seventeen.
“Who gets the mask now that he’s gone?”
“It won’t come back to us until he’s dead. The Hokage put him in Anbu.”
“In the public forces?” Another hissed.
EI listened to the quiet talk around the base. Root was not a talkative group, but they did gossip. A lot. The armory and the open training spaces were the few places where shinobi gathered and talked openly in the Foundation. She was teaching a new shinobi, and how strange a thought that was, how to properly oil ninja wires.
“Is Danzo-sama going to bring him back?” She asked lowly.
“Not likely,” Hinoto answered airily. “Traitors aren’t welcomed back often.” She detected a note of bitterness and remembered that Hinoto was often Kinoe-senpai’s partner.
So he was safe then. Danzo couldn’t get rid of him like he would any other deserter because the Hokage had him in his grasp. The talk fell silent.
She was going to say something about her role, how she or another might be tasked to monitor his actions sooner or later, but her lips would not open. She blinked, and the motions of cleaning and oiling her wires paused.
“Something to say?”
She hummed negatively and continued her task. “Just thinking.”
She leaned over the junior beside her to grab the large spool. Ei fit the now cleaned wires into grooves carved into the wire spools, checking the wire’s condition as she went. There were small kinks left over from previous battles and they could be fixed if she stretched the wires out right. She’d rather fix them herself than buy a new spool. The good stuff came from Uchiha forges and all their steel products had gotten really expensive lately.
She paused to show the newbie how to get a stubborn knot out of their wire, and her eye caught on the silk cord on her wrist.
The younger boy she was mentoring gently tapped the colored wires disguised as bracelets beside the cord. “Can you show me how to disguise them like this?”
“These were commissioned, but I can give you the location.” She scribbled the rough coordinates of the specialty weapons depot out by the eastern border town for him and stood. She collected her supplies and left after giving the boy a few more tips. Ei didn’t have anyone to teach her how to do those things when she first started, she had wasted a lot of money on replacing rusted wires. Hopefully, that boy would have a steadier start than her. Maybe he would join the same division as her once he got trained up.
Though, her division was pretty loosely defined. He wasn’t likely to join unless Danzo-sama or a senior shinobi chose him.
Now that she was away from the training room, and observers, she thought more about that pause. Why did the seal stop her from talking about her observation missions out loud?
Why had Danzo-sama thought her missions were such sensitive information? Everyone knew the recruits came from somewhere, even if some were most definitely stolen.
Maybe to stop her from talking about the failed Sharingan retrieval? Assuming that most of the force didn’t know about the Sharingan, he probably wanted it to stay that way.
She frowned.
Her missions were starting to have a common theme.
Uchiha.
“You don’t remember anything else?”
“I’m sorry Kunoichi-san.” The old woman said regretfully, “Your team probably knows more than we do now.” The child hiding behind her sniffed loudly, and the old woman laid a hand on his shoulder. Mika’s gaze flicked over to the little one for a moment, lingering on the scraped hands clutching at the apron before flicking back to the woman.
“I see.” Susuki Mika sighed. “Well, at least we were in the right direction. We’ll do our best to find out what happened to the kid.”
“Thank you, dear.” The old woman smiled gummily at her, one hand curled against her chest. “It soothes my old heart that someone is looking out for that poor child.” Her chakra stank of dishonesty. She bowed to Mika and shuffled back into the estate.
Mika wrinkled her nose. Witch.
The child didn’t follow her, instead staring distrustfully at Mika.
“Are you gonna help Ama-chan?”
“We will.” The witch was gone now. She crouched down so she was on the same level as the little boy. “But, I think you can help us more than that matron of yours.”
The child’s chakra was hesitant, but the base was a cheerful soul, tinged with a scent of spring. When she tuned out the rest of her surroundings and focused on the boy, she saw a kind person. “Kids can notice things that us adults can’t, maybe there’s something you saw that that old lady missed.”
Her intuition proved right.
“Obassan had a meeting with a weird guy.” The boy clenched his fists, small hands that looked far too worn for a child’s.
Mika’s mission partner Kenta hummed from where he stood behind her. “Weird how?” He prompted.
The child looked behind him at the house and turned back to them. “He didn’t have a headband like you people but looked like one of you. Matron has been talking to Shinobi for a while now, but after Ama-chan disappeared they haven’t come back.”
“Disappeared?” Kenta repeated.
“Obasaan told you she ran away, but it’s not true! Obassan is lying to you Kunoichi-san. I paid for the mission. None of us would ever run away, I think the shinobi stole her!” The child said it all in a rush, defiant bursts appearing in his chakra.
Kenta looked at Mika. That story confirmed what they had already suspected, the Matron was connected to a trafficking ring.
Only a day after arriving in the bustling trading town, their team found almost everything they needed to convict the matron Kiyoko, and Airou had already set off following the scent trail of the missing girl earlier, but there was more. The main mission was easy enough, it wouldn’t be hard for a seasoned Inuzuka tracker like her teammate to find the girl if she was still alive, but Mika wanted to look around more. There was something else.
A gut feeling was as good as concrete evidence for sensors. So while Airou and his pups followed the girl’s scent trail, Mika and her other partner Kenta were looking into the gang.
It wasn’t what they came here for, but it felt wrong to leave without addressing it. They went back to the inn they’d rented for the mission and waited until nightfall. Kenta stayed behind while Mika snooped around. She slipped into the house silently once everyone inside had gone to sleep.
She found suspicious-looking reports of outside funding, account transfers, and far too little information about children for a place meant to keep them safe. It was all the proof she needed to get the old stinking witch convicted by civilian courts. The objective of the simple C rank was finished. Mika stayed in the office, looking for something else.
Mika thought it was strange. She turned about the room with her hands on her hips, trying to place what it was.
There was a trace of chakra here, very light. Only a whiff left behind, but she was sure she could follow it if she needed to. Mika slowly opened up her senses, moving her focus from the entire west side of the town to just the building.
The individual unique scents of each occupant’s chakra became clearer, and so did the tiny trace left behind.
Konoha. It smelled like a Konoha shinobi. The trace that Hashirama trees left on one’s network, and the sharp bloody scent that shinobi life left on a soul. And under that, the earthy scent of river waters and the homey smell of rice starch.
Mika scowled at the floor. It didn’t make any sense.
It couldn’t be. Her little friend had been dead a long time.
But the trace didn’t lie.
A trail that couldn’t have been more than a few hours old was right there, and she never forgot anyone’s signature. Sure it had changed a bit from the little girl she remembered, but. Logic demanded that she brush the thought away, because it was impossible. But shinobi stretched what was possible everyday.
Can’t believe i’m even considering it.
She dismissed the possibility that it was genjutsu, because the situation was just too specific. And there was just no way that a mission bought by a bunch of orphan kids had a genjutsu trap strong enough to fake chakra traces. It’s not like Mika, an unremarkable chunin, had any bitter enemies out there setting weirdly specific illusions for her to stumble into.
If it wasn’t a trap what was it?
It couldn’t be that Ei was actually alive after all these years, right?
She had made her peace with that a long time ago.
Mika exhaled in a huff. She could hem and haw all she wanted but it would haunt her forever if she didn’t go take a look.
Hell.
With a healthy amount of skepticism she doubled back to tell Kenta she was looking into something, then followed the trail.
Only a short stretch was clear, then it stopped altogether. Undaunted by the challenge, Mika pressed forward until she caught the trail again. It was very obvious now, like whoever left it was trying to led her. Evening crowds thinned as it got later, and the scent grew stronger. Somewhere in the middle of a shopping district she found a trace of it again. Recent, but much dimmer. Most of the shops were closed now, but a few were still open.
Only a short thirty minutes later, the goal was in sight.
A small bookstore, on the lower side of town. It’s storefront was open, and there was a small figure sitting on the front concrete step. Mika only hesitated a moment, logic warring with her gut feeling once more. The figure turned towards her, their face washed out by the store front’s lights. The figure, a girl that couldn’t be older than a fresh genin was waiting for her.
Mika strode forward cautiously.
The girl, who had brown hair and simple clothes, and looked a hell lot like the little girl Mika used to call her sister, raised a hand in greeting as Mika came to a stop before her. The haircut looked a lot rougher, cheeks less round, and looked a bit paler, but damn it if it wasn’t a dead ringer for Ei.
“Hello, Susuki-san.” The girl greeted.
Mika kept a blank face. “What the fuck?”
“I didn’t die.” The girl said, like that explained everything.
“What- what is this?” Mika abandoned the cool and competent look she was going for, splaying her hands in front of her, gesturing wildly at the girl and their surroundings.
“Um. Well, I can’t really explain right now but-”
Mika’s face pinched, and the girl scrambled to stand up. The girl came up to Mika’s shoulder and she held her hands out in front of her. Chakra seeped out from the tenketsu points and covered the palms of her hands.
“You told me once that chakra can’t lie, Susuki-san.” She bit her lip, “I- I know that this is weird and I can’t explain yet but- I won’t lie to you.”
Mika stared at the chakra in front of her, the sincere and honest vulnerability in the girl’s, in Ei’s eyes burning into her. Mika saw the openness of her chakra. She saw a lot in that chakra, and those eyes looked so much older than the last time she saw the girl. Five years ago she accepted that her little friend had died, and now, she decided to throw all that logic away.
She exhaled shakily and slowly covered Ei’s hands with her own.
“Alright.” She whispered. “Alright. I believe you.”
It was surprisingly easy to believe, to flip her own knowledge on its head. Maybe because she had been hoping, just a little.
They both lowered into a sit on the concrete storefront. Susuki took her hands back, and folded them in her lap.
“Ok. Well, I have some questions.” Susuki expected to sit here a long while, remembering the slow conversations they had before.
“I’ll answer as many as I can.” Ei replied.
“Are you safe?”
Ei blinked, as if she didn’t expect that question. “Yes.”
Mika didn’t like the hesitance there, but she had a feeling that Ei would bolt if she pressed. “What about your parents?”
“No.” She replied quickly. “They weren’t real. It was fake.” She looked away from Mika at the street across from them.
“I’m, i- gonna need you to elaborate on that dear.” Mika [blah word for speaking]
“They were…” She pressed her lips together and tapped her foot on the ground. “Hm. The Aoki’s were a pair of fake identities. They put a genjutsu on me. That’s all I can say.”
“You’ve said that before, what do you mean by that?”
“I mean I literally can’t.” Ei’s face took on a pained expression. “I’ll explain as best as I can Susuki-san, and I know this is weird but I can’t say very much.”
“Well, tell me as much as you can. Start from the beginning.”
Ei pressed her lips together in a grim line. “I was tricked by the Aoki’s and I don’t know where they are anymore. I was, taken? No, that’s a bad word choice. Chosen. I was chosen for this program.”
Alarm shot through Mika, was Ei connected to the trafficking ring? Had the corruption in this town been going on that long? Ei continued, nervously flicking her eyes to her hands, to Mika, and the ground.
“I didn’t choose to join, and now that I’m part of the organization I’m not going to leave.”
“Won’t or can’t?”
Ei shook her head. “I’m fine. It’s a shinobi organization. It’s not bad or anything!”
“Anbu?” Mika whispered. “They put you in Anbu?” It made sense too, Ei had shown a lot of promise as an academy student from what she remembered, and shinobi that joined Anbu didn’t really leave. A cursory glance around her showed empty streets and she didn’t sense any nearby chakra.
Ei didn’t confirm or deny it, but Mika thought she had it pinned down now. She knew Ei couldn’t answer, but she asked anyway. “Why was your death faked? How was there a kidnapping during Anbu recruitment?”
Ei winced. “I can’t say anything about that.” It was very telling that she didn’t correct Mika’s use of the word ‘kidnapping’. Ei had always been very deliberate with her words, and the fact she didn’t make any move to choose a more positive word for Mika was…
“So why wait so long to tell anyone you weren’t dead? Assuming you let me find that trace, this meeting could have happened years ago.” Mika carefully kept her voice free of any accusation. Now that the initial alarm had faded and Mika was getting a little more explanation, she was noticing little things about the girl. Rough hands and tiny scars on her palms. Her hair was roughly cut at her shoulders, like someone had gathered it up and sliced it with a kunai. Ei’s face was the most changed. The emotions that crossed Ei’s face looked deliberate, not like putting on a show, but like Ei had to remind herself to emote now. She looked like a shinobi, and she was only just past the age of an academy graduate.
The girl hummed, and tapped her fingers along her arm. Her pauses were different then they used to be.
“I’m tired.” The girl said. “I’m so very tired of hiding and doing shinobi work Susuki-san. I know my work is important and it-” She shook her head. “I miss Konoha. It was impulse that led me to leave a trace for you, but I don’t regret it at all. I missed you Susuki-san.”
Mika softened. Slowly, so Ei could see what was happening, she reached around to pull her into a one armed hug. Even though Ei had gotten taller, she still tucked into Mika’s side like she was a little girl again. “I missed you too. I’m glad you made the choice.”
“So, without revealing classified information, what have you been up to?” Mika asked wryly, keeping her voice light so Ei wouldn’t feel pressured.
“I started using ninja wires. I’m pretty good at them.” She held her palms out to show the hairline scars on her fingers. “It took me a little bit to get it right though.”
“Now that’s something!”
“Promise you won’t disappear again?” Mika wasn’t satisfied with the answers she got. Both her and Ei knew that, but neither could do anything about it. Mika could tell Ei was trying to say something, but stopped every time she got to it. Ei never answered her main question, she was skirting around the order that made her keep her silence.
“I’ll do my very best not to, Susuki-san.” She grimaced, but didn’t shy away.
“Good girl.” Mika ruffled up her hair as they both stood. They had sat on the step and talked for so long the sky was beginning to lighten. Mika still had a mission to complete, and EI implied that she was breaking protocol by being here. It was time for them to leave.
“Maybe next time I won’t be in the middle of a mission and we’ll hang out like we used to. Just some fun girl time!”
“Next time.” She agreed. Her small grin lit her face up and chased away the shadows in her eyes. “Until then, Susuki-san.”
Mika made to turn away, but she stopped. She made sure to take one last look. It was real. Despite the less-than-satisfactory answers, she still felt hopeful that this wouldn’t be the last time she saw Ei. “We’re friends Ei, just call me Susuki.”
Ei’s expression lightened, then a small flare of mischief sparked in her deep chakra. “What about Susuki-nee?”
“Do you think you would be fit for Anbu Ikaru?”
Ei would never get used to the mission meetings. One week she would receive only scrolls for orders, the next she would get messengers, and then she would be called in by Danzo himself. His personal assignments were never consistent either, she wondered what kind of meeting she would have this time. She had learned to stop being surprised when her expectations for assignments were wrong.
He had asked her what she thought. That kind of question was usually the precursor to the dreaded ‘teaching moment’ sort of meetings. She chose a safe answer.
“I do not believe I am fit for public forces, Danzo-sama.”
Every interaction with public forces had led to some horrible mistake by her. She heard about an opportunity to join Anbu forces, but hadn’t looked any further into it. Ei knew that joining public forces would not make it any easier to see Naruto. Being a public figure, even as secretive as Anbu could be, would restrict her movements and she wouldn’t have to deal with conflict of interest if Danzo-sama’s orders were different. Kinoe had shown there was a clear line between Danzo-sama’s orders and the Hokage. Ei didn’t know which she would choose.
“That is correct. You aren’t ready yet.”
Yet.
“Your tasks will come directly from me from now on, I am handing off your courier missions and checks off to another. With those out of the way you will be focusing entirely on observing Uchiha Shisui for the next month. Certain members of the Uchiha have implied they know of the Foundation, but none more than him. I want to know how much he knows.”
Ei didn’t frown, but she came close. That left a lot up to her discretion.
“Will I need to follow him into the compound? The old wards on the compound will prevent me from getting intel.”
“Can you not see past them?”
“I can sense only vague presences inside the wards. Nothing solid.”
This was not… entirely true. Ei did not remember the old compound, but she knew it would have been impassable. The old wards created by the Uzumaki Princess Mito at the founding had been destroyed a long time ago. When the Kyuubi attacked, the Uchiha were among the hardest hit, and their district was practically gone. When they rebuilt they placed wards on their new compound on the edges of the village, their wards were not as strong. There had to be a reason that Danzo-sama was only now trying to test them.
She could see inside just fine. The compound was like a living, breathing, bed of coals. Glowing red coals, just hot enough to warn you not to touch.
“I see. That can be revisited at a later time. Bring me your report at the end of the month.”
“Of course, Danzo-sama.” She dismissed herself.
Ei did not bother to ask why she was doing this. Danzo-sama saw the Uchiha as a threat, and he want to assess how big of a problem their shiny war-hero would be.
Danzo-sama was not foolish. Ei did believe he cared about the village. The things the foundation did to protect the village were, unsavory at best, but they did benefit the village. For one reason or another, Danzo-sama was trying to push out the Uchiha.
Ei also knew that Danzo-sama had a different idea of what a village was than the Hokage-sama. The Foundation was meant to represent Konoha’s values. Kinoe made it clear to the whole of the Foundation that Danzo-sama and the Hokage were not the same. Security had been increased around the base, and the few free shinobi under Danzo’s command were being sealed.
Ei felt like she had been sleeping, and only now had she woke up. She had been doing whatever she was told for a while. Even before she was chosen for the Foundation, she only joined the academy because someone else said it would be a good idea. Ei didn’t become a shinobi to represent Konoha. She joined the academy for a paycheck, and then she was forced to become a shadow. The only choice she had made for herself was decided that a little boy needed some more love.
A light smile appeared on her face when she thought about it. That wasn’t entirely true. She made the decision to show herself to Susuki-san. Susuki-nee. It was impulse like she had said. She recognized the yellow signature while doing a check on an orphanage, and just went from there.
She made it back to her room. Ordinarily, she would be preparing for the stakeout/tailing session, but this time she took more time to think.
She squared her shoulders.
Maybe she hadn’t chosen to become a shinobi, but she could make a choice now.
The Uchiha were part of the village.
Shinobi protected the village.
a meme by potato
Kaho and Ei by Macita