The Violent Tide

The next morning when he wakes up with puffy red eyes, she doesn't say anything. She simply passes him a plate of eggs and bacon and moves to start packing up camp in her sealing scrolls. There are so many things he should say, so many questions to ask, but he can't quite work up the motivation to do anything but sit there and consider what it means to know the future.

She told him, last night, what the future was supposed to be. Who he was supposed to be. He can't… can't really wrap his head around that much hatred, can't picture what it's like to feel so dead inside you want to literally tear the world apart. Can't imagine how he could've turned into someone so twisted and cruel, capable of slaughtering his sensei and his entire clan with a smile on his face.

But then he remembers the rage he felt, that instant where he wanted nothing more than to rip the ones who took her from him into pieces, and he tries to imagine what would've happened if he was left alone in that for years with no one but a twisted madman to make him see sense. He wonders what would've happened if one of his few precious people, the people he would and nearly did give his life for, actually did die. If he'd watched that scene but not heard Kakashi's refusal, the death of one friend, the betrayal of another?

He wonders if he's capable of becoming a monster.

"Heavy thoughts, for so early in the morning." Shuurei comments, starting on the stretching exercises she did every morning. "Why don't you stop moping around and spend that energy doing something productive?"

He's been out of bed for only a week now and still covered in bandages, what is she expecting him to do? "Uh, still recovering here! You know, from having half my body crushed?"

Bending over in something remarkably close to a split, she blew a strand of hair out of her face and shot him a look. "Have you memorized that book I gave you, on the medicinal qualities of herbs? Have you completed that chakra control exercise I showed you? Have you even practiced your kanji once since I gave you pointers? Don't use your injuries as an excuse to get out of work, Obito. I won't tolerate moping."

If anyone else had said that he would've taken that as an insult or at least been hurt by it, but knowing what he does now about her village, he can't bring himself to be offended. It's been what, four years since she lost her village, lost everything? And she's still functioning, still doing her best to save people. She hasn't broken down, hasn't let her grief overcome her, and Obito's pain is nothing compared to hers. She's right, too. He has no time to mess around and carry on feeling sorry for himself when they only have a decade to prepare to face Madara and the Jyuubi.

That still won't stop him from complaining about it. "Uuuuuggghhhh, but Shuurei, I hate studying!" he moaned.

In a motion too fast for his eyes to follow, she leaps up from her split and in one fluid motion slaps the back of his head. "Stop being an idiot or I swear to god the next one will cause you brain damage!" she scolds him as he rubs the back of his head and winces. "Now, I want to go over my plans for the next few years. We have about a year until the Kyuubi attack, assuming Madara's still planning to go through with that. I'd say so, because it's still a rare opportunity to do Konoha some significant damage and no matter what happens Naruto's still going to be born that day. I'm going to handle that one alone, because the sealing's simple enough and there's not really anything you can help me with so it'd be kind of pointless for you to risk being flattened in the attack for no reason. Until then, we're going to be on the move, looking for key people and gathering information because my ability is not infallible and pretty much useless after too many things change and you just never know."

He… didn’t like not doing anything to help with the Kyuubi attack. "But what if something happens? Are you really sure you can seal it away and not die like sensei was supposed to?"

She gives him an annoyed look. "Oh I don't know, I've only been preparing for this exact scenario for twenty years, what do you think? Sealing a bijuu's easy compared to some of the seals I've invented. I'm going alone, end of discussion."

"But… it's sensei! And what if Rin-chan or Kakashi-teme get hurt? What if something goes wrong and you need my help? I have to be there!" That image of Rin from Shuurei's genjutsu popped into his head, bleeding and coughing up blood.

"I'll be fine, they'll be fine, I know what I'm doing." she said, exasperated. "Moving on. After the attack we're going to scope out Kiri and try to pinpoint when the Bloodline Purge is going to happen. A lot of key players come from Kiri and if we're going to keep them from being swayed over to the opposition we're going to need to know where they are so we can strike preemptively. Then we're going to try to dig up information on Jugo and his clan and try to sound out where the rest of the Uzumaki ended up… which reminds me, I need to visit my tykes today."

Obito blinked in confusion. "Your… what?"

She smirked at him proudly. "Oh nothing, just a stroke of utter genius. That must, unfortunately, remain a secret for now. I'll tell you later on."

Why does that make him nervous?

Whipping out a blank scroll, she used a quick doton to pull up a slab of rock she could use as a table and began writing furiously, complex sealing arrays taking shape beneath his astonished eyes. How can she make something that complicated so quickly, like it's nothing? "All that you really need to know is that every once in a while I'll be leaving you with a Shadow Clone. Not just any Shadow Clone, though, but my very own modified version of it. Honestly, it might as well be a new type of clone altogether… my clones are imbued with a seal that summons me, the original, when it disperses, so if you have trouble that's too much for a clone to handle I'll be there immediately."

"Okay then." he replied, curious but content not to probe into it. He's only agreed to go along with her for a day- less, even- of course she's not going to trust him with all her secrets. She's been very candid with him as it is. "What now? Where are we headed?"

"I'm thinking we head towards Kiri, but before that," she made a few hand signs, her fingertips started to glow a soft gold, and she quickly jabbed the compliance seal above his heart, releasing it. "I'm sorry I put that on you, but I needed to keep you here somehow and it seemed like the only option."

He grimaced, gasping for breath. "It's… fine… you h-had to."

She smiled grimly. "Even so, I hate to do that to someone." When he'd recovered, she held up the seal she'd been working on and pressed it to her forearm. With a flash of light the paper disintegrated and lines of ink sprawled across her skin as she clenched her teeth in obvious discomfort before it all compressed into a small point, a black tattoo like three intersecting circles- a vendiagram.

"What's that?" Obito asked, staring at the mark intently. He's seen Minato-sensei write seals before, seen him use his Hiraishin and Kushina-san erect barriers, but he's never seen sealing like this where it's a person being sealed or so big it needs to be compressed.

"A rather complicated illusion seal. It's so big it needed to be compressed, which just adds a whole other level of difficulty to the scribing process but it's well worth it in my opinion. I really hate using this transference process, but the only other way to put it on me is to strip naked and paint it on directly, which…" she laughed outright at the look on his face. "Yeah, I didn't want to give you a heart attack. As to what it does…" she smiled smugly and in a practiced motion bit her thumb and swiped it over the mark, leaving a trail of blood behind. There was a puff of smoke and suddenly she didn't have red hair and strange green-gold eyes. Instead there was a woman of similar stature with long, dark brown hair and orange eyes, facial structure similar but sharper, face narrower, cheekbones more prominent.

"Woah!" he gasped, reaching up to touch her face. He could actually feel the skin, despite the fact that he knows it isn't really there. He tested it with a simple kai, watching it intently for any wavering or flaws, but it didn't so much as twitch. "That is awesome! You have to teach me this sealing thing, it's so cool!"

"Sure thing, kid." she answered, mussing his hair playfully as she slapped the seal on his good shoulder. He winced and scowled at the same time as he used his other arm to bat away her hand while the seal burned into his skin. "But you've got a looooong way to go before you're writing illusion seals. Like, say, practicing your calligraphy."

"Awwww, but Shuurei-san, calligraphy is so boooooring." complained a brunet boy with purple eyes as the smoke cleared. Gone were the effeminate looks of the typical Uchiha, and in their place the rugged, broad features of the average street brawler.

Shuurei rolled her eyes, probably at the rough and tough manly look he went for, and flicked his ear warningly. "You've got to master the basics before you do the tough stuff, kid. Otherwise you end up missing a few fingers… or hands…. or, you know, everything. You wouldn't believe how many people lost fingers in Uzushio. And don't call me Shuurei, from now on my name is Enigma."

"Enigma…" he rolls the word around, testing it. "Sounds foreign. Weird, but whatever you say. I'm going to be… Tsuyoidesu!"

"Umm, yeah, no. Your name is Shimarisu. Shima-kun for short."

"What? Chipmunk? No way! That's so girly! My name is Tsuyoidesu, it means strong and that totally fits me better than chipmunk. It's awesome, like me!"'

"It’s also long. I'm not going to break my teeth on that name every kami-forsaken day! Your name is Shima-kun and that's final!"

"But Engima-san…" he whined petulantly.

Her hand twitched towards her scrolls. "Don't make me seal your mouth shut! So help me kami I will, and there's no telling if it'll be permanent or not!"

He wisely kept silent, sulking as they started down the road.

The Third Shinobi War had only recently ended, the success of Team Minato's Kannagi Bridge mission a crucial turning point whose success cut off reinforcements from Kumo to Iwa. This meant that, though they kept mainly to the roads and through the smaller neutral countries, they occasionally skirted the edges of a battlefield, as the last vestiges of war faded from the land. Even tiptoeing around active battlefields, though, nothing much happened on the road until three and a half months after they set off from Konoha.

They travelled slowly, spending a week on the road before picking a town to stay in for a day or two, talking up the locals and making friends and contacts before moving on. As they travelled Shuurei would pass the time cramming knowledge into his head. Specifically medical knowledge because guess what, Shuurei happens to be a fairly competent medic nin in addition to being a Seals Master and she insists that every nin capable of any sort of chakra control should know the very basics at least. She would give him books and scrolls to read at night after they set up camp and quiz him on what he read while they were moving, correcting him and expanding on what the scrolls said, pointing out various herbs as they passed and listing their properties, how they interacted with each other, how they should be processed before they're used and teaching him how to identify them by sight and scent when she put them in their dinner for the night. It was harsh, especially the many times he fell ill and she'd had to dose him with the antidote, but he learned fast and, to his amazement, it stuck. She didn't baby him through the lessons, but she was patient and good at explaining things in a way that made it easier to understand and told him the real-life applications of it, which- unlike the Academy teachers- made him understand why it was important to know. She gave reasons for everything she did and answered every question, no matter how uncomfortable, frank with him in a way no one else ever was. When he got competent enough in herbology she started randomly stopping him in the middle of the road and telling him to identify all the medicinal herbs in the area, and they wouldn't move on until he'd listed all of the ones she'd noticed.

Medicine wasn't the only thing she taught him about, of course. Shuurei kept her promise to teach him fuinjutsu, though they'd yet to move past correcting his handwriting and teaching him kanji, a subject he'd barely scooted by on the requirements for in the Academy but now attacked with forced enthusiasm. She explained to him the theory behind the different branches of fuinjutsu, different common or multi-purpose seals and how they can be used in battle, and the history of fuinjutsu since it's discovery in the Warring States era. She demonstrated them, having him watch as she inked seals and explained which lines did what and the importance of chakra flow and direction during the application. It really was an amazing subject, possibilities limited only by your imagination and understanding of how they worked and the more she showed him, the keener he got on the subject, the more interested.

He was fascinated by her stories of Uzushio, the island village pulled from the sea. More like one massive, chaotic family where practically everyone was related to each other and family was valued above anything else than a village. She described a village composed almost entirely of violent redheads and how arguments and explosions were your lullabies at night and your alarm-clock in the morning, punctuated only by the sounds of the sea or the wind beating at your rooftop. At night, when they're sitting by the campfire- if it's safe to make one- and he's going over whatever text she'd assigned him to read, she'll sing songs from Uzushio, rousing ballads and gentle lullabies with an edge of desperation, as if she's afraid that if she doesn't sing, doesn't fall into her memories with the heartbreak of one falling into an impossible love, she'll forget. Sometimes, if he doesn't pull her out of her lament and urge her to go to sleep, she'll devolve into desolate keening that was the closest she'd get to tears, as if begging the world to give her home back to her, and in the morning she'd be unusually quiet and solemn until at least noon before she managed to shake it off.

Three months in, he's healed well enough to finally take off the bandages and is shocked to see sensitive pale skin quite a few shades whiter than his own with ripple-like scars, making him look deformed.

She sees the disgust on his face and winces. "I'm sorry. When Madara saved you originally he grafted on Hashiraima's DNA, but he was no medic-nin so I thought that if he could do that with little to no medical training, then I should be able to save you without having to. I wasn't sure, though, and I didn't want to risk your life if it did turn out to be necessary, so I broke into one of Orochimaru's labs and copied his data on his Mokuton experiments and stole some samples he had, just in case I needed to do the same. I actually did end up having to use it, because Hashiraima's DNA has remarkable regenerative qualities that are probably the only reason you survived such a delicate procedure in such deplorable conditions originally, since it naturally draws on nature energy and incorporates it harmlessly into the bearer's original chakra system without risk of overpowering it and turning them to stone." She forced a pained, guilty smile and patted him on the shoulder roughly. "Well, it could've been worse! Originally Madara grafted on the DNA of that plant-man abomination he created as a binding agent, probably to make it easier for him to control you if you ever betrayed him, and it would've made your skin this sickly grey-white color, but obviously I didn't do that. I pumped my chakra into you instead to use as a binding agent, and it worked fairly well, which means that this time around you are one hundred percent human. Your skin's pale right now because it's new skin, but if you give it some sun it'll get some color back and return to looking more natural, and the scars will fade with time if I'm careful enough with the healing."

Mesmerized, he lightly traced the grooves and ridges etched into the skin, shivering slightly at the tingly, ticklish sensation crawling up his spine. It was so… weird. Well, at least he's not going to be walking around looking like a messed up science experiment for too long "So, it'll get better and look more normal eventually? But I'll still have scars, right?"

"Yeah." she sighed, grimacing at him apologetically, watching him carefully.

He broke into a wide smile. "Heh, cool! The ladies love a dashing scar."

She smiled at him, irritation bleeding into relief, and in one practiced motion whacked him upside the back of his head. "Baka." she snarked fondly. Then her expression turned more serious. "Are you sure you're okay with this? I basically did the same thing Madara did to you, turning you into some science experiment. The scars will fade, the skin will tan, but you're never going to look completely normal again."

"It's fine, really! I'm a ninja, I signed up for this the moment I put on my hitai-ate. Besides, I should've died. A few scars are an okay trade-off in my opinion."

She laughed at that and ruffled his hair. "You really are a happy-go-lucky guy. I don't know how you can accept everything so easily. It's like it just slides right off."

He remembered spiteful sneers and malicious whispers, walking around like a stranger in what was supposed to be his own home. An empty house, completely silent, no one to welcome him home. The disappointed stares of the Academy sensei and condescending attitudes of his classmates as they mocked his dream. Rin's sad smile as she readied the genjutsu to make Kakashi kill her. The look on Kakashi's face as he stood in front of the Memorial, mourning him, endlessly guilty for something that wasn't his fault, that was Obito's choice. His cheerful expression faltered for a moment, but he forced it back. "Lots of practice, I guess. No use carrying on about it, being all mopey. Not like boohooing's going to help anything and it just makes you feel worse in the end." It's all in the past. He's doing something important now with someone who believes in him, who's going to make him stronger. He's going to be fine.

"Good attitude to live by." Digging into her bag she fished out an impressively detailed map and ran her finger along their route. "Well, we're still in Fire but we're getting close to the border with Kumo so stay sharp, there might be a few conflicts still brewing and god knows Kumo's not going to be too pleased with Konoha intruders after what Minato-san did to their forces."

Obito snorted. "For a guy who's so laid-back, Minato-sensei's really good at pissing people off. So, should we activate our illusion seals?"

She tapped a finger on the edge of the map, considering. "Hmm… nah, it shouldn't be necessary. If we step carefully, my sensory abilities should keep us far enough away from any battles that we won't need them."

"You sure? The area's pretty hot right now."

She bit her lip. "Maybe I can send my summons to scout ahead? Yeah, let's do that." Running through the hand signs, she nipped her thumb and slammed her hand against the ground. There was a puff of smoke, and it cleared to reveal a nondescript sparrow the size of his forearm, a string of white beads tied around her neck like a choker. "Hey Shizuka-san! Think you can scout ahead for us today?"

"Sure thing, Shuurei-san!" she answered cheerfully, taking to the air with three powerful wing flaps.

"Come back around noon unless you see something!" she yelled to Shizuka, who circled around them once to signal affirmative before taking off, flying ahead and following close to the road. "So," she said, turning to face Obito, "now that you've recovered enough to start working out- beyond the stretching exercises you've been doing to stay in shape- it's about time I test you to see what style you're suited to."

"Style?" he asked, falling into step with her as they started down the road, hefting his backpack onto his shoulders. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm going to help you with your taijutsu, teach you one of Uzushio's styles. To do that, though, I have to test you to see which style suits you, Whirlpool, Tide, or Tsunami. You're also cleared to start working on your jutsu, though you've got a long way to go on those control exercises." As they walked she did some hand sign exercises, hands moving at a speed barely visible to normal eyes.

He scowled, kicking at a rock on the ground and sending it flying. "It's not my fault! I've got so much more of it now since you pumped me full of your chakra!" And he wasn't very good at it to begin with.

"Yeah, I know. I'm not saying it's your fault, I'm just stating the facts. Don't get so testy. Here," she scooped up a couple of rocks from the side of the road and tossed it to him, "practice sticking those to your hands. With Uzumaki-size reserves, you've got to start big and work your way down. Right now, as you are, if you tried those leaf-sticking exercises your village is so fond of, you'd just end up disintegrating them."

Chakra control exercises suck. They give him a killer headache every time. It's like trying to use muscles you don't have to take some intangible substance like water- no, even harder, smoke- and try to shape it with your bare hands. If you're distracted even just a little bit it all goes to hell and whatever progress you've made goes down the toilet. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever." He sighed, and then bent his mind towards the rocks, already feeling the ache just above his ears.

They continued on in silence, with Obito splitting his attention between the rocks and his surroundings, constantly aware of his surroundings as all good ninja are. It killed his control and exacerbated his growing migraine. Next to him, Shuurei was looking over a scroll containing a seal she'd been working on for the past few weeks, a hard one too, if the way her eyebrows were drawn together was any indication. Around noon he just about managed to stick three rocks to his palms when Shuurei threw something at his head, breaking his concentration.

He scowled at her in annoyance- he almost had it!- and then a second later rubbed at his temples, wincing, trying to alleviate the steady throb of pain. "It's lunch time, so eat up. Shizuka-san should be getting back to us soon and I don't want to go any farther until she does, just in case, so we're going to stop and take a break."

"Fine." he sighed, staggering over to one of the trees and sliding to the ground, boneless, arms splayed at his sides. "Are you really going to teach me one of Uzushio's styles? Aren't those closely guarded secrets? And how are you going to test me, anyway?"

She jumped up into the branches of a neighboring tree, munching on a ration bar with a grimace towards the taste. "There is no Uzushio anymore. For all I know, I might be the last Uzumaki- Kushina-san exempted, of course. If I don't teach you the style may very well die out, and I'd hate for Uzushio to just be forgotten like that. Besides, this is no time to be all hung up on keeping things in the village when there's another war coming."

His expression grew somber at the reminder. "I guess so. Sorry."

She glanced at him in surprise. "For what? Reminding me? I may still be mourning my village, but I'm not so fragile that every time I'm reminded of it I'll break down. I've gotta do what I've gotta do, and I can't let my feelings get in the way of that. Besides," she looked up into the sky with a faraway look in her eyes, "there are others out there, other survivors. We may be scattered now and grieving, but Uzushio isn't dead yet."

They lapsed into silence, scanning the skies and munching- reluctantly- on the ration bars. A few minutes later Shuurei spotted Shizuka as a grey dot in the sky and smiled in welcome, a smile that quickly slid off her face when she realized the speed at which she was approaching. Instantly she was leaping out of the tree, arm held up to provide Shizuka with a perch while the other went for the tanto strapped to her back. He likewise leapt to his feet, throwing out his senses, searching for chakra signatures in the area and slipping into a defensive stance, kunai in hand.

Shizuka landed, gasping from exertion. "Shuurei-san… there's a child… up ahead… in danger! Battle nearby and… he's unconscious! We have to move quickly!"

"Where?" Shuurei barked tersely, already taking off in the direction she came from at top speed. "What is his condition?"

"About five clicks north-northwest. I saw no blood, but he was very pale and his right arm was clearly broken. The combatants are Suna and Kumo, fifteen to five though the battle's winding down and only a handful are still fighting. They're about five hundred yards away from his position."

"Alright." She transferred Shizuka to her shoulder pulled two scrolls, red and white, from her satchel. "Shizuka, do aerial reconnaissance, lead the way and tell us if anyone comes close but keep some distance so no one realizes you're a summon, usual signals." Shizuka took off with an 'understood'. "Obito," he jumped to attention at the commanding tone in her voice, "if it comes to a fight you are to hang back and let me take the brunt of it. Your priority is protecting the kid and getting him the hell out of there."

"What?" he protested. "But I can-"

"Don't question me, just move!" she yelled at him thunderously. "If we're separated I'll send Shizuka out and she'll circle above our position, twice clockwise for enemy engagement, back-up requested, three times for captured, three times and once counter-clockwise for injured and immobile, and continuously clockwise to signal my position. If I'm downed, go through my bag, use the purple scroll, and explain the situation to my summons."

"Shuurei-san, we're a hundred yards away! Veer left, under a large sycamore tree!" Shizuka yelled from overhead, flapping her wings hard to get some altitude so she could scan the area.

And there he was, a little boy around four or five years old with ash grey hair in a plain grey t-shirt and black pants. As Shizuka said, he was very pale and his arm was obviously broken in two places. Instantly Shuurei was kneeling at his side, green chakra coating her hands and signaling for Obito to keep watch. A minute later she took a deep breath and in one quick motion popped the bones into place, her other hand over his mouth to muffle the scream. His body arced and then went still, a faint sheen of sweat breaking out on his face and his skin gaining a greyish tone that didn't look healthy at all. Then the green glow around her hands grew brighter before she stopped to splint the limb and then migrated to his head where her eyebrows drew together in concentration.

"Enigma, incoming!" Obito yelled when two signatures entered his range. Just their luck, it was two Kumo-nin. If it'd been Suna they could've claimed affiliation with Konoha- Obito knew all the passwords like the back of his hand- but Kumo was decidedly anti-Konoha at the moment. He deflected a kunai and heard Shuurei doing the same behind him, and then the distinctive poof of a Shadow Clone jutsu and suddenly there were two Shuureis intercepting a sword strike going for his head from behind. Leaving that nin to the clones, he leaped to engage the second, throwing shuriken and then circling around to attack from behind only for the enemy to slip into the ground with the Headhunter jutsu. Growling, he took to the trees, waiting for him to come up to breathe and- there! He threw a kunai with an attached exploding tag and he's down, but not out. Before he can recover Obito's on the ground, throwing a roundhouse kick before he could get the chance to make any hand signs. He's blocked but that's okay, because he uses the momentum to swing around and slam his heel into the other side and hears a pained grunt for his efforts. Then the nin pulls out a kunai and Obito's not recovered enough to avoid it completely so it grazes his ribs and he jumps back to get some space and time to recover, throwing shuriken as he goes to keep him from slipping off into the ground. Again he blocks, but he doesn't notice the wire attached to them and a quick fire style jutsu brings him down and out for the count.

Shuurei's enemy similarly dispatched, he headed towards Shuurei who was piggybacking the kid, favoring her right arm but otherwise unharmed and they retreat, going for the road. "How's the kid?"

"I've set the arm and fixed up his ribs the best I can, but he has a severe concussion I'll have to take a look at when we're stationary, it looks nasty." Shizuka trills shrilly overhead and Shuurei yells, "Get down!" He does and she throws one of her scrolls in the air, unravelling as it goes, and seconds later there's a boom and everything around them is flattened. "Shit!" Shuurei hisses, sweat rolling down the side of her face, strain evident. "Fuck! Who the hell throws out such a destructive area of effect jutsu for just two guys?!"

Five seconds later she's on her knees, panting, and the green dome protecting them dissolves. "There go my Shadow Clones. We should be safe for now, it looks like those two were all that's left of the Kumo contingent and Suna's pulling out in the opposite direction."

"How are you on chakra?" he asks, measuring her pallor against its usual coloration and looking at her hands for any shaking.

"I'm pretty low, but I'm not about to collapse any time soon." She scrutinized the surroundings. "We might be good for now- Shizuka's signaling an all-clear- but I don't like not having any tree cover. We should get some distance in case Kumo managed to call for reinforcements before they were downed."

"How's your arm?" he asked, seeing her wince when a sudden movement jostled her.

"How's your side?" she countered brusquely. "It's fine. If I haven't said anything yet it's not worth mentioning."

They ran flat-out at a pace that covered ground quickly but that they could keep up for days if necessary, making sure to keep to the Konoha side of the border. It didn't take long to reach the edges of the jutsu's effects, but they kept on anyway, at first to get some distance from the battlefield and any possible reinforcements and then because they kept having to dodge engagements. When they finally found an area that was far enough away they were comfortable setting up camp, the sun was going down and Shuurei was noticeably lagging.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, taking the kid from her arms and setting him carefully on the ground before going to support her before she could collapse.

"I'm… fine. I just… used more chakra than I expected. Can you set up camp, make a fire? I think we're far enough away from the border we can risk it."

"Sure." As he moved to comply he heard a ripping sound and glanced over to see that Shuurei had ripped off her blood-soaked sleeve and was examining the gash in her arm. With a grimace a green light flickered to life briefly on her hands before it died.

"Hey, don't use any more chakra! We don't need you risking chakra exhaustion."

She snorted and started searching her satchel for something. "Obviously you haven't been around too many Uzumaki. I've never had chakra exhaustion before, and I'm not going to get it now. I'd be fine right now if that asshole hadn't thrown out that last jutsu. I need to pop a soldier pill, though. The kid's got one hell of a concussion and I'm afraid if I leave it the inflammation will get worse and he'd be risking permanent brain damage.

He sighed. "Fine, then I'm going to go hunting. We used up the last of our supplies and ration bars aren't going to cut it when you're popping soldier pills and the kid's so pale and thin."

"Be careful."

"Of course."

When he made it back two hours later with a brace of plump squirrels he found a pot of water set to boil over their campfire and the kid laid out in Shuurei's sleeping bag. Without a word she took the squirrels from him and set about skinning and gutting them, gesturing for him to take a seat by the fire.

"No problems fixing up the kid?"

She shook her head, not looking up from where she was skinning the squirrels. "None. He should be up and running by tomorrow and hopefully we can find out where his family is and get him to them. You dressed that graze?"

He scoffed. "Of course. Nothing to worry about."

She shot him a sharp look. "I'll be the judge of that. Come here."

"Hey, you finish gutting those squirrels first, your hands are covered in guts!"

She rolled her eyes. "You're a shinobi, stop being squeamish." With a flicker of light the pain drained out of his side and he sagged in relief, noting that she was careful not touch his clothes. "You're right, it isn't much. I'm still glad I checked it over though, you never know if they've poisoned their weapons. Your wounds from before are a bit inflamed from the fight today, but there's no sign of tearing so you should be fine."

She finished preparing the squirrels and threw them into the pot with some herbs and greens she found when he was out hunting. As they waited for it to boil he took out a book he'd been reading on medicinal herbs and Shuurei started in on the seal that'd been giving her so much trouble. By the time the stew was finished cooking the migraine he'd been nursing all day- abated for a time by the rush of adrenalin from the fight- was pounding so hard he couldn't stand to read any more.

"Hey, you alright?" Shuurei asked when he groaned, catching his pained expression.

"Migraine." he answered, kneading his palms into his forehead to relieve the pressure. "Goddamn chakra control takes it right out of me, every time."

He heard Shuurei moving things around and the rustle of paper before he sensed something coming at his head and instinctively snatched it out of the air, turning over in his hands what turned out to be a topical cream. He cracked open the jar and sniffed at it curiously, not putting it past her to test him even now. "Feverfew and… butterbur?"

She nodded. "Good for headaches."

He dabbed it on his forehead and sighed as he felt it take effect and opened his eyes just in time for him to see Shuurei glancing over at the kid for the umpteenth time that night. "Alright, what's going on? You keep looking at that kid like you think he's going to disappear."

She bit her lip again, a habit he'd noticed she'd do whenever she was thinking especially hard. "It's… well, it's probably nothing, but he looks a lot like a member of a clan from Uzushio, the Tsumeito. He could be a survivor, and if he is, and we manage to track down his family, then…"

Then she'd have family again. That would mean everything to her. "Are you sure?"

She scowled into the fire pit. "No, I'm not. That's why it bothers me so much." she shook her head. "Anyway, what's up with you and these headaches, Obito? This is the third time this week your headaches have been bad enough to need medication."

"I don't know! It was never this bad before, even when I was just learning. I used to be pretty decent at it too, but now forget walking up trees, I can't glue a rock to my hand without feeling like someone set off an explosive tag in my head."

Frowning, she held out her hand and gestured for him to come closer. "Let me take a look. It might be a side effect from the grafting, and if there's something going on with your chakra we need to nip it in the bud now before it becomes a problem."

After a few minutes she pulled away with a sigh. "Looks like your network's really shaky right now. It has to adapt to not one, but two new chakra signatures, mine and Hashiraima's, and his is completely foreign to you, mixed as it is with nature chakra. Honestly, I wonder if that man was even human. No wonder his DNA's all over the place, it's dead useful. Anyway, your chakra network's still adjusting so using it's going to be difficult for a while, so until then I'd leave off and focus on getting your body up to par. Now, what say we get to bed, huh? Recover from today's excitement."

Bed sounded pretty good right about then. He hadn't moved around so much in months and like Shuurei told him earlier, his wounds were aching. "But what about the watch?"

She waved a dismissive hand. "After that chakra pill, I have energy to burn. I'll make a few shadow clones and have them take the watch."

"They can do that? I thought you had to consciously keep them going constantly."

With a large yawn she slipped into her spare sleeping bag. "Nope. Just give 'em some chakra and they'll pop when they run out 'n all the memories go to me."

"Seriously, do they have any weaknesses, besides taking a crap load of chakra?" He asked as the clone took it's position up in a tree with a good view, unrolling his own sleeping bag.

"Nope." she answered drowsily, lips smacking on the P. And then she was out like a light.

"What a scary jutsu. And with Uzumaki reserves, it' a wonder they didn't take over the world…" he murmured drowsily as he, too, drifted off to sleep.