Jonen C
F.M.D.G.
- Location
- Lincopense, Ostrogothia, Suecia
Last she was mentioned, she was still a genin and missing.
Fallow Fields [Naruto SI]
- Thread starter zarinthel
- Start date
- Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I don't think that Seiko is anywhere near Meti's sword skills just yet. But the vibe is certainly there.
Somehow this chapter and your paragraph reminded me of the line from snuff: if I can change I hope I never know.
So much juice! Also I love Danzo's brilliant master plan is burning deep deep deep cover agents on a stupid suicide attack, classic danzo.
- Location
- Leeds
Danzo, the man with a plan. As in only one plan.
Its stupid but it works more often than you'd expect.
Guile
Having a really great time right now
Danzo: "If it's stupid and it works, is it stupid?"
Seiko: "Yeah."
Danzo: "Shut up."
They healed her ears this very chapter
Seiko: "Yeah."
Danzo: "Shut up."
Don't be silly wardragon
They healed her ears this very chapter
Hey, even McClellan, Haig, and Santa Anna had plans. I can respect Danzo for joining them in the ranks of exceedingly effective killers.
And nothing else.
(Pay no mind to such trivialities as who, where, how many, and so forth)
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- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
I will (very) begrudgingly grant McClellen credit for rebuilding the Union Army, but calling him effective implies intent which that paranoid fool lacked.
I'm aware. That whole screed was intended to be sarcastic mockery about idiots who got many people (including their own side) pointlessly killed, which is why I stuck that tiny little footnote about "who, where, how many" in at the end.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Ah, see my confusion is that Danzo got a lot of people killed (both actively and passively), but aside from that team he sent after Akatsuki none of them were people he considered "on his side".
I'm less aware of Haig and Santa Anna's careers aside from general reputation.
...oh wait, You mean Earl Haig! I was thinking of Kissinger's sidekick.
Poisontongue (add an n in 'tongue' there)
True enough, and a large part of why I dislike Danzo; his ability to accurately discern who is and is not on his side is completely out of whack.
Santa Anna was tossed in there because the relation to Danzo in this case is an otherwise-competent man whose devotion to promoting himself screws him hard when it arguably shouldn't have. He arguably had the competence - it wasn't enough to keep his ego in check.
In my mind Earl Haig shares an important quality with Danzo - a complete unwillingness to change strategy and stop demanding other people die for his ideal. The only thing that keeps Danzo's body count lower (if it is indeed lower) is that he was trained as a ninja whereas Haig was a social general, and is thus better at surgical strikes and information gathering. They both have similar views on what an "ideal soldier" should be and how their blood should be spent, despite the different contextual frameworks.
McClellan's refusal to ever tolerate or engage with a potentially superior foe, Santa Anna's insistence on "self first" to his own detriment, and Haig's obsession with "my way or the highway to hell" - that's how I see Danzo.
Maybe Kabuto will manage it just in time for her to avenge him and kill Danzo.
- Location
- Norway
You hear that Hoheto. Your spring time is approaching.
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A bit out of left field but I never get why most fits with kurama never mention that he I functionally an enslaved being. They always seem to go the "evil fox demon who gets tamed by [insert character here]" route
it's really hard to be sympathetic for Kurama when we know he was going around slaughtering people even before he got sealed.
True but name one ninja in naruto who hasn't realistically murdered someone? Everyone in at least one piece of naruto fiction has gotten turned into a nicer character or have their atrocities hand waved.
Also slavery is not a good punishment for mass murder.
- Location
- USA
What been done to him is horrible, but it's not like they can let him out when his first action is very likely to be more mass murder.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Arguably Naruto himself? I struggle to think of any character he actually killed.
Guess that's protagonist privilege for ya
I looked it up once, apparently Naruto has killed one traitor Suna nin and that's it.Arguably Naruto himself? I struggle to think of any character he actually killed.
Guess that's protagonist privilege for ya
The fun thing about Kurama is that he's technically a net force of nebulous good, that constantly does his best to make the number of super powered killers and total amount of malice in the world go down. 👍He also used to be an equal opportunity destroyer internationally, and didn't focus on beating down and one specific location until Hashirama and Madara pulled up.
The main problem with most protags and other powerful people in verse is that they 1. like being super powered killers 2. like not being dead 3. like that they can use him to be better at 1 and 2.
Banger chapter though. Didn't expect Kabuto's stuff, but it was sweet. Danzo's awfully bold playing fuck-fuck games. Hope Seiko sends Minato/Fugaku after his ass when Minato wakes up.
Hope Seiko, holds on to her grudge and maybe tries to organically deal with/work at it over a long time.
The main problem with most protags and other powerful people in verse is that they 1. like being super powered killers 2. like not being dead 3. like that they can use him to be better at 1 and 2.
Banger chapter though. Didn't expect Kabuto's stuff, but it was sweet. Danzo's awfully bold playing fuck-fuck games. Hope Seiko sends Minato/Fugaku after his ass when Minato wakes up.
Hope Seiko, holds on to her grudge and maybe tries to organically deal with/work at it over a long time.
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I hope someone punches Danzou super hard. All of these incidents have his grubby nasty hands all over. Really hoping Seiko manages to get someone onto the rebuilding issues Uchiha are having before Danzou makes another attempt. Now I wonder if he's gonna try to go after Minato given his post-Kurama changes.
Anyhow! What a fun chapter, I really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing!! ^♡^
Anyhow! What a fun chapter, I really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing!! ^♡^
Chapter Nineteen: Courage
Seiko stares out at Itachi's genin team and tries not to frown.
Yuki Minazuki is an unassuming jounin with short dark hair and a vague nod to a goatee, and the smile on his face is incredibly forced while two of the genin on his team push at each other and bicker while Itachi, incredibly short compared to his peers, just stands in silence.
It's honestly...she'd been there when they'd submitted prospective jounin-sensei, and she'd tried to get this guy off the list. He seems remarkably underqualified to lead anyone, he has a record of saying that genin aren't ready and having them put back in the academy, and he doesn't have any notable battle achievements. Maybe she should have pushed harder, but out of context, putting kids back into the academy isn't actually something she's against...
She can't believe Fugaku let this happen. She can't believe Shikaku let this happen.
"You guys ready for your first mission?" She says, and gets the other two genin to at least abandon their argument in favor of staring at her with wide puppy eyes.
"I am ready, Lady Hatake," Itachi says crisply.
Is that shade against his team?
"We are all ready," Yuki says, a bit snappy.
She pushes a D rank forwards and watches the entire team eye it unhappily, united in thinking that they deserve a C.
Are they going to be brave enough to ask?
Just as Itachi reaches for the task, stone faced and diligent, one of the others-- Tenma, speaks faster, hands clenched at his sides.
"Don't just take it, Itachi! Can't your bad personality ever be useful for anything!? Tell her we want a C!"
Itachi's hand stops, inches away from the scroll.
At a speed invisible to his fellow genin, his eyes flick between Yuki and her, clearly reluctant to take any further action before an adult speaks up.
But when neither of them speaks, he finally opens up his mouth.
"Shisui did D ranks," he says, voice soft.
Did Fugaku complain about that years later to the point where Itachi would have heard about it? Is he going to take her still handing them off to Itachi as a sign of something. The fact that she's trying to keep one of the most annoying men in Konoha alive is a personal joke at her expense.
"He did, and they were good for him," Seiko says.
"Who the hell is Shisui?" Tenma snaps.
Seiko ignores him and looks back at their useless teacher. Why didn't this guy die in the 3rd war.
"I look forward to seeing your progress," She says.
Yuki takes a small step back.
"Yes..." He mutters. "Come along, everyone. There's no need to linger."
Itachi still looks back, though.
It's Fugaku's fault, and also bad luck. If he'd simply stayed in the Academy for another few years, there would be plenty of opportunities for Itachi to meet better people.
Ruining your child's life for prestige. It's not even for honor.
The call of the Thunder God's Seal on her arm actually comes later than she'd thought.
Months have passed, and no one had ever called her back in to re-testify, so what's the point of calling on her now? The Hokage doesn't generally need to talk to his open supporters in secret.
But within one second and the next, Minato appears in front of her while she's sitting inside her own house, and with him, Jiraiya the Toad Sage.
He looks like he's had a bad year. To be fair, so does Minato. In place of showing his full face, Minato has taken to wearing a mask similar to Kakashi's that covers his mouth, concealing most of the changes wrought by his near death experience. Well, not exactly like Kakashi's. Minato's is white.
"Hokage, Lord Jiraiya," Seiko says politely. "Welcome to my home."
She doesn't think either of them have ever been here before.
The only thing that still remains on her table downstairs instead of in its proper location in the upstairs shrine is the picture of her, Hoheto, and Kiyomu. She'd kept a stick of incense for Kiyomu, but he was always a forgiving person. He won't mind the longer wait to be put with the rest.
Both of the people in front of her seem less interested in the picture frame than in the rest of the room.
There's nothing to see, though. Seiko doesn't tend to decorate.
"Seiko-chan!" Jiraiya says, still trying for a brightness of spirit. "It's been a long time since our last meeting, hasn't it?"
He pulls out a chair at her table and sits down across from her, while also getting a seat out for Minato at the same time.
Biter gives a disdainful sniff.
"More than a year," Seiko says.
She looks over at Minato, used to him doing everything possible to smooth over a bad conversational flow, but he stays silent even as he takes the seat Jiraiya had offered.
"...And it's good to see you awake," Seiko adds, slightly worried. "I apologize for not coming to visit."
There's such an odd look in Minato's eyes.
And then he opens his mouth.
"No need to. Apologize."
Huh?
Instead of Kurama's voice, Seiko can vaguely make out a near constant seal activation emerging from the mask, doing its absolute best to convert the growling tones of the nine tailed fox into something much more Minato-ish. It doesn't appear to be very good at distinguishing or communicating tone, though.
Even so, it's still a genius level technique all on its own.
"I don't give genuine apologies very often," Seiko says. "You should accept it."
That makes them both laugh.
The seal doesn't convert laughter, making it a very creepy type of thing to hear, and Minato cuts himself off quickly.
She hadn't wanted to sacrifice laughter in exchange for his survival, so she really had meant the apology. Even though it's not a regrettable action.
But with pleasantries out of the way, she's now stuck with the Hokage and his spymaster.
"Seiko-chan," Jiraiya says again, voice soft. "You had quite a lot of suspicions about the mysterious assailant who dared to control the Nine Tails."
Seiko nods.
Even though she hadn't been able to sense them before Minato had appeared, she trusts that Jiraiya will have already gone to quite the effort to safeguard her house from prying ears. Though Biter does that already.
"I did," she says.
"In fact," Jiraiya says, eyes unreadable. "You acted quite out of character, inviting yourself along to guard Kushina. I've asked quite a lot of people about you, Seiko-chan. The Hatake clan head does not often leave Konoha's wide streets."
Seiko blinks. She hadn't thought he'd be asking her about that part of it.
"Yes," she says slowly. "I specifically asked the Hokage if I could accompany Kushina."
Jiraiya beams at her.
"Why'd you do that?"
She really doesn't think he has any malice towards her at all. Of course, he's a Sage. So would he really even bear malice towards his enemies?
"I thought she might die," Seiko says.
Minato's eyes lock onto her.
"Why." He says, even though the words are locked into one monotone. It's okay. She can hear his sincerity. "Did you think. That."
She's not being given a lot of time to come up with reasons for things today, is she? It's sad how well trained people aren't satisfied when you answer their queries with facts they already know.
The truth isn't important here. Drawing connections to relevant things is important. Didn't Danzo prove that just the other month?
"My brother," Seiko says, "Has a sharingan eye."
She knows that Jiraiya does not like her way of talking. It's unfortunate that her first encounter he asked her to do her party trick and tell him things he didn't want to hear, so now whenever he hears her he has to remember that she's someone who tells him things that he won't want to hear.
It would be good if she could tell him good things, but she isn't someone who tells people good things. He should talk to Gai.
"We know that," Jiraiya says, still staying patient with her. "Everyone knows that, even other villages."
"It constantly hurts him because it is too powerful," Seiko says, deciding to stare at the wall behind Jiraiya instead of directly at him. Looking people in the eye is annoying. "I of course don't believe that my brother is a liar, and so think everything that happened when Obito died happened exactly as he said it did. However-- how could someone with an eye that powerful die from being buried in rock?"
Minato freezes a little bit.
"It doesn't make sense," Jiraiya says softly.
"If it were Kakashi who was half buried," Seiko says, straightforward. "He would have lived."
"But Obito was not the genius that your brother is," Jiraiya points out, playing Devil's Advocate to the last.
Seiko rolls her eyes.
"You aren't the genius that Orochimaru is," she says. "I think you would have lived."
"Hey," Jiraiya says. He doesn't seem that offended, though. Rather, directly comparing Obito to himself seems to have finally sparked some vague ideas of his own.
"So, this explains why you thought it might have been plausible-- or, at least, within the same realm of speculation of Madara coming back from the dead-- that the assailant was, in fact, Minato's student. But, Seiko-chan, why did you initially think Kushina was in danger?"
He's really not letting her avoid this, is he? Can't he just let it go?
She'd somewhat implied that the idea 'this guy might be Obito' was something she thought after seeing him. Instead of something she'd thought before hand. Because that would, truly, be difficult to understand.
But then, why was she so afraid?
What truth can she tell him that will make him so unhappy that he'll accept it even if it doesn't explain anything?
"I think there are people within the village who want her dead," Seiko says. "So, it wasn't unreasonable for me to think that she might be targeted when she was most vulnerable. However, the threat turned out to be external."
Minato is in front of her in an instant, eyes burning into hers, hand on her shoulder.
"Who."
'If I knew that, I would tell you'.
She can't say that. That's a lie. She does know.
'People who would be happy if Kushina died'. Obito would kill her and not even be happy about it. Danzo would be happy. Orochimaru would love to have more Uzumaki bloodlines as test subjects.
Is that enough of an angle? The Uzumaki bloodline?
Actually... can't she blame some of this on Orochimaru? That's useful. She's already known to be someone suspicious and prone to looking into Orochimaru's things.
"I was looking into some of the lingering results of Orochimaru's research of cell injection into young children," Seiko says. If by 'looking into' she means checking up on the children and making sure they aren't being re-kidnapped into ROOT.
Now Jiraiya's unhappy for a different reason.
"Oh?" He says. No more Seiko-chans, it seems. "I thought we failed to find anything successfully done to them."
"Not successfully," Seiko decides to not throw Yamato under the bus just because she's dealing with some annoyances. "But one of the older ones told me that some of the children who died showed signs of making plants and wood grow. Which is also the other half of what the mysterious assailant managed after his eye was removed."
Now she's under quite a lot of focused attention.
"You thought there was a risk of Orochimaru targeting Kushina and the baby," Jiraiya says. "That fucking snake."
"A very miniscule, minor risk," Seiko says fast.
"Do you think. Orochimaru. Healed. Obito." Minato says next, his mind working even faster and further ahead than Jiraiya.
No, she doesn't think that because she knows Obito was healed through even more bizarre means, but why not?
"We are in territory so speculative that I don't feel willing to make claims about it," Seiko says. "There is no proof of even the first step of my logic. I am relying on the hearsay of memory damaged lab raised children."
Minato is still staring at her.
"Do you think." He says. "Obito's memory. Has been damaged."
She fills in the hopeful note that he's been unable to properly convey.
"It's easier to listen to you without the mask," Seiko says.
No response to that one.
Well, turns out she's not the only one who gets to spout baseless speculation that lines up entirely with what would be more convenient if true than what's actually happening. It's much nicer when it's her who's doing it.
"He has a sharingan," Seiko says flatly. "His memory cannot be damaged."
"That's not true," Jiraiya corrects her. "Another, more powerful sharingan user could probably induce memory alterations."
Fascinating that he knows that.
"His sharingan seemed to be more powerful than any within Konoha," Seiko changes her statement. "If there is another sharingan user in addition to him outside of Konoha, it's possible."
"Two powerful sharingan users outside of Konoha.." Jiraiya says, voice dry. He doesn't need to voice how unlikely that is.
But it's depressing to see Minato look so upset.
"Even if it's not memory manipulation, there are lots of other methods of having people act against their loved ones," Seiko suggests carefully.
Minato sighs.
"Jiraiya-sensei," He says, consciously raising his hands and doing seals to give himself an approximation of a whisper. "I think that's enough questions asked of her. Can you. Go on ahead."
Jiraiya also gives his own sigh, hand reaching up to pat Minato on the shoulder but not quite reaching before it falls back down.
"I'll go hang out with my godson," he says, and steps out. "Watch out, Minato! Or else your wife will end up liking me more than you!"
Minato sits in silence for a long time before he takes off the mask.
"Are you sure you prefer listening to me like this?" He says, voice filling the space with a deep snarl.
"Yeah," Seiko says. "You know, I bet you could probably talk directly to Biter, now."
He looks down at her dog.
"Hello, Biter," He says.
He holds out one of his hands and Biter licks it.
"Is that so?" Minato murmurs. "How nice. Thank you."
Biter has always liked Minato. Otherwise, why would he have agreed to help him?
"It's quite something, for such a powerful summon to always exist in this world," Minato says. "I was very proud when I managed to summon Gerotora for a single hour."
"Biter doesn't take up that much energy," Seiko says. Comparable to Kakashi's eye, maybe? "And I'm not a jutsu caster, so the lack of chakra doesn't really affect me."
Biter wags his tail.
"If you say so," Minato says. "Seiko..."
She doesn't know what he's waited to ask her until even Jiraiya isn't around to hear. Unfortunately, she once again has far too many secrets.
"If you met Obito again," Minato says, finally. "Could you convince him to return to Konoha? If I never inquired a single thing about your methods, and turned a blind eye to everything, no matter how unusual."
Seiko stiffens.
"...You didn't tell anyone that you tagged him."
Minato smiles at her softly. Regretfully.
"No."
So this is the one secret that she has to keep no matter what.
Such a terrible weight.
Because Minato treasures his student.
Seiko licks her lips, and feels the ache of old pains rattle down through her bones.
"He's already killed Hiruzen's wife," Seiko says. "You still want to try?"
"I will take responsibility for my student's sins."
Seiko drops her hand down to pet Biter's head. Even her hesitation has already given Minato his answer: 'his dream isn't completely impossible, just almost impossible.'
"The longer I go without telling Kakashi about any of this, the more upset with me he's going to be," Seiko says finally. It doesn't really weight her decision either way, it's just... unfortunate.
She can withstand her brother being upset.
"I am sorry," Minato says. "This is my selfish desire."
If she was going to say no, she should have said no already.
"The more selfish you are, the more I want to help you," Seiko says, and laughs at how arrogant she sounds. "If I can help you. I don't... I didn't even consider it before."
She'd already given up on Obito once, after all.
How would anyone convince him to return to Konoha? Aside from the brute force method of Minato forcefully capturing him. Though.. Maybe that would bring its own sort of clarity. But obviously Minato didn't ask for her help for something he could accomplish on his own.
Well, even if it really is impossible.
It's the type of thing worth trying.
...
She does have some ideas.
"...Can you give me a couple of months," Seiko says, staring up at her ceiling. "To think about it. Maybe more than a couple of months."
"You have until he next attacks the village," Minato says.
Around five more years? That's a bit too long. She's planning to retire by then.
She'd really thought she was done having unexpected meetings for the entire year. But three months later, and there's still more stuff crashing into her.
"You're...one of Hoheto's cousins, right?" She's pretty sure this woman is also a branch member. Actually, should she have guessed Hoheto's aunt? But the woman seems relatively young. And it's way better to guess cousin and be wrong. Honestly, she seems like she could be a very, very distant cousin indeed. Maybe she's married into the clan...what would you even call that? Cousin-in-law? At that point it's all cousins.
The lady gives her a stiff nod, which could mean anything. She clasps her hands together and bows.
"I've been sent to invite you to dine with our Clan Head at your earliest convenience."
This is already more polite than Fugaku was about everything, but a lot more confusing. Aside from helping out Hoheto, she's not actually involved with the Hyuuga at all.
"...I've got a hospital check up next week," Seiko says, struggling to remember her own schedule. "So. Week after that is fine."
Should she invite Kakashi to this one, too?
"Lady Hatake," the woman says again.
She still doesn't like it when people use that address.
"Yes?"
"Is your arm...alright?"
She always forgets that the Hyuuga can actually see what's wrong with her. Since Hoheto never brings it up.
"It's actually much better than it used to be," Seiko says.
This actually makes the woman more, and not less worried.
"I... see," she says. "Then, thank you for your time."
Having a formal dinner sounds like something with no positives and only downsides, and she's definitely going to drop some of their nice tea cups.
Biter nudges against her.
"You want a new outfit?" Seiko says, almost incredulous. "You got an outfit for Kushina's wedding!"
He paws at her.
"Well, that's right. This is Hoheto's pack, so it is different, isn't it?"
She waits another few minutes before bringing her next point up.
"It's not because Pakkun has been bragging that Kakashi outfitted his entire team of summons is it? We aren't having the world's most stupid bragging dispute between you and a chihuahua sized pug?"
Biter gives her a deeply indignant look. A woeful, how could you say that to me look. With his huge, sad eyes.
"That's what I thought," Seiko says.
Her next big idea for Ensui is figuring out how to convince someone to build a bench directly across the street from the store where she does her grocery shopping. So she's got a better spot to take a break.
Just something she thinks about whenever she's here.
Instead of having to get her dress custom made this time around, the shop she'd been to last time has several of the slash-sleeved variants in stock.
"That's convenient," Seiko says slowly.
"Yes!"
The tailor cheerfully points to a sign at the window that declares that they made a garment for the Hokage's wedding.
Well, it's not like having more of the only style she can wear is a bad thing.
Second chore out of the way, she walks towards her house under the warm setting sun, arms slightly trembling from the foolish decision to carry a grocery bag in one hand and a clothes bag in the other. She's going to definitely drop one or both of them by the time she gets home.
Oh, there it--
A hand deftly snatches her fallen bag before it hits the ground.
"Can I help you with that?" Shisui Uchiha asks, voice filled with a soft lilt as if he's laughing at a joke that only he knows.
He's grown up a bit since the last time she saw him. He must be... ten? Eleven?
Has it really been that long? Maybe he's a tall eight year old. No, that doesn't seem right either.
Seiko rubs a hand across her face, annoyed by the reminder of her own bad memory.
"You already did," she says. "Hello, Shisui."
"Hi!"
He falls into step with her, obvious in his intent to walk with her all the way to her house.
"Do you want to hold the other one as well?" Seiko suggests.
So then he gets to carry all of it. She suspects he could probably seal it away for actual complete convenience, but he doesn't.
"Seiko-san," Shisui starts. "I know you and my uncle don't really get along--"
"We've mended bridges," Seiko says.
More or less.
He laughs as if she's told a joke.
"--but I think you're pretty impressive," Shisui says.
He's laying it on kind of thick, isn't he?
"Your uncle would like me better if he thought I was less capable," Seiko says. "Do you need something from me, Shisui?"
It would probably be better to slowly let him talk, but that's his fault for coming to talk to her at sunset after a long day. Her leg hurts.
His eyes shift down awkwardly.
"I..." he says, voice slow. "My mother is in the hospital."
Seiko comes to a stop as she looks at him. She'd thought it would be something to do with the clan, but not this.
"I'm sorry to hear that," she says. "Was she injured..?"
"No, she's... she's a civilian. She just got sick."
Then Seiko is even sorrier to hear it.
"Then?"
Shisui shifts from foot to foot.
"I thought you would know. If anyone did. Do you think Lady Tsunade will come back soon? She can heal anything, right?"
All of the people her age and older are too used to not mentioning Tsunade, and most of the kids Kakashi's age and younger don't even know who she is.
But she supposes being scared and desperate can do a lot to motivate someone to start doing research.
"I don't think she's returning any time soon," Seiko says softly. If she had been, Jiraiya would have tried to use it as leverage during their last conversation. "Are you worried about the quality of care she's receiving?"
Shisui does a good job of not looking bitter.
"There's not a lot of Uchiha med-nin," he says. "I don't... I mean, it shouldn't be important...it's not like her condition is connected to our bloodline..."
All of the medical people Seiko knows are directly connected to Danzo, too.
"Okay," Seiko says, and decides to pass him on to someone else. "So do you know Nono Yakushi? She's currently running an orphanage?"
It's clear he's never heard of her, which is normal.
"She's a retired med-nin," Seiko says. "Very talented. Was in charge of my problems for years. Ask her for a recommendation from the current staff, I'm sure she's kept up with things."
Even if the person who she points out isn't particularly a stand out, the pressure from Nono's recommendation should be enough to alleviate some Uchiha bias. Hopefully.
Shisui stares up at her with wide eyes for a second.
"You can't run off now," Seiko says dryly. "You still have to help me carry that stuff home."
"I found her," Kakashi says immediately, arms crossed as he'd been leaning against a wall while waiting for her to show up outside the Hyuga's compound.
What?
Seiko slowly files through her outstanding problems to figure out which ones Kakashi knows about. Ah.
"You found Anko? That's great."
Kakashi looks away.
"It wasn't that hard. They're just really worried about that seal she's got on her. Not so much of if it's going to kill her, but whether Orochimaru can use it to spy through her eyes. So she's still with-- oh, did you know there's going to be a new T&I head soon?"
"He's been saying he's going to retire for over a year."
A baffled look.
"To who? Anyway, Minato-sensei's got both me and Jiraiya looking at the stupid seal now, and I think the seal's fine. Well, it might be a death trap, but not a spy trap, which is what everyone was worried about. And it definitely won't be any sort of trap once we're through with it."
He's talking so fast.
How nostalgic.
"Yamato will be relieved," Seiko says. "The Hokage's got you immediately back to work, Kakashi?"
He slouches a bit more.
"Ah, well," he says. "Just a little."
She waits for him to fill the rest of the sentence with 'unlike you', but he doesn't.
"Well, let's go in," she says.
"I thought..." Kakashi says.
Hm?
"I thought you'd remind me to be polite, or something. Like you did with the Uchiha."
Are they so similar?
"I've got very little respect for Hyuga traditions," Seiko says. "Though, I doubt the Uchiha refrain from doing the same thing due to moral reasons."
Kakashi snorts.
"You don't respect anyone," he says.
"I respect lots of people," Seiko corrects. "Clans aren't people. Alright, that's enough of this."
She knows he's making an annoying gesture behind her back as she makes her painfully slow way into Hoheto's childhood home.
Surely she was less annoying when she was 15.
As long as no one asks Ensui about it.
The lady who'd met her the other day is again here to greet her.
"Hello again," Seiko says. "I didn't catch your name last time."
"It's nothing important, Lady Hatake," the woman says. "I'm Hazako, Hizashi's wife."
Hizashi is... the younger twin, right? So then this is Neji's mother.
"You can just call me Seiko," Seiko says, the mundane correction once again falling out of her mouth. It's getting ingrained into her like another needle, this title. No one was constantly doing this to her when she was nine, even though she had the title then too.
"If you'd like," Hazako says, and doesn't.
"Do you know what the clan wants to talk about?" Seiko says, deciding there's nothing wrong with walking extra slow.
"How could I know something so important?" Hazako says. "I can only guess."
Kakashi rolls his eye beside her, but gives a blank-faced smile when she turns her head to glare at him.
"I'd love to hear your guess," Seiko says.
"...My brother in law is well aware of your long lasting friendship with Hoheto," Hazako says carefully.
That is certainly a description of her and Hoheto's relationship.
"How nice," Seiko says.
"So," Hazako says quietly. "Presumably, my wise brother-in-law seeks to make sure that whatever help you feel obligated to offer your friend and teammate does not extend to other members of the clan. Due to the emergence of the next generation."
"I did hear you had a son recently," Seiko says. "Congratulations."
Hazako blanches.
"Please, don't speak too highly of it," she says. "I am of course referring to Hisashi's own daughter."
"Yes, Hinata," Seiko says easily. "I'm sure she will grow up to be talented as well."
It's not like she'd actually been intending to do anything more than help Hoheto personally from time to time and simply hope he managed to achieve what he wanted. But being pressured like this...
Her eyes slide to her brother, who's gone back to hiding his emotions. But he looks pretty unhappy. Even though he doesn't even like Hoheto.
"What do you think of him?" Seiko asks.
"Of Hoheto?"
"Yes."
"I think he's unlucky."
He'd probably be pissed as hell if she ever said that to his face.
"Unlucky?" Seiko repeats. "Why?"
A lot of people would describe Hoheto as very lucky indeed.
Hazako looks at her straight on for the first time.
"I met his parents. They were hopeful, and they gave that hope to him. That one day he would be a great warrior, a great and important part of Konoha, a respected member of the clan."
"He is quite talented," Seiko says. "And he's managed to reach quite far."
"That's why he is unlucky," Hazako says. "No matter what he does, he cannot stop being a member of the Hyuga clan. So, it's all useless. His only duty is to one day sacrifice himself for something greater."
Having a child doomed to be a branch member must have caused Hazako to have quite a number of thoughts.
"Isn't that true for all ninjas of Konoha?" Seiko suggests.
She can feel Kakashi's gaze drilling a hole in her.
"Is it," Hazako says sadly. "I hope not."
Seiko doubts anything she'll hear from Hisashi is going to be as interesting as what she's getting to listen to right now.
"Hazako," Seiko starts. "You're a retired chunin, right?"
A very startled nod.
"Yes, I retired in order to help raise--"
"Do you have any medical training?"
"... Yes, I'm a trained med-nin."
Yeah, no one who's not would have bothered to comment on Seiko's injuries on first meeting. Not enough context to know how fucked up it is.
"Do you think there are a lot of clan healers?" Seiko asks.
Hazako shakes her head.
"Healing is generally left to non-clan people," she says. "Most bloodlines aren't compatible with it, so any talented clan member would be asked to pursue something more suitable. Not to imply that Lady Tsunade is untalented, but in her case there just wasn't any clan left to ask her to do something else!"
No wonder Danzo's capable of getting so many people in the hospital. He doesn't even have to use up his kekkei genkai users. But it's not like having a good pipeline for non-clan users is bad. She's pretty sure that Tsunade deliberately designed the hospital with that in mind to begin with.
But non-clan are also the most susceptible to rumor campaigns. Due to not having the same amount of information.
"I'd consider it a personal favor," Seiko says. "If you went and checked in on how the Uchiha patients are being treated."
"Just that?"
Kakashi is still staring at her. Unfortunate. Now he gets to watch her be nosy about things that don't concern her at all. It's unfortunate that living in pain for over a decade has not managed to kill this part of her personality.
"Just that," Seiko says. "Ah, looks like we're here."
Yuki Minazuki is an unassuming jounin with short dark hair and a vague nod to a goatee, and the smile on his face is incredibly forced while two of the genin on his team push at each other and bicker while Itachi, incredibly short compared to his peers, just stands in silence.
It's honestly...she'd been there when they'd submitted prospective jounin-sensei, and she'd tried to get this guy off the list. He seems remarkably underqualified to lead anyone, he has a record of saying that genin aren't ready and having them put back in the academy, and he doesn't have any notable battle achievements. Maybe she should have pushed harder, but out of context, putting kids back into the academy isn't actually something she's against...
She can't believe Fugaku let this happen. She can't believe Shikaku let this happen.
"You guys ready for your first mission?" She says, and gets the other two genin to at least abandon their argument in favor of staring at her with wide puppy eyes.
"I am ready, Lady Hatake," Itachi says crisply.
Is that shade against his team?
"We are all ready," Yuki says, a bit snappy.
She pushes a D rank forwards and watches the entire team eye it unhappily, united in thinking that they deserve a C.
Are they going to be brave enough to ask?
Just as Itachi reaches for the task, stone faced and diligent, one of the others-- Tenma, speaks faster, hands clenched at his sides.
"Don't just take it, Itachi! Can't your bad personality ever be useful for anything!? Tell her we want a C!"
Itachi's hand stops, inches away from the scroll.
At a speed invisible to his fellow genin, his eyes flick between Yuki and her, clearly reluctant to take any further action before an adult speaks up.
But when neither of them speaks, he finally opens up his mouth.
"Shisui did D ranks," he says, voice soft.
Did Fugaku complain about that years later to the point where Itachi would have heard about it? Is he going to take her still handing them off to Itachi as a sign of something. The fact that she's trying to keep one of the most annoying men in Konoha alive is a personal joke at her expense.
"He did, and they were good for him," Seiko says.
"Who the hell is Shisui?" Tenma snaps.
Seiko ignores him and looks back at their useless teacher. Why didn't this guy die in the 3rd war.
"I look forward to seeing your progress," She says.
Yuki takes a small step back.
"Yes..." He mutters. "Come along, everyone. There's no need to linger."
Itachi still looks back, though.
It's Fugaku's fault, and also bad luck. If he'd simply stayed in the Academy for another few years, there would be plenty of opportunities for Itachi to meet better people.
Ruining your child's life for prestige. It's not even for honor.
The call of the Thunder God's Seal on her arm actually comes later than she'd thought.
Months have passed, and no one had ever called her back in to re-testify, so what's the point of calling on her now? The Hokage doesn't generally need to talk to his open supporters in secret.
But within one second and the next, Minato appears in front of her while she's sitting inside her own house, and with him, Jiraiya the Toad Sage.
He looks like he's had a bad year. To be fair, so does Minato. In place of showing his full face, Minato has taken to wearing a mask similar to Kakashi's that covers his mouth, concealing most of the changes wrought by his near death experience. Well, not exactly like Kakashi's. Minato's is white.
"Hokage, Lord Jiraiya," Seiko says politely. "Welcome to my home."
She doesn't think either of them have ever been here before.
The only thing that still remains on her table downstairs instead of in its proper location in the upstairs shrine is the picture of her, Hoheto, and Kiyomu. She'd kept a stick of incense for Kiyomu, but he was always a forgiving person. He won't mind the longer wait to be put with the rest.
Both of the people in front of her seem less interested in the picture frame than in the rest of the room.
There's nothing to see, though. Seiko doesn't tend to decorate.
"Seiko-chan!" Jiraiya says, still trying for a brightness of spirit. "It's been a long time since our last meeting, hasn't it?"
He pulls out a chair at her table and sits down across from her, while also getting a seat out for Minato at the same time.
Biter gives a disdainful sniff.
"More than a year," Seiko says.
She looks over at Minato, used to him doing everything possible to smooth over a bad conversational flow, but he stays silent even as he takes the seat Jiraiya had offered.
"...And it's good to see you awake," Seiko adds, slightly worried. "I apologize for not coming to visit."
There's such an odd look in Minato's eyes.
And then he opens his mouth.
"No need to. Apologize."
Huh?
Instead of Kurama's voice, Seiko can vaguely make out a near constant seal activation emerging from the mask, doing its absolute best to convert the growling tones of the nine tailed fox into something much more Minato-ish. It doesn't appear to be very good at distinguishing or communicating tone, though.
Even so, it's still a genius level technique all on its own.
"I don't give genuine apologies very often," Seiko says. "You should accept it."
That makes them both laugh.
The seal doesn't convert laughter, making it a very creepy type of thing to hear, and Minato cuts himself off quickly.
She hadn't wanted to sacrifice laughter in exchange for his survival, so she really had meant the apology. Even though it's not a regrettable action.
But with pleasantries out of the way, she's now stuck with the Hokage and his spymaster.
"Seiko-chan," Jiraiya says again, voice soft. "You had quite a lot of suspicions about the mysterious assailant who dared to control the Nine Tails."
Seiko nods.
Even though she hadn't been able to sense them before Minato had appeared, she trusts that Jiraiya will have already gone to quite the effort to safeguard her house from prying ears. Though Biter does that already.
"I did," she says.
"In fact," Jiraiya says, eyes unreadable. "You acted quite out of character, inviting yourself along to guard Kushina. I've asked quite a lot of people about you, Seiko-chan. The Hatake clan head does not often leave Konoha's wide streets."
Seiko blinks. She hadn't thought he'd be asking her about that part of it.
"Yes," she says slowly. "I specifically asked the Hokage if I could accompany Kushina."
Jiraiya beams at her.
"Why'd you do that?"
She really doesn't think he has any malice towards her at all. Of course, he's a Sage. So would he really even bear malice towards his enemies?
"I thought she might die," Seiko says.
Minato's eyes lock onto her.
"Why." He says, even though the words are locked into one monotone. It's okay. She can hear his sincerity. "Did you think. That."
She's not being given a lot of time to come up with reasons for things today, is she? It's sad how well trained people aren't satisfied when you answer their queries with facts they already know.
The truth isn't important here. Drawing connections to relevant things is important. Didn't Danzo prove that just the other month?
"My brother," Seiko says, "Has a sharingan eye."
She knows that Jiraiya does not like her way of talking. It's unfortunate that her first encounter he asked her to do her party trick and tell him things he didn't want to hear, so now whenever he hears her he has to remember that she's someone who tells him things that he won't want to hear.
It would be good if she could tell him good things, but she isn't someone who tells people good things. He should talk to Gai.
"We know that," Jiraiya says, still staying patient with her. "Everyone knows that, even other villages."
"It constantly hurts him because it is too powerful," Seiko says, deciding to stare at the wall behind Jiraiya instead of directly at him. Looking people in the eye is annoying. "I of course don't believe that my brother is a liar, and so think everything that happened when Obito died happened exactly as he said it did. However-- how could someone with an eye that powerful die from being buried in rock?"
Minato freezes a little bit.
"It doesn't make sense," Jiraiya says softly.
"If it were Kakashi who was half buried," Seiko says, straightforward. "He would have lived."
"But Obito was not the genius that your brother is," Jiraiya points out, playing Devil's Advocate to the last.
Seiko rolls her eyes.
"You aren't the genius that Orochimaru is," she says. "I think you would have lived."
"Hey," Jiraiya says. He doesn't seem that offended, though. Rather, directly comparing Obito to himself seems to have finally sparked some vague ideas of his own.
"So, this explains why you thought it might have been plausible-- or, at least, within the same realm of speculation of Madara coming back from the dead-- that the assailant was, in fact, Minato's student. But, Seiko-chan, why did you initially think Kushina was in danger?"
He's really not letting her avoid this, is he? Can't he just let it go?
She'd somewhat implied that the idea 'this guy might be Obito' was something she thought after seeing him. Instead of something she'd thought before hand. Because that would, truly, be difficult to understand.
But then, why was she so afraid?
What truth can she tell him that will make him so unhappy that he'll accept it even if it doesn't explain anything?
"I think there are people within the village who want her dead," Seiko says. "So, it wasn't unreasonable for me to think that she might be targeted when she was most vulnerable. However, the threat turned out to be external."
Minato is in front of her in an instant, eyes burning into hers, hand on her shoulder.
"Who."
'If I knew that, I would tell you'.
She can't say that. That's a lie. She does know.
'People who would be happy if Kushina died'. Obito would kill her and not even be happy about it. Danzo would be happy. Orochimaru would love to have more Uzumaki bloodlines as test subjects.
Is that enough of an angle? The Uzumaki bloodline?
Actually... can't she blame some of this on Orochimaru? That's useful. She's already known to be someone suspicious and prone to looking into Orochimaru's things.
"I was looking into some of the lingering results of Orochimaru's research of cell injection into young children," Seiko says. If by 'looking into' she means checking up on the children and making sure they aren't being re-kidnapped into ROOT.
Now Jiraiya's unhappy for a different reason.
"Oh?" He says. No more Seiko-chans, it seems. "I thought we failed to find anything successfully done to them."
"Not successfully," Seiko decides to not throw Yamato under the bus just because she's dealing with some annoyances. "But one of the older ones told me that some of the children who died showed signs of making plants and wood grow. Which is also the other half of what the mysterious assailant managed after his eye was removed."
Now she's under quite a lot of focused attention.
"You thought there was a risk of Orochimaru targeting Kushina and the baby," Jiraiya says. "That fucking snake."
"A very miniscule, minor risk," Seiko says fast.
"Do you think. Orochimaru. Healed. Obito." Minato says next, his mind working even faster and further ahead than Jiraiya.
No, she doesn't think that because she knows Obito was healed through even more bizarre means, but why not?
"We are in territory so speculative that I don't feel willing to make claims about it," Seiko says. "There is no proof of even the first step of my logic. I am relying on the hearsay of memory damaged lab raised children."
Minato is still staring at her.
"Do you think." He says. "Obito's memory. Has been damaged."
She fills in the hopeful note that he's been unable to properly convey.
"It's easier to listen to you without the mask," Seiko says.
No response to that one.
Well, turns out she's not the only one who gets to spout baseless speculation that lines up entirely with what would be more convenient if true than what's actually happening. It's much nicer when it's her who's doing it.
"He has a sharingan," Seiko says flatly. "His memory cannot be damaged."
"That's not true," Jiraiya corrects her. "Another, more powerful sharingan user could probably induce memory alterations."
Fascinating that he knows that.
"His sharingan seemed to be more powerful than any within Konoha," Seiko changes her statement. "If there is another sharingan user in addition to him outside of Konoha, it's possible."
"Two powerful sharingan users outside of Konoha.." Jiraiya says, voice dry. He doesn't need to voice how unlikely that is.
But it's depressing to see Minato look so upset.
"Even if it's not memory manipulation, there are lots of other methods of having people act against their loved ones," Seiko suggests carefully.
Minato sighs.
"Jiraiya-sensei," He says, consciously raising his hands and doing seals to give himself an approximation of a whisper. "I think that's enough questions asked of her. Can you. Go on ahead."
Jiraiya also gives his own sigh, hand reaching up to pat Minato on the shoulder but not quite reaching before it falls back down.
"I'll go hang out with my godson," he says, and steps out. "Watch out, Minato! Or else your wife will end up liking me more than you!"
Minato sits in silence for a long time before he takes off the mask.
"Are you sure you prefer listening to me like this?" He says, voice filling the space with a deep snarl.
"Yeah," Seiko says. "You know, I bet you could probably talk directly to Biter, now."
He looks down at her dog.
"Hello, Biter," He says.
He holds out one of his hands and Biter licks it.
"Is that so?" Minato murmurs. "How nice. Thank you."
Biter has always liked Minato. Otherwise, why would he have agreed to help him?
"It's quite something, for such a powerful summon to always exist in this world," Minato says. "I was very proud when I managed to summon Gerotora for a single hour."
"Biter doesn't take up that much energy," Seiko says. Comparable to Kakashi's eye, maybe? "And I'm not a jutsu caster, so the lack of chakra doesn't really affect me."
Biter wags his tail.
"If you say so," Minato says. "Seiko..."
She doesn't know what he's waited to ask her until even Jiraiya isn't around to hear. Unfortunately, she once again has far too many secrets.
"If you met Obito again," Minato says, finally. "Could you convince him to return to Konoha? If I never inquired a single thing about your methods, and turned a blind eye to everything, no matter how unusual."
Seiko stiffens.
"...You didn't tell anyone that you tagged him."
Minato smiles at her softly. Regretfully.
"No."
So this is the one secret that she has to keep no matter what.
Such a terrible weight.
Because Minato treasures his student.
Seiko licks her lips, and feels the ache of old pains rattle down through her bones.
"He's already killed Hiruzen's wife," Seiko says. "You still want to try?"
"I will take responsibility for my student's sins."
Seiko drops her hand down to pet Biter's head. Even her hesitation has already given Minato his answer: 'his dream isn't completely impossible, just almost impossible.'
"The longer I go without telling Kakashi about any of this, the more upset with me he's going to be," Seiko says finally. It doesn't really weight her decision either way, it's just... unfortunate.
She can withstand her brother being upset.
"I am sorry," Minato says. "This is my selfish desire."
If she was going to say no, she should have said no already.
"The more selfish you are, the more I want to help you," Seiko says, and laughs at how arrogant she sounds. "If I can help you. I don't... I didn't even consider it before."
She'd already given up on Obito once, after all.
How would anyone convince him to return to Konoha? Aside from the brute force method of Minato forcefully capturing him. Though.. Maybe that would bring its own sort of clarity. But obviously Minato didn't ask for her help for something he could accomplish on his own.
Well, even if it really is impossible.
It's the type of thing worth trying.
...
She does have some ideas.
"...Can you give me a couple of months," Seiko says, staring up at her ceiling. "To think about it. Maybe more than a couple of months."
"You have until he next attacks the village," Minato says.
Around five more years? That's a bit too long. She's planning to retire by then.
She'd really thought she was done having unexpected meetings for the entire year. But three months later, and there's still more stuff crashing into her.
"You're...one of Hoheto's cousins, right?" She's pretty sure this woman is also a branch member. Actually, should she have guessed Hoheto's aunt? But the woman seems relatively young. And it's way better to guess cousin and be wrong. Honestly, she seems like she could be a very, very distant cousin indeed. Maybe she's married into the clan...what would you even call that? Cousin-in-law? At that point it's all cousins.
The lady gives her a stiff nod, which could mean anything. She clasps her hands together and bows.
"I've been sent to invite you to dine with our Clan Head at your earliest convenience."
This is already more polite than Fugaku was about everything, but a lot more confusing. Aside from helping out Hoheto, she's not actually involved with the Hyuuga at all.
"...I've got a hospital check up next week," Seiko says, struggling to remember her own schedule. "So. Week after that is fine."
Should she invite Kakashi to this one, too?
"Lady Hatake," the woman says again.
She still doesn't like it when people use that address.
"Yes?"
"Is your arm...alright?"
She always forgets that the Hyuuga can actually see what's wrong with her. Since Hoheto never brings it up.
"It's actually much better than it used to be," Seiko says.
This actually makes the woman more, and not less worried.
"I... see," she says. "Then, thank you for your time."
Having a formal dinner sounds like something with no positives and only downsides, and she's definitely going to drop some of their nice tea cups.
Biter nudges against her.
"You want a new outfit?" Seiko says, almost incredulous. "You got an outfit for Kushina's wedding!"
He paws at her.
"Well, that's right. This is Hoheto's pack, so it is different, isn't it?"
She waits another few minutes before bringing her next point up.
"It's not because Pakkun has been bragging that Kakashi outfitted his entire team of summons is it? We aren't having the world's most stupid bragging dispute between you and a chihuahua sized pug?"
Biter gives her a deeply indignant look. A woeful, how could you say that to me look. With his huge, sad eyes.
"That's what I thought," Seiko says.
Her next big idea for Ensui is figuring out how to convince someone to build a bench directly across the street from the store where she does her grocery shopping. So she's got a better spot to take a break.
Just something she thinks about whenever she's here.
Instead of having to get her dress custom made this time around, the shop she'd been to last time has several of the slash-sleeved variants in stock.
"That's convenient," Seiko says slowly.
"Yes!"
The tailor cheerfully points to a sign at the window that declares that they made a garment for the Hokage's wedding.
Well, it's not like having more of the only style she can wear is a bad thing.
Second chore out of the way, she walks towards her house under the warm setting sun, arms slightly trembling from the foolish decision to carry a grocery bag in one hand and a clothes bag in the other. She's going to definitely drop one or both of them by the time she gets home.
Oh, there it--
A hand deftly snatches her fallen bag before it hits the ground.
"Can I help you with that?" Shisui Uchiha asks, voice filled with a soft lilt as if he's laughing at a joke that only he knows.
He's grown up a bit since the last time she saw him. He must be... ten? Eleven?
Has it really been that long? Maybe he's a tall eight year old. No, that doesn't seem right either.
Seiko rubs a hand across her face, annoyed by the reminder of her own bad memory.
"You already did," she says. "Hello, Shisui."
"Hi!"
He falls into step with her, obvious in his intent to walk with her all the way to her house.
"Do you want to hold the other one as well?" Seiko suggests.
So then he gets to carry all of it. She suspects he could probably seal it away for actual complete convenience, but he doesn't.
"Seiko-san," Shisui starts. "I know you and my uncle don't really get along--"
"We've mended bridges," Seiko says.
More or less.
He laughs as if she's told a joke.
"--but I think you're pretty impressive," Shisui says.
He's laying it on kind of thick, isn't he?
"Your uncle would like me better if he thought I was less capable," Seiko says. "Do you need something from me, Shisui?"
It would probably be better to slowly let him talk, but that's his fault for coming to talk to her at sunset after a long day. Her leg hurts.
His eyes shift down awkwardly.
"I..." he says, voice slow. "My mother is in the hospital."
Seiko comes to a stop as she looks at him. She'd thought it would be something to do with the clan, but not this.
"I'm sorry to hear that," she says. "Was she injured..?"
"No, she's... she's a civilian. She just got sick."
Then Seiko is even sorrier to hear it.
"Then?"
Shisui shifts from foot to foot.
"I thought you would know. If anyone did. Do you think Lady Tsunade will come back soon? She can heal anything, right?"
All of the people her age and older are too used to not mentioning Tsunade, and most of the kids Kakashi's age and younger don't even know who she is.
But she supposes being scared and desperate can do a lot to motivate someone to start doing research.
"I don't think she's returning any time soon," Seiko says softly. If she had been, Jiraiya would have tried to use it as leverage during their last conversation. "Are you worried about the quality of care she's receiving?"
Shisui does a good job of not looking bitter.
"There's not a lot of Uchiha med-nin," he says. "I don't... I mean, it shouldn't be important...it's not like her condition is connected to our bloodline..."
All of the medical people Seiko knows are directly connected to Danzo, too.
"Okay," Seiko says, and decides to pass him on to someone else. "So do you know Nono Yakushi? She's currently running an orphanage?"
It's clear he's never heard of her, which is normal.
"She's a retired med-nin," Seiko says. "Very talented. Was in charge of my problems for years. Ask her for a recommendation from the current staff, I'm sure she's kept up with things."
Even if the person who she points out isn't particularly a stand out, the pressure from Nono's recommendation should be enough to alleviate some Uchiha bias. Hopefully.
Shisui stares up at her with wide eyes for a second.
"You can't run off now," Seiko says dryly. "You still have to help me carry that stuff home."
"I found her," Kakashi says immediately, arms crossed as he'd been leaning against a wall while waiting for her to show up outside the Hyuga's compound.
What?
Seiko slowly files through her outstanding problems to figure out which ones Kakashi knows about. Ah.
"You found Anko? That's great."
Kakashi looks away.
"It wasn't that hard. They're just really worried about that seal she's got on her. Not so much of if it's going to kill her, but whether Orochimaru can use it to spy through her eyes. So she's still with-- oh, did you know there's going to be a new T&I head soon?"
"He's been saying he's going to retire for over a year."
A baffled look.
"To who? Anyway, Minato-sensei's got both me and Jiraiya looking at the stupid seal now, and I think the seal's fine. Well, it might be a death trap, but not a spy trap, which is what everyone was worried about. And it definitely won't be any sort of trap once we're through with it."
He's talking so fast.
How nostalgic.
"Yamato will be relieved," Seiko says. "The Hokage's got you immediately back to work, Kakashi?"
He slouches a bit more.
"Ah, well," he says. "Just a little."
She waits for him to fill the rest of the sentence with 'unlike you', but he doesn't.
"Well, let's go in," she says.
"I thought..." Kakashi says.
Hm?
"I thought you'd remind me to be polite, or something. Like you did with the Uchiha."
Are they so similar?
"I've got very little respect for Hyuga traditions," Seiko says. "Though, I doubt the Uchiha refrain from doing the same thing due to moral reasons."
Kakashi snorts.
"You don't respect anyone," he says.
"I respect lots of people," Seiko corrects. "Clans aren't people. Alright, that's enough of this."
She knows he's making an annoying gesture behind her back as she makes her painfully slow way into Hoheto's childhood home.
Surely she was less annoying when she was 15.
As long as no one asks Ensui about it.
The lady who'd met her the other day is again here to greet her.
"Hello again," Seiko says. "I didn't catch your name last time."
"It's nothing important, Lady Hatake," the woman says. "I'm Hazako, Hizashi's wife."
Hizashi is... the younger twin, right? So then this is Neji's mother.
"You can just call me Seiko," Seiko says, the mundane correction once again falling out of her mouth. It's getting ingrained into her like another needle, this title. No one was constantly doing this to her when she was nine, even though she had the title then too.
"If you'd like," Hazako says, and doesn't.
"Do you know what the clan wants to talk about?" Seiko says, deciding there's nothing wrong with walking extra slow.
"How could I know something so important?" Hazako says. "I can only guess."
Kakashi rolls his eye beside her, but gives a blank-faced smile when she turns her head to glare at him.
"I'd love to hear your guess," Seiko says.
"...My brother in law is well aware of your long lasting friendship with Hoheto," Hazako says carefully.
That is certainly a description of her and Hoheto's relationship.
"How nice," Seiko says.
"So," Hazako says quietly. "Presumably, my wise brother-in-law seeks to make sure that whatever help you feel obligated to offer your friend and teammate does not extend to other members of the clan. Due to the emergence of the next generation."
"I did hear you had a son recently," Seiko says. "Congratulations."
Hazako blanches.
"Please, don't speak too highly of it," she says. "I am of course referring to Hisashi's own daughter."
"Yes, Hinata," Seiko says easily. "I'm sure she will grow up to be talented as well."
It's not like she'd actually been intending to do anything more than help Hoheto personally from time to time and simply hope he managed to achieve what he wanted. But being pressured like this...
Her eyes slide to her brother, who's gone back to hiding his emotions. But he looks pretty unhappy. Even though he doesn't even like Hoheto.
"What do you think of him?" Seiko asks.
"Of Hoheto?"
"Yes."
"I think he's unlucky."
He'd probably be pissed as hell if she ever said that to his face.
"Unlucky?" Seiko repeats. "Why?"
A lot of people would describe Hoheto as very lucky indeed.
Hazako looks at her straight on for the first time.
"I met his parents. They were hopeful, and they gave that hope to him. That one day he would be a great warrior, a great and important part of Konoha, a respected member of the clan."
"He is quite talented," Seiko says. "And he's managed to reach quite far."
"That's why he is unlucky," Hazako says. "No matter what he does, he cannot stop being a member of the Hyuga clan. So, it's all useless. His only duty is to one day sacrifice himself for something greater."
Having a child doomed to be a branch member must have caused Hazako to have quite a number of thoughts.
"Isn't that true for all ninjas of Konoha?" Seiko suggests.
She can feel Kakashi's gaze drilling a hole in her.
"Is it," Hazako says sadly. "I hope not."
Seiko doubts anything she'll hear from Hisashi is going to be as interesting as what she's getting to listen to right now.
"Hazako," Seiko starts. "You're a retired chunin, right?"
A very startled nod.
"Yes, I retired in order to help raise--"
"Do you have any medical training?"
"... Yes, I'm a trained med-nin."
Yeah, no one who's not would have bothered to comment on Seiko's injuries on first meeting. Not enough context to know how fucked up it is.
"Do you think there are a lot of clan healers?" Seiko asks.
Hazako shakes her head.
"Healing is generally left to non-clan people," she says. "Most bloodlines aren't compatible with it, so any talented clan member would be asked to pursue something more suitable. Not to imply that Lady Tsunade is untalented, but in her case there just wasn't any clan left to ask her to do something else!"
No wonder Danzo's capable of getting so many people in the hospital. He doesn't even have to use up his kekkei genkai users. But it's not like having a good pipeline for non-clan users is bad. She's pretty sure that Tsunade deliberately designed the hospital with that in mind to begin with.
But non-clan are also the most susceptible to rumor campaigns. Due to not having the same amount of information.
"I'd consider it a personal favor," Seiko says. "If you went and checked in on how the Uchiha patients are being treated."
"Just that?"
Kakashi is still staring at her. Unfortunate. Now he gets to watch her be nosy about things that don't concern her at all. It's unfortunate that living in pain for over a decade has not managed to kill this part of her personality.
"Just that," Seiko says. "Ah, looks like we're here."
Guile
Having a really great time right now
I like to imagine the meeting with Hisashi turned out to be so much less interesting than this one that we don't even see it happen, and it's just a noodle incident going forward.zarinthel said:
I'm going to bet it's just a timeskip of the Hyuuga visit. With a quick summary at the end.
Ethan Eldritch
Multi-Dimensional Eldritch Tree
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This is gonna be a fun, perfectly polite chat!