Gerimis

The time was 11 am by the time they were finished with visiting the area in CHUNIN which Naruko could access. Earlier, when they walked past the hospital wing Naruko wondered if Kakashi was still warded there, but Sasuke did not bother to explain so she decided later would be proper for further questions. Next to last they visited the CHUNIN living quarters but no one was around save for the dietician and cook who was a chubby teen in a white uniform. The teen only waved at Sasuke before making a move towards wherever he needed to go, by then Sasuke only mentioned that the cook had some urgent meeting today. Lastly he brought her to their entertainment room, exercise room and classroom. Naruko found them much like the ones she saw on television, like the facilities offered on a college or university campus.

Sasuke was not chatty but he was responsive now than he was during their vacation. Still Naruko did not think about asking him questions, as she still had too many things to think about and did not really quite absorb the whole visit.

They were now coming to the end of their visit and Sasuke then remembered to visit the little museum the JOUNINs had recently set up as part of their upcoming anniversary celebration.

“This is new, they just set it up last month. Gai-san says it’s incomplete and we CHUNINs will take turns managing it starting later this month.”

Naruko broswed through the displays on the walls, they were mostly framed photographs of people in uniforms she had seen on Temari. There were a separate display of older looking people on another wall, mostly of a smug looking old man with an eye patch. She thought it looked like Kakashi’s relative with his one eye visible while the other's behind a patch. Something about him made her frown.

Sasuke was quick to notice her expression ad explained. "That’s Danzo, the head of Root, which is the larger organization CHUNIN belongs to.”

Naruko nodded. She had heard of Danzo before.“ I thought that CHUNIN is a children’s unit?” Naruko gripped onto her security pass clipped onto her shirt, it bore her picture and name on it. She was not sure what her status at CHUNIN was as she peeked at the card. It stated that CHUNIN stood for Children’s Unit Intelligence, but she had not been briefed about what it meant yet. They did mention that she was being recruited for something special, something related to her parents. She wondered if Sasuke could tell her and wondered if he knew what she would be facing.

“He pioneered CHUNIN and have been our patron for two decades now. Actually there are about 200 plus of us out there, older CHUNIN who never return to join as adult soldiers. Kakashi was a CHUNIN until he turned 15. He returned when he was 18 and is now a civillian JOUNIN."

Naruko did not respond to that, but she frowned a little, remembering that in the vision Kakashi had given her, he had looked slightly younger than her and Sasuke. Kakashi must knew her parents when he was still a CHUUNIN. She quickly turned around to look around the room but there were no pictures or mentions of any Uzumaki and Namikaze. She did not bother to ask Sasuke, she would question someone else later, someone as senior as Kakashi. Sasuke might know a thing or two but she wanted the whole truth and not just some diluted passed down information. Naruko scowled but did not look at Sasuke and instead walked away to inspect a series of other framed pictures. She scanned the pictures but found no one in it whom she could identify, there were too many names listed anyway and Naruko was never the type to scan each name. She aas sure Sasuke and Kakashi were in there somewhere.

Sasuke followed her and pointed to a picture consisting of twelve year olds. "That’s me,” he smiled at his younger self.

Naruko found it cute that he bothered to point himself to her and she looked closely at younger Sasuke. To her shock younger him wore a sort of an overall like thing and promptly asked, “You wore a onesie?”

Sasuke looked at her side eyed and said, “It was fashionable at the time.” He then continued to admire his younger self silently. Naruko ceased frowning and smiled. She spotted a taller male looking like Sai standing not far from younger Sasuke.

“I used to wear onesies too, overalls,” she noted.

Sasuke suddenly said, “I was assigned to persuade you to join CHUNIN, my mission was to acquire you as a Jinchuuriki. I was briefed that you are an important asset to ROOT ” His eyes were still scanning his peers' pictures.

Naruko turned to look at him. She decided to go straight to the important question, skipping the unspoken thing between them. The fact that she was just a mission to accomplish and now maybe just an object to be taken care of.

“So what am I to you now?” Naruko blurted.

“A friend, a teammate.”

Naruko waited for Sasuke to turn to her. When he finally did turn there was a smile on his face. “I asked my superiors to let me be involved in this until things settle down, which frankly will never be, and you can hold my hands when things get tough…. Things here are tough..."

She knew like her past these adults liked to keep things secretive and that was a trending thing here too. She sighed but at least she had someone here.

“Whatever happens I got your back,” Sasuke said. His eyes smiling at her while his lips were smirking.

“Guys!”

They both turned toward the voice, there at the door stood Temari in her CHUNIN uniform.

“We need you at the Lab briefing room now, sorry today should be your off day,” Temari said.

“Let’s go,” Sasuke urged Naruko as he stepped after her.

Naruko sighed inside, CHUNIN was not that different from the social welfare system always hounding her with things and disturbing her peace. So if she could survive that, then she could survive this.

Root gave the chakra project a code name like any of their science project but Dr.Shizune Kato had personally dubbed it the Kyubi Project. She only addressed the project with it’s code name in meetings with her bosses but resorted to her chosen nickname when she discussed it with her assistant, Sakura. “Why Kyubi?” Sakura had asked. Firstly, Shizune reasoned, because legends told that the monster previously housed in Kushina Uzumaki was a nine tailed fox. Furthermore the chakra they were experimenting on was always orange and it reminded her of a fox hence the nickname Kyubi.

Shizune had handled the project indirectly years ago and only became in charge of it directly when ROOT confirmed that it was going to fuse the chakra into a human body. Root had eyed the progeny of the Namikaze-Kushina child years ago but the child being underaged was a hindrance but now, not anymore.

Shizune was nervous, not because of the project finally reaching another milestone, but she was excited about meeting the progeny of the two iconic individuals whose bodies were currently freezing in the nearby cryogenic chambers. She glanced around nervously at the direction of the temporary chambers where Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki lay in suspended animation. Though she could only see the walls of her lab and not the chambers directly, her skin still prickled with the excitement of meeting the Namikaze-Uzumaki offspring. Their daughter was coming in any minute now.

The scientist turned around and took off her goggles. She rubbed her hands nervously and placed her palm flat on her thighs before bowing slightly towards the direction of their bodies.

“I will take care of your daughter as you would have liked. I will make sure she is treated well and will make sure her needs are met,” she said smiling. Her eyes looking at the floor but her thoughts were with the child and the chakra.

Shizune then raised her head and said, “Thank you for this opportunity to work with your family.” She knew it sounded illogical since they could not hear her, but she knew that their daughter would need some adult’s care and attention right now and she might as well provide those too. Root was using them for the better of the world but Shizune could not just treat the child as an experiment, this child was Root’s future like all the Jinchuuriki.

The Namikaze-Uzumaki daughter was taken in by CHUUNIN for the sole purpose of becoming a Jinchuuriki. It was a move by Danzo to match an enemy of the state named Kaguya who had retained five Jinchuuriki. They needed to play the same game as their enemy to ensure that they were also prepared for any attacks. Shizune who had backgrounds in genetics and chakra study was held responsible for the experiment since a few years ago. Shizune turned to her work table and glanced at the file she had been sent yesterday.

Apart from the excitement of meeting Naruko Uzumaki, Shizune was also extra nervous because she had never infused a foreign chakra into a human before. Kakashi had told her that it would be painful when it came to adult infusion as he had seen enemies try to steal the orange chakra they have unofficially labelled as Kyubi and seal it into themselves. Each adult infusion had been disastrous until ROOT had managed to contain the chakra or what was left of it.

Now that ROOT had seen evidence that the chakra had favoured Uzumakis's gene, and the Namikaze-Uzumaki child was available, things were looking good. The Uzumaki genes had proven that they can handle the physical aspect of carrying the power of the chakra. Clinical tests using living Uzumaki genes showed that human infusion was possible.

Happiness filled her, as a scientist this was one of her dreams come true. It was not just about experimenting with the chakra alone, or with bits of the chakra and mice, this was seeing her work of a few years come to life. But the aspect of dealing with a human being made her nervous but her preparation had been immaculate and she was ready despite her nervousness. Shizune smiled to herself, she had been going through her research more than she needed to. She ate, slept and breathed this. She hoped that her team was feeling better than her. She wished Kakashi could be here today but he was under order to rest as he had a bigger responsibility to carry out post infusion.

As she straightened her tabs, putting aside a notepad and pens on the table for the briefing, the scientist told herself that she would start with a briefing on the physical side today and would assess the Bijuu thoroughly before carrying out the infusion. She could do this in her sleep by now but this was her life and going through her notes once more only made her calm.

Kakashi was restless, he was itching to get back to work and explain to Naruko about the memories he had shown her. However he couldn’t do it because Danzo had ordered that he be grounded until his Sharingan was usable again. They needed a Sharingan wielder for this assignment and currently there’s only three of them at Root with him holding the second mature Sharingan after Itachi. Danzo had assigned Itachi on another mission which was much a more important task than this, that was all that Kakashi knew. Apart from Kakashi, Sasuke would be back up if Kakashi was affected.

Kakashi was a Jounin who actually had a life outside of ROOT. Unlikehus peers Gai, Yamato, Kurenai and Sarutobi, he owned and operated a chain of cinemas and regularly appeared in the public. Danzo had approved of his dual life saying that Kakashi would be beneficial for Root one day and when he first saw Naruko Uzumaki walk into the administration office a few months ago, he understood what Danzo meant. He was ordered to treat the girl as normal as an employer could, and just watch over her generally. He found her normal though a little klutzy like her late father.

Kakashi had been thinking about his late sensei Minato Namikaze when the Kyubi chakra project started. And after he saw the girl at work, his memories about his late sensei made him felt a little conflicted. He owed her parents a lot, she could have been a sister to him. But he was ordered to never let the knowledge of her parents spill to her no matter what. Kakashi was good when it came to secrets, nothing ever passed his lips ever. This mission was straightforward and there was really no benefit from telling her that her parents are just a revelation away.

Kakashi knew it was better that she was kept in the dark at first because when she finally knew about everything there would be no turning back. He let her be a normal teenager even if it was for a few months, and let her wallow in self centeredness and learn more about herself. Then when the chakra project showed promise, Iruka was asked to leave her alone so CHUUNIN could make a move on her. Kakashi was made to monitor her closely. Kakashi knew that a teenage girl would probably trust someone close to her age and knew Sasuke would be most effective in gaining her trust. He could see that Sasuke was also being trained to be involved in the Jinchuuriki program, so it was better to let be involved early on. Danzo had agreed and Kakashi was thankful for that.

It was a very brilliant move what with Sasuke assigned as a third person to balance the four man combination. Kakashi had half expected that Naruko would fall for Sasuke but so far the girl had treated Sasuke as a friend with a little bit of confusion thrown in. They were not assigned to discover whether she actually had special feelings for Sasuke and whether they could exploit that for CHUNIN benefit so that aspect was never explored. Danzo must have known that Naruko would readily offer herself when it came to her parents and so they concentrated on that.

Kakashi knew that CHUUNIN was a flawed organization when it came to raising children. It was not an orphanage, nor a nursery, it was all about raising capable soldiers. Kakashi himself had grown up in CHUUNIN as a child of a Root soldier. His father had left a company for his family when he knew that CHUNIN had begun the emancipation program and Kakashi had been running the company ever since their lawyer deemed that he was of legal age..

He wished he could change things for the children of ROOT, maybe change somethng about CHUNIN. Not now but maybe one day.