Chapter Text
Hari Potter stares at her reflection in the hand mirror the Goblins gave her, she looks…completely different.
Gone is the messy black hair and distinctively James-Potter-esque features…now, she looks so much like Lily from the album's pictures that she doubts anyone will ever mention James Potter at first.
Glancing over at the Goblin Healer, she says "Thank you, truly. You'll have my thanks for eternity."
The Goblin Healer - who's name she never actually caught, much to her chagrin, she'd like to thank them by name! - nods, and then King Ragnuk walks through the door holding Teddy. Teddy's face lights up when he sees her, hair going dark red as he makes grabbing motions with his chubby hands for her.
Hari takes Teddy from him gratefully, saying "Thank you, Your Majesty, for looking after my Godson. I hope he wasn't much trouble."
King Ragnuk shakes his head, saying "Not at all. He slept through most of the ritual."
Hari sighs in relief, and says "I was worried, thank Merlin for small mercies." She had really hoped he'd sleep through the ritual to remove all the spells left on her from Dumbledore - a Blood Glamour to make her look like James Potter, a spell that affected her eyesight, and some memory-blocking spells that hadn't broken when she died to Voldemort's Killing Curse.
Ragnuk produces several rolls of parchment and hands them to her, saying "This is everything you'll need for your trip. All that's left is to change your name to the new identity you decided on…Lady Peverell."
Hari reads through the paperwork, then stares at the name she decided on - Ayame Mors-Peverell-Uzumaki. A clean start, someone Magical Britain won't connect with Hari Potter if they ever miraculously make it to the 'Shinobi World' as the residents apparently call it.
Hopefully, the trip won't be too hard on Teddy.
Taking all the rolls of parchment and putting them in her expanded bag with everything she owns, she gets off the recovery bed and says "Thank you for everything, Your Highness. You've got the communication box, right?"
Ragnuk nods, saying "Any communication you have for us, or between you and the people you've specified, will get passed through the two-way boxes. Your entire fortune has been relocated to the deepest of the vaults, under the Mors name, and the Potter account has been listed as closed for when the Ministry eventually comes for it. Take this," he hands her a leather pouch, "and you'll be able to access your money to make purchases. The amount will automatically be deducted and translated into Shinobi currency."
Hedwig and Fawkes fly in, Dobby, Winky, and Kreacher coming afterwards. Hedwig lands on one shoulder, Fawkes on the other, meanwhile Dobby, Winky, and Kreacher all look as ready to go as it gets.
Looks like…they're ready to go, then. She'll miss Hagrid, Neville, Luna, the Twins, Ron, and Hermione…but she can't stay in Magical Britain. Not after how many times they've turned on her, all the times they demonized her and then expected her to save them. And, with Teddy being a Born Wolf…she's not putting him in their sights. They'll eat him alive just like they did her once people realize, except they won't idolize him again afterwards.
Minato freezes when he senses something from the direction of the Forest of Death - almost like Chakra, almost, but…not. There's no Chakra signature to it - not Nature Chakra, not Spiritual Chakra, just…energy. It's very far from a comforting thing.
Before he can do much more than get out of his chair, though, he spies several Jonin already making their way through the village towards the forest.
Shikaku, Inoichi, Chozo, and Kakashi all land on a massive tree branch in the Forest of Death, and see a red-headed figure walking through with a bundle in her arms, a bag at her hip, two odd birds on her shoulders, and three strange gremlin-like creatures trailing behind her.
All four of them trade wary glances, and Shikaku calls down "Halt! Identify yourself! What business do you have in the Hidden Leaf Village?"
Ayame looks up, one hand adjusting Teddy so he's resting on her hip, and calls back up "Is that where we are? We're not looking for any trouble, if that's what you're thinking. I'm just looking for a relative! I'm sort of a long-lost relative of this…" she pulls out a roll of parchment from the bag at her hip, 'um, Kushina, I think it's pronounced?"
All four Jonin trade alarmed glances, and Kakashi mutters "Kushina? The Hokage's wife?"
"Her last name is…Uzu…maki? If that helps at all."
Yep, all four Jonin simultaneously think, definitely the Hokage's wife.
Inoichi leaps down, asking "What do you want with the Fourth Hokage's wife?"
Ayame blinks, then says "The…what now? Look, I don't know anything about a Hokage, I just need to find this Kushina person. I've got a letter for her from my Mum."
Kakashi leans against the tree trunk, and pseudo-casually asks "What's in the letter?"
Ayame gives him a glare, then yells "None of your business! That's between Lily and Kushina! Now, do you lot know her or not?!" Teddy whimpers, starting to fuss, and Ayame starts bouncing him on her hip to try and soothe him even as she stares between the blonde in front of them and the three others on the tree branch. And then she sees the very large one reach into a pouch on his hip, and the Elder Wand slips into her free hand.
Shikaku notices instantly, gaze sharpening, and he leaps down to the ground as well, with the other two following suit.
Ayame looks between them warily, arm tightening around Teddy as Hedwig and Fawkes start getting restless on her shoulders. "I don't want any trouble," Ayame says as all four of them pull out either throwing stars or knives, "but don't think for a moment I'm not capable of defending us. I just want to find this Kushina woman, that's all. I take it you know who she is?"
Shikaku's shadow suddenly stretches out and stops right under her feet just as she points the wand at him.
Ayame sucks in a sharp breath as her body suddenly freezes, muscles refusing to cooperate. Kakashi steps forward at his signal, and as soon as she feels her arm start to move Ayame asks "What are you doing?!"
Kakashi raises his exposed eyebrow at her, and says "Wouldn't want a kid - if this is actually a kid and not a block of wood disguised as a kid - getting in the middle of a fight, would we?"
Hedwig and Fawkes both immediately screech in fury, flying right into Kakashi's face - Fawkes bursting into flames and Hedwig's talons and tailfeathers icing over.
"Shit!" He jumps back a few times as Chozo tries to take on the two birds with Inoichi.
Ayame's heart just about stops when she feels her wand arm slowly start to lower, mirroring the dark-haired man's arm doing the exact same motion despite how she tries to make her body cooperate. Thinking fast, as soon as her wand starts pointing towards the ground, she blurts out "Lumos Maxima!" Thankfully, as soon as the shadow is disrupted, her body starts cooperating again. She quickly makes a small wall of fire between them to block the man's shadow from reaching her again. "Ok," Ayame says, glaring furiously, "you boys want to do this? Let's dance, then!"
Minato stares in sheer disbelief at the sight of the four Jonin that got their backsides handed to them…by a teenage girl with a baby in one arm. Two bird summons, three small gremlin-like creatures staying behind her…and she completely flattened them.
Throwing colored balls of light out of her stick with no hand signs, only strange words they couldn't understand - if she said the words at all, she didn't always - she rewrote reality, and her two Summons attacked them…because they tried to take the baby from her.
To be fair…if someone tried to take his and Kushina's kid, he'd do his very best to kill them to.
Before that…she wanted to find Kushina Uzumaki, because she has a letter to her from a Lily.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he glances between all four Jonin - all in various states of bruised, beaten, and broken, broken limbs, swollen faces, cuts, bruises, and Kakashi has an honest-to-Kamis hole in his side along with being burned fairly well, probably because he was the one that tried to take the baby - and asks "Anything else? Anything at all I should know about this…teenager?" This teenager that only stopped giving four Jonin absolute hell because half the ANBU force showed up, no less.
Shikaku nods, saying "Whatever her abilities are, they aren't Chakra, Hokage. The things she did…they're completely impossible. And…she claimed to be a relative of your wife."
Minato nods, feeling a migraine coming on already, even as he leaves the room. When he gets into the room they left the strange red-head, he finds her glaring at four ANBU members - two of which are somehow upside down and stuck to a wall, one is tied up with ropes, and the last is being held at…stick-point. She's holding him at stick-point, her other arm wrapped around the baby he heard about. As soon as he steps into the room, her glare lands squarely on him - bright green eyes are the first thing he sees, green as a forest. The next is her hair - every bit as red as Kushina's is. She's also got the same nose, jawline, and cheekbones as Kushina…maybe there is something to her claim of being related to his wife?
The feeling of her presence - not Chakra, but something very similar, dense, almost electric, and about as still as the ocean surface - is rather distracting as well.
"Nice guards," she says warily, starting to bounce the babbling baby on her knee, "they seem a little intense, though."
Minato hums in agreement - they're ANBU, they're supposed to be intense - and grabs a chair to sit in. "So, I hear you're looking for my wife." His gaze sharpens, blue eyes meeting green unflinchingly, and adds "My pregnant wife."
Ayame groans, and mutters "You must be this…Hokage person."
Minato inclines his head in a nod, saying "You somehow arrive in the middle of the Forest of Death through unknown means, with an unidentifiable energy signature that doesn't match any Chakra I've ever sensed, incapacitate four of my best Jonin, and are looking for my wife claiming to be related to her while knowing nothing about me. I'm sure you understand why we're all a little concerned."
Ayame sighs in sheer irritation, and says "Look, I don't actually have a whole lot to go on, alright? I've got an old letter my Mum wrote ages ago, before I was even born, and the only things that look like names given the context are 'Kushina' and 'the Uzumaki Clan' alright? So, sorry you weren't mentioned, or this village wasn't mentioned, or literally anything else! But, all I've got are some old rolls of parchment detailing the very basics of Chakra, some weird ritual circles she drew out that don't look complete, and the letter that mentions a Kushina as her twin sister."
Minato freezes at that last part - Kushina told him she had a twin sister that went missing, no Chakra trace or body ever found, there weren't even any leads. There's no way she could possibly know that…right? The event was nearly two decades ago, Kushina was six, and she looks…seventeen, maybe eighteen.
Despite the resemblance to Kushina…the math doesn't add up. "That's not possible, Kushina was six when her sister vanished without a trace. And you're…what, seventeen? Eighteen?"
Ayame shrugs defensively, saying "I can't explain it, alright? All I know is, my mother's twin is called Kushina, I don't even know if my mother's name was originally Lily when she was born!" She slumps back into the chair she's in, even as the white bird on one shoulder starts singing soothingly - thankfully, it at least seems to settle the baby on her leg, who starts babbling happily again and reaching for said white bird.
Minato stares at the red-head thoughtfully - she seems…completely exhausted, actually. Like she's been running on nothing but adrenaline, stubbornness, and this one lead of hers for a very long time. She certainly doesn't strike him as any kind of threat…she strikes him as needing a good meal, a hot shower, and a week's worth of sleep, in all honesty. Sighing to himself, just knowing this is either going to go very well or very badly, he says "My name's Minato. What about you?"
"Ayame," she murmurs, one hand running through her white bird's feathers, the other keeping her baby steady, "my name's Ayame now. Ayame Mors-Peverell-Uzumaki…if she wants me, anyway."
Minato runs a hand through his hair, then murmurs "She's going to want you. I can guarantee it."
Ayame snorts tiredly, and says "Don't count your chickens before they hatch. I've had people who are supposed to be related to me not want me. Don't get my hopes up, please."
Minato feels his heart clench for a moment, then says "Kushina's been looking for her sister, for even any trace of her, for the past eighteen years, Ayame. You, her niece? She'll be thrilled."