Fun Fact: You can, in fact, develop arthritis in your early 20s.

Chapter Forty-One - Propensity

[propensity—noun : a natural inclination or tendency]

"What are you working on?"

"A seal," I murmured, lifting my pen from the paper so I wouldn't make a mistake. I looked up and smiled as I glanced him over. "How was your spar with Nato?"

Sasuke huffed and dropped down next to me. "How come he doesn't get tired as fast as me?"

"Well, you two have been training for a few hours now," I mused.

"Uh-huh. And I'm exhausted, but now he's just trying to get Shikamaru to spar him."

I glanced over at where Shikaku had been working on the clan jutsu with Shikamaru to find that Naruto had interrupted, grinning as he tried to pull Shikamaru away from his work. Yoshino was looking on in amusement. "Ah. Well, the Uzumaki were known to be physically resilient with high levels of stamina. Not to mention other factors."

"The Kyuubi?" Sasuke asked, leaning forward to look at my notebook. Before I could answer, he frowned. "Is that the sharingan?"

My immediate reaction was to slam the notebook shut, sending my pen flying as I did so. "Sasuke—"

"Wait, let me see." He grabbed at my notebook, and I pulled it away. "It is! Why won't you let me look? What are you doing?"

"I'm working on something to help Niisan. That's all."

He gave up on trying to grab my notebook in favor of crossing his arms and frowning at me. "But you already gave him a seal."

"For in case his chakra runs low," I agreed. "But his . . . sharingan still eats at his chakra whether he's using it or not."

He was still frowning and dropped his gaze to stare at my closed notebook. "Is it . . . hurting him?"

"Not directly, but it is a constant drain."

He extended his hand again. "Can I see?"

I hesitated and glanced back at the others. Naruto had officially joined the training as the target of Shikamaru's kage mahi. I looked back at Sasuke. "It's just notes," I said. But when he didn't drop his hand, I sighed and held the notebook out, open. "I'm working mostly off information others left. Kagami's notes especially; they're extensive."

"Have you looked at an actual sharingan, though?" he asked, tracing a finger across my dojutsu chakra system diagram.

"Niisan's," I confirmed. "I have some more questions, though, so I'll have to find a time he's free again soon."

"Or you could look at mine."

I stiffened. "Sasuke—"

"You can't pretend I don't have them. I want them to be useful for something." He handed the notebook back and then turned to sit fully facing me. "Would it help if you looked at mine? Would that answer your questions?"

I closed the notebook and tapped it against my knee, gnawing on my lip. "Probably," I admitted. "If you're sure."

"Yeah. I am."

"Alright." I set the notebook down and turned towards him. "Let me know if you want to stop." I lifted my hands towards him.

Sasuke nodded and focused. The black in his eyes bled red, and his tomoe surfaced. I pressed my fingers to his temples to listen to his chakra. He stayed still and quiet for the next few minutes except to answer my questions, but as I waved for him to deactivate his sharingan and returned to my notebook, he said, "Are you coming with us next week?"

I glanced up. "Next week?"

"To the festival. The others dragged us there last year." He frowned. "I didn't know Naruto hadn't gone before."

"Festival?" I frowned. Judging by the time of the year, he had to be talking about the Tanabata Festival. I'd never really . . . felt driven to interact with the Village on that level. "Did he have fun?"

"Yeah. I mean, he and Kiba had a competition to see who could beat the most booths, so I think they had fun."

"Oh? Who won?"

He shrugged and smirked. "I did."

Shisui's chakra dragged me from my nightmare and slammed all the air out of my chest. I gasped, eyes snapping open, and fumbled for my coin. His chakra burned again.

The time has come.

I curled my fingers around the coin and stared at the familiar ceiling. I closed my eyes again and steadied my breathing. I focused on the other chakra in the house. The boys were still fast asleep.

The time has come.

I pushed myself up and sent a confirmation. I shuffled out of bed and tapped two fingers against one of my storage seals. The dual-seal tag I'd prepared landed in my hands. I set it on the bed and then set my clothes beside it once I'd stripped out of them. Wouldn't do for her not to be able to change clothes, after all. That would definitely raise suspicions.

I pressed my hand to the first seal on the tag, doing my best to keep my chakra at least somewhat muted as I guided it into the second seal. In a puff of smoke, a ketsueki bunshin appeared. I retrieved a new set of clothes for myself from my seals and, as I dressed, said, "You know what to do."

"Don't take too long," she said, reaching for the pajamas I'd left.

"Of course." I bit my thumb open, took a deep breath, and went through the hand seals. I felt the same pull I had the last time I'd been reversed summoned as I was dragged to the Canyon. I landed hard, already preparing for the bright light. Instead, it was dark when I opened my eyes. I blinked.

"It's time, then?"

I looked down and reached out to brace myself against the stone wall. I'd been pulled to a different area of the Canyon than before, and Chisai was staring up at me. I nodded and cleared my throat. "Yes. Thank you for this."

She nodded "Well?"'

"Just a minute." I unsealed Hitomi's things and stripped out of my clothes once again. I activated Hitomi's henge seal, took a second to adjust to the height difference, and picked up some clothes. Chisai waited patiently as I changed, including taping the black shinobi pants down around my ankles and adjusting the reinforced bracers. I sealed everything else away and, bo staff in hand, looked back at her. "Ready."

"Good. Brace yourself."

I tightened my hold on the staff and felt the pull against my system again. The ground changed, and I stumbled hard. A hand closed around my elbow.

"Careful."

I snapped my head up, already grinning. It was odd, knowing that it was him even when the face and voice and chakra didn't match up. But it was him, and that was all that mattered. "Hi. Missed you."

He grinned in return. On his shoulder, Ikebana perked up at my presence. He scrambled down Shisui's arm, taking advantage of our point of contact to easily climb over to me and settle on my shoulder instead. Shisui huffed. "And here I thought you liked me."

"He likes you," I assured him. I glanced around the room and eyed the windows. They were covered with curtains, and I could feel the security he'd laid over them. "Where are we?"

"Na no Kuni. Kiiroitani."

"Not that far from Hi no Kuni," I concluded.

He nodded. "Bordering it."

"Why's he so close to the place he just defected from?" I stepped over to the window.

"He's joined up with Ame. They're on their way back from a mission in Shimo with a captive. Best as I can tell, they're using this as an opportunity to assess him."

I pulled aside a curtain to look outside. "And the—" I caught my breath, staring out the window. This room was facing away from the village, and I could only see a few of the buildings in my periphery. Instead, it was looking out towards the rest of the valley. The valley was almost completely blanketed with yellow flowers. "Oh."

"Yeah, if I wasn't here to kill someone, this would be a gorgeous place," Shisui said, tugging the curtain from my hand so he could pull it open completely. "So that's too bad, I guess."

"Too bad," I murmured. "Maybe some other time." I glanced up at him. "I'd like for you to have a place where you can take a break every once and a while. You don't do a good job of that."

"Neither do you," he shot back. There was no heat in it, though. He pulled the curtain closed again. "His team is settled here for the night and will be leaving in the morning. It's him and then an couple Ame shinobi. The missing-nin they caught is an Ame chunin." He took out his bingo book and stepped over to the small table provided in the room. He sat down and opened the book. He unclipped a few pages. "Here. These three."

I took the other chair and leaned forward to get a look. The first page was detailing the missing-nin, a chunin named Ugatsu. The Ame shinobi accompanying Aoi in his hunt and capture were a pair of chunin called Hisame and Murasame. Just a couple shinobi doing their jobs and hunting down a traitor. I nodded. "I don't want them killed. Just Aoi."

"I'd prefer to avoid a three-on-two fight anyway. Their priority is the missing-nin over Aoi, so we can use that to separate them." He tapped Ugatsu's picture. "How do you feel about setting him loose? Gives us a nice distraction so we can deal with Aoi. Would be best to do it away from the civilians."

"When they head out in the morning?"

"Leaves us time to plan. They're here in the same inn, so it would probably be best if we started with you getting a lock on their chakra." He got to his feet. "Want to take a stroll?"

"They still haven't left the room. Murasame and Aoi just now woke up."

"Well, you don't need to sound so upset about it," Shisui said, elbowing me. "Just means we have time for some breakfast, right?" He got to his feet, stretching. "There's a nice place right across the street. I ate there last night, and their zosui is amazing."

I hesitated.

"C'mon." He held a hand out to me. "You're keeping an eye on them. Grabbing a bite won't hurt."

I focused on their chakra one more time and nodded. "Yeah, alright." I dropped my hand in his and let him pull me to my feet. "As long as we can move out as soon as they do."

"We will. Don't worry about it so much."

I huffed but didn't protest as I followed him. I waited briefly by the front door as he returned the key to the hotel owner. He rejoined me, bumping his shoulder into mine to get me moving as he stepped outside. "Still have a lock on them?" he murmured, leading the way to the open air restaurant across the street.

I nodded.

"See?" He chose a table and sat down, waving for me to do the same. "You'll be able to tell. So relax."

"Right. Because that's my strong suit."

He shot me a look and then turned a grin to the woman that was approaching us, menus in hand. "Morning, Wakame-san."

She smiled, handing a menu to him and another to me. "Ohayo, Shiratori-san. Who's your friend?"

"This is Hitomi, and she would greatly benefit from one of Sachito-san's delicious zosui. One for me, too."

"Got it. And to drink?" The woman glanced at me, and she almost looked like Yuugao with her matching purple eyes and hair. It took me off-guard enough that I forgot to answer her question.

"Sencha," Shisui cut in. "For both of us. Thanks."

"Of course. I'll have that right out." She gathered up the menus we hadn't used and disappeared into the building.

"You good?"

I blinked, refocusing on the Ame shinobi chakra first and then him. "Yeah. She just looks like someone I know."

He tilted his head to the side for a second, mulling that over. "Ah, yeah, I can see that." He drummed his fingers on the tabletop. "Are you ready?"

"Of course," I murmured. "Traps are set. The bunshin are waiting. With two against one, it should be a quick job."

"Good. See? Nothing to worry about." He leaned back, shooting Wakame a smile and a thank you as she set cups in front of us. She filled them both with tea and left the pot at the table. He leaned forward again, picking up his cup. "You're too high-strung, sometimes. This is gonna be easy." He sipped at his drink.

"And if it's not?"

He shrugged. "Then we'll break a sweat. Look, there's always a chance it could go wrong. But we've prepared all we can. If things go south, we'll do our best."

"Right." Nervously, I started to copy his earlier tapping against the tabletop as I lowered my voice. "How has Kiri been?"

"Humid." His gaze flicked to the side. "It's doing . . . okay. Terumi's confirmed as Mizukage. There're plenty that aren't too happy about it, so I wouldn't exactly say all the fighting is over just yet."

I flicked my gaze past him. Clearing my throat, I straightened. "That was fast."

Wakame smiled. "Our zosui is very popular, so we tend to make a lot of it before it's even ordered. It's the only way to keep up." She set a bowl in front of each of us. "Enjoy!"

Shisui grinned and twirled his spoon, leaning forward eagerly. He dug right in.

I considered the soup for a moment, picking up my own spoon. "I don't think I've actually ever had zosui."

He blinked up at me. "Never? I mean, you've mentioned you had ramen and dango and sushi Before. Not zosui?"

Before I could answer, I felt the chakra on the move. I set down my spoon and got to my feet. "They're headed out."

"Already?" He looked down sadly at his soup. "Yeah, alright." After leaving behind money to pay for the breakfast we hadn't finished—definitely more ryo than actually necessary—he stood and grabbed my arm. "South-west?"

"Yeah. Just like we thought."

"Perfect."

He activated a shunshin, and the world around us bent. The jutsu landed us in the trees, perched high up on a branch. Shisui kept his hold on me to keep me from falling during our initial landing, and I could feel the three transformed kage bunshin nearby, waiting. I brought my hands together in the tiger seal and activated my toton. Shisui didn't, crouching down and preparing himself to strike.

The Ame team was moving at full tilt, clearly wanting to return home quickly. They were only a couple seconds away. But past their chakra . . . .

I straightened, eyes widening. "Shisui—"

I'd barely gotten the first syllable out before it was too late and he was already on the move. My eyes weren't quick enough to follow him, especially without using Kurama's charka. One moment, Aoi and the two Ame nin were moving across the path beneath me with their hand-tied prisoner in tow. The next, the chakra wire was sliced, the manacles separated, and the missing-nin freed. I could just barely see the blur of Shisui whisking the freed captive away in the direction of my bunshin, who immediately scattered to leave separate, varied trails. The Ame team started after them, and I didn't have time anymore to worry about the familiar chakra approaching. Shisui had been right, after all; we'd prepared all we could. If things went south—and they definitely were—then we just had to do our best.

I tracked after Aoi as the team separated, each following a different trail. He'd taken the southern-most track, closing in quickly on the bunshin. It purposely stepped into the tripwire. The resulting explosion hid it dispelling. Unfortunately, Aoi had mostly avoided the triggered wires and was free by the time I landed in front him, striking out with my bo staff. I released my toton as I did so, it taking too much concentration to maintain during a proper fight.

He twisted, my hit glancing off his left arm. He scowled, and the raijin no ken hummed loudly as its blade sprung to life. I slid my hand up the staff and then swapped it, snapping the back end around. It whacked against his head, and I was already charging up chakra for an earth wall to start boxing him in when he swung the sword up.

My nerves jolted as the lightning split the air right in front of me a microsecond before I shunshined backwards. I summoned the wall now, a momentary barrier between the two of us while I felt for Shisui's distorted chakra. He was headed my way, and I could sense Hisame and Murasame together in a fight. Shisui had abandoned Ugatsu to them, then. And it was a good thing Shisui was almost here, because so were they.

I executed a shunshin, dashing around the wall and Aoi just as he cut through the earth with the lightning blade. Sliding out of the jutsu, I did a sweep with the staff. It knocked into his ankles. In a puff of smoke, he was replaced by a charred tree branch. One damaged in the explosion. I tracked his chakra, whipping around just in time to see Shisui's suiton wave slam into Aoi and knock him down.

"We've got company," I told him, throwing a wary glance over my shoulder at where they were very, very close now. "Konoha."

"I've got it. Take care of him." Shisui nodded to Aoi and stepped forward. He dashed through seals and slammed his hands to the ground. I dashed for Aoi, only peripherally aware of the protective water dome Shisui put up. Just in time, because I didn't even have to focus on their familiar chakra anymore; I saw Raidou, Kotetsu, Ko, and Saisu's arrival just before I turned to give my opponent all of my attention.

Aoi was on his feet, already swinging with the raijin no ken. I rolled out of the way, snapping out with my bo staff and triggering the chakra seal on the farthest end as I did so. The blade unsheathed, slicing into his leg. He slammed down to one knee. I dodged his swipe with his blade, but the follow through carried it in a curve towards the barrier. I stomped my foot against the ground, creating another earth wall. This one was shorter and thicker. The blade sliced into it but didn't have the solid momentum needed to make it to the barrier. Relieved, I snapped the bladed end of my staff towards his neck. He brought his arm up to block. His bracer took the majority of the impact, but I could smell blood.

I could also feel the buildup of katon chakra in his throat.

I threw up a third wall just a millisecond too late, and fire scorched against my hands before my doton jutsu was in place. I hardly had time to worry about that, though, because that was also when I heard Shisui's warning call and then two sharp flares of Ko's chakra against Shisui's shield.

The water dome collapsed, raining down on us. I inhaled sharply, and Kurama immediately growled at the panic that lit up inside me. I stumbled backwards, hands—both gripping my bo staff—coming up to guard my face.

Electricity buzzed along my skin and then through my bones as Aoi's sword found me. I shunshined backwards, clamping my right hand to my left arm. I was about to habitually pull up some of Kurama's chakra to heal me when I heard Shisui's voice.

"Hitomi!"

At the reminder of that name, I snapped my attention away from healing myself and instead swept my staff around as a tool for my fuuton. The sharp wind slammed into Aoi, slicing open his chest and throwing him back into a tree. I immediately used kawarimi on him, dropping him right where Raidou's blade was aimed. I turned, sheathing my blade, only to stumble back and away from Kotetsu's downward swipe of his kunai blade. I spun my staff, forcing him back and charging fuuton chakra into the move as a kind of shield. I stepped away, back towards a tree trunk, as I thought through how to get past him and back to Aoi. At least Aoi wasn't looking too good. Actually, he didn't seem to be mov—

Two things happened in quick succession over the course of a single second.

One, I felt the vaguely familiar pain of someone shutting down chakra points in my arm.

Two, the pain shattered the jutsu I didn't know had been there. Kotetsu disappeared, and I vaguely remembered that genjutsu was one of his stronger skills.

I snapped my bo staff backwards, knocking in into Ko's side and thereby barely avoiding his next juuken strike. When I made the doton wall, my right arm didn't cooperate, and it came up between me and Ko already crumbling. My shunshin was not much better. I aimed for Aoi's body but ended up slamming into the ground only partway. I rolled to the side to avoid Kotetsu's kunai blade and then snapped my staff into his ankle.

Another messy shunshin overshot me a couple feet past the body. I turned, snatching up the raijin no ken. "Let's go!" I released a handful of shuriken at Raidou, forcing him to momentarily focus on them rather than Shisui.

Shisui dropped the water prison he had Saisu in and shunshined to the body, grabbing it. Then he extended a hand to me. I reached forward it just as movement on my periphery caught my attention. I lunged forward locking my arm around Shisui's instead of taking his hand. He activated the shunshin, and pain—along with the kunai causing it—stabbed into my middle.

We stopped in an area I didn't recognize at all. Shisui immediately dropped Aoi's body and turned a grin on me. "That wasn't half bad!"

"Right." I shuddered and lifted my left arm to get a better look. I could just see the kunai. "Is there somewhere I can take a nap?"

"Shit, Taichou!" He grabbed for me. "Yeah, hold on. When did—"

"Raidou's stuff tends to be poisoned," I mumbled, already feeling woozy. "I knew I'd fight it off better out of the two of us."

"That's dumb. You're dumb."

"I'm right, though."

"Shut up. Let me take care of this."

I woke up what felt like seconds after I closed my eyes. I blinked up at the dark ceiling. Well, dark except for the faint green illuminating the support beams. I turned my head to the side and squinted. "What are you doing?" I croaked.

Shisui paused, the green chaka around his fingers flickering off. The only light left then was from the dim lamp on the nightstand. He threw me a grin, still holding my wrist with his other hand. "Good morning, sleepy head. How do you feel?" He refocused, summoning up green chakra again and pressing his glowing fingers against my palm.

I tried to shift to alleviate the pressure on my worn muscles without jostling his hold on my arm too much. "A little tired, but nothing too bad. I think I've burned through all the poison."

"I'd hope so. It's been a few hours."

I hummed at that, watching as he continued to work. My palm was itching, but it didn't hurt anywhere near as much as it had earlier when it'd gotten burned. "You know iryo-ninjutsu? Since when?"

"Since I broke my arm and didn't have anyone around to fix it until I found a hospital five days later in Yugakure." He released the green chakra again and finally let go of my wrist. He glanced up at me, raising his eyebrows. "Figured it would be better if I could do it myself. Took a little trial and error. Plus, it's helpful for Kaito's skillset to be so different."

I shuffled back, pushing myself up so I could sit. Then I held both hands, palm-up, close to my face, leaning to the side for the lamp to illuminate them better. The scarring on my palms actually looked better now than it had in the years since I'd first learned the chakra light.

"The one in your side scarred more," he murmured apologetically. "I was a little worried about getting it done faster. I didn't want you bleeding out or leaking Kyuubi chakra to heal it."

"That's alright." I swung around, pulling at the too-large red shirt he'd put me in. Another one of Hitomi's that hung wrong on my ten-year-old body. I pushed myself to my feet and leaned from side to side. My waist was painfully sore and tight but nothing too terrible.

"Does it hurt?"

"It's not the worst thing." I reached chakra into my Hitomi henge seal and activated. With just a burst of smoke, I was closer to his height again. "The body?"

Shisui withdrew the black banded scroll from his pocket and tapped it against his other hand. "In here. The raijin no ken is stored away right now, too. Figured I'd want some practice with it before I start parading it around."

"Sounds like a plan." I retrieved my bo staff from where it was leaning against the wall. "How far?"

He stepped to the door. "Twenty minutes for us, provided you can put up with it."

Twenty minutes later, I was dying.

"I hated that," I said through gritted teeth, still holding on to his arm tightly as my knees wobbled. "Never do that again."

He snickered. "You would have rathered walked for three hours?"

"Over this? Maybe." I finally released him to wrap an arm around my middle and hunched over. "Oh, kami, I'm gonna be sick."

A hand pressed to my back. "Alright, maybe I could've slowed the shunshin a little. Or spread them out more. Here." He held a water bottle in front of me. "Take a sip."

"Thanks," I murmured, taking it from him and sinking to the ground. I took a long draught and took the chance to actually look at our surroundings. We were at the side of a dirt road that stretched in both directions with nothing along them. Nothing except the building across the street that would be completely nondescript if it wasn't for the wooden sign swinging out front. The kanji carved into it were too worn down to properly read, though it didn't help that it was only illuminated by the moonlight. "This is a bounty station?" I asked doubtfully.

"Specifically, this is the one that posted Aoi's page, meaning they can pay out the bounty." He stood and reached down a hand to me. "Turning in a body when you're not affiliated with any officially recognized Village or organization is a bit of a hassle, but we'll manage. Ready to make some money?"

I felt the bunshin burst just as the bounty clerk was finally counting out our ryo. I straightened, tightening my hold on my staff. Shisui glanced at me out of the corner of his eye but didn't say anything just yet. I took a moment to sort through the hours upon hours of memories ketsueki had brought back to me. Twenty-three hours, in fact.

Money in hand, Shisui took my elbow and steered me outside. "What is it?" he murmured.

"Ketsueki burst. Time limit was getting close, and she decided to do it somewhere controlled instead of accidentally later on. We're framing it as another flight to the Valley. Which is . . . ." I flinched. "I know I asked you not to do it again, but how fast could you get me there?"

"I'll throw in a couple rests this time," he promised. "Brace yourself."

"Hold still," Yoshino said, pulling tightly on my hair. "This is hard enough without you moving."

"Ow," I said flatly. "I still want a scalp after this, you know."

From the couch, Shikamaru snickered loudly. I shot him a look. He was sprawled out on his back, book in-hand but forgotten. He had changed into his jinbei, and his setta were waiting on the floor. Shikaku was in a similar state in the armchair, dressed and waiting for us.

"Eyes forward," Yoshino ordered. "Comb?"

I picked it up from the coffee table and passed it back to her. "I vote that we do Maru's hair like this too."

Shikamaru made a sound in protest, but it was Shikaku that chuckled and spoke. "Honestly, I'm surprised he lets you even do the braids you put it in."

"It takes too much energy to argue with her," Shikamaru protested. "I have to pick my battles."

"Smart," Yoshino said. She tapped my shoulder. "Alright. Don't mess it up. Go put on your yukata. I left it in your room."

I glanced back at her, frowning. "I brought one."

"Yes, you did. A very plain one. I ordered one made for you, so go put it on."

Curious, I nodded and headed off.

It was all laid out on the bed. I put on the nagajuban first and then wrapped the yukata around myself tightly. I hesitated over the obi. Last time I had worn one, Shisui had tied it for me. I had no idea how to do it myself.

I stepped to the door and opened it. "Can you help me with the obi?" I called.

There was no immediate answer, but Yoshino arrived moments later. "Of course," she said, ushering me back inside. She picked up the belt. "What do you think?" she asked.

I examined the lavender obi belt for a moment, admiring the detail work of the patterned Uzumaki spiral in white across it. "I like it. Thank you."

"Good." She directed me to lift my elbows while keeping the yukata tight so she could get to work. "You're a clan head. It helps to occasionally dress like one."

With the yukata held in place now as she worked on the bow, I turned my arm to examine the bright red fabric. "I suppose that makes sense. "

She finished with the obi and then ran her fingers over the wind pattern at my shoulders to make sure it was smooth. "You have fuuton like your father. But your mother . . . ." She knelt down to make sure the hems were even. Said hems were decorated with crashing waves that reached above my knees. "She had suiton, and she certainly made sure everyone knew it." Yoshino gave me a small smile and reached for the black obijime. As she tied it into a flower bow, she said, "There's a kimono, too. In the closet. Sometimes dressing like a clan head requires a little more oomph."

Curiosity piqued, I barely waited for her to finish her knot. Then I turned away and opened the closet. After a moment of examining the kimono, I grinned. "This is amazing. Thank you."

"You know, you have two working legs." I adjusted my hold on Shikamaru's knees and did my best to try to shift him to a more stable position on my back.

"Yeah, I know." He dangled a skewer of ikayaki in front of my face. "Still hungry?"

My mouth watered. "You know I am. You better not eat all of it. I want to snack during the fireworks."

"Hmm. I'll think about it." I heard him crunching down on something.

I turned my head as far as I could to glare at him. "That better be senbei and not my shioyaki."

"Relax."

"Maru—"

"Hey, look. I see the boys."

I huffed, determined to not let him distract me. But then Sasuke saw me and excitedly called my name. "You're the worst," I muttered to Shikamaru before trying my best to jog forward to meet up with everyone while still carrying him.

Asuma snickered. "You seem to have a freeloader there, Mirai-chan."

"Freeloader's a good word for him," I said, straightening and releasing my hold on Shikamaru all at once.

He gave a squeak of alarm but clearly caught himself well enough because he was standing when I turned to face him. He wrinkled his nose at me and then held out the box that had all my food.

"Thank you very much," I said, taking it from him.

"Neechan, we got sparklers!" Konohamaru held one out to me, grinning.

My thank you to him was far more genuine, and I smiled as he turned away to pass out sparklers to the others. I glanced at Asuma, arching an eyebrow.

He shrugged. "We had a rough start. Tanabata was always Yosu's favorite holiday. But he's been looking forward to the fireworks."

"That's good," I murmured. I glanced up at the mountain and sat down with a groan. I kicked off my geta and flexed my sore feet. "I haven't watched the fireworks before. Are they good?"

Asuma shrugged. But before he could answer, Konohamaru was back. "They're awesome!" he gushed. "You'll love it. Last year, there was a dragon, and the dragon fought a tiger, and the dragon ate the tiger!"

"It sure sounds awesome." I sat criss-cross and propped my chin up on my sparkler-free hand. "When do they start?"

"It'll be about ten or fifteen minutes," Asuma said, joining us on the grass. "That's enough time for our sparklers."

Off to my right, Sasuke had already lit his and was wrestling Kiba for the right to light Sai and Naruto's. I tapped my finger to my sparkler and summoned a touch of katon chakra to light it. I leaned over to Shikamaru and did the same for his. After just a second, Konohamaru had his lit by Asuma.

Konohamaru resumed telling Asuma all about the fireworks from the year before and Sasuke and Kiba's fight had stopped after Hana lit the remaining sparklers herself. I lifted my sparkler and stared at the flickering flame burning at the end.

Shikamaru bumped his shoulder against mine. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," I murmured, tilting my head to the side. "Just . . . thinking."

"Raidou," I greeted with surprise, taking my seat. "Hanging out in Council meetings now?"

From his place at the Hokage's side, he gave me a quick and mild smile. "Just this once."

It wasn't long before everyone was seated with only Choza missing. Hiruzen cleared his throat. "We have another coming soon with more information, but his arrival this morning was delayed. We can get started with what we already have."

At that, I turned my chakra focus outward, listening and combing through the chakra in the Village as I listened to the Hokage.

"As we went over in a previous meeting, the Nidaime's raijin no ken was stolen and taken from Konoha by the missing nin Rokushou Aoi. Raidou took a team to retrieve the sword as well as to bring Rokushou back to T&I. They found that Rokushou had joined Amegakure as a jonin and caught up to him while he was on a mission. Raidou?"

Raidou nodded and cleared his throat. "I took Hyuuga Ko, Hagane Kotetsu, and Kamano Saisu with me for the mission. When we confronte Rokushou, he was isolated from his team. However, we were not the only shinobi there fighting him. There were two enemy nin of unknown origin attacking him. They held us back while they killed him and then took off with the body and the raijin no ken."

"Were they after him or the sword?"

Raidou blinked and glanced towards me. While the rest of the room seemed unfazed by my interrupting with a question—I supposed they'd gotten used to it by now with as much as I insisted on having a say in things—he seemed thrown, and it took him a moment to recover. He squared his shoulders, seemingly forcing himself to refocus. "It's unclear. It's quite possible the intention was both as they seemed to make an effort to make sure both were in hand before fleeing."

"Konoha has encountered one of the nin once before," Hiruzen announced. "While the woman was new, Aoba's team first met the man about eight months ago in Hayashi no Kuni. Despite the location, we have no evidence that he has connections with Kusagakure. The confrontation seemed to happen because Aoba's team had the same target as this stranger. Gushiken Kandachi was previously known as Hanzo's right hand man. While there has been no bingo book page declaring him a fugitive from the Village, he had been behaving in a way that indicated he was no longer affiliated with Amegakure. Our team's task was to capture him and bring him to T&I so that Inoichi could try to make sense of the situation, especially as information from Ame has gone dark."

It was interesting actually. As the Hokage talked about how Aoba's confrontation with the stranger ultimately led to Kandachi's escape, I mused on the fact that even though I knew about that situation from Shisui's side, he'd never mentioned that it was Aoba he was up against. There was no reason for him to, after all. It wasn't like I knew Aoba personally. But . . . it did line up with the timeline for just before we'd started writing letters.

I felt a familiar chakra—vibrant but muffled—approaching. It'd been weaving through the Village for a couple minutes now but was mere seconds from the Tower now, and I finally recognized it. I straightened.

Hiruzen threw me a glance, finishing his presentation on the previous fight between the unknown enemy-nin and Aoba's team. He looked almost amused but not quite. Actually, he expression was more . . . curious. "Do you have something to add?"

I blinked. "Not yet. Jiraiya is almost here, though. I'm presuming he was the one we were waiting for?"

"Ah. Yes, he sent word ahead that he'd located information about the unknown shinobi. After all, if they're targeting high-value shinobi—whether for information or bounties—and high-value artifacts, that makes them dangerous."

"How did they know about the raijin no ken?" Hiashi asked. "The theft was recent. We haven't heard anything about Rokushou boasting about the theft. Did they have a source in Ame? Did Ame understand the importance of the sword?"

Any possible answer paused as the door opened. Jiraiya cast a welcoming nod and smile about the room but didn't indulge in his typical theatrics. The moment the door was closed behind him, he said. "Their names are Shiratori Kaito and Miyazaki Hitomi. At least, those are the names they used when the signed for the bounty. Little station at the south-eastern border of Hana no Kuni. The bounty there was for Rokushou, not the sword. Clerk was also putting together these." He held up two bingo book pages. "Turns out the Ame nin saw the tail end of the fight and weren't too happy about their comrade being killed."

Hiruzen motioned to him, and Jiraiya slid the bingo book pages across the long table to him. As he glanced them over, he said, "We'll start putting together a profile on both of them."

"I'll keep digging," Jiraiya said. "They had to have come from somewhere."

I'd followed Jiraiya out of the Tower and down several streets before he sighed over-dramatically. "I don't have any fancy kunai for you this time."

"That's fine. I actually wanted to talk to you about a seal."

He eyed me suspiciously. "I've already told you everything I can about hiraishin."

"I know. I've already figured that out, I think. It's just application now. But this isn't about that." I folded my hands behind my back. "I'd appreciate if you'd come to the house to look at my notes. I feel confident but want to be absolutely sure before using it."

He gave a theatrical groan and dropped a hand to my head, messing up my short ponytail with a flick of his wrist. "Yeah, alright. I'll take a look." He changed directions. "What's this one for?"

"Kakashi's sharingan."

He squinted at me. "Uh-huh. Elaborate."

"Let's get to my notes first. It's a bit complex."

The first time I attempted hiraishin, I made sure to do it at the Nara Lands just in case something went wrong. I wasn't planning for something to go wrong, of course, but Minato's notes pointed out that his own first attempt landed him in the hospital and he almost lost a foot. Shikaku and Yoshino were in the shogi house with the door open, seemingly engrossed in their game and conversation to anyone who didn't know better. Shikamaru was seated on the porch, chin propped up in one hand and eyes only half-open as he fought to stay awake.

I'd only put the seal on one kunai. I'd been painstaking in the process, making sure the seal on the tag was precise and then that the tag was unbroken and smooth once I'd attached it to the kunai. Now, I stabbed it into a level, clear area of grass and backed up only a few paces. I didn't need distance on my first try, after all. Quite the opposite. Less distance traveled meant less of a chance of splicing myself apart.

Which wasn't supposed to be too high of a chance, but still.

I took a deep breath and listened to the seal. I was actually regretting not having disposed of the practice seals since I could feel them off in the distance. The far distance. I grit my teeth and ignored them. I'd have to ignore them in the future, anyway. Especially once I started laying seals everywhere. I closed my eyes, took a deep sigh, and fell into my stance, ensuring I had the proper stability I would need.

"If you die, I want your bonsai."

I opened my eyes and looked to the side, frowning at him. "What?"

"Your bonsai. The one I babied for you while you were gone."

"Yeah, I heard you. Still confused."

"Uh-huh. I got attached. So if this," —he gestured a hand towards the kunai— "kills you, I call dibs."

"Yeah, okay." I tilted my head to the side. "If I die from this, you can fight Sasuke for the bonsai."

He huffed. With a groan, he laid back on the porch, arms splayed out to the side. "Fine. Whatever."

I closed my eyes again and refocused. This time when I opened my eyes, I stared at the hiraishin kunai and didn't let anything distract me from the feeling of the seal. With that as my focal point, I molded a touch of my chakra into the stabilization force that Iwashi had talked about. I had practiced this plenty of times already, and it was familiar.

What was not so familiar was the act of maintaining that stabilization while also reaching out to the seal through the chakra link I had with it. I'd decided not to try Genma's time-stretching component until I was confident on Iwashi and Raidou's roles and the difficulty of focusing on two complex chakra manipulations simultaneously. I could already tell that just a few attempts of this would leave me sore.

It felt a little like when Shisui had first taught me kawarimi. Or when he'd first taught me shunshin. Except he wasn't here to catch me this time, it all happened so much faster, and the pain at the end was so much worse. I belatedly realized the ground was farther away than I thought just after I'd already hit it.

"Okay, uh— When I said that, I wasn't— Don't actually die," Shikamaru rasped.

I gasped out a ragged breath, screwing my eyes shut. "It's fine," I forced out. "I'm fine." I forced myself up on my elbows and stared down at my leg. My foot was definitely pointed the wrong direction.

"Mirai," Yoshino called from the shogi house.

"It's alright," I called back, leaning forward and pressing two fingers against my shin. There was the problem. Is it just one of them? Or both?

It feels like both. It will take time.

Yeah, okay. I dropped my head back and grit my teeth. Patch me up. Then we'll try again.

I trudged home instead of shunshining. I hadn't even practiced hiraishin for a full half hour, and it had left me exhausted and with lingering, excruciating soreness. And a new scar on the back of my left hand that I hoped Kakashi wouldn't ask about when he saw it. I was considering getting my hands on some fingerless gloves—with steel plating on the back, just like what I'd had in Root and like what Kakashi wore—when I noticed the chakra. Suspicious yet hopeful, I sped up despite my body's protests.

Inside, Sasuke and Sai were sitting across from each other at the coffee table, staring down at my shogi board. I hadn't left it out, which meant they'd dug around for it in my room. Naruto was sitting behind Sai on the couch, tossing his temari from hand to hand while he pelted Jiraiya with questions about cool ninjutsu. Jiraiya himself was sitting at the table, papers spread out in front of him.

Naruto glanced at me but didn't halt his line of questioning. I took the opportunity to toe off my shoes and then get myself a glass of cold water. It did wonders for my dry and aching throat.

Jiraiya was the one to interrupt Naruto to address me. "Well," he said, chuckling. "You look like crap."

"Thanks," I croaked. "I was practicing hiraishin."

He whistled. "Already?"

"Didn't quite work out." I sat down, throwing a glance across the sealing notes. Most of them were mine. Actually, it looked like almost all of them were mine. "Feedback?"

"Some," he said, sliding just one of the papers across to me. "Placement is real important on this thing. The sealwork looks good, but that doesn't matter if it's not perfectly placed. That's why the Hyuuga can do their own dojutsu lock; they can line it all up to the tenketsu exactly."

I hummed, looking his work over. He'd reversed and broken down my seal to check it. "But otherwise?"

"Otherwise? Looks good. Should loosen the silhouette so it's not as difficult for him to access it. Especially when his adrenaline is up and he doesn't have time to feel around for a tiny dot."

"Hmm, makes sense."

"Hey."

I blinked and looked up. Naruto was standing at the table, arms crossed. "Hey," he said again. "You didn't answer my question."

"What?"

"Not you." He nodded to Jiraiya. "You. How do I start it?"

Jiraiya sighed. "You're both equally bad. Listen, kid, I'm not teaching a high-ranking jutsu like that to an Academy student. Especially one that's as reckless as you. Or as crazy as your sister. I'm not insane."

I frowned, not sure if I should be offended or not. "What jutsu?"

"The one Touchan made," Naruto said. "Rasengan. He told me about it, and I want to learn it."

"Not while you're in the Academy," Jiraiya said firmly. "It's a powerful jutsu."

"Right," I drawled. "Because he definitely doesn't already have access to anything powerful. Good point."

For that, I got a sharp look. "It's not the same."

"Actually, Minato's notes said he was inspired by the bijuudama, so they're not as different as you're thinking."

"That's a stretch."

"Touchan would have taught me," Naruto interrupted. "He would have shown me."

I swallowed. To avoid looking at him, I started collecting and stacking all the seal notes. "Nato, you don't know that."

"Why wouldn't he? I'm smart. I'm not you, but I'm smart."

"I know." I stared at all the papers. I didn't really want to have to tag every single piece to seal it all away in my arm. Not now when I was so tired.

"Do you?" he asked accusingly. When I finally looked back up at him, he was staring down Jiraiya, not me. "Is it because I'm an Academy student? Or is it 'cause I'm not Rai?"

"That's not it, and you know that," Jiraiya huffed, crossing his arms.

I sighed, somehow more exhausted from this than I was from my training. As a compromise—really, just putting it off for myself to deal with tomorrow—I touched my hand to the tabletop. As soon as I'd laid the storage seal, I sealed all the papers away.

"Why am I still surprised?"

I looked up at Jiraiya. "What?"

"Laying touch seals is advanced stuff. Shouldn't be surprised anymore, I guess. You've definitely got a lot of Minato in you."

"I'm going to bed," Naruto muttered, turning on his heel. "See you tomorrow."

I rose to my feet. "Nato—"

His door slammed behind him. I glanced at Jiraiya and then at the boys still sitting at the shogi board. "Has he been like this all day or is this just because of the rasengan?"

Sai blinked and gave a mild shrug. Sasuke squinted as he thought. "I mean, he seemed fine until you came home."

I hesitated. That hurt, but it didn't quite feel like when Naruto had been upset with me in the past. "But I don't think he was mad at me." I nodded to Jiraiya. "He seemed mad at you."

He held up his hands in defense. "Look, I'm not teaching an A-rank jutsu like that to either of you."

I tilted my head to the side. "I don't think it'd be the worst thing if you did. But I also have access to all of Minato's notes and someone else who knows rasengan. If Naruto wants to learn it, I don't see why I shouldn't help him do so." I got to my feet and stretched with a groan. "Thanks for your help. I'll talk to Hiashi tomorrow. But for now, I'm gonna take a shower and crash."

Sasuke looked up from his game. "It's not even nine."

"Yeah, I know." I rubbed at my neck, hoping that would do something for the pain there from one of my dozen wrong landings earlier. "But I'm dead tired." To emphasize my point, I gave an overdramatic yawn. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Are you coming to Academy?"

I considered it. "I don't see why not. I can meet with Hiashi afterwards. Any particular reason why?"

He shrugged. "You haven't been there 'cause of your meetings. I missed you."

My shoulders slumped, I smiled. "Yeah. I'll be there."

"Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice."

"Of course," Hiashi murmured, nodding to Ko once the latter had finished filling the teacups. "Is this something urgent?"

"Not urgent, exactly. Thank you, Ko." I picked up my cup. "But I would say important. I was wondering if I could ask a favor."

He arched an eyebrow. "Is this about the situation with Danzo? Would this favor be for both you and Shibi, then?"

"No. This is unrelated. It's about Kakashi, actually." I sipped at my tea as a way to force myself to reset my breathing. Then I tapped my fingers against my cup. "I've developed a seal that would grant Kakashi control over whether or not his sharingan was active. However, for placement I need more precision to the tenketsu than my chakra sensing allows."

"Ah. So you want the assistance of someone with the byakugan."

"I would owe you."

He lifted his chin, considering me. "I see. This . . . is soon? We're nearing the end of our evaluations of my children. This last month is important. I'm not sure I would be openly available for such a task."

"I understand."

"Is there a specific set of skills you're needing?"

"Someone intimately familiar with the tenketsu, preferably not only from a combat side but perhaps from a medical side as well."

"I see." He didn't say anything for a little bit, sipping at his tea. Then he nodded. "Ko has iryo-ninjutsu training. And he's quite skilled with his byakugan."

I considered that and glanced to the side at said Hyuuga. He only looked briefly surprised—for less than a second—at being mentioned. Then he bowed his head. "If you find my abilities meet what you are needing, I will offer up my services."

I smiled. "I would appreciate it. If you're sure."

Head still bowed, he said, "It would be an honor, Mirai-sama."

When Tenzo opened his door, he stared at me suspiciously. "What is it?"

I held out a small stack of papers. "I need your help."

He didn't respond immediately, eying the papers. After a few seconds of silence, he took the stack and stepped aside to let me in. Then he closed the door.

"It's for Kakashi's sharingan. Jiraiya has looked it over, and I've found a Hyuuga to help me with the tenketsu placement. I'd just need you there as a medic in case something happens. Which it shouldn't. I just want to be safe."

Tenzo stayed quiet as he read through the papers, and I shifted nervously. For a couple minutes, the only sound was the occasional shuffling of the pages as he started a new one. Finally, he sighed and held the papers back out to me. "Okay."

I hesitated over taking the papers back. "Okay? That's . . . it?"

"Do you know when you're doing this?"

"Not yet, but it'll be soon. Um . . . you don't have any questions?"

"No."

"You normally take a lot more convincing when I want you to do stuff."

"You mentioned this at the hospital. I would definitely prefer to be there if I'm needed." He paused. "Plus, often the things you're trying to convince me to do involve lying to Senpai, not helping him."

"That's true, I suppose. I just expected more questions." I finally took the papers and sealed them away. "Thank you. I'll go talk to Niisan now, then."

"Keep me updated on when this will be," he said, opening the door to let me out.

"I will. Thanks." I threw him a smile. Then I skipped down to the front of the building. I turned in the direction of Kakashi's house. Just before I activated a shunshin, I paused. I closed my eyes and listened for Kakashi's cool chakra. I turned away from his house and instead strung together several shunshin that landed me outside the gates. Another two got me to the edge of Training Ground 3. I hesitated, stepping back.

Kakashi stood in front of the memorial stone, hands in his pockets and his slouch more exaggerated than normal. My excitement for my news died away, replaced by a reluctance to interrupt. I quieted my chakra beyond what I already normally kept it at and turned back towards the Village.

"Pup."

I glanced back. Kakashi had angled himself towards me but hadn't quite looked away from the memorial. His right hand was out of his pocket, though, with the palm turned out. I bounced on my feet for just a second before shunshining to him. I slid my hand into his and stepped up against his side.

He didn't say anything, and neither did I. I found myself just staring at where Shisui's name was engraved in the memorial stone. I hadn't really ever focused on it before. It made something uncomfortable and sickening swell in my gut, so I shifted my attention away. I glanced up at him, planning to figure out who he was looking at. But when I looked up, I found him already looking down at me. I gave him a nervous smile, unsure of the look in his eye.

Kakashi gave me a frown in return. He brought up his other hand to press a thumb under my right eye. "You look tired," he murmured.

I frowned. I wanted to say that about him. "Do I?"

He hummed in response, dropping his hand and attempting a smile. "Were you looking for me?"

"Yep." I swung the hand I was holding. "When are you available for me to place the seal for your sharingan? Any time in the next few days?"

His visible eye widened. "Really? It's ready?"

I nodded. "Jiraiya looked it over for me. Hyuuga Ko will be helping with making sure I have it directly on the tenketsu. And Tenzo agreed to be there, you know, just in case. But nothing should happen. I've worked really hard to make sure this will work and that it's safe."

"I believe you," he interrupted. His gaze flicked briefly away before flicking back to stare at me. "Tomorrow works. Where?"

"At the house."

"Yeah." He nodded. Looking back at the memorial, he swallowed. "Yeah, okay. Thank you."

I stared up at him. The tension in his jaw was visible even through his mask. "Niisan?"

"It's going to rain. Do you want me to make dinner?" He pulled on my hand and turned away from the memorial stone. "I got salmon this morning, if you're interested."

"Yeah. Yeah, okay."