Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When she was born to two Uzumaki parents, one of them was already gone.

Her mother said, “Hiroki.”

(Her lips never moved again.)

---

When she was four and remembered everything she heard, read or saw, she was brought to a room with seven other children.

A stern, middle aged woman stood next to the Uzukage.

“Because of some information acquired,” The Uzukage began, “Uzushio is creating a new position. We will observe you for a year and one of you will earn the name Chiharu-sama and train under Yuma.”

---

When she turns five she is at the end of her abandoned dock and alone. She drifts off.

(When she wakes up on the shore with the waves nipping her toes, her hair is sky blue and her eyes are a mix of green, blue, and purple that change depending on the day.)

---

She is selected and her title is Chiharu-sama, The Lady of One Thousand Springs.

(No one called her ‘Hiroki’ anyways.)

---

She meets Yuma-shishou. She looks her in the eyes.

“You and I have a duty to Uzushio. Together we will protect it, and one day you will carry this burden alone. Are you prepared?”

She decides, for this woman, she will do whatever it takes.

“No.”

Yuma-shisou’s eyes gleam.

“That’s right. You’re not. But I’ll make sure that you are when the time comes.”

They share a smile.

(It’s the first of many.)

---

Yuma-shisou is the only one who doesn't call her Chiharu-sama. She tells her that the name isn’t truly hers yet.

“I will call you Kameko, Tortoise child, in hope that our plan succeeds.”

She isn’t entirely sure what Yuma-shisou is talking about but there’s a warm feeling in her chest.

---

By fourteen she has learned every seal from every seal master from the village best at sealing.

Yuma-shishou pats her head, “Now, you learn everything else.”

---

Kameko learns everything from Uzushio glassblowing to family recipes.

She is the embodiment of Uzushiogakure culture and knows just about everyone.

(She hasn’t taken a break in just over eleven years.)

---

Apart from an intense flexibility routine, chakra control and, before she hit her capacity, reserve expansion Yuma-shisou insisted on, Kameko does nothing ninja do.

Uzushiogakure is a Hidden Village.

When she is sixteen and a half when she begins shinobi training.

“While Uzushio is standing, you will not fight,” Yuma-shisou tells her.

---

When Kameko turns seventeen Yuma-shisou brings cake from her favorite cafe and leads her to her abandoned dock. Setting it down she turns to her with steely eyes.

“It’s time for you to know the truth about Chiharu-sama,” she says. “I was born a very long time ago,” Yuma begins.

Kameko has been able to see Yuma-shisou’s grey hair since she’s known her but she’s nowhere near ancient- not even the elders’ age. She squints.

Yuma-shisou raises an eyebrow and cracks a smile, “this body is, admittedly, only 48.”

Kameko squints harder and Yuma continues her tale.

“I was not born in the Elemental Nations, but a place called Earth to the Navajo tribe of Indigenous people. But I knew of the Elemental Nations... eventually Death claimed me. But I awoke again, born and raised through the First Shinobi War.”

Kameko’s eyes are wide but Yuma is looking over the water.

“I know the future of this world,” she whispers. “And yet, my timing can change nothing.”

She looks up and stares Kameko down, “The Second Shinobi War started when you were ten. It ends with the fall of Uzushio.”

Kameko’s heart stops.

(When the war ends, her home will be irreversibly gone.)

---

With Yuma-shisou’s reveal, they begin their days with the stars still hanging and sit together on their dock. Her shisou tells her about the future of her world. That it’s up to her on what she changes.

“But,” Kameko questions, “Aren’t I too early as well?”

Yuma-shisou smiles but there is something guarded in her eyes.

She does not answer.

---

Yuma-shisou tells her that every Uzushio shinobi will tell and show her all their tricks not recorded in scrolls and it is only due to her memory that she actually knows all the tricks a month before she turns eighteen.

Not that she has the ability to actually do more than a fourth of them.

---

Despite knowing the end was coming, not knowing when was making her anxious and tense.

On their dock, looking over the water, she confides her worries to her very wise shisou.

Yuma laughs and a bittersweet smile crosses her features.

“I once fell in love with one of about four people I knew in the whole time period,” she tells her.

Kameko gapes, because her Shisou is The Best but she can’t really imagine her in love.

Yuma looks at her face and cackles, throwing her head back.

---

It happens two months after her eighteenth birthday.

--

The Uzukage summons her and Yuma-shisou to his office with a steely look in his eyes and a hard set jaw.

Yuma nods and drags her out of the room.

She takes her to the far side of the island where eight of her other sensei’s wait.

Hand signs flash and a staircase opens.

Yuma-shisou takes her hand and they begin the descent into the unknown.

Five of her sensei’s follow.

The passage is closed behind them.

---

After walking about an hour down, they arrive to five identical doors.

Yomaku-sensei tells her, “It is only ever the second door, the rest are traps.”

She nods and they continue.

---

When they finally get to their destination and she has memorized all the traps, she stands in awe of the organized scrolls that cover half of the absolutely humongous auditorium. The other half are covered in a seal.

“Stand in the center.”

Her sensei’s each take a corner and start to prepare the seal.

Confused, Kameko looks to Yuma-shisou.

Yuma looks at her apprentice with an open expression Kameko has never seen before.

(She’s scared.)

“You have finally earned the name Chiharu-sama.”

Kameko sobs.

(She will never forget these words.)

“Today, Uzushio will fall to the combined forces of Iwa, Mizu, and Kumo. Our shinobi will fight to their last breath, our civilians will be slaughtered and raped, and everything of value outside of this bunker will be stolen,” Yuma pauses and takes a deep breath. “The only ones who know the traps in this bunker are here.”

Kameko looks at her sensei’s, hard at work to save the last bit of Uzushio together.

“And you will be the only one to leave alive.”

Kameko’s head whips around, “What.”

(It isn’t a question, but a heartbroken plea.)

“The six of us will seal our essence into you. With the additional chakra you will have enough chakra to rival a jinchuriki. There are rations there,” She points to a sealing scroll on a table by most of the scrolls. “You will stay here at least two weeks and perform the Uzumaki funeral rituals on our bodies. There is about half of Uzushio’s wealth here- we didn’t want the other Nations to think they're missing something and come looking- and you will commission Konoha anonymously for clean up of the island.”

Yuma moves to her corner of the hexagon.

Mori-sensei smiles at her, “This is called Chinami Hall, Hall of One Thousand Waves. You will never truly be alone.”

The seal glows.

Yomaku-sensei grins, “Even if your hair somehow got a little screwed up, you’ll always be an Uzumaki of Uzushio. You know what that means more than anyone.”

Kameko gives a watery smile.

Hayamenoko-sensei nods and tells her, “You are smart. You will be fine.”

The seal starts to burn.

Minami- sensei’s fingers twist awkwardly,“Ano.. If you never want kids it’s okay, but pass on the traditions please. Be the best version of yourself possible.”

Kaito-sensei winks but stays silent.

Kameko turns to Yuma-shisou.

“After you absorb our essence, it is likely that you will live to be above 700 years old unless you find yourself close to death and sacrifice one of us in return- which is completely acceptable. You will not age past twenty. Do not stop learning. Be strong. Be kind. Go where the wind takes you but know you will always be welcome in the Land of Whirlpools.”

It feels like Chiharu-sama’s eyes will never be dry again but she nods and straightens her back.

“I am prepared.”

Yuma’s lips twitch and everything goes dark.

Chapter Text

When Kameko wakes up she is alone and the seal is gone.

So she takes some time to reflect.

Her mother named her Hiroki, a male name meaning abundant joy and strength. Kameko now understands that she will live a very long time, just like a tortoise. She holds Uzu culture through Chiharu-sama but she has neither abundant joy or strength.

That is a problem.

She will never be called Hiroki but she will honor the person who gave birth to her.

(She misses Yuma-shisou desperately.)

Kameko decides that it's time to make a list of goals. She grabs a pen.

First, she will evaluate her body and grieve.

Second, finish her studies and become a Uzushio kunoichi.

Third, recover all Uzushio artifacts.

For now, that will be enough.

---

After bawling and saying goodbye, she burns the bodies and collects the ashes in an ornamental box.

Then stands and turns to face the scrolls.

---

Kameko is in Chinami Hall for more than two weeks. She refuses to leave until she has at least read every scroll.

(She is Uzumaki and she refuses to let them take anything else.)

(Yuma-shisou packed her enough rations anyway.)

---

When she comes out, Uzushiogakure is rubble but there are no bodies.
---

Their dock is destroyed and the sea has reclaimed it but she scatters the ashes over where it was anyways.

She is done crying.

---

She buys a small house on the outskirts of a small town across from the island. And then she trains. She stops only when she can no longer go on, then she devours some food and collapses.

(It doesn’t stop her from thinking about how she will never receive a hitai ai with the Uzushio swirl.)

---

The war ends.

---

She trains non stop for nine years straight and still looks eighteen.

---

The small town turns desolate with the exception of about twenty families too poor to move.

(The loss of Uzushio has hurt them too.)

---

By now, Kameko is undeniably Kage level with zero battle experience. She has learned everything possible from the scrolls and has weapons of every kind. She builds a new house, bigger than she has any reason for, and multiple greenhouses. She has one for medicinal plants, one for poisons, one for flowers and fruits and one for vegetables.

She protects her property with more seals than Uzushio ever had.

---

She starts a clone spy network across the elemental nations and begins her plans to bring everything back to Chinami Hall.
---

Mist is pathetically unorganized but taking everything back is still, in her opinion, disgustingly easy. She takes their forbidden scrolls and anything she sees of value.

She still doesn’t have her first kill.

---

When she returns to her house by the water she deposites her goods then goes to get groceries.

Kameko is browsing the fish when she hears a girl scream. Following the noise, she glimpses a bulky male raising his hand and a small girl cowering against the wall of a nearby alley. She sees red.

“Stop.”

Her first kill is easy and when she lies in bed she wonders if she should be sad. She is trained in Uzu arts to be the best of the best but she is not truly a kunoichi. She has no kage. She kills who she wants.

She saves who she chooses.

She smiles.

---

She walks into town the next day with four baskets full of fruit and vegetables. She hands them out to everyone she sees with a small smile.

She asks them to keep it a secret.

The townspeople adore her.

---

She expands her greenhouses and leaves a shadow clone to tend the house. Mist was close, but Iwa and Kumo are not. While good exercise, she is paranoid and it only takes her two weeks to create a new and improved version of the Nidaime Hokage’s Hiraishin.

She leaves them with her spread out clone network and inside her house. After reclaiming everything from Iwa, she leaves a seal hidden on the inside of all the Hidden Villages as well.
---

Kumo is her last step in gathering everything Uzushio was and she finishes her work quickly.

Then she comes across a locked room.

With a raised brow, she slips inside.

And freezes.

Surrounded by stasis seals is the Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama.

Part of her is furious, it isn’t just objects and information they steal but actual people? Jumping into action and knowing her time is limited she breaks the stasis seals while scoffing and picks him up before breaking into a run. She doesn’t want to Hiraishin when he isn’t even conscious but as the alarms start blaring and the city awakens she realizes she might not have a choice.

She pats his cheek and he hardly stirs. Biting her lip, she considers taking him to Konoha then leaving.

Sighing, she finds her seal that means her home and pulls.

(She’s never Hiraishin’d with a passenger either, goddammit.)

---

She sets him on one of her guest beds and curses when she feels a fever. Forming the hand signs for Mystical Palm she runs a diagnostic jutsu and lets out a sigh of relief.

Her house isn’t a hospital but she’s pretty sure she can get an IV from the next town over. Putting a paralysis seal on the Hokage along with a wet rag over his forehead, she sets out.

---

When she returns, his eyes are narrow, “Name and affiliation.”

She raises her brow and tilts her head, a move she learned from her Shisou.

“Men can be dumb,” she nods at herself. “But so can women and anything in between. Body language is something everyone knows. This is what I’ve always done to tell them ‘you are stupid and wasting my time.’ Your turn, go.”

And suddenly her nose tingles and she blinks back tears.

Tobirama looks like he just got hit by a truck.

She decides to start the conversation, “What is the last thing you remember and what year was it.”

Tobirama has a good poker face and hesitates, “I was fighting Kumo’s Kinkachu Brothers and it was 120089.”

She swears mentally and says in a slow, measured voice, “You may call me Chiharu of Uzushiogakure. That date was about thirty years ago,” she pauses. “I found you in Kumo covered in stasis seals.”

Tobirama’s expression shutters completely. Kameko blows out a breath, “You can stay here and recover- you have a fever- and I’ll get you some clothes.” She stares him down. “This is one of the most secure places in the Elemental Nations and I don’t want you nosing around.”

Tobirama nodded slowly, “When you return will you please tell me about what I’ve missed?”

Nodding awkwardly, this is the longest conversation she’s had in a while, she tells him to get some rest.

---

Over the next few days Kameko seals everything important, including her reclaimed-from-Kumo artifacts, into Chinami Hall.

She trains, and sends clones to garden and nurse Tobirama.

Then she sits him down with a cup of tea and tells him what happened over the last thirty years.

(His cup is in pieces halfway through.)

---

After explaining everything, including her Chiharu-sama title, he nods. His lips quirk into his first smile, “So, you knew Yuma-chan?”

It’s Kameko’s turn to freeze.

“When we were young, she was assigned to my team,” he let out a weak chuckle. “I might have been a little in love with her but she was so stoic and then I became Hokage and got a team… I think she is my greatest regret.”
“I once fell in love with one of about four people I knew in the whole time period.”

Kameko suddenly knows, knows in her heart, knows in her soul, knows from the essence still inside her, that this was the man she loved.

“But,” he continued, “If you are her apprentice then I must help her finish her last task.” His eyes refocus, “Will you allow me to train you?”

----

Tobirama-sensei trains her for all she is worth- teaches her more jutsu, more about sensing, politics that may or may not still be relevant, and she finally has a sparring partner. They practice in the ruins of Uzushio and when the sun sets a clone brings Uzu recipes and they sit on the edge of a cliff and eat.

The days are peaceful.

---

“She named me Kameko.”

Tobirama nods.

---

Tobirama was almost 30 when he was sealed and stasis seals did damage. With her medical ninjutsu he will have about 20 more years, but nothing more.

When she tells him, he laughs and ruffles her hair.

(Despite being on the shore, both of them are coming out of their shells to each other. They know it’s what she would've wanted.

It’s still a relationship deeper then in-another-life-would’ve-been-the-daughter.)

“I am here until I consider you at the highest level I can take you. But I no longer have much of a reason to live. I’m unnecessary and it feels wonderful,” he looks down at her. “Your duty will continue for a long time and I will support you, but that is all I can do.”

“Don’t you want to return to Konoha?”

She doesn’t want to be alone, but she’d much rather he be happy and content.
“One day, I will take a trip under henge and check on them,” he admits. “But they have a life where I am dead and that uptight, paranoid sensei is dead. I refuse to be the person that was unable to prioritize Yuma ever again.”

Kameko feels the warmth in her chest she thought was unique to her Shisou and hopes that they will find each other again. She grabs his hand and traces the patterns over the callouses.

“Very well.”

---

Kameko is almost thirty and ageless at eighteen.

---

It has only taken two and a half years to learn everything Tobirama himself knew. He calls her a prodigy.

She knows she is a genius but she isn’t sure how she feels about prodigy.

She meditates on the shore of the sea and stares at the whirlpools that took the red from her hair and left only the reflection of the sky.

---

Over time, taking care of the village is second nature and she builds them their own huge greenhouse and tells them to share.

The now-twenty-two families have begun to slowly revere her.

Kameko finds it awkward and uncomfortable but Tobirama teases that if she’s going to live long enough to be a deity anyway-

She punches him.

(She is mellow but she is also Uzumaki.)

---

The third shinobi war begins and Kameko is one of the first to know, her clone spy network is the best and most established in the Elemental Nations.

She respects Hatake and she might be the only one.

She is not a ninja.

---

Tobirama-senei decides it is time he returns to Konoha, but he will not fight. He will henge to his technical age and keep watch of the younger generation, especially Tsunade and Nawaki.

They exchange Hirashin tags, her seal directly on his skin, and a tight hug.

“Would you like letters?”

“Of course.”

This goodbye is bittersweet but painless.

(His place is among the leaves.)

(She is Chiharu-sama and her place is herself.)

(They meet in the middle anyway.)

Chapter Text

Kameko decides that it’s time to make new goals. So she makes a simple, four point to-do list.

1) Get access to Suna poisons and antidotes
2) Get a new sparring partner
3) Wander and help people personally
4) Acquire as much information and skills as possible

She knows war is ugly and unless she finds a new way to train she will be bored on the seashore.

She is Chiharu-sama and therefore the legacy of Uzushiogakure.

“...pass on the traditions please.”

She has a duty.

She packs and heads for Suna.

---

War time ups defense but Kameko needs to talk to the Kazekage, not T&I.

So when he walks into his office she activates her barrier and privacy seals and ties up the ANBU.

Gold sand surges but Kameko is already moving.

“I want nothing more than to talk,” she pauses. “Actually, I need a new sparring partner but that’s not what I’m here for.”

Rasa is tense and beyond irritated, but he is trapped with about five dead weights and his sand can’t catch this teenager with blue hair.

But then again, the dead weights aren’t actually dead.

(Why doesn’t she have a hitai ai?)

“I won’t let you out until you talk to me and you’re just giving me free training anyway.”

Kameko shrugs, could be worse.

A lot worse. Aren’t Kages supposed to be like, invincible?

Rasa’s brow ticks.

“Name and village association,” he says curtly.

Kameko expects this question and she still hesitates. She is not used to introductions. She does not know if she should share the importance of the title.

(What if he didn’t care? She doesn’t know what she’d do.)

“Chiharu of Uzushiogakure.”

Rasa stiffens.

Sand was completely neutral in the conflict but he was under the impression that there were no survivors.

“... You don’t have red hair.”

She nods, “The sea took the red and left the sky when I was five.”

Rasa twitches.

Kameko scents weakness, “Why don’t we have a chat.”

It isn’t a question.

(Rasa’s dust still hasn’t touched her.)

(Rasa would refuse this odd girl praise forever but he admits that this infiltration is completely flawless. His staff don’t bother him until at least 11:00 and it’s only 8:25, the ANBU rotation had just started. She made no sounds to attract attention. Her performance is impeccable- all she dodged with was speed. He has no true knowledge about her skills.)

---

Rasa paused.

“You want all Suna-exclusive poisons and antidotes?”

Kameko nodded, smiling, “Yes.”

“No.”

“Ehhhhhhhh, what if we make it a trade?”

Rasa sighs.

“Suna exclusive is exactly that, we aren’t sharing with outsiders for the right price.”

“You understand that either way I’m getting my hands on them,” Rasa bristles, “But instead of just taking, I’m offering to kickstart your economy on something apart from war. You might not even need to join the conflict.”

Rasa pauses, “What can you offer that holds that much promise?”

Kameko smirks and leans back in her chair, “You will probably never know my real name. Uzushio suspected their fall and I was given the title of Chiharu-sama, the protector of our legacy.”

Rasa’s brows are furrowed, calculating, “You can’t have been older than twelve when it happened?”

She simply shakes her head then looks him in the eye.

“I know the Uzumaki Art of Glass Blowing. I also know seals that, should you make a treaty with Amegakure, which I’d advise anyways, would be able to hold enough water for crops and plumbing everywhere in Suna.”

The Kazekage stares with wide eyes.

“Also, I’m technically thirty.”

She winks.

“I’ll be back tomorrow- think about it.”

---

As soon as the barriers were down, Rasa wakes his ANBU, scolds them until they are appropriately embarrassed for not even noticing their attacker, then sends them to call a council meeting.

Rasa isn’t so ignorant or arrogant that he couldn’t realize, despite the delivery, that Chiharu-sama just delivered him a wonderful gift.

An inevitable war now has the potential to be turned at the door.

Rasa smiles. A title well earned.

---

Kamkeo let out a yawn, stretching her limbs.

The talk with the Kazekage went exceptionally well and her plan actually followed the plan. She arrived around eight in the morning, got the necessary information from her clone and went to the meeting. The run from Whirlpool to Suna was done within a day and a half and now she was going to go to an inn, put up protective seals, and sleep.

Walking into the first inn that looked decent (her project of getting Suna on its own feet was definitely going to be able to keep her busy) she walked to the receptionists counter while discreetly channeling chakra to her ears to eavesdrop on the two maids whispering furiously in the corner.

“What do you mean the cold water isn’t working?”

“Exactly what it sounds like! Goddammit, I can’t lose this job, I’ve got to take care of Tarime-chan!”

“Well, do we even know why it isn’t working?”

“It’s all-”

Kameko beamed.

“Ladies, I think I can help.”

---

Wiping excess ink on her clothes, Kameko felt satisfied. She helped and got to do seal work. She might have gone a bit overboard but no one denies free, high quality work.

Even before Uzushio fell, she had been the seal master by the time she was a teenager.

Realizing she hadn’t eaten in about a day, Kameko set out to find some local cuisine. Preferably where she could eat it before ANBU poisoned it.

---

Patting her full tummy, she returned to the inn where the owner met her at the door with a wild look in her eye.

“I hope you don't want anything for your services! I didn’t commission you! You can’t trick me! Who even are you?”

Kameko is taken aback, and then she is indignant.

“I don’t want anything for my services! Who are you to yell at me when I’m just helping out! You’ll never know my name, you rude, bitter old hag!”

And then she pauses. Considers the okami’s perspective.

Kami-forsaken Uzumaki temper.

The okami is gaping, a vulnerable look in her eye.

“Ah, well-”

“I shouldn’t have-”

They start at the same time and Kameko lets out a relieved smile.

“I apologize Okami-san, I should have told you what I was doing, and that I expected no payment. Please forgive me”

The Okami bows hastily, “Of course! Then please forgive me, thank you for your kindness.”

Kameko waves her hand, “Goodnight then.”

---

Kameko wakes to a knock at the door.

Her lips quirk, “I’ll be ready in five minutes!”

---

With all her belongings in a hidden scroll on her thigh, she sets out for the Kazekage's office.

Halfway there, she stops to get breakfast from a food stall. Suna is poor and leaning into desperate despair but they aren’t quite there. She can still help, especially if she can get the Kazekage’s ear.

She alone has enough money to stimulate the economy from Uzushio so it’s not like there’s any damage done, not counting the amount she’s saving from all her clones’ part time jobs.

She walks into the building and steps into an ambush.

Fuck my life.

---

It’s not that she hadn’t considered the possibility, it just seemed highly unlikely.

The ambush is done by the Council.

Not ordered. They were the participants.

They want to hear everything she can do and what she wants in return. They remind her of children and a sempai, listening with wide eyes and admiration. She’s pretty sure Council’s aren’t supposed to act this way to an outsider.

They even offer the Kazekage up as a sparring partner.

(By his fidgeting, she changes metaphors and decides the Council is the mother of Kazekage-chan and they just found the most perfect husband-)

---

They are in session and negotiating for six and a half hours.

Kameko gets her exclusive poisons, their antidotes, and the Kazekage as a bimonthly sparring partner.

Suna gets a neutral party to negotiate with Ame, fifty water seals that each hold five tons of water, and get to give her a Bingo Book page with her labeled as an “associate.” They also get three apprentices trained in the Art of Uzumaki Glass Blowing.

Kameko considers it a win-win.

---

She doesn’t mind that she isn’t supposed to kill Suna shinobi but that won’t stop her if she decides they should die.

---

While the Kazekage and Council gather twenty participants, of which she will choose three to train, Kameko explores.

She talks to food vendors and seamstresses.

She walks the dunes and looks at architecture.

She explores a store of potted cactus’ and helps a girl find, “The biggest tumbleweed!”

She is Chiharu-sama and she holds all of Uzushio.

She can appreciate far more than fighting.

---

It takes another week before she is summoned to the Kazekage’s office.
There, she finds twenty people, young and old, but all with spirit. Most are talking to each other and waving hands, laughing. She hovers in her corner and feels homesick.

Uzumaki’s were expressive and louder than the waves that crashed against the shore.They were bright smiles and bright hair.

Kameko realizes she has neither.

“Your mind was the only reason you were in the running for Chiharu-sama,” Yuma-shisou tells her. “When you drowned and the Whirlpools returned you to us, a human chosen by the land itself? You are the most Uzumaki of us all, Kameko, your hair the most beautiful.”

Her lips tilt upwards and she nods at herself.

Her hair isn’t red but it is bright. She can work on smiles and happiness.

She steps forward.

---

She chooses an older man with dark skin and laugh lines, an unassuming teenage boy with brown hair, and a quiet blonde girl who is just entering puberty.

She asks them, “Are you prepared?”

Then she tells them, “You are each other's new family.”

---

Their second meeting is at five a.m. in a shop called “Uzumaki Glass.”

“This shop is ours equally,” she tells them. “Mira-chan,” she points at the smallest among them, “Owns this shop just as much as I do. I am your Shisou until I tell you otherwise. Disrespect towards me or each other will not be tolerated.”

She waits for them to nod before continuing.

“You will call me Chiharu-shisou. Uzumaki Glass Blowing is an art renowned for a reason. It has unique patterns and comes in all shapes and sizes. The most important part is to connect to the art. In this shop, we will exclusively learn Uzu styles and patterns. Should you later wish to use the skills learned here and create your own style that mixes Suna and Uzu elements, that is perfectly acceptable but it cannot be sold in this shop,” watching their response, Kameko continues, “By signing the contract, you will work here at least three days a week for the rest of your lives and each of you will eventually train your own apprentices.”

None of them looked surprised, eyes gleaming with determination.

She smirked, “Let’s get started.”

Chapter Text

Perhaps it should’ve been expected after the scene in his office, but Rasa was far too dependent on his gold dust. 

Kameko frowned. To stop improving after hitting good enough? Yuma-shisou would have hit her.

“Okay, stop.”

The dust falls.

At the beginning of the spar she thought he was just feeling her out but that is clearly not the case. 

“How’s your taijutsu?”

He shakes his head. 

“Kenjutsu?”

Shakes again.

“ Poisons? Other jutsu?”

“My taijutsu and ninjutsu apart from Gold Dust are jonin passable but not Kage level. I… have no specialization.”

His ears are red.

She slumps. Here I was, thinking I got a new toy. Tsk.

Straightening up, she claps her hands together.

“Alright.”

He looks up.

“You aren’t going to be my sparring partner, but I’ve not taking Suna out of it’s hole to let it fall because it has a weak Kage.”

He seethes, “No one’s outrun my sand before.”

She raises an eyebrow, “ Excuses, Kage-chan?”

He sulks.

---

Sabaku no Rasa has no idea who this no name kunoichi is. Or what, for that matter. He has never heard of a Legacy Holder.

She is a ninja that knows glassblowing of all things. 

(The lost art will save his economy.) 

She looks no older than a teenager but claims to be his age. 

(She screams a long life.)

She has blue hair where people are known for red.

("The sea took the red and left the sky when I was five.”  What does that mean? Was she joking ?)

And now, after being bartered away by the Council who’s tripping over themselves to please her, they’re secluded a few miles away from the village without ANBU and he’s getting his ass kicked. 

And that’s putting it nicely .

---

After hearing the Kazekage’s, surprisingly honest, confession, Kameko has decided to take one more student in Suna. 

“I will not embarrass you,” She tells him. “In public, you will call me Chiharu-sama. Here, you will call me sensei.”

He hesitates, stares hard at her, then dips his head in a shallow nod.

“We will train all day once every two weeks. While we train, I will put up an opaque barrier and no one will see you looking disheveled except me.”

“... Thank you, sensei.”

---

Kameko alternates between training her students at “Uzumaki Glass” and Rasa deep within the dunes.

She likes teaching.

(Sometimes, like when Hideo made his first red vase with waves on it, she feels a warmth in her chest like the ones Yuma-shihou and Tobirama-senei made her feel.

It’s still a bit different, though.) 

---

There was one week where she takes her plants home via hiraishin, and sets her clones to learn the information. 

(An occasional headache is a minor price to pay and shadow clones have been her study crutch since she was seven.)

---

After six months, she leaves and says she’ll be back after her birthday.

Kameko has a couple months before she is thirty-one.

(And yet, still eighteen. Part of her will never age past this mentality. She will be a wise child.)

---

She Hiraishins home, does some warm ups, and Hiraishin’s back.

---

Suna’s forbidden and secret scrolls are hidden a bit better than Mist but extraction is just as easy.

She’s disappointed, but she did not want to kill Suna shinobi either. 

She’s spent half a year following Minami-sensei’s last wish, and now she will switch gears and continue learning just like her Shisou told her.

(Just like she tells Rasa.)

---

Five months in, she has learned all that’s possible from Suna’s scrolls, so she takes everything Sand has given her and makes the trip to Chinami Hall. 

---

Walking in, she realizes that the Hall will need to be organized. The half that holds all of the Uzu shinobi arts is spotless (preservation seals, she has no doubt) but the other half is empty apart from the table and pile of scrolls from Mist, Iwa, and Kumo. 

Something dark passes over her features, and Kameko decides shinobi without secret or forbidden techniques are bad enough and she’s going to take, learn, then leave them here where no one can exploit the knowledge inside. 

Nodding to herself, she makes plans to commission some shelves.

Before she leaves, she places down a modified Hiraishin seal, one that will allow her in without creating a corpse. 

(Shinobi are paranoid and Uzushio was a shinobi village.)

---

She has two months before returning to Suna. She has access to their exclusives of every type but she is now realizing she doesn’t have their general.  

“Skipping to the fancy stuff, are we?” Minami-sensei teases, poking Kameko’s nose. She goes cross eyed. “But preparing lobster must be more interesting than crab!”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah!”

A clone knocks on her door, interrupting her planning. She looks over her shoulder, “What is it?”

“The conservatory is currently producing excess, Hime-sama.”

It was always odd to others how obedient and formal her clones were. Sometimes she thinks she does the jutsu wrong, conserves the part where they copy her personality. She asked a clone once if this was the case. It gave her a small smile, “We are naturally like this. However, we stay this way because it calms you. We are Mizuko.”

Kameko decided Mizuko are The Best after her Shishou and it doesn’t really matter anyways. 

“I haven’t seen the townspeople in a while, and they haven’t seen me either,” she organizes her thoughts, “When is the next town meeting?”

“Tonight, Hime-sama. Would you allow me to cook?”

Kameko nods firmly, “I’ll help.”

---

Four and a half hours later, laden with a cart full of warm dishes, Kameko walks into the town meeting. 

They greet her with wide, beaming smiles. 

They greet the food with wide eyes and deep bows.

Her townspeople do not starve but she has not taken care of them as well as she promised herself she would. 

She decides this will be her next project.

(There are knowing glances but no one talks about how these are homemade Uzushio recipes.)

(The people of the coast are strong.)

---

She may still be in need of a sparring partner but she’s helping people personally and learning Village secrets so Kameko thinks she’s on the right track.

(It’s not like she doesn’t have time to figure it out.)

---

Kameko spends the next month cooking to her heart's content for people who appreciate it wholeheartedly and she feels some of her homesickness dissipate. 

She uses Doton jutsu and creates better houses, home’s that don’t leak.

Fuuton dries laundry.

Katon in fireplaces for cold nights. 

Iryo-ninjutsu for when the kids scrape their knees or the grandparents that have arthritis. 

She adds plants to her apothecary and makes a clone to start making soap so her townspeople don’t have to buy it. 

By the end of the month, every villager has a Hiraishin seal and she teaches them a simple chakra flare code for emergencies.  

And then she’s off.

---

She has a month to get to Suna and Kameko has never actually seen war. 

She knows where she’s going. 

---

The first week is spent scoping the area and watching the way children too young for puberty “face” against jonin. Watches jonin fall to slow acting poison with agony painted across their features until someone comes and slices their throat open like a peach. Watches Chunin plant bombs where they are unable to escape the blast radius.

It is ugly.

(Kameko is suddenly very relieved she was able to save Suna from this. )

“Nothing isn’t fair in war, Love,” Yuma-shisou says while petting her hair. “And no one wins.”

Kameko’s never seen anything like it. And she never wants to again.

Her heart hurts. Her eyes sting.

“But we fight because we are our Kages tools.”

Her eyes narrow. 

She stays.

(She is considering taking the entire war-dependent shinobi structure down at its knees.)

---

When the second week starts, she is sneaking into camps and healing the children, enough for them to survive with no permanent damage. 

But also enough for them to be sent home immediately. 

(Children, to her, are people under eighteen.) 

---

While Uzumaki are not known for their patience, it is only halfway through the second week when she joins the fighting. 

(One day in a warzone is an eternity.)

She chooses no sides.

She uses her stealth skills that accomplish whatever she asks of them and finds isolated skirmishes.

She casts genjutsu that tells shinobi, “Ignore the hitai ai.”

She places compulsion seals, “I won’t kill them.”

She layers so many genjutsu that the soldiers think they’re in a spar. 

She heals.

When her last month ends, there is damage and people are still fighting but there are also smiles, friendly jeers, and far less death.

She leaves the border and hopes that reinforcements won’t come to either side.

(Her clones will tell her if they do. Then she will return and do it again. And again.)

(These are no longer battles and all she did was take away the difference in hitai ai’s.

She thinks, Villages are terrifying .)

---

For a long time, once a week, she chooses a border without major players and layers genjutsu and compulsion seals. Her Hiraishin seals are carried by half the ninja population.

She continues.

---

She returns to a warm welcome in Suna. 

Her students, finally receiving a break from new material, have started producing as much as they can and Suna has made as much in the last month from the simple Uzu-design glass as they make in a year of missions.

Uzushio glass blown products were always a civilian luxury item and their return to the market is ground breaking for merchants. With Suna’s neutrality in the war, civilians feel safer and the Kazekage is diligently protecting trade routes within the Land of Wind. 

Rasa tells her this while smiling, but Mizuko already has told her.

She knows.

So why is she just now recognizing that this is different from the future Yuma-shisou told her about?

Yuma-shishou told her that she knows the future from the perspective of a Konoha Jinchuriki who will not be born for… she pauses, about five years.

Kameko rubs her nose, time has flown over her head.

She groans.

Rasa furrows his brows.

“Alright, that’s good news. Gaki, I want fifty suicides from that dune to that dune. My cute little apprentices are going to take a break from the market and I’m accelerating their training. Between the three of them, they’ll know everything about the Art of Uzumaki Glassblowing within five months.”

Rasa opens his mouth to interrupt.

“And, kami, you weren’t going to interrupt your sensei were you? Seventy-five suicides. And , I will make you thirty high level glass pieces to auction when you see fit.”

And that was that.

---

Kameko is thirty one and ageless at eighteen. 

---

A little over four months after Kameko has perfected Suna taijutsu and kenjutsu, a Mizuko wearing an apron Hiraishins in front of her with a smile far larger than her usual quirk of lips. 

“Hime!” The Mizuko pauses and a light blush covers her cheeks and she continues in a far softer voice that does nothing to hide her excitement. “Hime-sama, Tobirama-sensei finally sent a letter!”

Kameko gasps. She knew that, because of war time and his obvious “past” of being a shinobi, it would take him a long time to be cleared and that he would still wait past the official time to be careful.

Opening the white envelope carefully she takes out the folded up letter first. Unfurling it, she blinks, I’ve never seen his handwriting before.

(She hasn’t even started reading and she feels like she might burst.

She’s happy.)

Dearest Chiharu-chan,

I admit, I miss you more than I thought I would. I was going through old stuff because of the move and found this green ribbon that reminded me of Yuma-chan's eyes and I was never man enough to give her. I’d love for you to wear it but maybe around your wrist? Neck? 

See, I got you your very own hair ornament that I found at the wonderful Konoha market! So many treasures to find.

Enjoy,

S.T.  (Best Jiji)

Inside the circular red ornament is a hand painted storage seal with a slip of paper that says nothing more than, “Full stealth, October 19, Hokage Rock” in one of the Uzu codes she taught him. 

She can wait two months for her sensei.

---

A month later Mira, Hideo and Kouichi finish their Art of Uzumaki Glass Blowing Course. She takes them to celebrate and tells them that only the Kazekage has her address and to give messages to him.

They are dear to her heart and she tells them, “You are all honorary Uzumaki now. You will have each other's back before anyone, anything else. You help each other. You will share burdens. You will be in charge of teaching each other when I’m gone.” 

She smiles softly, “I know you can do it.”

Mira and Hideo have tears in their eyes and cry, “Shisou!” with the synchronization of students who have been together for a year and half.

She smiles.

 Mira will turn fourteen, Hideo twenty-one, and Kouichi fifty-two this year. 

There is an age gap.

(They have already overcome it.)

(Maybe she learned something, too.)

Kouichi asks her to visit.

She promises.

---

(She ignores that she will outlive even Mira by a very large margin.)

Chapter Text

She is once again standing in the Kazekage’s office but the tension present is far less volatile.

“The war shows no signs of letting up,” she says conversationally. 

“The small nations are very angry,” he agrees.

Kameko cuts to the chase.

“It is time to negotiate with Amegakure. I have one more month and then I will be busy with other affairs for an undetermined amount of time.”

“Sensei, you are formidable, but can you truly do it in one month?” Rasa questions.

There is no doubt in voice, he is only curious. He knows that if she says she can, then she can.

(The Kazekage has learned to fear her on the battlefield, but he will never forget how she tamed the Council before even meeting them.

He ignores the voice that tells him he acts like a fresh genin with a bad case of hero worship.)

Kameko still loves how her Kage-chan now calls her “Sensei” in front of everyone.

Students are the best.  

“Without extenuating circumstances, yes.”

He nods slowly, “Send a letter?”

“ Of course , Kage-chan!”

---

Rasa takes the day before she leaves off.

(No he isn’t allowed to but he did it anyway.)

They walk across the sand and up dunes.

When they are far from the village and alone, she begins talking.

“When I was five years old, I fell asleep on an abandoned dock,” she tells him. “When I woke up, my hair was sky blue and I was on the shore. Later that year, I was selected as Uzushiogakure’s first Chiharu-sama, The Lady of One Thousand Springs.”

“Sensei… ?”

Rasa has known his sensei for almost two years now. She is kind and strong and selfless. She is smart with an impeccable memory. She teases and laughs. She is an excellent teacher.

What she does not do, however, is talk about herself.

She looks at him. 

“I’m choosing to trust you.”

His heart swells.

“My duties as Chiharu-sama truly began with Suna,” she tells him. “And yet, training for the title began when I was selected.”

She looks at the cloudless sky. She turns to him.

“I know every skill that every citizen of Uzushio did before the invasion,” she pauses. “Do you know what that means? I knew every citizen of Uzushio. And I lost all of them.”

The twist of her lips is anything but kind.

“I’ve had hundreds of sensei’s,” she tells him. “And all of them are dead .”

Rasa hesitates, “I am alive,” he offers.

Kameko grins at him. 

“I have one sensei left,” she admits. “But he isn’t from Uzushio.”

“I am the legacy, skills and hobbies of my people. I know everything and I will forget none of it.”

Rasa is in awe, he may be Kazekage but he now realizes that Chiharu-sama is a title far more impressive. 

“My glass blowing students call me shisou, but you are my disciple just as much as they are. More than that, I consider you a friend.”

She smiles and it is more dazzling than the sun at midday.

“It’s nice to meet you, Rasa, my name is Uzumaki Kameko.”

---

When they are two dunes away from Sunagakure, she stops them. 

“I have something I’d like to offer you but you do not have to take it- it is a choice.”

Rasa nods.

“I am a seal's mistress and I, like the Yellow Flash of Konoha, have created a version of the Hiraishin.”

Rasa’s jaw is slack and he’s internally cursing while letting out wails of despair. How is he supposed to get over his minor case of admiration when his sensei is this cool ?

“I’d like to plant a Hiraishin seal on you so I can come in case of emergency. One chakra pulse for ‘please visit I miss you sensei’, two for ‘emergency, come ASAP.’ Would you like it?”

He offers his wrist.

---

She sets out quietly the next day before the sun rises.

She has one copy of her water storage seal, five pens, and her survival gear.

When she is cresting the first dune, she turns back and bows.

“Thank you for taking care of me.”

---

She arrives at the Ame-Wind border in time for a late breakfast. 

Kameko’s Plan to Talk to Kage was a roaring success the first time and so she changes nothing.

So when Hanzo of the Salamander walks into his office alone, just past two in the morning, Kameko is there to greet him. 

“My name is Chiharu of Uzushiogakure,” he tenses and whips around, “And I am here as an envoy of Sunagakure.”

And then the barriers rise.

---

Kameko is disappointed, again .

Hanzo of the Salamander, the Amekage, is supposed to be the undisputed, strongest fighter in all of the minor countries.

She’s a Poison Mistress, immune to many, but she also has common sense. And Yuma-shisou’s protocols.

Of course she has a kami-forsaken mask.

And while Hanzo of the Salamander does have exceptional Taijutsu and Kenjutsu, he simply isn’t fast enough to keep up with her. 

---

Hanzo is flustered and completely off kilter.

His training hasn’t been intense for about two years but he doesn’t see how that translates to this blue haired child dodging every blow he sends at her.

He doesn’t even recognize her from the Bingo Books, “Who are you?”

She raises an eyebrow and tilts her head, “I already told you.”

His jaw clenches tighter and he ignores the flash of embarrassment that follows her answer. 

“Why don’t we sit down?”

Hanzo has been a leader for a long time and he knows when to accept defeat. 

His sword lowers.

“Wonderful!”

---

Kameko thinks she might be a genius because she’s never heard of anyone using her Plan to Talk to Kage and it’s worked twice now.

“Okay!” clapping her hands, Kameko pulls out the blank notebook from thin air. 

He splutters, “That was in my locked drawer!”

She is unimpressed, “Yeah, locked with seals anyone above chunin level could open.”

He pauses, “Uzushio fell almost fifteen years ago. You wouldn’t have been more than a toddler.”

The grin she gives him is sharp, “Maybe, maybe not, but I am here only as Suna’s envoy.”

“Sunagakure has been neutral and we have decided it best not fight on every border,” Hanzo clenches his jaw. “What do they want from us?”

Kameko waves her hand, “Nothing drastic, and something you are in abundance of,” she tells him.

“They want some water.”

Hanzo figures that the desert does indeed want water, but how do they expect to get it? A one-sided open border to fill a canteen ? Not gonna happen.

“I am a seal’s mistress,” he jolts, “I have seals that can capture enough water to stop Suna citizens from experiencing drought and absorb enough water that Ame can develop agriculture apart from the occasional rice patty.” 

Kameko allows him to stew in that information before dropping one more bomb.

“Shimura Danzo of Konoha is a dirty liar,” she tells him. “Do not forsake your own people.”

She leaves.

He does not try to stop her. 

---

Kameko waits three days before returning. 

---

When she does, she is disgusted by the man in front of her. 

Sunagakure was on the brink of despair.

Amegakure is long past that point and has basically hit the bottom in every way. 

Diseases are running rampant and just about everyone she saw was malnourished.

Orphans dot the landscape. 

She decides that Hanzo is no longer a fit ruler.

---

“When did you stop caring?”

He looks up at her.

“I don’t quite remember,” he admits softly. “I know I gave up but I don’t know when or why.”

“So you brought your people into another war.”

He flinches.

“I am the last of Uzushiogakure,” she tells him. “But I am Chiharu-sama and I am it’s legacy.”

He looks at her and sees her eyes that are a mix of blue and purple.

(The ocean during a storm.)

“I will find you a successor and I will negotiate with them, and then you will come with me.”

(It is not a question.)

He nods.

---

Hanzo is a bit excited.

(He will never admit it.)

---

Kameko returns in four days with three others.

“This is Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan,” she announces.

“They will be Ame’s new leadership. Since there is no Council and I have recently been disillusioned with Kageship, their titles will be Ame-sama.” 

She sits them down in front of him, “Tell them everything they need to know.”

She does not ask for his opinion.

(He is relieved.)

---

While they talk, she is adding privacy seals and barrier seals to the office. Then she adds real protection seals to the desk keyed to the Ame-chibis’ chakra.

After that, she sits down and eavesdrops. 

No one asks her to leave.

(She would have.)

---

Kameko is finally able to sign the treaty as Suna’s envoy. It takes longer than she’d like but she leads them through every step of political negotiation and explains what she’s doing and why.

“To negotiate when you have all the power is not to negotiate at all,” Yuma-shisou tells her sternly. “Do not abuse the people around you, False Treaties do damage, Kameko-chan.”

She gives them the address Rasa has, it is to the post office closest to her house, and takes them to dinner.

(She is sure to leave a large tip for the meager portion of dumplings.)

---

“Okay, Ame-chibi’s,” she claps her hands and they look up at her with wide eyes. “I am going to give you enough money to do two things.”

She raises one finger, “Buy enough seeds to feed the tiny population you have by the end of your seasonal harvest.”

She raises a second finger, “And to pull out of this awful war. You are expected to defend your borders but do not antagonize.”

Their stances showcase their determination , “Yes!”

---

After Hiraishining to Suna to drop off the treaty on Rasa’s desk, she returns home.

She sends a clone to get the money and pulls aside a House Mizuko, “I’m going to leave Hanzo here. I want you to introduce him to the village and show him how to help civilians. Hell, teach him to cook, be his sparring partner, whatever, help him find his spark . I’ll be visiting Tobirama-sensei in a few days.”

“Of course, Hime-sama.”

They share a grin.

---

The moon is high on October 19th and the wind nips her fingertips.

Kameko holds all Uzu-culture, including traditional dress, but she was accustomed to wearing black, ANBU-style clothing before the invasion and she doesn’t change what works.

The green ribbon tied around her neck is the only color on her clothes.

(The red hair pin is to be worn when she meets her partner, romantic or platonic, to whom she will share her life. 

Or more acurately, theirs.

It is in Chinami Hall.

Part of her aches because she recognizes why Tobirama knows Uzu tradition so well but the rest of her absolutely swells with joy because she was raised as an orphan but Tobirama-sensei gave her a hairpiece anyway .)

She sits along the tree line and waits. 

---

She has never been to Konoha, hasn’t stolen all their secrets, and yet, despite her clone network, this is the Hidden Village she knows the most about. 

Assuming she hasn’t changed everything, this is where Naruto will be born in a little over three years. The war will end in one. 

She smiles and flips off the moon.

---

Tobirama-sensei arrives an hour later and they Hiraishin to a nearby town. 

---

Setting down next to a river, Kameko leans her head on his shoulder.

“It isn’t the cliff facing the sea,” she says wistfully. “But I currently have a guest and I’d like it to be just us.”

“A guest, huh?” Tobirama wiggles his eyebrows.

Kameko gapes, “Those Konoha History books are shameless liars!”

Tobirama chuckles, “Ah, well, I’ve definitely been channeling Hashirama-nii recently. It’s surprisingly therapeutic to not be excessively paranoid.”

Kameko hums.

“My guest is Hanzo of the Salamander and he’s closer to your age, Best Jiji-sensei.”

Her elbow nudges his ribs.

Tobirama  doesn’t respond.

Looking over, Kameko’s eyes pop and she starts flailing, “What is it?”

“Your guest is the Amekage? ”

“Um, no. He sucked and Kages are stupid, other than Kage-chan because he’s my cute little disciple, so now there are three wonderful, hand- picked by me, Ame-sama’s.”

Tobirama decides he must have selective hearing in his old age.

“That’s nice, Kameko-chan.”

She beams. 

“I also taught the Art of Uzumaki Glass Blowing to three apprentices in Suna so they wouldn’t have to join the war…”

Tobirama sits, content to listen to Kameko talk about her life.

It’s been far too long.

---

Eventually, once Kameko’s caught him up, she turns to him.

“What about you, Tobirama-sensei?”

He looks at her seriously, “Konoha sees me as a ditsy, old man who sleeps a lot.”

She giggles.

“But, I’ve been doing reconnaissance at night and I fear that I might have bred a lot of hatred.”

She stops abruptly, “... Are you talking about Danzo?”

Tobirama does a double-take. 

“I am,” he stumbles over his words, then straightens up. “Something went wrong with him, or maybe it always was? He’s a warhawk , Kameko-chan, and I don’t know how it happened .”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“What?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she looks him in the eye, “I am Chiharu-sama but I am also all that’s left. I will live a long time. What happens when I start pondering why I am the only one left? Why I was chosen?”

She takes a deep breath, “That is destructive thinking about things we cannot change. Please don’t hurt yourself sensei.”

She touches her neck and there’s a wry twist of her lips, “That’s what Yuma-shisou told me after telling me that Uzushio would fall.”

Tobirama lets out an explosive sigh and nods.

(He does not question her wording.)

(If she can help it, she will never lie to him.)

---

He has just finished telling her that his only sane student left, apart from her, Uchiha Kagami, is about to be a father.

The bad news is that he is now retired for unknown reasons, during a war, nonetheless, and he has bags under his eyes and a too-lean frame.

 The baby hasn’t yet been born. 

He’s sick, he tells her. 

She tells him to worm his way into his life again.

He says that he will.

---

“Tsunade-chan might leave when the war ends,” he discloses. 

Kameko tilts her head, “What do you mean by leave ?”

“She’ll abandon the village and they won’t make her a missing-nin because she’s The Last Senju.”

Kameko scoffs. Then she slumps. 

“You want me to put her under Mizuko’s Become a Well Rounded Person Program?”

(She admits that she isn’t great at naming things but she’s practicing because Chinami Hall? The Lady of One Thousand Springs? Uzushio was clearly kick-ass at naming so she will get this down no matter how long it takes.)

He raises an eyebrow.

“Currently, Hanzo is our only participant,” she admits. “But I’m considering opening it to everyone with ANBU-and-up strength levels.”

“Your clones will do the therapy while you scour the Elemental Nations for a worthy sparring partner.”

She turns to him, “How do you know ?”

He winks, “You are obviously Yuma-chan’s apprentice.”

Her chest warms. 

---

“Sensei, I know it’s not the same and that I’m only thirty-two, but I’m supposed to live past 700,” she looks at him with tears in her eyes. “But I don’t want to. But I’m also not suicidal.”

She lets out a hiccup.

“Will you please tell me what it’s like to wake up and thirty years have passed?”

He pulls her against his chest and she focuses on the sound of his heartbeat.

(No matter what, he will be dead in less than two decades.)

His lips part.

“You and I, Kameko-chan, are minor exceptions to human laws of time,” he tells her. “But compared to time itself, seven hundred years is nothing.”

“My experience is not yours. Your existence is not mine. All I can tell you is that Uzumaki Kameko is the First Chiharu-sama of Uzushiogakure and you can do whatever you want.”

“You can end Kageship or cross the ocean. You can survive or you can live.”

He looks at her, “And whatever you chose to do, I believe in you.”

“...you will never truly be alone.”

Chapter Text

An hour before the sun rises, they leave the river and get onigiri and fruit from a late-night shop. 

As they walk back to Konoha, Tobirama-sensei reapplies his henge. 

“Make friends with Uchiha Kagami,” she repeats. “Remember, you are past regretting inaction towards your precious people.”

She smiles, “Call me if you need me.”

He waves his chakra cane at her, “Be safe.”

---

Kameko decides it’s time to learn what the foreign scrolls have to offer.

---

When she returns home, she heads straight to her dock. The dock, cliff, and Chinami Hall all reside on the same half of the island…

She bites her lip.

The scrolls can wait.

---

When she is done, Uzushio’s entire island is covered in seals even stronger than before.

(Even if their strength wasn’t the original problem. There’s a reason the only ones who knew the secret of Chinami Hall were the ones sacrificed.)

Half will be accessible to her alone.

The other half will be an available sparring ground for all-out battles safe from collateral damage.

She puffs up in pride for five seconds and then she faces the scrolls. It’s time to get started.

---

In her nine years of nonstop training, elemental jutsu had become something of a favorite after seals and genjutsu. She was equally proficient in all natures, made easier by her precisie chakra control.

Iwa’s secret scrolls were mostly Doton jutsu and Kameko was all but squealing. 

She never did believe in saving best for last.

---

Her training is always intense but mixed with Kameko’s motivation and general elation from seeing her sensei, Kameko has perfected everything she hadn't already studied in just under five months.

When she emerges from the island, a House Mizuko tells her Hanzo is with another clone helping a nearby town fish and that they will not be back until late.

Kameko beams, “Such a miracle worker Mizuko-chan!”

“I am only an extension of you, Hime-sama,” the Mizuko demures. 

Kameko turns bright red and splutters.

“Although, he truly is trying to better himself, Hime-sama,” the clone continues.

Mizuko’s face becomes solemn. 

“I also have news that the events of Kannabi Bridge have occurred.”

Kameko sucks in a breath.

---

Her heart is heavy for Uchiha Obito and his teammates.

The rest of her is heavy for the slaughter of Iwa shinobi.

The war will wind down, but in the past four months she has neglected her self-assigned war duties.

(If Namikaze Minato is another Kage-level shinobi dependent on one jutsu she’s going to turn him black and blue.)

---

She spends two months on the front line.

She is in the middle of healing a stab wound way too close to a jonin’s heart when Rasa’s Hiraishin flares twice.

She curses.

---

“What is it?”

When his sensei Hiraishins into his office there is blood over her clothes and on her hands and she is in a battle stance. 

Her eyes dart around, finally landing on his wife, “Is it her?”

Within a moment, the sharp edge of a kunai is against Karura’s neck.

Within the next, his dust is between them.

“ No! Sensei what are you doing ?”

Kameko furrows her brows but lowers the kunai, “Kage-chan you pulsed the seal twice. That means emergency. The only possible threat I see is this woman. While it goes against my morals to kill pregnant women, I most definitely would for you, Kage-chan.”

Rasa is gaping, “Ah sensei, I don’t need anyone dead, it’s just that the medic said it was safe to tell you… and I got excited. I should have only pulsed once.”

He turns to the woman in front of her and bows, “Karura-san I sincerely apologize, it is my mistake.”

“Oh my gosh this is your wife? ”

They both turn to her, gaping.

“How do you...”

“ C’mon Kage-chan, I will always have the tea. You can’t hide anything from Sensei!” 

She winks, then looks at Karura, “I’m really sorry, been on the front for a while, but I am very overprotective of Kage-chan so don’t hurt his feelings too often, okay?”

Nodding to herself she turns to Rasa, “Training grounds, now .”

She sees him straighten before her shunshin carries her out of the office.

---

After a lecture on Hiraishin protocol, how to treat women ( “If she is at the end of anyone’s, apart from my own, kunai ever again I will skewer you ”), and how completely unacceptable it is to learn about his, albeit arranged, marriage from the Council before him ( “You were the only one in Wind to have my address, want to explain that Kage-chan?” ), and a grueling training session, Kameko is finally relaxed and ready to dote on her precious disciple. 

“So you’re married, a soon-to-be father, anything else new?”

He’s spread out on the sand, face down, but he shakes his head.

She chuckles, “Well then, let’s get dinner with the missus.”

---

Kameko’s second encounter with Sabaku no Karura goes a lot smoother. 

The woman is six months pregnant and jonin.

It's unfortunate, but also a fact, that should Kameko have wanted to kill her, she would be dead.

They start the conversation with proper introductions and, though Karura is slightly terrified, she has clearly steeled herself and Kameko decides the Council could have chosen a lot worse. She can easily see Rasa and Karura growing to love each other.

“Karura-san, is there anything you’re craving today?”

She receives a small smile.

(It’s progress.)

---

After dinner, Kameko and Rasa are sitting on the porch drinking tea when he admits that he hasn’t had as much time to get to know his wife as he’d like and she nods, “I’ll see what I can do.”

(She will do just about anything for her students. Maybe even the Ame-chibi’s- she’s protective.)

When she walked into the Council meeting and told them that her Kage-chan needed a few days with his beloved, this was their solution.

She spends a week in Suna, three days of which she is Acting Kazekage.

She expects someone to object but the Council suggested it, the shinobi have seen their leader call her “sensei”, and the civilians adore her for her negotiations with Ame and for teaching glass blowing. 

And then Rasa smiles and thanks her so genuinely she snatches the hat and shoos him out. 

Looking at the stacks of paper, she groans.

---

Three days later, the desk is empty and she is sick of twitchy ANBU.

 (They’d seem trigger happy to anyone else but Kameko knows twitching is just the only way ANBU are expressive. They are impressed and bewildered. She probably just expanded her network of fans. Why is Suna of all places one of her home bases?)

---

She spends the rest of the week visiting with Karura and working in Uzumaki Glass.

At the end of the week, early June, she returns to the front lines. 

---

She heals for two days but the intensity of the battles has dropped dramatically.

It seems everyone knows this war is almost over. 

With about six months left in the war, Kameko packs for Kumo.

---

Kameko is wonderful at stealth because she knows how to be quiet and in depth psychology.

Kameko is exceptional at infiltration because she is paranoid. 

What Kameko is passable at, beyond most people’s ability, absolutely, but by her standards only passable at, is trap discovery.

So when she seals the last scroll and the alarm blares over her head she jumps.

Then she swears.

---

Kameko decided to run instead of Hiraishin for one reason, an unchecked goal on her latest list.

She still doesn’t have a sparring partner.

And it's driving her nuts.

So when she sees the Raikage and Killer B charging at her full blast, the adrenaline that flashes down her spine is like a drug.

When, “What did you look at and what is your village association!” is bellowed at her she is indisputably gleeful.

They don’t see anything on her and now they’re making assumptions.

(Uzushio is fifteen years under and sealing is a dying art.)

She feels like a little girl playing tag.  So she hollers back, “Catch me if you can!”

She is ecstatic when she sees Yugito Nii join the chase.

---

After half a day of running full speed deeper into Lightning, Yugito is flagging.

Kameko had hoped to go longer, running in their home terrain with the pleasant addition of not letting them know where she came from and planting additional Hiraishin seals.

She stops.

---

Yugito is tired. 

As a jinchuuriki, Matatabi is the only thing that is allowing her to keep up with the ruthless pace the invader has set.

The invader that has no hitai ai or mask, but a pale skin and dark hair in a ponytail. 

Yugito is curious. She’s never heard of anyone who can equal the Raikage’s speed apart from the Yellow Flash, let alone outpace them for hours .

A is getting increasingly angry and Yugito hopes that there’s something left to drag to T&I.

More than she is curious, Yugito is desperately hoping that this incident doesn’t extend the war- not that anyone involved has the resources to carry on. By the time treaties are signed, Suna will be the richest Hidden Village.

Glancing at her other companion, Bee-sama’s sweaty brow tells her that she isn’t the only one relying on a Bijuu’s power.

When she faces forward, the intruder is gone.

---

According to Yuma-shisou’s future, in about eighteen years, Killer B and A will be equal in skill. 

Right now, A is obviously stronger.

When she stops, all of them fly past her.

Her lips quirk upwards. 

A stops first, the soles of his feet skidding against the ground.

Bee stops next, about twenty-five yards away.

It takes Yugito fifty yards to realize everyone is behind her.

Kameko shakes her head, poor girl .

---

Kameko is originally slightly overwhelmed by the three on one, and then she joins the flow of the fight. To fight someone a miniscule amount slower is just so much fun.

It’s even more fun to know that they’ll train tirelessly afterwards and come back stronger.

And more than that, so will she.

---

After five hours, everyone is panting and Yugito is sprawled on the ground for the upteenth time.

Kameko is exhilarated and buzzing, could go for another three hours, but she also knows when to stop. She won’t be getting more out of them today.

“Well that was super fun, 9.5/10, would definitely recommend,” she beams at them. “Congratulations! Together, you three are now my sparring buddies!”

With a cheerful wave, Kameko Hiraishin’s home. 

Yugito lets out a pitiful groan.

---

When Kameko comes home, she is covered in dirt but positively beaming .

“Mizuko ,” she sings.

“Yes, Hime-sama?” Mizuko pops her head out from around the corner.

A moment later, Hanzo’s head appears above hers.

“I finally got sparring buddies! I get to go all out with taijutsu and kenjutsu because none of them are old enough to recognize Uzu styles. I got a little knocked around because all I could use were the academy three so they wouldn’t assume what village I was from and of course, no poisons or seals but Mizuko-chan, Hanzo-kun, it was so much fun!”

She may or may not be yelling by the end.

(Uzumaki feel just as intensely as Uchiha- happiness or hate.)

Hanzo raises an eyebrow, “Who were you able to find who could keep up with your speed?”

“The Raikage, his brother, and Yugito-chan! Unfortunately, their stamina needs work.”

Hanzo leaves.

Mizuko laughs. 

---

The thing about secret and forbidden scrolls is that only half, occasionally two thirds, are actually jutsu. She reads through the rest of June and considers building a house on her half of Uzushiogakure. 

She hasn’t found the perfect monument for her people, either. 

---

She receives a letter from Tobirama-sensei, telling her that he’s wiggled back into his Uchiha’s life and to come for an extended visit at some point.

She tells him she’s expecting a goddaughter anyday and busy with “school work”.

She says to come to her house for her thirty third birthday and then she’ll come back with him. 

---

They agreed that Rasa would flare his Hiraishin three times when it’s related to his kids but July comes and goes and there’s no word of a baby.

It seems the child is clinging to its first home.

--

Kameko waits by helping her townspeople, the numbers slowly growing, and walking the shore. She is watching black eels dance when Rasa’s seal flares three times.

It is August 23rd.

---

Baby Temari has blonde hair and beautiful teal eyes. 

Kameko is named her godmother. 

She knew Rasa and perhaps the Council would push for it, but she is surprised when Karura smiles.

“Why?” she questions.

“I know you can and will protect my family,” Karura says simply. 

Kameko places a Hiraishin seal on the small Temari’s back. 

---

In October the war is declared over.

It’s a few months too early and Kumo has actually signed a treaty instead of simply ending the fighting.

Kameko smiles when a Mizuko tells her. She returns to her scrolls.

---

In November, Namikaze Minato is named Yondaime Hokage.

By December, Kameko heads to Konoha.

She does not tell Tobirama. 

Chapter Text

It’s while she's stealing Konoha’s scrolls when Kameko kills on a job for the first time.

It wasn’t necessary. 

She was deep within ROOT and on her way out when she heard screaming. POW’s were still being tortured for information she was sure they no longer had. There are three of them and six ROOT.

She knocks them out but it is clear that they are stronger than typical ANBU. 

She saves four POW’s and takes them home.

The other two are past saving.

(Shinobi would call it a mercy kill .

She is not a shinobi.)

---

The village adopts the four POW’s under her request and she goes to Chinami Hall.

Because ROOT is much larger than a typical ANBU or hunter-nin section combined, Konoha’s information scrolls are almost double that from other villages.

She frowns. 

---

She holds out for eight hours before she is seething . 

(Anger is fear's guardian and she doesn’t want to remember this forever .)

---

Half an hour after that and she’s on her way to Kumo.

---

She appears in the Raikage’s office under the same henge she used before and he straightens under her sharp gaze. 

“Get your jinchuriki and meet me at the gates.”

---

Last time she played nice. 

Now, she needs to destress and they aren’t tired and so she decides it's fair to pull out lightning jutsu. 

She darts forward.

---

A has no idea what’s happening. That is the only thing he’s sure of.

One moment, he was asleep and the next the alarms were blaring.

Then she outpaces them.

Then she takes on Kumo’s best three to one .

And wins .

(It was the most intense battle he’s been part of the entire war and he knows nothing about her. 

It takes Yugito’s comment for him to realize that she only used the Academy Three .

Why didn’t she kill them?)

Now, he’s preparing for a meeting and she just appears in his office, no signs of a shunshin, with a frankly chilling look in her ocean eyes, and tells him to meet her at the gate.

The ANBU didn’t even have a chance to move.

“Tell Bee and Yugito to meet at the gate!”

---

After kicking the snot out of each other for hours, Kameko is starting to feel better. 

She’s been taking blows she doesn’t need to but to see the look in their eyes when she charges through anyway is breathtaking .

Eventually she’s had enough and she nods.

“Thanks.”

And then Kameko is gone.

(She’ll be back.)

---

Between uncovering ROOT and Konoha’s secrets, sparring with her Kumo stress-relievers, Rasa flares his seal again.

Karura is pregnant.

Temari is only a month old.

“Arranged marriage my ass.”

Karura turns red and Rasa faints.

She cackles.

---

She finishes Konoha’s scrolls three days before her birthday.

After sealing them into Chinami Hall, she sits on the shore where she washed up almost twenty-eight years ago and dips in her toes.

She will be thirty three on May thirteenth but she is not like other thirty three year olds.

Rasa is her age, as is the Ino-Shika-Cho of Konoha.

A is three years younger than her.

Bee and Namikaze Minato are six. 

Yugito and the Ame-chibi’s are in their late teens.

She sighs.

Rasa is married and has a child and she just can’t see that for herself yet.

Maybe ever.

Thinking back to her red hair piece, she sighs again and flops into the sand.

---

She lays there for a long time.

Eventually she starts meditating underwater, using Fuuton and chakra control to keep herself dry.

Her eyes open, it’s time to go to Konoha.

---

Before that happens, Konoha comes to her. 

Tobirama smiled, “You were the one who said to come to your birthday.”

Kameko lets out a nervous laugh, “Well I mostly put that down because I had just realized that I forgot my 32nd birthday and it was four months earlier.”

Tobirama patted her head, “Then finding someone to celebrate with was the correct course of action. Just because you’ve got more than everyone else doesn’t mean you should just let time pass you by.”

Kameko puffs her cheeks, “I was busy . The frontlines aren’t exactly party-friendly.”

The before I was done with them was not implied.

Tobirama really needs to get his ears checked, “Of course, Kameko-chan.”

---

She temporarily keys him into the barrier and they spend her birthday on the cliff with mochi and dumplings.

She considers asking him for ideas for the memorial but she knows this is something she has to do herself.

(She alone is Chiharu-sama.)

---

They decide to walk to Konoha and the entire trip is within the Land of Fire.

“I am your granddaughter,” Kameko confirms.

“We are civilians,” he responds.

“I will hide my chakra but not my identity. My blue hair has never committed a crime and I am not shinobi. I am not infiltrating.”

He gives a reluctant tilt of his head.

---

Kameko has never entered a Hidden Village legally and among the general populous.

It is easy to pretend to be a civilian because she was one. In some ways she still is.

(Ageless at eighteen, not shinobi nor civilian. She isn’t both so she must be neither.)

She chats about the architecture of the walls, and after a few too many questions to the guards, they wave her in.

---

Walking into Konoha is a wave of scents and noises from the merchant district.

It is far larger than Suna’s and part of her recoils. The rest is ready to dive in and spend some of her ever-growing fortune on gifts to spoil her goddaughter and students rotten.

Before she can take a step in it’s direction, Tobirama-sensei knocks her ankles with his cane and yanks on her arm, effectively dragging her away.

The walk to his house is short and the quaint home they enter is nondescript but cozy.

She has just finished putting privacy and protection seals around her room, the innermost of the entire house, when someone knocks on the door.

Tobirama “hobbles” to the door and Kameko is impressed by his dedication to his cover.

While he answers the door, she hides in the hallway, “Kishi-san, I’m very sorry to bother you on such short notice, it's just that I forgot that I have an appointment at the hospital and there’s no one other than you that I can leave Shisui-chan with...”

Uchiha Kagami.

Before “Kishi” can reply she bounds up to the Uchiha, “Oh, we’d love to! It’s nice to meet you Uchiha-san, my name is Chiharu and I’m Jiji’s granddaughter. I’ll be in town for a bit so please take care of me!”

Kagami looks relieved, “Thank you very much Chiharu-san, my name is Uchiha Kagami.”

After passing off Shisui, he shunshin’s away.

She frowns, Kagami didn’t look older than thirty four but whatever disease he had would probably kill him within two years.

“... no one other than you…”

And no baby mother or wife.

("There is no profession that holds more grief or exhaustion than a widowed, single parent without a support network," Yuma remarks. "If you aren't in that situation, you better help. Those are the real warriors. The most ferocious guardians.")

That’s when Kameko decided that Uchiha Shisui will not be an orphan if she can do anything about it.

(She knows what it means to be alone.)

---

That night, Kameko breaks into Konoha General and does two things.

She reads Uchiha Kagami’s file.

And then she signs herself as an intermediate level medic focused on disease set to arrive in one week.

(Theoretically, Kameko knows just about everything about healing. Practically she only knows how to heal battle wounds. It’s time to change that.)

---

After the first day, Kameko often takes Shisui and shoo’s off Kagami to take a nap or relax with Tobirama. When their chakra mingles together to give off a peaceful and content atmosphere, Kameko realizes that Kagami recognizes his older companion.

Her smile hurts her cheeks. 

---

Shisui is the first, apart from Mizuko, whom Kameko does not believe needs an honorific.

(She loves his name.)

He is almost two years old and his dark eyes follow every movement. She knows he will be a genius, just like her. Bopping his nose and getting him to cross his eyes is far more adorable than it has any right to be.

When she sees him glance out the window she remembers there was something else she wanted to do, “Want to go to the market, Shisui?”

He gurgles.

She smiles.

---

The day is sunny and starts with Shisui on her hip.

When she sees a dark blue scarf with indigo wave patterns that match her eyes, she buys it and styles it into an Uzushio fashioned sling. 

With both of them comfortable, they proceed deeper in the market. 

--- 

It is early evening when they leave the market and Kameko has a storage seal full of gifts, some groceries, and a napping Shisui.

She doubts anything other than removing him from the sling will wake him and she has a few hours before it's dark out. 

When Kameko first arrived in Suna, she wandered for a few days and saw everything the city has to offer. She thinks it’s a good tradition.

She sets off.

---

Two weeks after starting her post at the hospital, Kameko has fallen into a nice routine that includes her work, babysitting Shisui and sparring four times a week in Kumo. Once a  week, she Hiraishins home and spends the day training and doing rounds in her village. 

(She thinks the Kumo-nin are warming up to her. 

They are now well aware that they aren’t getting the scrolls back, and when she tells them clearly that no one else is either, a lot of the malice disappears.) 

Sitting down on her break, Kameko remembers the gifts she bought the first day. Jotting down a note and wrapping it around the sealing scroll, she slips discreetly into a small closet. 

Summoning a Mizuko she whispers, “Can you take this to Kage-chan? Give Temari a kiss and Karura a check-up. Rasa should also have a response that will need protection seals.”

The Mizuko bows and Hiraishins away. 

Kameko stifles her giggles.

---

It’s June again, and Tsunade of the Sannin has finally noticed her work.

Looking over her notes, she finally sets the clipboard on the counter, “It’s creative just on the side brilliant,” she admits. “Theoretically, it should even work. What do you want in return for the hospital to be allowed to use this cure?”

Kameko hums, “Internationally, how much do you think it’s worth?”

Tsunade raises an eyebrow, “Individually, a lot. It’s not a rare disease and it affects shinobi. The concepts introduced and that could be built upon? You’d be my new rival.”

Kameko smiles, “I’d like my earnings to allow civilians and retired shinobi to receive treatment for free and the hospital to publish the cure and send ten copies to every Hidden Village and two to all smaller countries.”

Tsunade’s grin is sharp, “We can do that.”

---

Kameko awakes from her nightmare with a gasp.

She’s had them on and off since the invasion.

She starts planning.

Danzo’s influence in the Third War was diminished with her interference in Ame but it’s time to start tackling the larger problems. Orochimaru is possibly currently experimenting on children and The Sannin are a mess and a half. Tsunade is gearing up to leave and once she does, Orochimaru will fall into Danzo’s hands, the last straw after losing the hat.

Danzo hasn’t yet committed Kekkai Genkai Theft and it’s best to strike while he’s weak(er). 

After he’s been dealt with, she’ll wait for Naruto to be born. Kushina should be pregnant by now, finishing her first trimester.

She intends to interfere, but she is not going to try to stop Obito before the Kyuubi Attack. She knows that by then, Uchiha Madara is truly dead and two enemies are enough. She might need help, someone to take care of Black and White Zetsu.

She pouts.

---

The next day when she walks into the hospital, Tsunade is there and she grabs her arm, dragging her along, “The stupid hospital board thinks I’m trying to manipulate their sweet Chiharu-chan , just because my beside manner isn’t that nice, I’m a bully now?! They think I’m trying to make you donate all the money in one of my misguided attempts to actually help people ?!”

Tsunade huffs.

Kameko laughs, “Well you are transporting me like an unruly shinobi patient.”

Tsunade looked up and turned red, “Whatever! We’re here anyway, go on.”

With that, she shoves her inside.

(Kameko pretends to stumble.)

Putting on her brightest smile she looked up, “Hello Hospital Board-sama’s!”

---

She is out within the hour but it only took ten minutes to explain that no, Tsunade-san was not forcing me and yes, I do want to donate .

After that, it was just the Suna Council all over again.

“Oh Chiharu-chan, so kind.”

“Please keep up the good work!”

“The hospital is lucky to have you on staff.”

On her way out, the receptionist even gave her a lollipop and a pat on the cheek.

Kameko was just about fuming. She was a grown woman for kami’s sake! Even her eighteen year old body had well-developed curves in the right places, she was not a child that needed a reward.

She didn’t worship Tsunade like some of the hospital but she could still respect the medic that gave so much.

Even if she no longer dealt with bloody patients.

(The rumors were getting nastier by the day.)

Walking out past the desk, Kameko saw Tsunade waiting in one of the plastic chairs, slumped.

“Why don’t we get an early lunch?”

---

“Why are we leaving the village?”

Tsunade continued, “There’s tons of restaurants in Konoha.”

Kameko let out a long breath. “I only arrived in Konoha about a month ago and it still overwhelms me sometimes. It’s nice to go somewhere new sometimes.”

Tsunade nodded.

---

They stop at a nearby town, eat a quiet lunch and then Kameko orders a side of mochi and dango to go. Gesturing for Tsunade to follow her, they leave.

Kameko takes her to a stream that branches off the river where she and Tobirama-sensei chatted. Sitting on the bank, she takes her shoes off and puts her feet in the water. 

For a second, she just watches the water lean up and hug her ankles and then she turns to the take out bag.

By the time she has split the portions, Tsunade’s feet knock against hers in the water. They eat. 

---

The sun is setting the next time one of them shifts. It’s Tsunade.

“I don’t know any young people who can sit and enjoy the nature,” she admits.

Kameko nods. “I think my favorite part of Konoha so far is the Hashirama trees. Where I’m from, the nature is wild and ever changing but I see the comfort in the unmoving roots.”

 Tsunade hums, “Hashirama-jiji made those when I was younger.”

Kameko hums back.

---

Before they separate at the gates, Tsunade turns to her, “Let’s do this again.”

“Okay.”

They split.

---

Two days later, the esteemed Elder Shimura is found dead by natural causes.

(Kameko is a poisons mistress.)

Chapter Text

Tobirama knows Kameko is a justice firecracker; that she was probably the one to kill Danzo, but he doesn’t see how it translates to this.

(He ignores his relief at not having to be the one to kill him.

He knows Kameko wouldn’t kill him just for him anyways- not unless he asked her. And it might make him a coward, but he will not ask why.)

Tsunade of the Sannin, his grandniece, is on the porch looking just as surprised as he is.

“This is 3600 Ume Street, right?” she asks.

Tobirama startles, “Ah, yes, are you looking for Chiharu-chan?”

She inclines her head.

Tobirama is waving his hands and only partially understands why he is so flustered, “Ah, yes, let me get her for you!”

He turns tail and runs .

(Technically, he hobbles. Tobirama exchanged social comprehension for something god dammit- if he can’t keep up his façade for his one living relative who is he to call himself a shinobi? )

---

When Kameko greets her, she is beaming. 

For a moment, all Tsunade sees is Hashirama-jiji.

She pales. Deadeadeadeadeadtoomuchblooddeadeade-

Kameko’s smile drops, “Tsunade-san?”

Tsunade blinks. Ah .

(Tsunade plasters on a smile but inside she is reeling because no one else has been able to interrupt one of her panic attacks-)

“Would you like to take another trip?” she asks her gently. 

Tsunade shakes her head, straightening.

“I want to teach you something, come on.” 

---

When they arrive at Training Ground 36, the landscape is half even field, half rocky outcropping.

They sit down in the middle.

“I want to teach you my chakra enhanced strength technique, you have the chakra control.”

Kameko gapes. She has raided Konoha for all the scrolls available, including clan compounds, but Tsunade has never recorded her technique.

She doesn’t know it.

“Really?”

Kameko is giddy but she is also hesitant, “Why? I am not a shinobi. I am not a citizen of Konoha. Why are you trusting me?”

Tsunade pauses, “I want to help you protect yourself,” she says finally. 

Kameko’s smirk is nothing less than feral, “What are we waiting for then?”

---

Tsunade is a drill sergeant but she isn’t as close to intense as Kameko usually trains herself.

Tsunade thinks she’s training a civilian who can only use chakra for medical purposes.

Kameko is a lot more than that.

---

It takes three days for Kameko to perfect Tsunade’s strength technique. 

Tsunade just sighs. They keep meeting at Training Ground 36 to discuss medical procedures and together they take Konoha General by storm. They are fast friends and faster accomplices. 

(Tsunade would never beat Kameko in a fight.

They are equals anyway.)

---

Kameko is eating breakfast with Tobirama-sensei when she asks him if he wants Tsunade in his life.

He grunts.

“I wanted to return to Kagami because he had no one else,” he starts. “She has lost her precious people and all I can do is reopen wounds. My abilities do not include comforting grandnieces I hardly knew to begin with. You’ve done far more for her than I would be able to.”

They continue eating.

(He didn’t really answer the question. 

She will not interfere- he is past regretting his actions towards his precious people.)

---

They are by the stream and quiet when Tsunade begins her confession. 

“After Dan, my fiancé, died and I developed my fear of blood, I thought about killing myself.”

Kameko keeps her gaze on the moving water.

“I was useless and every time I walked into the hospital it was obvious that they knew too. Then you told me that you didn’t want money for your groundbreaking cure and it reminded me of the ideals I used to foster. Then you took me here for a day off and… I went and saw Shizune. She’s Dan’s, mine too goddammit, niece. She’s nine. And then I thought of snatching her away and leaving this cursed village that left me as the last one left.”

Kameko prods, just a bit.

“And why didn’t you?”

Tsunade bites her lip and smacks her feet against the top of the water. Once they’re drenched she replies, “I asked her if she was happy. She said yes. I can’t tear her away when her Will of Fire is that strong, but I can’t leave her either.”

(Kameko is reminded that this is the Konoha version of the Heart of Eddies. The spirit of their home.)

“Apart from her, do you have anyone left?”

Tsunade blinks, caught off guard, “What?”

“Do you have anyone left?”

They are quiet.

---

Tsunade leaves the village.

(When Kameko sees Kato Shizune leaving the academy, she smiles.)

---

When Tsunade returns two weeks later with a pig she’s named TonTon, Kameko greets her with a warm smile, “Okaeri.” Welcome home.

“Tadaima.”

I'm back. 

(I’m home.)

---

It’s Sunday and Kameko and Shisui are in the park.

She has found a nice hill to cloud watch on and Shisui is about to fall asleep on her stomach. 

(He seems mature but does not hold the energy of a toddler in his "Terrible Two's." For Kagami, she hopes that that stage hasn't already come and gone.)

It’s just as she’s finishing her breathing exercises and Shisui has fallen into a deep sleep when the dark haired shinobi a few feet away from them starts conversation.

“Nice weather we’re having.”

She hums agreeably.

“You the civilian who’s been running a storm at the hospital?”

Despite the phrasing, this is also not a question. Kameko has Shisui on her belly and is trying to enjoy the day.

She does not feel like participating in politics.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you're talking about.”

Kameko has fifty steps planned out and she’s prepared for most responses when-

“How troublesome.”

And that’s that.

---

Kameko is on her way out of the park a few hours later when she sees Orochimaru on a bench with a haunted look on his face.

Kameko is sure that he never started his experiments. However, he must be riding the emotional roller coaster after Tsunade’s departure and subsequent return.

Ah, she realizes, he also just realized that he would’ve fallen into Danzo’s trap.

And now he needs to know he can help someone, something, anything.

Kameko sits down next to him. He tenses.

Rummaging through the baby bag, Kameko curls her lip at the formula before sighing. It’s not like Shisui has a mother who can breastfeed him.

Adding the formula to the bottle, she starts shaking.

“Why don’t you breastfeed him?”

Kameko splutters, aghast, “I’m not Shisui’s mom!”

They both turn a bit red at her loud proclamation. 

“My, my apologies.”

Orochimaru looks to the side, his eyes clouding over. Kameko grasps at keeping him present.

“It’s okay! I’m sorry for yelling. Ano… are you a shinobi?”

Orochimaru nods, giving nothing away, “I am.”

“Do you know any small Katon jutsu? Enough to warm the bottle?”

(She decidedly does not contemplate how this can go wrong.)

Orochimaru had not relaxed during the conversation but the final question has clearly caught him off guard.

“You… you would trust me with a child’s nutrition and nourishment?”

Kameko smiles a bright Uzumaki smile, “I’ll be right here,” she teases.

Orochimaru gives her a small smile back.

---

Shortly after Shisui is fed, Orochimaru dismisses himself and she leaves the park. 

When she walks into Tobirama-sensei’s house, she can feel the elation in the air.

“Chiharu!”

Tobirama beckons her forward. Passing Shisui to his father she steps further into the room.

“What happened?”

Tobirama gestures excitedly towards Kagami who turns a bit bashful at the attention. 

“Well, I went to my check-up today but when I walked in Tsunade was waiting for me…”

---

Because he is in his mid to late thirties and is already technically retired, Kagami has made no efforts to be reinstated.

His clan doesn’t entirely agree but Kagami is as adamant as Kameko to allow Shisui at least one parent. 

So it isn’t entirely unsurprising when he bows ninety degrees and asks her to support him at one of the meetings. 

He is committing a taboo by inviting her to a Clan meeting but between her, “Kishi,” and Shisui she has the largest reputation in Konoha because of her work at the hospital.

(The only ones who know that it was her who created the cure are Tsunade, the hospital board and, apparently, the Jonin Commander.) 

She agrees.

The meeting is in one month.

---

The next time they are at the stream, Tsunade tells her that they are friends.

“And I want you to meet those precious to me.”

With that, she pricks her thumb and cries Kuchiyose no Jutsu!

A slug poofs into the clearing and climbs onto Tsunade’s shoulder and she introduces them.

“This is Katsuyu, my summons.”

Kameko knows she is being introduced to Tsunade’s main summon but Katsuyu is also a boss summon. She folds into a deep bow.

Staying there, “It is an honor to meet your acquaintance, Katsuyu-hime-sama.”

Katsuyu let out a small, tinkling laugh, “Hello, Chiharu-sama.”

Kameko’s eyes flicker up, “Do you know of me?”

Katsuyu shakes her head, “Only your title, word of you is spreading there as well. Summons from you-know-where are celebrating your survival and Ibuse sings you praises.”

Nodding slowly, Kameko raises only so she can bow again, “Thank you for your insight Katsuyu-hime-sama.”

Katsuyu nods, “Is it a secret?”

Kameko hesitates, “For now, yes. But not forever.”

Katsuyu nods and turns to Tsunade, “Hime, it is good to see you well. I will dismiss myself.”

Tsunade raises an eyebrow, looking between the two of them, “... Okay.”

---

Tsunade does not ask the questions that are no doubt dominating her thoughts and they walk back to the village quietly.

Kameko is grateful.

---

Two days later, around eight am and after an intense spar in Kumo, Kameko tidies herself and heads to the Uchiha Compound to pick up Shisui.

While killing Danzo before the Kyuubi Attack mitigated the majority of the damage to their reputation, the Uchiha’s stiffness and traditionalism is not charming and Danzo has already had rumors circulating in recent years. 

The police shoulder darker glares and heavier rumors. 

As someone who works in the hospital, many know her in passing. So if she uses her reputation and takes busy roads on the way there, it’s her business.

(There is very little she won’t do for her precious people and Shisui has made that list a long time ago.)

---

On their walk, while Shisui is practicing talking, they bump into Tsunade. 

“Hello,” she greets. “Say hi to Tsunade, Shisui.”

He garbles.

Patting his head tenderly, she looks up and Tsunade blinks, “I read your record and I know you’re thirty-three, but he looks nothing like you,” she squints. "You know, he looks pretty Uchiha..." she wiggles her eyebrows.

Ignoring the comment because it was stupid, just like Hanzo-kun for giving the Sannin a cool name because all of them are clearly a club of losers, Kameko switches topics.

“How is Shizune-chan?”

Tsunade brightens, “I was going to pick her up and take her to get brown rice! Want to come?”

Kameko hums. She and Shisui had no plans.

“What do you think, Shisui?”

He smiles and then continues garbling. 

“Let’s meet Shizune-chan then.”

---

Shizune is half way through Academy and dead set on becoming a poison mistress and medic.

With a side of kenjutsu and genjutsu.

Kameko could get behind a girl like her. 

---

Because parks are the best part of Konoha, they buy snacks and head over.

Scanning her surroundings, Kameko notices Orochimaru on his bench.

“Shizune-chan, do you want to go look at this cool hill? It’s perfect for cloud watching.”

“You sound like a Nara.”

“Is that so? I’m new to Konoha, is that a clan or…”

And with that, she steers Shizune away just as Tsunade recognizes her teammate. 

With the jerk of a chin and a  responding nod, Tsunade stomps across the playground.

Kameko turns back to Shizune. 

---

When Shizune’s on the swings and Shisui is quiet on her lap, he restarts their earlier conversation.

“Fixing things as a hobby, huh? The Sannin are pretty troublesome- one of them isn’t even in the village.”

Kameko snorts. She could maybe go against a Nara in a game of wits and it’s a coin toss who would win. The clan head who doubles as the Jonin Commander? Not going to happen.

So she beams at him, “Y’know, mister, I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She doesn’t want to motivate him but Kameko knows how to be stubborn. This seems like a safe default answer. 

He sighs, “Troublesome. It’d be nice if you could fix that train wreck, though.”

Kameko’s smile turns a bit more genuine.

He blinks, clears his throat, then rolls over.

---

When Orochimaru approaches with Tsunade at his side, she smiles.

He looks very, very surprised.

“ You’re Tsunade’s new friend?”

Kameko snorts, “You sound like a possessive five year old, shinobi-san.”

His ears flush a pretty pink. 

Tsunade interrupts, “This is Chiharu. She arrived in Konoha about a month ago. And apparently that’s enough time for everyone to know her other than me and Shizune. Including my summons.”

She scowls.

Kameko laughs nervously, aware that the Nara was most definitely not asleep like he was pretending to be. 

Orochimaru looks intrigued, “Katsuyu knows her? How?”

Tsunade huffs, “She wouldn’t tell me.”

The Nara’s chakra fluctuates.

While not entirely attached to her cover, that scares Kameko more than the two Sannin staring down at her. 

Then again, Rasa’s response should be coming any day.

She smirks.

---

Orochimaru and Tsunade have started to lean on each other but oddly enough, they lean on her too.

Kameko doesn’t mind.

---

Kameko and Tsunade plan to go to the stream when they bump into Orochimaru.

Kameko stays silent.

Tsunade invites him.

She smiles.

(Their time at the stream is no longer entirely quiet.)

---

While Kameko has never personally met Jiraiya, she has heard a bit about him from both the Ame-chibi’s and his old teammates. 

He’s also tried to recruit some of her clones for his budding spy network.

Within five years, it will be a decent one.

(Mizuko has not earned the title of The Best lightly.)

Jiraiya of the Sannin is on his way back to Konoha.

Chapter Text

Minato startles when the door bursts open.

“Sensei…?”

Jiraiya is slightly panting, “I have news.”

---

After calling in Shikaku and letting Jiraiya explain how one of his informants saw a Suna entourage bragging about their ability to carry “a message of the highest importance from the Kazekage to Konoha” Minato groans. 

The Third War has just finished but Suna is the only Hidden Village with enough resources to go to war. 

Almost anything they demand, Minato will have to give them.

He swears. 

They have two days.

---

The closer Rasa’s response gets to Konoha, the more giddy Kameko gets. 

She could Hiraishin to Suna but exchanging letters is fun and this also helps fill her quota of causing mischief for Kage.

(And that terribly perspective Jonin Commander.)

It’s totally worth blowing part of her cover to smithereens. 

She giggles. 

Orochimaru raises an eyebrow, “Do I want to know?”

She giggles harder, “Just waiting on some mail, Orochi-chan!”

His brow twitches.

Tsunade snickers. 

(Kameko calls her Kaa-sama. Shizune followed her lead.)

---

Kameko is examining fish at the market when an ANBU drops into her path. 

“You are to report to the Hokage’s Office immediately,” they drone.

(They are tense.)

Kameko hums. 

“I’ll have to take my groceries home.”

“I will do it,” the ANBU sticks out their hand.

Kameko laughs in their face, “I don’t think so.”

He can’t force her because of her affiliation with Suna documented on her papers and now with some type of additional proof that she knows the Kazekage personally. 

The Mizuko’s told her it’s some sort of small box.

(She’s ridiculously excited. She isn’t known for patience.)

While the ANBU waits outside, she doesn’t dawdle in putting away her groceries. 

---

Half an hour later, she walks into the Hokage’s office. Jiraiya and Shikaku flank their Hokage.

Shikaku blinks, “ You’re Lady Chiharu-sama?”

Kameko tsks, “Konoha shinobi express their surprise very rudely.”

Minato blinks. 

“Ah, it’s very nice to meet you, Chiharu-san.”

A wicked glint enters her eye, it’s time to play.

“Hello, Namikaze-san. I assume you have my mail?”

“Yes, Chiharu-san. I’m afraid it’s covered in some very dangerous seals and it would be disrespectful and dismissive of me to give that to anyone.”

She blinks in faux-confusion, “Namikaze-san, you are aware that I can open the seals?”

Minato’s eyes narrow, “What if an accident happens? Would you be able to escape the fall out? You are, after all, a civilian.”

Kameko’s lips curl, “I promise I’d be able to- I’ll even open it with no one around.”

“Ah, but how I can I be sure that you’d be fast enough?”

“How about a race, Namikaze-san?”

The room’s other participant’s freeze.

“This kid wants to race you ?” Jiraiya bursts.

Kameko ignores him, “If I win, you give me my package. If I lose, I’m obviously not fast enough to be around such a dangerous parcel and it will remain in your safe hands.”

She has opened what seems like an easy solution.

“It’s a deal, Chiharu-san.”

Checkmate .

(Shikaku is the only one who looks wary.)

---

The four of them, with an entourage of ANBU, walk to a nearby training ground.

“We will go from this line,” Minato draws a line in the dirt, “to this tree. Whoever grabs the ribbon from this branch first, wins.”

Kameko nods. She saw him plant his Hiraishin seal on the ribbon. Walking over, she subtly taps hers on the other side. 

Shikaku stands by the tree, “Start!”

The race is over in one second. 

Kameko wins in less than half a second.

Sitting on the branch waving her legs with the ribbon in her hand, she teases the gaping men.

“The thing about Hiraishin, Goldilocks-san, is that it shouldn’t be a flash . It should be a trail .”

And with that, a dazed ANBU passes her her prize.

She squeals.

Laughing at the only thing visible apart from the seal, Kameko reads outloud, “Lady Chiharu-sama.”

She pats the gift fondly, “Kage-chan’s the best.”

And with those parting words, Kameko’s gone.

---

The clearing unfreezes with her departure.

Jiraiya starts yelling about how is that possible and who even is she and I was only gone two months!

Minato straightens but his eyes are blinking rapidly.

The ANBU are twitching.

Shikaku sighs, “Troublesome.”

---

Rasa’s package includes a letter that starts with Sensei, I hold no ill will against Konoha but I feel your mischievousness has infected me...

(Kameko laughs so hard she cries.)

---

Now that Kameko’s cover has a gaping hole and Kagami is healed, she resigns from the hospital.

Tsunade and Orochimaru take her for dinner. Sitting in an isolated booth in the back of the restaurant, Kameko slumps.

“Alright guys, I have some news. Afterwards,” she looks at Tsunade, “you can drink as much as you want.”

Orochimaru stiffens, “Are you… leaving?” 

Waving her hands, Kameko denies the budding interrogation, “No, I probably won’t leave until at least mid-October.” 

Nodding and relaxing a fraction, Orochimaru waves for her to continue. 

“Let me start with this- I am not a shinobi. I have never received a hitai ai or served a Kage unless I chose to. That being said, I know shinobi skills. Tsunade has taught me her strength technique, but I am aware of others.”

Kameko pauses, “I keep secrets. Very few people know anything about my past and while you are my friends, this secret is mine to bear. That being said, whatever your village has already discovered, I will tell you. Today, I revealed my Hiraishin to your Hokage and Nara Shikaku was already aware of me- supposedly knew that we were tag teaming the hospital reforms.”

Orochimaru nods slowly, “Okay.”

Tsunade pats her hand, “We have secrets, too. Honestly, it makes me feel better it wasn’t a total novice who was immediately on par with me. We’re going to be here as long as you need us, Chiharu. You gave me back my home, something I never imagined I’d be able to reclaim.”

Kameko suppresses her wince. 

“But I’m not surprised Shikaku knows,” she continued. “His clan runs R&D and they work closely with the hospital.”

With that, the conversation lightens and they eat.

(Tsunade doesn’t drink more than one bottle of sake.)

---

While the Hokage is scheming, Kameko starts her day with a spar in Kumo.

When they are all panting on the ground, Yugito turns to her. 

“Darui says he wants to come see what all the fuss is about,” she tells her.

Kameko nods seriously, “And who is Darui?”

They sweat-drop. 

“He’s a student of the Third Raikage, a bit younger than Yugito, but one of our strongest fighters,” A ends proudly.

Kameko blows out air, “Okay, bring him next time and I’ll see if I want to keep him.”

She stands up, “Ready for round two?”

They charge.

---

Her friendship with Tsunade and Orochimaru has only grown with her mini-confession. Most of their time is spent at the stream or eating, but on occasion they simply take TonTon on a walk in the forest.

“Orochi-chan, I love you and your brilliant ideas with all my heart but there is no way I’m feeding Shisui something experimental-”

“Chiharu-”

“Breast milk is always best, especially at a young age-”

“The orphans, pay attention -”

“The uses could be abused-”

“And profitable, now that-”

Kameko giggles as the Sannin start yelling over each other. They pause at the noise then turn to her. Tsunade has a bashful grin and Orochimaru tips back onto his heels, looking away.

She doesn’t miss the upward turn of his lips. The smile reaches his eyes.

(For now, Kameko is also happy.)

---

It’s evening and she’s with Shisui at the park.

The sky is a mirage of warm colors and the sun has just dipped under the horizon when Shisui starts fussing.

An hour earlier she had wrapped him in a thick blanket over the scarf and now she adjusts it to cover his toes. 

Uzushio music focused on their ferocious sea and strong cliffs but there were songs of all types and Kameko remembers every one she heard, lullabies included.

The thing is, they are impulsive . They live in the moment.

Which leads to a culture where there’s excessive freestyling. 

So making up a lullaby on the spot was not uncommon, and she was taught everything there is to be taught about freestyle development. That doesn’t mean she’ll miss a chance to stick to the classics when she hasn’t sang them in so long .

“Fish in the shallows

In clean, clear water

Fight the whirlpools or

Fight the storm

I believe in your strength

To bend the tides

And reflect the sky

Changing time

To protect 

To continue

Little fish, swim upstream.”

Patting Shisui’s back she adds the tiniest amount of medical chakra to lull him into a deep sleep.

Then she looks up at her audience.

---

Uzumaki Kushina was six when she left Uzushiogakure and twelve when it fell.

She is twenty-seven when she officially meets Chiharu-sama.

---

Kameko knew there were still a few Uzumaki scattered in the wind, hell, she was sure Nagato was at least half.

But to see a gaping Uzumaki, no doubt lured by the lyrics of the lullaby, in the middle of Konoha wearing a hitai ai and flanked by two regal but curious looking Uchiha’s is not something she was entirely prepared for.

Straightening and making sure her voice betrays nothing, she opens her mouth, “Can I help you?”

There’s a pause, Uzumaki is still gaping, and the Uchiha female smiles politely, “We apologize for interrupting-”

“You’re the Chiharu-sama,” the Uzumaki whispers.

Kameko tilts her head, “Perhaps.”

“No!” the Uzumaki protests, “I was six when I left Uzushio, you were twelve, but I know that coloring! You were the only one on the whole island to be Blessed by the Land! I know it’s you, dattebane!”

Tears are springing to her eyes, “I’m sorry, I’m pregnant, dattebane- six months.”

Kameko hums. She hasn’t heard a voice tick in a long time. 

She loves her collected bits of Uzushio, but this Uzumaki is a ninja of Konoha .

Even as Chiharu-sama, she has no obligation to this woman.

“Congratulations,” she says slowly. “Good night.”

She leaves.

---

Kushina watches Chiharu-sama leave, tears drying on her cheeks.

She hiccups.

Mikoto pats her back, but the curiosity is obvious in her eyes. Fugaku leads them to a bench. 

Kushina takes a deep breath, “I’m sorry you guys, I know we were going to get food but when I heard that song… “

Mikoto shushes her, “It’s fine Kushina just… who was that?”

Fugaku nods, “And there’s no way that girl was older than us, Uzumaki longevity or otherwise.”

Kushina sighs, “I don’t know about her appearance but she should be thirty two? Three? You guys know how Uzushio fell when we were kids and we thought no one was left?”

They nod.

“Well, I know at least she made it because there’s no way the village let her out during the war. She was the most important person, the legacy holder. A few years before I was born, the Village chose her to learn everything Uzushio had to offer. She doesn’t have Uzumaki red but they said that before she was selected for the title she did and then she drowned and came out like that. She was Uzushiogakure’s precious Lady of One Thousand Springs who was Blessed by the Land. Honestly,” Kushina lets out a weak chuckle, “I forgot all about her until I saw her.”

Fugaku rubs his nose, “Well, you did think she was dead.”

Mikoto slaps his arm.

Suddenly Kushina straightens, “What if Minato already knew? ”

Her hair starts floating.

----

Kushina isn’t sure if the no, Kushina, what? is a relief or not.

Sitting in the Hokage’s office with take out in the middle, the four of them ponder over the new information. 

If she’s a shinobi or an infiltrator then this is an awful breach of security.

If she’s not, then Kushina might have a chance at family and knowing more about her culture. 

Mikoto hums, “We should have ANBU watch her.”

Minato nods.

“What about Kakashi?” Fugaku suggests.

Mikoto nods, “You guys miss him and he’s still fairly young. A break from ANBU will be good for him.”

Minato beams.

---

While Jiraiya is out catching up with his teammates, Minato is split between learning more about this so-called Uzushiogakure Legacy Holder and the blue haired medic who apparently also knows Hiraishin . And the Kazekage.

And it’s a better version.

(Minato isn’t pouting.)

Shikaku walks in and when he sees Minato’s face, his lips twitch upwards.

“You know,” he drawls. “I’ve met the medic. Her name’s Chiharu.”

Minato blinks, “... is that so?”

“I think it’s a wonderful time for lunch, wouldn’t you agree?”

They share the same wickedly curious glint in their eyes.

---

Finding 3600 Ume street is easy.

The hard part is that Chiharu isn’t there.

Her grandfather opens the door and bows, “Hokage-sama, Jonin Commander-sama.”

Minato waves his hands, “None of that villager-san. We were wondering if Chiharu-san is home?”

Kishi chuckles, “The only time she’s home is to make me food, such a sweet one. She even watches my friend's child,” he shakes his head fondly.

Minato doesn’t miss that he gives away exactly nothing.

“Ah, well, do you know where we could find her?”

Kishi pauses, tapping his finger to his chin.

“I’m afraid that since she quit the hospital, I don’t know her schedule as well as I used to.”

Shikaku has been looking at the sky during their conversation when he suddenly jolts.

“Pardon us, Sir, we’ll be on our way now,” and with that, Minato is grabbed by the arm and dragged away.

He’s excited , Minato bites his lip to keep in his laughter. But why?

When they’re down the block and heading towards Konoha’s biggest park, he explains, “When I met her, it’s because she was cloud watching in the same spot I usually do. It’s the perfect day for cloud watching and usually at this time of day, she’d have it to herself.”

And with that clue revealed, they’re off.

---

“I thought you’d come for me earlier,” Kameko admits, not moving her eyes. “I made it obvious and everything.”

Shikaku hums.

“Moved on from causing chaos at the hospital to the Tower?”

She grins and bats her eyelashes, “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about, shinobi-san. You must be really important to stand next to the Hokage, though.”

“Like you don’t know who I am,” he deadpans.

Her eyes gleam, “Is that arrogance I hear?”

“Not the kind that’ll kill me during war.”

Kameko’s face expresses nothing. 

“If you say so.”

Minato doesn’t even know how the conversation got to this point but he figures it's a fine place to interrupt.

“Excuse me, Chiharu-san, or.. Do you have a last name?”

She sniffs, “Don’t bring your politics here, Goldilocks-san, just ask what you want to ask. Or I’ll leave.”

Minato isn’t quite sure how to react to that but figures that’s the best opening he’s had in a long time.

“Are you a danger to Konoha?”

“Hmm, no.”

“Why are you here?”

“Visiting, fixing things here and there.”

“Are you Kushina’s Chiharu-sama?”

Kameko snorts in her mind, he’s asking all the right questions the wrong way. “Kushina’s,” as if.

“No.”

“Would you give consent to an ANBU overseer?”

Kameko quirks an eyebrow, “They would not be allowed inside the house unless invited and if they can’t keep up then that’s their problem.”

Minato lets out a sigh of relief.

“What is your relationship with the Kazekage?”

Kameko purrs, “Well, being as well acquainted as I am with his wife’s body,” she blinks pretending to realize something. “You probably aren’t ready for the answer to your question.”

Shikaku huffs. Minato raises his eyebrows but doesn’t continue the line of questioning.

“What are your skills?”

Kameko frowns, “Yeah, no. Nice try.”

Minato frowns. She knows exactly what position she’s put him in. She’s in Konoha and therefore technically under his authority. And yet, killing her could have unknown repercussions with Suna that they can’t risk and taking her to T&I could possibly work but with her Hiraishin it could also backfire badly. 

His eyes glint, if nothing else, he can order her to leave. 

Kameko pats the grass next to her, “Come on Shinobi-san, it’s a wonderful day to watch clouds.”

He immediately flops, sprawling, “My name is Nara Shikaku.”

Kameko hums, “Will you earn a nickname?”

Minato is getting slightly annoyed with the obscure references that border on riddles, but part of him is relieved. Being able to sit quietly is something that has been gone from his life for far too long.

Sinking down into the sun-warmed grass is a wonderful feeling and he lets out a contented sigh. 

Chiharu knocks him with her ankles, “Don’t burn out Goldilocks-san, it won't be pretty.”

He raises an eyebrow. She blows a raspberry.

Shikaku makes a choked sound before sombering, “One last thing, how did Tsunade’s summon know you?”

Minato forms a million questions at once, “I know you said you meet while cloud watching but that only happened twice, did you have a lengthy heart to heart?”

Shikaku opens his mouth but Chiharu beats him to it, deadpanning, “He eavesdropped.”

Minato blinks then laughs, “T&I’s Best Interrogator's best friend can’t eavesdrop unnoticed?”

Chiharu smirks, “Can’t expect even your best worker bee’s to be perfect, Goldilocks-san.”

She says it teasingly, her eyes are unguarded, so why did that feel like a threat?

(Kameko doesn’t forget anything she hears, sees or reads.

Ever.)

“Anyways,” she continues, “I’m not entirely sure of that answer myself. I don’t have summons.”

Minato tilts his head at her and she didn’t miss that they boxed her in on both sides.

Unfortunately for them, she is well versed in all types of psychology. 

“There are two things we can do. We can either take a nap and enjoy the sun for a few hours,” she raises one finger, “Or we can spar without Hiraishin and I might tell you where you are compared to others- only if you suck really badly.”

All that comes to Minato’s mind is keep your friends close but your enemies closer but that isn’t entirely helpful since he doesn’t know where Chiharu falls on that scale. Either way, he hasn’t had a good spar in a little under a month…

He shares a look with Shikaku who groans, “We spar for no more than two hours. I haven’t had an afternoon to cloud watch in actual years, tch.”

Chiharu nudges him, “It’ll be fun, I swear .”

---

Half an hour later, Shikaku is panting and whining about troublesome woman, this is not fun .

Kameko cackles, “I never said it’d be fun for you! ”

His brow twitches.

Minato’s eyes are twinkling, because of course it’s a bad thing that she’s obviously a security threat but ohmygosh a good sparring partner.

Kameko glances at him and snorts.

---

After a full hour Shikaku is genuinely trying to kill her, if only because he knows that he can’t.

Minato isn’t a one trick pony, with wonderful natural speed and strong taijutsu and kenjutsu.

She turns him black and blue anyways. 

She’s stuck to Suna taijutsu, her speed, and shurikenjutsu but Minato hasn’t managed more than glancing blows, usually due to openings Shikaku created. They aren’t on par with the Kumo team, but for the two of them they’re exceeding expectations. 

---

After an hour and a half, Shikaku taps out and Minato begs for her to use Hiraishin. When she raises an eyebrow and mentions how, “we only met last week and you already want me to use my toys? ” he flushes a deep red but doesn’t rescind his request.

She grins, “Okay.”

(There’s nothing like learning about someone through a spar.)

---

When they’re laying on the grass again, Kameko hums and asks the question that’d been on her mind since halfway through the spar, “Have you guys heard of a Darui of Kumo?”

She’s sure that if she asks Mizuko he wouldn’t be a surprise anymore, which would be no fun, but she doesn’t want to go in completely blind. 

Shikaku tenses minutely, “Why do you ask?”

Kameko thinks about her answer but decides the truth just edges them slowly into realizing they can’t control her, which might not necessarily be a good thing, but blindsiding people is for cowards. 

“I’m supposed to meet him tomorrow.”

Minato’s hand twitches, “What?”

Kameko nods with a straight face, “I have a spar with him tomorrow morning, we have some common acquaintances.”

Minato decides to leave the mystery that is Chiharu for tomorrow and Shikaku must agree because he announces that he’s taking a nap.

Kameko pouts, they didn’t tell her anything .

Rude Konoha shinobi.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Kameko leaves for Kumo a bit early. She doesn’t purposely come with expectations, but the fact that Minato and Shikaku recognized Darui by name is a promising sign. 

When she arrives in the rocky outcropping, she spots him chatting with Yugito.

“Hello,” she calls. 

They both twitch, but Yugito greets her with a smile, “Hey! Darui this is The Sparring Partner, we call her Ao, and this,” she looks at her, waving a hand to showcase the teen, “Is Darui.”

She isn’t about to repeat her greeting and look socially inept, even if her actual experience apart from teasing and minor therapy is a bit rusty. He nods.

Well.

Not very wild Kumo shinobi . 

“Do you want to spar?”

He nods again, just as languidly, “Don’t make it dull.”

Kameko huffs, “Right back at you.”

Yugito giggles and pats him on the shoulder, “Have fun.”

---

Darui likes sparring strong opponents, even if he can’t win. 

Ao winning was not unexpected, especially after hearing Boss grumble about her. Bee rapped about her mad skills and he knew Yugito had a minor case of Kunoichi-worship.

(Not that she would ever admit it, her cool façade was impressive.)

But afterwards the calculating glint in her eye was a bit unnerving and he found himself tensing when she opened her mouth. He knew he did his best but what if she told him he was trash and didn’t deserve-

“How old are you?”

Darui twitches, “...almost seventeen.”

She’s either ANBU level in misdirection or that was the question on her mind the entire time. And he had no idea which one.

(If a chill goes down his spine, he is a brave shinobi of Kumogakure no Sato and it must’ve been because of the wind.)

Yugito snorts, “He’s sixteen-and-a-half, Ao.”

He feels himself flush but keeps his features neutral. 

Ao slumps dramatically, “To be young.”

(Kameko doesn’t feel older than eighteen. She may know more but she does not harvest the wisdom of someone approaching death or the weary bones that force others to sit and think.

For all her vast knowledge, there are some things she is fated to never know.)

Darui raises an eyebrow, “You don’t look older than Yugito?”

She hums, “Technically, I’m thirty three. I’d say I age well though.”

The clearing freezes.

“Must be lying, your fighting style is trying-”

“You look like a kid-”

Yugito makes a noise reminiscent of a small animal.

Ao claps her hands together, “Yeah, yeah, moaning and groaning is not what I came here for-”

An ANBU interrupts her, kneeling before the A, “I apologize for interrupting, Raikage-sama. There was an accident and Mabui-san is requesting your presence. There are multiple injuries.”

A nods, “Very well, I’ll be there shortly.”

“So will I,” Kameko decides.

The Kumo nin scrutinize her, surprised and slightly weary of the serious face they’ve never seen before. 

“I’m a talented medic and I have no motives apart from healing your wounded,” she stares at A, “Do you have any objections?”

He hesitates for a split moment, but his people always come first, “You will rush back with me,” he turns to his comrades, “It’s up to you if you follow us or keep training.”

And with that, they’re gone.

---

Four hours later, Kameko’s washing her hands after her third and final surgery.

She is proud of the lives she saved.

Because she never goes anywhere without a few storage seals, she has some pocket money and heads to the hospital’s gift shop to buy her patients some recovery tokens. Kameko knows Uzushio flower language and some basics for other places, but minor differences stop her from buying flowers- men and children wouldn’t appreciate them much anyways.

The “accident” had included a trading caravan, defensive genin team and a few rouge nin, ultimately resulting in one critical genin, jounin-sensei and the head of the trading caravan. Kumo’s medics were decent, but Hashirama was the first to develop iryojutsu and they simply can’t compare to Konoha’s. 

In the end, she decides on thin, silver chains with her Hiraishin seal imprinted on it.

(Many ninja hold her seal and she cannot save all of them. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t often disappear to end fights- Suna’s is no longer the only Bingo Book to have her description in it.

She’s not sure how much longer she’ll remain relatively under the radar.)

Leaving the gifts with the nurses, she sets out to tell the Raikage she’s leaving.

---

A is waiting in the lobby and approaches her with his lips in a thin line. 

The walk to his office is quiet, and Kameko does not forget how she often explores when she’s in a new place. For now, she simply follows. 

---

When the ANBU are dismissed and she is sitting across from him, she observes.

Her sparring partner is a shinobi who wants to get stronger for his people. The Raikage is tired and confused, but grateful.

Unlike most Kage’s, A and the Raikage are not very different at all. 

And in his office, she will respect him.

(He has the Heart of Eddies.)

“You are pardoned for the removal of Kumo’s scrolls for your assistance in saving three lives.”

He does not yell, but he is serious while respecting her as an equal. A soft smile appears on her face, “You may call me Chiharu.”

He blinks.

“I would like to train your hospital in pediatrics and disease,” she continues, “While I do value shinobi, the innocent should always have the best treatment. Does Kumo accept my help?”

A is tense, obviously flummoxed, but nods immediately.

“Chiharu-sensei,” he begins. She raises one hand, “One moment. Any payment I should receive for my services should be used to pay for people who cannot pay for themselves. That being said, I have a condition. I do not want to hear about any bloodline theft. Period. Are we clear?”

(Children deserve their parents.)

His eyes narrow. The information she has access to is invaluable and seemingly endless. 

They sit while he thinks it over and Kameko waits patiently.

“Very well.”

She nods, “The war is over unless the Kage choose to start another,” her eyes are blades and her words are a warning, “Do not be so ignorant that you forget that no one wins.”

--- 

After the council with Shikaku to gather everything they know about Chiharu; Hiraishin, medical jutsu, an affiliation to Uzushiogakure and Suna, acquainted with Tsunade’s summons, it’s slightly terrifying to know that even with just the first two skills she is easily S-rank. 

Security risks.

And there is an abundance of mystery surrounding her. Who knows what else she has up her sleeves?

Leaning back in his chair, Minato sighs as he feels his sensei’s chakra coming closer at an alarming speed. Jiraiya bursts through the door a minute later. 

“Minato, you can’t use the back up plan!”

“What?”

“The back up plan! For Chiharu, you can’t kick her out of Konoha.”

Minato frowns, slightly upset as his only plan gets trampled on in front of him. He likes plans.

“Why?”

Jiraiya looks uncharacteristically serious, “You’d lose the Sannin.”

Of all that Minato expected, that wasn’t it. His brain stutters, “Even you?”

Jiraiya is grim, “Yes.”

“But what does that have to do with her?” Minato presses, ignoring the hurt Jiraiya’s blunt words caused.

Jiraiya suddenly looks very tired, “She did what I couldn’t. If she leaves, Orochimaru and Tsunade-hime are going to follow her. I love you kid, but I don’t think I can ever leave my team again. We need each other.”

He sighs, “And if you kick her out, they won’t ever come back.”

Minato lets out a groan and hits his head against his desk.

She isn’t fighting me and yet she’s already won.

“When Kakashi reports back from his mission, bring him to me.”

---

After returning from Kumo and taking a shower, Kameko finally gets around to writing her response to Rasa. Kankuro should be born any day now and unless he chooses the same day as the Uchiha Clan Meeting next week, she’ll be there immediately. 

Moving to the kitchen, she begins preparing dinner. While washing the rice, Tobirama sits by the counter, “The Hokage on a goose chase one day, the Sannin the next?” he teases.

Kameko tilts her head, “What are you talking about? I was in Kumo most of the day.”

Tobirama simply raises an eyebrow, “They all came knocking today, I think they want you to meet Jiraiya.”

“Ah.”

“What’s this about Kumo?”

She smirks, “Well you know how I said I found sparring partners…” 

---

While she isn’t avoiding them, it takes the Sannin three days to find her between her trips to Kumo and watching Shisui in the compound. 

As it is, Shizune spots her first and bellows, “Kaa-sama, I found her!”

Three heads snap towards her immediately and Kameko regrets not finding them earlier. Heading over, she greets them with a simple “hello.”

Tsunade’s brow ticks, “We’ve been looking all over for you!”

Kameko laughs freely, “I’ve been in Kumo more, recently. Whats up?”

(Something in Kameko’s soul relaxes at being able to tell the truth to her friends.

Her chest is warm.)

Tsunade and Orochimaru flank Jiraiya as he steps forward, “We saw each other in Minato’s office, but it is an honor to meet you, Chiharu-san.”

She nods but does not continue the formalities, “Is there anywhere the rest of you want to go to catch up?”

Tsunade looks at Orochimaru who smiles gently, “We made up at the stream, Chiharu. I would prefer to go there.”

Kameko simply turns to Shizune, “Will you be joining us?”

Shizune smiles at the invitation but shakes her head, “Now that I’ve had lunch I’m going to do my homework, okay Kaa-sama?”

Tsunade ruffles her hair, “You got it, squirt.”

And with that, they’re off.

---

When they arrive at the spring, Kameko grabs a large slab of rock before throwing it in the middle of the stream. There’s a large splash and then the water adapts and flows around it. Sitting down, surrounded by flowing water, Kameko smiles. 

The Sannin sit across from her, on the bank, hip to hip like the long lost friends they are. When none of them start, Kameko observes Jiraiya. The Mizuko told her his boisterous attitude was a coping mechanism, a mask he knew well. While this is true, she doesn’t know much about his actual personality. 

But that’s okay.

Kameko sunbathes while the Sannin lean on each other, and the forest is quiet apart from the wind whistling through the Hashirama trees. 

---

As they walk back to the village, listening to Tsunade’s rant about the hospital staff, Rasa’s seal flashes thrice. Kameko stops, “Sorry to interrupt Kaa-sama, but I’m off.”

Jiraiya looks confused while Orochimaru waves and Tsunade grins.

“Say hi to your apprentice from us!”

(Kameko laughs because Tsunade thinks her apprentice will be star struck of some sort, but Rasa is her Kage -chan for a reason.

His awe is reserved for her alone.)

---

Despite cultural norms, Kankuro is also her godchild. After pressing a Hiraishin seal on with a kiss to his forehead, Kameko knows logically that she probably is the best option.

Even if Rasa doesn’t.

(Her longevity is a secret only she knows.

It is her burden.)

She decides to stay until the ever-looming Uchiha Clan Meeting. 

---

She takes Temari out to the dunes and lets her listen to the songs of her land, sand swirling around them. She shows her plants and small animals and tumbleweeds, poisonous and strong. She takes her across rooftops and to Uzumaki Glass. She lets her nap in a sling made of red cloth and shows her the sunset from the top of Kazekage Tower, colors blending into a hazy fire. She lets Temari crawl over her while she whispers sweet words in long dead languages. 

Temari does not cry when she is with Kameko.

---

Kameko cooks for Karura and lets her nurse in peace. She cleans and leaves seals in her path for easier maintenance and then leaves a key on the fridge. 

---

With Rasa, they spar and walk the dunes. They are friends, but they are also sensei and student.

Funnily enough, Kazekage and foreigner has not been their relationship past the first day.

They relax, cartwheeling down dunes and playing poison word games.

And when the day ends, they watch the sky sing back to the land that whispers around them.

---

The day of the clan meeting, Kameko’s goodbye’s are short and sweet.

(Temari is the only one with tears. Kameko takes a handful of sand and dribbles it over the crown of her head, “Cry if you wish, Desert-hime. I will return.”)

---

Kameko had promptly bought a Konoha formal kimono after realizing she’d need one. It had light blue waves embroidered on navy silk which she paired with a dark grey obi and silver earrings.

It reminds her of the cliffs of Uzushio and she loves it.

After putting on light makeup and her hair in a bun with soft flyaways to frame her face, Kameko deems herself ready. 

(She knows she could be considered immaculate.)

The meeting starts around seven and she has plenty of time to make it to the compound. Slipping on her geta, she hugs Tobirama-sensei goodbye.

“I will keep him safe,” she promises.

When she looks up, his eyes are dark but he nods, “I trust you.”

Uchiha Kagami is someone they will fight for.

(There is very little that could take them both.)

---

Shisui is with Tobirama when Kagami and Kameko walk through the grand doors of the meeting hall. 

(Kameko personally doesn’t think it deserves to be called a hall , which denotes a type of craftsmanship, but it is large.)

The quiet chatter ceases momentarily before it picks up with vengeance.

“Not Uchiha-”

“What is he doing ? This-”

“Who is she-”

“Young-”

“Medic-”

“Hiraishin -”

Kagami leads her to the front of the room where she sits beside him. She has already been briefed on how he is the only event for this meeting. Their routine is simple, and she is playing a type of “bad cop.”

(She’s a foreigner.

Kameko doesn’t mind being the one to pick the fight.)

The five elders sit in front of them, facing the general populous, with two seats open in between them- likely for the Clan Head and Matriarch. 

When the two Uchiha’s enter, Kameko mentally chuckles at the irony. A clan of hundreds and she has already met the ones at the top. Their eyes glance over her, masking their emotions well. Just not well enough.

She pats Kagami’s hand in comfort. 

(She has fought and won against far more dangerous foes. Why fear the fish when she has already killed the shark and won over the algae?)

The meeting begins with Fugaku’s grave “good evening.”

(And yet, it is genuine.)

The Uchiha do not waste their precious time with pleasantries. For all their quiet grace, subtly has never been their strong suit. 

“We are here to decide whether Uchiha Kagami will return to active duty.”

Kameko’s seiza is perfect.

“I will listen to my clansmen, but the final decision is my own.”

She settles, a lion in the prairie.

“Kagami and his guest will speak last. Who would like to go first?”

The hunt begins.

---

While it isn’t unanimous, it’s close. The Uchiha Clan is in favor of returning the prestigious, with relations-to-the- Niidaime , Uchiha Kagami, to general forces.

They have their reasons- remind Konoha of the Uchiha legacy in the Founding, he’s strong, capable of doing his duty, showcasing the Uchiha Will of Fire.

(None of this is actually about Kagami. )

A few civilians titter about Shisui becoming an orphan, but they’ve never helped Kagami and their interest likely starts and ends in not wanting to have to take care of Shisui should he become orphaned. 

And then it’s their turn.

Kagami begins, “The Uchiha Clan is important to me but my son will always come first. I will not return to active duty.”

He bows his head.

(It’s shallow.)

Kameko has not moved and her gaze has remained perfectly forward, just how Kyoko-sensei had taught her. 

Her voice however, seeps and spreads into every corner and mind present. 

“Among other things, I am a doctor,” she begins. “And my title is Chiharu-sama.”

Mikoto’s perfect posture finds a way to straighten.

“Kagami Uchiha was one of the recipients to one of my cures. He is well past his shinobi prime and still recovering. You say he is strong and capable, and as a father, he is. But if you send him into the field, all the Clan would have is a disgraced legacy. You lose nothing by letting him live his own life after dedicating everything to this clan long before you,” she looks at the Clan Head, “were even born.”

No part of her speech is pleading. 

“He has done his service and been strong. He aged and retired, all while battling sickness. Nothing in that honorable story leaves space for others to exploit. You want more glory as a clan? Lose part of your arrogance and act accordingly through the comforting fact that Shimura Danzo is dead .”

The room hangs on her words.

“But Uchiha Kagami has already been your glory and all he has to show for it is a small house and what amounts to the loneliness of an eloped widow. If this continues, he will leave the clan. He can and will have a home elsewhere .”

The elders are outraged and Fugaku opens his mouth, Kameko’s eyes glance over him.

His jaw shuts with a small click.

“Do not doubt my words. I did not come here to hurt you in your own home, but to alert you to the world around you. This clan participated in the Founding and yet it is behind on integrating itself within the city. Place your hope, but not your abusive expectations, on the next generation. Nurture them into something you can be proud of- teach them the ways of old.” 

She looks at the elders, “Do not give up.”

She uncurls from her seiza and stands, “Do not make decisions you will regret.”

Kagami stands beside her and they head towards the exit. With her hand on the doorknob she turns back one last time, “And do not sacrifice your own.”

They leave the deafening silence behind.

---

Kagami’s wife passed during childbirth. 

Before that, it had just been him and Keiko.

Then it was him and Shisui.

He never got more than one person after his team fell apart.

(It is perfectly fitting that it is after Tobirama comes back into his life that he can have others at his side again.)

He had been sick and lonely.

Uchiha’s weren’t explicitly close and he was ignored.

Village tensions rose a wall against his name. 

And so, he did his best. 

He went to hopeless hospital visits while Shisui took his naps in his arms.

He fed him the best breast milk substitute he could find.

(He was breaking.)

And now, he was inside 3600 Ume with his precious son and two people he loved and admired. This was his team outside of war and he cherished it.

(He felt safe.)

Chapter Text

While the outcome of the Uchiha Clan Meeting is pending, Kagami stays with them on Ume street. Kameko glances at Shisui, thinking.

If nothings changed, Sasuke has just been born recently and Obito will unleash the Kyuubi in about two months.

She still isn’t sure if she’s going to save the Yondaime and Kushina. Theoretically, Orochimaru can be the Godaime and Tsunade can lead the hospital and watch Shizune. If the Sannin live together, they can adopt Naruto and Jiraiya can still work his spy network. 

On the other hand, they don’t really need to die.

Sighing, Kameko leaves Shisui with Kagami and heads to the top of Hokage Mountain. While the day is cloudy and windy, it’s still a pleasant surprise to find the popular spot empty. 

Flopping onto the ground, Kameko stretches her long limbs in a groan. With the addition of Darui, it’s hard to keep up and she has more than a few bruises.

She loves a challenge. 

Staring up at the clouds, Kameko plans.

On October 10, she needs to plant a Hiraishin seal on Obito. She should be mostly unknown to him but she can’t rely on that. She needs a team to take care of the White Zetsu and maybe stall Obito. She has the Mizuko and she can ask Tobirama but she isn’t quite sure that’ll be enough.

(There’s no one else.)

She told A she’ll start training their medics in January but after that showdown, she’ll need some time to herself. Might do pit stops in Ame or Suna and she still needs the goddamn memorial for her people but-

Kameko lets out a frustrated sigh. For now, this is the best she’s going to do. She slips into  meditation. 

---

It's early evening as she walks down the stairs. At the bottom, she sees a hunched figure in green spandex. As she walks closer she hears the muffled sobs from the shinobi she often sees running around the Village.

She doesn’t know him.

She stops and sits on the dirt beside him.

He looks up and gives her a wobbly smile, “I appear to have allowed my grief to overcome me! Please,” his voice breaks, “please…”

Kameko looks him in the eyes, “I don’t know what happened,” she admits.

“But right here, right now, it’s just us. I’ve seen you sprouting positivity wherever your feet take you. Please allow me to return the favor.”

She brings him into a hug, “It’s okay to cry.”

He sobs once.

Then the gates break and he clings to her black top between heaving breaths, letting out small keening sounds. She encloses him within her legs and arms and makes herself the big spoon.

(She’s trying her best to protect him from the world.

He is a shinobi.)

They stay that way for an undetermined amount of time, Kameko rocking back and forth and humming, and the boy grieving.

(He is only about sixteen.)

Eventually the sobs dissolve into sniffles and he quiets. 

“Take deep breaths,” she instructs. “When you’re ready, we’ll get you some water and I’ll buy dinner.”

When he finally pulls away from her torso, his eyes are red but there’s a new determination in the line of his mouth. He stands and bows low, “My father died protecting me.”

Kameko nods and bows back.

He straightens and regains some of his usual energy, beaming at her, “My name is Maito Gai and I am Konoha’s Sublime Green Beast!”

(This too, is genuine.)

“It is very nice to meet you, Gai. My name is Kameko, but please call me Chiharu.”

He nods, “Thank you for your support, our Konoha community is truly loyal!”

Kameko laughs, “Well, I’ve already told you my true name, so what’s one more secret?” she winks. “I’m not from Konoha, and that was Quiet Uzushiogakure support you just experienced- most don’t know it even exists.”

Gai blinks but does not question her.

“Now, are you ready for dinner?”

He chuckles awkwardly, “I’m afraid I have not finished my laps.”

Kameko brightens, “I’ll do them with you and then we can have a picnic!”

He grins at her, “A wonderful proposition!”

And with that they’re off.

(He starts slow, but Kameko reminds him that this training and by the end, he is the only one panting.

Both their smiles stretch far across their faces.)

---

In the end, it’s dark out as they feast on dumplings. They eat at a picnic table and chat harmlessly about their lives.

Kameko invites him for a homemade meal the following week.

He accepts.

(A tradition is formed.)

---

Two weeks later, there is a second Uchiha Clan Meeting to reveal the verdict.

Kameko wears the same kimono, jewelry and makeup.

Kagami stands straight.

Fugaku does not start with a “good evening.” He looks resigned and the elders are stiff by his side. His voice is a bit dead.

“As Clan Head, I decree that Uchiha Kagami can decide if he chooses to return to active duty under the Yondaime Hokage.”

Kagami stands and bows, “Thank you Uchiha-sama. I will remain retired.”

Kameko never opens her mouth.

This time, her presence equals the magnitude of a Nara shadow.

They leave.

---

Their celebration is quaint and within 3600 Ume, but the relief and happiness is apparent from the chakra heavy in the air.

Shisui doesn’t understand what happened but he can read the room and he gurgles happily until bedtime. 

Kameko cooks and sings while Tobirama and Kagami relax in each other's company in the living room.

Wiping the counter, Kameko smiles and no one sees it.

(She is smiling for herself .

This is family.)

---

Arriving at the hill to cloudwatch wasn’t routine for her but the itch had hit her and she had followed it. She hadn’t expected company, but she also didn’t mind. 

Shikaku looks at her seriously, more so than he’d ever been with her.

“I’ve been thinking,” he starts.

Kameko tilts her head.

“During the war, especially near the end, there were far less casualties than there should have been.”

Kameko hums, “I believe that to be a good thing.”

He continues, “And some of my clansmen, a very observant group, told me that they had been put under a very subtle and complex genjutsu. Unfortunately, Konoha doesn’t have many genjutsu specialists to question.”

One side of Kameko’s mouth tilts upwards.

How very impressive.

“And yet, even when they broke the genjutsu, they couldn’t break anyone else out of it. Nor could they kill a defenseless enemy.”

Shikaku stares hard at her, “A long term genjutsu placed on both sides, and an inability to kill. So they kept their eyes peeled and sparred like everyone else on the battlefield. But they never saw anyone who could’ve, would’ve placed it.”

Kameko’s eyebrows raise.

“And now,” Shikaku finishes, “I think I might have a suspect.”

Kameko likes to tease, but Shikaku Nara is smarter than she is. 

“Okay, let’s play.”

Shikaku blinks slowly.

Kameko’s eyes are the ocean, cold tides and slightly erratic. 

“I love a challenge.”

He examines her, and the grin he gifts her is that of a predator’s.

“I see. How did you do it?”

“I used compulsion seals and genjutsu.”

“Why?”

“Unnecessary death on behalf of the Kage is unacceptable. In simpler terms, morals.”

He sits back, “Why stay in Konoha?”

“Originally, it was for my precious person.”

“Kishi-san?”

“The seashore* is home.”

He makes a rumbling noise in his throat, “What is Chiharu?”

Kameko’s heart races.

“There’s very few people who know my name, two within Konoha. Chiharu-sama is the title I was given by the people of Uzushiogakure.”

“Why did you lie to Minato?”

“I didn’t.”

His fingers press together, and then he gets it.

“Are you hostile towards Kushina?”

Kameko herself had reflected on this, “No. But she has no special place in my heart, and however unfair, she is Konoha’s, not mine.”

He flops down, “Want to play shogi?”

She doesn’t comment when he takes a storage seal from his ankle and pulls out a shogi board. 

---

The game goes on for about three hours before Kameko forfeits.

Shikaku looks disappointed, “You weren’t losing.”

“Neither were you,” Kameko snorts. “But I don’t want to spend the whole day here.”

Shikaku sighs, “Troublesome. One day?”

She stands, “Of course.”

---

She’s walking on the river with Shisui when she has to dodge a green blur. 

“Gai-kun?”

She walks over to the crumpled figure just as he jumps up, “Just as I’d expect from my eternal rival! What an exhilarating spar!”

Looking at the head of silver hair as he comes closer, Kameko blinks.

I might have momentarily forgotten about him .

As Gai turns to her, “Chiharu-san! How wonderful to see you again! I apologize for almost being thrown into you and your child, although allow me to compliment your youthful dodging abilities!”

Kameko’s eye twitches, “This is Shisui, but he isn’t mine. Are we still on for dinner tomorrow?”

He nods excitedly, “Of course!”

She smiles a bit, “Well I won’t interrupt training. Have a good day!”

Kakashi stops her, “You are trained but you don’t wear a hitai ai.”

Kameko tilts her head at him, and for a moment the clearing is quiet apart from the crickets.

“Is there a question somewhere or can I leave?” she asks drily.

He doesn’t move, “Why don’t you wear a hitai ai?”

He’s only been in ANBU for a year but he specializes in assasination and he’s already becoming one of the best. 

“I was never given one. I am not a shinobi.” 

That poor, traumatised child.

“If you two are done sparring,” Kameko pauses and receives two tentative nods, “How about we get some takeout and have a picnic?”

Kakashi looks like he wants to reject the offer, but Gai grabs his arm and responds with an enthusiastic, “It would be our pleasure, Chiharu-san!”

---

Kakashi’s stoicism has been a refined skill since he was four and decided to join the Academy. 

That being said, when he returned from his longest ANBU mission yet, about four months, and Minato-sensei told him to take a week off before he gave him another assignment, he wasn’t sure what to do with himself. The first day he did chores, took a shower and trained. 

He trained with the only changes being with or without Gai, day or night.

(He could’ve saved them if he was stronger.)

Then, half way through a spar, he lands a kick and Gai flies towards a civilian and child-

Wait, she’s walking on water-

And she invites them for a picnic. Kakashi’s been avoiding Minato and Kushina and isn’t searching for companionship.

Then Gai grabs his arm and she doesn’t wear a hitai ai and the decision is made for him. 

(A very small part of him, a part that is categorically ignored, is relieved.)

---

Kameko takes them to an abandoned training ground that is nestled on the edges of the Konoha Wall. The surrounding is swampland and long grass that brushes the wind. She weaves them through a trail worn only by her and small animals. 

When the grass parts, they are welcomed by a quiet brook that leads into a short waterfall. Dragonflies flit over the surface of sun-warmed slabs of rock that frame the water and Kameko leads the way to their makeshift seating.

She dips her feet in the water and moves Shisui from her back to her stomach, “Such a wonderful ecosystem, isn’t it?”

Kakashi glances at her, but his eyes obediently observe his surroundings.

Gai beams at her, his teeth reflecting on the water, “It is indeed a family that works as well together as Konoha nin!”

Kameko lets out a small laugh, a gentle wave relaxing into the sand, “As impressive as Konoha nin are, the Land and Sea probably are a bit better at being family. They do, of course, have more practice.”

Gai focuses on her, his brilliance not evaporating her presence like so many others. Shinobi are smart and clever, but many are not philosophers. 

(It could, perhaps, cause a double edged blade with a shortened handle.)

She continues, “They work together and support each other unconditionally. They have a balance to support everything that depends on them.”

“They are strong independently, but stronger together.”

Gai blinks, “The Land and Sea…”

Kameko smiles, “It isn’t youthful, it’s ageless. It can be playful or weary. Wise or unstable. Age is only as important as personality.”

Kakashi has been stiff, but his genius extends past the shinobi arts, “Can someone be old and wrong ? Or is it just a choice to lie?”

To respect elders, especially strong elders, is a deeply ingrained part of the Elemental Nations. Unfortunately, old shinobi are among the most bitter. 

They have killed and lied and scraped by but they have never won .

(The next generation must also kill and lie.)

Kameko hums, “That is a good question. How do you imagine yourself in fifty years?”

(Dead.)

“Do you imagine yourself with excessive knowledge?”

(Apart from ways to kill people, make them comfortable, how Kumo nin break? )

“Does age give you all the answers?”

(Humans don’t live more than a century.

She has been in the grey area for a long time. Not a shinobi, not a civilian. Eighteen, thirty three.

Why debate if she is truly human?)

“Do old civilians know war and its effects?”

(They know dead relatives and increased or decreased prices.)

Kakashi’s eye is wide before it blanks, “That sounds like it may be bordering on treason, Chiharu-san. ”

The spell is broken and Gai glances between them nervously.

Kameko throws her head back and laughs.

(It is slightly hysterical.)

“You know, Goldilocks-san might agree with you, kid. Ready to eat?”

Kakashi bristles but Gai’s silence has drained away, “I will help you distribute the food Chiharu-san!”

While Gai spiels about it is my greatest honor to serve food for my friends , Kameko opens boxes while maneuvering around a waking Shisui. 

His big dark eyes blink slowly, taking in the bird pecking by the rocks and the water running steadily. When his eyes meet hers, she smiles so wide her eyes crinkle, “Hello, Shisui. Do you want to put your feet in the water?”

When Kameko was an orphan, she saw happy parents and toddlers play in the crashing waves as they greeted every new child. 

Shisui is almost two, not quite as old, but clearly just as intelligent, if not more so. 

It isn’t her beloved sea, but she needs to introduce him to the water and he is young enough she doesn’t want to temporarily Hiraishin them to the coast.

(Someday, she’ll kidnap him and Kagami both.)

Gently removing him from the sling, Kameko takes off Shisui’s socks. She sits on the edge of her rock, the water lapping against her knees and sits him on her lap. When his toes go under, her jolts. 

He doesn’t yell or cry or try to take them out.

He garbles and leans forward and she locks her arms around his stomach, anchoring him to safety. He splashes while Gai takes the food from her side, dividing it into even portions.

“I swear tomorrow will be home cooking,” Kameko promises.

Gai’s tears stream down his face, “So kind!”

She nods graciously before turning to Kakashi, “You are welcome to come as well. Dinner will be at 5:45 at 3600 Ume.”

His gaze is guarded and shuttered, but he simply nods.

(Both of them know that he won’t be there tomorrow.

Perhaps someday.)

They relax on the rocks and eat quietly, blending with the environment.

(Like the Sea and the Land they are part of a juxtaposed peace.

For today, under the sun and surrounded by wildlife, it works.)

Chapter Text

Gai comes to dinner with seasonal flowers and the night is rambunctious and happy. 

Gai is a master of his own world and while the grief will never disappear, it’s presence has been put to bed. He listens with equally rapt attention to Kagami and Tobirama’s stories as Shisui’s gurgles.

(With his accelerated growth, he will likely begin talking and crawling very soon.)

He is a gratuitous guest.

Dai taught him well.

(Kameko finds it unfortunate that she couldn’t save him.

She can’t save everyone.)

---

It’s mid to late August when she gains her ANBU surveillance. When she sees the silver hair peeking over the Dog mask, she tilts her head and continues with her day. 

---

A week later, Shikaku hunts her down. 

“I want a shogi game.”

“That’s nice.”

“With you, Chiharu-sama.”

She hums. 

“I’m not as smart as you.”

He snorts, “You’re close enough. Better than any other Nara I’ve ever played.”

“I once had a sensei who liked to play.”

He grins, “Humor me?”

“Only if you tell me why I haven’t been harassed by wayward Uzumaki.”

He scratches the back of his neck, “She’s heavily pregnant.”

“And…?”

He snorts, “Minato still thinks you’re a security risk.”

She clicks her tongue, “And he doesn’t want me to charm his wife and return her to the cliffside.”

His hooded gaze hasn’t wavered, “The rubble is hardly appealing.”

She grins, “I can be convincing. Why haven’t you told him that I have no interest in her?”

“Well,” he starts, “You did just ask.”

“Incriminating curiosity, no?”

“I don’t think you're a risk,” he explains bluntly, “You could be, but you aren’t. Not to what really matters.”

Nara Shikaku knows the King.

(This isn’t a surprise.)

“Paranoid kages,” an eyebrow raises, “Well if we’re being petty, his protégé spends more time with me anyway.”

Shikaku chuckles.

She leads them to a park.

---

The sun is dipping towards the tree line and there are four pieces on the board.

Two hours later, Shikaku wins.  

“If there’s a next time, I just might win,” she sighs.

His eyes dart towards her. 

“With your creativity, I honestly can’t say.”

Both of them offer their different strengths and utilize them to their advantage ruthlessly.

With the highest stakes being victory, it’s fun.

Kameko stands and stretches her back, Shikaku copying her movements moments later and his back pops .

He grumbles, “How are you my age?”

Her giggles are a bit hysterical.

“It’s getting late, go home before your wife accuses you of an affair.”

He slumps, “The only thing I have an affair with is Minato’s goddamn paperwork, troublesome.”

“You did just spend the evening with me, and I’d say we had a wonderful time,” Kameko purrs.

He barks out a laugh, “Go home so Kakashi can sleep.”

Kameko pouts, “No fun. How old is he anyway?”

Shikaku thinks for a moment, “Almost sixteen?”

She hums, “Yeah, alright. I’ll go home. Take care of your pregnant wifey!”

He nods, “I’ll find you when I want a game.”

She nods, “Good luck!”

---

Gai coming by weekly when he isn’t on a mission is a small blessing. In case of emergency, Shisui has gained another sitter and Kameko gets to cook Uzushio recipe’s frequently enough to make it routine.

(Uzushio recipe’s are not meant to be served with empty seats.)

It’s also what sends her to the market at the, coincidentally, same time as Minato. It’s early evening and he’s probably just come from the office as he tiredly inspects tomatoes.

“Your turn to make dinner?” 

He startles and she snorts, knocking him lightly in the shoulder.

“It’s a good thing you have ANBU watching your every move, Goldilocks-san.”

Placing a ripe tomato in his hand, she pays for her own groceries, before turning back to him. 

He hasn’t reacted to her teasing and the flush on his face is anything but natural. She bites her lip, placing her free hand against his forehead.

“You’ve got a fever, hun.”

That’s when Kagami comes up with Shisui in his arms, “Gai’s out for a mission.”

He pauses, glancing at Minato, “Are we still on for dinner?”

She frowns, “Unfortunately, I don’t think so. You guys go to a restaurant with Kishi-jiji, okay? Have fun.”

Kagami nods, but looks distracted. “How are you feeling, Hokage-sama?”

Minato jolts and forces an obviously fake smile, “I’m doing great Kagami-san! And how,” he starts swaying, “how are you?”

Kagami looks at Kameko, “You know where the Hokage manor is?”

She nods. He smiles softly, “We don’t deserve you.”

She snorts, “Go get dinner.”

And with that, she manhandles Minato back to his house.

(It’s telling that the ANBU don’t interfere.)

---

Kameko escorts Minato towards the door and he is obviously hanging on by a thread. He’s feverish- flushed cheeks, glazed eyes and lacking motor function.

Once the door clicks open, Minato partially comes back to himself, “Why should I let you in?”

She looks him dead in the eyes, “You are a doting husband and the Hokage. You gave too much and now you're sick. Do you remember what I said about burning out, Minato?”

He straightens, “... it won’t be pretty.”

She nods, “And no one deserves bad leadership. It fixes nothing. And so, for the evening, I’m going to take care of you, your kid, your wife, and your student. Problem? Speak now.”

He shakes his head and goes inside, temporarily keying her into the seals. Meanwhile, Kameko turns to where she knows her ANBU is hiding, “C’mere kid. Hokage’s orders.”

ANBU Dog appears in front of her.

Before anyone can blink, she shoves him in and slams the door behind them.

The layout is open and comfortable, a living room separated from the kitchen by a counter and a hallway that leads to bedrooms and a bathroom. 

Leaving the groceries on the counter, Kameko puts her hands on Minato’s shoulders.

“Go take a shower, put on clean clothes, and then come back here and I’ll accelerate the healing. Don’t even think about getting close to your wife and getting her sick, you hear?”

He nods. She nods back.

As he disappears down the hall, she takes a closer look at the living space. It isn’t dirty but it also isn’t pristine, smudges and clutter here and there. 

She directs ANBU Dog to quiet cleaning.

Then she heads down the hall to find Kushina. There are two bedrooms on either side of the bathroom where she can hear the shower running. One is a nursery, the other has Kushina asleep on the bed.

Sighing, Kameko scribbles a note before taping it to her forehead and returning to the kitchen. She puts away the groceries Minato managed to collect before bumping into her and then starts making Uzumaki soul food and rice porridge. When most of the dishes are simmering, Minato emerges and slumps on one of the bar stools lining the counter.

Washing her hands, Kameko uses her gentle bedside manner, “All right, hun. How’re you feeling?”

He groans.

“Hm, I’m sure. Symptomes?”

There’s a pause, “Headache, stuffy nose, swollen throat, cold and hot at weird times.”

She nods, “Standard fever, then.”

She brings up her glowing hands and when she’s done the fever has drastically diminished. 

“Here’s the deal,” she starts, opening one of her storage seals, “you are going to sleep on this futon in the nursery and sip this water. When you wake up, I’ll be here and you can have some warm rice porridge.”

He nods, “Thank you.”

She hands him a glass of water and calls Dog, handing him the tissues and futon. 

---

Kushina walks in just as the food is finishing, note in hand. 

Kameko turns to her, “Minato is sick and recovering in the nursery. Don’t get to close until he’s better. Before we eat, I’m willing to give you a check up- do you want one?”

Kushina blinks, “Chiharu-sama?”

Kameko sighs, “You aren’t Uzushio, Kushina.”

She flinches.

“Just call me Chiharu.”

Kushina’s back straightens and she lets out an explosive sigh, “Yeah, okay.”

---

No doubt because of her position , Kushina and Naruto are in perfect expected health. 

Pregnant women are expected to have sore backs and swollen ankles.

Kameko isn’t an overworked medic-nin that needs to conserve chakra. She heals and reinforces and, well, it’s nice. 

Nice to take care of a woman and her child.

Nice to make someone’s life a bit easier.

(Nice to see red hair.)

---

Dog sets the table, but it’s Kakashi who knows where the silverware is.

Both watch Chiharu in the apartment with a shrewd eyes.

Once it’s time to eat, Kameko calls stop. 

“Alright, you’re off duty now,” she tells him, “Take off the ANBU mask.”

Kushina nods, “Yeah, dattebane! Don’t think I haven’t noticed you don’t come by as much!”

Hesitantly, the mask comes off and a coal eye is revealed. Kameko puts a few dishes in front of him, “Don’t rush.”

The dinner has Kushina partially subdued but she asks Kakashi occasional questions and it isn’t silent.

(She has tried every dish.)

(Kameko notices that she doesn’t have traditional marriage seals.)

---

After dinner, Kushina takes a shower and heads back to bed. Kakashi stays, but his hypervigilance has mostly dissipated and he reads on the couch. 

Kameko cleans the kitchen and cooks the food that is a day away from over ripe. 

---

Minato wakes around two a.m., an hour after Kameko draped a blanket over Kakashi. She flicks on a dim kitchen light and serves him congee over the counter. 

His eyes aren’t as sharp as usual, but it’s hard to tell that he’s sick. 

He eats quietly as she refills his glass. When he’s done, he leans back, “Most wouldn’t manhandle a foreign kage and force themselves into their home.”

“I’m not most,” she refutes airily. “Besides, we already had this conversation. Do you not remember?”

(Kameko never stood a chance at normal .)

He shakes his head, “I do.”

Kameko shifts forward, leaning her weight on her elbows. 

“Then what do you really want to ask, Minato? What answers are you afraid of?”

Sky blue meets the ocean, and Kameko straightens. 

“I killed Danzo Shimura.”

(A white piece is moved directly forward, and the clink against the board echoes.)

Minato’s lips part, “What are your plans surrounding Kushina?”

(The black tile is held, moving to protect the queen.)

Eye contact never wavers.

“Nothing. I didn’t know Konoha had Uzumaki. I don’t care about the bijuu,” Minato flinches, “And Kushina means nothing to me. I don’t know her. Do I enjoy hearing a voice tick and seeing red hair? Yes. I do. But she isn’t Uzushiogakure .”

(It’s a strategy game. This is real life.)

Minato looks confused.

(Hardly keeping level against strong waves.)

 “She might not have lived there her whole life, but she was bullied for being a foreigner all through Academy,” he chooses anger, “ What do you mean ‘she isn’t Uzushio’?”

“I mean what I said. I don’t talk to talk.”

Kameko’s jaw is stiff, “Do you know what Uzumaki Kushina really is?”

Minato’s eyes narrow, “... what?”

“Collateral. Collateral between Village Power and people with fancy hats that don’t know how to properly prioritize their people.”

Minato blinks rapidly.

“Like the Uzumaki before, she is the wife of a Hokage. She herself had ambitions to be Hokage. She is Konoha’s Jinchuriki. She is not Uzushio,” Kameko pauses, “What she is, however, is Uzumaki .”

(Neither notice that the other occupants' chakra isn’t quite as still as it should be.)

---

She leaves after preparing breakfast for the sleeping household, Hiraishining to 3600 Ume. It’s late August and she needs a longer break from Konoha. 

(She misses her home.

It’s long gone.)

Scribbling a note, Kameko decides to return in late September.

She will keep her spars in Kumo, bond with her godchildren, and finally check in with the Ame-chibi’s. The Mizuko’s will tend to the house and the Make Better Citizens Program.

(Is she experimenting with names? Yes. With only one participant, five if she includes the POW’s, it’s a perfect time to improve branding.)

Smiling to herself, Kameko takes off. 

---

She runs all the way to Suna, crossing the border easily after they recognize her hair. 

(Suna was her first home after the Fall. 

Home will never mean the same thing again.)

(With Hiraishin, Kameko can go anywhere. And yet, she isn’t sure she belongs anywhere. How long is home supposed to last?)

---

When she arrives, she goes straight to the Kazekage’s office. 

Yumi, Rasa’s secretary, waves her down, brows furrowed.

“Hello, Chihahru-sama, I hope all is well…”

Kameko puts her hand on Yumi’s, “What’s wrong?”

(Rasa hasn’t pulsed his seal.)

Yumi winces, “I just think there’s something you might be able to help with,” She leans forward, “The Council is getting fidgety about the Ichibi. They want it sealed. Karura-sama is pregnant again and I… it’s tense.”

Kameko nods. Yuma has warned her about Gaara, a redhead driven to insanity by a bijuu. 

Mother dearest, mother dearest, you’d do anything for me ?

Bijuu and The Power of Human Sacrifice, an interesting combination indeed. A toxic relationship that pales only to human relationships with other humans. 

“Where is Rasa?”

“In another meeting with the Council. It’s been hours,” Yumi eyes are getting wet, “Can you help, Chiharu-sama? I know you aren’t from Suna but you’ve fixed big problems…”

Yumi is still a teenager. A chunin who wants the best for her people and who is stressed and helpless when the government insists on eating itself. Kameko smiles reassuringly.

“I promise that I will do everything I can.”

(This is what she is here for.)

She marches into the meeting.

---

Rasa’s relief at his sensei’s appearance is excessive but between sleepless nights at home and working relentlessly during the day, he is stressed, exhausted, and just about ready to give up the hat. 

(The only thing that has kept him fighting is his unborn child and his wife’s safety.)

She marches in, long blue hair flowing behind her and she claps her hands together, “Silence.”

Her killing intent floods the room. 

“What is the problem here?”

A balding council member stammers, “He refuses to use his child-”

Kameko interrupts, “Incorrect. What is the problem here?”

One more member tries, “The Ichibi needs a host.”

Kameko tilts her head, eyes cold, “Closer.”

Kameko moves forward, her KI getting denser with the shrinking distance between her and the meeting participants. 

“The problem here is that the jar holding the Ichibi is growing increasingly unstable. The problem is that Suna doesn’t have seal masters. The problem is that your Kazekage doesn’t want to sacrifice his family to something that may or may not work.”

Kameko straightens and the KI disappears like it was never present.

“The solution,” she beams, “is asking me, your associate from Uzushiogakure, if I could help. The solution,” her eyes narrow, “is me telling you, ‘yes I can seal a bijuu.’”

“The solution is not making the Tower so tense, assistants are telling me the problem because they are scared. Are we clear?”

---

And with that, the Council is cowed and reflects on their decisions. 

(Elders can still learn.

They value their jobs and they want to help.

They do not immediately realize that the next generation doesn’t have to kill and lie.)

---

On the way out of the meeting, Kameko stops by Yumi’s desk and hands her a bubblegum lollipop, patting her on the head.

“You did well.”

(After working at the hospital, she’s seen the remarkable effect sweets and positive reinforcement can have.)

(She remembers her Shisou telling her of small lollipops after doctors appointments for children in a world without shinobi.)

---

With everything cleared up, Rasa gets to go home in time for dinner for the first time in a month. 

Kameko doesn’t join him.

Instead, she goes to visit her honorary Uzumaki. Her ex-apprentices greet her warmly and they work through the evening, giving tips and brainstorming together. 

Mira is now fourteen. 

Hideo has gotten married.

Kouichi has discovered a love for teaching and holds seminars describing the history of Uzumaki glass art. 

It’s fun.

(It’s home.)

---

She doesn’t leave Uzumaki Glass until the early morning. She walks through Suna and then walks up the cliff and leaves.

She runs and jumps and sails across the dunes, does flips and cartwheels.

(There is a freedom in seeing nothing but small dunes. A freedom uncovered that can only come from open space and the cover of a dark night.) 

Later, when she has exhausted every part of herself, she flops down onto the sand with a whisper of happiness surrounding herself, and sleeps.

---

She wakes a few minutes after dawn to the feeling of small chakra signatures around her. When she opens her eyes she is surrounded by gila monsters, lizards and scorpions, an occasional tortoise. Farther back, coyote’s are curled around desert rabbits. 

Kameko flops back in the sand.

“Your official title is Chiharu-sama,” Yuma-shisou comments, “you know that. Others call you Blessed by the Land. They say that the Sea wanted you but the Land fought to keep you. As you know, Uzumaki are only completely surrendered to the Sea when they die.”

She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. 

“You are special in many ways, Kameko,” She looks at her. “You are unique. You are both many ends and many beginnings, many firsts. I’m not entirely sure what you are- and only you can find that out.”

“Blessed by the Land, huh?”

She looks at the animals again, “Makes me want to sleep outside more often.”  

They chitter back.

Chapter Text

After her night in the desert, Kameko heads over to Rasa’s house. She is greeted by a squealing and clumsy Temari.

(Temari is about eighteen months old, younger than Shisui. She’s seen the clarity in his eyes. The cleanness of his movements. So why isn’t he walking or talking?)

Kameko crouches, opening her arms wide, “Hello, lovely Desert-hime! I’ve missed you.”

Temari coo’s, “Chi! Chi back!”

Kameko’s smile widens, “It seems I have.”

She sweeps her into the air, spinning before bringing Temari into her arms. She waits for her to stop giggling, “Where’s papa, Tem-chan?”

Small feet kick, “No!”

Kameko raises an unimpressed eyebrow, “Uh-huh.”

She’s learned sensing from the best and a toddler isn’t going to stop her. But when she feels Kankuro’s chakra still and asleep and Karura’s wrapped up with Rasa’s, she pauses. 

Maybe the toddler’s right.

Scribbling a note, Kameko slips Temari’s sandals onto her feet and puts a big floppy hat on her head. 

She’s adorable.

Large teal eyes peek up from under the rim, “Ready!”

Kameko nods seriously, “Ready.”

(While it might seem like a kidnapping, Kameko’s the godmother and she left a note , it’ll be fine. )

---

They go out to breakfast and eat foods with colorful sauces. Temari chatters away and gets distracted and Kameko basks in the presence of her Desert-hime. 

 Afterwards, Kameko holds onto Temari’s hands as the child toddles across flat rooftops.

When Temari finally settles, it’s around noon and Kameko assumes that it’s around nap time. They sit side by side, legs dangling, Kameko’s arm curled around Temari’s whole frame. The sun is high and Kameko pulls her into her lap and pulls the hat high enough to shadow her whole face. 

Then the wind whips and shares a song. A song of the Land for those who listen, the ones who remember the natural way.

“There’s no thunder

No rain, no master

Of dark nights

And strong lights

When every grain flies

Won’t the confused wind rise

When you are with me

Don’t be carefree, but I say

Follow the path the stars take

To dream 

To take

To give

To return home again.”

Temari’s eyes stay open until the last line. Then, she is asleep.

---

With Temari asleep in her lap, ignoring the pulse to her Hiraishin seal is a bit easier. It’s from a stranger, one she happened to place a Hiaraishin on during the war. 

Part of her wants to help, but another, the orphan abandoned to drown and die on a dock, doesn’t care. Doesn’t blink or flinch when the seal dies with it’s carrier.

She has already decided to stop fighting for strangers until her showdown with Uchiha Obito. 

(Kameko carries burdens, knows that very well, but they don’t include every person on the planet.)

---

Being forced into the role as Acting Kazekage is less amusing the second time. She likes Suna, loves her small family that lives there, but she isn’t even a citizen . 

(Her heart and soul will always be owned by coastal breezes and lapping waves.)

She has Kankuro in a sling around her waist and Karura brings lunch when it’s time to breastfeed. 

“Is this what it’s like to be Rasa?” she wonders aloud. “I have his pretty wife, his son, and the office. The only things I lack are Temari and the red hair.”

Karura snorts, “Like he’d have Kankuro in his office.”

Kameko hums thoughtfully, “Gender roles, gender roles. What is your opinion Karura? Is there a reason, apart from desire, that has you pregnant three years in a row?”

Karura tilts her head, “Y’know, the usual.”

Her tone is not flippant.

They eat.

---

She does paperwork, deals with fussy children, ANBU, and ends the week with a training session with Rasa. 

After sparring, Kameko sits next to his body, staring into the distance. 

“What do you think are Suna’s major problems?”

He looks at her, waiting. She smiles a bit, “That wasn’t rhetorical.”

He blinks, “Our trade is far better than it used to be. We have natural mines for shinobi tools and we grow our own poison. We have water. Our shinobi population is well taken care of. Our civilians,” his brows furrow, “are doing better with the glass trade. So our problems are civilians?”

He looks at her. She shakes her head, “You aren’t a puppet, Kage-chan. I’m not going to tell you how to fix your land, and I’m not always going to tell you what’s wrong. I’m not Suna.”

He tenses, but he is not afraid. Rasa is a Kage and he will prepare himself appropriately. 

“After the apprenticeship ended, I told you I wouldn’t be around as much. Unless it’s an emergency, you probably won’t see me again for at least half a year.”

She meets his eyes, “The best Kage, apart from the Mizukage which I have not met, is the Raikage.”

His hands clench.

“I’ve helped you with your combat ability, but I can’t do your job for you. I know you have children at home. I’m happy for you and Karura but do not forget she is just as capable a jonin as a mother.”

She lifts a fist of sand over his heart.

“Look around you. Be true. Do not rely solely on your eyes and whoever fights or pays or claws up the ladder enough to meet you. Listen. You are a leader, Kage-chan, but you are here for your people. You know this- it’s your potential that kept you alive- so act like it.”

The sand falls.

“Do not call me unless it is an emergency,” she cups his face is her hands, “I will not tell you ‘everything will be fine.’”

She looks at him, “I am here to support you, but I am not a crutch nor a subordinate.”

Her face crinkles, “Do your best.”

He kowtows, “This student hears the words of wisdom bestowed upon them and wishes their Master safe journeys.”

When he straightens, she has long since disappeared.

(The sand dances.)

---

The Mizuko’s have given her regular updates on Amegakure, the slow but steady improvement under new leadership.

That doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to see it for herself. 

She did send a bit of prior warning because the Ame-chibi’s were some of her favorite’s and she did want to see them on their own terms.

(They needed to know that they deserved respect.)

---

She is greeted at the border by a fidgety Konan. Stopping a few feet away and calling over the rain, Kameko greets her with a smile.

Konan nods, “Hello, Chiharu-san.”

The last time she had spent more than a day in Ame, she completely overthrew the government and she was clearly better in almost every way; political negotiation, financial resources, physical strength, ect. Considering that, the cold professionalism is expected. 

It seems they consider her a threat. A perfectly valid response. A bit saddening, but part of her is gratified by Ame-sama’s and their resilience. They’re essentially restarting a country from the ground up and they are wary of bigger predators. They put themselves on equal footing, as they should with Kage-level shinobi, and they greeted her at the borders. Kameko doesn’t miss the power play of sending Konan alone. 

She’s proud. 

While she did just come to check in, they’re doing fine. They don’t need her, nor do they truly know her. 

Kameko walks closer, ignoring the ANBU hiding among the foliage. The rain feels nice .

When she’s about to pass Konan, the teen clenches a fist, “Please wait.”

Kameko looks over her shoulder, “Yes?” she calls nonchalantly. 

Konan straightens, “You have not asked to gain entrance to Amegakure no Sato. You do not have permission.”

Theoretically, Kameko should ask to enter their land, not just tell them she’s coming and march in. But, well, even if they aren’t Kages, even if they were, Kameko is under no one’s authority but herself and it’s better to establish that earlier rather than later. A powerplay of her own, a gift for a gift.

She nods slowly, “Yes.”

The ANBU come closer. Kameko tilts her head, “Would you like to know why? I’ll tell you.”

Konan hesitates, “Why?”

Kameko leans closer, whispering in her ear, “You and I both know I could kill those ANBU in a heartbeat. I could slaughter your whole population in hours- three max. I could do the same with any of Hidden Villages,” Konan’s pulse races, “I am not here as a threat. I am not here to denounce your authority after giving it to you,” she pulls back a bit, making eye contact, “Because you three are doing well.”

She steps back and Konan’s frame relaxes a fraction, and then Kameko releases her aura. Not KI, not Positive Intent, just herself as she is. 

“That being said, I bend to no authority, within or without borders. I find leaders I respect, but I do not follow them. I have no ties to a living village.”

(Uzushio is not dead. It lives in her, on the coast, on the island. 

Konan would not understand.)

Konan stares hard at her, “Do not hurt any of our people.”

Kameko throws her head back and laughs, “Spoken well,” her eyes sharpen, “I am not a sadist, nor do I derive pleasure from murder or lies.”

Konan’s posture is taunt- she knows more is coming, even if she doesn’t know what. 

“Rapists, among other things, cannot be protected from me by simple things like borders,” Kameko smirks, “But then again, complex things wouldn’t stop me either.”

---

They arrive at the capital walking side by side. 

---

Kameko has no interest in making friends with people who don’t want her friendship.

“Not everyone will enjoy your company,” Yuma warns. “You will just be an opportunity. I am here to teach you to do the same to them. Lesson One: Do not lose yourself in the process.”

One day, when they are more comfortable in their authority, perhaps they will welcome her like the other Kages that know what she can offer them. 

Assuming that is, that they don’t succumb to their ego’s of Ame’s small size or their title or other pitfalls hidden or enabled by immaturity. They are young and Kameko doesn’t mind brave, protective people but she knows how power changes people.

It can be good. 

It can also be very, very bad.

(Leadership and power is perhaps the only way to know someone better than a spar.)

For now, they do not need her assistance and Ame does not need her interference. 

Kameko moves on.

---

She walks. She isn’t quite sure where she’s going.

Where she wants to go.

(It’s ironic, she’s finally resourceful enough to achieve almost any ambition and yet, all the ambitions she carries are that of ghosts.)

For her, it is an odd way to travel. Many shinobi feel twitchy or slow when they take a walk outside their borders. 

Kameko has always enjoyed looking at new sights, learning new things.

“Life is a blur in this world,” Yuma-shisou is rarely wistful, but it comes out more often the older Kameko ages.

(Now, she knows it’s because Yuma was facing death. How courageous.)

 “Run, run, fight, train, sell this, run! No break, no morals, just paranoia and unresolved trauma. I always thought ‘nothing could be worse than the rez.’ Parts of Africa maybe. But even then, the criteria is everything in a decision, isn’t it?”

Kameko doesn’t know what “Africa” is, but she’s heard of Yuma-shisou’s first home. 

“It made you,” she puffs out her cheeks, “so it can’t be that bad.”

Yuma clicks her tongue, “Nature and nurture. Sometimes kindness and survival cannot coexist. It is the job of a leader, of those with courage and strength, to try anyway. You are the first and only I’ve told my secrets to,” she admits, “Maybe I spoil you with so many stories.”

Kameko regards her Shisou, her guardian, the only adult who’s truly hers .

“You’re my first and only, period,” Kameko bits her lip, “Are stories for those who would have nothing without them, or to bring people together?”

Yuma nods, proud, “But you miss one point- why would someone create a story to begin with?”

Kameko knows only she can write her own story. Knows that she is an orphan, survivor of a genocide, has blue hair. Knows she has been Acting Kazekage, babysits Uchiha Shisui, and that she spars with Kumo shinobi. Kameko is many traits, ideas, skills, places. Kameko is Chiharu-sama. 

Perhaps we are only recognized through the eyes of others. 

Kameko goes where her feet take her. She’s still going in the general direction of her town but she takes the long routes and shortcuts in equal measure. Walks in circles if she likes a particular path. The land is never quiet; whispering greetings, sending small friends, carrying music.

She is not lonely.

She talks to new people and tries new food and enjoys that even Yuma-shisou never knew of these people.

---

She is shuffling down a worn path, watching colored leaves catch on the wind and dance to the pull of the land. 

Every leaf has slightly different coloring, different patterns and splotches. 

(Uzushiogakure was one entity but it was not uniform .)

Kameko huffs a breath as a plan forms.

(Konoha and Uzushio were old allies.)

---

She doesn’t return to her island immediately, won’t construct the memorial until it’s perfectly planned, will only allow herself when she isn’t busy trying to save the world. 

She knows her town is fine and switches to a completely arbitrary path. 

To have no destination is not to be aimless.

(What is freedom?)

---

It's the beginning October when she enters a small restaurant for a late lunch. It isn’t busy, nor is it empty. It has a peace only achieved outside of a city. Kameko sits against the wall and observes. A girl, about eleven, comes to her with a small writing pad.

“What can I get’cha, miss?”

When she smiles, Kameko notices at least three missing teeth. 

A fun age for a child.

Kameko hums, “What do you have?”

The girl straightens, puffing out her chest, “We have everything! My Ma’ll make ya anything you ev’er wanted!”

Kameko nods slowly, “A local special then.”

The girl's smile widens, “Juss’ you wait, miss!”

---

The food is decent, cheap and comes with a side of berries.

Kameko figures it’s almost time to go back to Konoha, if only to repel suspicion about her return correlating with the Kyuubi Attack. 

She has just paid her tab when a body flies in, back first. The door is in shambles and the body soars across half the restaurant before plummeting downwards.

 Kameko’s relaxed mood falls faster.  She turns to the doorway as a man steps in casually. He is half skin, half dark thread and his smile is both excited and entirely dispassionate. 

The juxtaposition makes her skin crawl. 

Kameko has fought S-rank shinobi who wished her harm. She’s felt the residual chakra and intent following The Fall. She killed Danzo Shimura.

She’s never felt an aura quite like his. Not with the sheer power to back it up. 

That doesn’t mean she’s afraid. 

Turning her head just enough to hold both the man and his prey in her line of sight, Kameko steps in front of the small serving girl.

The girls auburn hair frames teary brown eyes. She’s trembling.

Life does tend to steal fun. Kameko wonders how much it takes as tax before returning just enough to keep them alive. 

She steps forward, “Please take this elsewhere.”

The prey looks at her desperately, “Help me! Please! I swear I...” his eyes land on the girl behind her, and they darken, hands clenching, “ Oh. Sweetheart-”

She pinpoints her KI on him alone, “Silence.”

He freezes, then sobs, before going completely lax. 

(The terror in his eyes pleases her. Viscerally. The man is not the only predator present.)

She does not move closer, and turns to the man who is watching her with sharp eyes. 

(He is not seeing her. )

“Your name, sir?” she asks politely. His hitai ai is crossed out, but shinobi business is not hers, and the prey’s chakra is vile . A manipulator. Greedy. Scum.

He eyes her, “...Kakuzu. And you?”

They are simultaneously surrounded by civilians and completely alone.

She deflects, “Why are you looking at me as though we’d met?”

He wouldn’t be able to recognize a Mizuko on duty and apart from his eventual attendance as Akatsuki, she doesn’t know him any better than he knows her.

He smirks, “You have a Bingo Book page, Chiharu -sama .”

She curls her lip, “Do not antagonize. I have no issue with you.”

His eyes glint, “Maybe I want your head.”

She tilts her head, “Is it more for me to be alive or dead?”

His gaze is unwavering, but he leans forward in response to her question, “You aren’t a lot in Iwa’s or Konoha’s, yet. Kumo had a high bounty that recently disappeared. Mist has nothing. And Suna claims you as an associate.”

She lets out a small noise, “Mm. So probably alive?”

He cackles.

“Well you definitely aren’t worth much dead. Not enough for me to go after.”

Her eyes flick toward the prey. 

“Don’t kill him here,” she orders.

He raises an eyebrow, “What if I want to?”

She puts a hand on her waist, unimpressed, “Is scaring civilians a hobby or collateral?”

He huffs, “Maybe it’s both. What will you do?”

She raises an unimpressed eyebrow before grinning, “I’ll tell you what. We leave together, take your prey out, have some fun,” she winks, “and then I’ll take you out for dinner.”

He blinks, “I can be bought.”

Kameko nods, “Nice to meet you, Kakuzu.”

---

After slipping enough money to cover the damage into the girl's hand and patting her head, Kameko sweeps out of the restaurant, Kakuzu a step behind with his prey over his shoulder. 

(Nothing calms shinobi quite like seeing the back of a threat.)

Their steps are silent as they descend from the small hill.

Kameko leads them to the outskirts of town and off the beaten path, stopping in a grassy clearing. They ignore that the civilians steer clear regardless. Realizing she’s stopped, Kakuzu drops the prey unceremoniously. 

Kicking it lightly, Kakuzu scoffs, “How pathetic. How long will he be unconscious?”

She shakes her head, “I’m not sure. My KI has never completely knocked someone out.”

(She doesn’t mention that it’s rare for her to use it at all- let alone that potent, that passionate.)

He looks at her, “I enjoy free food, but I am not a sadist. I do not care about you and that man or what he has done.”

“Then why did you come with me?”

“I don’t know.”

Kameko nods, “I thought it was just me. Your body is not aligned with time, correct?”

“I am not normal, no.”

Her lips twitch up, “Uzushio has fallen.”

Kakuzu squints, attempting to decipher her meaning, “It has.”

“From now on, it’s timeless.”

---

When the head is in a sealing scroll, the valuables taken, and the body left to rot, Kakuzu turns back.

“Someday, will I come and collect your bounty?”

She grins, “Perhaps,” her eyes grow sharp, “Will all you do is collect bounties?”

They part.

---

To wander is not to be aimless.

(A journey evokes the most sadness with its completion.)

Chapter Text

Her return to Konoha, to Shisui and Tobirama-sensei, is simple. She is not barred entrance, nor is she welcomed.

For her, it’s plenty.

The weather has not yet cooled and her first stop is 3600 Ume. When she arrives, feeling Tobirama and Kagami’s chakra curled into each other, it’s home.

Another one. 

“Some people have many home’s,” Yuma-shisou explains to a six year old Kameko. 

Kameko lets out a small huh? before beaming, “Like the Daimyo!”

Yuma lets out a startled laugh, “Not in the way you think. “Tadaima” and “Okaeri” are powerful for a reason .”

Bopping her on the nose, Yuma continues, “People can be home just as much as a place, more so even.” 

Kameko’s eyes widen- she understands this, despite the fact that it's never been said so simply. 

“And sometimes, we have different home’s for different things. And that’s okay.”

Petting her hair, Yuma sighs, “Occasionally, we even have home’s that aren’t like us at all. If we’re smart, and a bit lucky, having multiple homes makes you stronger.”

Kameko smiles.

---

With her household still asleep and content, Kameko heads towards the morning market. She picks fresh vegetables and is halfway through choosing fruit when she hears a roaring “Chiharuuuuu!”

Glancing upwards, she is unsurprised seeing Gai breach the horizon line. His out-of-uniform ANBU arm piece, however, is unexpected. 

Gai stops in front of her, slightly panting, as the brown haired teen next to him catches his breath in large gasps. 

Raising an eyebrow, she waits fifteen seconds mildly, before speaking.

“Panting is good and fine, but it’d do you better to do breathing exercises after finishing a run.”

He glances up at her, face sweaty and flushed. She nods, “Hold your breath, one, two, three. Release, one, two, three. Repeat.”

Seeing him close his eyes and listen to her instructions, she turns to Gai before smiling apologetically.

“I’m sorry I left while you were on a mission- I should’ve told you.”

He shakes his head, “Please do not concern yourself, Chiharu-san! My time with you is that of blooming flowers and your kindness has helped strengthen the roots of Konoha, assisting even my reluctant Eternal Rival! I dare not be greedy of your time!”

Strengthen the roots? Kameko bites her lip. Positive collateral, an interesting concept indeed. 

She finds it fitting that Gai would find the good in the world, even if he had to flip every rock to find it.

Kakashi had an interesting past life, she thinks, to be surrounded by the best who are simultaneously self-sacrificing and courageous enough to follow through. 

Kameko reaches for his hands, slowly enough that he could pull away. He doesn’t, watching her with wide, shy, vulnerable eyes.

(To be yourself so honestly that others can’t see you, Kameko believes, is something Gai will not be subjected to. Not by her . She thinks this is a good goal, despite its size. Groundwork. Roots .)

The ANBU glances between them before disappearing silently with a small nod of farwell. 

“Maito Gai,” she begins in a strong voice, “You do not impose. By keeping my name, you have become one of my closest.”

His grip is tight.

“You are of true character and I respect you.”

Tears well up.

“While I did not have the honor to meet your father, the reflection you cast and symbolize is something I know he would be proud of.”

She brings the lanky teen in for a hug.

“My time with you is blooming flowers and beautiful smiles.”

He sobs, arms encircling her waist.

“Your brilliance, your humanity, is admirable and cherished.”

---

Later, when Gai has left and the groceries have been collected, Kameko walks down an empty alley. When she is far from the noise of the main road, her follower drops in front of her. 

She stops. 

It’s the ANBU from this morning, brown hair brushing his shoulders and a sebon between his teeth. He pauses. She waits.

“My name is Shiranui Genma,” he starts. 

“I am called Chiharu,” she replies. “Why are you here?”

She has an idea, but assumptions are bad. 

“I know Hokage-sama has not deemed you an immediate threat, despite your prowess,” he makes eye contact, “And I’m still wary.”

She waits.

“But there’s a lot to be wary of in general,” he grins at her with charm that can only be fostered through a tested Seduction Corps member, “And I’d like to get to know you better.”

Kameko examines him. He is impressive, has a strong Will of Fire.

She dips her head, “How does seven sound?”

He relaxes minutely, “Perfect. Call me Genma!”

---

Despite her date for the evening, Kameko has most of her day free. She has missed her precious people, her friends. 

When she approaches 3600 Ume again, she can tell that everyone’s awake. Turning her keys, she nudges open the door, “Tadaima.”

Shisui dashes straight into her legs. She blinks. She was gone a few weeks and he goes from not even crawling to running?

And no one told her?

Rude Konoha citizens. 

Nonetheless, she swoops him from the ground and brings him to eye level, staring suspiciously, “What, do you talk now too?”

He blinks, a smile spreading wide as she rubs her cheek against his. 

“Maybe.”

The blood drains from her face, “...eh?”

He giggles, “Got you! Got you!”

Uzumaki Kameko, duped by a genius two year old.

Terrible twos, indeed.

(At his age, she had perfected pick pocketing, misdirection, guilt tripping and gaslighting so she probably shouldn’t be surprised.)

She hums, “Well I know what this deserves.”

He tilts his head, “What?”

She’s holding him with an arm under his bottom and a hand splayed over his back. “Well, you’ve obviously understood at least part of my monologues.”

He nods. 

“Shinobi will probably congratulate you on your first successful long term undercover assignment,” she looks into his dark eyes, “I will tell you to never lie to those closest to you. Hone your skills and protect them, but ignorance is only bliss before everything falls.”

“Yes, shisou.”

She blinks down at him, “Excuse me?”

He grins at her, “At first, I was quiet because I was shy and wanted to get a grasp of your character,” he looks a bit sad, “I didn’t get to meet a lot of new people.”

She’s wrapped her head around the fact Shisui is obviously much smarter than she initially believed.

“But then you took me places, told me stories, taught me more than anyone in the Clan’d be able to, and I kept quiet,” he looks shy. “After a while, it felt too awkward to reveal that I could talk and stuff, and then you left so suddenly,” his hands clench, “And you didn’t say goodbye.”

Her heart constricts.

“And so I promised myself that when you came back I’d be completely honest.”

An ultimatum she didn’t know she was part of. She’s torn between amusement and pity.

(Kameko will not stay in Konoha.

But then again, a couple years, a lifetime, is not necessarily staying for her.)

She ruffles his hair, “You don’t have to be my apprentice to stay on my hip,” she tells him. “Children deserve love and affection and it's always best to simply tell me, “I want attention.””

He sniffles before tucking himself in the junction of her neck and shoulder, “...Okay.”

Smiling, she bounces him a bit, pressing a kiss to the crown of his head.

“Why don’t we go to the park?”

---

A thought, stronger than lightning, strikes her, “Tobirama and Kagami knew, ” she seethes.

(Kameko appreciates traps. She likes pranks. She loves justified vengeance.)

---

It’s mid-afternoon and she’s relaxing on the couch, reading with Shisui in her lap. Originally he had asked her about unknown words but after an hour, started dozing against her breast.  

He jolts when he hears a stifled yelp from the bathroom.

When he sees Kameko's smile, he freezes and settles.

---

Upon stepping into a popular barbecue restaurant, Kameko’s evening with Genma ends almost as soon as it has begun. A man with three scars on one side of his face clamps his arm around Genma’s.

“Raidou?”

Raidou dips his head and whispers rapidly in Genma’s ear, not that it stops Kameko from eavesdropping. 

“So apparently Konoha’s best kept secret is that Shikaku’s a sensor and he’s been watching the door for the last five minutes. Then you walk in with the lady who makes a joke out of Yondaime-sama… ”

Genma groans, holding up a hand, before sending her a morose look, “Knew I shouldn’t have taken you here.”

She bats her lashes, “Can’t deny I expected a bit more getting to know each other but, well, maybe some other time.”

Genma blinks rapidly, a light flush climbing up his ears. 

Kameko tilts her head, “I pegged you for a flirt, but maybe not.”

Raidou chortles, “Beat you at your own game- sucks to suck, hun.”

Genma sniffs haughtily, “I’d be offended on behalf of Minato-sama’s honor if I could beat her,” he peeks at her through his lashes, “because you are clearly,” his voice turns a bit breathy, “very talented.”

Kameko opens her mouth to respond, a wicked smirk pulling at her lips, when she hears her name. Pouting, she turns to Shikaku, “Ruining my fun,” she deadpans. “So rude.”

“So troublesome?” he teases. She nods seriously, “Exactly.”

He rolls his eyes, “Stop flirting with children, Chiharu, you’re my age.”

(If Chiharu starts caring about age differences between adults, she’ll be completely alone in half a century.)

Ignoring the wide eyes behind her, she tosses a careless wave over her shoulder as she heads toward Shikaku. As she gets closer, she matches faces with chakra signatures for the other occupants at the table. 

Shikaku points his chin at the men across from him, “These are my genin teammates. Yamanaka Inoichi and Akamichi Choza.”

They nod with polite smiles. She taps her ring finger to her thumb, “A trio of clan heads, huh. Who was your sensei?” she questions curiously. Catching their collective wince, she waves her hand, “Nevermind. It’s nice to meet the real wives.”

They blink. She continues, subtly placing a privacy seal on the table, “Not that it’s my business, but you’re all very sweet together.”

Shikaku unfreezes, “How do you know ?”

Kameko thinks petulant despair is a good look for him.

Choza and Inoichi go from surprised to suspicious in a heartbeat, eyes narrowing. Kameko laughs genuinely, the sound erupting from her stomach.

“Well,” she wheezes, “I suspected from the way Shikaku talked about you but…”

Inoichi understands first, “You, you played us?”

She hums, wiping stray tears from her lashes, “Not used to that, Mr. Interrogation?”

Her eyes glint a dark purple, “Never forget to look underneath the underneath. Or,” her lips tilt up, “To remember that your eyes are yours.

“Overconfidence is deadly and safety is an illusion,” her eyes aren’t looking at the Ino-Shika-Cho, “Though ignorance can be bliss.”

Choza nods, “I see why Shikaku likes you.”

Kameko slides into the both, nudging Shikaku between the ribs, “Little old me?”

He grumbles. Inoichi hums, a gentle smile curving his lips, “He talks about you fairly frequently, ‘she could single handedly destroy a village but I honestly don’t think she’s a threat to what the founders intended’ la, la, la,” he waves his hand, a cheeky grin in place. 

Kameko’s delighted by the information, turning to Shikaku. He resolutely avoids eye contact, “You’re more interesting to talk about then paperwork, that’s all.”

She leans against him, “You could’ve just said you wanted to be friends,” she straightens. 

“Wait,” she pauses, letting her thoughts organize themselves, “You already did , didn’t you? When I asked ‘will you earn a nickname’ you didn’t say no or snort or anything!”

Shikaku’s ears are red.

She turns to him, biting her lip, “I’m really sorry- I don’t ever mean to be insensitive,” she smiles gently, “You’re fun to tease, fun to play shogi with, and I think we have the potential to be a, no, the platonic power couple.”

He turns as far away from her as he can, trapped within the booth, “I’m an adult. I know how to communicate.” 

He takes a deep breath before letting it out noisily. He turns back to her, still a bit bashful, “But I think we should definitely be a platonic power couple.”

They share a smile before Inoichi interrupts, holding his sake in the air, “To the best platonic power couple!”

Choza cheers.

“And so, the world trembled,” Shikaku snarks.

“We totally could make it though?”

Inoichi nods contemplatively, “My money will always be on you two.”

Kameko fist bumps him from across the table, “Shikaku your bae’s are approved .”

---

After leaving the men to return to their compounds, Kameko returns to the park where she first met Kushina. She’s brushing her hands against a redwood when she hears the soft pitter-patter of geta against the stone path. 

Looking down, Kameko sees a small Uchiha boy with long hair and small indents on his cheeks that drop from his eyes. 

“Hello,” she says.

“Good evening,” he returns. 

They continue. 

(It happens again. And again. She will not know his full name for a long time yet.)

----

October tenth comes and Kameko prepares a seal.

The day follows without calamity.

---

Kameko is paranoid and Tobirama and Shisui are the only ones around to truly notice. She hasn’t left 3600 Ume and her silent pacing is ever present. She hasn’t let her guard down, hasn’t slept.

It’s October eleventh.

She knew she would ruin and stain destiny itself but she hoped, planned that it was for the best. She loves her friends, likes Minato and Kushina well enough, and knows no child should be abused.

(She is not a god and she should not meddle and she knows that but the wind whispers encouragement and the animals aren’t rabid against her and she dares not leave Konoha to return to the sea so soon.)

She knows it is her duty, as Kameko to Yuma, to do her best by the world. To help the people, the bijuu, the animals, the plants. 

But how can she do that when the problem is nowhere in sight?

This could be a good thing, but Kameko hasn’t heard anything about Naruto already out of the womb and she knows they aren’t in the clear yet. 

Time ticks. Kameko paces.

It’s October twelfth. 

---

Two days later, Kameko feels a wave of malicious, evil chakra.

(It tastes like pain.)

She picks up Shisui, hiraishins to Kagami and Tobirama and promptly hiraishins the three of them into her house on the shore. With her first task completed, Kameko hiraishins back to Konoha. 

When she flashes to the top of Hokage Rock, she pauses. The space is empty and she probably has a few spare minutes, but it's morbidly interesting to see picturesque Konoha squashed and ablaze. 

Squaring her shoulders, Kameko opens her sensing and spreads her seal across the clearing. Anyone who steps into it will immediately have their chakra drained, lose movement, and be branded with a hiraishin that distributes a fatal electric shock if it’s attempted to be removed by anyone apart from herself. 

Hoping that it’s enough, Kameko goes full stealth and retreats into the tree line just as Obito reaches the clearing, his visible eye widening. A millisecond later, Minato appears alone- Kushina and Naruto are nowhere to be seen. In less than an instant, she knocks the blunt side of her kunai against Minato’s temple and watches as he crumples.

Obito chuckles, a dark sound. “I can’t say I expected a trap,” he admits freely, “Though, you knocking out Hokage-sama ,” he spits out the word like filth and she can’t bring herself to disagree, “is even more unexpected.”

She hums, watching his torso before sliding into motion against defenceless, captured prey. 

“Well,” she whispers against his ear, “I would like to talk to you, too. Not now though.”

With a sharp blow, Obito crumples. Heaving him over her shoulder, Kameko quickly teleports to the “empty” half of Uzushio. A Mizuko is waiting. 

“Restrain him,” she instructs, knowing the Mizuko already knows how big of a threat he is, “And kill him if necessary.”

She returns to fire, death, fear.

(“We call it Konohagakure no Sato.”)

She picks up her seal, and no one will be able to find proof that it existed. Minato will wake soon, around the time Hiruzen will arrive. She tugs a hiraishin seal. 

The next moment, she is facing a bijuu.

(Living, scared, angry. )

Rubble is underfoot and heavy chakra surrounds her from head to toe. Bodies litter fallen buildings. And in front of her is a dying Uzumaki.

Nononono-

She takes a deep breath, this is not Uzushio.

(Konoha will not Fall.)

Racing forward, she steps in front of Kushina and baby Naruto. “Stop using chakra,” she commands, “It’s a miracle you’re alive. Do you intend to leave your child an orphan?”

Kushina stiffens, affronted, and they don’t have time for this.

“You’re a parent now- you don’t get to be a self sacrificing fool .”

Yanking a nearby shinobi who’s trembling but determined to face death, she points him towards Kushina and the child, “Get them out of here,” he opens his mouth, “ Now .” And with that, Kameko releases her sky blue chakra chains that are her birthright . 

It’s obvious that the Kyuubi, Kurama, is beginning to come back to himself after the traumatic incidents the last couple hours have been for everyone involved. Unfortunately, the shinobi will not rest until the bijuu is contained- or gone.

Wrapping chains around his ankles and knees, she pulls out , making him fall flat, belly-first. Taking a step closer, she places a hand on his closest paw and yanks .

Hiraishin is usually relatively forgiving of passengers that have a similar mass. It’s safe to say that the Kyuubi no Kitsune is far larger than Uzumaki Kameko. When they land among the dunes with a shockwave that sends sand spiraling higher than any building, her reserves are a quarter gone. 

It’s enough that a civilian-born shinobi would’ve died. 

Kurama is flexing his claws and snaring before he even realizes that they’re no longer in Konoha, “Leave me alone! ”

Kameko sighs, hating what she’s about to do.

“Forgiving yourself is hard. Sometimes, it’s easier to pass the blame around,” Yuma flexes her arm muscles, her top rolled up at the shoulder, “But we take the hard way. We’re the trailblazers to make it a bit easier for everyone else.” This was one of the times where Kameko wondered if she truly was who her Shisou was talking to. She listens regardless.

“For what it’s worth,” she tells the trapped creature, “I’m really, really sorry.”

She takes out a small, handcrafted, glass sculpture that fits in the palm of her hand. It’s a red-orange nine tailed fox, intricately crafted with seals creating the patterns for facial features.

With one hand on Kurama and the other on the small sculpture, Kameko releases a controlled pulse of chakra.

“Fuin: Chakra Doll.”

The sand hasn’t had time to settle before the Kyuubi no Kitsune is sealed, again .

Kameko tilts her head back and screams. 

(“Leave me alone!” )

---

When she’s done and the nine-tailed fox is in her pocket, she hiraishins back to her town. 

She finds Tobirama first, perched on a scraggly tree that lines the coast. She sits beside him. 

“I’m angry that you didn’t let me protect Konoha from a bijuu,” he says. “Why did you do it?”

Kameko won’t deny an opening that came at the right time and she thinks, the right place. That doesn’t stop her from being a bit hesitant.

(Kameko knows the worst has only begun.)

“Shisou was special.”

Tobirama side eyes her before sighing softly, “In many ways.”

He waits, sitting against the trunk of a tree he knows intimately. 

“She knew a lot.”

Tobirama can do interrogation- flawlessly- but he has always had copious amounts of patience for his precious people. 

“Wise since I met her.”

Kameko wants to ask how old were you? Were you the same age? What did you like about each other? How did you meet?

“She was old.”

Tobirama raises an eyebrow. The wind knocks a piece of hair into her mouth. 

“She knew the future.”

Tobirama lowers his brow just so he can raise it again. 

“She was reincarnated but she remembered her old life. We were fake there.”

“Fake?” Tobirama isn’t sure if this is the part he actually wants to question, but it’s as solid a start as anything.

“She said we were all story characters in a book.”

They sit in silence, listening to the waves hit the shore and wind parse through sparse leaves. 

“So she knew everything about all of us and what would happen?”

When Kameko tilts her head, she spots a small frown adorning her sensei's face.

(She also sees the exasperated fondness in his eyes.)

She shakes her head, “Not quite. The story focused on a child who was born today.”

She sees Tobirama’s brain turning.

“They touch on the past, but she hadn’t even finished the story. She told me she only knew four people from your, her, generation.”

“And she prepped you to change things,” Tobirama has always respected, if disliked, Yuma’s decisions. He isn’t sure how he feels about this one.

“At my discretion, yes.”

“You know as well?” Red eyes dart to hers before he slumps a bit, weary. 

“I refuse to play god. I will take precautions and I will make sure people don’t die in exorbitant amounts-”

“And you will have my assistance,” Tobirama states. 

Kameko smiles, relieved, “Shisou gave us everything we needed to make a beautiful world, didn’t she, Founder-sama?”

Tobirama puffs his cheeks out.

“There was a time when she tried to teach me to be a well rounded person. To have empathy and be passionate. To fight against the odds and be alive . To be my own person.”

“I’m not sure if she believed she succeeded,” his voice cracks a bit, his lips part, “You are her legacy.”

Kameko shakes her head, “We both are.”

The world murmurs.

“To protect the flames and the sea and the Heart,” she echoes.

Tobirama blinks, before elation crawls unto his features. “From the sky through the valleys.”

Together, the last bit bursts from their bodies, and they cheer for what they will make happen .

“We rise again!”

(Neither notice standing up, digging their toes into the ground where dirt mixes with sand, absorbed with bellowing their song for the world to hear.)

---

In response, the sky sheds a tear and the stars blink and Kameko and Tobirama were never alone.

Chapter Text

Despite her respect and adoration for Tobirama, Kameko keeps one secret: her longevity. Naturally, he knows she will outlive him, he just doesn’t realize by how much.

Kameko knows she is unique , knows that will never change, but that doesn’t mean she wants to be looked at differently .

That doesn’t change the fact that telling her sensei a pile of secrets leaves her mollified. 

When they settle, the conversation returns to pressing matters. 

“You know who attacked Konoha,” Tobirama states.

Kameko nods, proud of her sensei in a way only a student can be. Tobirama knows the inner workings of the village and he’s brilliant .

(She wonders if Yuma-shisou ever had a fangirl stage for him?)

“His name is Uchiha Obito and he is the, lets say, protege of Uchiha Madara.”

Tobirama settles, “While it’s true that Konoha was my brother's dream, I adopted it as my own. He brought the bricks to build it, I was the one who wrote the instructions and made the mortar. Together, we built it tall, built it safe, built it sturdy.”

He sighs, eyes darkening, “And then Madara left.”

Kameko turns her head, watching her sensei’s silhouette. 

“Hashirama thought that Madara would be a better Hokage, and I made it a democratic decision because I refused to believe Anija could be bested at anything by him, never genuinely thought Hashirama knew what he was doing when it related to his best friend ,” he barks out a laugh, “Not enough to trust him, at least.”

“To be wary and paranoid is important,” Kameko replies, “But so is moderation.”

He nods, “I made many mistakes, like anyone else, but mine had consequences far greater because of my position. Shinobi lost their moral code so long ago we don’t know what to do with ourselves, how to be better, so we give up and follow the elders, who also didn’t know any better and followed their elders.”

They share a sigh.

“Anyways,” Tobirama continues, “Madara was best friends with Anija for a reason, and that final battle hurt in more than a physical sense. I held quiet beliefs for a long time that Hashi-nii fell to heartbreak.”

Kameko hums, absorbing what she’s heard. 

“It would not surprise me that between hearing of Anija’s passing coupled with his family’s demise and separation from his clan, he broke. Snapped.”

Shattered, she thinks. Kameko slumps a bit, “The Curse of Hatred is very real,” her voice is soft, “But Madara’s hand in this life was atrocious.”

Tobirama growls, belatedly protective, “ More?  What else happened to him?”

“While Shisou didn’t know all the details, he was essentially manipulated by the Rabbit Goddess who resides on the moon.”

Tobirama raises his hand before slowly lowering it, “That was… not what I expected you to say,” he admits. “Surely, there is a way to protect the village?”

Kameko nods, “As of now, I have captured and imprisoned Obito.”

“Busy, aren’t you, Kameko-chan?”

“Learned from the best.”

She digs her feet in the ground, “We can interrogate him later- I need food and sleep.”

They crest the hill to her village, her people, together.

(They are both leaders. They are both brilliant and strong. And yet, they also coexist.)

---

Considering that Konoha is a wreck, Kagami agrees to stay in Kameko’s town with Shisui for a few days. 

During that time, Shisui follows Hanzo like a baby duck, Kagami gets a new sparring partner and Tobirama is dumbfounded.

“My ears are healthy,” he says, aghast. 

Kameko squints, “That’s a good thing?”

Tobirama slowly shakes his head, “I honestly don’t know anymore.”

Hanzo fidgets awkwardly, bowing a bit lower than necessary, “It’s nice to meet you.”

Tobirama blinks owlishly before nodding, “And you as well.”

Kameko thinks it’s a good start.

---

Eventually, while Hanzo is showing Shisui the geography via nature walk and Kagami is speaking with the locals, Kameko and Tobirama head to where Uchiha Obito is held.

---

Obito awakes to grey walls and a small light.

(Obito awakes to chains and pain.)

He thinks. The last thing he remembered was seeing Minato knocked out and a glowing seal under his feet. 

The trap.

He heard a kunoichi whisper in his ear. Why did she knock out the Hokage? How did they know he was coming?

(Is Minato okay?)

(Sensei needs to die.)

What happened to the Kyuubi? Zetsu told him they need the bijuu for the Tsukuyomi Plan. For Rin.

( RinRinRinLovelyKindGoodRin- dead.)

He groans. Needs Rin. Needs safety, needs home, needs her smile.

He feels himself drop a bit darker. Into the pit, into the acidic tar until he can’t see. He will continue.

By any means necessary.

---

The door opens.

---

When it closes, Kameko holds a jar and a box and no new information.

“What do you want, Obito?”

“You can’t give it to me.”

The room is empty.

---

She puts his eyes in Chinami Hall and spreads his ashes over the cliff.

“I hope the reality and ideal are not separated by a dark, wide chasm,” she whispers. “I hope he can find peace within himself.”

Tobirama stands behind her. 

---

When they settle down for dinner, Kameko blinks at her table.

While she has had meals with Yuma, the Sannin, Gai and Kakashi, her family meals in 3600 Ume, it isn’t the same as having a family meal in the house she’s built for herself. 

The warm feeling reappears in her chest. She thinks she knows what it is now. 

She names it Dui* . To overcome obstacles and feel loved, to harness spirit and connect with other living beings. 

“In other stories I read, there were tales of a golden core,” Yuma-shisou says. “The concept is a core within you, similar to your hara for chakra, but you must grow it yourself. It allows you to connect to other things in two ways- you can see and help spirits and it connects you to nature. The second concept is similar to nature chakra, which you would harness to be a sage.”

Kameko parts her lips before closing them, pausing. 

Yuma continues, “I’m not sure if it’s possible in this, or any, world and it just hasn’t been done or if it isn’t how things work.”

Kameko shrugs, “So don’t worry about it?”

Yuma smiles wanly, “A penny for your thoughts on a rainy day, perhaps.”

Kameko has no summons and no sage training. She thinks that cultivating Dui might be a good thing to add to her longterm to-do list. 

Then Shisui smiles cheekily at her and the Dui spreads all the way down to her toes. 

She smiles back.

(Sitting at the table feels easier somehow.)

---

A few days turns into a week and eventually Kameko knows her mini vacation is over. Shisui and Kagami are saying goodbye to the villagers when Tobirama touches her elbow gently.

“Can we talk?”

“Of course.”

They return to the coast and the scraggly tree and Tobirama sighs, “While you litter the world with your seals and search for Zetsu,” he begins, “I’d like to stay here.”

Kameko nods slowly, “Okay. What will you do?”

He smiles roguishly, “While it has been nice to spend time within Konoha, I miss my lab and experiments. My training. My land.”

He gestures to the coastline, “This is ancestral Senju land; where I learned to fight, to care for my family, to defend what was important. I built a village on what I learned here, but I lived there as an adult for about a third of my life. Konoha will never quite be home,” he admits. “Not my main one.”

“It was made to protect the King,” she says. “It has fulfilled its duty.”

He straightens, “As it should.”

Tobirama is like a strict mother.

“And,” she smirks, “you checked on your village and made sure everything was in order. Now that you’re sure it’s fine, you’ve gained a bit of freedom.”

The mother that goes to a personal, explosion-proof lab instead of a bar with their free time.

(A cool mom.)

His lips tilt upward as he catches on, “I have been teased for mother henning the village,” he admits freely, “It is my pride and joy and better than any other.”

Kameko stifles her giggles, “Indeed.”

---

She leaves Tobirama with a few Mizuko lab assistants and makes a bet with Kagami on how long it will take to pop them all. 

With the Kyuubi in her pocket, she hopes that Zetsu will not try to collect the remaining bijuu immediately. 

Not that she’d rely on hope alone. 

To remove any possible confrontations with Suna, she’ll simply steal the Ichibi before Gaara is born, preferably after she says her goodbyes. If she collects the bijuu, it will surely bring Zetsu to her, but she won’t kill innocents. 

Yugito, for one. 

She’ll simply leave a Mizuko with the ones she doesn't want to kill and collect the bijuu when they die naturally.

The era of jinchuriki’s is over .

(Step One.)

---

When they arrive in Konoha, Kameko is not surprised by a decimated yard surrounding a pristine house.

The first thing she did when arriving at the 3600 Ume was put up seals.

Uzushio protected it’s loved ones by any means necessary.

(Until they didn’t.)

Shisui cheers, “Thanks, Shisou!”

Kagami gifts her a soft smile, “Thank you, Chiharu.”

She leans forward, her lips just brushing his ear, “Call me Kameko.”

When she pulls away, his ears are red. 

“I’ll always do my best to keep you guys safe,” she tells them. “So call me if you need me.”

They touch their seals.

“Go on inside,” she shoos them forward, “Go home.”

Between blinks, Shisui is hugging her knees. 

“Come back.”

“I will.”

“Stay safe.”

“I will.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

---

After leaving the Uchiha’s, she has a few more stops to make. 

She bumps into Gai first, this time at the top of Hokage Mountain.

“I’m going on an extended mission,” she tells him, “I’m here to say, ‘see you later.’”

He cries, but Gai trusts her word. He wishes her luck, happiness, and safe travels.

(They both value honesty.)

---

She finds Kakashi next, eating with Kushina and Naruto at a small restaurant. Because most of the restaurant district was converted to dust, it’s stuffed to the brim.

When they spot her, Kushina freezes. Kameko taps her shoulder, “I’m not here for you,” she tells her. “But I do have advice if you want it.”

She glances down at Naruto and her lips quirk upwards- he still has whisker marks. He’s adorable, and sleeping soundly as a newborn should. 

Then she turns to Kakashi, “I already told Gai,” she starts, “But I am going on an extended mission.”

His eyes narrow, “You haven’t been in the village.”

She tilts her head at him, “I know.” 

Kakashi stoically weathers the flash of embarrassment. 

“Why did you help?” Kushina interrupts. “Why didn’t you let me die?”

Kameko turns her head and curls her lips, “You are no longer simply a kunoichi. Nor is Minato simply a Hokage. You are both parents now.”

Kushina tilts her head, “I’m not going to be a housewife!”

Kameko is beginning to get annoyed, she’s on a time limit. Taking a deep breath, “Who said anything about being a housewife?”

Kushina splutters, “Well, what do’ya mean then, dattebane?”

Kameko sighs, “It means prioritize the fact that you have a child that needs you. It means not being a self sacrificing fool .”

Kameko levels her gaze with Kushina’s, “You are one of Konoha’s best kunoichi and dying doesn’t save any of the people you have the potential to help in the future. You want to think like a kunoichi?”

Kushina nods mutely.

“You are an asset to the village. You die and you send the Hokage into grief- detrimental to the village . You die and your son loses anything you could have taught him , including the dying art of fuinjutsu. You die and you won’t take any students , won’t pass on your suiton jutsu or any of your other unique skills.”

The longer she goes on, the paler Kushina gets. The restaurant has long since quieted.

“You tried to take on a bijuu after childbirth with your newborn in your arms ,” Kameko says slowly, “Do you now understand why that was a bad idea ?”

Kushina slumps, “Yeah, dattebane.”

She looks down to the baby swaddled in her arms, “Sorry, Naruto-chan. Your mama will always fight to stay by your side.”

Kameko nods, “And that is the best you can do,” she rests her hand over Kushina’s knuckles, “Do not forget your Will of Fire, kunoichi.”

Kakashi, realizing their moment is over, begins, “That only makes sense if it comes from the perspective of Konoha kunoichi,” he says. “You’re ROOT, aren’t you? You got to play civilian but with all the damage it’s all hands on deck.”

She looks deep in his eyes.

He thinks he’s right, she concludes. But he also wants to be right. That’s dangerous.

Instead of laughing like she originally wanted to, Kameko’s tone is dry, “I’m afraid not. I saved Kushina-chan out of my own plans,” the shinobi population tenses- it seems they know that they no longer house the Kyuubi in the village, “And now I’m leaving.”

She smiles gently, “I will, however, return. Goodbye for now, Kakashi-kun. Don’t get into too much trouble.”

Despite turning his face away, she spots the blush that rises just above his mask, “...Bye.” 

The restaurant erupts into conversation when the bell jingles after her exit.

---

When she visits Shikaku, his office is a mess and he has bags under his eyes. 

“Do you want some help?” she asks sympathetically. “I can only help for an hour or two though.”

Shikaku’s eyes blink at her for a few moments before he stands abruptly, “Chiharu?”

“The one and only,” she smiles, amused. 

He tilts his head, “On one hand, national security,” he muses. “On the other…” he looks over his desk and shudders.

Kameko plasters on a winning smile, “If it helps my resume, I have experience as Acting Kazekage,” she tells him.

Shikaku snorts, “Of course you do.”

She sniffs. 

He hands her a stack of papers.

An hour and a half later with the assistance of a dozen Mizuko’s, his desk has a few leaves of paper remaining and he is gaping. 

“A kami…,” he whispers reverently. 

She slaps him. 

“Anyways,” she tells him seriously, pleased when he straightens. “It’s time for me to go.”

He furrows his brows. 

“I’ll come back eventually,” she comforts, “But I’m not sure how long it will take. These,” she holds up two ribbons- one red and one black, “Are for Shikamaru.”

He tilts his head, “Bit of an odd gift there, Chiharu. He hasn’t been born yet.”

“They have my hiraishin seal on them. Two pulses for an emergency that requires my assistance,” she explains curtly. “I’m trusting you not to bring me into a trap. If you’re ordered, do one pulse and I’ll come, but I will be prepared to fight.”

He nods.

“Thank you, safe travels.”

“Thank you, my pleasure.”

They share a grin.

---

Kameko has some time to spare before Tsunade finishes her shift and tackles the second-to-last part of her to-do list.

Yakushi Kabuto.

At the moment, he’s about thirteen. 

While she had considered including him in Mizuko’s therapy program, she had eventually discarded the idea after doing surveillance. Kabuto is a functioning, brilliant, selfish sociopath with a decade of training and people skills.

Kameko refuses to deal with the inevitable fall out.

(After October 21st, Yakushi Kabuto is never seen again.)

---

Tsunade is her last stop. 

Jiraiya and Orochimaru are out on the village on missions but Tsunade’s expertise is valued higher domestically. It’s just after her shift and Kameko brings pork buns.

“It’s time for me to go,” she tells her.

Tsunade flinches. 

“Already?” she whispers. “ Now? ”

Kameko brings her friend into a hug, “The three of you will be fine. Eventually, when I’m done, I’ll come back.”

“But now ?” Tsunade pleads.

Kameko pulls back, “I’m protecting the King,” she tells her, “And all of my precious people.”

She pulls back a bit, bopping Tsunade on the nose, “Including you.” 

Tsunade flushes, “We’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too.”

She leaves her with two letters.

---

When she leaves Konoha, she doesn’t look back.

---

Instead of heading to Kumo right before dinner, Kameko figures there’s one thing left to do before tomorrow.

Steal the Ichibi.

Chapter Text

Her trip to Suna is instantaneous. 

While its security has improved since she stole their forbidden scrolls, there's still no match between her stealth skills and the Mizuko network. 

When she arrives in front of the tea kettle, she places a hand on it before hiraishining to the empty mountains in Lightning Country. 

Placing it on the ground, Kameko takes out a second glass figure. This one is a tan, one tailed, tanuki. 

“Fuin: Chakra Doll.”

Once the kettle is simply a kettle, Kameko burns it to ash. 

---

Kameko goes to the Valley of the End.

(Beginnings rise from pain and change. For the hope of better things.)

---

This , she thinks, is where the first bijuu was sealed by Uzumaki Mito.

Many people revere her for that alone. 

Kameko thinks that Mito is a disgrace. A kunoichi, a wife, but the beginning “of the End.” 

Yuma had once told her about Uzumaki Mito.

“A wonderful seals mistress? Yes.” Yuma tells her, “We all know that. Spirited and cunning? Yes. I knew Mito as a girl and I know she held the Will of Fire.”

She sighs.

“I just don’t think she had the Heart of Eddies. Mito was Uzumaki-hime, but she was never quite Uzushio. I don’t think she wanted to be.”

“What?! Why?” Kameko cries, outraged and indignant.  Her home isn't perfect, she knows that better than most, but to choose to leave? No loyalty, no filial piety. She was   the princess!

Yuma shrugs, “Just how she was. We can’t force people to be different from who they are, Kameko-chan. We just observe and know that they will be the way that they are.”

No one has observed the bijuu “the way that they are” in a very, very long time.

(“Leave me alone !”)

She sets down the Kyuubi and Ichibi on one side of her. On the other, she sets down the other seven sculptures. Each glass figure is small enough to stand in her palm. 

These sculptures had been hand crafted by her through blood, sweat and tears. They’re perfect.

(They have to be.)

Only the seals, all smaller than the human eye can see, scrawled on the bottom of their paws are to keep the bijuu within the sculpture. 

The rest, the ones that make the details- the black that make claws within the indents, the darker red within the foxes ears, the pupils, all serve different purposes. 

One allows them to talk, to see, to move, to feel once she adds chakra. Another allows them to use their chakra offensively, for self defense, against anyone other than her. A seal that lets them use chakra to stick to surfaces. A hiraishin seal that can call her or send messages. One that makes the glass virtually indestructible. One that keeps it clean.

It’s more freedom than they’ve had, the ability to be alive and safe- even as a small creature. 

(It’s dependent completely on her.) 

She can summon them, with or without consent. Can determine how far they can go. Where. Can shrink them and slip them onto a silver chain she wears around her neck. Can freeze them the moment they try to tamper with any of the seals- not that they’d succeed. 

Worst case scenario for Kameko, they get Stockholm syndrome. Worst case scenario for them, it’s no different than any other container. 

(Maybe worse.)

Kameko sighs. 

Glancing at the other seven dolls, she places them on the necklace. It’s a pretty thing, a silver chain with nine tiny rectangular pendants. Facing forward, each pendant holds a bijuu in what looks like simple art. When the bijuu is free, it’s empty space. Facing sideways, like books in the same series, the pendants are magnets and connect to each other, spelling To Cherish All Creatures .

Steeling herself, Kameko adds a bit of chakra to the dolls in front of her.

For a moment, nothing happens.

“You can move,” she tells them.

Kurama jolts forward, legs unsteady, “This is wrong!” he cries, “This isn’t right! Who are you? What are you?”

Kameko blinks. 

The Ichibi yells and squeaks, but nothing that comes out sounds quite like any language Kameko knows. He flails in every direction before sloppily following his tail. She hopes she didn’t break them somehow.

“I, um, I am human,” she stammers, caught a bit off guard. The questions were expected, the phrasing? Not as much. They seem like terrified children. Considering that, she tentatively exudes mild Positive Intent. “I am Chiharu-sama, but you may call me Kameko.”

Kameko already knows and has come to terms with her dubious morals but she’ll be damned if she isn’t going to share her name with the imprisoned and ancient chakra creatures. The ones that obviously already have PTSD from other human fuck ups.

The ones that will be the only ones to outlive her. 

(The ones who could keep her company.)

The Kyuubi sits on his haunches, eyes flashing in every direction, ready to try to escape. He hasn’t lost hope for freedom.

Then, so quietly, a civilian would’ve missed it, “What did you do to us?”

Kameko watches him carefully, watches his tail bristle and his puffed up chest and remembers “Leave me alone !”  

She flinches.

Then she puffs up her chest, “I made dolls and sealed you both within them. You can move and feel things.”

Kurama snorts, “Even you can’t stop me from feeling things.”

The doll stops glowing and stills. She sighs, folding it up into her necklace, tapping it softly before turning to the Ichibi. 

He’s stopped moving now, staring off into the wilderness and whimpering. 

He stops glowing and Kameko sprawls against Madara’s forehead, “ Stupid. ”

(She isn't talking about them.)

---

“I will be leaving,” she explains. “I do not know for how long, and I apologize for being unable to train your medics in the time frame I originally gave.”

A nods sternly, “...Is this related to Konoha’s Kyuubi Attack?”

She smiles wryly, “In a way.”

Darui must pick up on something Yugito doesn’t, his brows furrowing.

He meets Chiharu’s eyes, “You knew it was going to happen.”

(He phrases it as a statement. It is a question he doesn’t want the answer to.)

She dips her head in a shallow nod.

Yugito recoils. She has a healthy dose of both respect and fear for Chiharu but even during a war she wouldn’t have allowed a bijuu to destroy so many innocents. Civilians. And she knows, knows Chiharu could’ve stopped it if she wanted to. So why didn’t she?

Yugito feels sick.

(Yugito is a kunoichi and she does what needs to be done. She is not cruel.)

Chiharu glances over at the group, pausing on Yugito’s frozen form. She knows what shinobi do to each other, knows it takes a certain type of person to murder for a living, but Chiharu was never like that. Could’ve killed everyone on their team ten times over but they never went home with injuries worse than bruises .

Chiharu isn’t a villain, Yugito knows this, but perhaps her god-like nonchalance is more chilling.

“Until next time, I hope.”

(The trail Chiharu leaves behind matches and merges with the sky.)

(The day is bright and cloudless.)

---

With her goodbye’s finally completed- she’d like to see Yuma call her antisocial one more time - Kameko touches her necklace. 

“To Cherish All Creatures,” she repeats.

She has things to do when she returns and she has things to do now.

---

Her plans are relatively simple- capture the bijuu that she can and leave clones with trustworthy jinchuriki- which she’s already done for Yugito and B. 

While collecting, she’ll place her hiraishin seals across the Elemental Nations and work on cultivating Dui.

Eventually, she either finds Zetsu or he finds her. Her goal is to find him as quickly as possible but she hasn’t discounted the fact that he might wait until she’s old and vulnerable or dead.

Jokes on him. 

Even if he has lived for over a millennia, there was a reason  Zetsu attempted Kaguya’s return before it was perfect, flawless. 

He’s dying. Weakening.

Slowly but surely, Kaguya dims and Zetsu with her. Kameko assumes this is because while Kaguya is immensely powerful, she isn't a true deity. 

It’s a pivotal game of hide and seek between unrivaled spymasters. The stakes are loved ones.

(Kameko will protect her precious people no matter what.)

---

She heads to Mist.

The first village she comes upon is on the outskirts and still recovering from the Third War. They’re also recovering from Kiri nosediving towards civil war and genocide and then spinning and flipping towards recovery.

Kameko does not blame them for being wary. 

Nonetheless, she stays at a small inn and eavesdrops in the common room.

“They say that Yagura isn’t having his fits anymore.”

“Really? How longs’ it been? Do we know why?”

The fisherman snorts, “Hell, they- them upper levels- are claiming he was under a genjutsu .”