Chapter 1
The creator of a false reality projects their greatest fears and deepest desires onto others in hopes of convincing them that there is nothing for them to see beyond that which they are shown
Warmth spread from slim fingers into the sensitive skin of her scalp, leeching emotion with every fond tug of blue locks.
The sun had set behind towering trees hours ago, the yellow light from old lanterns softly lighting up the undergrowth of the forest. It cast its welcoming hew through the glass panes of old windows, illuminating their faces.
A young girl sat with her legs tucked under herself as her brother sat at the foot of a bed, combed through her long hair. His movements were gentle as he braided the strands back in steady motions.
Her hair fell in loose curls, piling on the floor in a large heap that steadily grew smaller as he sang a quiet tune that danced over the silent room like the sound of gentle rain after a thunderstorm. Smooth and comforting.
He pulled her hair back into three braids that secured her hair away from her face and revealed the soft freckles that dotted her nose and cheeks. Her eyes were partially closed as the boy's voice filled her ears, amber irises unfocused as light from the window lit amber irises.
The largest of the three braids was woven with the hair at the top of her head, each strand thick and full. The other two were slightly smaller and were woven with the remaining hair on both sides of her head before the largest braid was woven into the other two braids at the base of her skull.
“They're all done.”
Small strands rained loose in front of her face as the boy tied off the bottoms of the intricate braids with small black elastics.
“Thank you Otouto, they’re lovely,” The girl spoke as she pressed herself up onto her knees and turned to face him. “But it’s time for you to go to sleep now.”
“But Mitsu!”
A fond laugh bubbled from her chest as she scooped him up in her arms and pressed kisses all over his face as he squirmed in protest.
“I’ve got to go to work, and you have school tomorrow mister,” she gently abolished as he slid his smaller form under the covers of his kunai-covered sheets.
“You have school too!” He frowned as she bent over to press one last kiss to his head before she stood.
“You know it’s not the same for me. I don’t go to the academy anymore, I have to go Kaji.”
He pointed slightly as he threw the covers over his head in protest, “I don’t want you to!”
With a sigh Mitsu moved to stand by the plug beside his dresser, listing a small bog-shaped night light from the surface.
“On or off?” She asked.
Slowly he peeked from under the blankets and mumbled, “On.”
Smiling, she bent to plug the device in, a soothing green light filling the room. Walking to the door she stepped through into the illuminated hall, “Open or closed?” She asked.
“Closed,” he called as he gently snuggled into the soft pillows.
Leaning against the door she tilted her head slightly, “Goodnight Kaji. In perpetuum et unum diem,” she crooned.
Quietly he murmured back, “In perpetuum et unum diem.”
With a smile, she shut the door quietly and flicked off the hall light immersing herself in darkness.
Placing her head against the thick wood of the closed door Mitsu took a moment to ground herself, releasing a tired sigh before she straightened.
Team selections had been a week ago. Her placement? Team 7 under Jonin Hatake Kakashi, with Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. The year's worst student and the year's best. As Shikamaru would say, it was troublesome.
From what little intel she could catch from loitering in the town hotspots and baking cookies for her streets Ojisan, she had been expecting him to be at least competent.
She’d been wrong.
He was aloof, lacked social niceties as many Jonin seemed to, and couldn’t teach if his life depended on it.
Grasping her pouch Mitsu strung it through her belt loops as she walked through the door and into the cold dampness of the night.
Lamps grown into the sides of the trees emitted a gentle warm yellow that just allowed the streets to be walked without much trouble. They dotted the shrub layer and the lower half of the underlayer like amber fireflies.
Hidden strings of lights took over the higher you looked. Intertwined with branches, hanging from railings like dripping liquid gold, strung between homes, and slithering along the sturdy wooden planks of the bridges. It created an amazing sight.
Shadows danced invitingly in the spaces the light didn’t touch. Beautiful green and gentle blue drew your eyes into the shadows, the fungi found inside were found nowhere else in the five great nations. Chartreuse specks faded as Konoha's signature fireflies emerged from the depths of the shrubs; the last of the bioluminescent insects spreading their wings until day broke once more.
Stairwells met the ground every few trees, the ancient craftsmanship twisting and nuzzling its way into the bosom of the gnarled roots that covered the ground. As large as the trees were in Konoha, the roots dug deep into the ground and were impossible to completely rip out. A single tree could have roots that stretched for hundreds of feet below the surface. It wasn't uncommon to find a small tree budding up between the bricks of the paths that winded between them.
Homes decorated the sides of the trees, windows and balconies sticking out in odd places in a complex collage of colours and shapes. Circular platforms separated each level; suspension bridges connected the towering trees and filled the gaps between them. They hung in overlapping webs of intersecting levels.
Hopping up into the trees Mitsu used the bridges and branches to navigate into the village center where the closest entrance to the underground lay.
The underground was an astoundingly large cavern that resided below the village of Konoha. The roots from Hashirama’s trees stretch so far and so thickly that they acted as a sort of reinforced ceiling for the place, keeping the ground from caving in over the hidden part of the city.
Entrances dotted the village hidden in plain sight of passers-by and any spies who might make it past the walls. The beauty of it was its ability to exist only for those who already knew it was there.
Genjutsu covered most of the entrances and over the years they had been layered with seals that scanned and logged your chakra signature as you passed through.
The Uchiha police force used the data to keep track of who was going in and out and cross-checked the data with the seals from the village entrances to make sure nobody who shouldn't unexpectedly ended up in town.
Slipping through the doors of an old pub Mitsu nodded at the elderly man behind the counter.
“Bit late to be headed to work eh, Ahma,” he remarked.
With a tired nod, she flipped him a silver coin from her breast pocket, “Had to get the brother to bed.”
With a chuckle he nodded, flipping the coin between his fingers gracefully before cashing it in the glass jar on the shelf behind him, the coin making a metallic clattering sound as it made contact with the others inside.
“Go on through and try and be back before dawn dear.”
Ducking through the beaded curtains into the back room she followed the familiar path to a trap door covered by a wooden crate. Pushing the crate aside she lifted the door and slipped through the gap into the dark below.
Her feet made a soft thudding sound as she landed in the small hallway illuminated by a far-off lantern.
The walls were made of old stone, moss covering some of it. An archway led to the next part of the tunnel where the space opened wider and people began to appear mingling about. Those familiar with her nodded in greeting, nursing glasses of exotic liquor and listening to the subtle hum of music from further in.
Jogging down an old staircase Mitsu dipped through another arch, emerging in the open cavern. The ceiling was high, high enough that entire buildings stood below without grazing the roof, roots hanging down in some places, decorated with hanging lights.
The underground acted as a sort of black market/red light district/cultural hub. Exotic goods from all over the world end here, shinobi and brokers use the place as a sort of information deepo. In short, it was the central hub for illegal activities that the Hokage seemed to turn a blind eye to.
Descending the stairs she flipped up her hood so she could move through the crowd unbothered, weaving through the people skillfully and without issue.
The underground was a village secret, so naturally, everyone who mattered knew about it.
Really the place was viewed by the majority of the occupants of the village as an old wives' tale to encourage the children to look for the emergency tunnel system in case of an invasion, but the shinobi population and the seedier civilians knew how to get to it. After all, there wasn't much you could hide from a Hyuuga.
The Lotus tea house stood tall and well polished, men and women alike slipping through the door. Mitsu went around the back slipping in through the unadvertised entrance and emerging in the back.
“Mitsu! There you are, I need your help fixing this tear in my robes,” Kazumi called eagerly.
Huffing Mitsu dropped her bag beside her locker, sliding into the seat beside the black-haired beauty. Kazumi was the daughter of a prostitute, her father unknown, but her long black tresses and charcoal eyes screamed Uchiha descent.
“You’re hopeless,” taking the needle and thread from the fumbling woman she skillfully closed up the tear, tying off the thread with a small snap of her teeth.
“I know, I know, but why learn to sow when I have you!” She simpered.
Rolling her eyes Mitsu stood, throwing her locker open to fish out her silken black robes.
“You know I won’t be around as much anymore, I graduated last week,” she growled fondly at the woman.
“But being a shinobi is such a dangerous job Mitsu, you should just do this full-time instead!”
Throwing off her plain gray one-piece jumpsuit and tall leather boots she shimmied into the tight-fitting garment. It was a cowl neck sleeveless shirt that clung to her minimal figure and tight black silken pants that had a large slit in each leg to expose her outer thigh to just above her ankles.
“And what, dance and serve liquor to the rowdy and lonely for the rest of my life? Not a chance,” She frowned.
A small silence filled the air as she situated a gold ribbon to her trousers, golden coins hanging from the fabric.
“Well tell me what you really think,” Kazumi hissed quietly.
Turning around in surprise Mitsu grimaced, “You know that's not what I meant Kazumi, but this, this place, this can’t be all I can do. I have people top side to take care of and he deserves more than this, even if I don't.”
Kazumi smiled a sad smile as she turned Mitsu around to face the mirror, “The fact that you're here, loving him even when he doesn't know it, proves that you deserve more. Just like he does.”
Deft fingers unwound lovingly made braids, letting cyan locks fall into waves until they reached just below the girl's hips. Gently her hair was pulled away from her neck, exposing an intricate scar about the size of a child's palm.
It was raised and ached when the woman traced her finger over it gently, pressing a friendly kiss to the pink skin. The kanji scrawled there permanently and hauntingly.
Her slim arms cradled the cyan-haired girl's shoulders as she fixed the black mesh mask on her friend's face, tying the golden ribbon so it was fixed behind her head and wouldn't slip. It wasn't much, but it helped her keep a semblance of anonymity.
“Now go out there and dance like no one's watching.”