Know Your Place
No teachers
Or guidance
And you always walk alone
You're crying
At night when
Nobody else is home
There was a small silence after the woman's proclamation. Head tipping downwards until her hair provided adequate shade for her eyes, hiding her expression. "Death, you say?", she posed the question more as a statement. "That's...something."
"And yet it's the truth."
"BAHAHAHA! You think I would believe a dainty little brat like yourself could be a being of such power?!" Pointing her finger rudely in the other woman's direction, Kiyomi's shoulders shook with the force of her mirth, and tears of hilarity streamed down her cheeks. "What the hell, do you think I'm an idiot or something?!"
"'Dainty little brat?'", the words were practically a whisper. An ominous aura surrounded her body. "You think I'm lying and you're not taking this seriously at all, are you, Uch-i-ha Kiyomi-!" The aura increased in its intensity, and a purple cloud encompasses her slim figure. "How...dare you…"
From out of the cloud came a translucent, gaunt specter with a demonic visage. It's definitely much larger than an average human, possessing long, shaggy, white hair, from which two red horns protrude, as well as purple-colored skin. Draped in a large white kimono and carrying a set of prayer beads, the tantō in its mouth did little to hide the row full of sharp, jagged teeth, and a very long, almost serpentine tongue; it's very presence had the hairs on the nape of Kiyomi's neck stand up and a cold sweat broke out over her brow.
Instincts screamed at her to MOVE, GET OUT OF THE WAY, RUN!
...But she couldn't move a single muscle.
Utterly paralyzed with fear and awe at the realization of exactly what this being in front of her was. All her life, she's been skeptical of the possibility of gods, of life after dying. Yet, even with these feelings coursing through her body, part of her still scoffed and rebelled, absolutely refused to acknowledge and accept what was in front of her.
This could be a sign of her mind finally snapping underneath the stress of everything happening.
A large, purple hand with cursed seals shot out towards her, and Kiyomi's eyes widen, leg twitching, preparing to, to do something, but it's too late. That hand is buried in her stomach, and some hysteric part of her realizes that there's no pain as the being starts pulling -
Her mouth opens in a silent shout, simultaneously trying to breathe and realizing that she's hyperventilating. Kiyomi wants to close her eyes, she truly does, but at the same time, her body refused to obey, so she witnesses the very person that haunted her dreams as he is partially pulled from inside her (and isn't that quite the mindfuck, that someone else lives in her soul?).
The warrior, the martyr, the leader.
Harry Potter.
Although logically, his name sounds foreign and she shouldn't be able to say that name, let alone think it, but in this landscape (mindscape) anything and everything is possible. Facts and information that sounds even more outlandish and borderline insane dumps itself inside her brain. His brain. Their brain.
Magic is real.
Alternative universes.
Runes. Ministry of Magic.
Rikudō Sennin.
Chakra and the basic nature types; Earth, Wind, Water, Fire.
Konohagakure and the past as well as present Hokage.
Fūinjutsu.
Voldemort. Horcruxes.
Orochimaru. The First Great Shinobi World War to the Third Great Shinobi World War (and hopefully the last).
The Sannin and Konoha's White Fang.
Suna, Kumo, Kiri, Iwa.
Being possessed by a maniac obsessed with immortality and the dream of world domination.
Losing everything and everyone, coming to the realization that he was well and truly the last.
Death is preferred to loneliness, which is only a step back from insanity anyway.
Rebirth.
Time didn't have any meaning as Kiyomi and Harry exchanged information mentally with each other. Harry had experienced just as much, if not more, anguish in his life as she had. Sometimes she got flashes of his experiences and other times, she found herself submerged in memories, reliving it right along with him, and the same happened to him, though she was a bit more clumsy with the memory/experience sharing/data dump. In the end, there was a small nudge and a feeling of intense curiosity, interest. As she hesitantly answered the mental query, Harry took the time to slip through the cracks of her defenses. The parts of her that she hadn't realized she'd been missing widened, accepting the warm energy as it twined with her chakra coils, the two energies were similar enough that she wasn't overwhelmed by what was happening.
The feeling of being embraced surrounded her as Kiyomi's surroundings became steadily bright and brighter. So bright that eventually, she had to close her eyes but even then, she heard Harry's voice in her ear.
I am you and you're me. This time around, let's not just survive until the end. Let's live too.
If anyone had been around Kiyomi's hospital room, they might have seen her dark eyes flash an impossibly green shade moments before returning to their natural coloring. But as no one was around, the momentous occasion went unnoticed.
At the almost exact time, in the Hokage's Tower, Sarutobi Hiruzen found himself engaged in a major struggle with Shimura Danzō, Mitokado Homaru, and Utatane Koharu, better known as the Elders of the Konoha Council.
"Hiruzen, that girl is a danger and a flight risk, I can't believe you're considering the idea of permitting her the honor and privilege of being Uchiha Sasuke's guardian!" Koharu scolded her former teammate. "And giving her that estate so freely."
"Uchiha Sasuke and Kiyomi come from the same clan," Sarutobi repeated for the nth time.
"Two people do not make a clan." Homura cut in.
"And yet everyone still recognizes Kakashi as being a member of the Hatake clan." With a tone as dry as dust, the Sandaime cut his friend an unpleasant look. Homaru cringed, adjusting his spectacles. "More to the point, as I've said, repeatedly, the estate and the lands surrounding the area belongs to Uchiha Kiyomi. I will not deny her anything that her mother left to her only daughter."
"The timing for you to give Kiyomi the deed is suspicious, you must admit that much. If this is merely doing right by the girl, why didn't you speak to her after the girl's mother was killed by the Kyūbi?"
'Because she wasn't a single child mother then.' There was another reason for the Third wanting to have Kiyomi living in the estate Hitomi left, and that's due to the privacy and warding seals that the Yondaime himself had applied per the late Uchiha woman's request.
Very few people remembered that Hitomi had been a year ahead of the Namikaze while attending the Academy, even fewer recalled that Minato nursed a slight crush on the older girl before Kushina came to Konoha.
"That is an interesting word choice to use, 'suspicious', especially after the bloodiest night in Konoha's history since its founding. Wouldn't you agree, Danzō?"
The air in the room became distinctly frosty.
"Are you insinuating something, Sarutobi?" Danzō's voice was mild, almost pleasant.
"Merely an observation. Negotiations with the Uchiha clan were going well, and then Itachi experiences a psychotic break before massacring everyone in his clan save his brother and lover." Contrary to the gruesome topic, Sarutobi was reaching for his pipe and tobacco. His former teammates seemed uneasy by his easy-going countenance but Danzō, of course, was seemingly unaffected. "It is quite the tragedy, such a gentle boy, committing an unspeakable crime."
"Gentle?" Danzō snorted. "He is shinobi! A dangerous threat, and someone to be eliminated, as shown with his defection from the village."
'Ah, how you hand me the rope to hang you with. So generous of you.' Using a small Katon jutsu, he lit his pipe and took a few puffs, letting the smoke burn through his lungs before he exhaled through his nostrils. Flicking his gaze upwards so that the three of them were in his sights, Hiruzen clasped his hands in front of him as he casually flooded the room with his Killing Intent.
Almost near-instantly, Koharu and Homaru sank to their knees, an identical cold sweat breaking out across their brows as they felt as if Hiruzen had a kunai directly against their back and jugular.
Danzō was made of sterner stuff and managed to remain standing until again, the room became flooded with even more of his KI and slowly, the old war hawk, sweat drenching his face, was forced to kneel to the ground while the other two were only barely hanging on from passing unconscious.
Rising from his seat, the facade of the kind and grandfatherly Sandaime is nowhere to be seen as the old Hokage stared down at the trio with flat, dispassionate eyes. This is the man who the Nidaime chose to name his successor, the very man who earned the title of Kami no Shinobi.
And he was very displeased.
Letting the KI saturate the room for thirty seconds more, in a clipped tone, he spoke, "If I hear even an inkling that a single one of you have attempted to interfere with Uchiha Kiyomi or Sasuke, my retaliation will be swift and terrible. You are my advisors, not the Hokage." At the end of the sentence, he looked directly at Danzō, silently saying 'although some of you only can wish to be Hokage'.
Almost as if he heard Hiruzen's thoughts, or really, was just trying to prove himself strong and superior, Danzō glared in his general direction, breathing deeply while trying not to show any more outward weakness than he already had. Homaru and Koharu fared little better, clinging onto each other in a way that they hadn't since they'd been genin as they struggle to rise to their feet.
Returning to his seat, Hiruzen pulled some paperwork towards him that needed his signature. Taking another puff from his pipe, the gentle leader mask is firmly back in place. "Dismissed."
Once the three Elders were gone, the older shinobi made a signal and the ANBU hidden in the room with him came out of his hiding place. "Hokage-sama." Wild, silver hair nearly touched the floor as he bowed.
"Report."
"Teams Ten and Five were dispatched as per your orders but Itachi's trail vanishes just outside of Hi no Kuni. Owl and Bear were injured, but nothing serious." If 'nothing serious' meant that one of the ANBU members had lost three of his fingers and another had been caught in a genjutsu and impaled herself on a tree.
Sarutobi sighed, smoke billowing around him like a cloud for a moment. "I see. That is unfortunate." The silver-haired ANBU didn't move. "There's more, Wolf?"
"Sir, please, allow me to go after Itachi!"
Closing his eyes, Sarutobi took another puff of his pipe. "No."
"But, sir-!"
Chakra spiking with irritation, Hiruzen shot the other a sharp look. "Are you arguing with your Hokage, Wolf?"
"No, sir. Of course not, sir."
Although he wanted to apologize, Hiruzen knew that it wasn't what the ANBU, Wolf, needed. He knew that the youth was shaken and disturbed by the fact that he hadn't cottoned onto ANBU Weasel's fragile mental state.
'I'm sorry Kakashi...Itachi…'
Ninja didn't go insane without prompting, the old Kage thought to himself even as he signed the paperwork that would have Itachi listed as a missing-nin and have him placed in the Bingo Book.