Chapter 5
Iruka ruffles through the paperwork in the Academy, looking for any discrepancies at the behest of the Hokage.
A frown mars the normally cheerful Chunin’s face. ‘That’s the third file where the instructor comments don’t match up with the kid’s grades.’
The Chunin closes the file and places it on top of the two others. ‘All three of these students were dropped from the program since their test scores didn’t match the requirements for their age group. That makes a disturbing pattern. I’ll have to look further into this more after I’m done looking through all of the paperwork here.’
Iruka glances around the room, where paper is stuffed anywhere it will fit; between books in the bookcases, in the filing cabinets and stacked in towering piles on any available surface.
The shinobi barely resists the urge to slam his head against the table. ‘What a mess. Kami knows this will take forever to organize and collate into recognizable intel!’
Iruka grits his teeth. ‘I have to start somewhere.’
With a sigh, the scarred chunin pulls the nearest pile of papers to him and starts sorting.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Iruka slides the door shut behind him, groaning and stretching his arms to relieve the strain from hunching over paperwork for several hours.
Movement down the hall prompts the scarred Chunin to turn his head.
It’s Daikoku-sensei.
Iruka perks up. ‘Perfect! Just who I was looking for!’
“Hey, Daikoku! Wait up!” Iruka calls out, hurrying to catch up to the other instructor.
The rotund goateed chunin turns and beams when he spots one of the new instructors hurrying towards him. “Ah, Iruka! How was your first week of classes?”
Iruka makes a face. “It’s… certainly something alright. Much more different than what I was expecting.”
Daikoku lets out a jolly laugh. “Don’t worry! You’ll get used to it before long!”
Iruka nods. “I actually was hoping to ask you about something.”
Daikoku settles into a more solid stance, knowing that this may be important. “Oh?”
“You’ve been an instructor in the Academy for several years. I’ve been familiarizing myself with a few students records and something doesn’t seem to match up…”
The chunin’s face hardens, his eyes glinting with steel. “I see. I will be happy to help. Which students were you referring to?”
“Masahige Ichihara, Meiji Sakata and Ikari Chikage, among a few others.” Iruka rattles off.
Daikoku strokes his goatee as he thinks back. “Yes, I remember them. Ichihara was a prodigy with weapons, while Sakata had some fine calligraphy for his age. Chikage had quite a mind for rote memorization and was interested in the healing track. All three were orphans, if I remember correctly.”
“You know where I can find them?” Iruka presses, his fingers twitching at his sides.
“Last I heard, they were living at the orphanage.” A heavy frown crosses Daikoku’s face. “Now that I think of it, I haven’t heard any news of them, from the other orphans or their classmates.”
The two chunin share a grim look.
“Thanks, Daikoku.”
The rotund chunin claps a heavy hand on Iruka’s shoulder, making the new instructor stagger. “Not a problem! Let me know if you have more questions or need some help!”
With that the two part ways.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Iruka stands amid a throng of running and playing children, trying to speak to the orphanage worker supervising the kids above the screaming, laughing and shouting going on around them.
“Have you seen these kids?” Iruka asks, passing along three photos copied from the missing student’s files.
The woman looks over the photos then hands them back, shaking her head. “I’ve never seen those kids before. What are their names?”
Iruka’s heart sinks. ‘Oh no. This isn’t good.’ “Masahige Ichihara, Meiji Sakata and Ikari Chikage.”
The woman purses her lips and shakes her head again. “No, none of the kids here have those names, but—"
A particularly loud scream distracts the orphanage worker.
Both she and Iruka look towards the noise and see a young boy sitting on the ground crying as he rocks back and forth.
“Oh, Kaito.” The woman murmurs.
She glances back at Iruka, calling, “One moment, shinobi-san.”
“Sure.”
Iruka ambles after the woman across the dirt-worn play area as she hurries over to where the young brunet is sobbing, clutching his skinned knee.
“Shhh, shh darling. It’s ok. Why don’t we go inside and get that treated, hmm?” The orphanage worker soothes, running a hand over the crying boy’s hair.
The crying kid sniffles as he looks up.
He shrinks back when he sees both the orphanage worker and Iruka looking down at him.
The orphanage worker follows the kid’s glance to Iruka and smiles down at him. “This is Umino-san, a brave shinobi of our village. He’s just like Hirata-kun in your favorite story, Kaito.”
The boy’s eyes widen in awe as he forgets the pain he was crying over.
“It’s nice to meet you, Kaito-kun.” Iruka murmurs, playing along with a large friendly smile on his face.
The boy nods back, shyly sticking his thumb in his mouth. He turns back to the orphanage worker and holds up his other arm in the universal ‘pick me up’ gesture.
The woman chuckles and reaches down to pick Kaito up, settling the kid on her hip.
Kaito leans against her, watching Iruka with large eyes.
“Huh. I’ve never seen him stop crying so fast.” The orphanage worker comments, sending a conspiring look at Iruka. “Must be a shinobi trick, right Kaito?”
The comment makes Iruka chuckle as he rubs the scar on his nose. “I don’t know about that.”
The man coughs, then steers the conversation back to the main point. “About those kids…”
The woman sighs and hefts the boy up again with a small grunt.
“As far as I know, those kids aren’t here. I’m sorry I wasn’t more help, Shinobi-san.” The woman tells him, regretfully shaking her head. “I’ve only been working here for a few months. It’s possible that they moved out before I started.”
The woman gifts Iruka with a small smile as she turns and starts walking towards the building with Iruka quietly following behind her. “Let me get the Orphanage Matron for you. She’ll know if the kids were here.”
“Thanks.” Iruka watches as the woman slips through the throngs of children and disappears through the doors of the orphanage.
‘This place has seen better days.’ The chunin observes.
Hardly any grass grows in the lot surrounding the frayed building. The stucco on the walls of the building has fallen off in places and the paint on the front door, once a bright and cheerful blue, has started peeling and showing the dull wood underneath. A window shutter hangs askew on a nearby window and a few boards are missing from its twin on the other side.
Iruka jolts as the door of the orphanage slams open.
An older woman stomps towards him with a thunderous expression.
‘Uh oh.’ Iruka absently notices the kids scrambling out of the woman’s way and clearing out of the area as the woman nears him.
A bad feeling starts brewing in the back of the chunin’s mind.
“What do you want?” The woman waspishly snaps.
Iruka fights from raising a brow at the terse question. ‘Getting right to it then.’
“Umino Iruka,” The chunin greets, politely bowing to her. Even if the matron was being rude to him there’s no reason for Iruka to forget his manners.
“I’m one of the instructors at the academy. I’m here regarding some of your charges that were dropped from the academy: Masahige Ichihara, Meiji Sakata and Ikari Chikage.”
The moment he utters the kids’ names, the woman’s face goes white and then turns an ugly red.
The bad feeling in Iruka grows louder.
“There’s no one here by those names. Never has been.” The woman retorts, crossing her arms. “You must have a wrong address.”
Her hostile reaction and statement throw Iruka for a moment.
“That’s strange.” He remarks, flicking through the sheaf of papers in his hands. “Our records list them as living here.”
“Well, your records are wrong.” The woman snaps. “They aren’t here. They’re probably from one of the other orphanages.”
“I see.” Iruka looks up and his gaze instantly zeros in on the sweat beading on the woman’s face. It sends alarm bells pounding through the chunin.
This woman was displaying signs of lying to him. But why?
Iruka keeps his cool just like he would while interrogating a prisoner for intelligence and remarks, “I know a few of the orphanages around here, but do you perhaps know which one I might find them at?”
“I do not! Now are you done wasting my time?!” The woman demands.
Iruka opens his mouth to respond when the woman goes off.
“Unbelievable! Do you people have any idea of what kind of workload I have, taking care of these poor, pitiful children each day?! Shame on you, for trying to offload your work on an honest person!”
Iruka backs up with his hands up as the red-faced woman advances on him, his mind scrambling for a way to turn this escalating confrontation around. “Ma’am please, I’m sure we can work this out–”
“No!” The woman snaps, her shrill tones riding over Iruka’s attempt to placate her. “You asked and now you’ve got your answer. So get out! Quit bothering me or I’ll call the KMP on you for disturbing the peace!”
‘This isn’t going to work.’ The chunin realizes. ‘I’ll have to try something else.’
“Very well.” The scarred chunin sighs. “Have a good day.”
With a bow Iruka quickly takes his leave via shunshin.
He quickly checks the Academy archives again just to make sure the address is correct, then visits several of the other orphanages dotting Kohona.
A few of the long term workers at the other orphanages are able to confirm that the missing kids are indeed from the Little Miracles Orphanage.
A midnight check of the records in the orphanage’s office yields no results, except for bits of ash and the edge of a folder in the trash can of the office.
With this proof, Iruka heads straight for the Hokage, the only one with enough power and oversight to warrant the Matron’s arrest and interrogation.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
“—And that’s what I’ve found, Hokage-sama.” Iruka steps back, indicating that his report is complete.
Hiruzen flips through the files in front of him, a heavy scowl on his face. A streak of fire a foot long shoots out of his pipe when he puffs on it and a few seconds later, the wood bowl of the pipe disintegrates.
The Hokage growls as he sweeps away the ash from the documents.
“Badger, front and center!” He barks.
An anbu member appears before the hokage’s desk.
“Arrest matron Akari of the Little Miracles Orphanage. Take her straight to T&I and have them find out what happened to those kids.”
“Hai, Hokage-sama.” The badger masked Anbu bows then disappears.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
“Release me at once, you heathens!” The matron screams, thrashing in her bonds in the interrogation room.
The nondescript ninja in the grey T& I uniform ignores her. “Hifume Akari, you were brought here under accusations of lying to Konoha shinobi and obstructing an ongoing investigation.”
Akari freezes, the blood draining from her face.
The man looms over her with a leer. “We can do this the easy way, where you tell us the truth; or the hard way, where we get it out of you one way or another.”
“I have nothing to say to you people.” The matron spits, defiant. The gesture would be brave if not for the small glint of terror in her eyes.
The Interrogation nin sighs and reaches for the tools laid out on a sterile tray behind him. “Hard way it is then.”
Within minutes the stone walls of the building echo with the sound of a woman’s screams.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
The interrogation nin steps back, calmly wiping blood from a set of thumb screws, a pliers and various blood stained blades. He sets it down on the steel table running along the wall, ignoring Akemi’s sobs as she cradles her broken thumbs. Blood oozes from where the skin is broken and where her nails were ripped off.
The uniformed nin calmly leans back against the table and regards the orphanage matron. “Let’s try this again. Tell us what you know about Masahige Ichihara, Meiji Sakata and Ikari Chikage.”
Akari hunches over, looking away from the interrogator’s gaze. Her shoulders shake as she whispers, “I… I can’t.”
Something in the woman’s broken tone catches the shinobi’s attention.
“…Can’t or won’t?”
The soft words cause the woman to flinch.
The interrogation nin’s lips tighten as he sends a glance to the pair of Anbu hidden in the room. Akari’s reaction all but confirms their suspicions.
Someone’s forcing her to keep quiet.
“Try anyway.” The nin orders.
The matron’s head snaps up, staring at him with a terrified expression. “I-I can’t! He said it would kill me!”
The interrogator's eyes sharpen as he steps forward, his questions spat out one after another. “Who is ‘he’? What did he say would kill you? When was this threat made?”
“He came one night after the Kyuubi attack with his men. He—” The woman chokes and violently shakes as glowing black lines erupt from her mouth, carving their way around her head and down her neck.
The woman’s eyes roll as she gurgles.
The interrogator nin lunges, yanking her jaw down just in time to see a seal made of three lines and four smaller lines underneath fade from her tongue.
Akari falls limp on the chair, her eyes staring blankly ahead.
“Kuso!” The interrogator swears, slamming a fist down on the chair’s armrests.
Behind him, the Anbu exchange grim looks.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
“—That’s all we found out, Hokage-sama.” The Anbu reports, crouched before the Hokage’s desk.
‘That seal.’ Hiruzen snarls as his KI fills the room. ‘Dammit Danzo, this is the last straw! I specifically told you to disband Root!’
It was obvious that his old friend did not comply and by his actions, made it clear that Danzo will never listen to Hiruzen.
Grief and rage war within the Hokage. ‘I can no longer allow you your indiscretions Danzo. You have dug your own grave. And this time, I will make sure you lie in it!’
“Bring me Hound.” The Sandaime growls.
The Anbu bows and shunshins away, quickly returning with an Anbu with silvery white hair and a snarling dog mask.
“Hound, I want your team and several other of my personal Anbu to investigate if these kids did vanish into Root, and that Root is still operating.”
The silver haired nin thumps their chest with a fist from their kneeling position. “Yes, Hokage-sama!”
“Go.”
Both Anbu vanish.
Hiruzen allows the anger that kept his spine straight to fade and sags back into his chair. “I’m getting way too old for this.”
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
At first, the rumors of Naruto being Kushina’s son were kept to the shinobi circles; but like all things do, it eventually trickled down to the civilians. The hot topic was often debated by the people in shops, offices and marketplaces. It was even talked about by the upper year students in the Academy!
As such, Mikoto Uchiha, a former jonin now housewife; first heard about it when she was in Kohona’s fish market shopping for a few key items she needed for dinner. The Uchiha grocers were unfortunately out of eel, so she was forced to go out of the compound to the regular markets to pick some up.
“—an’t believe it… to think that the Uzumaki princess had spawned such a brat.”
Mikoto pauses in taking her change from the fishmonger. ‘Did she just talk about Kushina? Yes, I think she did.’
She neatly slides the coins into her coin pouch and tucks it into her obi. The former kunoichi smoothly maneuvers through the bustling throng to examine a stall’s products closer to the gossiping trio of housewives, allowing her to eavesdrop better on the conversation.
“I know, to think that such a distinguished clan would produce… that.” Another housewife comments, wrinkling her nose.
“Well, Kushina-sama was a kunoichi. You know they’re all kinda–” The woman makes a circle with her finger by her head for the universal crazy signal, “–up there. That would explain her obsession with pranks and swords of all things.”
Her friends snicker in agreement.
Mikoto has to bite the inside of her mouth to prevent giving herself away. ‘You wouldn’t dare say that in front of an actual kunoichi, bitch.’ The genjutsu mistress part of Mikoto starts plotting ways for these women to find themselves doing just that so she can watch the fallout.
The oblivious woman blathers on, emboldened by her audience’s agreement. “Why, I wouldn’t be surprised at all that she was the Demon Container’s mother, even if the brat’s blond.”
Mikoto’s breath catches in her throat as several things click into place. ‘Are they saying that Kushina is the new jinchuriki’s mother? …I think Sasuke mentioned him a time or two… His name was Naruto, right? Now that I think about it, the boy being Kushina’s makes a scary amount of sense. From what little I’ve seen and what Sasuke’s told me about the Academy since he was enrolled, the two are a lot alike. They both love pranks and have the same personality.’
As if to confirm her suspicions, there’s an explosion nearby and red powder billows into the air.
A cackling young boy bursts out of the red cloud. “Haha! Feel my wrath you suckers! Perish on the Red Hot Habanero!” The young boy cackles while racing down the street.
The billowing cloud spreads, entering the fish market. People cough and choke as they scramble to get into clean air. The situation brings back a lot of memories.
Mikoto barely gets a whiff of the reddish powder when she finds herself instinctively shunshining to a nearby roof. The Matriarch of the Uchiha clan coughs as she uses chakra to purge the irritant from her respiratory system. She flushes her eyes with tear drops from her purse as a further precaution.
‘That was a red pepper bomb, one of Kushina’s favorite pranks after she got fed up with her nickname one too many times…’ The Uchiha matriarch looks out from her perch, watching as the blond nimbly dodges several attempts by various civilians to catch him. ‘Is it true? Is Naruto really her son?’
The woman is half convinced already, from both the blond’s words and the prank he just pulled.
Mikoto hops over the roofs to the Uchiha compound. She needs to drop off her purchased food before she can start looking for answers.
‘Sorry dear, but it looks like dinner will be late.’ Mikoto finds herself not minding the fact much.
Sure, her boys and husband will be grumpy about it, but Fugaku will surely understand when she explains.
Right now, Mikoto has some important digging to do.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
“Akane-obaa! Akane-obaa!” A voice yells out. Doors slam open and close one after another as the shouting and thundering feet draw closer.
Inside a traditional house, an elderly woman sitting seiza before a low table sighs. She carefully sets down her inked brush onto its holder while making sure to keep her wide kimono sleeves clear of the wet ink and paper in front of her. The civilian’s once brilliant red hair has now faded to the color of rust and deep stress wrinkles adorn her face. They make the woman look like she’s perpetually squinting.
Akane Uzumaki is one of the last survivors from the Sacking of Uzushio. She’s also the only member left from the clan’s main line. As such, despite being a civilian, she is the reigning Matriarch of the clan until one of her descendants is ready to take over.
The beads on her hairpiece clack together as the old woman turns on her knees, just in time to see her grandniece, Haruka slam open the shoji door while simultaneously tripping on the engawa.
The young red-headed girl catches herself on the door frame and quickly rights herself, shooting Akane a sheepish smile as she carefully closes the shoji door behind her.
The old woman hides a grimace and motions for the girl to sit in front of her. ‘Such a clumsy girl, that one. I’m not sure letting her enroll in the Academy like she demanded was the right choice.’
“What is it, Haruka-chan?” The old woman rasps, neatly folding her hands in her lap.
“You won’t believe it, Obaa-san!” The girl gasps, trying to regain her breath. There’s an ecstatic grin on the girl’s face. “There’s rumors that Kushina-sama’s child is Naruto Uzumaki! Y’know, that one prankster kid in the class below me I’ve talked about!”
Akane frowns, turning the possibilities over in her head. ‘That can’t be right. Sarutobi told me himself that Kushina’s child did not survive that night. But from the stories Haruka’s shared, the boy has the spirit and temperament of an Uzumaki, even if he doesn’t have the clan’s red hair... On the other hand, those born from at least one Uzumaki parent always have red hair, though it can present itself in different shades. That is a huge mark against the rumor being truth.’
Akane’s mind conjures the one exception to this rule but she dismisses it. ‘Bah, Tsubaki-hime’s hair only went white when she drew on the power of Ryujin. That doesn’t count as she was born with red hair.’
“Are you sure about these rumors, Seitetsu(grandniece)?” The old woman presses, her lips thin. “Do they come from credible sources?”
The girl shifts uneasily, her eyes sliding away from the stern elder kneeling in front of her. “I–uh–”
Akane pinches the bridge of her nose.
“I’ve told you several times, Haruka.” The old woman harshly scolds, “If you’re going to bring rumors to me, claiming they’re important, you need to check the sources first!”
The Matriarch grills the young academy student for more information to start the clan’s search off with before slowly climbing to her feet. Her grandniece jumps forward to help her as the elderly woman totters a bit.
Akane glares at the young girl, shaking her off once she’s steady again. “I’m fine! You don’t have to help me!”
The woman exits the room through the doors leading to the rest of the traditionally styled house, with Haruka trailing behind her. ‘Nevertheless, this rumor is too important to let go. I will have our clansmen check to see where these rumors came from and how they started.’
Akane walks down the wooden hallway, deep in her thoughts. ‘All rumors start with a grain of truth. I wonder what that truth is to spark such outrageous gossip.’
The Matriarch reaches the inner courtyard of the Uzumaki compound and slides open the door. When she steps out, Akane spies just the person she was looking for hard at work, standing on a tall ladder and trimming newly grown branches from the akura tree overhanging the courtyard’s koi pond.
“Ah, Mihiro!” She calls out.
The man doesn’t pause in his work and instead drawls back, “Jus’ a sec, Chief.”
He quickly finishes sawing through the green wood of the branch and tosses it behind him. Mihiro agilely hops off the ladder, making his long red hair tied up in a horse tail sway behind him. He sets down the saw and saunters over, wiping his sap crusted hands on his roughly spun work clothes.
“Wha can I do for ya, Chief?” The man asks in the thick accent all of Uzushio’s sea-born clan members have.
“I need you to investigate the recent rumors that have been going around, about the blond carrying our clan name being the son of Kushina-sama.” Akane orders.
Mihiro rocks back on his heels in surprise. “Huh. Who’da thought.” The tanned man mutters to himself.
“Yeah, I can do that for ya, Chief.” Mihiro drawls, a smirk already on his face as he thinks about ways to chase down this latest challenge. “Ain’t a problem.”
With a quick salute of two fingers, the man from the trading branch of the Uzumaki clan heads off to get changed.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Two weeks later after the incident, as Naruto called the replacement of many Academy personnel, he ran out of things he could easily investigate or look at in his mother's scroll.
He decided that he had put it off long enough. It was time to see what Naruto could read from his mother’s journals and notes.
Naruto knew he wasn’t good at reading or writing.
Kanji were complicated and he barely knew the standard number used in writing. And don’t get him started on the fact that Kohona also uses katakana and higarana in their writing system.
It was a miracle that he could string together a sentence that made sense, with the needed verbs, adjectives and nouns. Even if they all weren’t in the right places.
His brush strokes were often made in the wrong order, making for some very odd looking but still semi legible characters.
As such, Naruto had a really hard time piecing together the meaning of the various scrolls and journals in his collection. It was only a matter of time until lost his temper.
“This dang thing doesn’t make any sense!” Naruto shouts, throwing the journal he was attempting to read.
“OW! Dang it ‘ttebayo!” He bellows, shaking his hand.
One of the old metal brackets holding the cover of the journal together had caught on his finger when he threw the journal, tearing the skin.
The journal hits the wall with a thud, falling to the floor.
Naruto grumbles for a moment in the quiet office, officially in a foul mood.
He just knew the Hokage would chew him out if he saw him treating such a precious heirloom like that, especially after Naruto agreed to treat each heirloom like the precious treasures they were.
Fortunately for Naruto, the Hokage is currently out of the office, sitting at the mission desk as he once again overlooks the mission assignments.
Naruto slouches over to the book and picks it up with his bloodied hand. A few drops of blood ooze out of his wound before the skin heals over. When Naruto picks up the book, the blood smears on the cover of the journal.
*CHIME*
Naruto stiffens and whips his head around, looking for the source of the noise.
Nothing. The room is completely empty but for him.
Weirded out, Naruto sits down in his chair and attempts to read again by following along the written lines with his index finger.
His finger taps on a specific simple kanji. To Naruto’s surprise, the word pops up in his head, along with the meaning!
Naruto is a bit befuddled at this discovery. Still, this is good! He’s making progress where he struggled before!
The blond keeps moving his finger along the line of kanji and to his surprise, the separately spoken words now flow into a sentence!
He quickly sees a pattern with some of the kanji and what they mean. He even manages to guess their meaning correctly with the help of the voice.
The discovery excites Naruto and he reads further, becoming engrossed in the riveting story that’s unfolding before him.
~Shisho gifted me this journal when I left Uzushio, stating that it might be helpful to write down my thoughts and feelings, along with my fuinjutsu designs.
I’ve always seen her writing in her own journal and have wondered what she writes in there. ~
As Naruto reads that sentence, a wavering image of a long-haired redheaded woman bent over a book with a brush pops into his head.
Naruto instinctively closes his eyes, focusing on the picture.
It becomes more solid and now Naruto can see the fine details in the image. The woman in the vision looks up from her work as the view comes closer, slightly shaking.
She smiles, her grey blue eyes lighting up in recognition and pleasure at seeing Naruto. On each side of her face, following her cheek bones is a single thin red line. Another thin line goes up from her chin towards her mouth.
Naruto has a feeling that he’s seen markings like this before, but he puts it out of his mind. There are lots of minor clans in Konoha. The markings are likely from one of them.
Red hair flutters past his face and a tanned hand absently brushes it back. Or rather, the person’s hand whose eyes he’s looking through right now.
Naruto’s eyes open in shock and the image shatters the moment he opens his eyelids.
“Wha- what was that?!” Naruto exclaims, completely flabbergasted.
He looks down at the words, frowning.
“Red hair…” His eyes widen. This was his mother’s journal. SHE had long red hair. Did… did he see an echo of her memory?
A bit wary now, he cautiously follows along the journal entry with his finger.
~Now, I’ll never find out. Uzushio is gone and so is Shisho.~
Two images pop up from this sentence, a beautiful island chain formed from an archipelago, and the smiling lady from before. Uzushio and his mother’s teacher.
A grin splits Naruto’s face.
“This is so cool!” He whispers, diving back into the journal.
~Nagisa is still missing. The other clan chunin that were with her say they were separated when a strange ninja attacked them.~
An image of his mother as a young girl playing with another red headed girl pops in his head. The two are laughing and when the other girl with Kushina spins around, Naruto finds himself staring into red eyes with black tomoe floating in the iris.
‘Sharingan!’ He realizes with a shock. ‘This Nagisa, she has the Sharingan!’
The image quickly fades and Naruto reads on.
~I hope she’s okay. Nagisa is Shisho’s daughter, so she’s like a sister to me. As for the other Uzumaki who survived and made it to Konoha, right now they are staying with me and Mito-sama in the Senju compound.
It’s really cramped with all the people in it so the Hokage and Mito-sama are currently arranging on more permanent housing for my clan members. I don’t know if they’ll stay here or go back to Uzushio.
I still can’t believe it, that Uzushio was attacked and destroyed. The same group of chunin that were with Nagisa were the last ones to be evacuated. They say Shisho and her husband were cut down making sure everyone could escape through the teleportation seal.
It doesn’t feel real, that Shisho is gone. But I know it is.
Because of this situation, Mito-sama has given me a few days off from lessons and excused me from classes. I don’t know if I’ll stay with Mito-sama or if I’ll be housed with the others when their new housing is arranged.
Before I left Uzu, Shisho said to focus on the happy things and to not let bad experiences affect me and to live a happy, fulfilling life.
I’m trying to focus on that positivity, but it’s hard.
Kohona is strange. I still don’t know what to make of it. It’s much larger than Uzushio and some of the buildings are so squashed together you can hardly squeeze between them.
The weather right now is hot and dry, with the only bodies of water being ponds and rivers rather than the sea.
I can’t believe I miss the muggy afternoon rain showers and the humid sea breeze that frizzes and tangles my hair!
The food here is also strange. I’ve had pork and rice before, but these people barely have any seafood! It’s ridiculous! The food tastes so bland too, nothing like the bright fruits and heavy spices of home.
Kohona’s nothing like Uzushio, that’s for sure.~
The passage is embedded with faint impressions of claustrophobia, the scent of rich, heady food, along with the overwhelming sensation of longing and grief.
A splotch appears on the page by the writing and Naruto hurriedly blots at it with a sleeve. The orange fabric of his jacket darkens in random circles as he does.
There’s wetness on his cheeks he realizes, sniffling. He quickly rubs it away with his other sleeve and blinks the reflexive tears away.
He reads on.
~But the thing that reminds me the most of home is the atmosphere between the villagers, both civilian and shinobi. They mix together like in the central markets of Uzushio.~
An open-air market wavers into view, the cries of gulls circling overhead sounding along with the ever present waves crashing along the shore. Bright streamers of cloth shade the market as shop owners loudly hawk their wares from large open colorful tents.
The scents of fresh spices, wood, metal and fresh sea food fill the air.
Naruto compares the open markets of Kohona to the image in front of them and agrees. The two are much alike. There’s more variety of goods in Kohona though, from what he can see.
~Speaking of markets, that’s where the people fleeing Uzushio’s were transported when they arrived. My classmates that were there say a huge seal appeared in the middle of one of the market squares and with a flash, a bunch of people popped up.
It was my clanmates, fleeing from the destruction of Uzushio.
Today I looked at the seal imprint that was burned into the market square’s pavers. I think I recognize the seal from the scroll Shishou gave me. Mito-sama took the scroll after I showed the seal on it to her with a strange look on her face. She gave it back several days later.
And now, the same seal or a similar one appeared, allowing my clanmates an escape route.
I’m sure the two are linked. Shisho always, always had the clan’s best interests at heart and she constantly worked to keep the clan safe.
I want to be like her when I grow up.
Oh yeah, that reminds me!
Yesterday at the Academy, some of the boys pulled at my hair and made fun of it, calling me ‘Tomato-chan’. Jerks!
I got angry and beat a few of them up. Now no one in my class wants to come near me.
Today, the teachers complained about it to Mito-sama, saying the kids are afraid of me beating them up too. But the teachers had no idea why I did that.
Mito-sama just laughed at them, saying I have the classic Uzumaki temper. “Kushina-chan is a good girl. If she beat them up, then they did something to cause it.”
She sent the chunin back after finding out they didn’t look further into the matter, saying that she would handle it.
Then she called me into the room from where I was eavesdropping, but instead of scolding me she just patted my head and went right into my fuinjutsu lessons. When we were done, she asked why I beat up the boys in my class.
When I told her what had happened, she sighed and shook her head.
“Kushina.” She says, pulling me to her side. “I don’t know if your Shisho before me talked to you about this, but there are better ways to handle these types of situations than hitting people back.”
“Unless of course, they’re the enemy,” Mito-sama adds, smirking. “But for your classmates, they are your future comrades. You should never treat them as your punching bags. The resentment from this could later on prevent them from watching your back during a mission or battle.” It was unsaid that the bad feelings from the incident could cause my death, but I heard it loud and clear.
I remember my face burning red from the shame and what my Shishou told me once when I was still in Uzushio and got in trouble for venting my temper on others.~
Another memory pops up.
~It’s late. The sun is setting through the window, reflecting on the ocean in the distance. Seagulls cry as they circle in the air outside as the waves faintly crash against the shore. The smell of sea salt, well aged wood and our finished dinner drifts in the room. A single candle dimly lights the room where the fading sunlight doesn’t reach.
It’s when Shisho is helping me get ready for bed when I ask the question.
“You want to know why the other clansmen are so terrified of me, child?” Shishou asks, tucking the covers in around Kushina.
An eager nod bobs the view of the memory. “They say your temper’s scary. You don’t look like you have the clan’s temper, Shishou.” Replies a young, squeaky voice.
Her shishou chuckles from her perch on the edge of the bed, half of her face illuminated by the dying light. She tenderly reaches over, smoothing the hair from Kushina’s face.
“Oh, I do my little sea urchin. I just hide it well.” Shishou murmurs, her eyes sparking with well hidden fire and amusement.
In the memory, Naruto makes a face when he feels Kushina’s doubt hit him. Her doubt then morphs into thoughtful curiosity.
“Why do you hide it, Shisho?” Kushina asks.
Shisho hums, explaining, “The reason you don’t think I have a temper is because I keep it tightly contained. I was taught at a young age to keep a tight grip on my temper, so it takes a lot for me to lose it; but when I do, it tends to be explosive.”
Shishou thoughtfully side-eyes Kushina. “Sometimes, the most powerful weapon is one that is carefully guarded and rarely unleashed. In this case, most people see me as so mild tempered, they don’t realize that I have the Uzumaki temper as well. So when I do let go, it shatters their image and expectations of me.”
Kushina blinks, processing this.
Shishou chuckles, eyes lit from a particular memory. “Some people are so small minded and insist on their view of the world, that having such a disruption to their view of life makes them shut down, rather than acknowledging the truth.” A grim smile lifts the corner of Shishou’s mouth. “Those misperceptions and stubbornness makes them particularly easy to mess with.”
“Screwing with their heads!” Chimes Kushina, fiendish delight on her face as she recalls a previous conversation with her Shishou.
“Exactly!” Laughs Shishou, “It keeps people off their game, giving you openings to take advantage of. It also makes them wary of you, since you then become unpredictable to them.”
“So that’s why Kato-baka avoids you and pales when you’re mentioned.” Kushina remarks, a devilish grin on her lips. “He and his friends almost fainted and ran away when I asked them.”
Kushina pauses then thoughtfully asks, “What did Kato-baka do to make you go after him, Shisho?”
Tsubaki bares her teeth in not-quite-a-smile.~
Naruto shudders, having seen that expression a few times on Kohona’s elite kunoichi’s faces when satisfied at some jerk’s comeuppance. Especially if they or one of their friends were delivering it.
~“Many things, little urchin. Let’s just say that fool had it coming for a long time.” Shishou growls, muttering under her breath, “Stupid, chauvanistic, elitist ass.”
She pins Kushina with a sharp look.
“And I'll let you go on the name calling just this once. But such language stays in this house, or else. Kato is a part of our clan’s main line, after all, so we have to show him respect.” Shishou warns.
Kushina nods, her curiosity sated. “Sure thing, Shisho!”
Another smile flits onto the older woman’s lips. “It’s getting late. Sleep well and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She drops a kiss on Kushina’s forehead.
The memory fades as Kushina sleepily snuggles into her bed, watching her teacher blow out the candle and quietly close Kushina’s bedroom door.~
As the memory fades, a faint voice calls to Naruto, gradually growing louder. “—uto. Naruto, can you hear me?”
“Bwuh?” He replies, wiping a bit of drool from his chin. Naruto looks up to see a familiar white robed figure, his face shaded by the iconic red and white hat.
“Jiji?” He sleepily questions.
“Are you alright?” The Hokage asks, concern scrunching his brow. “You didn’t respond when I called your name or shook your shoulder.”
Naruto blinks for a moment before his eyes shoot open.
“I’m fine Jiji!” Naruto enthusiastically replies, eyes shining from his discovery as he leaps to his feet. “You won’t believ—Whoa!”
The blond's numb legs nearly go out from under him. He only avoids hitting the floor when the Sandaime swiftly catches him.
“Eh-heh. You won’t believe what I found in Mom’s journal ‘ttebayo!” Naruto sheepishly admits as he gets his feet back under him and stands up.
The Hokage lets go, ruffling Naruto’s hair. “Why don’t you tell me all about it at dinner, then?”
Stars glisten in Naruto’s eyes as he begs, “Ichirakus?”
“Well, why not.” Is the easy reply.
“Yatta!” Naruto cheers, dragging the aging Hokage out the door by his hand.
-At Ichiraku’s-
“Man, you should have seen it, Jiji! It was so cool!” Naruto enthused, wiggling in his seat at the counter. “After I got a bit of blood on the journal’s cover, the words started speaking to me! I could see my mom’s memories too!”
Sarutobi chokes on his ramen Naruto’s last comment. Coughing, he asks, “You saw your mother’s memories?”
Naruto’s face screws up. “I think so. When the book talked about an island, I saw an island and when Kushina wrote about her Shisho, I saw a redheaded woman. She had these weird marks on her face.” He motions to his cheek and chin to depict where the markings are.
“Fascinating.” The Hokage remarks, his mind still on the fuinjutsu.
The Hokage starts muttering to himself, “The cover must have had a blood locked seal on the cover that when unlocked, allows the reader to view memories imprinted in the words of the pages… I wonder how she did that? Another seal on each page? Or a seal that encompasses the entire book?”
Blinking, Sarutobi clears his throat. “I have honestly never heard of such a thing before, Naruto. Your mother truly was a great fuinjutsu mistress to accomplish such a feat.”
The Sandaime turns on his stool to face Naruto. “I would like your permission to take a look at the book myself.”
He holds up a hand when Naruto opens his mouth.
“Naruto, before you say anything I need to let you know: it is well within your right to say no to anyone who asks, even me. This is your family’s legacy, one of the reasons why they were wiped out. If you feel uncomfortable at all about agreeing, you should say no.”
Naruto gives him a real smile.
“Jiji, I trust you.” The boy simply states. “You’re the only person I’d let look at the thing.”
The Sandaime’s eyes soften. “Thank you, Naruto.” He murmurs, heartfelt.
Clearing his throat, the Hokage clarifies the reason for his request, “The only reason I am asking Naruto, is to make sure the seal is safe. I want to make sure that the seal and the book has not degraded in a way that would prove harmful to you. Until then, I’d like for you to not interact with the book until we check it.”
The boy nods, bouncing in his chair. He always knew the Hokage had his best interests at heart.
And this was also another golden opportunity for the two to spend time together! Plus, if his Jiji understood the seal, he could explain what it did to Naruto!
The Hokage leans forward, confiding, “You said that you saw Uzushio in the book. I’ve never been there. What is it like?”
Naruto’s eyes gleam as he launches into describing what he saw - the open-air markets, the glimmering sea with Uzu standing tall, the people he saw in the flashes of memory, the taste and smell of the food there.
As he chatters on, Sarutobi carefully makes eye contact with Teuchi and Ayame.
The two gaze back and nod, silently acknowledging the wordless order in the Hokage’s eyes: Keep quiet about this. They knew better than to go spouting secrets that they hear to anyone. Especially about someone so precious as Naruto.
With that taken care of, the three listen to the tales Naruto spins, enjoying the way he raptures about an island and its culture long lost.