Chapter 7 -> Part 7

Sakumo only let me lock myself in the room for the night, or what I assumed to be the night. Being drugged skewed my perception of time. An hour or so before he arrived, I had woken up and spent the time staring at the dark seals on the palms of my hands. I wasn't anywhere near good enough at sealing to understand them. The blanket someone had draped over me kept out a good portion of the room's chill, and the hard knot in my stomach, where I knew the Kyuubi resided, warded off the rest.

According to Kushina, any seal could be broken if the person trying to break it was good enough. In time, I could probably figure out how, if the seal would let me in the first place.

"Kichiro?" Sakumo said from the door. "It's morning. I brought someone here to see you."

"Go away."

"Sorry, kid."

"I don't want to talk to anyone."

"Nii-san?" Kushina asked hesitantly.

"Go away." Normally, when I said something less than kind to Kushina, Kichiro would protest, but now, the boy was silent. The little niche in my consciousness where he had set up shop had been replaced. I knew the Kyuubi's seal had destroyed him, considering there was a nice big knot in his place.

"You have ten minutes, Kushina-chan, before you have to leave in order to report for your team meeting."

"Thank you, Hatake-san." Sakumo left and the door closed. "Hokage-sama sent one of the ANBU to tell me what happened, and how you refused to let them seal the Kyuubi inside of me."

"You shouldn't be here."

"Yes, I should be here. Before you say I can't be here, know that I went through all the right channels. One of the ANBU brought me here himself. Or herself, it's hard to tell the difference in those uniforms."

"I don't want to talk to anyone, Kushina."

"You never want to talk to anyone. The only person you don't mind talking to is Hatake-san."

"I don't want to talk to him either."

"Kichiro!" She whined. "You have to talk to someone!"

"Not if I don't want to."

"Can you at least look at me, Kichiro?"

"Go away," I snapped harshly.

"I'm not just going to leave you. You must talk about it with someone, Nii-san. If not me, then Hatake-san, or Minato, or I'm sure Hokage-sama would take time to help you!"

"You're an idiot, Kushina. Sakumo only teaches me because I have something he wants. Minato doesn't give a damn about me, he only cares about you. And the Hokage? That piece of shit wouldn't piss on me if I was on fire, nor would I want him to."

"Don't talk like that, Nii-san! People care about you!"

"Kushina, the only person who really gives a damn that I'm breathing is you. You've done your good deed for the day, now get out!" I rolled onto my stomach and covered my head with my arms.

"What's on your hand?" Kushina demanded.

I clenched both hands to hide the seals.

"Kichiro?"

"Get out, Kushina."

"Look at me, Kichiro!"

"Please, get out."

"What happened, Nii-san?" She begged, pulling at my shoulder.

"Go away!" I shouted at her.

"I'm not going anywhere, you're hurting, Nii-san, I can't leave you like this. Minato will cover for me and Sensei will understand."

"Just go, Kushina."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Get out!" I screamed. For the briefest of seconds, I felt the Kyuubi's chakra begin to slip from the seal.

The door banged open. "Kushina, go report to your team, that's an order," Sakumo said harshly.

She hesitated, her hand tightening around my shoulder, but obeyed in the end. When her footsteps faded, Sakumo slammed the door.

"What the hell are you thinking, yelling at your sister like that?"

"She's not my sister."

"You haven't meant that for years." Sakumo grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the bed, my knees struck the table at the end of the bed. "Get dressed. I remember what you told me about Madara and if you think the fact that the Kyuubi is sealed in you will just stop his plans then I guess you aren't as smart as I thought." He slapped a pair of black fingerless uniform gloves with metal plates on the back and padding around the knuckles down atop my sandals. I flinched. "I know exactly what the Hokage is responsible for, kid, and I don't give a damn how you feel about it because I know you don't want me to. The team needs to see how well you fight and you need to see how they fight. We have a mission on the warfront in exactly a week."

"The Hokage is letting me out of the village?" I snorted in disbelief.

"You're a medic, kid. Every capable medic-nin is out in the field except you right now. Jiro and I are the only Jōnin in the village. We are fighting a war on several fronts now, so the least you can do is make sure more of us can come back alive. It will be at least a year before the seal weakens enough to allow any of the Kyuubi's chakra to escape and it will take several years before it can mess with your own control, so long as you can keep your emotions under control, which I know for certain you can. Now, get dressed."

At that, I found the resolve to pick up my hitai-ate and put it on. Satisfied, he left and I followed five minutes later, pulling the gloves on and clenching my fist with resolve. I had promised I would keep Kushina, Minato, and Sakumo alive years ago. I swore to myself I'd never forget that promise again.

Unfortunately, my self-control was tested the second I stepped onto the training field for the team meeting. Saburo marched up to me the second I arrived.

"You are responsible for the death of Uzumaki Mito."

I glared up at him. "I am not. She was responsible for her own death."

"Yet you're the Jinchuuriki, Uzumaki, not her."

"If you have an objection, take it up with the Hokage, not me. It was a decision made between him and Mito, I had no choice in whether or not the Kyuubi was resealed."

"That's enough, Nara," Sakumo stepped between us before Saburo could respond. "If you have a problem with my student, you take it up with me, not him." The two glared at each other, but after a minute, Saburo stepped back. "Inuzuka, you and Takumi against Shimizu and Nara. Uzumaki and I will watch. Nothing above B-rank."

The two faced off and Sakumo pulled me out of the way.

It didn't take me long to figure out their styles. There was a reason they were put together. Most teams consisted of three Chuunin and a Jōnin. Generally, the only time there was more than one Jōnin on a team was when a Chuunin was promoted and the team decide to stay together and start taking higher-ranked missions proportional to the team skill and rank. This team could probably take any A-rank and come out just fine.

It took less than two minutes for Jiro to incapacitate Saburo and Arata. I wasn't surprised when Saburo was knocked out by Jiro's well-timed backswing. The Inuzuka was only a year or two younger than Sakumo, and Saburo was no older than sixteen. With a complicated flip and the clever placement of an explosive note by Takumi, Jiro managed to lock Arata in a full nelson until he conceded, which only took a second.

Sakumo nudged me after the fight concluded and gestured towards Saburo. "No Genjutsu, Uzumaki," he snapped as I placed my hand on the Chuunin's forehead.

"Talented Genin," Jiro grunted.

"Thanks," I answered. "You turn your toe in when you kick and it offsets your balance."

"Think you can do better?" He challenged.

"He can't, he has the exact same habit," Sakumo slapped the back of my head.

A second later, Saburo woke and slapped my hand away from his forehead then shoved me backwards. I snarled and Jiro grabbed my collar before I could retaliate.

"Shimizu, you're up against Uzumaki."

Jiro deposited me in the center of the training ground like a naughty puppy. "Why Shimizu?" Jiro asked.

"You'll see," Sakumo responded.

"Nara is closer to his skill level."

"Nara is under Uzumaki's Genjutsu, the kid thought he'd be facing Saburo as well."

Jiro raised an eyebrow. "Sneaky kid."

"Not once you learn his tricks."

"How good is he at Genjutsu?"

"He only knows one, and made up another."

"Uzumakis hate Genjutsu as a rule."

"He does, otherwise he could have a few dozen under his belt."

"What do you mean?"

"You know, I can hear you," I interrupted.

Sakumo rolled his eyes. "You have a fight to lose."

"Hey!" I snarled at him. "I'm not that bad!"

"You're a Genin," Arata snorted. "Genin suck as a rule."

"You're on," I hissed and settled into my 'Genin' stance, a purposeful bastardization of the Konoha Taijutsu style.

"Exactly, you can't even stand properly!"

I didn't wait for Sakumo to officially start the match. I lurched forward, purposely overextending my arm. Arata caught it.

"See, that only proves—shit!" The man tossed me backwards as I used a tiny bit of medical jutsu to sever the nerves in his elbow. "What the hell was that, Uzumaki?" He demanded, trying to force his hand to work, but it didn't respond. At least it wouldn't until I fixed it.

"Take him seriously, Shimizu. Remember I am the one who trained him," Sakumo spoke up while Jiro laughed.

"Yeah, but you can't take credit for my tricks!"

"You're on for real this time, Uzumaki."

I used Kawarimi to land in one of the trees to escape Arata's attempt at a Genjutsu. A single hand seal later, a jet of water appeared between us. Three kunai flew through it as I replaced myself with a log across the clearing, only to yelp as I set off a trap I never noticed Shimizu setting and replaced myself again, but not after I managed to set my own trap. Across the clearing was my slacklining rope, just high enough to be out of Arata's reach. I ran into the center of the clearing.

"Give up," I told Arata, my hands in the boar seal. "I've already won."

"Your kid's an idiot," Jiro commented, "But he's got a good water affinity."

"Just watch," Sakumo responded.

"I think you're mistaken, Uzumaki," he said directly behind me. I jumped directly up, grabbing the rope while he grabbed my ankle. With all of my strength and more than a little chakra, I severed the nerves to his hand and threw him into the air. While he flew upwards, cursing, I released the Genjutsu on the rope and my hands flashed through several seals.

"Wind Prison Jutsu!" I cried as my back landed on the rope and I balanced myself. A swirling prison of air formed around Arata as I bounced. "Yield," I ordered as the ninja hovered a few feet above me. Both Saburo and Jiro gaped while Sakumo just laughed.

"I yield," Arata said with a growl.

I lowered the prison to the ground and jumped down in front of a gob smacked Jiro. "It's a wind affinity, but I can see where you're confused, Jiro."

Sakumo slapped the back of my head. "We go by last names here, Uzumaki."

"As far as I know, there's no such thing as a wind prison," Saburo grunted.

"Obviously it exists, Nara, because I just used it."

"Shut up, both of you," Jiro snapped. "You didn't teach him that, Hatake, so what's the story?"

Sakumo smirked.

"Story time is great and all, but I really want to use my hands again. How long will this last, Uzumaki?" Arata interrupted.

"Forever," I smirked as he snarled. "But I can fix it if you'll give me ten minutes," I added quickly.

We all sat down and I started on reconnecting all of Arata's severed nerves while Sakumo told the story.

"The kid figured out water walking shortly after I started him on chakra control exercises. He got arrogant and thought he was the only one who could do it."

I winced. That hadn't been one of my most brilliant days. I wasn't sure how, but I had completely forgotten that walking on water wasn't a miracle in this world.

"He dared me to catch him if I could and went out into the middle of one of the lakes. I was already ticked off that he had ditched training to experiment on his own, so I shunshined out there faster than he could see and trapped him in the water prison and told him if he could get out before sunset I'd start teaching him jutsu, and if he couldn't, there'd be no Ninjutsu for the next year."

"I figured out how!" I added, "But I didn't have the chakra to actually do it then!"

"Yes, he did figure out how, but the agreement was that you had to get out."

"The water prison is inescapable," Saburo claimed.

"Seriously, what is your problem with me?" I demanded, shooting to my feet and leaving Arata sitting with useless hands. "Why do you have to contradict me on everything?"

"You're just a kid with a monster you can't control sealed in your gut!"

"I can control the Kyuubi just fine!"

"It's going to escape and destroy everything and it's all going to be your fault!"

"First, the Kyuubi is not an it, he is a he. Second, I couldn't loosen the seal right now if I tried, so the Kyuubi isn't going to be escaping any time soon. Third, on the very small off-chance that the Kyuubi does escape, it won't be my fault, because I didn't choose to have the Kyuubi resealed."

"What would you know? You're just a whiny brat!"

"Ad hominem now? Are you trying to discredit yourself?"

Faster than I could see, Saburo lunged forward and punched me in the nose. My head whipped backwards and I barely managed to block a second strike to my face, only to have his foot swing around and connect with my ribs. I reinforced them with chakra so they wouldn't break but it still knocked the wind out of me.

I wasn't bad at functioning through pain, per say, but it was one aspect of my training that Sakumo had been reluctant to address. It was a skill generally taught to new Chuunin, not pre-Genin. Considering my body was still developing, it was far too easy to cause an injury and it accidentally heal wrong then create a permanent problem.

I blocked a second strike to my head and leapt over a low kick, only to have another foot come out of nowhere and catch me in the stomach. I took the opportunity to stumble back as far as I could. Jiro, Takumi, and Sakumo had shadows tying them in place and looked terrifyingly furious about it. Arata was unconscious, thus I was completely on my own.

I continued to stumble away from Saburo, trying to pull him far enough away from his jutsu for it to lose effect.

"Mito should have died with the beast inside of her, destroyed it as well—" I managed to make a Genjutsu stick on him. The trick with using Genjutsu is to make sure the victim doesn't notice. I had a knack for imagining the worst possible outcome for myself, especially when stressed, so I channeled that into the Genjutsu and it was especially successful. The only problem was that I ended up living through the image as well, if a bit vicariously. I had figured it out by accident, so it didn't exactly have a name yet. In the image, I missed blocking one of Saburo's strikes to my head. With a laugh and a handful of obscenities, he slit my throat, which was disgusting and terrifying. The Genjutsu didn't manipulate him, specifically, just specific aspects of his surroundings. I moved the images of the test of the team a few feet forward and to the right, just in time, because Saburo threw two kunai that would have gone through Arata and Takumi's head an instant later. I felt increasingly sick as I watched him march up to Jiro. I couldn't hear what he said, my head was ponding from the beating, but Saburo snarled in Jiro's face and then sliced his throat as well. He moved on to Sakumo as well. It was only when Saburo released that shadow jutsu and Sakumo killed him. Like the snap of a finger, he was dead. No fanfare, gloats, or even warning. Sakumo killed his former teammate with a kunai through the temple.

I couldn't tear my eyes from Saburo's crumpled body. It was one thing that the Kiri nin was attempting to kill children. I didn't regret his death, but Saburo couldn't even fight back, he was trapped in my Genjutsu.

"Oh god, he's dead," I gasped.

Jiro grabbed my arm and turned me away from the scene. "Hey kid, look at me, not him, okay?" I looked over my shoulder and Takumi stepped in the way. "Uzumaki, focus on me first." Takumi nudged me around as Jiro squatted down to my height.

I turned to face the Jōnin.

"Good. Just to be sure, your Genjutsu, it showed him killing us first, right? He slit your throat, put a kunai through both Takumi and Arata's heads and then slit my throat and Hatake's, right? Just nod or shake your head."

I nodded. "How—"

"I'm a Jōnin, kid, of course I can figure out what your Genjutsu was. Next thing, Arata needs your help, okay, so Takumi is going to take you to help him, alright? Focus on helping him."

I nodded again and Jiro slipped my hand into Takumi's collar, which was actually the dog's hitai-ate.

A few seconds later, Takumi nudged me towards Arata and I went to kneel beside him, healing on autopilot. It wasn't difficult, I had healed Arata's type of injuries thousands of times. Every time I tried to turn around, a mass of dark fur obscured my view and Takumi started licking my face until I turned back towards my work. By the time I finished the actual healing, I didn't have enough chakra to wake him up. The Genjutsu was a C-rank jutsu at best for chakra cost, but the complexity I put into it had exhausted me. I slumped backwards against Takumi, too tired to care when the dog curled around me. My head settled in the nook behind his shoulder. I didn't sleep, the ache from the bruises Saburo gave me was too strong, so I listened. Takumi let out a plaintive whine and curled tighter around me when Sakumo crouched beside us.

"Looks like Takumi adopted your kid, Hatake," Jiro laughed. "You ain't getting him back for a while."

"That's fine, he'll come back to me in the end."

"All kids like dogs more than people."

Sakumo laughed. "Anyways, the Genjutsu he used, was it what we thought?"

"Yes. The kid's brilliant, deducing his intentions and playing along with Saburo to distract him just enough to get help, but not enough to distract him and make him realize it was a Genjutsu. Where did he think of something like that?"

"Most of the time I can tell what he's thinking, but sometimes it's like he's living in an entirely different world. Hell if I know what's going through his head then."

"Right. I'm assuming Saburo was right about him being a Jinchuuriki."

"Yes."

My body may have fallen asleep, but my mind was perfectly alert.

"You were supposed to be debriefed on the situation last night with the other Jōnin."

"Tsume and Kuromaru fell ill last night so only Takumi went and we never had a chance to talk since its classified and they were both up all night."

"Are they fine now?"

"They'll be fine in a few days, nothing time won't fix, I'm more worried about her Genin team. They're set to leave the same time as us and unlike Kichiro, she hasn't had her nerve tested in an actual fight. She's still asking to be apprenticed to someone. Apparently her entire Academy class trembles in fear of your student and she wants that kind of fear associated with her name."

"You want to apprentice her to a Jōnin, don't you?"

"She's good enough to have been apprenticed, but I wanted her to be on a Genin team because I thought the peace would last until she was a Chuunin."

"And most apprentices are left in the village during war to preserve the styles of their master."

"Exactly. It was a bad call."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, we both know her Jōnin sensei and he'll take care of her. Besides, I made a bad call not moving Saburo to a different team when Kichiro joined. We suspected him of being a traitor and I never should have risked any Genin like that. Everyone makes mistakes."

"Hokage-sama put our team together to be sure of Saburo, are we still staying a team?"

"Yes, we're a mobile support unit."

"So we won't be back at all for a few months."

"Not unless one of use dies or is injured beyond Kichiro's ability to heal."

"Which is highly unlikely, at least for our team."

"It is."

"You were on the front lines in the last war, right?"

"I was. You were just barely young enough to be kept from the front lines."

"You hated it."

"I did."

"And now, you're going back."

"I am, but now, the difference is that I'm not fighting for myself, I don't have to prove my strength to anyone. I'm fighting for others, something bigger, someone tangible." Sakumo's hand settled on my head, then it was gone. "Come on, let's take care of our real teammates."

Takumi whined again as Sakumo picked me up.

"You have your own pack at home, no need to adopt every single stray you meet," Sakumo scolded the dog. "Inuzuka, take Shimizu home, Uzumaki would've said something before passing out if he hadn't finished healing. Go home yourself, be with your family. I have a feeling we're going to be leaving sooner than scheduled because of this incident."