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Chapter Text

Prologue

Born of Love, Born of Hate

Uzushiogakure

Undisclosed Location

October 10th, 2000

A high pitched whistle pierced the air moments before an earth shattering blast rocked the building’s foundation, tossing furniture and tearing apart the interior of the room. Two heavy bedside lamps toppled to the now cracked and dented tile, shattering on impact; their shiny ceramic fragments joining the bits and pieces of stone that had rained down from the slowly caving ceiling and the glittering shards of delicate window panes blown from their sturdy frame. The beautifully carved labor pool, a once proud center piece, lay buried beneath rubble, spilling blood tinged water across the floor.

The resounding thunderclap that followed mercilessly pounded the eardrums of the lone woman huddled inside the modest space inside the four crumbling walls.

Kushina Uzumaki had never felt more exhausted in her entire life.

Or more terrified.

It wasn’t the distant rumble of the surprise attack raging beyond her birthing chamber walls that forced her heart into a painful gallop, nor the desperate shouting of those fighting and dying outside her window that filled her chest with an all consuming fear so intense it left her feeling faint and sickly.

What held her in a world of emotional torment was her missing child.

Her precious baby taken by a masked assailant mere minutes after his birth.

The heartsick redhead closed her eyes tightly, clenching her jaw in a desperate bid not to vomit as the soft bed beneath her shook wildly, violently jarring her ragged form.

It was hard.

Harder than it was to remain conscious.

Her stomach was churning violently, a bitter fluid teased the very back of her throat, and every hitched breath that passed her lips brought her closer and closer to evacuating the meager contents of her belly. In any other circumstance, Kushina would have been mortified by her own weakness. Here she was in the midst of the first attack in history on her village and her biggest opponent was motion sickness…

The very notion was ludicrous.

She had always been a determined, somewhat bullheaded individual.

A go-getter by nature, a persistent competitor that didn’t know the meaning of the word quit, she had yet to meet a dragon she couldn’t slay or a mountain too steep to be conquered. She tackled any and every challenge that crossed her path head on, and barreled through any obstacle that stood in her way, but perhaps this once, even she couldn’t fault herself for it.

She was a seasoned shinobi of the highest caliber, tougher than most hardened ninja, however, it was an undeniable fact that her body had been in chaos for the last nine months as baby and kyuubi made demands of her physical, spiritual and emotional energy and today, October 10th, the culmination of those wonderful, stressful months had reached its climax. Every ounce of her strength had been funneled into bringing a familiar stranger into this world, while simultaneously suppressing the immense chakra of a nine-tailed nightmare.

It was a grueling task, a truly hellish experience, and though she’d struggled to victory, in the end, she had lost.

She was a mother without her child.

A Jinchuuriki without a bijuu.

Both losses had taken a devastating toll on her health.

Both were slowly killing her in their own unique way.

Physically fighting to reclaim either were an impossibility, leaving her with nothing but the sheer force of her own iron will to ensure she stayed in this world long enough to see the return of her offspring.

A second whistle cut through the chaos outside.

Instinctively, Kushina braced herself.

The room, though brightly lit, illuminated to near blinding; a consequence of a second, even bigger, explosion hurtling towards her.

This one, dangerously close.

The impact rocked her very bones, a harsh, burning gust of wind swept the room, nearly toppling her from the mattress. It set off another round of earthquakes that would have collapsed a lesser soundly structure building, and this time, Kushina lost her battle with the puke lingering in the back of her throat.

As she heaved what little remained in her stomach, gripping the mattress to hold herself steady while she painted the floor in bile, she was distantly grateful to be lying close to the edge of her bed.

Had she been in it’s center, she would have been lying in the putrid substance.

She was beyond frustrated when she finished, wheezing on shaky arms that protested her weight, mouth lingering with the foul taste of failure.

Tears, a rarity for her, pricked the corner of her eyes.

This wasn’t where she should be.

She should be out there, fighting alongside her husband to save the one, tiny life they loved more than anything in this world.

The ceiling cracked above, chalky debris rained down.

A sizable chunk glanced off the back of her head.

Pain exploded in her cranium, the force of the blow nearly off setting her to the floor. She swayed, pushed away from the edge and landed none to gently back onto her pillows.

Wincing, she glanced around her chamber, noting its dilapidated state.

This room wouldn’t last much longer.

With what little strength she had left, Kushina raised trembling hands to form a familiar seal.

Vivid blue and hazy, a small domed barrier engulfed her prone form. Dropping her hands to her distended, but now empty belly, Kushina watched sluggishly as more of the roof caved in, each piece of rubble bouncing off her protective bubble and onto the floor.

She was safe for the moment.

Eyelids drooping, the beautiful redhead braced herself for the rising panic she’d been fighting for hours.

Memories flashed through her mind, lingering on the masked man that slipped into her room.

That man was no ordinary shinobi.

Childbirth was the most vulnerable time for a Jinchuuriki, knowing this all too well, every precaution had been taken to ensure the safety of mother, child and the village at large. A secluded location known only to a precious few, the strongest fuinjutsu in Uzushio etched into the very stone of this place. In the surrounding vegetation on this tiny island, a special protection force had been placed strategically around the parameter and yet this man had slipped through it all…

Effortlessly.

Intangible to physical touch and rendering their newborn the same, the ninja had, quite literally, escaped through the stone walls with their precious bundle.

Minato had gone after him.

More than anyone in the world, Kushina trusted her husband.

Those annoying tears burned her eyes, threatening to spill over. She swallowed hard, fighting both the waterworks and the lump in her throat.

She glared stubbornly at the broken ceiling, refusing to break.

Minato would never allow anyone to hurt their child.

She had to believe that, otherwise-

The subtle sensation of a new chakra signature blinking into reality cut through the roaring chaos of her crumbling room and morse ruminations.

She turned eagerly towards the sudden presence, struggling to her elbows as the figure charged towards her.

Her husband wore the fierceness of his battle, the deadly seriousness of the situation, on his beloved face. His blonde brows were furrowed, his usually smiling mouth flattened into a hard line, those bright blue eyes that always held a wealth of kindness and compassion were hawkish.

Piercing.

Worried.

His clothes were torn and charred, a few scratches marred his skin, and even though she wanted to ask if he was alright, even though she wanted to know if there were more injuries hiding within the folds of his fabric but she had to know one thing before all else.

It was killing her not to know.

“Is Naruto-”

“He’s safe,” her replied, slipping through her protective haven and scooping her off the bed.

Relief, the likes of which she’d never experienced in her entire life, slammed into the new mother. Experiencing any level of torture, hurt or agony over and over again for a thousand eternities was far, far easier to endure than the mere thought of her newborn in the hands of the enemy. Up to this point, every hardship she’d ever gone through felt like little more than mild inconveniences.

Long hours of brutal training that left her fingers torn, her body bruised and her spirit near broken; she welcomed it.

Becoming a Jinchuuriki to the one of the strongest tailed beast in existence, while she loathed to admit trepidation had been her closest friend in the days before it occurred, she’d face that destiny fear or no fear.

Facing down death itself on the front lines, she didn’t bat an eye.

Her child in danger and her being helpless to save him?

She’d fall apart completely.

This was a lesson she would never forget, and never wanted to repeat.

“Are you alright?” he asked, blue depths passing over her exhausted form as though he held the power to find the answers himself, “do you need Kazuki?”

Her head lolled in a semi-head shake to the contrary.

“No, I’m fine, just, please, take me to Naruto.”

She wasn’t bleeding as bad anymore, the midwife had taken care of her sufficiently following the expelling of the afterbirth, moments before the attack began, and even if she had concerns, Kushina couldn’t take her sister away from everyone that surely needed her now. Kazuki was one of the most compassionate souls in Uzushio, she’d give her life to save their people, but that woman loved her little sister almost as much as she loved her daughter Karin.

Kazuki would drop everything if that’s what it took to ensure her younger sister’s life.

Kushina didn’t want that.

Uzushiogakure couldn’t afford that.

His arms tightened around her, she prepared herself for instant transportation to her son, but was surprised when he spoke again.

“Kushina, your father requested me to bring you to him immediately,” he told her gravely, “he’s ordered you to become the new host of his bijuu. Now.”

Shocked to her very core, Kushina’s wide eyes snapped up to meet his. She knew what he was telling her wasn’t some kind of sick joke, Minato would never make such a comment in jest, but she couldn’t resist the urge to verify the truth of it written on his face. And still, somehow she found herself staring in disbelief at the somber severity she found in his cerulean orbs, those surreal words bouncing around inside her head, meaningless, senseless to her reeling mind.

Her father, Ashina Uzumaki, was a force of nature in his own right, a man so powerful she herself wondered if he was truly human.

Her husband was telling her that this legendary shinobi, the father she loved dearly had fallen.

She wanted to ask if Kazuki had been taken to the Uzukage.

One bite of her sister’s flesh could heal almost any wound, but she knew that was probably one of the first healing methods they’d tried.

Throat tight, she gave a muted nod, her mind already shifting to the subsequent consequences that would follow his passing.

Tonight, Kushina would inherit her father’s monster…and pass her own nine-tailed monster to her son.

Naruto’s destiny as a Jinchuuriki was something she and Minato had come to terms with early on in her pregnancy, however, that fateful event had been planned far, far into the future. When he was older, wiser and ready to take on the highs and lows of being a vessel. She wanted him to know peace, to be naught but an innocent child before he was to carry the mantel of responsibility, but it seemed, he was cursed to follow in his mother’s footsteps. Her own mother’s early demise had seen her become the kyuubi’s vessel years before her time, it had been hard, really hard, but it wasn’t impossible.

Kushina had faith in Naruto, and she’d be with him every step of the way.

Naruto would be the youngest Jinchuuriki in Uzushiogakure history, but he had the benefit of accumulated knowledge passed down from those that had come before him that would spare the young boy unnecessary hardship.

As was so often the case, her husband spoke as though she’d voiced her worries aloud, “we’ll be there with him. He won’t go through this alone.”

She nodded silently, and though her heart ached, determination steeled her resolve.

Their son had a tough road ahead, but, he would have every avenue of support available to lighten his enormous burden, Kushina would make sure of that.

Konoha

Hyuuga Compound

December 27th, 2000

He hated her.

She could see it gleaming in his eyes, could feel his disdained like a living, breathing entity. His distaste filled the confines of her little room, sweltering in it’s heavy weight, frightening in its overwhelming intensity. His chest rose sharply and fell harshly, the angry breath leaving his flared nostrils a sign of his rising rage. Her stomach somersaulted as she watched him silently reach a level of animus no parent, no adult, no human should have towards a innocent new life.

Hideko Hyuuga tensed, fingers itching to snatch her precious baby girl away from her husband.

The young woman knew this was not the child, the heir that he wanted.

That in his eyes, this baby was a mockery of everything he strived for.

Another failure…

Hinata, her precious newborn, lay quiet and still in his big hands, her wides eyes fixated on what could only appear to her as a menacing blurry shadow. Not a single sound passed her lips as though she too sensed the ill will inside the male holding her, as though she knew instinctively that any adorable little movement or heartwarming coo would rouse the beast to violence.

The deep frown lines cradling his thinly pressed lips pulled harder, his furrowed brows squeezed together and the subtle sound of grinding teeth reached Hideko’s ears.

It was loud in the oppressive silence, frightening to hear.

He looked fully capable of doing the unthinkable, of adding the unspeakable to his long list of horrible deeds, and in that moment, she truly felt Hizashi Hyuuga was a monster wearing human skin, that there was nothing good inside this man leading their Clan.

He was an evil that could not be cured only…removed.

A stain on mankind that needed to be wiped away.

The midwife, her closest friend, shifted in the far corner, her worried gaze passing between the married couple but Hideko dared not look away, feeling as though so much as a single blink would give rise to a horrific act that would shred her very soul. Hideko fingered the kunai resting at her hip, hidden away beneath the blankets thrown atop her as she watched him with a fierceness she had never thought herself capable of leveling on her brutish husband.

Pregnancy had started a changed in her; becoming a mother this winter night had transformed her fully.

Gone was the browbeaten woman that put her Clan and decrees of her husband before anything and everything. She’d shed her former silently obedient persona during the hellish hours of labor and emerged a lioness ready to rend flesh to protect her cub.

“H-Hizashi-sama, please, give me the young heiress,” Umeko, the midwife implored, “Hinata-sama h-had a small wheeze in her lungs that must be examined.”

The stuttered lie served only to inflame the male’s ire.

Weakness, in any form, was an offensive character flaw that would be removed from any individual that carried the name Hyuuga, so decreed her Clan Head and the soulless Senior Council that governed their Clan.

Seeming to realize her mistake, panicked, Umeko opened her mouth again, ready to deny her own claim when he moved.

Umeko’s startled cry kicked her heart into overdrive, and the careless way in which he dumped her precious bundle into the plump, dark haired woman’s arms pricked her own temper. Hideko uttered not a word, merely clutched the kunai as hatred burned her chest and relief flowed through her veins that her daughter was no longer in his dangerous possession.

Only when the door slid closed with a harsh snap behind the awful man did the tension in the room. Umeko whispered a breathless prayer, as her beautiful child began to wail.

Tired, in more ways than one, Hideko released the blade and reached a hand to her friend and newborn.

“Bring her,” she murmured softly, “please.”

As upset as the baby, Umeko brought the wailing infant, her own milky depths swimming with tears. Hideko gave her a gentle, reassuring smile before taking her child in her arms. Cuddling the newborn, Hideko pressed tender lips to her soft crown, before dropping the front of her gown and nursing the baby quiet, though there was nothing she could do to quell Umeko’s silent weeping.

Resolve settled in the pit of her stomach.

Hideko was loyal to the Hyuuga, she had always done her duty as the daughter of one of the most esteemed Councilman serving and as the wife of the Clan Head, Hizashi Hyuuga, but this was her child.

Her baby.

God help her husband if he tried to lay a finger on her.

She would see this Clan burn before she allowed that to happen.

***********************************

Hope you all enjoyed.

Laters

Sessakag~

Chapter Text

Chapter One

Midnight Nymph

Yu no Kuni

Outskirts of Yugakure

January 14, 20 20

Chirping crickets and croaking frogs bled through the hazy fog inside his sluggish brain.

Floating into consciousness, unwillingly and annoyed, Naruto immediately felt the dull ache that woke him up.

He kept his eyes stubbornly shut, hoping against hope to sink back into the dreamless emptiness he’d been yanked from, but he already knew it was a losing battle. The call to go back to sleep was loud, however, his screaming bladder demanding immediate relief was louder. Dawn was only a few hours away, and he had to be up half an hour before it, he needed every bit of sleep he could get before the big sweep later that morning. One thing he learned on long, grueling missions like this one, a shinobi should catch their z’s while they could.

Unfortunately for him, his body didn’t give a shit.

Heaving an frustrated, yet resigned exhalation of defeat, the drowsy shinobi whipped the blanket from his body, then dragged himself reluctantly from his not quite comfortable cot.

It was quiet inside the small hut, but he knew at least one of his teammates had roused the moment his bare feet silently touched the cold wooden floor.

Figuring out who was simple.

Karin Uzumaki was dead to the world. He knew that with more certainty than he knew most things.

The headstrong redhead always slept like a rock, ironic considering her chakra sensory abilities were so fine tuned one would expect her to sense movement even in her dreams. He glanced across the small room at her huddled form wrapped in the threadbare blankets the villagers had given them. Her crimson framed glasses were slightly askew on her face, lips turned down in a small frown, slender brows creating a tiny crease in her forehead.  

The subtle signs of stress drew a frown of his own.

Despite her tough front, Naruto knew his cousin still suffered nightmares off and on since her mother was killed.

That night haunted him too.

Losing his aunt had hurt a lot of people.

Chest aching, Naruto rubbed his tired eyes, forcing those memories back to the edges of his mind.

Now wasn’t the time to get lost in the past, he needed to keep his head clear.

He needed to focus.

Yugakure wasn’t hostile territory, however, the Kiri clean up wasn’t exactly finished. Their team, and several others, had successfully pushed Kirigakure forces out of the heart of the village and regained control, but there were still rumors of enemy pockets hiding out in the more remote parts of the country; most likely waiting for reinforcements. Clearing them out before backup arrived was imperative if they wanted to limit property damage and unnecessary casualties.

They needed to be on their toes.

With a muted sigh, he slid the glasses from his cousins face as he had a million times before and set them on the rickety bedside table.

“Bad dream?”

Throwing on what he hoped was a reassuring grin, Naruto turned his attention to the lightest sleeper he’d ever met.

Riku Funato.

The chestnut haired male was sitting up in his cot stationed beside the only window in the small room, moonlight shadowed his tanned skin, but from the depths of darkness, his honey-brown orbs shined through, wide awake and alert as though he hadn’t been fast asleep five seconds ago.

Naruto was convinced the guy could hear a pin drop six miles away even if he were in a coma.

An impressive feat and pretty handy for a shinobi, though Naruto knew the reason behind the skill was far from praiseworthy.

Riku was seven years old when he and his family immigrated to Uzushiogakure, severing ties with one of the worst Clans in shinobi history.  Plundering, smuggling, kidnapping, raping and every horror imaginable, the Funato Clan and it’s followers were the most well know band of pirates residing between Uzu no Kuni and Mizu no Kuni. Their home, aptly named Death Island, was a volatile sovereignty that had broken from Mizu no Kuni and recently allied itself with Uzushiogakure.

Even though their way of life was despicable, Uzushiogakure couldn’t afford to make an enemy of them.

The same could be said of Death Island.

Their feud with Kirigakure was long and brutal, however, allying with Uzushio had certainly helped turn the tides.

It was a distasteful union that made a lot of Uzushio citizens uncomfortable.

His mother’s justification; the enemy of my enemy is my ally.

Besides, as hated as the alignment was, some good had come out of it.

Uzushio had some extra protection from Kiri, and those that wanted to leave the horrendous conditions on Death Island or renounce their pirating ways to walk the straight and narrow, were welcome to immigrate to Uzushio.

Unfortunately, this concession hadn’t come in time to spare Riku.

Seven years on Death Island was more than enough time to damage a child.

Riku was a light sleeper because that was what had kept him alive among the hellish Funato Clan.

It bothered him, seeing his friend always on edge, always waiting for some attack in the night. Naruto wasn’t sure if Riku ever let his guard down outside of a mission, not that he and Karin hadn’t tried to get their teammate to loosen up and have some fun, a near foreign concept to him.

Karin thought it was a lost cause, if Riku hadn’t learned how to cut loose in the thirteen years they’d known him, then he never would.

Naruto, famously, didn’t know the meaning of give up and wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet.

Five years ago, Riku never smiled, now, he not only smiled, he laughed. It was rare, rusty and reserved, but it was still a huge improvement and more than enough reason for Naruto to keep trying to reach him.

Besides, after what happened three years ago, Naruto could hardly blame Riku for being the way he was.

Safety wasn’t a guarantee, even in Uzushio, he and Karin had learned that the hard way.

“Gotta take a leak, dattebayo,” Naruto answered, swiping his ninja tool pouch from his cot, hoping Riku wouldn’t press the issue.

He really did just have to piss.

Last thing he wanted to do was talk about was his own damn nightmares, especially when that wasn’t what had woken him up in the first place.

Kind of hypocritical for a guy that prided himself on being open to keep ducking the issue, but there it was.

The ugly truth was that there were two places Naruto never wanted to venture down.

The night his aunt died was one of them.

His struggle as a Jinchuuriki and all it entailed was the other.

It was hard enough trying to talk about either one with his parents, and they were the closest people to his heart outside of his cousin. Not to say he and Riku weren’t close, they’d grown up together after all, but, his family understood him in unique ways.

His mother was a Jinchuuriki, like him. She, more than anyone knew what it was like sharing space with something that could destroy an entire village in a single lapse of control.

Karin was, for all intents and purposes, his older sister, and her mother had been like a second mother to him, she understood his pain and he understood hers.

And dad was…

Well, dad was dad. It was easy to talk to him. Everyone said talking to Minato Namikaze was as easy as breathing and Naruto couldn’t agree more.

When nothing else came from Riku, Naruto headed for the door.

It was dark out, though the moon offered a bit of soft illumination.

A chilled wind swept his skin, ruffling his golden locks and seeping through the tightly woven protective material of his sleeved chain mesh undershirt. He probably should have thrown on a shirt before going out. Used to the sunny, humid weather back home, the ‘mildly cool’ temperature here felt the same as a slow approaching autumn on the island.

He threw a glance off into the distance, towards the heart of town.

The usually bustling, night life tourists village was dark and eerily silent, a consequence of the current hostile invasion, though, Yugakure hadn’t seen many tourists since well before the Kiri occupation. The constant skirmishes littering the Elemental Nations and ravaging smaller nations caught in between had most people sheltering in place.

Seeing no sign of foul play, he walked a short distance toward the vibrant lake nestled in the forest behind their temporary quarters, found a tree and unzipped his bright orange pants.

He sighed, closing his eyes as relief flowed through him, easing his discomfort and coaxing to life the sleepiness he hadn’t been able to cling to a few minutes ago.

He just hoped he’d knock out the moment his head touched the pillow, thinking too much at night was asking for trouble.

He was nearly finished when a alert rippled across the sensitive skin of his inner forearm, an indication that someone or something had made contact with the invisible boundaries of his barrier. Flipping his wrist, he gazed down at the small ring of kanji on his tanned flesh, noting the location of the one flashing.

Turning sharp baby blues to the dense woods obscuring the glittering body of water, Naruto gave himself a shake, tucked and zipped himself up and crept towards the lake, palming the snap latch of his tool bag as he moved. Keenly aware he hadn’t thought to grab his blades for his short bathroom break. He reached out with his senses for the source of the breach, trying to figure out if he was about to ambush a careless enemy or feel like an idiot for getting worked up over a thirsty woodland creature.

His blonde brows crinkled as he assessed the nearby chakra mass.

Definitely human.

Could be a villager, but he doubted it.

Civilians were being kept away from hot zones, and curfew had hit hours ago.

Naruto crossed the distance in less time it took to blink, flashing to one of the Hiraishin Kunai he’d stashed around the parameter, and touching down silently atop a branch who’s voluminous leaves cast him shadows.

He was grateful the intruder wasn’t lurking too far into the lake.

His range was still limited, his control a bit shaky with the Hiraishin no Jutsu.

As much as his father tried to drill the mechanics into his head, Naruto’s mastery of the technique was slow; some of it was due to the annoying fox demon in his gut, some was a genetic disdain for studying passed down to him by his mother, and some was his own bullheaded refusal to carry the mantle of responsibility that had been, for better or worse, passed on to him at the time of his birth.

He peered towards the shimmering body of water, lighting on a single female standing atop it’s surface, putting to rest the idea that this was a civilian.

That narrowed the culprits down to two.

An enemy or a Yugakure shinobi that, for some reason, wasn’t stationed at the boarder like they were supposed to be.

He was leaning towards the former, though, because there was a key components that was really throwing him off. Nineteen-year-old Naruto Uzumaki was no stranger to the female form, far from it, and while the towering trees cast deep shadows and blocked slivers of moonlight, he was damn sure this woman was butt assed naked.

He squinted, just able to make out the generous curves of heavy breasts, the impressively steep flare of wide rounded hips and pale, snowy skin gleaming beneath the low lighting of the night peaking through long strands of inky black hair.

His first thought was hardly appropriate given the current circumstances…

His second thought; honey trap.

Before he could decide if he should engage now or search around for the female’s team he was sure was waiting to ambush him, she moved. He slipped a finger in the loop of a kunai inside his pouch, gearing up for confrontation, only to be thrown off yet again.

Graceful, hypnotic, the woman twirled atop the surface and, mesmerizingly, the water whirled with her.

Like glittering blue ribbons, they danced around her lush form, splashing her skin, and at times, obscuring the most tantalizing places of her body as they followed the fluid motions of a fighting style that looked vaguely familiar to him.

He watched silently, both on edge and mildly intrigued.

She reminded him of the sea nymphs from the childhood stories his parents used to tell him at bed time, the beautiful creatures Uzushio legend claimed lived within the heart of the whirlpools surrounding the village. Naruto hadn’t really believed the stories (or he didn’t anymore), but he still thought the tales were interesting and kinda exciting… especially if those creatures looked like her.

A loud snap pierced the night, breaking the spell and sending him abruptly tumbling to earth.

He was quick on his feet, latching on to a shaky branch on the way down before quickly swinging to another, equally weak branch, only to abandon it immediately in favor of something more sturdy. He touched down on a branch that could take his weight, securing himself to it with a bit of chakra. He rested less than half a second before his feet disconnected and he was thrown into the water.

The water was cold, but shallow, hardly the bottomless pit he was used to swimming in back home. He broke the surface quickly shaking water from his shaggy, blonde locks, and wiping moisture from his eyes.

He looked back towards the center of the lake, knowing what he wouldn’t find.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

Empty.

The woman was gone, as though she’d been nothing but a figment of his half-sleep mind.

Even if he were dumb enough to entertained that ridiculous idea (he wasn’t), the way he fell nixed that theory completely. When he set up his Hiraishin Kunai earlier, he tested the sturdiness of the branch as a landing spot, there was no way in hell it snapped under him without some kind of outside force; and on his way down, on that last branch, something had severed his connection to the tree and an unseen momentum, pressed into his torso, had driven him downward into the water, he hadn’t fallen.

He wasn’t that damn clumsy, not anymore.

Infusing his hands with chakra, he pulled himself up and onto the surface of the lake until he stood as the woman had, atop the calmly churning water below.

“Naruto!”

Karin’s concerned voice echoed through the night as she burst through the surrounding brush, and ran across the water, Riku along side her.

“We got company!” the soaked blonde called out, unsheathing a kunai.

He reached out for the chakra signature again, only to be bombarded with what felt like a thousand. He was more than certain it was some kind of trick, a diversionary tactic. Naruto wasn’t the best sensory type by a long shot, but he would have noticed they were surrounded by a freaking army long before now.

“You got a lock on ‘em’?” the Jinchuuriki asked, knowing his cousin had already been scanning by the time she reached him, “how many?”

If anyone could separate real chakra signatures from the fake, it was Karin.

“I can’t tell,” Karin replied, crimson orbs scanning their hushed surroundings, her expression hardening as she spoke, “there’s thousands of chakra signatures spread all over the area. All different, and they all feel…human but, judging by the sizes, they’re not. Whoever’s here is using them to mask their own chakra.”

“Aburame?” Riku questioned.

Konoha.

Just the name was enough to inspire a level of hate he had never thought himself capable of feeling; having confirmation that shinobi of that despicable village was here opened the floodgate to the festering cauldron of animosity and vitriol that lived in the darkest recesses of his heart.

“Most likely,” Karin confirmed, “they’re small, like insects, but some of them are clustered in humanoid shapes. They’re all moving in different directions.”

Sure enough, the indicator on his inner forearm tingled at each point in the array.

He clicked his teeth, aggravated with the crafty Clan.

The Aburame were a special kind of pain in the neck, especially for the Uzumaki.

A sensory heavy Clan, the ability to track chakra and hunt down its owner like bloodhounds was a lethal part of the arsenal, however, the Aburame often neutralized that advantage by hiding amongst the chakra of thousands, sometimes millions of insects; going as far as to cluster the insects to resembled the shape and size of human beings and using them as misdirection for an attack or retreat. Usually not a problem for Karin, who had the insane ability to track an individual’s unique signature over long distances, but just as there were exceptions in their Clan, so were there in the Aburame. In the last five years, the tricky Clan had found a way to cultivate bugs, ‘Mimicry Insects’, that exuded unique signatures or cloned their owner’s, reducing sensory abilities like Karin’s from laser focused identification into a guessing game of ‘is this a bug or an enemy?’.  

“Figures,” Naruto growled, sheathing his kunai.

Jaw flexing, annoyance flaring, Naruto raised his hands to form his trademark seal.

If Karin couldn’t pinpoint the enemy, he’d send his Shadow Clones after every single chakra signature until he found them.

“No,” Riku warned, placing his own hands atop the enraged blonde’s, “we’re too close to the village for a fight, and you need to calm down, Naruto.”

Riku’s gaze snared his own, the intensity behind his honey-brown eyes quietly informing the blonde that his deep blue depths he’d inherited from his father had melded into the bright crimson of the fox, that the dark lines on his cheeks were jagged.

And as he gritted his teeth, he could feel his canine slightly bulging against his inner lip.

Riku was right.

The Nine-tails was too close to the surface, he’d turn this whole village into a crater if he tried to fight right now.

Jaw tightening another notch, Naruto willed the burning inferno rising in the pit of his gut to stop.

As dad told him, he couldn’t lose his shit every time he encountered Konoha shinobi.

He needed to calm down.

If he let himself  touch that fury, if let the rage fester, the beast inside him would feed on his hatred, and more than Allied Shinobi Force trash would get hurt.

“They scattered,” Karin informed the pair, pausing for long moments before saying, “area’s clear.”

Far from appeased, but with the decision to pursue now, effectively, out of his hands, Naruto worked on reigning in his famously short temper.

“We need to report this to Nagato-sensei,” his cousin clipped, glaring into the distance as she spoke, “if Konoha is backing Kiri, we need to make sure the villagers are far away from the fighting.”

Despite the inky darkness of night, Naruto could make out the hatred etched into her face clear as day.

⨳ ⨳ ⨳

Okay, so been a while, lol. Sorry about that. My brain has been so wired the last few months and it really got bad with the time change. To say I haven ’t been able to focus is an understatement. My thoughts have been disorganized, my mind wandering, I really hate when I get like this, but it’s starting to taper off.

And!!! There's a new NaruHina discord server!! Please feel free to join me and others! https://discord.gg/jTcUFN2w

Anyway, there was another part to this chapter, but I ’m still working on it, so I decided to cut this one short rather than make you all wait longer. Gotta say, planning this story has been a LOT of work, omg, lol. Its mostly my fault since I hate half ass-ing stuff, so I can’t move on to something else until I feel like I have a decent outline and idea of what I want to do with certain parts, and that held up everything. Finally figured out a huge chunk though, thank you MrsMessy and Rando for helping me through the rut, giving me amzing ideas and listening to me bitch and moan about this story, lmao.

Also, thanks Ria for telling me about the Boruto pirate clan, I think I ’ll keep my idea of pirates and incorporate bits of the other, I do like the Clan name though, so I’ll be using that XD

Should have the other part out soonish. Monster is in the works! I'm also working on a companion piece for this fic that tells the story of Naruto and Hinata's childhood. I wanted this fic to focus on their adult life and their relationship, but the history of how they grew up is important too. It just doesn't fit here. So I'll post it eventually.

Laters

Sessakag~

Chapter Text

Chapter Three

Team 8

January 14, 20 20

They broke through the outer parameter of Shino’s kikaichū smoke screen, then sprinted into the dense surrounding forest in the direction of their abandoned camp.

They leapt soundlessly from branch to branch, using the shadowy under canopy of the tall tress as cover, and bounding silently across vibrant, crisp grass when sturdy tree limbs ran thin. Their impromptu escape had left her no time to dress, or dry herself, and the speed at which they ran chilled the wind passing over her wet skin.

Hinata barely felt the cooling temperature, or the uncomfortable pebbling of her damp flesh.

It was less than negligible compared to the maddening throbbing in her arms.

She likened sensation to a little slice of hell, reminiscent of millions of searing pin needles burrowing inside her nerve endings, ripping and tearing and gnashing her sensitive sensation receptors over and over again.

She suffered in silence.

Gritting her teeth in a desperate bid to stifle any stray sounds of hurt; fiercely grateful Shino was a few steps ahead of her and couldn’t see the grimace painting her features as pain beat an agonizing rhythm across her tenketsu.

A second wave raked across her forearms, then gripped her biceps in a vice that nearly left her breathless.

She pressed her lips tightly together as her muscles knotted, but forced herself to smooth her features into what she hoped was her normal expression of polite detachment.

That she struggled this much to mask her torment was shameful in itself.

Hinata was no stranger to holding her composure in the grips of pain.

She’d had her body trained to absorb, process and function beneath the most grueling of punishing conditions.

Her mind hardened and forged to endure the most brutal of hurts.

And yet, to this date, she knew of no way to do the same for her tenketsu and keirakukei.

They remained vulnerable.

Sensitive.

Weak.

Another surge bloomed, spreading across her slender shoulders.

Sinking pearly whites into her bottom lip, Hinata reached for one of the fundamental pillars of self-control.

Distraction.

Clutching her clothes tight to her naked bosom, Hinata forced her thoughts to the man that interrupted the late night rehab that would have mitigated a sizable amount of her current misery.

Naruto Uzumaki.

He had changed.

Significantly.

Keeping abreast of the many milestones the blond reached or surpassed, even before their initial encounter three years ago, was an important part of her duties as a shinobi.

Naruto Uzumaki was the only child of the current Uzukage, after all.

And, unbeknownst to many, one of Uzushiogakure’s greatest, most feared weapons.

Made a human container to the universally dreaded Kyuubi on the day of his birth, Uzumaki presented a significant threat to Konoha and it’s allies, and many would go so far to say, to the world at large.

The power of a Jinchuuriki was truly a terrible thing to encounter.

Hinata hadn’t yet left her mother’s womb when the first successful invasion of Uzushiogakure took place, however, the event had been apart of her education, and while this was commonly known to be the catalyst of the current war, few knew of the monster Uzushio unleashed that fateful night.

Hinata had been told.

In graphic detail, in terms of the sheer number of casualties not on the side of Uzushio, she had been told.

After the second invasion, Hinata had seen for herself the horror that was a Jinchuuriki in the enraged, grief stricken Kushina Uzumaki.

An unbidden chill swept her spine.

What she felt that night could only be described as pure, unadulterated power steeped in malice.

Naruto Uzumaki held the same potential of destruction, and while his mother was bound to remain within the walls of the village, he would not have such restraints.

Deploying a powerhouse of that caliber to the battlefield would turn the tides of the war in mere days.

Fortunately for Konoha, for the Allied Shinobi Forces, the possibility of an active, mobile Jinchuuriki had remained just that for two decades, a possibility.

While Hinata had grown up training every moment of her childhood, preparing for the front-lines of war, for the underbelly of shinobi life, the newly anointed Jinchuuriki had quickly gained a reputation as an infamous prankster within the Village Hidden in Whirlpools during his.

As a young girl, Hinata remembered her father’s disgust as rumors of the ‘demon brat’s’ disgraceful behavior reached them.

How he’d go off on a tangent when discussing the state of the ‘Jinchuuriki problem’ during his intelligence briefings with her.

Many of these moments were seared into her mind; memories of her father turning to her following one of his tirade about the Uzumaki, the revulsion glinting in his eyes as he spoke, she knew, was personally constructed for her, as he informed her, in no uncertain terms, that her own cowardly behavior was no better than Uzushio’s monster.

‘Clownery seems to be a common flaw in this generation. The Jinchuuriki’s pathetic sire may tolerate such shameful behavior, but I will not have it from you, girl.’

The tales had only worsened as time wore on, scaling up in severity as the Jinchuuriki grew from a prank happy child into a rebellious teen, angry at the world.

That was who Hinata met three years ago.

The hardheaded, impulsive and easily enraged adolescent rumored to try the once thought endless patience of his father, the ever calm, ever magnanimous Minato Namikaze.

The sloppy, unpolished shinobi who’s lack of self control and combat finesse was certainly no match against her surgically precise strikes and iron clad discipline.

Now, however, that slovenly teen had become a man, and, more dangerously, a fully fledge shinobi.

There had been speculation as to what was happening with the young Jinchuuriki during Uzushiogakure’s three year lockdown following the death of the Uzukage’s sister. The consensus amongst those on the outside looking in was that the Uzumaki Clan had closed ranks to grieve their lost, secure the island and train before rejoining the war efforts, though there hadn’t been any way to verify their assumptions. News of Naruto Uzumaki, of the village, had remained frustratingly scarce, their best spies unable to glean even general observable daily activity in the Village of Longevity during that time.

The lockdown had been even tighter, even more isolating than one that followed the first invasion twenty years ago.

That all changed four months ago, when skirmishes involving more than a handful of Uzushio shinobi rekindled.

The Uzumaki returned full force, stronger than ever, confirming suspicions.

And today, Naruto Uzumaki had finally reappeared, further solidifying their supposition.

Hinata herself was a ninja forged in hellfire, shaped and molded beneath the intense discipline of her father; rarely was she ever caught off guard, even without her Byakugan activated, that the blond Jinchuuriki had gotten so close to her was both an uncomfortable highlight of her shameful inattention, and a frightening testament to his training.

That looming premonition that hung for years over their head had finally come to fruition.

The power of the Kyuubi was now in the hands of a competent, capable Jinchuuriki and soon to be at the disposal of the Shinobi Resistance Coalition; a direct result of her first and, until tonight, only failure.

How fitting that her mistake three years ago had led to her second today.

Kami help her when father found out…

Sickened at the thought, Hinata gazed down at her throbbing, shaking arms, silently willing her pained appendages to still. They trembled and ached in defiance of her efforts, radiating with a pain only a thousand, scorching, serrated blades gnashing beneath her skin could create.

If only-

“Hinata!”

Startled, Hinata snapped to attention, turning her eyes to the the jacketed shinobi running ahead of her. Shino, like her, rarely ever yelled, and while he’d been just shy of it now, she knew he’d only elevated his volume in response to calling her more than once.

Unacceptable.

Distractions, especially on a mission, were unacceptable.

“Yes?”

A brief pause ensued, one in which she was sure he wondered what had her mind wandering considering the circumstances and the seriousness of their objective.

It wasn’t like her at all.

“We should be far enough away,” the Aburame jonin informed her as he came to an abrupt stop in a thick line of trees and shrubbery, “hurry and dress.”

Abruptly reminded of her situation, Hinata dropped her footwear to the ground and unfolded her shorts.

Humiliation threatened to to topple her entirely as she quietly re-dressed herself, too embarrassed to take more than a peek at the silent profile of her teammate.

Shino stood watch, his back full turned to her, and yet she felt like he was staring right at her.

As though a thousand eyes had witnessed her blunder at the lake.

That she was being judged on the spot and found severely lacking.

Among her sea of imaginary accusers, one pair of hard, disgusted, painfully familiar white eyes stood out above the rest.

A scolding stare from past memories, rather than conjuring of fiction.

Pushing aside images of the revolted glare that would be, undoubtedly, in her future, Hinata hurriedly wiggled into her dark shorts then clasped the button before unfurling her blouse and threading her arms through the sleeveless material.

She cringed internally as her sore limbs and joints protested the quick movements.

“You were far from the reconnaissance coordinates,” the Aburame noted quietly, “what happened?”

Pausing midway through zipping up her lavender top, Hinata steeled herself against the whispers of anxiety bleeding through her tenuous control.

Shino’s tone was far from accusatory, they had known each other long enough for her to realize his voice was leaning towards curiosity, but to her, the question felt like an indictment.

She mulled over her answer in the brief silence, wanting to choose her words with care.

Lying would be much easier than word gymnastics, but she couldn’t abide falsehoods passing her lips.

Omission, misdirection, and avoidance, that was as far as she ever wanted her deceptions to go. Perhaps that was foolish, father certainly thought so, but to Hinata, it was a boundary she needed to be able to look honest people in the eye.

To look herself in the mirror and to live with the woman reflected back at her.

“I completed recon a while ago, and sent my report through the messenger insects you gave me. I found the lake during the sweep earlier in the mission and wanted to bathe off the grime of the last two days,” she replied, zipping the high collar of her blouse.

That wasn’t the whole truth, but it wasn’t a lie either.

She had wanted to get clean after two days of bird baths in narrow creeks.

And who could apply a definite measure of time to the phrase ‘a while ago’?

One person’s definition of ‘a while ago’ differed from the next…

“I chose the wrong place to do it. There was a barrier around the lake, completely undetectable to my Byakugan…” she continued, hoping he’d take the incident as nothing more than a case of wrong tine, wrong place.

It truly had been.

“Are you decent?”

She eyed his back, assessing his body language for telltale signs of acceptance or rejection of her half truthful story.

It was nearly impossible to discern from someone like her Aburame teammate.

He was too much like her.

Trained to contain every little non-verbal telegraph of the human body; hardened against things like the relieved minuscule drooping of shoulders, the slight contemplative tilt of the head, the defensive crossing of arms or the tapping of an impatient foot.

There was no tension in his stance, no disputation in his passive presentation.

His body was mute.

She answered none the less.

“Yes.”

She steeled herself as he moved, resolved to keep her face blank but chastened, clear of guilt and physical discomfort.

Forcing fluidity into her limbs.

He turned, snaring her eyes with the dark lenses of his shades, his usually impassive face disrupted by the frown etched on his lips.

That uncomfortable sensation of failure bled through her composure, bubbling in her tummy and urging her to hide from its ugly reality.

It took everything she had not to look away.

And even more to ignore the nervous energy tingling in her fingers.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized quietly, truthfully, “it won’t happen again-”

“What happened tonight, is it your Byakugan?”

Hinata held herself punishingly still, though everything inside her recoiled.

He didn’t say anything more, didn’t clarify what he meant by that, but they both knew that he didn’t need to.

His tone, threaded with concern, carried an undercurrent of certainty.

There would be no feigning ignorance, no word smithing that could redirect what he knew.

Quiet tension filled the space between them, the air around them taking on a mutually menacing hue.

Hinata took a mental inventory of her physical condition, quick counted the weaponry currently strapped to her body and ran through her chances of engaging in a fight considering the state of both as one question reverberated through the alarm bells ringing in her head.

How?

How had Shino come to gain the dangerous knowledge she knew burned behind his dark reflective glasses.

Not a single soul outside her Clan knew about her condition, and very few within knew.

Hinata could count them all on one hand.

Father would never speak of her shame to anyone outside the Hyuuga.

Uncle Hiashi would never put her at risk in such a manner.

Umeko wouldn’t-

“Neji told me.

Her world stilled, clarity piercing her state of alarum.

“He is…concerned for your health. Team 8 has been deployed on more and more dangerous missions since the increase of SRC aggressions, Neji worries that your condition will place you at greater risk,” Shino explained, the added quietly, “as are Kiba and I.”

That warm, wonderful ache she so rarely felt bloomed in her chest even as dread sent her stomach plummeting.

Neji…

Perhaps she should have suspected her pseudo-sibling the moment the words left Shino’s lips, the two cousins had been extremely close as children and while duty had forced her to build a wall between them, Neji had never accepted that separation. Even so, she would never have even considered for a brief second that he would breech the dictum of the Clan; for all his discontent with her father’s mandates, with their roles as Main and Branch, Neji had always maintained a strong pride in the Hyuuga legacy, striving to embody the values of their lineage whether he agreed fully or not.

That he would endanger himself and her by speaking of her predicament at all, let alone with an individual outside of the Clan, was baffling.

It was unfathomable.

The Hyuuga were extremely private, raised from birth to hide away weakness and strengths from the outside world, both Main and Branch equally forced to bear the brunt of the Clan’s heavy secrets and strict customs.

Father would accept nothing less.

A Hyuuga that could not seal their lips willingly, would have them sealed forcefully.

And yet…

Could she fault him?

Neji…cared about her.

He knew more than anyone the extent of the damage, he knew the intensity of her suffering, the true depth of her…disability.

He had seen her at her worse.

At her most vulnerable, her most disgraceful-

“Your eye strain, how bad is it now?”

The question rebounded inside her head, snapping her abruptly to full attention.

Eye strain…

Understanding dawned.

Several knots in her stomach unraveled.

Neji hadn’t revealed the full extent of her condition, not even close.

Thank the Sage.

That information in possession of anyone but a Hyuuga was dangerous, having it in Shino’s possession was far worse than dangerous…

“My eyes are fine now,” she replied quietly, pressing chilled, gently throbbing fingertips just bellow her aching right eye, “my condition is easily treated with a few moments of rest. Neji may have worried more than was warranted considering my flare ups are very rare…”

He nodded, “when you need to rest your Byakugan, tell us, Hinata. My kikaichū, Kiba and Akamaru’s nosea are just as effective in pinpointing enemy positions.”

She didn’t doubt that.

Both men were exceptional trackers.

Something Neji also knew and was using to her advantage.

Her cousin had set the stage for her well; giving her an excuse to rest her Byakugan, to ease her burden, at least when she functioned as a member of Team 8, without exposing her or him more than necessary to achieve his goal.

This was the last resort he spoke of last they talked.  

“This will go no further than us,” Shino told her.

Tension returned, coiling between them.

Made up ailment or not, the fact that she truly was compromised physically remained an open, exploitable vulnerability in the hands of an outsider.

“I know you will not trust that,” he stated.

Trust was not a part of her training, nor was it of his.

“We are both of ROOT, but…we are also teammates,” he continued, as though the term was supposed to mean more than the textbook definition of their official dynamic.

“I…yes, we are teammates,” she conceded warily.

“Friends,” he whispered, as though they stood in the halls of ROOT headquarters, where uttering that word would see them both severely punished.

Though she had not let the term pass her lips, her own tongue burned.

Friends…

Before the taint of ROOT, they had been the best of friends, and as wrong as it was, as ill-advised as it was to hold such a sentiment, even privately, Hinata could not help but silently agree that they still were.

He could sense her feelings, she could see it in the subtle drooping of his shoulders, feel it in the easing of his frown.

No longer mute, his body spoke the words he wouldn’t allow to pass his lips.

That he’d allow her to see genuine softening spoke volumes.

She felt echoes of that warmth from earlier fluttering in her chest…

…and discomfort settle hard in the bowels of her gut.

His head snapped south abruptly, moonlight gleaming against his lenses as he stared off into the distance.

“They’re coming.”

Shino’s lack of defensive or offensive posturing told her who ‘they’ were.

The other half of team 8 eased from the shadows of the surrounding forest moments later, heading quickly but stealthily in their direction. They turned to watch man and dog approach, both wordlessly agreeing that their current line of conversation was over, that it was time to return to their roles as teammates, in the very literal sense of the word, as they had many a time before.

Hinata re-composed herself, easing back into her persona, simultaneously preparing for the brutal honesty that was their final teammate.

Kiba Inuzuka was not of their world, not of ROOT, and it showed.

Far more expressive than her or Shino, his body language was an open book, telegraphing every stray thought and loud emotion, he was a bit overwhelming at times if she were honest. He was largely unchanged from the way he’d been as a child and stuck out like a sore thumb to those that paid close attention to their team.

Hinata found his innocence…nostalgic.

“Looks like you found her in once piece,” the feral Chunin commented the moment he reached them.

Shino gave a nod, then said, “we are compromised. The encounter was brief but now that they are aware of our presence, we will have to consider the mission a failure. We’ll disassemble camp and regroup with the others.”

Nervous energy tingled in her fingers.

Failure…

Their mission was a failure…

…and it was her fault.

“I’ll take the fall for it, Hinata,” Kiba told her, dark eyes fiercely determined and unabashedly worried.

She opened her mouth, denial on her tongue.

“Don’t argue with me,” he interrupted, stepping closer to her.

Invading her space and setting her on edge.

“You know ma doesn’t give a shit about a mission going wrong, and its not like I don’t have plenty of fuck ups on my record, one more won’t hurt it,” the feral male reasoned, “we all know what your old man is, even worse, we know how fucked up your is Clan. Like goddamn circling sharks if there’s even a hint of blood. You have enough shit to deal with, you don’t need your asshole dad-”

“Kiba…” she objected quietly.

The Inuzuka clicked his teeth, annoyed with her age old defense of a man he, and a lot of people, despised. She wasn’t blind to reality, she knew better than anyone in the world that her father was far from saintly, but…he’d given her a chance to be of use, to be worth of the name Hyuuga.

“They treat you like shit no matter what you do,” the Inuzuka growled, “I don’t know why you-”

“Kiba,” Shino warned.

Kiba turned, glaring at their team lead.

“Now is not the time,” Shino reminded him, “I have already sent a message regarding the mission, no one is at fault. The enemy lay in wait for us long before we arrived, there was brief contact before a successful retreat.”

That was enough to soothe Kiba’s ruffled feathers, his tense shoulders ears, and the measure of fierceness left his harsh features.

Hinata wouldn’t tell them that the altered report wouldn’t make a difference.

Father would learn the truth.

He always did.

Kiba moved on to his next worry, “what about-”

“We’ve spoken about it,” Shino interrupted, angling his body to include her in the conversation, “when her eye strain hinders her ability to use the Byakugan, we will take point instead.”

Satisfied, Kiba nodded, Akamaru whining low agreement.

“Well, now that the cat’s outta the bag,” Kiba stated, fixing his eyes to her again, “let us know when you need help. You’re always so closed mouthed about shit. You never let anybody in. We’ve all been friends for forever, but you always try and go it alone. We’re your friends, ya know, friends are supposed to help each other.”

“You do not have to hide your troubles from us, why? Because we are teammates,” Shino added.

“Yeah, that too,” Kiba injected, “you can open up to us. Don’t shut us out, Hinata.”

“I know,” she replied softly, “I just…”

…can’t help it.

The idea of ‘opening up to them’ made her skin crawl.

⨳ ⨳ ⨳

So I know I said Prey was due next, but this was on my brain, and honestly I can ’t fight this damn brain of mine. Currently I’ve got a whole host of stuff that’s making it hard to write and I’m not sure when it’ll ease up unfortunately. My head is so foggy and disconnected, also, I had move PA back to one of the worst states ever, my birthplace of Florida, and my environment is so freaking chaotic and loud, like omg. I do have moments though, where I can put word to paper, so that’s what this is, the dark clouds parting.

Now, about this chapter, a lot of things are very different than canon. ROOT is not the same as it was in the show. You ’ll learn more about the way it’s constructed and functions later on. Also, Konoha is a VERY different place than the show and again, you’ll see how later.

I ’m gonna try to finish Monster this year still, that fic is so ready to be finished it’s ridiculous.

I ’m not sure what I’ll have ready to upload yet, I’ve been working more on Butterfly though.

Let me know what you think of the chapter. Please review! See you!

Laters

~Sessakag