three seemed somewhat satisfied.

"Anyways," Kakashi started, "why don't we settle down and introduce ourselves? Then I'll give you your briefing."

The four quickly found spaces on the steps, with Erin on the edge beside Naruto, Sakura between Naruto and Sasuke, and Sasuke on the other end.

"Alright. Name, something you like, something you dislike, and your dream," Kakashi said, "Red, you go first." He pointed at Erin.

Erin stopped for a second, trying to think of something. "Okay, I guess…" she started with a shrug. "My name's Erin. I like sweets and I dislike when people say that they're gonna be somewhere at a certain time and actually be over two hours late." She smirked when she heard Naruto and Sakura giggle at her little quip.

"My goal is…"

Not to get kidnapped again, avoid having to kill these children, make Danzo proud, keep the kids safe from Orochimaru-

"I don't know. I guess I'd like to be a member of the ANBU Black Ops someday? I think that's a good goal." She shrugged at her last answer.

Kakashi seemed unimpressed, "alright. Blondy next."

Naruto practically jumped at the opportunity. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto! I like eating ramen and comparing different types of ramen! I dislike the two minutes that you have to let the ramen sit and cook." Sakura scoffed at that, muttering something about how ramen was the only thing that he cared about. Naruto seemingly didn't hear her. "My dream is to become Hokage! That way I'll be the strongest one in the village and everyone will acknowledge me!"

So, exactly the same as in the show. Nothing had changed so far.

"That's a pretty big dream, Uzumaki-san," Erin said with a smile, "I hope you manage to do it."

Naruto seemed shocked for a second before he grinned at her.

"Alright, Pink's turn."

"Well…" Sakura stole a glance at Sasuke, who was seemingly staring at something in the distance. "My name is Haruno Sakura and , well, what I like- I mean who I like is…" she didn't finish, but instead looked away with a deep blush. "And my dream is to-" she stopped herself and covered her face with her hands, letting out an awkward giggle.

"And what do you dislike?" Kakashi pried.

" Naruto! " Sakura snapped.

Naruto looked to the ground, obviously hurt. "Oh c'mon, Sakura-chan…"

" God that's mean!" Erin said humorously.

"Trust me, you don't know him!" Sakura huffed as she crossed her arms.

Erin had a lot of work to do.

"Alright, alright," Kakashi clapped his hands to regain their attention, "it's the last member's turn."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke," Erin could already feel the tween angst coming off him. "There isn't much that I like, and I have many dislikes. I won't call what I have a dream, it's a goal, because I'm going to make it happen." 

The boy was staring forward, as if the rest of the team wasn't even there. His gaze shifted into a glare.

"I'm going to kill a certain man."

He said it earnestly. Erin had no doubt that he meant every word that came out of his mouth.

She would have to fix that.

The other kids were silent at his last statement. Sending some wide-eyed looks.

"Well, anyways we can move on now," Kakashi cut into the silence. "Tomorrow-"

"Hey! You can't just not say anything about yourself! It's your turn!" Naruto cut him off.

"-Oh right. I suppose I should introduce myself." The man tapped his finger on his chin as if he was thinking. "My name’s Hatake Kakashi. As for likes, I have many. I have a few dislikes. And my dreams… are none of your business. Anyways-"

The kids made various irritated noises at his response.

"- Anyways. Tomorrow you're getting a second genin test to see if you're really ready to be shinobi.-"

" What!? " Naruto cried, jumping up. "We just passed the genin test! They didn't say anything about another one!"

"Well technically you didn't pass," Sakura said, "you only passed because you're Iruka-sensei's favourite!"

Oho boy, this could be entertaining.

" Am not! "

"Are to!"

"Could you two shut up? " Sasuke snapped at them.

"Oh, sorry, Sasuke-ku-"

"No, you shut up!"

"Could you let me finish?" Kakashi asked. The three fell silent again, but still stealed some glares at each other. "They don't tell you about the second exam, since it's held by your jounin instructors and they pick their own criteria. Overall, the passing rate is nine percent."

Naruto and Sakura gasped, while Sasuke began to glare.

"What happens if we don't pass?" Sakura asked nervously.

"Then you're sent back to the academy."

"No way!" It seemed more like Naruto was pleading. "You can't do that!"

"He can, actually," Erin cut in," legally, if any jounin instructor at any time within the first six months of a genin being under them can decide that they should be sent back to the academy or whatever form of training they did beforehand." The kids turned to her with shocked looks.

"Right, I remember that," Sakura said, "it's in one of the shinobi handbooks we had to study…" The girl became dejected.

"The test is tomorrow morning," Kakashi said, "Be there by 6am. Also, don't eat breakfast. You'll throw it all up, otherwise."

All of a sudden, he was gone. And Erin could get to work.

"Don't listen to that," she started, "never listen when someone says to skip a meal. It's better to have your energy and throw up than to not have it and wake up in a hospital."

The kids turned to her with confused looks.

"Well… I mean, most of the time you'll still throw up if you skip a meal…" she thought out loud, "I know that from experience."

"Why should we listen to you? " Sasuke scoffed with his hands on his hips.

"Yeah, how do we know that you're not trying to sabotage us?" Naruto asked.

"Well, first of all," Erin held up a hand to keep the others from interrupting, "I'm part of your team now. So, I have your best interests in mind. Second, I've done my research. Specifically on Sensei. And third, I get to be a genin whether or not you three pass. If you fail, I'll just be put onto another team."

"That's not fair!" Naruto cried, "why do you get a pass but not us!?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just Hokage-sama's favourite," Erin said with a smirk. "Anyways, if you guys stick with me, we can make a plan. I'll make sure that all of us pass."

The group stared at her for a moment before sharing looks with each other.

"I don't need your help," Sasuke deadpanned. Sakura looked disappointed, while Naruto looked annoyed.

"Actually… yes you do." Sasuke sent a glare Erin's way, but she chose not to react. "If you wanna pass, you have to work together. It doesn’t matter how good you think you are on your own." The boy scoffed and looked away.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked, "How do you know this stuff?"

Erin grinned, she had him hooked. "Like I said, I've done my research." She decided to take her opportunity, "and I can tell you three all about it if we go out for dinner as a team. Don't worry, I'll pay for it!"

The three seemed stunned. For a moment, they shared more tentative looks.

"Hmm…" Naruto considered with a hand on his chin. "Sure! But only if we go out for ramen! I know a great place called Ichiraku's."

"Deal," Erin said promptly.

"What!? No! I don't want that greasy food, I'm on a diet!" Sakura cried.

"Oh c'mon, Sakura-chan! Can't you have cheat days!? You don't need to be dieting, anyways," Naruto tried to convince her.

"What do you think, Uchiha-san?" Erin turned her attention to the black haired boy.

He was still glaring at her, but after a second he broke it away. "Whatever, fine." He said haughtily. 

At that, Sakura stopped herself. "Well, I suppose if Sasuke-kun's coming…"

~0~

Erin had to stop Naruto after three bowls. She was given money every month to cover living expenses, but not that much after all. Sasuke was satisfied with a simple miso ramen. He ate in silence and once he was done he politely placed his chopsticks across the bowl. Sakura had asked for something low-calorie the second she sat down, which had led to a lecture from Erin.

"Someone your age shouldn't be dieting unless a doctor tells them to. Right now, your body's growing and if you don't give it everything it needs it'll make you weaker in the long run. Besides, you're already skinny."

The pink haired girl had looked down as if she was ashamed and even tried to argue with Erin. But ultimately she got the message across.

The real talking came when the kids were finished eating.

"Hatake Kakashi uses a specific test every single time he's assigned a genin team. So far he's gone through six teams and hasn't passed a single one," Erin explained.

"What test is that?" Sasuke probed.

Erin was grateful that the team was being so cooperative. While there was an occasional bout of banter, they seemed to care more about passing than fighting.

"It's called the bell test, and the point of it is to pit us against each other. But, we can't fall for it. What he's really testing is to see if we can put our teammates first…"

~0~

They had spent a couple of hours together. Planning, talking, and the kids seemed to actually be enjoying each other's company. Sasuke and Sakura (to Sakura's elation) actually started their walk home together, since they lived in the same direction. And since Erin and Naruto lived in the same building, they decided to walk home together as well (even though Erin would head to the Foundation the second Naruto was in his own apartment).

The boy's jabbering became background noise to Erin as she kept a watchful eye on the people around them. It was getting dark and the drunkards were beginning to wander about. However, Naruto didn't seem worried in the slightest.

"Hey, Erin-san…" The sudden change in tone caught the teens' attention. She hummed in a questioning tone. "Why did you avoid me before?"

She looked down at the blonde and was shocked by the wide and sad eyes.

"What are you talking about, Naruto-kun?" Of course she knew what he was talking about. It had been an issue the second that she had moved in across from him. Erin was just hoping that she could dodge the guilt that was about to be bestowed upon her.

"You ran away from me and wouldn't even look at me." Naruto looked away and started kicking a pebble as he walked. "Most people… don't like me and you were acting like everyone else.-"

"I don't hate you," Erin said firmly. Naruto looked up from the ground with wide eyes. "I'm really sorry I was avoiding you, Naruto-kun. It didn't have anything to do with how I feel about you, though… I just… I'm not a fan of strangers. In case you didn't notice, I never have people over so… yeah," she added an awkward chuckle.

"Really? You seemed so confident when you met us…" The boy seemed unsure.

"Well, all of that was just a front. I may not look like it, but I'm a bit of a loser," Erin smiled down at him, "but, let's just keep that a secret between the two of us."

Naruto laughed and Erin joined. It was a nice moment. The sun had gone down by then, and the road was lit only by the lights of people's homes and the occasional shop.

"But anyways, I promise I'll never ignore you like that again."

Chapter Text

Chapter 5:

"-...y-yeah! It's my sister! -I -she won't wake up-!"

A vague image of her brother had faded into place before her.

"-No, I'm sorry I can't give the phone to my parents…-" The eye that she could still see out of widened and the fellow redhead came somewhat into focus. His face was red with streaks left from tears. He clutched the landline to his ear.

He must have stolen it from the kitchen.

"...-because we'll get in trouble."

The girl felt panic setting in, and tried to talk. But all that she could muster was meaningless mumbling.

"She's awake!" The boy gasped and rushed forward, grasping her exposed hand.

She wheezed for a second, partially due to the position on her stomach that she had been laying in for days. When she inhaled, she could feel the wounds on her back split open once again. The hand that Tobias held screamed in agony, the forearm being swollen and coated in a rainbow of black, blues, purples, and greens.

"Tobias… what are you doing…?" She gasped. But he didn't answer her.

"You don't have to come anymore, she's awake!" The boy pleaded in a hushed tone. "-No! You don't need to come!"

"Tobias, what did you do…?" She couldn't move. It felt like the sheets beneath her had finally started to dry, but some spots were still sticky and clung onto her front. The blanket on top was beginning to soak again…

"I said don't come! We don't need you anymore!"

She could hear shouting from outside of the bedroom. Some strangers voices along with her parents.

The shouting led to thuds and screaming, which led to the door of their safe haven being kicked down.

"No! I need to go with my sister!" Tobias was sobbing. Erin had never seen him do that.

She couldn't fight back. It hurt too much and she was so tired and felt so sick. 

There was a moment, where the boy reached out and grabbed her non-injured hand. Tears streamed down his face and he begged the strangers to let him in the back of the large white van with her.

"Tobias, why did you do this?"

Erin hated dreaming.

~0~

Barely any training was done the night before. It bothered her, but she was told that she had to be awake and aware for Kakashi's test. 

She donned a simple black Gi with a leather strap around her midsection with a pack that held bomb seals, smoke bombs, and such. It also had a couple of thin straps at the back to hold the sheath of her tanto. Of course, she also wore the standard shinobi sandals and the kunai pouch that tied securely to her right leg. Her red locks that were long enough were tied in a loose bun, using senbon the way that she had learned to do with pencils in elementary school. Erin knew it was unlikely that Kakashi would be the type of person to make a grab for her hair, but she sure as hell wasn't gonna let that happen again.

She arrived at 6:00am, where Sasuke and Sakura were already waiting.

"You better have eaten your breakfast."

Luckily for them, the two confirmed that they hadn't skipped out.

Naruto stumbled onto the training grounds fifteen minutes later with half a piece of toast stuffed in his mouth. This made Sakura scoff.

"You should've gotten up earlier so you'd actually had time to eat!"

"Hey, I tried but I slept through my alarm because I couldn't get to sleep last night! I was too nervous for the test!" Naruto said defensively after he'd scarfed down the last of his meal. "Also, I tried to knock on your door so we could come here together but you wouldn't answer!" The blonde pointed an accusatory finger at Erin.

"Sorry Naruto, I guess I just left before you did," Erin chuckled. She was never in the apartment in the first place. But, there was no reason for the boy not to believe her. 

"Anyways," Erin clapped her hands together, "since Sensei isn't here and based on what we know about him, let's get to planning on how to beat his ass."

Naruto grinned and nodded, and Sakura sent her a shocked expression for her language.

"Does anyone have anything we could use?"

"I have the shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto shot his hand up. "I can make hundreds!"

"What? I thought clone jutsu was your worst jutsu! Wasn't that why you failed the genin exam?" Sakura asked.

"I learned it the other night!" Naruto proclaimed. He straightened his back proudly and put his hands on his hips.

"Okay, that can be used to overwhelm him," Erin reasoned. "Also, since you two should know transformation jutsu you can hide with the clones. I can't though, since I have a condition that makes it so I don't have any yin chakra." She gestured to Sasuke and Sakura.

They both frowned at her.

"So… what can you do?" Sakura asked tentatively. "Since you only have yang chakra?"

Erin let her lips curl into a grin. She didn't mean to brag, but she did enjoy the occasional chance.

"I can do a lot of things!" She started, "I've got bomb seals, a sword, taijutsu, I'm pretty good with kunai. My main thing, though, is elemental ninjutsu."

The kids seemed intrigued.

"As long as I can make contact with any element with my chakra, I can control it including other people's ninjutsu. It's not perfect though, I'm still working on getting it more complex and I'm better at working with some elements compared to others. Like, I can't use any wind style and I need access to fire and electricity to use them. So I don't really get to use those unless somebody else uses fire or lightning style."

There was a moment of silence.

"...That's sick!" Naruto exclaimed. "You should teach us how to do it!"

"Well… it's kind of a kekkei genkai thing, so you wouldn't be able to learn it." The boy deflated in disappointment. 

"Have you ever thought of using a lighter?" Sasuke said in a tone that didn't sound like a question.

Erin stopped for a second. Considering, before she deflated. " God I'm an idiot."

How could she haven't thought of that? How had nobody even suggested it yet? It was such an obvious solution.

Sasuke sent her a solid 'are you kidding me?' expression while the others took a second to laugh at the self-deprecating joke.

"Anyways, what have you guys got that we can use?" Erin decided to move on and gestured towards the remaining teammates.

"Honestly…" Sakura started, "I don't really have anything to offer." The girl looked away, almost appearing ashamed.

For a moment Erin was stuck for words. Because, based on the show, Sakura was right . Throughout the episodes that she'd seen, the girl didn't learn any special skills.

But, it wasn't like Erin could just agree with her.

"That's alright," Sakura looked back at her, "you only just became a genin after all. You have plenty of time to learn." The pink haired girl seemed relieved, her shoulders dropping a bit as she gave the hint of a smile.

"And what about you, Uchiha-san?" Erin quickly moved on.

The boy stared at her for a second, not giving up his standoffishness. "...I can use fire style and I'm good with shuriken," he gave away.

Erin wondered if they could tell that she was just pretending that she didn't already know all of this information, both from watching the show and having studied them for several days in advance.

"That's good! If there's a moment that it looks like it'll work, you can send some fire my way and we can catch Sensei by surprise."

Sasuke didn't say a word, only having his arms crossed over his chest. "You know, I wouldn't need you three to pass this test if we weren't being graded on 'teamwork'." He said indignantly. He was quickly met with a glare from Naruto and a hurt expression from Sakura.

"Yeah I'm sure you would," Erin said sarcastically, "Anyways, we should get warmed up and work on a plan. And Sakura-chan, I just got an idea."

~0~

Just like in the show, Sakura picked up tree walking on the first try. The boys, in the middle of a sparring match, gaped at her while she grinned proudly from above.

They certainly had plenty of tricks up their sleeves by the time Kakashi appeared, three hours late.

"Good morning, my cute possible -genin!" He said cheerily from the treetops.

"Screw you!" Naruto shouted, Kakashi had to dodge a rock from the boy. "You lying weasel!"

The man hopped down and held up his hands helplessly. "Hey, can you blame me? There was some sad old lady who needed help carrying her groceries! Then, she wanted me to stay for a cup of tea and I couldn't possibly refuse!" A slight flip in his chakra indicated that he was lying.

"You probably slept in!" Sakura accused. Erin hummed in agreement.

"Well, all that matters is that we're all here now," Kakashi stated, "and we can finally get this test over with!" He said it cheerfully, before revealing a pair of bells dangling on a string.

Erin caught the glances of her teammates. Kakashi had just proven that she was telling the truth. And, with there only being two bells, it was an obvious hint that the test indeed was about teamwork.

"Your goal is to take these bells from me. Whoever gets a bell, passes."

"But… there's only two bells," Sakura said, following Erin's previous instructions.

'We all need to pretend that we don't already know this. It'll make him suspicious and get rid of our edge.'

"Yes! Correct observation," Kakashi said. "That's because only two of you are passing."

"What!? You can't do that!" Erin had to admit it, her team's acting was pretty good. However, if Kakashi was any good with sensing, he'd be able to see right through them.

"I really can. I can send any of you back to the academy if I think you should." At that point Erin could tell that Kakashi was just trying to get a rise out of the four. 

"But that isn't fair!" Sakura cried.

" Life isn't fair," Kakashi said with a condescending shrug. OK, now he was just being a dick.

"Yeah, whatever." Erin started, matching the man's energy. "Everyone in the world knows that, gramps. Can we get started now?"

Kakashi stopped for a second and Erin heard a muffled snicker from Naruto's direction.

The man fixed his gaze on her before answering, "I supposed that if the time limit ends at noon, that'll give you three hours." He revealed an old alarm clock, the type with bells at the top. Well, Erin supposed it wouldn't be considered 'old' in this universe. He placed it in front of a stone, which Erin internally punched herself for not noticing that it was the memorial stone from the show before that moment. "Good luck, you four," he said simply. The teen instinctively sunk into a defensive position, fingers twitching toward the pouch that held her kunai. From the corners of her vision, she could see the kids following suit.

"Your exam begins… now!"

There was a sudden puff of smoke that surrounded everyone, which quickly cleared to reveal at least twenty of Naruto's shadow clones. Sakura and Sasuke had also disappeared, but after a second Erin picked up their signatures mingling amongst the clones.

Kakashi was surrounded, but Erin knew that didn't mean that they had won.

None of her team had made a move yet, and neither did the man. Erin frowned a little bit. She had been hoping that Kakashi would make the first move and create an opening. 

"Oh?" He eyed his assailants curiously, "aren't you four going to do something? It looks almost like you planned this." Despite his relaxed posture, Erin could see his hand resting dangerously close to his kunai pouch.

The Narutos let out a shout before charging. Erin stepped back to stay out of the way, meanwhile she sensed Sasuke and Sakura throw themselves straight into the fray. Puffs of smoke were already starting to bloom from where Kakashi was.

She paced as she gathered chakra and watched for an opening. Her forearms burned with the weight of the stored energy.

Kakashi seemed to be occupied with dealing with the constant attack of shadow clones. Erin bristled, "Naruto!" She shouted the warning and a path cleared between the clones, leading right to Kakashi. Erin crouched and planted her hands on the earth, grasping the stone and soil with her chakra.

She sent a shockwave towards the man. The earth rippled and cracked dangerously in a rush to reach its target. But of course, the man had likely sensed Erin building chakra in the first place and reacted accordingly. Dodging gracefully and landing between several new clones. They immediately responded and attacked, but they didn't stand a chance against the Jounin. 

Erin ran forward, catching the eye of a few clones, "I need a boost!" They nodded, and when she jumped and landed on they're ready hands they pushed to help her launch high into the air.

She set her sights on Kakashi, brandishing her tanto as she began to fall back down. With her whole weight, she slashed down with confidence. Meanwhile, the man had spotted her and used a kunai to direct the strike away from himself. Erin briefly retracted the blade before stabbing forward; he blocked again.

From the corner of her vision she spotted a clone diving for the bells. Upon checking her senses, she recognized Sasuke's chakra signature emanating from it. 

Erin saw Kakashi's eye also dart towards Sasuke and he seemed to be preparing to dodge the boy. She rushed forward with an onslaught of slashes with her tanto in an attempt to keep the man occupied. Unfortunately, he only stuck around to parry a few blows before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"-Shit!" She cursed under her breath. Sasuke-still disguised as Naruto caught himself beside her while she rapidly searched for the man's chakra signature. She couldn't find him. He was likely concealing his chakra.

However, she did sense something amassing at the pond across the field-

"Look out!" There was a shout from the trees coming from Sakura- who was still disguised.

Erin whipped around to spot a massive wave approaching, already leaving smoke from destroyed shadow clones in its wake. It was crashing through the entire field and was definitely too large for her to control. She jumped onto one of the branches of the nearest tree that looked like it could bare her weight, Sasuke landing on a lower branch. 

The Narutos weren't so lucky.

The tree rocked as the wave passed below. In its wake, only a single waterlogged blonde was left on his back on the now muddied grass.

"Are you alright!?" Erin heard the voice of a Naruto, which must be Sakura call from somewhere to her right.

The boy gasped for breath, but lifted a single hand in a thumbs up.

Kakashi was still at the pond, watching the team for their next move. 

"I'm heading to the water" Erin said, just loud enough that only her teammates should be able to hear. "I might be able to make some openings."

Sasuke nodded, while the other two verbally confirmed. She couldn't help but smile slightly as she landed on the ground. So far, what she was doing was working. The kid's teamwork was significantly better than she had expected and up until this point everyone was cooperating. Based on Kakashi's criteria, it was guaranteed that they had already passed his evaluation. 

Danzo would hopefully be impressed.

Erin quickly made her way to the pond, her momentum carried her forward a bit when she landed on the water. It was actually impossible for her to learn water walking in the standard way. Since she had no yin chakra, rather than creating a barrier on her feet, she had to control the water beneath her and force it to hold her weight.

"So, you already know water walking," Kakashi stood across from her, "you four are just full of surprises."

Erin allowed chakra to seep through her feet, gripping more of the water beneath. The man stiffened, likely sensing the energy spread.

"Yeah, believe it or not, we might not be a disappointment," she said smugly. 

With that, she pulled some water up from below and sent it Kakashi's way. This time, he didn't have enough time to dodge and was knocked onto the bank where her team was approaching. Erin followed so he would still be within reach of her, each arm at the ready and coated with water. She didn't give him the chance to get his bearings, launching masses of water. She still wasn't good enough to do actual damage with it yet, but it was enough force to knock someone off their feet.

Sasuke and Sakura still had their disguises and to a non-sensor, it would appear as if they were only more of Naruto's shadow clones. The three poised, prepared to attack again.

"So, how did you four figure out the real meaning of my test?" Kakashi's words made all four of them pause. Erin debated on smashing his face with another few gallons of water. After all, this may have been a trick just to get an opening.

"Well, it's pretty obvious when genin teams of two are never officially formed," Erin decided against attacking, but still held water at the ready in case the man decided to pull something. "If only two of us really did pass, you'd have to find a lone genin with no team which is a pretty rare occurrence." 

Kakashi hummed, "well, I guess that's what happens when you rely on academy students being uneducated." He let out a sigh, as if the situation was troublesome, "I suppose you four have met my criteria… You pass."

" Yes! " One of the 'Narutos' cheered. Sasuke and Sakura dropped their disguises, the girl pumping her fist with a triumphant 'cha!'. 

"Hey, that doesn't mean that this exercise is over!" Kakashi promptly cut off their celebration, "you've only been trying for a few minutes, remember? You have until noon!"

All of a sudden, there was smoke followed by dog summonings.

"Oh shi-"

~0~

Sakura was the one who got the bells. Somehow, she managed to get Kakashi to forget that she was around and snuck up on him while he was busy preparing to defend from a fireball that Sasuke had sent to Erin. Based on the girls' signature, she must have been trying to hide her chakra.

The day was a complete success. The team worked well together, afterwards Kakashi even offered to treat them to lunch. They eventually settled on udon, which was close enough to ramen for Naruto's liking but still ' isn't ramen because we just had that last night' as Sakura had put it. 

Kakashi had dismissed them, telling them the next day would include training and an easy D-rank mission.

"I knew you could do it," Danzo straightened the pens on his desk. 

Erin sat on her knees across the room, her back straightened slightly at the old man's praise.

"It's a good start for your mission, it'll be important to keep this up," he stood, and so did she. "You'll become a mentor to these children. Perhaps even more so than Kakashi."

Erin stepped out of the way as the man headed for the door.

"I have a mission for you tonight," she followed him through the old wooden frame, "and I emphasize, it must be done tonight."

Chapter Text

Chapter 6:

Erin didn't question him as he led her through the stone halls. He would tell her what she needed to know. 

The pace was slow, since Danzo had recently come back from a classified mission suddenly needing to rely more heavily on his cane. The contrast between his left and right side was more extreme, his right side feeling much more… aggressive. 

Only those who needed to know where he went did, and Erin wasn't one of them. That fact was what made her still hold her tongue, even though the way that the chakra constantly leaked into the surroundings made her skin crawl.

"Your abilities might be useful for an issue that we're facing," they had reached the department where the occasional prisoner was stored, and interrogations took place. Erin had only ever been there to watch. Other than that, she avoided the area. The painful noises constantly echoed through the halls. 

"You're ready to begin testing your chakra control on humans."

She made sure her step didn't falter. For the past week or so, she'd been ordered to test her chakra on various living things; From within an underground lab, seeing how long they would last when exposed, how long she could keep her chakra from killing them, finding that if she poured enough chakra into a body for long enough, it turned to ash. She had steadily moved from plants, to insects, to fish, to rats.

She'd only used her pure chakra on a human once, and it was back in Suna. She still dreamt of it. She still couldn't tell whether she had enjoyed it or not. The man in her dreams, her parents, and Tobias told her that she had.

Erin realized that they had stopped at a steel door.

"Earlier today, we found a team of shinobi from Kumogakure attempting to infiltrate the village," Danzo started, "we captured one of them and killed the other three in his team. Our current issue is that he's refused to provide the objective of his mission."

Erin’s heart sank. She was going to interrogate him.

"Based on what Kumo's done in the past, they were likely sent to scout for kekkei genkai to steal in the upcoming chunin exams." He opened the door.

Erin caught a glimpse of the dead man. Wrists and ankles strapped to a stiff wooden chair, head hanging in pathetic defeat. The metal tray beside him displayed a platter of bloodied tools along with several of his fingernails and teeth. His blood melted into the wood of the chair down onto the stone, where it would conjoin with the other bloodstains.

Danzo continued to explain as they joined the failed shinobi, an obvious tactic, "I decided to keep Hiruzen out of this because the last time this was allowed to become a political issue it lead to the death sentence of the head of the Hyuga clan, and his twin brother took his place. As if Konoha was in the wrong for defending its bloodlines," the last part was added with a bitter tone. "I can't allow Hiruzen to let them get away with it again. This time, there will be justice."

The man lifted his head, seeming to attempt to stare down Danzo. It was a weak attempt, his eyes were drooped with exhaustion and his cheeks were swollen from the abrupt exit of his molars. While he was still trying his best to keep his pride, the image was only sad.

"I think that your abilities will be enough for this job. He already has blocks against genjutsu and he's stubborn."

The man's gaze turned to her mask as Danzo made his exit.

"I expect this to be over with by the end of the night."

With that, the door clanged shut.

The man seemed to be searching for her eyes through the small holes of the rabbit. An image that had been bored into her mind, of the man that she had killed months ago presented itself to her. Along with the screams of rats ringing in her ears and the dead-yet-still-alive stares of struggling fish.

She didn't want to use her chakra on him. No. She had to want to because that was what Danzo wanted and what Danzo wanted was what was best for the village. She was supposed to want what was best for the village. She wanted to do this.

But… maybe she could avoid it, as long as she got the information.

She turned around and spotted a metal folding chair propped against the wall. Without a word, she unfolded it and set it a few feet in front of the man, and took a seat.

So far, she had only watched a couple of interrogations from the sidelines. She had yet to see any sort of a friendly approach within the Foundation, which was understandable considering every aspect of the underground was run. Perhaps he would be more cooperative with some convincing. From the appearance of the room, nobody had tried that yet.

But what words? She had to speak without losing herself the way that her mind wanted to. Begging her to just leave and never come back. 

Maybe she could just pretend that the situation wasn't so dire. The way she could when she was younger.

"You know, if you dislocated one of your thumbs you could break free," she critiqued. It was the way she would when she was told to observe the other members before being asked ' tell me why they failed'.  

He raised his brows at her, glancing briefly at his trapped limbs. "... what?"

"Well, it would let you slip your hand out and undo the rest-"

"They seriously bring you in after everything they've already done?" He barked a laugh, "you've gotta be fucking kidding me."

Erin stopped herself and felt herself begin to bristle. It was a bad start.

"Look, you guys are going to kill me either way, so there's no way in hell I'm giving you what you want," he snarled at her. He was a plain man, probably in his early thirties. Brown hair, brown eyes and a bit of stubble coating his chin. All that he wore was the standard chunin uniform of Kumo and his hitaiate that had dropped unceremoniously to the floor before she had arrived.

She admitted it was a fair point, but still arguable. "Then why prolong your suffering? If we really were going to kill you, we wouldn't do it until we got the information." The topic was incredibly dark, but the months spent underground had finally made her accustomed to it.

"Are you seriously trying to convince me that I have a shot of getting out of here? You're joking. 'If we were going to kill you'??, 'We wouldn't' ?? Don't try to fucking lie to me. I'm not an idiot."

It was true. Anyone who entered the Foundation who weren't supposed to know about it never made it out alive. But, someone with hope was someone who was more desperate.

"Nobody's told you that we're going to kill you, have they?"

The man fell silent for a second.

"...I'm not an idiot," he muttered, gaze falling back to the stone floor.

A pang of grief blossomed in Erin's chest before she promptly squashed it down. Grief for a man that she knew was going to be slaughtered by the end of the night, one that she didn't know, was ridiculous. Unprofessional. Especially for an enemy.

"My point still stands, why prolong your suffering?" She mustered the question. 

He seemed to calculate for a moment, picking his own brain for an answer. "There's a lot of reasons," he began with a sigh. "I don't want to give the people in this shithole what they want. I saw your people tear down my team when we hadn't even done anything. No words. No reasoning. Just attacked."

Well, they were a team of shinobi from a village with a history of pulling shit and getting away with it. What were they expecting? But, of course she couldn't say that out loud if she wanted answers. She resolved to remain silent, hoping the man would give up his own motive.

"It's so interesting," he laughed bitterly. "To think everyone believes that Konoha is a village of softies. I always thought that the reason why you have the most rogue shinobi out of all the hidden villages was because your village wasn't strict enough. After seeing everything here, I think it might be the opposite."

The reason why the Foundation existed in the first place was to get Konoha’s dirty work done without public knowledge. The entire purpose of it was to uphold the front of the village's peacefulness to both the village's civilians, many of its shinobi, and outsiders. That was what was explained to her.

The man was getting off topic.

"I need to know why your team was in Konoha." The man looked at her, seeming to remember where he was. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Don't want to hurt me? You're people never seem to 'want' anything," he gasped for a second before he spat onto the ground. Erin wasn't sure if he simply needed to relieve himself of some blood, or if it was an attempt to be spiteful. "The conversation between you and your 'leader' has been the most I've heard from a single person the entire time that I've been down here. You're the one who's talked to me the most. Just say it, you don't care whether or not you end up torturing me. Ripping more fingernails off, breaking another arm, hell, maybe you'll get more creative than the others."

Erin battled with the guilt that was rising within her. Both for actually pitying the man, and for what she knew she would have to do to him sometime that night. True Foundation members didn't feel guilt. They didn't feel anything. Why couldn't she just get a hold of herself?

At that moment, she decided to be honest. It wouldn't matter how much she told him, he would be dead by the end of the night anyways and she needed to fulfill her duty: just get the fucking information.

"No, I don’t want to torture you," Erin tried to suppress the tightness in her chest, but it had stopped working. It felt like her core was coiling. Twisting more and more from her throat down to her stomach. "But, eventually I won't have a choice."  

It felt like she was the one begging him not to make her do her job. Any other member of the Foundation might have told her that it was pathetic, but none of them were in that room.

The man deflated with a tired sigh. There was still blood dripping off his fingertips onto the cold, hard, floor. 

"You know, I was trying to save up so we could move into a bigger apartment. So both of my daughter's could have their own rooms. My oldest always complains," he paused, the ghost of a smile on his lips. "That's the only reason why I took this mission."

"I'm sorry," Erin felt inclined to say it.

The man scoffed, "Don't even try to apologize when you're the one who's going to kill someone's father."

She felt her insides twist more.

"This mission was supposed to be easy. They always say Konoha's soft and lax. Even if we did get caught, our village will only get a slap on the wrist and we'd be home in a couple days."

So, there was an intent to harm Konoha. That warrants the killing and capture. That made the tightness in her chest loosen ever so slightly.

"I never expected this-" Erin watched as the man cut himself off with a weak sob, pity making her chest swell. "I didn't even tell my wife what this mission was. She'll have no idea what happened to me." 

He hung his head. Erin didn't want him to be killed. She couldn't let it happen .

"Maybe…" She tried to think aloud, searching for a possible way for them to get out of this. The man looked up, and Erin realized that she had allowed her tone to change. Not the way that members of the Foundation were supposed to. Still, she pressed on. "We have people that can insert information into other people's minds. If they can do that, maybe they can take it out."

It felt like her insides were shaking and she hoped that it wouldn't reach her voice. She glanced around and mentally checked for any chakra signatures. However, there was no sign that she could pick up that they were being watched. 

She leaned forward and lowered her voice anyways. "It would be like this night never happened. You could go home and you wouldn't remember a thing. There won't be any way for anyone to find out who did this to you and your teammates." 

It felt like the pressure in her body was releasing even if it was a tiny bit. She could just go and ask once she was given the information and maybe there'd be a chance for him. And even if she was wrong, at least his life would be out of her hands.

"You haven't been doing this for long, have you?" A weight dropped in her stomach as the man gave her a solemn look. "You can't do that. You can't take memories out of somebody's mind. You can view them with ninjutsu and genjutsu, you can share memories and information and memories with other people using those as well. But the closest you can ever get to completely removing memories from someone is by sealing it within themselves. No matter what, any seal can be broken eventually."

The twisting came back, slowly increasing and adding more and more intensity.

"Even if you could do it. My return will make them think there's a chance of finding answers. Raikage-sama will demand an investigation. Even if they don't find anything, he's stubborn. He'll want justice and it doesn't matter whether or not there's proof if he thinks it's obvious. There will be a war if Konoha doesn't cave, and like your 'leader' said, the Hokage doesn't know a thing about this."

Of course. Of course that was what had to happen. Erin cursed under her breath, resting her elbows on her knees and pushing her hands into the sides of her head. 

"I appreciate the sentiment though. I can tell that you're not like the others down here." She sucked in a breath. She wasn't supposed to be different. This man wasn't supposed to matter to her. Her even suggesting finding a way to avoid killing him could be seen as an act of insubordination. "I'll tell you what you want to hear, as long as you make sure that my death's instant. Alright?"

Erin only looked back up at him. He was clearly exhausted, but his eyes seemed to glimmer with some sort of resolve. Acceptance, perhaps.

"You were right. We were here to scout for kekkei genkai holders and target them for the upcoming chunin exams. When the exams started, we were going to take as many as possible back to Kumo. That's all. Now, I guess I'm going to die a traitor."

Erin's chest ached. She was out of time to put this off.

Even though she wasn't told by Danzo that it would be her job to kill the man, he had asked her to. To make sure that his death was instant and painless.

"Well, get on with it."

~0~

Erin bolted into the bathroom, dropping to her knees and gagging in front of the nearest toilet. Her right hand was slick with blood that was already beginning to cool and god it was going to be on every door handle that she had touched.

She was forced to remove her mask to empty the contents of her stomach and partway through she had realized that she had touched her face with her bloodied hand when she felt the slick and cold sensation spread to her cheek. She left her mask on the floor and rushed to a sink before setting it to a hot as possible. 

Erin saw herself in the mirror and a strangled sob broke through. She was looking at someone who just killed a man. Not in self defense, not because she was in danger, but because he had asked her to. To relieve his suffering at her own hands. She had stabbed through his eye with a kunai, as he had asked for it to be instant and she wasn't sure if she would be able to get through his skull on the first try.

For a second, he had jerked as if he was surprised, then his head fell and blood began to pour out of his socket and soiled Erin's shoes.

The skin on her chest burned and she could feel every pulse from her heart and it hurt. It only took a few seconds for her to completely lose control of her breathing. Her voice box involuntarily kicked in as she desperately shoved her hands into the water. It was scalding but she didn't care and maybe she deserved it. 

The blood clung stubbornly to her arm and she wanted to scream in frustration as she rubbed with a bar of soap, leaving pinkish bubbles in its wake. 

She knew that she was having a panic attack, but this was one of the times she didn't even bother to try and stop it. 

She splashed the burning water onto her face and rubbed aggressively. Her back was beginning to ache from the involuntary sobs that wracked her body and it began to feel as if she might vomit again.

She was on for the ride at this point, so she turned around for the toilets to make sure she at least didn't puke all over the floor.

"What are you doing?"

Erin whipped her head towards the creator of the voice. A young girl wearing a cat mask and a simple white robe.

She gasped for breath for a solid ten seconds to try and muster an answer. "I'm not-" she had to stop to inhale and exhale, "-feeling well."

"Oh," the girl turned her head slightly. "Should I get a medic?"

She was already reaching for the door handle.

Erin stepped forward and raised a hand, using the other to wipe the tears from her face. "-No! No." She was frustrated that she had to stop to breathe again. "Don't bring one. I'm going to be fine. I-I've got everything under control." At least now her breaths were beginning to slow down. "Just… just get going, alight?"

The mask grinned back at her. After the slight pause, she reached for the handle again and Erin stiffened. What would happen if Danzo found out that she was like this? What would he say? Would he think that she couldn't handle being in the Foundation anymore?

"Okay. You should still tell a medic after you're done, though." With that, the girl disappeared behind the door and Erin released a sigh of relief.

It felt like the attack was gearing down and at least Erin could be grateful for that. But, she had to clean up her mess, then report to Danzo.

~0~

Danzo ordered Erin to show him the body. The air between them was silent, and it remained that way for a moment as he regarded the corpse.

She felt hollow. Not like a person.

The kunai remained as she had left it; wedged snugly into the man's left socket. His other eye was open, but relaxed. And his head hung awkwardly to the side.

What was Danzo thinking, simply inspecting it? Making sure he was actually dead?

The feeble-looking man turned to face her, extenuating it with the wooden knock of his cane landing. Erin suddenly realized that she had stopped standing at attention and stiffened back into the correct posture.

"Why didn't you use your chakra?"

She felt her heart rate pick up. Not sure if it was a question or not, she remained silent.

"I told you to use this opportunity for practice in chakra control and to test the yang chakra on a human body." 

Her heart sunk into her stomach. She did it wrong . She was in trouble.

Erin flinched when he spoke again. "Answer my question. Why didn't you do it?"

She swallowed despite her mouth being dry. She searched for an answer that would satisfy the man. Something like 'because I didn't want to' or 'the thought of it made me feel nauseous' wouldn't suffice.

Erin took a breath and prepared to keep her voice steady. "I found that I didn't need to. I got the information without using torture so there wasn't any reason to do it."

Danzo was silent for a moment, and she began to worry that he was reading her like a book. His mouth was spread thin in a slight frown. Her answer wasn't enough. 

"You did succeed in retrieving the information without using physical torture, I suppose." He broke his gaze away for a moment, allowing Erin to breathe properly for a second. "However, I explained to you that the primary goal of this mission was to use your chakra throughout the interrogation. You did not meet that requirement. You failed to meet my expectations."

You failed to meet my expectations.

You failed.

"I'm sorry, Danzo-sama," Erin forced herself to bow. It felt like she might start crying again, "-I promise that this won't happen again." She barely managed to keep her voice from breaking.

Once again, the man fell silent and she wasn't sure if it was safe to look up yet. So she held the bow stiffly, while trying to remember some of the breathing techniques she was forced to learn in those sessions the adults made her go through. She came up short on one that wouldn't be noticeable.

"You need to understand, sooner rather than later. That these shinobi, enemies of Konoha, do not garner your sympathy." Erin flinched, as if the words actually could bite her. She didn't know whether to go into a deeper bow or if his speech was permission to finally stand up straight. "This man could have caused a war. He didn't care about you. He didn't care about a single person in this village. As did his teammates, and as does everyone outside of the Land of Fire."

A protest rang in one of the corners of her mind, which she quickly stifled. She couldn't disagree. Danzo was saying it, and he knew more than her.

"Do you understand?"

She promptly nodded, praying that the lecture was over and she could finally get away from the corpse. And perhaps, get away from the old man as well. Just for the rest of the night.

"Fine. Boar's waiting at the entrance for you to scout along the walls of the village. Don't miss a thing, there may be more Kumo shinobi."

He didn't have to explain it twice, she was out of the room in an instant.

~0~

If there were any enemies in the moonlit forest, Erin was sure that they would have gotten past her that night. 

Somewhat mindlessly, she followed Boar from branch to branch. While she was there, at the same time, every movement didn't feel like it was her own. It felt as if her thoughts and consciousness had chosen to collapse at the back of her mind, and sit, idly watching through her eyes as if they weren't the ones making the choices and commanding the body's movements. Like how she used to sneak behind the couch as her mother stared at some reality show to catch a few minutes, or maybe even an hour, of simple, mindless, entertainment.

It was odd how a small part of her was beginning to miss those days. 

For just a bit, she allowed herself to remember. Sitting on a park bench when Tobias revealed that he'd managed to steal an entire box of crackers from the pantry. The type that you'd break into a million pieces over a bowl of canned tomato soup. He'd said they wouldn't get in trouble, the box had been sitting untouched for months and there was no way that their mother would even remember that they were there. 

The way that they had grinned at each other, sneaking to the edge of the hallway at some ungodly time of the night to catch a glimpse of whatever movie their mother was playing to fill the silence of the wait for their father. Often leading to the woman sprawled on the couch in a snoring mess since she usually didn't last more than a half-hour. It would last until the sound of the door would nearly make her jump out of her skin. Meanwhile, the siblings would rush back to Tobias's room, where they would muffle their giggles once they locked the door because they'd gotten away with some mischief.

Erin had enjoyed how much freedom that she had had as a child since her mother didn't pay much mind to her, as long as she wasn't a nuisance. She enjoyed afternoons where she would come and go as she pleased. Often opting to walk herself to the nearest park, or to a convenience store; where she dared to steal something small half of the time, like a chocolate bar or a cute keychain. When she exited, slowly realizing that she had gotten away, the anxiety in her chest was replaced with a vibrant and giddy sensation.

"We finished the perimeter. Have you sensed anything?"

She was abruptly shaken from the comfort of her imagination and was hit by a flash of irritation at the interruption. "No," she said, despite having no clue.

They had stopped in a small clearing, where the moonlight snuck through the thin gaps in the canopy above. Boar's mask was neutral, as usual and Erin knew that hers was the same. Despite the calmness of the scene, she was being hit with the memories of just a few hours earlier once again. She didn't even know how she felt. Guilt, pain, anxiousness, terror, disgust? Whatever it was, it once again tied itself tightly within her chest like a vice. 

"I heard that you were assigned to an interrogation tonight," Boar's statement sent a sharp crack through her. "Did it not go well? I was told that you were successful, but you're behaving strangely."

That had to be a trap. A test from Danzo to see if she was actually cut out for the Foundation. Unwisely, she allowed rage to take ahold of her.

"I got the information that was requested. I succeeded in getting the information that was needed," She answered sharply, "the way that I'm ' behaving' is none of your fucking business." Why'd he even ask that question without the intent of catching her while she was down? Erin already knew that the man didn't like her, as much as a decent member of the Foundation could 'dislike' something. He'd already made that clear with the high and mighty speech about her being too emotional for the line of work that they were in.

They were silent, but only for a moment. Erin quickly felt a sting of regret hit her in the gut. Sure, Boar was likely used to being cussed out by her, but that night… That night was a test. She'd just proven herself even more to have a lack of hold of her emotions. If she didn't improve quickly… What would Danzo do with her?

"I won't say anything about this conversation."

Her train of thought was interrupted, and she stopped to just look at the man. Of course she was looking in his direction before, but she wasn't paying attention. Of course, his mask provided no expression to go off of, but he stood straight with his hands to his side in somewhat of an awkward posture. She didn't know if he stood that way simply due to being in the Foundation for so long, surrounded by other members who were actively discouraged from learning social skills aside from the occasional missions where it was required. Or, if he genuinely felt that way.

She eyed him with a sense of hostility for a solid few seconds, which felt like minutes to her. Of course, the statement could just be another test.

"And why should I believe you?" She asked accusingly. 

"I went through it once. The Foundation used to bring in members up to the age of fourteen. But these days, the age limit is six and I was eight." That statement brought about one hundred questions to the tip of Erin's tongue and she barely allowed Boar to finish. "I remember the shock of everything."

Sure that the man was finished, Erin felt the need to push. "Why did they stop accepting older members? What changed? Why are you telling me this?" Too many things had happened over the previous twenty four hours and her mind was struggling to keep up. She had no clue at this point how she was going to make it through the next day with her new team, where she would have to take the lead and at the same time having the murder which she had just committed weighing at the forefront of her mind. 

Much to her frustration, Boar took time with his answers. In the past, the Foundation worked as a faction of the ANBU, highly alite and would only take on the highest classified missions. Each clan of Konoha had a quota to meet; they had to provide at least one new recruit to the Foundation per year. These members would simultaneously lived at home while also serving the Foundation, often treating it like a full time job. Aside from that, all orphans who appeared to have enough potential were also recruited and as they had no homes, they would live underground full-time. There were often issues with the members who were recruited from clan homes to do with conflicts of interest and struggling to compartmentalize home life and life in the Foundation. Ultimately, the Hokage disbanded the Foundation when he found out that Danzo was acting without his orders. That only lasted for a few months. The Foundation never really went away, but the public, including essentially every shinobi, believed that it was gone. Anything to do with the Foundation was top secret information exclusively shared between Danzo, the Hokage, and the village's elders. 

Though, there were new rules in place. Including Danzo not being allowed to recruit anyone other than young orphans. And Erin was far past the age limit.

"You know, nothing is ever simple." Erin still felt like she was reeling from well… everything. Boar's head swiveled to the small gap in the leaves above, where shards of the moon managed to cut through. "Wars never truly end, they just become unknown to the public. There's never true peace as long as society stands. It's always been that way, and the Foundation exists outside of law to make sure that unrest never gets out of hand within this village."

A thought was beginning to ring in Erin's mind. She didn't want any part in this. It repeated over and over, beating in the inside of her head like a regretful drum.

"I… I didn't know what this was when I joined," she said against her better judgement. "I can't keep doing this -" suddenly, her voice broke. She didn't care that Boar was likely just meant to poke for weaknesses, that he'd be reporting to Danzo, that she could be killed for her lack of loyalty. That night was only the beginning, and the prospect of any more of it led her mind straight to its darkest corners, some that she hadn't dared enter for at least a year, save for right after she woke up in this dump of a village. It was somewhere where she had been told was the worst option, and that she should have been proud of for dragging herself out of.

She couldn't leave. She was already trapped in Konoha because of Orochimaru and she definitely wasn't at the skill level of being able to avoid him on the outside. She couldn't ditch the Foundation either. Once someone joins the Foundation they're either a member for the rest of their life or they're too much of a liability to be allowed to live. This was what her life was and she either had to take it or leave it.

It was simple. If Danzo didn't kill her and forced her to keep doing this, she would do it herself.

She was no coward to be forced to live a life that she hated. She wasn't a kid anymore.

"Give it time," Erin bit her tongue right before she managed to snap out a retort. "It gets easier with time."

God, the number of times she'd heard that phrase over the past four years. There really was no meaning behind it. 

It was a waste of time to argue whenever the phrase came up, so Erin didn't bother. Whatever the man said, if things continued like that night, she was done. It was that simple. 

But, she could only wait and see.