38 The Unseen Hand at Work

Uzumei frowned as she watched Uchiha Sasuke train by himself. He was right where Naruto claimed he would be. He threw kunai and shuriken with aggression and rage, yet there was some semblance of prodigal skill that she had not seen in most of the other children that she was called to observe.

Naruto had tasked her with monitoring a list of children from his Academy class for at least half an hour every week. She had finished the Yamanaka and the Nara. Now, she had to deal with the anti-social one. She didn't know why her Lord was interested in him, but she wasn't going to go against orders.

The young redhead frowned. She did not know why the Uchiha seemed...familiar to her. Its not like she had seen him before. Or perhaps she had. She couldn't recall. However, he definitely seemed familiar. She shook her head from atop the tree branch. His kunai throw was off. It was very good for a genin, but obvious improvements could be made. Again, she was not sure where those improvements came from, but they seemed very...instinctual.

A breath escaping her, she decided to make her presence known. She stepped into the field and she watched Sasuke throw one more kunai before he became aware of the sounds of her footsteps. He stopped his practice. "What do you want? If you're here to interrupt my practice then…," Sasuke stopped speaking when he stared at the woman. Her eyes looked down upon him, yet surprise was evident upon his face.

"K-Kaa-san?" Sasuke asked. His voice almost a tiny whisper of disbelief. Uzumei blinked. It seemed as if the word and its definition were a lost translation to her very being.

"Excuse me?" Uzumei asked. Sasuke stiffened. His face then quickly contorted into rage and he turned his head to the side. He then growled and picked up his things.

"Nothing. What is it? I'm training! If you have nothing to say then get lost," Sasuke ordered rather angrily. Uzumei raised an eyebrow, but disregarded the tone the Uchiha had just dealt to her. She reached into her robe and pulled out a scroll. She then held it in front of the boy.

"This is for you. My master asked me to give it to you. There will be an item inside. Make sure you're near a television when you see it. Have a good day, Sasuke-san," She said with a bow before leaving him alone. Sasuke watched her out of the corner of his eye. Anger flushed through his face again when he looked at the scroll she had given him. He then went back to his training.

Meanwhile, Uzumei entered Konoha slightly perplexed by the words which came from the young Uchiha. She placed her head in her hands for a moment. The movement of people seemed to fade away. He felt familiar as well, but she did not understand why. She touched her temple. Just thinking about it gave her a headache. Perhaps she should ask Naruto to take her back to the doctor. In the meantime, she would have her other target to work on.

Thankfully, Mizuki's apartment wasn't very far. She appeared in front of the door. A quick glance through the window, she noticed that no one was home. Uzumei frowned before leaving a scroll hanging off the edge of his door. From the plan that Naruto gave her, she had to leave it on the doorknob this way. She was not sure why, but she did as she was instructed.

The redhead then quickly made herself scarce before anyone would notice her. Once she stepped back into the streets she found herself staring at the Konoha populace. These people, this village, and the lands which they all walked, her Lord hated them all. He did not ask that she hate Konoha as she assumed he might have.

Even now, she could feel the blood within her that she had taken from him begin to boil. Just its heated desire for revenge was fueling her own anger. Perhaps he was making her feel a growing animosity towards the Konoha people...or was he enhancing the inner mechanisms of her mind which housed her memories of her own hatred?

Uzumei stiffened when she felt the bump of her shoulder with another. She turned around and noticed she had bumped into a silver-haired man. He smiled at her. "Ah, sorry about that. Have a good day," he said with a smile before he continued walking. As soon as Uzumei felt her eyes land on him she balled her fists. Unparalleled rage filled her body and she could feel a spring of chakra surge from her body hard enough to crack the ground beneath her feet.

Her chakra was so great, the shinobi within the vicinity stopped their daily activities and quickly scanned the area for the hostile power which had sudden come down upon the populace, but it had spread so much that none were able to ascertain the location of it. Uzumei even watched the silver-haired jonin look around, his form suddenly tense and rigid. When he turned around, he saw that she was gone and so was the malice which held the air like a prison.

The former slave turned around a corner and breathed a sigh. She did not like him. That man, she did not like him. Was this what her master had? This deep-seated hatred for Konoha people? She could that she had it as well. That man of silver hair. Just thinking about him made her want to run after him and strangle him until she saw the blood seep from that exposed eye of his.

She did not know why he filled her with unbridled rage, but she was almost close to alerting a squad of shinobi to her location aside from the ones who were already around. Yet...she felt the need to punch something! She hoped her Lord would allow her more training.

"First the Uchiha and now that one-eyed man. What's wrong with me?" She asked before she continued moving on. The power which had surged through her felt very...reminiscent. Uzumei grunted and touched her forehead. She could feel her head bouncing. Perhaps her body wasn't as together as she thought it was. Then again, she was sure her mind wasn't together either.

Uzumei kept walking. Her Lord had given her other tasks and she would see them done, but when she returned then she prayed for rest. She felt like she needed it.

....

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