PROLOUGE
Underlined - English
‘Italicised’ - Thoughts
In Text Bolded - Tailed Beast
THE ANBU CROW
“Crow!” Cat yells out, pulling my attention from the target’s head rolling down the road’s incline. “Hound is close to exhaustion. Take him back to randevious - leave a summon behind to track you.”
I nod once, deftly, before I’m flying through the hand signs and a single elegant crow appears in a puff of smoke. The moment young Kurosora has kicked off the ground and taken flight my old sensei is on my back and I’m headed full tilt to a warded safe house.
‘Naruto, Noa,’ I find myself thinking. ‘Where are you now?’
THE ON-DUTY MEDIC
“Kaa-chan!” The little girl yells, her voice breaking in the busy hospital room. Even from across the room, I can see the nasty laceration across her scalp and the way she sways. Dammit, she must of been in the collapsed building too - why hasn’t she been treated?
“Hey, hey,” I call out to her, kneeling to take her hands, pulling her eyes from the crowd to mine. “What’s your name, sweetie? Do you know what your kaa-san’s name is?”
“H-Harumi,” She hiccups, and I gently raise a hand to seal up her forehead wound. “Kaa-chan’s name is Natsumi. Nensho Natsumi.”
I smile warmly, standing as I hold one of her hands in my far larger one. “Well then, Beautiful Spring. I’ve met your Kaa-chan - she sells ribbons in the market, right? Let’s go find her.”
The thought of seeing her mother and finding someone who had met her - if only in passing - is enough to get her smiling: her tough smile bright and strong framed by her short black hair - achingly reminding me of those I was missing too.
‘ Sasuke, Ruto, ’ I find myself thinking. ‘ Where are you now? ’
~~~
THE FUUINJUTSU APPRENTICE
My back is pressed firmly to the rough stones native to Earth country, Renyard healing immediately the scrapes across my bare hands.
‘Dammit Ero-Sennin,’ I think bitterly. ‘Research doesn’t give you an excuse to not give me backup in IWA territory!’
I can feel the flare of a jutsu off to my right, and immediately I’ve swiped a bloodied digit across my forearm - a brush already inked appearing in my free hand. Before the chakra dust even settles I’ve inked six rocks with strong explosive seals, sending back my brush in order to scoop them up and lob them out at the enemy-nin.
The explosion rocks the earth, and the combination of the spray of blood and the tremors chases two hawks out of the shrubbery on the cliff -
One pitch black and the other a startling albino, it’s feathers glowing seemingly with a halo in the evening light.
‘Noa, Sasuke,’ I find myself thinking. ‘Where are you now?’
THE TAICHO
My squad lands around me exactly five minutes before I had ordered to meet. They stand at semi-attention; the lot of them were experienced outside of ANBU, but were rookies inside. I was significantly higher on the totem pole than them considering my four year stint going full dark and they respected that. I had snooped around and found that my rookies - Rabbit, a wiry Hyuuga a few years my senior; Bear, a surprisingly level headed Inuzuka; and the very young Mouse - were all to some degree scared of me, considering my sheer kill count.
But that wasn’t today.
“Mission: guarding within village,” I drill out, my sharp monotone, bringing my squad to full attention. “Rabbit, this is a trial - see how long you can hold your Bakugan. Bear and Mouse, you support Rabbit and be vigilant, but because I wouldn’t want you all to grow bored -” I draw out the word, referencing earlier complaints that I had refused - violently - to tolerate, “- you get to do that while being completely unobserved by our ward. Be warned: she’s a sensor.”
My rookies all wince, and I feel a job well done. Noa’d sniff them out in a second.
THE FIELD MEDIC
“Noa-hasu! Will you do me the honor of sparring you for your hand?” Lee hollers at me as I complete a complicated kata across the Naka river’s surface, “If I fail again I shall hop through Training Ground 44 whilst covered in raw meat!”
I sigh with a reluctant smile pulling at the edge of my lips, knowing that Lee wasn’t being serious. Somewhere along the line it became a game for the Konoha 12 - well, the Konoha 10 without my boys. They tried to convince as many people as they could that I was dating _____ or being wooed by ______.
(I suspected that Shikamaru started it out, and I don’t know how many of them actually know the truth. However it happened, I was asked by Aburame Shiki last week when I was marrying into her clan - it was working and it was crazy -!)
“No, Lee!” I call out, letting my humor show. “You’re going to lose, and when you do you-”
I stumble on my words, falter for just a second before I’m taunting Lee on autopilot.
Sasuke is here!
But he’s still dark and there are nearly two more years to go.
My spirit sinks.
(Lee gets me to spar anyway, but my focus is on the spark of familiar indigo chakra just out of my reach...)
THE TRUE TOAD SAGE
“You said that you had a seal for me, Naruto?” The redheaded Kazekage asked dryly, concealing his excitement for this new addition well.
But I knew him too well.
“Sure do!” I chuckle, my hands just itching to ink my new design onto my friend. “Shukaku may be friendly now, but this will make it much more comfortable for the both of you!”
He nods once, decisively, before checking the clock on the wall. “Unfortunately, I have a meeting with the council in regards to our current problem of the Akatsuki and this will have to commence later.”
I nod, understanding the issue. I send him a quick wave, already turning to leave his office when his voice stops me. “Naruto, I do have something that might keep you busy while you’re here.”
The scroll carelessly thrown by his sand at my head nearly hits me - that is, would’ve nearly hit me if not for my jounin level reflexes. I glance at it curiously, but before I could even ask my fellow Jinchuriki clarifies the identity of the scroll.
“Noa came to visit last year, shortly after you did. She left this for you if you ever came back, a ‘little bit of home’ as she put it. Temari believes it’s letters and stories from home.”
I gulp around the lump in my throat and reflexively count the months - only fifteen more left.
“Thanks, Gaara.” I get out, voice still rough, “I’ll see you tonight.”
Across the Nations, a stubborn sage, a deadly crow, and a foreign healer all - for an instant - pause .
Stop .
Because they all feel it, even if they cannot explain and perhaps they will forget. But it is the moment that the path of fate destined for the next coming of the Legendary Three shifts:
For no longer are they the Neo Sannin - the fool with power, the traitor with a deadly path, and a little girl fighting to grow up.
They are something newer, stronger.
And everything changes.