Naruto: It Could Be Worse... It Always Could, Part 1.
Abeyance.
Watching Nawaki-nii play with his daughter under the tender gaze of his wife will always be one of my favorite things in the world.
"Come here, my princess! Your father needs healing!"- Nawaki-nii said while pretending to be wounded, lying in the grass under the shadow of a giant glowing mushroom.
"Ai goh."- The two-year-old Marina said as she made her way to her father.
"Hill."- She said as she crash-landed on Nawaki-nii's chest.
"It was a trap!"- Nawaki-nii exclaimed, curling around Marina in a hug and keeping her down on the ground.
"Gyahahahha."- Her laughter, which reminded me of my girls, harmoniously rang in my heart.
"She's as cute as always, Ritsume."- I said to Ritsume, Nawaki-nii's wife.
"Thank you, Aya-sama... Who would have thought that I would have the chance to have a family after my passing away?"- Ritsume was one of the few born with genetic defects complicated enough to be unhealable even in Sunagakure.
"I'm happy for you, Ritsume... I'm also thankful to you."
"Aya-sama?"- Ritsume asked me.
"You gave my brother happiness he never got to enjoy."- My poor brother was born during the war and died in it; he never had the chance to even think about forming deeper bonds with the opposite gender aside from Kushina and Tsuna-nee.
"He also brought me joy I never found in 483 years."- She gave me a sunny smile.
I responded with a smile and then gazed at my niece and brother.
"... Cradle robber."- I whispered.
"*Cough!*"- Ritsume choked.
"~Heh~ What's wrong, Ritsume?"- I chuckled.
"... That's not fair, Aya-sama."- She whispered.
My routine, after I decided not to reincarnate, was filled with happy moments like these. I would go about visiting some of my people, or sometimes I would visit other parts of Abeyance's outer space and form planetoids to practice my dimensional lord skills.
In the afternoons, I would spend time with my brother's family, and my nights were filled with training my soul manipulation powers on Lucian.
It was peaceful, boring, monotonous, repetitive, lax, PG-13, slice-of-life, enjoyable, not at all dangerous, and calm... I loved it.
It was what I wanted, what I needed. I got to spend years I lost with my brother, and I completely forgot about the land of the living and their stupid wars.
'*Sigh* But it all had to end, no?'
|It was bound to happen.|
My oldest friend commented as we softly landed behind a redhead and hugged her tightly. She was so lost in her sobs that she didn't notice until she abruptly turned to find us face-to-face.
"I missed you, Kushina-chan."- I tenderly wiped the tears marring my sister's face.
"Eiko-chan?"- Kushina said amidst her shock.
"Or Aya-nee. Whichever you prefer."- I said and cupped her face in my hands.
I was in my silver-haired form, but Nawaki said Mito showed them a few memories of us with genjutsu.
Kushina—almost robotically—brought her head to my chest and resumed her sobbing.
We stayed like this for a few minutes until she calmed down.
"Want to tell me what happened, Kushina-chan?"- I asked softly.
"My husband died... I died... we left our newborn alone."- She said, barely above a whisper.
Kushina had a life filled with death—I played no small part in that. Her mother died after her birth, her clan died (Aya included), her big sister died, who came back to life in exchange for her little sister's death (Eiko), her little brother died, her grandma followed shortly after, and before she knew it, she was left alone with Tsuna-nee, who was avoiding the village after Nawaki, and Mito's deaths.
Kushina—after becoming the fox's vessel—was assigned an ANBU squad for her protection. She hated them because they treated her like an active bomb, ready to go off at any second.
So, with the closest people to her being ANBU and a fleeting Tsuna-nee, her life went downhill. She stopped going out and embraced her role as a NEET. She didn't see a light—metaphorically and literally—until a few years after the war when a new ANBU member was assigned to her squad.
Contrary to the others, this new ANBU-nin was young and friendly. He treated her like a person, and this brought light into her dreary life.
She started to go out more and tried to be a part of Konoha. She made a friend—Mikoto Uchiha—and she found some joy in being part of the village.
As was to be expected, she fell in love with this ANBU-nin. The fact that she was more than a decade older than him was an obstacle she overcame with the help of her thick skin and 'milf vibes'... Luckily, her husband-to-be liked them older and redheaded.
They got together and started living together shortly after... As is normal in the war world of shinobi, war restarted, just when they were thinking about creating life together.
She had to wait for the war to be over, but when it did, she locked her husband away for a month and only let him out after she confirmed her pregnancy.
Her husband became the Hokage, and life seemed to be picking up. However, Tsuna-nee was as present in her life as a father who went out to buy milk. Fast forward nine months, and she gave birth to her little sunshine, Naruto Namikaze.
But, even though the Nine-Tails was not trying to escape, her seal weakened during childbirth. Some scum wearing a mask ruined what was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, and she and her husband had to sacrifice themselves for their village.
'I feel like killing.'
|I don't blame you.|
"I barely got to spend a few minutes with my baby!"- Kushina sobbed and wailed.
"I'm sorry, Kushina-chan."- This was all I could say. I hugged her as if trying to take some of the pain away from her heart. Alas, that would only be possible if I manipulated her emotions, but that's not something you do to your family.
That day, after Kushina gathered herself enough to move, we went to Nawaki-nii and his family for some emotional comfort, the type only toddlers could give.
My 'living arrangements'—and I use the term loosely since I don't usually sleep while I'm in Abeyance—changed with the arrival of my redhead.
I started to spend the nights with Kushina, cuddling my mess of a sister as she cried herself to sleep.
"I missed them..."- Kushina would murmur in her pain at night.
"How was he?"- I asked while running my fingers through her hair and using Luci's biokinesis to restore its luster.
"Minato or Naruto?"- She asked after sniffling some snot.
"Minato."- I clarified.
"He was a sunny person. Someone who always saw the positive in his people and tried to reflect it, like one of those mirrors that would make you look better. He was a man who smiled often, and he was gentle with me."- Her face lit up like a maiden in love when she talked about him.
"He was my only family after Tsunade was swallowed by her pain and decided to cut ties with the village and me."- She frowned.
"... That idiot."- If she was leaving the village, she should have taken Kushina with her, fox or no fox.
"I-I used to blame her... but after losing the love of my life and falling apart as I am now... I can't blame her. She lost her brother and grandmother in the same week, her man died shortly after that, and she had a miscarriage... At least I lost my life at the same time my family fell apart."- From what I understand, due to her merits during the war, she managed to apply for a special permit to get pregnant during wartime.
"Tsuna-nee with a lover is still as surprising as the first time you told me."- I remarked with a chuckle.
"You and Nawaki should have seen your faces when you heard it. Hahaha!"- She laughed softly. Apparently, Nawaki-nii was so embroiled in the war that he wasn't even aware his sister had a lover.
"... I'm sorry about her unborn child."- Fucking war.
"It was an awful year."- From what Kushina told us, that same year Mito and Nawaki-nii passed away, Tsuna-nee's lover died.
He was wounded during one of the final conflicts of the war and was urgently brought back to the village to see if she could heal him. Tsuna-nee did her best, but he was too far gone... The moment his heart gave out, Tsuna-nee became incredibly stressed, and the combined grief got to her badly... She had a miscarriage on the same day.
"Fucking war, fucking ninjas."- I cursed.
"... Fucking shinobi..."- Kushina murmured in agreement.
Kushina fell asleep a few minutes after our emotional cuddling, and I was left to my thoughts.
|You want to reincarnate.|- My ever-loveable eldritch terror said.
'I want to, but... I feel like I would go on a rampage the moment I do... I'm about half a mind away from reincarnating and killing myself immediately as many times as needed to get you healed and sic you on the world.'
'I want to see the ninja of the world left as a mess of madness and regret.'
'I want them all dead.'
'I want them all alive and suffering eternally.'
'I want to save them from themselves... again.'
'I want to hurt them.'
'I want to heal them.'
'I want to dominate them and turn them into will-less beings.'
'I want to teach them, lead them, coach them, and show them a better way.'
'I want to erase them like you told me you could.'
'I want to stay in Abeyance and forget they ever existed.'
'I want to go and retrieve my people and destroy that world.'
'I want to give my people the green light to go to the outside and subjugate the elemental nations.'
'I... I want to hurt them all so badly that they lose their ego and sense of self to the pain.'
'... I hate them, Lucian. I hate them so fucking bad! For everything they have done to me and mine!'
I had to take a deep breath. My sister's fragrance mixed in the air helped calm my madness down. This little mortal in my arms, sleeping peacefully amidst her suffering, helped me keep in mind that not all of them are bad... besides the babies; those are always good.
'Lucian, I was born to be evil. With over 900 years of experience, I can say with confidence that I was born to be evil, wicked just like my creator. I was raised by two persons who could have competed for first place as the scummiest on earth, and I don't know if it was your soul influencing mine or the fact that I was pretty much a clean slate after my death and you and Kaguya stirred me into a path of goodness, even if you're as neutral as one can be, but I consider myself good...'
And I'm proud of that, I had all the tools and rights to be bad, but I turned out good.
|But?|
'But sometimes I believe these people don't even deserve the right to be treated as slaves, much less granting them basic human rights... They just destroy everything! It doesn't matter if we shelter them and guide them to a path of progress... they just fuck it up and regress into the mess that they were.'
|Isn't Sunagakure proof that they can change?|
'It is, but if you compared the average sand person with the average shinobi, you'd realize that they might as well be different species... I don't know how, but the scripture took away something from them, and that made them different, or maybe it gave them something, I don't know.'
|It's the insight of knowing, I believe.|
'What is that?'
|Humans have many qualities, some bad, some good. Among these, curiosity is neutral. Scripture and understanding of the makeup of everything poked this curiosity. By giving them access to a system of learning and discovery, the impulses that drove them are routed to something less destructive and more productive.|
'But the shinobi have chakra; couldn't they focus on learning through that system of power?'
|They could, but they were already too polluted by the idea that chakra is used for war-related developments only. Even if Hagoromo initially tried to teach that chakra was a tool for understanding each other, his actions by fighting Kaguya with chakra said otherwise.|
'So you gave them another direction, is that it?'
|It's mostly that. There are other factors, like when a politician tries to distract their people with news about something attention-grabbing from their reality.|
'Like showing a child something shiny and noisy to distract them from something potentially dangerous?'
|Yes. Scripture gave them access to 'something more'. War would get in the way of that access to 'something more'. So they saw it as unproductive and disruptive; hence, they avoided it. Their love for you and Kaguya also helped. Children tend to do what their parents do.|
'What do you mean?'
|Children imitate their object of worship and security—parents. Humans are similar. You and Kaguya—the parents—are peaceful, powerful goddesses who advocate for progress, self-development, and social security. All of your actions while you ruled them were related to that, improving the quality of life and advancing humanity. Hence, Sunagakure imitated you. So their religion made it so they would have a cultural apprehension for things that contradict your teachings, such as war and useless conflict.|
'Hagoromo advocated peace and understanding through chakra, but his actions of fighting Kaguya with chakra showed otherwise... I understand, Lucian. Thank you for that.'- I thanked my oldest friend for dissuading me from taking a wrong turn.
|Don't get me wrong, Madelyne. I don't think you're wrong in hating them.|-... Maybe he was not dissuading me from anything.
'You don't? I thought you were trying to...'—Wait, what was he trying to do?... Now that I think about it, he only explained to me why Sunagakure was different; he never defended the shinobi.
|... My Madelyne... when have I ever limited you? You just have to say your wish, and if you want them all gone, they will be all gone. If you want them to experience the horror the Shitstain is currently experiencing, then they shall all be subjected to the same sentence. You're not the one who is wrong... My Madelyne is never wrong... The world is... And that's no one's fault but its own... If it needs cleansing, it shall have cleansing.|- Things like these are what prove to me that my friend's lover must be as yandere as he is.
He can spout such irrationality after a somewhat sane argument and sound so convincing...
'That's... That's part of the problem, Lucian. You are akin to a great power I own. I know better than anyone the monster you can be on behalf of those you 'own'. I know the horrible things you'd do for me and Kaguya's sake... but you're my precious monster, Lucian. And I don't want to hurt you with my previous actions when your memories return because I abused your leniency and favor...'
|So... What do you want to do?|- This cold bastard! Not even a fluctuation in his voice!
'... I'll... I'll keep to myself and try to make sure Naruto is living alright... I won't take any leadership position, and if I end up with people under my care, I will ask Sahara for help...'
|And what about the ones that leaked Nawaki's information and the masked man?|
'I will leave them to you, my monster.'
|I identify as an eldritch terror.|-... What?
'... Was that a joke?'- I did a double-take at that.
|It was. Was it funny? I'm trying to emulate emotions and social interactions.|
'... It... was... I think.'
|You don't sound so convinced.|
'I prefer your usual self.'
|Then I shall leave the jokes for when my emotions return.|
'Yes, please.'- That gave me a heart attack.
After I decided to reincarnate one last time—or many, if it turned out to be an unlucky birth—I spent a few more days with my little family before bidding my farewells. As expected, Kushina cried me a river in gratitude.
"Make sure he wasn't led astray by Jiraiya. He was left as the legal guardian."
"Pervert Kid?! Why him and not Tsuna-nee?"
"I needed a signature for the official papers, and Tsunade couldn't be reached."- Kushina gave a dead-eye stare.
"... Ok, I'll give her a few spanks for being a bad head of our family."- What a mess of an Onee-chan.
"Don't be too rough with her; she's been through a lot."- Nawaki-nii said, though his voice lacked strength.
|It's time.|- Lucian materialized behind me, wrapping me in a loving hug as he gazed at my surprised siblings.
"Bye, bye, then!"- I waved farewell as Lucian dragged me away to my next life.
... Hopefully, it will be as sabbatical as the last.
__________________________
11th Life.
Location: Underground Laboratory, undisclosed territory.
'This is weird, even for us.'
In a tall glass tube filled with a greenish liquid, a baby stood submerged. The glass was inscribed with a few low-grade life-preserving scripts.
Similar tubes surrounded the baby—some containing animals, others human parts, and some masses of mutated flesh.
|Hold on for a second, I'm trying to repair this body.|
'Is something wrong?'
|Cancer, lots of it. There are also four different genomes battling for superiority in your body.|
'Was I born as a lab rat? Because this feels very similar to my first life.'- Madelyne thought of her early memories in the 'loving care' of Essex.
|I don't think this body was created. I think you were taken out of the womb and finished developing inside this tube.|
'Doesn't make it better. Is it time to blow up?'- There was some badly concealed eagerness in her voice.
|Not yet. One of the genetic strands is probably from the idealistic Senju; the original is Uchiha. Another is from the Kaguya clan, and the last is from... someone from the desert, I think.|
'And the point being?'
|I will use the other three genomes to enhance and fix the original and reinforce the body. It should make your path smoother if you manage to make it out of this tube.|
'Do I also feel some sort of seal on me?'
|Yes, an amateur seal of chakra enhancement through a very rudimentary use of natural energy. There's also a fragment of a soul in it.|
'What?! Is an idiot attempting to replicate the Kāma seal of the Ōtsutsuki? Do I have to share this body with a fucking parasite?'- The racism in Madelyne's voice was sharp.
|No, this is an original work by someone else... The soul fragment was damaged in the process of making the seal. This is most likely an early work, one of the first attempts at the plotted seal.|
'Oh! In that case, this is astonishing! To be able to make it this far as a pioneer in the field is commendable... Can I have the soul fragment?'
|Sure, it is not useful to me. What do you have in mind?|
'I will practice my powers on it. Then I'll eat it after I'm done. It's not like it could be fixed, right?'
|If you reach the level of power of a Sky Mother Goddess of Souls, you could probably fix it. At the moment, you can't.|
'Okay! Pass it along when you're done with the seal.'
|Do you want me to upgrade the seal or simply remove it?|
'Upgrade it? Like the osteo-script?'
|More like the script tattoos of Sunagakure.|
'Oh! In that case, give me the standard: storage space, chakra enhancement, natural energy attunement, foreign particle filtration and classification, and neuroelectrical enhancement.'
|On it. Here's the soul fragment.|
'I'll go train on it; you can assume control of my body in the meantime. Let me know if something comes up.'
A few months went by, with their only sustenance being the nutritious fluid they floated in and the sources of foreign DNA. More specifically, her liver had been Frankenstein-ed with parts from the livers of different donors.
Taking advantage of the free source of nutrition, Lucian sped up the growth of the body, making it the equivalent of a two-year-old.
It wasn't much, but if he exceeded that amount, he would have to consume the body itself instead of the additional DNA and fluid.
After the growth and reinforcement process, a few things came to light. One was that they were probably in an abandoned lab, or maybe something similar to a cache of experiments. Another was that there must be a tank filled with fluid feeding them, given that they had repurposed so much of it and the volume wasn't reduced.
*Rumble*- A distant muffled vibration interrupted their musings.
|...|
'...'
*RUmble*- It seemed to be getting closer.
|...|
'...'
*RUMBLE!*- The continuous deep, resonant sound made the tube and its kin vibrate.
|...|
'... Jailbreak time?'
|Mayb—*BOOOOOM!*- An explosion interrupted Lucian.
The lab collapsed as if something heavy landed on top of it.
With a sudden flash of light and some white sand residue, Madelyne teleported to the top of the lab. Given that their constant supply of nutrition went down with the lab, they saw no purpose in going down with their cradle.
When they emerged outside, they found the footprint of a very large toad above where their tube had been.
And in the distance, a massive toad turned into a cloud of white smoke and disappeared.
"Don't move, girly."- A kunai appeared at their throat.
Lucian—still controlling the body—looked up at the ninja and unleashed a sliver of his killing intent. The ninja, as expected, collapsed while frothing.
Waving a hand, the ninja's mesh and Jonin vest were removed. He waved his hand again, cleaning the filth from the clothing. He covered their body with the mesh and put the vest on top.
Since the body had the physical appearance of a two-year-old at best, it fit like a dress. In reality, it was closer to a cloth.
Lucian floated above the Jonin and waited for the summoner of the toad to appear. It wasn't long.
"Girl, aren't you too young to be a Jonin?"- A white-haired man asked in a carefree tone.
Lucian didn't say anything and just stared at him.
"Your eyes remind me of someone I knew a lifetime ago."- The man added, looking between her eyes and her floating height.
But Lucian kept silent.
'Why are you not answering?'
|Because we are a baby whom no one taught how to speak, we will learn on the way.|
'Oh! You're right!'
"No response, huh? Where did you come from?"- The man glanced between the unconscious Jonin and the floating girl.
Lucian pointed below them.
"I see, you must be one of Orochimaru's test subjects. Mmmmmmm."- The man assumed a thinking pose.
"Did you do that?"- He pointed at the Jonin.
Lucian nodded.
"May I know why?"- He asked, masking his surprise.
Lucian made the Jonin move like a puppet, having him hold the kunai to recreate his previous actions.
"... I see..."- The man's eye twitched.
"Can I have him?"- he asked.
Lucian imitated the man's thinking pose, then made the ninja's pouch and weapons float behind them before throwing the bare-chested Jonin at the man's feet. The abrupt rough treatment of the Jonin surprised the man.
"... Thank you. Can you wait while I try to unearth... this? Whatever this was."- The man gestured below them.
Lucian nodded and floated to a tree, sitting on one of the thickest branches, observing as Jiraiya dug through the collapsed ruins of the lab.
|Are you ready to switch?|
'Nope, I'm still practicing with the soul fragment. You can keep driving until we make it to Konohagakure.'
|Alright.|
It took Jiraiya a few hours to dig out any valuable files or similar from the wreckage of the lab. By the time he returned above ground, he found a bare-chested Jonin glaring at a girl who seemed to be slurping the eggs of an unfortunate mother bird—or perhaps several, judging by the number of eggshells below the branch where she sat.
"I'm done. We should return to the nearest post and send this girl back to Konoha."
"Jiraiya-sama! Can you have her return my clothing?"- The Jonin complained.
"Are you asking me to leave the girl naked?"- Jiraiya gave a mocking, judgmental stare.
He might have helped the Jonin recover his clothing if it weren't for the fact that a two-year-old got the better of him. Kekkei Genkai or not, this was not acceptable for a Jonin from Konoha.
The Jonin simply lowered his head and walked to the area below Lucian, where he had left the confiscated weaponry. But before he could grab the first bundle of senbon, the weapons floated rapidly behind the now-glaring girl.
Both Jiraiya and the Jonin felt the equivalent of :Mine: resonate in their minds, though not in words.
"Jiraiya-sama!"- The Jonin cowardly ran to Jiraiya for safety.
"She did something to my head! Help me!"- The man implored.
Jiraiya felt the urge to facepalm violently. The new generation of Jonin seemed to be of a much lower standard.
"Let's go to the nearest outpost, Muraki. We have to send this Uchiha girl back home."
"Eh? Uchiha? But her eyes aren't black, nor do they have pupils for that matter."- Jonin Muraki commented in confusion.
"It's something above your paygrade. If you want to know, ask the old man Hokage, not me."- Jiraiya said while walking toward the girl.
"Girl, can you attach yourself to my back? We're going to move fast."- Jiraiya knew that possessors of the Kūhakugan could attach themselves to surfaces from a young age.
The term 'Kūhakugan' had been given to Eiko, Aya, and the leader of the desert's Kekkei Genkai by the council of Konoha. As one of Konoha's powerhouses, Jiraiya was in the loop.
Lucian slowly moved to his back, waved a hand to clean the surface, and moved the white mane out of the way. He then attached himself to Jiraiya's back, the weapons he had taken from the Jonin floating behind him.
Jiraiya felt it when the girl cleaned him and didn't know what to think about this fussy toddler.
He had just finished battling his traitorous teammate, and there was no way he would come out clean and pristine. He believed it was enough that he wasn't covered in blood.
'Why so fussy?'
|I don't want to get your body dirty. You're gonna use it later, no?|
'I understand.'
Lucian didn't care; simply because it was Madelyne's body, he didn't want to mar it.
At the pace of a Jonin, the nearest outpost was less than an hour away.
From that fort, Jiraiya sent a messenger hawk and waited for further instructions on how to proceed with the girl.
A few hours later, he received an order to wait for a squad to relieve him of his escorting duty.
During their time at the outpost, Jiraiya tried to engage Lucian in conversation.
"Girl, do you have a name?"
:Undecided:
"Would you like me to name you? I've been told I have a talent for it."- He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
:Negative:
"That's your loss. I'll have you know that I named all of the characters in my book!"- Jiraiya acted like a hurt, smug old man—a performance that was, frankly, quite disgusting.
"Can you use space-time ninjutsu?"- Jiraiya recalled that Eiko could teleport and Aya Uzumaki could use a form of storage not related to script or fūinjutsu.
Lucian blinked out of existence and back as a response.
"I always wanted to do something like that! Alas, I have no affinity for space-time ninjutsu, so I had to settle for teaching the fastest shinobi! His name was Minato Namikaze, Konoha's Yellow Flash."- Pride and a hint of regret overflowed in his voice.
Lucian, however, was not much of a conversationalist. Soon the conversation died down, and they waited, gazing out at the sprawling forests surrounding the fort.
"So, girl... Can you bring the dead back?"- Jiraiya asked, carefully measuring his words.
:Situational:
"Does that mean it depends?"
:Affirmative:
"But you have to do it in exchange for your life, right?"
:Situational:
"... Would it depend on your age?"
'Power.'- Lucian said in his mind.
"Oh! Can you speak now?"- Jiraiya asked, slightly surprised.
'Learning.'
"... Well... Eiko-chan was very smart, and from what I've been told, Aya Uzumaki was as well."- Jiraiya matched Lucian's feat with what was recorded of the two previous holders of the Kūhakugan.
Jiraiya continued trying to gather intelligence on Lucian. They spent a few more hours together until an ANBU team arrived.
"Thank you for the pleasant talk, girl. I'm always down for a chat with a lady, though this is the first time I've talked with one so young..."- Jiraiya said, the last part with a thoughtful expression.
"These shinobi will escort you back to my home village, and an old man will help you from there. You can trust these men!"- Jiraiya tried his best to give her a handsome and reassuring grin.
At least he got the reassuring part right.
:Gratitude:
Lucian floated over and attached himself to the back of a female shinobi wearing a bear mask. His weapons floated behind him. Meanwhile, a certain Jonin looked on from a distance, lamenting how more than three months of his pay was going away with a toddler.
"Jiraiya-sama, my weapons!"- The Jonin cried.
"Consider it a lesson for letting a toddler get the better of you!"- Jiraiya half-glared.
"It's not my fault, Jiraiya-sama. One moment I was behind the girl, and the next, I was waking up. She didn't use chakra, nor did she move; I simply was and then wasn't. I don't have any form of training on how to deal with stuff like that!"
"... Are you sure it wasn't genjutsu?"
"Jiraiya-sama, my chakra wasn't manipulated, and you should know she doesn't have enough chakra to use genjutsu on a Jonin."
"... I'll add it to my report, then."- Jiraiya conceded. Something wasn't adding up.
He had checked her chakra capacity when she attached herself to his back; while surprising for a toddler, it was not enough to cast genjutsu on a Jonin.
Jiraiya finished writing his report and sent it with a messenger hawk. After that, he resumed his hopeless pursuit of Orochimaru.
The ANBU didn't take long to reach Konohagakure; they were under explicit orders to double their pace.
'It hasn't changed much, has it?'
|It's hard to develop anything not pertinent to the war effort during war times.|
'But it should be a few years after the Third War, right?'
|You're trying to use our standard for development, not theirs.|
'Mmmmmm, that sounds about right. I can imagine that if the Second War lasted as long as Nawaki-nii said, and the Third as much as Kushina said, it's remarkable that this place didn't fall apart due to economic regression.'
They soon passed through the security checkpoints and jumped over the village's rooftops toward the Hokage building.
When they entered the Hokage's office, an ANBU stopped them before they could proceed.
"No weapons allowed."- The ANBU said curtly.
Lucian looked back at the floating armory and willed it into the storage script on their arms. The senbon, shuriken, kunai, and short blades disappeared into the storage script.
"No weapons allowed, girl. That means whether they are stored or not."- The ANBU insisted.
Lucian stared fixedly at him.
'SLEEP.'- Lucian commanded mentally, accompanied by a sliver of killing intent focused solely on the ANBU.
The ANBU stood still for a moment before collapsing backward, unconscious.
'That one resisted better.'
|Possibly the guards of the Hokage are stronger than the average Jonin.|
'Mhmm. But you're gonna hurt us if you keep doing that.'
|This is the last one, I believe. Nothing a night of sleep won't fix.|
'Weapons allowed?'- Lucian asked the remaining ANBU with a flat expression.
The ANBU exchanged looks and were about to insist when a voice from behind the door interrupted them.
"Let her in."- An aged voice commanded.
The ANBU followed the orders and guided Lucian inside.
In the office were the Hokage—Hiruzen Sarutobi—an elderly woman—Koharu Utatane—an elderly man with glasses—Homura Mitokado—and a figure who appeared as a mummy—Danzo Shimura—Eiko's old playmate.
Lucian's eyes briefly touched each of them, much to the displeasure of the 'hidden' mummy.
"Hello, little one. While the circumstances of our meeting are not ideal, I'm glad you've returned to your home village."- Hiruzen said in a friendly tone.
'I was born from a tube. No home.'- Lucian conveyed to the four elders' minds.
This message may have caused the paranoid bone of the mummy to tingle.
"That may be the case, but your mother was a shinobi from our village. That grants you the same rights as any villager here. There's also the fact that the two previous holders of your dōjutsu were related to our village."
'Eiko Senju and Aya Uzumaki?'- Lucian confirmed.
'Hey, Luci! Why are you oversharing?!'
|They know we are smart, but we never explained why.|
'Is there a need to explain?'
|We are currently weak, so it's better to make them think they gain more from keeping us alive than dead.|
'Oh... I thought we were going to wait for someone from the Futagami clan to find us.'
|Is that what you want?|
'No, this path is good as well. Let's see what happens.'
The elders exchanged looks for a few seconds.
"It is as you say, little one. May I ask how you knew those names?"
'Knowledge Directory.'
The elders exchanged confused glances until Danzo spoke.
"Girl, does your kūhakugan give you access to knowledge?"
'Kūhakugan?'
"It's the name we use for your dōjutsu."- The elderly woman clarified.
'Affirmative.'- Lucian responded, looking back at Danzo.
"Is it a fixed amount of knowledge, or is it perhaps a form of compound inheritance accruing from all the previous holders?"- The glasses elder asked.
'Access to all previous holders' knowledge. Limited by mental capacity. Only one holder at a time.'- Lucian answered unequivocally in their minds.
'I see! They will want our knowledge! Won't they simply send a mind reader to extract it?'- Madelyne thought, concern evident.
|But that won't work, will it?|
'Ah!... If they don't understand your implicit offer, we will make whoever they send braindead, forcing them to protect us if they want any glimpses of our knowledge.'
|That's the idea—to gain some protection. We can trade knowledge for benefits, and since they're already killing each other, we don't need to worry about misuse of our knowledge.|
'Right? They'll keep killing each other as they always have. This plan works well; the hardest part of infancy is lacking reliable protectors.'
"One holder? Do you mean that the previous holder before Aya Uzumaki was the ruler of the sand?"- Hiruzen asked.
'Affirmative. Passed away shortly after saving the One-Tails from the slaving hands of the Idealistic Senju.'
"..."
"..."
"..."
On one hand, it was good news that the monster had passed away. On the other, what did she call their god of shinobi?
At least this was the consensus among the elders, except for Danzo. He agreed with Lucian's view of the First Hokage.
'Greed.'- Lucian frowned, looking at Danzo.
The other elders looked back at him but showed little reaction. They were more concerned with the fact that the girl could discern their emotions, and interested in that she didn't point out their greed.
"That amount of knowledge could change our entire structure and place our village at the top of the world. Why wouldn't I feel greedy for it? It would be suspicious if I didn't."- Danzo explained without an ounce of shame.
'It couldn't.'
"It couldn't what?"- Danzo asked.
'It couldn't place Konohagakure at the top.'
"Why do you think so?"- Hiruzen asked, intrigued by their exchange.
'You will never surpass Sunagakure.'
The elders' minds began turning, realizing what it meant for a centuries-old holder of the Kūhakugan to rule over the sand. It meant the ruler of the sand had centuries to put their knowledge to use. Even if they gained access to it now, how could they possibly catch up to someone who had this knowledge for centuries before them?
"I refuse to believe it! Why haven't they conquered the continent then?"- Danzo asked, in denial.
'There are no benefits to it.'
"Land?"- Asked the glasses elder.
'There's enough of that if you dig deeper.'- Lucian conjured a small illusion of light above their hand, showing a rough blueprint of the pyramidal construction of Sunagakure. It was a crude sketch but conveyed the message.
The elders stared at the illusion with a mix of dread and stupefaction.
'Too much info!'- Madelyne said in her mind.
|There's literally nothing they can do. Just a few scripted attacks from Shukaku are enough to level the continent. What could they do?|
'... You went overboard with the poor Tanuki! Tailed beasts were not supposed to be that strong!'
|I may have... But I wanted to see how far he could reach. I was not disappointed.|
After a few minutes, they gathered themselves. The Hokage addressed Lucian.
"Ehmmm... Little one, have you decided on a name?"- The Hokage seemed to remember she hadn't settled for a name yet.
'Sayaka.'- Lucian reused the name Haruna had forgotten.
"That's a beautiful name, Sayaka-chan. May I know why you chose it?"- The Hokage offered a grandfatherly smile.
'Previous holder.'
"I see. What was the name of the ruler of the sand, if you don't mind me asking?"
'Aya.'
"... So that's where Aya Uzumaki got her name. I digress. Sayaka-chan, there's a temporary room down the hall on the left for you. It should serve you until we find a more permanent arrangement. Is that alright with you, Sayaka-chan?"- Hiruzen asked.
'Agreeable.'- Lucian responded.
"Then that's it for now. Thank you for indulging these elders, Sayaka-chan."- Hiruzen smiled, and an ANBU opened the door from outside.
Lucian floated through and followed the directions to their temporary room.
'You can give me back control, Lucian. I want to experience the bliss of sleeping.'- Madelyne said.
It was dark outside already, and Lucian had been controlling their body for a few months. While Lucian was in control, Madelyne had been practicing with the fragmented soul and hadn't had time to enjoy sleep.
|As you wish.|- Lucian switched.
'Night, night!'
|Good night.|
__________________________________________
Hokage's Office.
"*Sigh!* I don't know how to classify it... Was it good fortune? Did we curse ourselves with unwanted knowledge?"- Hiruzen said out loud.
"At least now we know more of the kūhakugan than what Mito Senju shared before her death."- Koharu said.
"Not to mention the intelligence we gathered of the desert."- Homura said while lifting his glasses with the little finger of his left hand while the thumb massaged his temple as if trying to get rid of a killer headache.
"You seem to forget that she is also an Uchiha."- Danzo added.
"Is she? I can't see her as anything else except herself."- Hiruzen said with a chuckle.
"At least on paper and blood, she is."- Danzo pushed a file titled: Subject #023, Uchiha Fetus.
"Orochimaru... isn't it ironic how your greatest creation was left in a cache of failed experiments?"- Hiruzen said with an almost mocking grin, but the pain of his betrayal hadn't disappeared.
"What's your point, Danzo?"- Koharu asked while glancing over the files.
"Her living arrangements."- Danzo said cryptically.
"An orphanage is not an option. Not when she seems to want to negotiate with us, knowledge in exchange for benefits. The Orphanage would make us look like idiots."- Homura concluded.
"A shinobi family would either get scared away or greedy. Not to mention a civilian family."- Koharu added.
"Neither of us can take her, so don't think about getting her into Root, Danzo."- Hiruzen glanced at him.
"I'm not. She is not something Root can currently handle. I was thinking of sending her to the Uchiha."- Danzo said, surprising everyone in the office.
"The Uchiha?!"- Koharu exclaimed.
"You're making my headache worse, Danzo!"- Homura glared.
"Are you... alright, Danzo?"- Hiruzen looked at him with concern.
"Idiots!"- Danzo exclaimed in anger.
"It's the best play!"- Danzo added.
"Alright, Danzo! What do you have in mind?"- Hiruzen relented under the glare of his friend.
"Even if we keep her... If the Uchiha find out of her lineage they would use it as an excuse to retaliate against us. It wouldn't look good in the eyes of the other clans. And we can't afford that at a time like this when we need them on our side, not the Uchiha's."- Danzo paused and made sure his less capable 'friends' were following—Homura and Koharu.
"We can 'entrust' her to the Uchiha and she will keep bargaining with us."
"Why wouldn't she support the Uchiha instead of us if she is looking for protection?"
"I'm getting to that, Hiruzen!"- Danzo clamored.
"Eiko Senju, Aya Uzumaki, Aya the ruler of the sand, and Sayaka Uchiha, all of them are prideful individuals. Eiko Senju might as well have been the princess of Konoha more than Tsunade ever was, the whole village mourned her passing. Aya Uzumaki didn't even entertain the idea of accepting help from you when she was fighting the Raikage and Tsuchikage, even if you went to help, did she?"- Danzo asked while holding his gaze on Hiruzen.
"She didn't."- He said frankly.
"The ruler of the sand didn't even glance at the first generation of Kages for more than a few minutes, and in her eyes they were all fools, she only dain to meet them when Hashirama Senju stole her tailed beast. And Sayaka Uchiha put your ANBU to sleep when they dared to ask for her weapons a second time. She is prideful, they all were."- Danzo's statement started to turn cogs in Hiruzen's head. Not for Koharu and Homura, though.
"Just like the Uchiha..."- Hiruzen had an idea of what Danzo was aiming at.
"She is only an Uchiha on blood and paper, but to them, she might as well be an outsider. She doesn't have the sharingan, she carries script on her skin as the sand people do, she is a product of Orochimaru's madness—a known village traitor—her mannerisms differ from ours, and she will be publicly in contact with us."
"We will make that public?"- Koharu asked.
Hiruzen felt that sometimes the council members were not that capable.
Danzo felt like strangling the idiot.
"We will of course not!"- Hiruzen said.
"Yes, the Hokage office will keep the secrecy of our deal with her."- Danzo remarked.
"Root..."- Homura surmised.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Homura. The point is that even if they won't see her as one of them, they won't have any choice aside from keeping her in their compound because they are a prideful bunch who won't allow their blood to be found outside."
"They will clash with her... That's a dangerous game, Danzo. You didn't see what Aya Uzumaki was capable of when she was not caring about her life, do you want a repeat of that in our village?"- Hiruzen questioned.
"It's no more dangerous than Naruto Uzumaki in the orphanage is..."- Danzo's comment stung Hiruzen's heart.
"Besides, Sayaka Uchiha is not a normal child. Worst case—which I find quite appealing—she will lash out at the Uchiha, best case, she will ignore them, maybe find a friend or two, but the adults will always keep her apart, she is an 'outsider' after all."- Danzo smiled predatorily.
"Hiruzen, this could work."- Koharu supported Danzo's idea.
Danzo didn't know how to feel about the idiot supporting him, but he knew he needed their pressure on Hiruzen—not that Hiruzen seemed all that reluctant.
"I agree... I'll just have to make sure Sayaka-chan agrees."- Hiruzen conceded.
___________________________________
The day after Sayaka agreed, the Hokage walked her to the Uchiha compound—he walked, and she floated.
Along the way, the villagers couldn't help but curiously gaze at the floating toddler. For the older generation, this evoked a feeling of familiarity; for the newer generation, it was something surprising and novel.
As is generally known, the Tsuchikage can fly, and there are a few summons that can carry a person, but there are no public records of flying toddlers. Of course, the higher-ups of the shinobi villages know of Aya Uzumaki and the ruler of the sand.
The walk took them to the outer rim of the village, where they reached the Uchiha compound.
A guard let them in with the face pass of the Hokage, and they were led to the house of the clan leader.
"Hokage-sama, Fugaku is waiting for you. Are you leaving the girl alone?"- Mikoto Uchiha asked after they entered the residence.
"Hello, Mikoto. If it's not too much of a problem, can I leave her with Itachi and Sasuke? You might want to be present for what we are going to discuss."- Hiruzen said, glancing at the seven-year-old with a timid two-year-old attached at the hip.
"... Itachi, can you look after her while you're taking care of Sasuke?"- Mikoto asked, initially confused about what would require her presence.
"Yes, Mom."- Itachi said.
"Sayaka-chan, please stay with Itachi."- Hiruzen said.
Leaving the children behind, the adults went to another room to discuss Sayaka's situation.
"..."- Sayaka stared at the seven-year-old with a fixed gaze.
'Are you a genin?'- She asked, staring at the forehead protector.
Itachi looked alert and tried to dissipate the genjutsu, bringing his arms around his brother as if trying to protect him from something.
'I'm talking to your mind.'- Sayaka waved a hand.
"... How are you doing that?"- Itachi asked cautiously.
'My dōjutsu.'- Sayaka pointed at her eyes.
Itachi took a second to compose himself.
"Yes, Sayaka-chan."- He answered calmly.
'These fucking monsters.'- Sayaka thought to herself.
'Aren't you too young to be taking lives?'- Her question brought surprise to Itachi. It was hard to grasp that a girl as young as his brother could comprehend concepts such as life and death.
"... I want the power to protect my village."- He said. To Itachi, the shinobi path was nothing but a means to an end—protecting his village.
'This village must be in dire straits if it needs the power of a seven-year-old for protection. Maybe it should disappear if it has to rely on your power, no? Maybe there's something wrong with it, or maybe with the world, no?'- Sayaka said.
Sayaka left Itachi lost in thought and floated to Sasuke's level.
"Jellou."- She said brokenly.
"... Hello?"- Sasuke said, tilting his head curiously.
Sayaka nodded at him and brought her hand to his head to pat him.
'He's cute. I can't wait to see how this world will fuck him up like it did his older brother.'
|This is Indra's chakra reincarnation.|
'Oh, wonderful! Now it's guaranteed. Best to enjoy his cute phase while it lasts.'
"Your eyes..."- Sasuke said timidly, pointing at the white orbs Sayaka called eyes.
"Pwetty?"- She asked in her broken speech.
"... Ngh!"- Sasuke grunted in approval.
'Oh, my! He is already grunting! Indeed, this is the quintessential Uchiha, just like most of Indra's chakra reincarnations.'
|I thought they started to grunt and brood when they were a bit older than this, he must be a prodigy.|
Itachi then brought the toddlers to another room and set them down with a few sheets of paper and some coloring pencils.
The talks between the adults extended for about an hour, long enough for Sayaka to make a realistic drawing of Sasuke and Itachi.
'So that you hopefully have a bright future as brothers.'- Sayaka said while handing the drawing to Itachi.
'What I meant to say was that hopefully, he would stop focusing on the village and focus more on his family. Alas, that won't be possible. I recognize a traumatized child when I see one.'
|I wonder what scarred him like that. It doesn't appear that the war reached this far, so maybe it was during the incident with the fox.|
'It's possible; otherwise, he would have to be like four and somehow be on the battlefield, and that's madness. His parents wouldn't allow that.'
|I agree, probably some altercation, but most likely something related to the fox. That masked man really did mess up everything.|
'It's incredible, even our first interaction with a kid was with one traumatized due to the repercussions of the masked man.'
|That man is scum, that's for sure.|
'Fucking scum!'
"How did you draw like this?"- Itachi asked, surprised at the life-like quality of the drawing.
'My dōjutsu.'- Sayaka pointed at her eyes. This was becoming her default answer faster than she expected.
"How does that work?"- Itachi became more and more interested in her eyes.
'Perfect memory plus near absolute body control.'- Sayaka explained.
"Similar to the Sharingan but different."
'The copying mechanism is similar. If you had your Sharingan, you could have copied my hand movements and replicated the drawing.'
"You can use the Sharingan for something like that?"- Itachi widened his eyes in surprise.
'Yes, it doesn't have to be just for killing.'
"I understand. Thank you for the tip, Sayaka-chan."- Itachi petted her head in thanks.
'You're welcome, Itachi-kun.'- Sayaka smiled softly.
'I doubt he understood what I was trying to imply.'
|It's doubtful. That masked man left a deep trauma in him. His neurological development was most likely stunted by the trauma.|
'Fucking masked man!'
While Itachi—who had been brought to the battlefield by his idiot of a father at the age of four—was appreciating the drawing, the Hokage and the other adults entered the room.
Fugaku had a look as if he had tasted something sour, especially after laying eyes on Sayaka, or maybe that was just his usual expression.
Mikoto looked worried and somewhat apologetic as she glanced at Sayaka.
"Sayaka-chan, I'll leave you in the capable hands of your clan, the Uchiha."- Hiruzen said with his usual grandfatherly smile.
Sayaka nodded.
"Your monthly stipend will arrive at the beginning of each month. If you want to increase it, you can always visit my office. Alright?"- Hiruzen continued. Sayaka had already sold them the formula for the storage script, which secured her a monthly stipend large enough to live comfortably.
Sayaka nodded again and this time waved Hiruzen goodbye.
"See you later, Sayaka-chan."- Hiruzen said as he made his way out.
"Were you an Uchiha?"- Itachi asked curiously.
'Affirmative.'
"But... how can you wield the Sharingan without pupils?"- The adults looked uncomfortable as they observed the interaction between the children.
'My dōjutsu can do what the Sharingan does.'- Sayaka replied, pointing to her eyes with a soft smile.
"Oh... I see."- Itachi responded, uncertain if that counted.
"You will stay with us today, and tomorrow we will take you to your living arrangement."- Fugaku said.
Sayaka nodded and then stared at Mikoto.
'Are you Mikoto Uchiha? Friend of Kushina Uzumaki?'- Sayaka asked.
Mikoto stared at her, wide-eyed. "..."
"How do you know that?"- Fugaku demanded.
'It seems the Hokage didn't share much with them.'
|Maybe they don't have a close relationship. They didn't while we were Eiko Senju, and that probably worsened with the wars.|
'She made a soul pact with the previous holder of my eyes. She entrusted this letter to me.'- Sayaka said, producing a letter from Abeyance.
"How is that possible?"- Mikoto asked while receiving the letter.
'The soul pact is similar to the Shinigami contract of the Uzumaki. Upon death, the soul moves to a certain space connected to my dōjutsu.'- Sayaka explained.
"This..."- Mikoto whispered softly, then turned her attention to the letter.
She wasn't sure about believing Sayaka yet, but she knew Kushina had a little sister with the same eyes as Sayaka.
A few minutes later, Mikoto was overcome with sadness and began to softly sob.
"Fugaku, read it."- Mikoto said, passing it to her concerned husband.
Unlike Mikoto, Fugaku's face turned even sterner, as if the sour lemon in his mouth had intensified.
"Sadly, there's nothing we can do about her boy."- Fugaku said for his wife.
'Why?'- Sayaka asked. The contents of the letter were simple; they just needed to make sure Naruto Namikaze was healthy.
"Itachi, take Sasuke to his room and give us some privacy."- Fugaku instructed.
They waited for Itachi to leave the room before Fugaku started to explain.
"When the Nine-Tails rampaged, a pattern resembling an advanced form of the Sharingan was seen in the beast's eyes. Madara Uchiha was famous for using the Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails. Because of this, our clan bore some of the blame for the disaster that night. As a result, we can't approach the jinchūriki without attracting the scrutiny of the council and the Hokage."- He said with a hint of regret in his voice. Mikoto was aghast.
Initially, they didn't even know the child had survived, but at the beginning of the year, when rumors about the demon fox child spread, they discovered Naruto Uzumaki—not Namikaze. By then, the tension between the village and the Uchiha was troubling enough that they couldn't approach the ailing child.
'I see. I'll approach the child, then.'
"You can't. Didn't I just say there's tension between the Uchiha and the village council?"- Fugaku replied sternly.
'That's not a problem. I'll talk with the Hokage, and if he denies my request... Let's just say he won't.'
|I can find the child and make it seem like a coincidental encounter.|
'Oh, okay. That's better. That way, I don't have to blow up and try again in the next life!'
'I've changed my mind. I'll simply look after him in my free time, from a distance.'- Sayaka said, alleviating some of their concerns.
"... Sayaka-chan, the clan..."- Mikoto began, her voice tinged with unhidden concern.
Sayaka stared at her, waiting for Mikoto to continue.
"The clan won't accept you, girl."- Fugaku said, without any of his wife's reluctance.
'I'm not expecting to make a family out of the Uchiha. But I'll retaliate if they cross my line.'- Sayaka said. She already anticipated how they might react.
If a child like Itachi could speak about their differences, she could easily imagine what the adults would say.
At the end of the day, she only cared about having protectors, not a family. As long as no one acted foolishly, she would be fine.
Fugaku nodded in agreement, while Mikoto had a bad feeling about it.
That night, Sayaka slept in the guest room, and the next day, Mikoto guided her to a small but fully equipped house.
Mikoto was still reluctant to leave Sayaka alone to fend for herself, but after some convincing, she capitulated.
Time passed, and within three days, Sayaka noticed how the Uchiha avoided her. The adults kept their children away. It never went beyond that, but if she had been a regular child, it might have been a different story.
'Don't they know the proverb: The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth?'- Sayaka mused as she cooked some homemade lasagna with her telekinesis.
|We always knew they were self-destructive. Look at how they are treating Naruto Uzumaki. The child is barely that, and they've already abandoned him.|
'Idiot Kushina-chan saying that the child was left in the care of Pervert Kid and the Hokage. What a load of bullshit that turned out to be.'
It took no longer than a day for Lucian to track down Naruto Uzumaki. He had been expelled from the orphanage a few months ago, and the toddler—because that's what he was, a toddler—was barely surviving on the 'meals' provided by the ANBU.
From that day on, Sayaka used her powers to stealthily make Naruto stumble upon some premade meals and fruits.
She would either use her telekinesis to make food appear in his way or use Abeyance to make food pop up in his home. Clothing was another basic necessity he needed.
Overall, she was sure the child hadn't died because of the Uzumaki constitution and the chakra of the fox.
|But it looks like the fox is behaving.|
'What do you mean?'
|The seal is good, but the full might of the fox should be enough to free itself. It seems the fox is reluctant to escape. Maybe it has to do with the Sharingan of the masked man or with us.|
'Kushina did say that after the control was lifted, the Nine-Tails stopped its rampage, didn't she?'
|Yes, but she said Minato died because the masked man got the better of him while he was protecting the village from a barrage of tailed beast bombs. Kushina managed to break the control by using the mark Minato left on the masked man and teleporting a Rasengan onto him, but not before the masked man drove his hand through her.|
'Meaning?'
|Meaning she couldn't have sealed the fox in Naruto using Minato's sealing technique while dying if the fox hadn't cooperated a little.|
'He didn't resist!'
|And he also didn't escape afterward. Minato's Eight Trigrams Sealing Style should be enough to safely hold a little more than a quarter of the fox's chakra, maybe half if you split the fox into its yang and yin attributes. But so far, it's been nearly three years, and this village is still in one piece... somewhat.|
'So the fox sees no value in escaping. Could it be because he sensed Asura's chakra in Naruto?'
|I don't know if he can sense that.|
'Interesting. We can ask him when we get the chance.'
|We can.|
Sayaka continued her life in the cold Uchiha compound. Not that their coldness meant anything to her; would a human feel bad if an ant gave them the cold shoulder?
Despite their coldness, she noticed that Itachi, Mikoto, and a little girl around Itachi's age named Izumi Uchiha didn't ignore her.
Sayaka developed a friendship with Mikoto, where they shared recipes and cooking tips. It wasn't unusual for Sayaka to exchange plates of dessert with Mikoto about twice a week.
Itachi often came by to take drawing lessons from Sayaka, though sometimes she felt he was there to gather information about her, likely on behalf of Fugaku.
Sayaka met Izumi because the girl occasionally followed her crush—Itachi—around the compound. One day, she gathered the courage to talk to Sayaka, whom Itachi visited often.
After their encounter, Izumi would sometimes join Sayaka and Mikoto's recipe exchanges and receive some cooking lessons from her.
"You do know she is trying to become the perfect 'woman' for your son, right?"- Sayaka asked Mikoto with a raised brow while tasting the cheesecake Mikoto had brought for evaluation. Izumi had to go home earlier, so she couldn't stay for the gossip... hence she became the gossip.
"What more could I ask for, as his mother? She is trying to improve for my son. Isn't that wonderful? Though, I don't know if their relationship will bloom into something more; they're too young."- Mikoto replied with a dreamy look.
"Your child... is a dunce."- Sayaka said curtly. Itachi thought more about the village than those around him—quite contradictory, given that those around him are the village.
"...Only you would call my genius child a dunce, Sayaka-chan."- Mikoto responded, not at all bothered by Sayaka's words.
She knew there was little room in her child's head for anything other than the village and his brother.
"What good is it to be more skilled at fighting? That won't take him far. Not that power isn't important, but look at Madara. He was the best Uchiha at fighting after the progenitor of the Uchiha, and he didn't make it far, did he? Even with all that power."
"The progenitor of my clan?"- Mikoto asked, puzzled.
"You guys are awful at keeping records."- Sayaka said, somewhat disappointed.
"Excuse me, not everyone can have an ingrained directory of knowledge, can they?"- Mikoto replied in mock anger.
"I guess you have a point. Not that it changes the outcome; you guys can't keep records of history. That's a fact. *Sigh!* The progenitor of the Uchiha was Indra Uchiha, son of the Sage of the Six Paths."
"The Sage's son?!"- Mikoto asked, agape.
"You didn't know? One of the previous holders of my dōjutsu mentioned it to the First Hokage and his brother. Even Mito Senju knew about this."- Sayaka said, certain the council knew as well about the connection between the Uchiha, Senju, and Uzumaki.
"No, I think no one knows about it. We do have a legend but nothing confirmed."
"I don't know why they didn't tell you. Maybe because the Uchiha and the village leadership have been clashing since the time of the Second Hokage. But yeah, the Sage of the Six Paths had two sons: Indra Uchiha and Asura Senju. The Uzumaki are descendants of Asura."
"*Sigh* So much infighting."- Mikoto lamented.
"It's the human way."- Sayaka added flatly.
"...Sometimes, I feel like talking to you is like talking to someone old."- Mikoto said.
"It's because of the directory of knowledge. Imagine having access to the memories of daughters you've never known but love, mothers you miss yet never saw, and battles you fought but never participated in."
"I don't know if I should call it a blessing or a curse."- Mikoto commented with a sad smile.
"Uhmmmm, a bit of both. I would have died without it, but as you can see, I don't have much in the way of innocence."
"I'm sorry, Sayaka-chan."- Mikoto said with a concerned face. She would show this expression to Sayaka from time to time.
"Hey, look at the bright side. I wouldn't have known this cheesecake recipe without it. By the way, it's good. I prefer it with less sugar, but that's my personal preference."- Sayaka smiled, trying to stop the 'kid'—in her eyes—from worrying about unnecessary things.
"Thank you for the recipe, Sayaka-chan."- Mikoto said, petting Sayaka in thanks.
One day, while Sayaka was roaming the village and buying groceries, she encountered something she had long expected.
A man suddenly pulled her floating form into a narrow alley, forcefully placing a hand on her head. He invaded her mind, knocked her unconscious, and fled from the 'crime scene'.
'Who do you think is the hand behind this puppet?'
|Probably your old playmate.|
'Mummy it is. Do you think he will survive?'
|Possibly. Cockroaches are hard to kill.|
Later that day, a muffled explosion was heard in the distance. The villagers who were not paying attention missed it, but the shinobi—ever alert and possessing superhuman senses—were a different story.
For a while, there was a flurry of activity in the village. Ninjas jumped from roof to roof in a hurry, and a climate of tension was palpable.
But eventually, it passed. Sayaka assumed Mummy survived, given that the altercation was not messy enough to suggest the loss of a villager elder.
But she didn't care. She was not strong enough yet to deal with a grown adult with plenty of battle experience, at least not without making some sacrifices. So she was laying low until she had grown strong enough.
She continued living her life as she had been before. It was a somewhat relaxed existence if she didn't count the constant stalking from the Uchiha and the ANBU.
The Uchiha didn't trust her, seeing her as an informant for the Hokage. The ANBU didn't trust her either, viewing her as a walking bomb—at least these ones were right.
But she kept to herself, slowly growing in power and spending time with Izumi and Itachi, and sharing moments with Mikoto.
"Sayaka-chan, can you braid my hair?"- Izumi asked, giving her puppy eyes.
"Sure, which type of braid?"- Sayaka was used to this. Seeing Izumi's long hair, Sayaka had done it once, and ever since then, the little girl had been asking her to try different styles.
"The one you called the Elsa Braid."- Izumi sat on the tatami mat to give Sayaka better access to her head—not that it mattered much since she could fly.
Instead of using her telekinesis, Sayaka hand-braided Izumi's hair while they talked about various topics, mostly about the academy and Itachi.
"Sayaka-chan, do you think he will like it?"- Izumi asked, lacking confidence due to Itachi's somewhat demure behavior around her.
"He will probably like it, but I don't think Itachi is the type of man who would compliment you on his own initiative."- Sayaka said honestly.
"Ugh, what should I do then?"- Izumi asked dejectedly.
"Ask him if he likes it. It's that simple."- Sayaka wasn't sure if he would reply with an Uchiha grunt or simply nod, but it was better than waiting for him to compliment her on his own.
"Mmmmm, okay, I will! I'll go now, Sayaka-chan. See you next week, and thank you for the shortcake!"- Izumi hugged Sayaka in farewell and went away with a happy jump in her step.
'Should I start a patisserie?'- Sayaka wondered while watching the girl leave.
|What for?|
'You're right. I'm not lacking money... Lucian...'- Sayaka said, her voice tinged with reluctance.
|Yes?|
'Danzo was the one who leaked Nawaki-nii's information, right?'
|Most likely. It matches his M.O.|
"007!"- Sayaka ordered.
As usual, her shadow wiggled and a man appeared kneeling before her.
"Aya-sama."- The man whispered, but the sound reached her ears just fine.
"Get me everything you can on Danzo and his plots against Nawaki-nii. Include everything you think might be of interest to me, please."- Sayaka commanded.
"As you wish."- He whispered and disappeared.
'Do you think Hiruzen had a hand in it?'
|How else would Danzo act without concern for repercussions if not with Hiruzen's agreement? He still holds a position of importance, doesn't he? If he doesn't seem to be suffering any form of repercussion, then he was most likely acting under Hiruzen's orders.|
'Maybe he didn't know, and Danzo acted behind his back.'
|Does it matter?|
'...You're right. Those who lead reap the benefits of their subordinates, just as they pay for their mistakes.'
While she waited for 007 to return with some intel, she kept to her life, not letting Danzo's actions affect her.
The villagers probably found the most joy in her presence among all the groups she interacted with.
The reason was simple: her eyes and flight resembled Eiko Senju's. The younger generations didn't understand why the older people smiled tenderly when they saw Sayaka, but the older generations were happy nonetheless.
Eiko Senju's behavior was different from the poised composure with which Sayaka carried herself. Though Eiko Senju often acted like a princess, they knew it was sort of an inside joke they shared with her. Sayaka's poise felt more genuine, like a mix of the dignity with which an Uchiha carried themselves and her own form of temperance.
Madelyne was able to act differently between her lives because she had learned to modulate her inner selves. Just as someone might have a self that is playful with friends, a self that is serious at work, a self that is a slut in bed, and a self that is tender with kids, Madelyne learned which emotions to allow a greater influence in her persona and which ones to moderate more carefully. That was the trick.
'Hey, Lucian. Is it me or are there more foreigners around?'- One day, close to the end of that year, Sayaka asked.
|There are.|
"007, are there foreigners visiting the village?"- Sayaka asked for confirmation.
"Aya-sama, Kumogakure and Konohagakure are signing a peace treaty this week."
"Eh, they were still fighting? I thought the war had ended."
"It did, but Kumogakure refused to accept defeat, so there were some habitual minor altercations between the two villages since the end of the Third War."
"I understand... Any chance this is a front and they will kamikaze right into the middle of the village?"
"One hundred percent, Aya-sama."- 007 whispered factually.
"Fucking ninjas! Thanks, 007."
"My pleasure."- He said as he disappeared.
The visit from the Kumogakure delegation initially didn't mean much to Sayaka.
Until one late night, while she was dining at Yakiniku Q—which has become normal at least once a week for her—she saw a Kumo-nin jumping across the roof in a hurry, carrying something resembling a potato sack.
'That was a Hyūga toddler, right?'- Sayaka asked, needing confirmation.
|Yes, a little girl the age of Indra's reincarnation.|
Sayaka didn't think twice before taking flight in pursuit of the Kumo-nin.
The shinobi soon sensed something following and retaliated with a powerful throw of a few shurikens, not daring to turn around and stop his escape.
The shurikens tore through the air until Sayaka stopped them in their path and had them follow her. She then molded one of them into a .50 cal bullet and made it spin faster and faster.
"[Modern Warfare Release: .50 CAL BMG- Single Shot]"- Sayaka said with a maddening grin.
The Kumo-nin felt confused and alert when he heard the childish voice and the ninjutsu's name.
*CRACK!*- The round broke the sound barrier and hit the ninja in the thigh.
The resonant sound echoed through the village after the leg was ripped apart from the body.
The impact of the bullet unbalanced the ninja, and the pain assaulted him before he even had the chance to process what happened.
He faltered on his next step—due to the lack of a limb, no doubt—and the potato sack followed its momentum in the air until Sayaka caught it and sat on top of it while levitating and observing perversely as the Kumo-nin rolled and wailed on the street.
"NO! NO! NO! No, no, no, no, no!"- The man howled in pain and denial.
|Don't let him bleed out.|- Lucian's voice interrupted Sayaka's show.
'Why?'- She asked, confused by Lucian's apparent sudden interest in human life.
|If they are signing a peace treaty, it might affect the negotiations.|
'Isn't what he did doing just that? He broke the treaty first, right? Unless kidnapping shinobi toddlers is fair game. It sounds stupid, but I have severely low expectations of the shinobi by this point in my life.'
|It doesn't matter either way, but remember that you currently can't fight a village.|
'You're right.'- Sayaka understood her friend was correct.
Sayaka pointed at the mauled flesh of the ninja's remaining stump and shot a concentrated short stream of bright flames.
"AGHHHHHHH!"- The man cried before passing out.
|Incoming.|
A pale, stern-looking Hyūga with silver-grey hair and white Byakugan arrived, and soon after, more Hyūga clan members appeared.
Some had golden Byakugans, some were pink, and most were white. A few had pale skin, and others had silver-grey hair.
The man—and the rest of the Hyūga—looked at the unconscious man with hate before focusing on Sayaka and the potato sack. Veins popped at the sides of their faces.
"My daughter?"- He asked, but it sounded more like a demand.
Sayaka made the unconscious Hyūga girl float out of the sack and into his waiting arms.
She had navy blue short hair and pale skin, and although unconscious, Sayaka could see through her eyelids that her Byakugan was pink.
While the man she identified as Hiashi Hyūga checked and double-checked his daughter's safety, the ANBU and Hokage arrived, followed by the Kumo delegation.
"What's the meaning of this, Hokage?!"- A fuming Kumo-nin demanded before the Hokage could even process the situation. The other members of the delegation flickered to the side of the unconscious man and tried to check his condition.
"I know as much as you do. What was the head of your delegation doing here at this time?"- Hiruzen flared his chakra and demanded respect from the Kumo-nin.
The Kumo-nin cowered under the pressure of a Kage.
"Hokage-sama, he abducted my daughter."- Hiashi Hyūga said, while the rest of his clan members let some of their bloodlust be felt.
Hiruzen looked at the limb-deficient Kumo-nin before looking back at the unconscious girl in the Hyūga clan leader's arms. He was hugging her protectively. He finally set his eyes on the floating Sayaka.
"Sayaka-chan, what's your part in this disaster?"- Hiruzen felt like all of the work from the previous week had gone to waste in just one night. But he found a shining beacon of hope in Sayaka.
"His leg was bothering me, so I ripped it off. It's over there in case you're looking for it, mister Kumo-nin."- Sayaka made the mangled leg hop as if alive from inside the trash can it fell into. A three-pointer, no doubt.
The Kumo-nin looked horrified and wrathful at Sayaka, but the bloodlust of the Hyūga kept them from lashing out physically.
"Is this how you uphold the peace agreement, Hokage?!"- The same Kumo-nin questioned sternly, feeling as if he had gained a second wind in courage. As if that was enough to narrow the power gap with a Kage.
"Oh, shut it! Why don't you cry me a river and SLEEP!"- Sayaka ordered, and the man passed out.
The rest of the Kumo-nin grew alert, expecting an attack of some sort. Their heart rates spiked, and they reeked of fear and adrenaline.
But the Hyūga kept them in check, with some aiming their bows at them from every conceivable angle while others manifested chakra scalpels in their hands.
"Sayaka-chan, this is a diplomatic mess..."- Hiruzen said, dragging out the last part of his sentence. He indeed found his light of hope in Sayaka.
He understood Sayaka's intent in assuming part of the blame.
"I'll send you a catalog of scriptures; just add it to my tab. *Yawn* But tomorrow, now it's late, and ripping legs is more tiring than expected. I'm past my bedtime. Night, night."- Sayaka said in disinterest yet absurdly adorable—a horrible contrast with her previous actions—and flew in the direction of the Uchiha compound.
Internally, Hiruzen was thankful to the Kumo-idiot who attempted to kidnap Hinata Hyūga, the royal branch princess of the Hyūga clan.
He'd have the Yamanaka pull some evidence from the Kumo-idiot's head, and maybe he'd get some insights about the ninjutsu Sayaka used that made that loud sound before.
He'd get on the good side of the Hyūga clan by demanding the body of the Kumo-idiot, and show his benevolence by keeping the peace agreement even if Kumogakure acted against it first. Overall, his gains would outshine his losses—there were no losses in his eyes.
So, with a beaming yet grandfatherly smile, he waved at Sayaka and said:
"Have pleasant dreams, Sayaka-chan."- He did so under the agape looks of most of the ninjas present.
'Fools who don't know that Sayaka-chan is a walking treasure trove!'- Hiruzen thought, reflecting on their surprised looks.
_____________________________________________
Continues in the next chapter.