"You will start from the top," Shikaku says. "A succinct and streamlined timeline of events, and then we can dig into specifics, starting from the moment something happened to interfere with the safehouse."
Seiko doesn't like how familiar she's getting with Shikaku's office.
At least this time there's a chair. And a dog treat for Biter.
"Wouldn't this be easier if everyone was gathered together to tell you what happened?"
"Yes," Shikaku says. His eyes longingly drift towards the bottle of sake that still sits unopened on his desk, and then lights a cigarette instead. "Now, let's get started."
"I was with the Hokage when he sensed something was wrong," Seiko says. "The attacker had killed everyone incredibly fast."
Shikaku does not look like he's slept much lately.
"The Hokage went into the room, I went after him. The attacker looked like he was trying to kidnap Naruto, but his goal was Kushina. He grabbed her and teleported out to a pre-set up altar location. I described this earlier."
"You did," Shikaku says flatly. "We've been unable to find it."
Not her fault.
"The attacker freed the Kyuubi and teleported it over to the village. The Hokage teleported Kushina and Naruto back to the safehouse, while me and him went back to the cliff nearby the village with the intention to help against the Kyuubi."
"This is when the Hokage sealed the beast bomb," Shikaku says.
"Yes. The attacker moved to attack him when he noticed. The attacker could teleport and become insubstantial."
"And did you get a glimpse of this attackers eyes, Hatake."
Seiko really wishes she could coordinate her answers with Minato. Unfortunately, in the days since she'd been helped back to the village, Minato has remained comatose.
"He was wearing an orange spiraled mask with only one eye hole," Seiko says slowly. "It seemed like he had some sort of eye kekkai genkai."
While she was more than willing to use Obito's past against him in battle, she's not exactly excited to worsen accusations launched against the Uchiha. If Minato wakes up and gives different testimony, she's more than prepared to bite the bullet and just say that she's no longer qualified to be an active ninja for lying to her superiors.
Shikaku closes his own eyes then opens them again.
"Interesting," he says. "This is when my dear cousin made his move."
"I didn't think he'd rip his own eye out."
He'd had an eyepatch on when she went back to work! Even though he claimed it was just a temporary thing while the eye rehealed... There were now scar marks above and below the eye where his own fingers had dug in to flesh.
"And yet, it appears to have been the right choice," Shikaku says softly. "Is that not so?"
"The attacker lost access to both his teleportation and his insubstantiality the moment the eye was removed. The Hokage sealed the eye away into his personal storage immediately."
Seiko sends another mental apology to Minato for kicking the can down the road. It's going to be very hard to pretend it's not an Uchiha eye if he ever shows that to anyone.
"And then?" Shikaku prompts.
"...In a heroic effort to get the Kyuubi back out of the village, Kushina and Hoheto sent up a locator beam that caused the Kyubei to abandon its attack on Konoha and go after her. Taking advantage of the Hokage's distraction, the attacker escaped, and the Hokage and I teleported back to the safehouse."
She'd been so painstricken she'd barely noticed that Minato had more than let Obito go, he'd helped him escape until much later. But it is the main reason she's putting the extra work into lying about it. That and the fact that if Minato doesn't want to track his student down, he needs to be able to claim it's impossible. Which it isn't, because she knows he teleport tagged him.
She sends Minato another telepathic prayer that he'll somehow figure out her precise spin on the story and go with it.
"The rest..." It had all been so confusing at the time, but it's very simple to say. "The Hokage sealed half of the Kyuubi inside himself and half into Naruto, meaning Kushina is no longer a jinchuuriki. Hoheto helped the Hokage and his family back to Konoha while I stayed behind to... guard the area."
Shikaku snorts.
Alright. So she'd been sleeping when people had arrived. It had been a long day.
"Let's dig into some of what you've just said to me, shall we?" Shikaku says, and Seiko takes in a deep breath.
"When giving her own testimony, Kushina mentioned remembering that you seemed a lot more intent on digging into the attacker's identity than you are right now. Do you have any further opinions as to their identity?"
Kushina had been there when she'd accused Obito of being, well, himself, but Kushina had also been on the verge of death, so you could brush a lot a way. And it seems Kushina had, in fact, brushed a lot of it away.
Ugh. She should just commit.
"I'm a lot more willing to take swings at an opponent's mind when I'm not implicating other people alongside them," Seiko says plainly. "I believe that the Hokage even briefly entertained the idea that he was fighting Madara returned from the dead. However, that definitely didn't seem to be true, and I am unwilling to contribute to baseless rumours. There are more than two eye bloodline limits in the world."
There are even more than two specifically red eye bloodline limits.
Shikaku doesn't press her further.
"There's some other matters to address," he says. "Now that you're back out of the hospital."
Seiko tips her head to the side.
"You know, the habit of playing dumb is a lot less charming when it's non-Naras who do it.." Shikaku mumbles. "I'm talking about your promotion. To jounin. For your services to the village."
Genuine shock slips through her.
"You should have been promoted earlier, after you were so successful against the Swordsmen, but I-- and the Hokage--were worried that it seemed like a fluke, and it is always unwise to promote someone based on a single out of character event."
Shikaku is really prone to tacking on 'and the Hokage' after his sentences. Scary. She really understands due to the fact that she'd just finished doing the exact same thing that what he means by that is 'this was my sole judgement, but I expect to be backed up if called on it'.
"It was a fluke," Seiko says immediately. "I'm not reliable in field combat."
He gives her a sardonic look.
"You were reliable enough that the Hokage decided to keep you by his side," he says. "Or are you going to change your statement?"
Seiko closes her mouth.
"That's what I thought. Congratulations, Hatake. I thought I'd warn you ahead of time, so you're not surprised when Mist puts out their new Bingo Book-- we've already got an information leak on their planned title for you."
He pulls out a document and slides it over the desk towards her.
Biter began to wheeze, a forceful breath in and out as his tail beats against her chair.
He's laughing at her.
Even though it's right in front of her, she struggles to read it.
Seiko Hatake, "The Shadow Fang."
Rank: A
Fights alongside summon (dog). Engages as part of a duo with "Black Spider Lily, Ensui Nara". Avoid shadows.
"They just swapped one descriptor out for my dad's title," Seiko says, disbelieving.
"As someone whose father was also in the Ino-Shika-Cho trio," Shikaku says. "You should be lucky that they swapped anything at all."
The Kyuubi's attack on the village, however short, had been brutal.
It hadn't seemed so bad when she'd eventually been escorted back in the dull light of the evening, but everything had come to an abrupt halt when she saw her own house.
There were deep burn marks like claws in her front garden.
The chair that Might Dai had given her had shattered from some sort of blast, and its splinters stuck out at odd, uneven angles from the wood of her porch.
So, even a week later... she's been unable to sit around and look out at the garden. She doesn't..
Gai is a jounin as well, now. He's busy helping other people who lost family, who's entire homes burned down. It's the right thing to prioritize those things over the fact that she came back home and realized her favorite chair got broken.
Seiko shivers suddenly. Hopefully Dai's house didn't get damaged. It's out on the outskirts, which Kurama had largely ignored in favor of trying to damage the heart of the city, but...
She's in no state to walk that far. She doesn't have access to data on civilian housing, if anyone even keeps records of that kind of thing. So she can't go and check.
...
It's a bit early in the morning even for her to go and head over to the Tower for work. She'd tried to stop doing that after Sakumo died because it made Chobee look at her too pitifully and try to feed her too much.
Seiko sits at her dining room table and tries to be happy.
She'd been successful beyond her wildest hopes. Her persistence had been rewarded. Kushina, alive! Minato, alive!
He still hadn't woken up, but still. Alive! Even Obito was still alive, even though she wasn't sure if that was good or not.
..
Nothing. It feels about the same as whenever she gets a promotion. Okay, that's a bad example, she actively hates getting promoted. It feels like when she'd first become a genin.
All that build up, and then, nothing.
And then her dad hadn't even shown up, so at least there was no mood to ruin.
Seiko glances at the shrine at the end of the table and sighs uncomfortably. It's time to move it back upstairs.
It's not like she can't climb stairs with a bad knee. Well, it hurts, but that's not what's wrong with the stairs in her own house. It's just that she'd been halfway up them when she realized Sakumo had died.
So walking up them...
Always feels like walking towards death.
But she'd just been stuck under all that rubble, looking up at Hoheto, and he'd been old. Even though she'd seen him not eight months ago, somehow he'd been nine in her head forever.
Hoheto's 18.
And Seiko..is about to be twice as old as she was when Sakumo died. She's going to have spent more of her life without him than with him. Kakashi's already past that point.
Lips twisting uncomfortably about how maudlin she's getting, Seiko pushes herself up from her seat and starts carefully gathering up her mother and father's portraits. This isn't going to be only one trip, or she'll drop something.
There's no dust upstairs. Because Gai still goes up here.
Not a single speck of dust on the empty family shrine. She sets up the portraits, realizes she'll have to reset them all anyway because she didn't take the black cloth up first, and sighs.
She ends up sitting on the top of the stairs, looking down.
Just a bit of rest for the knee before she does it again.
The Shadow Fang, huh.
"You like the name?" She asks Biter.
He gives a sharp yip.
"Doesn't it seem like it's referencing you more than it's referencing me? Well, that makes sense. You're the one with the forehead protector and the vest, after all."
He butts his head against her arm.
"A shared name is shared protection? That's a cute sentiment coming from you, Biter."
She hugs him.
"Thanks for agreeing to do that for me with Kurama," she says. Quiet. Conversational. She feels the muscles tense beneath her touch. "Yeah, I know. We're not in any position to talk him down from that much hatred. He just needs to think that there's an easier way to take vengeance than killing him. In some ways it's a much better sell than if Kurama'd been resealed into Kushina-- there's no way she would have survived."
A low growl.
There, at the top of the stairs, Seiko starts to laugh.
"Isn't that going to make Minato live a miserable life?" She says, voice soft. "Wouldn't death be better? Well, that's the thing, Biter. It won't be better for my brother, now, will it?"
She looks behind her down the hallway.
"We've all got to make sacrifices. I only helped him live through his."
Kabuto's there, ducked behind a desk when she steps into work, eyes large behind his glasses.
It's an oddly familiar pose, but it takes a while for her to make the connection. Slowly, her gaze sweeps past him out towards the Academy.
"Popular with the girls, Kabuto?" She says, helplessly amused. That's right, this had happened to Asuma.
"No," Kabuto bites out. "I don't get along with the rest of them. They don't understand anything."
Is he getting bullied?
Presumably not physically, or he'd already have made them regret that.
But still... he's a smart kid, he'd know enough to be able to blend in and not stand out. What on earth would have made them target him?
"I can have a word with the teachers," Seiko says, even though she's already expecting the strong shake of the head she gets from him.
"It's nothing," Kabuto says. "This place is better for doing actual work anyway."
Well, it's not something she'll unravel with one conversation. Seiko settles into her seat and waits for the jittering in her wrist to subside a bit. The academy's promotion cycle won't result in more genin for a few more months, so a small break at least on that side of it while she works through the ripple effects of Kurama's rampage.
So it's to be expected that she's immediately interrupted by the same man she'd just been reminded of.
Asuma peers in through the door before strolling in, hands tucked into his pockets and a cigarette in his mouth. Wow, grown up enough to start ruining Seiko's lungs with that shit.
"Ah, Seiko!" He says. "Back on duty?"
He's been really trying to act like she doesn't remember when he was four and had a very ugly haircut lately.
"Young master Sarutobi," Seiko sighs, and watches him do a full body flinch. "What an honor."
He puts out the cigarette incredibly fast, a mortified flush crawling up his neck.
"The one advantage of the old man being retired is that no one uses that anymore. Please don't."
Seiko shrugs.
"How can I help you?"
His eyes trace over Kabuto behind the desk and then clearly dismiss him as a security leak, which is a huge mistake.
"Oh, you know," Asuma says. "I'm thinking maybe it's time for me to take an extended break from Konoha. Go see the world."
"You don't need a direct mission from the main desk to do that. We're in peacetime, after all. You could just leave."
Even though it would be considered irresponsible. He wouldn't be declared a missing nin or anything.
Asuma slowly shakes his head.
"I want it to be an official thing, so I can't be called back. I've already done my own research, more or less. Did you know the Fire Daimyo is hiring?"
That is a respectable thing for someone who really doesn't want to be in Konoha to be doing. But why on earth is he doing it now?
"I'm sure we have a letter from the Daimyo around here somewhere saying that," Seiko says. Not somewhere. She'd marked it so that she could find it if Asuma ever asked for it. Though, she'd thought he'd stay in the village for a few more years..
He's just a little too desperate during a time when nothing is wrong. He hasn't even had any loud fights with his father that have made it through the gossip chain lately. And his mother just died.
She feels his eyes on her as she fumbles around for the sealed scroll and pulls it out for him.
"Seiko," Asuma starts again.
So he had deliberately come here to tell her something.
"Yes?"
"I've been hearing some weird stuff, since the Hokage is still unconscious. People talking about picking another candidate while he recovers. People asking about if being a jinchuuriki should disqualify you from the position."
Seiko slowly looks up at him. Back when it had been Orochimaru and Minato competing for the spot, Asuma had not even been a candle. He's still not really a candle now-- he's what? 14? And he doesn't have the power or the reputation to go with his bloodline. But...
"I think it'll be good for everyone if I'm out of the village for a bit." Asuma says. "I'd been considering this for a while anyway, so it only makes sense, right?" He laughs awkwardly. "I'm starting to get why Jiraiya's never here..."
She doesn't want Danzo to start feeling both like he has a chance and that he has competition.
"The young master is wise," Seiko says, and Asuma groans.
"Gods, Seiko! I'm really sorry I was a brat when I was five! I barely remember any of that! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Yakumi comes to work one day and just keeps looking at Seiko and then looking back down and then looking back up.
"What?"
Yakumi spills some ink over herself and curses.
".. Seiko," she says.
Very ominous way to start a sentence.
"Yes?"
"Do you have any idea why my Clan Head would want to talk to you?"
Both Seiko and Biter suddenly look over at her in unison.
"Does he want to talk to me," Seiko says.
Yakumi scowls.
"I don't know. He's not willing to come in here to talk to you, or to make a formal request or anything, but he's been sort of in his own way implying that he wants to talk to you. I think."
Seiko stares up at the ceiling.
"I already did go to visit his office last year. He can't pay a house visit?"
Yakumi bites her lip.
"The main desk is a very public place compared to the Uchiha Police headquarters."
It is. And the last time Fugaku had dropped by had been incredibly annoying. He was overly self conscious, incredibly ambitious, and saw the youth of his own clan as a sign that the Uchiha Clan was fated to rise. A terrible combination of personality traits to have.
"It's either here or at my house," Seiko says. "He's welcome to drop by. Or send someone."
Yakumi sighs.
"I'll... convey that."
"Sorry you have to deal with this, Yakumi."
Yakumi shakes her head.
"It's important," she says. Her eyes shift around, low and uneasy. "You know, the last time the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, it was at Madara's side. Under his command, maybe."
Seiko knows.
"It's impossible for any of us to do something like that," Yakumi mutters. "Everyone knows it. But... Do you think our Clan Head will ever publicly say that the Uchiha are too weak to achieve such a feat?"
Never.
Nono meets her at the door to the orphanage.
She's not wearing her glasses, and Seiko finally makes the connection back to Kabuto.
"Eyesight suddenly improved?" Seiko asks.
Nono gives Seiko a half smile.
"These things come and go," she says. "I've officially retired."
Seiko steps inside, Biter at her heels.
"Congratulations," Seiko says. "But what's the occasion that you wanted me over here for, then. Unless this is to nag about my regular hospital visits."
"I don't nag," Nono says, smile sharpening. "I merely inquire. And besides, with Kabuto keeping an eye on you, you could cut your visits to be even further apart and lose nothing."
"So, how is Kabuto doing at--"
Seiko blinks as there's an almost scuffle of small feet behind Nono before Yamato bursts out onto the scene, nearly sprinting before he skids to a halt in front of her.
"Lady Hatake!"
Seiko has a full body flinch while Nono very clearly fails to muffle a laugh beside her.
"Hi, Yamato," she says. "It's just Seiko."
He looks so downcast.
"Lady Seiko," he mumbles. "Thank you so much for when you came to talk to me. I asked one of the Uchiha how I was supposed to address you, and--"
Ah.
"The Uchiha are a very formal clan," Seiko says. "I don't need to do all that stuff, since it's just me and my brother."
He looks upset.
"But I'm glad you put in such an effort," Seiko hastily tacks on. "Thank you."
Narrow avoidance of making a seven year old cry. Another victory for jounin Seiko Hatake.
Yamato takes a deep breath and continues what he was going to say before she unbalanced him.
"I'm going to be attending the Academy in a couple of months," he says, words practically slamming together as he speeds through something he'd clearly rehearsed in advance. "Instead of going directly to genin."
He stalls out.
"That's great," Seiko says sincerely. "You know, I didn't graduate until I was eight myself, and I would have preferred to stay even longer."
"You..." She's thrown him off course again. "Then why didn't you?"
Why hadn't she?
Seiko tries to remember what she'd been thinking. It feels like such an odd and hazy place, the vague memories she still has of a world without pain. Surely it can't actually have been like that, right? But no, it really had been. She'd... wanted to graduate before Kakashi did. Just to prove that she could do it. Was that really it?
"There was a war on," Seiko says vaguely. "I hope that the Academy spends more time with all of its students now that it has some breathing room. I'm sure you can learn a lot."
Yamato nods rapidly.
"So I wanted to ask," he says, voice dropping even quieter. "I've been... I mean, I sometimes remember... Orochimaru's genin, is she alright?"
Seiko looks over Yamato's head to Nono, who gives a slight shrug. If she's got info she's not telling. Great.
"She's...alive," Seiko says. "I'll see if I can find out more."
Ensui might know. Or.. No, it's a T&I jurisdiction thing, right. So Inoichi Yamanaka unless he's actually retired the way he's been saying he's going to for close to a year. She doesn't know him well, though. She'd ask Minato, but...
Seiko slowly tilts her head to the side.
Couldn't she ask Kakashi to look into it? Her little brother isn't incompetent when it comes to stuff like this.
"Yeah," Seiko says. "It might take a bit of time."
Nono raises an eyebrow at her.
"That's wonderful to hear," she says. "Yamato, I think you shouldn't mention that Seiko is looking into that until she actually manages to find her, yes? Let's have it be a surprise for the others."
Yamato nods firmly, looking almost offended that Nono had to say it.
"I'll be quiet," he says. "Thank you again. I mean it. I'm sorry that I had to ask you for something else..."
Seiko carefully reaches up a shaking hand and places it on his head. She'd kneel, but she's trying to come across as reasonably adult. And reasonable adults don't do things that will result in them hurting their knees and then embarrassingly grabbing onto a kid to get back to their feet.
Probably.
"I'm really glad," she says. "That you're still brave enough to ask for things you want. You should give lessons to most of the people I know."
"Starting with you, Seiko?" Nono says. She's still smiling.
Biter knocks his head against her hip. Hey. Now they're ganging up on her.
"I never said I was brave," she says.
She does remember a bit of what she'd been like before Chiyo Poisontongue got to her. Is the thing. Is it more painful to think that her memories of painlessness are truly illusory because she'd had problems before then? Her mother had already died, and she'd been the one who was carrying Kakashi at the funeral. Sakumo had handed him to her at the grave and then not taken him back until everything was over.
For a two year old, he'd been very heavy.
Talking to Hoheto seems to have knocked loose all kinds of memories she'd prefer not to have.
"I'll offer you the same deal I offered Anko," Seiko says, voice idle. "Do well in the Academy and I'll make your first ever job a C rank."
His eyes light up.
"I'll work hard," he promises.
"Don't work too hard," Seiko says. "I think twelve is a good age to be a genin."
Much better than six.
...
Gods, is she really still going to be at the desk in another five years?
"SEIKO-SAN!"
Seiko looks up from her desk, startled for a second as Gai's image overlaps with his dads. The kid's hitting a growth spurt. She slides the scrolls she'd marked out for Iruka and Hayato's genin teams whenever they drop by in the coming weeks into their correct storage seals.
She'd been trying to teach Chobee her storage system and he just kept laughing blankly and ignoring her-- ah, she's ignoring Gai.
"Hi, Gai," Seiko says. "Need something?"
"Only victory over My Rival!" Gai says cheerfully. "But that shall only be granted through Hard Work and Persistence." A slight darkness seems to fall across his face. "I only wish I could have contributed more during the Kyuubi's attack. I am not accustomed to being sent to evacuate, rather than remain..."
Minato's choice to have everyone below a certain age, regardless of rank, forced to remain away from the fighting was the firmest declaration he could possibly make that he didn't want his era to be one where kids under thirteen were sacrificed. As a decision, it was very controversial, but mostly controversial with the ninja kids kept out of the fight. She'd never once heard an older ninja speak up against it.
Both because loudly protesting the Hokage was very inappropriate and because people liked the conscious reminder that they weren't on wartime footing.
Poor Kakashi, always just too young for everything except the one war he lost two friends and an eye in.
"Next time it'll be your turn to protect the younger generation," Seiko says. She consciously cranes her neck up. "Also, are you planning on beating Kakashi in height as well as prowess?"
Gai almost bounces on his toes.
"I am already taller than My Rival!" He announces, incredibly loudly. "This is the product of Spring Training!"
Incredible.
"I see," Seiko says.
"Indeed." Gai gives a very firm nod. "Though I have also come to you due to a slight problem. I must consult with you! I am sorry to have come to talk about personal matters while you are Working, but my own missions seem to be very numerous these days!"
She's pretty sure he's been trained as ANBU entourage for the Hokage, which is a no doubt fascinating process.
"You wouldn't believe how many people come to me at the desk to talk about their personal matters," Seiko says honestly. "But anyway, of course I have time for you."
Is it something about Kakashi?
"I am looking to go on a journey to the Spirit World to find my Summon Animal," Gai says. "I am aware that doing it this way is Dangerous, but I know it's the right path for me. Do you have any advice?"
Biter looks up from his spot underneath the desk.
"I think you're more suited than most to the task," Seiko says slowly. "Because you are straightforward, honest, and goodhearted, you will be drawn to animals that share your own characteristics, and the most danger will simply be spirited duels. The warnings for such a journey are for people who don't understand themselves, or people whose hearts are fragile and bitter."
She'd actually struggled a lot simply getting to Biter, even when her mother had literally escorted her there.
The grasslands had been endless, the air had been freezing cold, and the sun had never once risen. Ghostly howls in the distance.
"You have such faith in me," Gai says, tears pouring forth from him for a second before he dramatically wipes them away. "I see! I shall depart confidently!"
She stares at him.
"Gai," she says. Slowly. Almost rustily. "While you're here. Is Kakashi... doing well?"
She doesn't tend to ask after Kakashi. At all.
Gai hesitates.
"Seiko-san,"
Oh, no.
"Yes?"
"I believe he has gotten into another fight with your valiant teammate, Hoheto Hyuuga."
Seiko pauses, baffled.
"Again?"
"They are both assigned to guard and assist the esteemed Lady Uzumaki," Gai says carefully. "And yet, only one of them was present the night of the Kyuubi's attack."
Seiko nearly buries her head in her hands.
"Gai," she says. "It's peacetime. Why do I have more problems than ever?"
Silence for a second.
She looks up to meet his eyes, and sees him consciously restraining himself from saying something that might hurt her. He'd done that even when he was younger, and he does it more now: he's stronger so he's more aware of how delicate most people really are.
"You can speak freely."
"You don't have more problems," Gai says carefully. "You have more ability to care than you used to. So things that you previously ignored are now things you think you should solve. It is an admirable sign of your strength! I still have much to aspire to!"
Seiko goes still for a second, before sighing.
"It's not such a good thing, having such a clear look at the heart as you do," she says. "Being understanding of why people hurt you doesn't make it hurt less. And you hang out with my brother all the time."
Gai smiles at her.
"It is because My Rival is a bright and shining beacon that I am able to be like this!" He says, teeth a brilliant white in his grin. "With the sharingan, he sees through the actions of people! Thus, with my heart, I must see through the thoughts! Every loss to his talent brings me closer to victory."
...
"Just like every loss to your swordsmanship brought me inspiration," Gai says.
Seiko blinks slowly. Does he..want to do that? Again?
"I'm sure you've far surpassed my taijustu," she says. "You've worked hard."
"If I want to gain victory," Gai repeats to her, "It's not enough to work hard. I need to work harder than you, Seiko-san! I need to work harder than my father, harder than My Rival, harder than the Hokage, harder than the Kyuubi itself! That's how much farther I have to go."
"The Eight Gates will take you very far down that road," Seiko says.
Gai shakes his head.
"I don't want that kind of victory," he says, voice steadier than it's ever been. "I need to work hard enough that I won't ever even need the Gates at all."
Oh.
Seiko glances down at Biter, who nods and springs up, his paws landing on either of Gai's shoulders as he licks a giant smear down Gai's face.
Biter wags his tail.
"That's a scent marker for the rest of the Dogs that stay in the spirit realm," Seiko says. "One of them will come to escort you and aid you should you need it."
Gai stares at her, eyes wide.
"You won't need it," Seiko says. "But since you wanted some reassurance."
Biter gives another sharp bark.
Is that even allowed?
"Biter says," Seiko says. "If you're lost, go north."
"This is more than I ever..." Gai says, for the first time she's ever seen him without words.
"You are going to have to be unthinkably powerful, to do all that and not use the Gates," Seiko says. "Better get started, yeah? And summons are useful. You can pass them down to your genin, to your kids. It's a generational link."
Gai swallows before meeting her eyes.
"You mentioned, once," he says, voice slow. "What a peaceful world was going to look like. How long this era would last."
She had said something about that.
"I gave it a little less than fifteen more years from now," Seiko says.
Gai's fists clench.
"I'll make it be longer than that," he says to her. "I'm going to fight to make it longer than that!"
Isn't that an oxymoron? But she does understand.
"Peace really gives you something to lose, doesn't it?" Seiko says. She remembers the short gap between the 2nd and the 3rd War, though she knows that Gai doesn't, really.
"It gives me something to protect," Gai says.
Seiko feels her shoulders ache, an unusual location for her as she rarely carries heavy things. The problem, like always, is that she doesn't even know what's worth protecting.
"Good luck," Seiko says.
A/N: you know, this is officially the longest single work ive ever written
