HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
That does put a high floor on kunai speed for 'worth the stealth advantage compared to available bullets', but it's a cool enough compromise that I like it.
Fallow Fields [Naruto SI]
- Thread starter zarinthel
- Start date
The author himself said that there are no and never will be firearms in the Naruto world.
I'm not sure even Janine could enhance muscles with chakra enough to make kinai faster than a bullet.
The spread of weapons may not have a strong impact on elite combat, but at the lower level, when the threat is not a neat cut from a course, but a gunshot wound, the number of deaths will increase several times.
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
I rarely see it, especially if the focus is more like bureaucracy. Dreaming of Sunshine and the recursive fanfic thereof, for example.
- Location
- Leeds
Cars aren't typically gunpowder based so I don't think the existence of guns can be assumed with the evidence so far.
Egleris
Vagrant Dragon
- Location
- Italy
I don't remember any cars appearing in this fic, and most fanfic tend to (correctly, in my opinion) dismiss most of the background details of the wave arc (such as a shopkeeper having a shotgun, or indeed the presence of trucks) as "early installment weirdness" which was quietly retconned out of the series going forward, and do not include any such details into their interpretation of the setting. I'm therefore not sure how discussing these details has anything to do with the story this thread is about.
One good fanfic, had the idea of " Forbidden technology" with certain technologies being considered forbidden, and anyone engaging with these technologies, getting ganged on by all 5 great shinobi villages, and with all five vilalges having agreements between themselves over it.
It also had taht stuff like civilan tech, like trucks, or cars, were part of a limited technology, and was a plot point in a certain part, that due to contention about certain lesser country, and two different great countries wanting to make it THEIR zone of influance, vehicles were forbidden from entering it, without special permissions.
i can see shinobi and daimyo limiting and forbidding certain technologies they see as too dangerous or potential threat or competition, and stopping some branches of the tech tree. That would explain presence of certain stuff we see like orochimaru's lab, or analytic stuff we see in the pein arc that konoha has.
It also had taht stuff like civilan tech, like trucks, or cars, were part of a limited technology, and was a plot point in a certain part, that due to contention about certain lesser country, and two different great countries wanting to make it THEIR zone of influance, vehicles were forbidden from entering it, without special permissions.
i can see shinobi and daimyo limiting and forbidding certain technologies they see as too dangerous or potential threat or competition, and stopping some branches of the tech tree. That would explain presence of certain stuff we see like orochimaru's lab, or analytic stuff we see in the pein arc that konoha has.
KingOfWorlds
Exists.
- Location
- Universe #8758762952950231859269663
Is Konohamaru's dad dead? Or is he not yet born?
- Location
- California, USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Well that's very sad. He would have had Konohamaru as a very young teenager, and died not long after.
Last edited:
yeah. i'm doing the math again now and it is quite young. i can adjust a little bit and have him be only 4-5 years younger than asuma but ive already had it in text that he's younger so . tragically young it is. to me its part of the explanation of why konohamru's dad doesn't have any presence or reputation linked to him.
Chapter Twenty-Two: Fidelity
New
"You brought her!" Might Dai says, delighted. He's long healed now, springing forth to give Seiko a big hug as she approaches. "Seiko, come, sit down. My, my. You're practically glowing with health!"
Her, glowing with health. Ludicrous.
But Seiko lets him pull out a chair for her and then carefully cushion it with a blanket before she sits down.
"Where's Gai?" She asks. "He's not here for this?"
Dai shakes his head.
"My son's been doing a lot of work with Kakashi lately," he says proudly. "He's very busy now that he's back from his trip! And did he tell you about his spirit beast contract? The greatest, greenest beast! The Supreme Creature! The Turtle!"
Hoheto rolls his eyes.
"He still comes by my house at least once a month," Seiko says. "It's very impressive to return from the spirit world unscathed."
Biter gives an approving wag of his tail.
She hadn't realized he was actually working with Kakashi, though. The more Gai got older the more polite he was about not talking too much about her brother in front of her. The drawbacks of empathy.
"I've also been considering going for a trip," Hoheto says. He's still standing, rigidly holding himself back from pacing.
She's always admired Hoheto's ability to dream about his future once he's free. It's that ability to dream that makes him so awful to talk to.
"The Hyuga don't traditionally use spirit beasts," Seiko says.
"They would if they had one," Hoheto says.
Seiko laughs.
"So, are you going to be generous and let the clan inherit this future contract of yours, 'Heto?"
"Maybe. If they beg."
So that's a strong no.
Seiko accepts another blanket that Dai puts over her shoulders as he keeps puttering around his small house.
"You need me to do anything for your set up?" She says. "Or I'm just here as security."
"What security," Hoheto mutters. "Just stay put. Keep your dog away from me."
Then he reaches up and takes off his forehead protector.
The Caged Bird Seal is quite a barebones design. Four dots, four angles, two long, hooked lines. A green so dark it could be mistaken for pure black ink.
At least, that's what it should have looked like.
Overlaid on top of it with blood is a large Uzumaki swirl and other sigils that nearly hide any inch of his natural skin. Filigree over iron bars.
"I put silence seals up," Hoheto says. "So don't worry about the noise."
He clasps his hands together into the bird seal, and activates his bloodline.
And then he begins to scream.
He'd screamed like that when he was strung up on wire. Seiko jerks in her seat, only to have Dai's hands gently press down on her shoulders, keeping her in her seat.
"Focus, Hoheto!" Dai instructs. "Now do what I taught you!"
The screams dull as Hoheto takes a gasping breath, and his fingers convulse.
"Release!" He snaps.
The first of the Eight Gates is the Gate of Opening. It opens the brain's left hemisphere. It removes mental inhibitions.
Crimson and white energy rips through the room as both seals on his forehead activate again, the ink of one bleeding into the other and distorting. Some of the lettering drips down onto and below his eyes, letters caught like tears.
"Again," Dai says.
"Release!" Hoheto yells again, voice hoarse.
The air inside the cabin is practicably boiling as more and more life energy surges forward. Seiko draws in a deep breath and feels her throat singe.
The second of the Eight Gates is the Gate of Healing. It opens the brain's right hemisphere. It re-energizes the exhausted.
Biter howls, an eerie wail that echoes and rips through the small space. He's been reduced to panting with an open mouth as the heat thickens even further.
The whirlpool of the Uzumaki seal begins, in a way easy to mistake for a heat ripple, to grow, devouring the ink beneath it as it expands.
She looks over to Dai, but he looks like he's struggling to open his mouth, chunin levels of chakra barely enough to keep him from fainting.
Seiko bites her lip.
"Again, 'Heto," she says softly. "Do it again."
Sweat has stuck his long hair to his neck, and pain has driven him to his knees. He stares blankly forward, never seeming more blind to the world.
But his mouth can still move.
"Release!"
Hoheto makes the bird seal again.
"Release me!"
The third gate of the Eight Gates is the Gate of Life.
Red scalds Hoheto's skin and the room as veins bulge all across his face, already eyeless pupils beginning to weep blood as he pushes them past their limit.
Then she hears the smallest, tiniest crack.
Kakashi had named his lighting move the Chidori because it sounded like the cry of birds.
She can hear the smallest echo of it, now.
"Release me..." Hoheto repeats, and then collapses forward.
Seiko pushes forward, trying to catch him without paying heed to her own limitations, and then pays the price of her heedlessness, falling down as his cushion instead of being able to keep him on his feet.
Half collapsed on top of her, Seiko can see him most clearly.
Biter also sticks his nose over, pawing at their teammate.
Licking his blank forehead.
Seiko had received a brand new rocking chair as a joint present from Nono's orphanage, every inch of it clumsily and haphazardly painted by small hands holding brushes for the first and perhaps only time in their life. Gai had personally stitched a matching pillow for her to sit on, and every stitch had a true quality of someone who was using the talent of a jounin ninja to attempt to shortcut his way through tailoring knowledge.
It is quite comfortable.
"It's ugly," Kabuto says, arms crossed beside her. "I told them I had a design concept, but they were unable to follow basic instructions."
Biter chews one of the treats Kabuto had brought with a very loud crunch.
"I like it," Seiko says, once the silence has lingered long enough that it's clear Kabuto wasn't just talking to himself.
"It doesn't match any part of your house," Kabuto repeats.
That's because her house is large, bare, and empty.
"I don't want things that match this house," Seiko says. He's cranky today, isn't he. "Has something happened at school?"
"No."
Really cranky, and it's something he expects her to know about without him bringing it up. Alright, what could it be?
"It's the academy graduation soon," Seiko says, finally getting there. "I take it you aren't graduating this year, Kabuto?"
Kabuto scowls.
"It's not time yet," he says, clearly quoting someone else. But Nono doesn't talk like that, so...
Danzo has plans for him?
"Waiting on someone?" Seiko says lightly.
Kabuto looks at her.
Seiko stares back at him, then slowly closes her eyes. She doesn't... want to deal with this.
"Not this year, then," she says.
She's barely twenty.
Biter wakes her with one strong nip to her foot.
There's a stranger outside her house in the middle of the night. If it's a single person, it's not an assassin, Danzo sends those in batches.
"What..." Seiko murmurs, grabbing for her crutches as she snaps awake and nearly falls off her bed.
Biter buts against her leg again, ears twitching. He'd heard some type of alarm bells in a far off part of town...? But the main Konoha alarm hadn't gone off.
She doesn't bother the time of putting on her cloth arm guards on, the crutches strapped up against her skin as she shoves her front door open to meet her late night guest.
Hazako Hyuga's hands are clenched, and the skin below her eyes is red, scrubbed to remove any tearmarks. The forehead protector is gone, revealing her seal bold as day.
Seiko's stomach drops.
"Did something happen to you?" She says quickly. "To your son?"
This was around when the kidnapping had occurred. It had simply slipped her mind, disconnected from anything that she was keeping track of.
Hazako shakes her head.
"It's...not my family," she says. "It's-- we think-- the target was Hinata, but when the intruders realized that Hoheto was unsealed--"
She has to run, but she has to gather information. Seiko leans heavily onto her crutches, adrenaline causing far more than her hands to tremble.
"Why haven't the village alarms gone off?"
"It's... the intruders were from Kumogakure," Hazako says, dazed. "If the village alarms go off, it's like a war, isn't it? It can't escalate from a clan incident into a war. It's a clan matter. Only the Hyuga are responsible. We can't bear the responsibility for another war."
It's such a cold and quiet night. She hadn't noticed.
"Will they send anyone after him at all?" Seiko asks, voice soft.
If Hoheto dies like this, it's simply a lesson as to why it's necessary for all branch members to keep the seal.
Hazako's fist's clench at her side, short nails still managing to draw blood from flesh.
"They didn't," she murmurs. "But.. my husband went anyway."
She stares at Seiko, white eyes blind with pain and desperation.
"He said one of us would have to stay behind and raise Neji, but I can't lose him," she says, voice low. "The clan can't bear to risk a war, but I can't bear to lose him! Please go after them. Help me. I beg of you."
Biter arches his neck back to howl, but Seiko stops him, hand landing sharply on his head.
There's no need to announce unpopular actions in advance of doing them.
Seiko reaches into the small pockets stitched into Biter's vest and pulls out her replenished vial of pills.
Nono had given her a warning. Just like her body was used to the poison in her knee and was growing more resistant over time, more than usual, all of the pills were being treated the same way. Her resistance to them would increase more rapidly than most.
Even now, she'll need two pills to do what one used to do.
But what she needs to do is run.
"I'll return shortly," Seiko says, downing the bitter medicine, and Biter breaks into a run. Seiko retracts her crutches as she follows behind him, almost unbalanced by the extra speed of putting her full weight down on her left foot.
Is that really her leg? It feels like someone else's.
She can't mind that now.
Hoheto is part of the pack. Biter could track him down anywhere in the world. She can follow Biter anywhere.
The world blurs around her.
Compared to how far she had run to make it to Might Dai's side, it's barely outside the village. The trees are tall, shadowy and deep. Roots not visible from the crown, crown unseen from the lower branches.
She smells blood before she spots anyone at all.
It's because Biter led her to the branch directly above the source.
But the first thing she has to think is-- if only the enemies were masked. If they were masked, everyone could pretend they didn't know they were from Kumogakure. They thought they were rogue agents. But they are proudly showing their face, wearing hitai-ai, the fuckers.
They might even be members of Kumogakure who had openly come to Konoha to negotiate their part of the Chunin Exams.
But they aren't, truly, important.
One of the enemy ninja has a kunai up against Hoheto's left eye.
"Stop right there! Or we'll gouge it out!" They yell, and Seiko has to pause, hand against clamping down on Biter's muzzle. There are three of them all around Hoheto.
That's not many. And they aren't talking to her.
Hizashi Hyuga wears his forehead protector around his arm, letting the seal on his forehead be easily visible. She doesn't know if he always does that.
Both of his hands are raised up in a motion approximating soothing, surrender.
But an unarmed Hyuga shouldn't soothe anyone with sense.
"We don't have to go through with this, gentlemen," Hizashi says, soft voice carrying easily. "Why don't you just come back to the village? You go back to your envoy, and we bring him back to the compound, and no one speaks of any of this. It doesn't have to escalate."
Hoheto's glare worsens, but he remains silent as the blade next to his eye draws another trickle of blood.
The ninja holding the blade smirks.
"It won't escalate," he says. "No one will care about the death of two branch members. You will be unmissed, unmourned, and unavenged!"
Seiko carefully brings up her right hand, the one Kabuto had the most success with, and makes the seal of the tiger.
Body flicker.
He can't even scream before he dies, blood pouring from a throat cut down to white bone. Her left hand's for the sword, after all.
Beside her, two voices ring out.
"Gentle Fist: Tenketsu Needle!"
"Eight Trigrams Sealing Style: Closure of the Dragon Gate!"
No need to wonder which of the two Hyuga's was Hoheto. Has he been waiting his entire life to come up with-- and use-- grandiose techniques with long names?
The slight smile drops from the corner of her mouth as she watches the ninja Hoheto had hit have all his chakra sealed by a terrible whirl of energy and promptly faint.
Yes, probably. Yes he had been waiting his whole life to use such things.
Biter bites through the hamstring of the one Hizaki had hit, and keeps his mouth clamped down as the last one standing swallows their scream as they take in the drastic shift in circumstance.
The fight had been so fast that her pain still hasn't returned.
Seiko shifts a little on her feet and tucks her blade away.
She feels... too well. She keeps resisting the urge to cast another release spell, as if she's in an illusion.
"Seiko," Hoheto says. He's at least not surprised she showed up, though he doesn't seem that happy.
Then he turns to address his.. Uncle? Possibly uncle once removed.
"Hizashi-san," he says, and gives one of the deepest bows she's ever seen from him. Minato hadn't gotten a bow that low. "I didn't think you'd come. I hope your family is well."
Hizashi gives a very complicated smile.
"As well as can be," he says, and moves his gaze to Seiko. "Lady Hatake. It's a rare honor to see you in battle."
"Hopefully you'll never see it again," Seiko says.
With that, three unhappy gazes-- four, counting Biter-- focus in on the single awake Kumogakure ninja.
At least he's far more unhappy than they are.
"Is it better to have an alive witness or a dead envoy," Hoheto mutters.
"It depends," Hizashi says slowly, "On what our two alive witnesses-- the one you took down is alive, right, Hoheto?-- say when they get back."
"Witness...?" Their prisoner repeats.
Seiko nods gravely.
She's going to have to find humour in the fact that the attempt to gouge Hoheto's eyes out is going to go completely unpunished aside from the single one she'd killed.
"You've just demonstrated the exact qualities the Chunin exams are looking to represent," she says. "Valiantly coming to the aid of Hoheto and aiding in his rescue from some rogue ninja! Horrible that such a thing could have happened and nearly sabotaged Konoha and Kumogakure's diplomacy. Good thing you and your team were here to stop it. Your team leader died saving Hoheto's--" Seiko pauses and looks between the two of them. "Saving Hizashi's life."
The guy looks between his dead leader and the blade in Seiko's shaking hand and nods rapidly.
"Biter has your blood," Seiko adds. "Lie, and live. Speak, and I'll accept the consequences of my future actions."
"There will be consequences either way," Hizashi murmurs after they let the Kumo nin take his two companions back to Konoha.
"He's going to mention that you were here," Hoheto says. "You should have told him not to mention that."
"I want him to say that," Seiko says.
She gets two bewildered stares.
Seiko feels the last of the pills' effect fade, and re-triggers her crutches as the pain knifes back into her bones.
"There's a need for deception," Seiko says carefully, "Because of course I don't desire another war. But there's no need to deceive anyone in Konoha as to what type of person I am."
They wait to call the clan meeting until a full week after all the foreign ninja are out of Konoha.
Naturally.
They get called now and then, but Seiko hasn't bothered to go since Kakashi was the main star of the show.
It's nice not having to be wheeled in.
One of the exciting changes since the last time is that now Minato is here, next to Kushina. He's holding baby Naruto in his arms, perhaps to show that he's here nominally as an Uzumaki instead of as Hokage, even though if he wasn't Hokage he would naturally still not be allowed in.
He watches her with an odd light in his eyes, though he doesn't seem angry at her. Baby Naruto yanks at the mask on the bottom of his face with chubby toddler hands and giggles.
Seiko wonders what would happen if they ever do get a truly clanless Hokage. Are they really going to demand such a person not be present for clan meetings?
Moving on from Minato, it seems she's come late again. Everyone's already here, even Kakashi.
Shikaku gives her a very tired glance, Inoichi gives her nothing, Choza appears to be napping but definitely isn't, Hiruzen...has a small smile for her.
That's right, he still comes to these things even though he's 'retired from ninja life'. Hah.
"Hello, Seiko," the former Hokage says. "I'm glad to see you're doing better lately."
Is he joking?
"Are you joking," Danzo spits from his own seat. "You've gone senile, Hiruzen. She's endangered the whole village."
"From a little tussle in the woods," Tsume Inuzuku snorts. "If that's all it takes, my dog's pissing endangers the village daily."
"And what if it does," Inoichi says, just quiet enough that it could possibly not be directed at Tsume.
"Hey--" Tsume starts.
"That's enough," Fugaku spits out coldly, back rigid against the wall. From his position, he very well might have been the first to arrive. And next to him, though a good few feet away, is Kakashi. How early did he show up? "Let's not let this devolve into petty, irrelevant squabbles so quickly. Well, Hyuga? Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
Seiko, who had been opening her mouth to start her own argument, pauses.
He was going to blame Hiashi? Instead of her?
"I--" Hiashi starts, clearly also caught of guard. "I've done nothing wrong. There's nothing to defend."
"Isn't the problem that rogue forces managed to infiltrate your own clan compound," Fugaku says, voice cold. "It's clearly a lapse in security on your part that led to this whole incident."
Hiashi nearly goes white with rage. "Isn't it the Uchiha's responsibility to maintain Konoha's security!?"
"They were esteemed guests right until they entered Hyuga clan territory," Seiko says, fascinated at where this is going. "Or should they have used the sharingan to check that there was nothing wrong inside..."
"There was. Nothing. Wrong," Hiashi grits out, reiterating his point. "Nothing would have happened had Hoheto been properly sealed."
That sentence hangs heavily in the air for longer than Hiashi seemed to think it would as his white eyes look from person to person, daring someone to disagree with him.
Challenging a clan leader on personal clan business is, after all, not something you should do. Even Fugaku can't argue directly with it.
"I was informed," Seiko says, "That before the rogue elements diverted to Hoheto, they had been aiming for Hinata."
As this had not been common knowledge, the quiet in the room becomes deafening. Even people like Shikaku and Danzo, who both definitely knew who had come to visit Seiko late at night, didn't seem to have managed to overhear the conversation.
"Mere supposition," Hiashi says, finally.
"Who's fault the original incident is is irrelevant," Danzo says, forced to take matters into his own bloodstained hands for once. "We are here to discuss what came after. Hatake, you went after your former teammate despite knowing the situation. You should have refrained and let the Hyuga deal with their own internal matters. As it is, you risked war. Just like your father did."
Kakashi's fists clench.
"You--" he starts.
"I did," Seiko interrupts. "You can tell everyone in the village exactly what I did. That's fine." There's still no seats in this stupid room, so straightening to her full height is just pulling herself up a few more inches.
She meets Danzo's eyes.
"I'm the type of person who would do something like that," she says. "It's impossible for me to compromise. The nature of sacrifice eludes me, even though I've been chasing it all of these years."
"Insolent," Danzo says. "Unworthy of your position."
Maybe it's time for her to--
"Hey," Shikaku says hastily as Minato lays a heavy hand on his shoulder. "None of that, Shimura. Hatake, you're great at your job. You can't quit. My cousin will be sad. He'll cry. You can't make my cousin cry, right?"
Seiko gives them both a very reproachful look. That had been the perfect moment to announce she would take responsibility for her actions by stepping down from the front desk.
"She must be punished," Hiashi says grimly. "She interfered. She's causing internal discord, and you won't even take her out of her den at the very heart of Konohagakure?"
He glares slightly to the left of where Kushina is baring her teeth at him.
Oh, is he trying to also blame her for the unsealing because he can't blame Kushina. To be fair, she's also glad to be even a little at fault for that.
Shikaku and Minato do another silent back and forth that everyone watches.
Then Shikaku smiles.
"You're completely right, Hiashi," he says casually, leaning back and slouching even further against the wall. "How about this? Hatake agrees to step down from her duties at the desk for one.. No... two.. Years. And then, at the end of those two years, we'll reassess. Any complaints, Hatake?"
When it had been her idea to use this as an opportunity to quit her job, she'd been very cheerful. Now that it's Shikaku's suggestion, it somehow doesn't sound as good.
"I've worked there for eleven years," Seiko says, causing all sorts of uncomfortable shifts in the room. "I think two years is about my accumulated vacation time."
As if Konoha has such a thing.
She looks over at Hiashi.
"Well?" She says. Generous. "Two years? For saving your brother's life."
"He wouldn't have been in danger if not for you," Hiashi spits back.
"She's already being punished for saving your daughter," Kakashi's voice says, slow drawl not doing much to disguise blatant scorn. "Two years is too much for just his brother, Seiko. One year for the brother and one year for his daughter. You should at least get punished for both."
Seiko rolls her eyes at her brother.
Tsume badly covers her laughter behind one hand.
"That's enough, everyone," Hiruzen finally says from his corner, instantly silencing the room. "Are we all in agreement. Hatake? Hyuga?... Shimura?"
"I accept," Seiko says.
"I... accept," Hiashi says, slow and unwilling.
Even though this whole thing should have little to do with Danzo, it takes him the longest to speak up. Even with Kushina and Fugaku both watching him like hawks, Fugaku looking excited to bring this up later as part of a council argument.
"I accept," he says, and neatly swallows his resentment enough to give Hiruzen only the faintest scowl.
"Ah," Shikaku sighs. "I need a drink."
It's not, of course, announced as a punishment. It's a mutually agreed upon decision that she's been reassigned to general jounin status, and thus no longer needs to report to the tower.
Depending on what clan various people are from and how good their information networks are, various jounin wish her various levels of goodwill as she hangs out at the desk, instructing Yakumi on her filing system.
"Seiko," Yakumi says bitterly. "That's not a filing system. That's just a bunch of weird categories in no particular order. I don't want to have to use the sharingan in order to memorize where pieces of paper are!"
"It's not that hard to keep track of," Seiko says, and Biter whoofs in agreement. "Biter knows where everything is, too. If he can do it, you can do it."
"The dog can still keep working here, then," Yakumi, hope written across previously despairing eyes.
"No," Seiko says firmly, and watches the shadows stretch large underneath Biter's paws.
Ensui has not come down to talk to her.
Is he really going to make her walk up those stairs in order to say goodbye? Everyone else who wants to congratulate her on her vacation-- or retirement, if she can figure out how to extend the two years indefinitely-- can simply come to her house if they don't see her today, but she doesn't think he will.
Isn't that his problem, though?
Does she always have to be the person who goes up? She woke up with a terrible pain in her knee this morning, finally facing the consequences of using the Body Flicker Technique while not actually having a functional leg.
Her eyes hurt, too.
While she's contemplating all this, a stream of more civilians than usual has entered and left, many anxiously holding the hands of eager looking six, seven, and eight year olds.
It's the time for Academy sign ups.
"Not a lot of clan kids this year," Yakumi says casually.
Seiko had noticed.
"There was a concerted effort around trying to coordinate having kids in the same year as the Hokage's son," Seiko says, with true, deep amusement.
Yakumi's eyes widen a bit, and then she snickers.
"Oh."
It's not like it's a bad thing that the next generation will be more tightly bound and friendly than the current generation of clan leaders. But it's also simply very funny to see such blatant coordination around pregnancy times.
That aura of laughter still lingers as Seiko looks up to see Ensui Nara slip downstairs.
"Seiko," he says. "You're all packed up?"
"I won't be leaving a single trace," Seiko says.
Ensui gives her a dark look.
Then he shifts over to Yakumi.
"You'll be getting a new jounin supervisor," he says. "Santaka Yamanaka."
"Who's that?"
Ensui gives her a long look before he finally replies.
"My old teammate."
Yakumi's frustration evaporates in front of such unexpected gossip. Seiko also nearly leans in on her crutches. She'd thought all his teammates were long dead.
"What's he like?"
"Don't know," Ensui says. "Haven't talked to him for fifteen years."
"You had to wait until I left to bring in someone interesting..." Seiko says, surprised at how truly offended she is. "I've been telling you we were understaffed this entire time."
"I didn't bring him in. Shikaku brought him in. To replace me."
...
Replace him?
"I did bring in your replacement, though," Ensui says, and for the first time she sees the hint of his normal smirk cross his face. "Hoheto Hyuga has agreed to spend at least a year as the second jounin on staff."
"What?"
"Not him!" Yakumi says, outraged. She stares at both of them, eyes brimming with betrayal. "You guys can't do this to me."
"Goodbye, Yakumi," Seiko says, mouth moving slower as she tries to find her footing among the wild change in circumstance. "Thank you for showing me how to apply to work here."
Ensui blows a giant pink bubble, pops it, and cracks a huge grin.
"Bye, Miss Uchiha," he says. "Make sure to tell Santaka about my filing system!"
"No, no, wait--"
The last time they walked out together must have been to go to her father's funeral.
Today is windy, an autumnal chill stirring the breeze. A faint layer of clouds overhead, and the streets smell like udon noodle soup.
Seiko slowly looks over to Ensui.
"Shikaku must have been very sad that you quit," she says.
Ensui sighs.
"He was expecting it," he says. "Annoying bastard. He'd already gotten in contact with Santaka ahead of time. Though I'm shocked that guy agreed."
"How can you not have seen someone in fifteen years?" Seiko says, pushing through the ache in her head to focus. She so rarely has things she wants to know this badly. Ensui's house is not in this direction, but if he wants to try to steal some food from her house, he can.
"Easy," Ensui says. "He stayed in ANBU. That's why I'm shocked. He told me he was going to stay there til he died."
"Your position at the desk is still technically fulfilling that statement," Seiko says, rubbing her own arm. "You really convinced 'Heto to do my job for a whole year? Do you have blackmail material on him that I don't know about?"
"Yes," Ensui says, and doesn't clarify.
He's probably joking. Hoheto's a straight laced person.
"And this Santaka won't bully him?"
Ensui doesn't respond.
"Hey," Seiko says. "He won't bully him?"
"Did I ever bully you?" Ensui says. "As a teenager he was a little temperamental, but I'm sure he's grown out of it by now."
Biter thunks his skull into Ensui's knee hard enough for the man to trip and nearly execute a full flip in order to avoid an embarrassing fall.
"No," Seiko says tonelessly. "No bullying occurred. What's Santanka's specialty, by the way?"
"Mind Clone Body Switch," Ensui says.
"Hm?"
"It's like the Mind Body Switch, but he can do it to multiple people at a time," Ensui says.
Seiko's own mind stutters for a second as she imagines what a team with Ensui's shadow puppetry and Santaka's talents could do, and then she just sighs.
No doubt they were no longer on speaking terms for a reason.
"I'm sure 'Heto will be fine," Seiko says.
A/N: i'm also sure he'll be fine
Her, glowing with health. Ludicrous.
But Seiko lets him pull out a chair for her and then carefully cushion it with a blanket before she sits down.
"Where's Gai?" She asks. "He's not here for this?"
Dai shakes his head.
"My son's been doing a lot of work with Kakashi lately," he says proudly. "He's very busy now that he's back from his trip! And did he tell you about his spirit beast contract? The greatest, greenest beast! The Supreme Creature! The Turtle!"
Hoheto rolls his eyes.
"He still comes by my house at least once a month," Seiko says. "It's very impressive to return from the spirit world unscathed."
Biter gives an approving wag of his tail.
She hadn't realized he was actually working with Kakashi, though. The more Gai got older the more polite he was about not talking too much about her brother in front of her. The drawbacks of empathy.
"I've also been considering going for a trip," Hoheto says. He's still standing, rigidly holding himself back from pacing.
She's always admired Hoheto's ability to dream about his future once he's free. It's that ability to dream that makes him so awful to talk to.
"The Hyuga don't traditionally use spirit beasts," Seiko says.
"They would if they had one," Hoheto says.
Seiko laughs.
"So, are you going to be generous and let the clan inherit this future contract of yours, 'Heto?"
"Maybe. If they beg."
So that's a strong no.
Seiko accepts another blanket that Dai puts over her shoulders as he keeps puttering around his small house.
"You need me to do anything for your set up?" She says. "Or I'm just here as security."
"What security," Hoheto mutters. "Just stay put. Keep your dog away from me."
Then he reaches up and takes off his forehead protector.
The Caged Bird Seal is quite a barebones design. Four dots, four angles, two long, hooked lines. A green so dark it could be mistaken for pure black ink.
At least, that's what it should have looked like.
Overlaid on top of it with blood is a large Uzumaki swirl and other sigils that nearly hide any inch of his natural skin. Filigree over iron bars.
"I put silence seals up," Hoheto says. "So don't worry about the noise."
He clasps his hands together into the bird seal, and activates his bloodline.
And then he begins to scream.
He'd screamed like that when he was strung up on wire. Seiko jerks in her seat, only to have Dai's hands gently press down on her shoulders, keeping her in her seat.
"Focus, Hoheto!" Dai instructs. "Now do what I taught you!"
The screams dull as Hoheto takes a gasping breath, and his fingers convulse.
"Release!" He snaps.
The first of the Eight Gates is the Gate of Opening. It opens the brain's left hemisphere. It removes mental inhibitions.
Crimson and white energy rips through the room as both seals on his forehead activate again, the ink of one bleeding into the other and distorting. Some of the lettering drips down onto and below his eyes, letters caught like tears.
"Again," Dai says.
"Release!" Hoheto yells again, voice hoarse.
The air inside the cabin is practicably boiling as more and more life energy surges forward. Seiko draws in a deep breath and feels her throat singe.
The second of the Eight Gates is the Gate of Healing. It opens the brain's right hemisphere. It re-energizes the exhausted.
Biter howls, an eerie wail that echoes and rips through the small space. He's been reduced to panting with an open mouth as the heat thickens even further.
The whirlpool of the Uzumaki seal begins, in a way easy to mistake for a heat ripple, to grow, devouring the ink beneath it as it expands.
She looks over to Dai, but he looks like he's struggling to open his mouth, chunin levels of chakra barely enough to keep him from fainting.
Seiko bites her lip.
"Again, 'Heto," she says softly. "Do it again."
Sweat has stuck his long hair to his neck, and pain has driven him to his knees. He stares blankly forward, never seeming more blind to the world.
But his mouth can still move.
"Release!"
Hoheto makes the bird seal again.
"Release me!"
The third gate of the Eight Gates is the Gate of Life.
Red scalds Hoheto's skin and the room as veins bulge all across his face, already eyeless pupils beginning to weep blood as he pushes them past their limit.
Then she hears the smallest, tiniest crack.
Kakashi had named his lighting move the Chidori because it sounded like the cry of birds.
She can hear the smallest echo of it, now.
"Release me..." Hoheto repeats, and then collapses forward.
Seiko pushes forward, trying to catch him without paying heed to her own limitations, and then pays the price of her heedlessness, falling down as his cushion instead of being able to keep him on his feet.
Half collapsed on top of her, Seiko can see him most clearly.
Biter also sticks his nose over, pawing at their teammate.
Licking his blank forehead.
Seiko had received a brand new rocking chair as a joint present from Nono's orphanage, every inch of it clumsily and haphazardly painted by small hands holding brushes for the first and perhaps only time in their life. Gai had personally stitched a matching pillow for her to sit on, and every stitch had a true quality of someone who was using the talent of a jounin ninja to attempt to shortcut his way through tailoring knowledge.
It is quite comfortable.
"It's ugly," Kabuto says, arms crossed beside her. "I told them I had a design concept, but they were unable to follow basic instructions."
Biter chews one of the treats Kabuto had brought with a very loud crunch.
"I like it," Seiko says, once the silence has lingered long enough that it's clear Kabuto wasn't just talking to himself.
"It doesn't match any part of your house," Kabuto repeats.
That's because her house is large, bare, and empty.
"I don't want things that match this house," Seiko says. He's cranky today, isn't he. "Has something happened at school?"
"No."
Really cranky, and it's something he expects her to know about without him bringing it up. Alright, what could it be?
"It's the academy graduation soon," Seiko says, finally getting there. "I take it you aren't graduating this year, Kabuto?"
Kabuto scowls.
"It's not time yet," he says, clearly quoting someone else. But Nono doesn't talk like that, so...
Danzo has plans for him?
"Waiting on someone?" Seiko says lightly.
Kabuto looks at her.
Seiko stares back at him, then slowly closes her eyes. She doesn't... want to deal with this.
"Not this year, then," she says.
She's barely twenty.
Biter wakes her with one strong nip to her foot.
There's a stranger outside her house in the middle of the night. If it's a single person, it's not an assassin, Danzo sends those in batches.
"What..." Seiko murmurs, grabbing for her crutches as she snaps awake and nearly falls off her bed.
Biter buts against her leg again, ears twitching. He'd heard some type of alarm bells in a far off part of town...? But the main Konoha alarm hadn't gone off.
She doesn't bother the time of putting on her cloth arm guards on, the crutches strapped up against her skin as she shoves her front door open to meet her late night guest.
Hazako Hyuga's hands are clenched, and the skin below her eyes is red, scrubbed to remove any tearmarks. The forehead protector is gone, revealing her seal bold as day.
Seiko's stomach drops.
"Did something happen to you?" She says quickly. "To your son?"
This was around when the kidnapping had occurred. It had simply slipped her mind, disconnected from anything that she was keeping track of.
Hazako shakes her head.
"It's...not my family," she says. "It's-- we think-- the target was Hinata, but when the intruders realized that Hoheto was unsealed--"
She has to run, but she has to gather information. Seiko leans heavily onto her crutches, adrenaline causing far more than her hands to tremble.
"Why haven't the village alarms gone off?"
"It's... the intruders were from Kumogakure," Hazako says, dazed. "If the village alarms go off, it's like a war, isn't it? It can't escalate from a clan incident into a war. It's a clan matter. Only the Hyuga are responsible. We can't bear the responsibility for another war."
It's such a cold and quiet night. She hadn't noticed.
"Will they send anyone after him at all?" Seiko asks, voice soft.
If Hoheto dies like this, it's simply a lesson as to why it's necessary for all branch members to keep the seal.
Hazako's fist's clench at her side, short nails still managing to draw blood from flesh.
"They didn't," she murmurs. "But.. my husband went anyway."
She stares at Seiko, white eyes blind with pain and desperation.
"He said one of us would have to stay behind and raise Neji, but I can't lose him," she says, voice low. "The clan can't bear to risk a war, but I can't bear to lose him! Please go after them. Help me. I beg of you."
Biter arches his neck back to howl, but Seiko stops him, hand landing sharply on his head.
There's no need to announce unpopular actions in advance of doing them.
Seiko reaches into the small pockets stitched into Biter's vest and pulls out her replenished vial of pills.
Nono had given her a warning. Just like her body was used to the poison in her knee and was growing more resistant over time, more than usual, all of the pills were being treated the same way. Her resistance to them would increase more rapidly than most.
Even now, she'll need two pills to do what one used to do.
But what she needs to do is run.
"I'll return shortly," Seiko says, downing the bitter medicine, and Biter breaks into a run. Seiko retracts her crutches as she follows behind him, almost unbalanced by the extra speed of putting her full weight down on her left foot.
Is that really her leg? It feels like someone else's.
She can't mind that now.
Hoheto is part of the pack. Biter could track him down anywhere in the world. She can follow Biter anywhere.
The world blurs around her.
Compared to how far she had run to make it to Might Dai's side, it's barely outside the village. The trees are tall, shadowy and deep. Roots not visible from the crown, crown unseen from the lower branches.
She smells blood before she spots anyone at all.
It's because Biter led her to the branch directly above the source.
But the first thing she has to think is-- if only the enemies were masked. If they were masked, everyone could pretend they didn't know they were from Kumogakure. They thought they were rogue agents. But they are proudly showing their face, wearing hitai-ai, the fuckers.
They might even be members of Kumogakure who had openly come to Konoha to negotiate their part of the Chunin Exams.
But they aren't, truly, important.
One of the enemy ninja has a kunai up against Hoheto's left eye.
"Stop right there! Or we'll gouge it out!" They yell, and Seiko has to pause, hand against clamping down on Biter's muzzle. There are three of them all around Hoheto.
That's not many. And they aren't talking to her.
Hizashi Hyuga wears his forehead protector around his arm, letting the seal on his forehead be easily visible. She doesn't know if he always does that.
Both of his hands are raised up in a motion approximating soothing, surrender.
But an unarmed Hyuga shouldn't soothe anyone with sense.
"We don't have to go through with this, gentlemen," Hizashi says, soft voice carrying easily. "Why don't you just come back to the village? You go back to your envoy, and we bring him back to the compound, and no one speaks of any of this. It doesn't have to escalate."
Hoheto's glare worsens, but he remains silent as the blade next to his eye draws another trickle of blood.
The ninja holding the blade smirks.
"It won't escalate," he says. "No one will care about the death of two branch members. You will be unmissed, unmourned, and unavenged!"
Seiko carefully brings up her right hand, the one Kabuto had the most success with, and makes the seal of the tiger.
Body flicker.
He can't even scream before he dies, blood pouring from a throat cut down to white bone. Her left hand's for the sword, after all.
Beside her, two voices ring out.
"Gentle Fist: Tenketsu Needle!"
"Eight Trigrams Sealing Style: Closure of the Dragon Gate!"
No need to wonder which of the two Hyuga's was Hoheto. Has he been waiting his entire life to come up with-- and use-- grandiose techniques with long names?
The slight smile drops from the corner of her mouth as she watches the ninja Hoheto had hit have all his chakra sealed by a terrible whirl of energy and promptly faint.
Yes, probably. Yes he had been waiting his whole life to use such things.
Biter bites through the hamstring of the one Hizaki had hit, and keeps his mouth clamped down as the last one standing swallows their scream as they take in the drastic shift in circumstance.
The fight had been so fast that her pain still hasn't returned.
Seiko shifts a little on her feet and tucks her blade away.
She feels... too well. She keeps resisting the urge to cast another release spell, as if she's in an illusion.
"Seiko," Hoheto says. He's at least not surprised she showed up, though he doesn't seem that happy.
Then he turns to address his.. Uncle? Possibly uncle once removed.
"Hizashi-san," he says, and gives one of the deepest bows she's ever seen from him. Minato hadn't gotten a bow that low. "I didn't think you'd come. I hope your family is well."
Hizashi gives a very complicated smile.
"As well as can be," he says, and moves his gaze to Seiko. "Lady Hatake. It's a rare honor to see you in battle."
"Hopefully you'll never see it again," Seiko says.
With that, three unhappy gazes-- four, counting Biter-- focus in on the single awake Kumogakure ninja.
At least he's far more unhappy than they are.
"Is it better to have an alive witness or a dead envoy," Hoheto mutters.
"It depends," Hizashi says slowly, "On what our two alive witnesses-- the one you took down is alive, right, Hoheto?-- say when they get back."
"Witness...?" Their prisoner repeats.
Seiko nods gravely.
She's going to have to find humour in the fact that the attempt to gouge Hoheto's eyes out is going to go completely unpunished aside from the single one she'd killed.
"You've just demonstrated the exact qualities the Chunin exams are looking to represent," she says. "Valiantly coming to the aid of Hoheto and aiding in his rescue from some rogue ninja! Horrible that such a thing could have happened and nearly sabotaged Konoha and Kumogakure's diplomacy. Good thing you and your team were here to stop it. Your team leader died saving Hoheto's--" Seiko pauses and looks between the two of them. "Saving Hizashi's life."
The guy looks between his dead leader and the blade in Seiko's shaking hand and nods rapidly.
"Biter has your blood," Seiko adds. "Lie, and live. Speak, and I'll accept the consequences of my future actions."
"There will be consequences either way," Hizashi murmurs after they let the Kumo nin take his two companions back to Konoha.
"He's going to mention that you were here," Hoheto says. "You should have told him not to mention that."
"I want him to say that," Seiko says.
She gets two bewildered stares.
Seiko feels the last of the pills' effect fade, and re-triggers her crutches as the pain knifes back into her bones.
"There's a need for deception," Seiko says carefully, "Because of course I don't desire another war. But there's no need to deceive anyone in Konoha as to what type of person I am."
They wait to call the clan meeting until a full week after all the foreign ninja are out of Konoha.
Naturally.
They get called now and then, but Seiko hasn't bothered to go since Kakashi was the main star of the show.
It's nice not having to be wheeled in.
One of the exciting changes since the last time is that now Minato is here, next to Kushina. He's holding baby Naruto in his arms, perhaps to show that he's here nominally as an Uzumaki instead of as Hokage, even though if he wasn't Hokage he would naturally still not be allowed in.
He watches her with an odd light in his eyes, though he doesn't seem angry at her. Baby Naruto yanks at the mask on the bottom of his face with chubby toddler hands and giggles.
Seiko wonders what would happen if they ever do get a truly clanless Hokage. Are they really going to demand such a person not be present for clan meetings?
Moving on from Minato, it seems she's come late again. Everyone's already here, even Kakashi.
Shikaku gives her a very tired glance, Inoichi gives her nothing, Choza appears to be napping but definitely isn't, Hiruzen...has a small smile for her.
That's right, he still comes to these things even though he's 'retired from ninja life'. Hah.
"Hello, Seiko," the former Hokage says. "I'm glad to see you're doing better lately."
Is he joking?
"Are you joking," Danzo spits from his own seat. "You've gone senile, Hiruzen. She's endangered the whole village."
"From a little tussle in the woods," Tsume Inuzuku snorts. "If that's all it takes, my dog's pissing endangers the village daily."
"And what if it does," Inoichi says, just quiet enough that it could possibly not be directed at Tsume.
"Hey--" Tsume starts.
"That's enough," Fugaku spits out coldly, back rigid against the wall. From his position, he very well might have been the first to arrive. And next to him, though a good few feet away, is Kakashi. How early did he show up? "Let's not let this devolve into petty, irrelevant squabbles so quickly. Well, Hyuga? Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
Seiko, who had been opening her mouth to start her own argument, pauses.
He was going to blame Hiashi? Instead of her?
"I--" Hiashi starts, clearly also caught of guard. "I've done nothing wrong. There's nothing to defend."
"Isn't the problem that rogue forces managed to infiltrate your own clan compound," Fugaku says, voice cold. "It's clearly a lapse in security on your part that led to this whole incident."
Hiashi nearly goes white with rage. "Isn't it the Uchiha's responsibility to maintain Konoha's security!?"
"They were esteemed guests right until they entered Hyuga clan territory," Seiko says, fascinated at where this is going. "Or should they have used the sharingan to check that there was nothing wrong inside..."
"There was. Nothing. Wrong," Hiashi grits out, reiterating his point. "Nothing would have happened had Hoheto been properly sealed."
That sentence hangs heavily in the air for longer than Hiashi seemed to think it would as his white eyes look from person to person, daring someone to disagree with him.
Challenging a clan leader on personal clan business is, after all, not something you should do. Even Fugaku can't argue directly with it.
"I was informed," Seiko says, "That before the rogue elements diverted to Hoheto, they had been aiming for Hinata."
As this had not been common knowledge, the quiet in the room becomes deafening. Even people like Shikaku and Danzo, who both definitely knew who had come to visit Seiko late at night, didn't seem to have managed to overhear the conversation.
"Mere supposition," Hiashi says, finally.
"Who's fault the original incident is is irrelevant," Danzo says, forced to take matters into his own bloodstained hands for once. "We are here to discuss what came after. Hatake, you went after your former teammate despite knowing the situation. You should have refrained and let the Hyuga deal with their own internal matters. As it is, you risked war. Just like your father did."
Kakashi's fists clench.
"You--" he starts.
"I did," Seiko interrupts. "You can tell everyone in the village exactly what I did. That's fine." There's still no seats in this stupid room, so straightening to her full height is just pulling herself up a few more inches.
She meets Danzo's eyes.
"I'm the type of person who would do something like that," she says. "It's impossible for me to compromise. The nature of sacrifice eludes me, even though I've been chasing it all of these years."
"Insolent," Danzo says. "Unworthy of your position."
Maybe it's time for her to--
"Hey," Shikaku says hastily as Minato lays a heavy hand on his shoulder. "None of that, Shimura. Hatake, you're great at your job. You can't quit. My cousin will be sad. He'll cry. You can't make my cousin cry, right?"
Seiko gives them both a very reproachful look. That had been the perfect moment to announce she would take responsibility for her actions by stepping down from the front desk.
"She must be punished," Hiashi says grimly. "She interfered. She's causing internal discord, and you won't even take her out of her den at the very heart of Konohagakure?"
He glares slightly to the left of where Kushina is baring her teeth at him.
Oh, is he trying to also blame her for the unsealing because he can't blame Kushina. To be fair, she's also glad to be even a little at fault for that.
Shikaku and Minato do another silent back and forth that everyone watches.
Then Shikaku smiles.
"You're completely right, Hiashi," he says casually, leaning back and slouching even further against the wall. "How about this? Hatake agrees to step down from her duties at the desk for one.. No... two.. Years. And then, at the end of those two years, we'll reassess. Any complaints, Hatake?"
When it had been her idea to use this as an opportunity to quit her job, she'd been very cheerful. Now that it's Shikaku's suggestion, it somehow doesn't sound as good.
"I've worked there for eleven years," Seiko says, causing all sorts of uncomfortable shifts in the room. "I think two years is about my accumulated vacation time."
As if Konoha has such a thing.
She looks over at Hiashi.
"Well?" She says. Generous. "Two years? For saving your brother's life."
"He wouldn't have been in danger if not for you," Hiashi spits back.
"She's already being punished for saving your daughter," Kakashi's voice says, slow drawl not doing much to disguise blatant scorn. "Two years is too much for just his brother, Seiko. One year for the brother and one year for his daughter. You should at least get punished for both."
Seiko rolls her eyes at her brother.
Tsume badly covers her laughter behind one hand.
"That's enough, everyone," Hiruzen finally says from his corner, instantly silencing the room. "Are we all in agreement. Hatake? Hyuga?... Shimura?"
"I accept," Seiko says.
"I... accept," Hiashi says, slow and unwilling.
Even though this whole thing should have little to do with Danzo, it takes him the longest to speak up. Even with Kushina and Fugaku both watching him like hawks, Fugaku looking excited to bring this up later as part of a council argument.
"I accept," he says, and neatly swallows his resentment enough to give Hiruzen only the faintest scowl.
"Ah," Shikaku sighs. "I need a drink."
It's not, of course, announced as a punishment. It's a mutually agreed upon decision that she's been reassigned to general jounin status, and thus no longer needs to report to the tower.
Depending on what clan various people are from and how good their information networks are, various jounin wish her various levels of goodwill as she hangs out at the desk, instructing Yakumi on her filing system.
"Seiko," Yakumi says bitterly. "That's not a filing system. That's just a bunch of weird categories in no particular order. I don't want to have to use the sharingan in order to memorize where pieces of paper are!"
"It's not that hard to keep track of," Seiko says, and Biter whoofs in agreement. "Biter knows where everything is, too. If he can do it, you can do it."
"The dog can still keep working here, then," Yakumi, hope written across previously despairing eyes.
"No," Seiko says firmly, and watches the shadows stretch large underneath Biter's paws.
Ensui has not come down to talk to her.
Is he really going to make her walk up those stairs in order to say goodbye? Everyone else who wants to congratulate her on her vacation-- or retirement, if she can figure out how to extend the two years indefinitely-- can simply come to her house if they don't see her today, but she doesn't think he will.
Isn't that his problem, though?
Does she always have to be the person who goes up? She woke up with a terrible pain in her knee this morning, finally facing the consequences of using the Body Flicker Technique while not actually having a functional leg.
Her eyes hurt, too.
While she's contemplating all this, a stream of more civilians than usual has entered and left, many anxiously holding the hands of eager looking six, seven, and eight year olds.
It's the time for Academy sign ups.
"Not a lot of clan kids this year," Yakumi says casually.
Seiko had noticed.
"There was a concerted effort around trying to coordinate having kids in the same year as the Hokage's son," Seiko says, with true, deep amusement.
Yakumi's eyes widen a bit, and then she snickers.
"Oh."
It's not like it's a bad thing that the next generation will be more tightly bound and friendly than the current generation of clan leaders. But it's also simply very funny to see such blatant coordination around pregnancy times.
That aura of laughter still lingers as Seiko looks up to see Ensui Nara slip downstairs.
"Seiko," he says. "You're all packed up?"
"I won't be leaving a single trace," Seiko says.
Ensui gives her a dark look.
Then he shifts over to Yakumi.
"You'll be getting a new jounin supervisor," he says. "Santaka Yamanaka."
"Who's that?"
Ensui gives her a long look before he finally replies.
"My old teammate."
Yakumi's frustration evaporates in front of such unexpected gossip. Seiko also nearly leans in on her crutches. She'd thought all his teammates were long dead.
"What's he like?"
"Don't know," Ensui says. "Haven't talked to him for fifteen years."
"You had to wait until I left to bring in someone interesting..." Seiko says, surprised at how truly offended she is. "I've been telling you we were understaffed this entire time."
"I didn't bring him in. Shikaku brought him in. To replace me."
...
Replace him?
"I did bring in your replacement, though," Ensui says, and for the first time she sees the hint of his normal smirk cross his face. "Hoheto Hyuga has agreed to spend at least a year as the second jounin on staff."
"What?"
"Not him!" Yakumi says, outraged. She stares at both of them, eyes brimming with betrayal. "You guys can't do this to me."
"Goodbye, Yakumi," Seiko says, mouth moving slower as she tries to find her footing among the wild change in circumstance. "Thank you for showing me how to apply to work here."
Ensui blows a giant pink bubble, pops it, and cracks a huge grin.
"Bye, Miss Uchiha," he says. "Make sure to tell Santaka about my filing system!"
"No, no, wait--"
The last time they walked out together must have been to go to her father's funeral.
Today is windy, an autumnal chill stirring the breeze. A faint layer of clouds overhead, and the streets smell like udon noodle soup.
Seiko slowly looks over to Ensui.
"Shikaku must have been very sad that you quit," she says.
Ensui sighs.
"He was expecting it," he says. "Annoying bastard. He'd already gotten in contact with Santaka ahead of time. Though I'm shocked that guy agreed."
"How can you not have seen someone in fifteen years?" Seiko says, pushing through the ache in her head to focus. She so rarely has things she wants to know this badly. Ensui's house is not in this direction, but if he wants to try to steal some food from her house, he can.
"Easy," Ensui says. "He stayed in ANBU. That's why I'm shocked. He told me he was going to stay there til he died."
"Your position at the desk is still technically fulfilling that statement," Seiko says, rubbing her own arm. "You really convinced 'Heto to do my job for a whole year? Do you have blackmail material on him that I don't know about?"
"Yes," Ensui says, and doesn't clarify.
He's probably joking. Hoheto's a straight laced person.
"And this Santaka won't bully him?"
Ensui doesn't respond.
"Hey," Seiko says. "He won't bully him?"
"Did I ever bully you?" Ensui says. "As a teenager he was a little temperamental, but I'm sure he's grown out of it by now."
Biter thunks his skull into Ensui's knee hard enough for the man to trip and nearly execute a full flip in order to avoid an embarrassing fall.
"No," Seiko says tonelessly. "No bullying occurred. What's Santanka's specialty, by the way?"
"Mind Clone Body Switch," Ensui says.
"Hm?"
"It's like the Mind Body Switch, but he can do it to multiple people at a time," Ensui says.
Seiko's own mind stutters for a second as she imagines what a team with Ensui's shadow puppetry and Santaka's talents could do, and then she just sighs.
No doubt they were no longer on speaking terms for a reason.
"I'm sure 'Heto will be fine," Seiko says.
A/N: i'm also sure he'll be fine
Last edited:
Bar none, the best damn "Remove the Birdcage" scene I've ever seen out of a Naruto fanfic. Setting consistent, a set-up worthy of the task, and an execution that matches both the social and the chakra magnitude of what is being asked. 10/10, one of the very few heart rewards I've ever given on this site.
Okay holy shit the freedom from the Birdcage was awesome. Also Hiashi is a total rat and I'm hoping that the Branch Family kills him. Also kinda curious where the hell Minato is during all this.
Well Hiashi is going up my shit list.
What a petulant *fool*.
All likely to secure his place as Head of the family considering Hizashi being his twin.
He is scared and offended and petulant and playing exactly into Danzo's sphere.
What a petulant *fool*.
All likely to secure his place as Head of the family considering Hizashi being his twin.
He is scared and offended and petulant and playing exactly into Danzo's sphere.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Thank you for not punishing us for freeing Hoheto.
And I love the meeting between the clans. So many reversals and redirects.
But, then Shikaku appears to deliberately misinterpret it to be about her shitty admin job.
(A) Hoheto's lack of a curse seal did not instigate the kidnapping.
(B1) Hoheto's lack of a curse seal consequently saved Hinata from kidnapping.
(B2) Seiko saved Hinata by helping free Hoheto.
And Tsume continues to be a wonderful barometer for what the adults really think.
Not even a "Try me and see what happens". This is a "Try me and we both know what will happen".
And here is the "Try me and see what happens".
And I love the meeting between the clans. So many reversals and redirects.
In retrospect, it makes a lot of sense. Seiko and Fugaku and clearly allies at this point and the Uchiha are rivals with the Hyuuga anyway. What Fugaku really gets points for is hijacking the whole conversation by making this accusation the first on topic thing anyone says!
Context says Danzo is referring to Seiko's position as clanhead. Or, given its Danzo, maybe as a ninja in general.
But, then Shikaku appears to deliberately misinterpret it to be about her shitty admin job.
And Hiashi of all people runs with it? Does he actually believe that's what Danzo meant or is he just lowering his expectations after reading the room?
Took me until this exchange to realize that Hinata being the original target meant two things.
(A) Hoheto's lack of a curse seal did not instigate the kidnapping.
(B1) Hoheto's lack of a curse seal consequently saved Hinata from kidnapping.
(B2) Seiko saved Hinata by helping free Hoheto.
And Tsume continues to be a wonderful barometer for what the adults really think.
There is the issue of nearly starting a war. Seiko glosses over it, but while she can conjure a workable facade it's still a facade and will require a lot of delicate social engineering to make it stick and prevent more fighting.
Doesn't mean Danzo or Hiashi's right, just means that there is a mechanic in play here where smacking Seiko a bit (hence, the removal from the desk) can be used as a deflection to soothe Kumogakure's ego.
Guile
Having a really great time right now
Having to pay reparations for the Kumo trying to sneak into a clan head's home to kidnap a clan heir ninja. Truly the most insane part of the Naruto setting.
On the plus side... they're frreeeee
What are they going to do with themselves, now that they're retiring at the ancient age of 20 and.. what, 35 or so?
Maybe they'll start a book club
On the plus side... they're frreeeee
What are they going to do with themselves, now that they're retiring at the ancient age of 20 and.. what, 35 or so?
Maybe they'll start a book club
She can't keep getting away with this!
Seiko is an excellently believable shadowy person of influence and I love how naturally she's developed into that role, which is something I'm only properly seeing in hindsight. She always seems so reasonably unreasonable and contrarian and yet what she suggests is somehow always something you end up doing anyway.
Seiko is an excellently believable shadowy person of influence and I love how naturally she's developed into that role, which is something I'm only properly seeing in hindsight. She always seems so reasonably unreasonable and contrarian and yet what she suggests is somehow always something you end up doing anyway.
Guile
Having a really great time right now
Rem
fite me
It's entirely possible that he's noticed her influence, considered the size of her clan and her resources, and come to the conclusion that the only logical explanation is that mission desk ninja wield a surprising amount of soft power and are just better than most at hiding it.
It's entirely possible he's right.
Hiashi is locked into a very bad position: he has to stand for being the Main Leader (well he doesn't Have To, but he feels like he does) but he also can't possibly expect his clan to be happy if the person who saved two of them from a possibly terrible fate is overly punished. and personally, it's not like he wants his brother to be dead. though if only his brother hadn't gone after Hoheto...
so part of it is that he both wants to be the guy who says We Have To Take the Hard Stance and doesn't actually want to have to face the home consequences of if he actually forces seiko to face hard consequences. he has to live with his brother and his brother's wife.
so part of it is that he both wants to be the guy who says We Have To Take the Hard Stance and doesn't actually want to have to face the home consequences of if he actually forces seiko to face hard consequences. he has to live with his brother and his brother's wife.
Always drove me bonkers. And Danzo saying Seiko could've started a war, KUMO started the incident!
Danzo of all people is absolutely not of the appeasement school, of letting strong strangers smack you around. Very much instead the harsh retribution, anyone that dares to touch Konoha gets wrecked. But he is of the blame people in bad faith ways in public conversations, alas.
Excellent chapter! Always love these, so dense with emotion and dynamics and yet easy and pleasant to read.
Cecylene
Eternal Idea Engine
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Pronouns
- He/They
Danzo wants a war though because he believe Konoha to be in position to win it, or at least exploit the ratcheting of tensions. He's a warhawk who believes Peace is just another word for rearming period. To quote the Cabal from Destiny, "The war is all there is. All this- this is just logistical support."
The man is also a control freak, that Seiko almost pushed things out of his planned for circumstances deserves punishment and he has no reason to care if anyone thinks he is being hypocritical if the words he speaks gets him what he wants in the end.
The "Reparations" thing was pretty clearly because Kumo wanted to save face by denying that they had performed any illegal action and if Konoha wanted to call them out on it without causing a War it would mean letting a literal kidnapping attempt slide.
Konoha had the option to either call Kumo out on the kidnapping and open hostilities against them to try and show they weren't a pushover about a breach of peace in their own territory to everyone else. Or they could swallow the lie Kumo was saying and kill a single man in exchange for avoiding escalating tensions across the board. And Hiruzen choose the later option.