Souls [Part-71]

Shisui was confused, worried, shocked and very angry.

A new tailed beast had shown itself- himself, in Matatabi's temple, which he guessed was fine since Chomei was fun to talk to but, just why did Veronica insist on doing everything herself? He guessed he didn't seem that trustworthy but, couldn't she at least try to use him?

"Don't get up. Your chakra pathways are not working properly."-Shisui

His voice was cold, and calm. He was barely managing to not hit something.

He was supposed to be the adult in this place. What was the point of being strong if he couldn't protect his children? He was useless. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't even heal her since her chakra pathways were damaged and his chakra would just hurt them further. He couldn't help her fight whatever she had fought against. He couldn't even help protect his little cousin, which was probably going to be the only alive Uchiha after this. He couldn't help Itachi.

Just why was he even alive at this point?

Wouldn't it have been easier for everyone if he died?

"Don't be like Veronica, you have to be the mature one Shisui."-Matatabi

Chomei nodded along with his sister, as he knew she was the one who was the most mentally stable and wise out of all of their father's children.

"Yes yes, Shi-chan! You have to be the support pillar at times like these, from what I've heard. If Verronica saw you being all mopey and sad and depressed then I think she would just feel guilty and then you both will be wallowing in despair and as much as I don't like humans, I do like you guys so you have to be happy for me to be happy."-Chomei

Matatabi and Shisui turned to face Chomei before nodding at what he said. Shisui then giggled at something before deciding that being sad won't do anyone any good. Besides, he still had two kids to look after.

Veronica woke up after 2 days. Her chakra coils still needed all the rest they could get so she chose to just help with the cleaning and cooking around the temple. Although there was not much for her to do, Matatabi's, and now Chomei's as well, clones did most of the work. There were also new seals which she had placed herself to keep the place clean so she only helped with the cooking.

Shisui and Taku also were very worried about her and would not let her do much which annoyed Veronica a lot. Although she liked her rest, she did not like how most of the time she would just be bored and left alone with her thoughts and Matatabi.

[Why don't you spend some time with the four year old? Maybe you could think up a new name with him.]-Matatabi

Veronica hummed as she thought of Matatabi's suggestion. She didn't have to think long as the said four year old showed up in her room by himself with some fruits.

They both ate quietly and talked about little things, like how the weather was or what the four year old had been up to. Of course, Veronica had to write out her thoughts, but it was fine. The four year old was intelligent and understood what she wrote.

"Pradhi."-Veronica

The name had suddenly come to her mind.

[Pradhi?]-Matatabi

"Pradhi?"

Veronica smiled a bit, a genuine smile, and wrote down something.

<What do you think of your name being Pradhi?>

The boy stared at the unfamiliar name and frowned. It sounded odd. He didn't like it at all but Veronica picked it out. So, it must be something cool.

"What does it mean?"

"Intelligent."-Veronica

The boy blinked at the immediate answer. He wondered if he should consider this as praise. This might have been the first time he had gotten praised by someone who was not his older brother, or his mother but she was dead now and dead people don't talk.

He realized he was crying when Veronica's hands reached out to wipe away his tears. The smile from before being completely gone. He decided he liked her even if she didn't smile a lot.

"I like it. My name is Pradhi."-Pradhi

--- --- --- --- ---

"What happened?"-Obito

Nita sat down at the floor and sighed before stitching his wounds.

"There's a f***ing b*tch we'll have to take care of before moving forward with out plans. She also has the two tails and the seven tails with her. The nine tails is currently best to leave alone as it's security is pretty f***ing tight and I doubt we'd be able to get it safely without leaving a big hole in our plans."-Nita

Obito didn't miss the 'we'. It seems as though there was a person left unaccounted for even with their meticulous planning. They had taken many different possibilities into account however, if a person strong enough to have Nita be worried has showed then it would be clear that they had made a mistake somewhere. They were likely tricked.

No, it was possible for it to be something else as well. Because of their mistake they already had another problem to deal with, they couldn't just assume things if they didn't have enough proof to back it up.

"I was tricked."-Nita

Obito flared his chakra a little to make sure he hadn't been caught in a genjutsu. And although he expected it, he was not being shown an illusion.

He stared at Nita, waiting for him to explain how he got tricked. And by who.

The story was easy to grasp however much it was shocking to hear. A kid had been able to outsmart Nita. Either the kid was someone else, or the kid was like Nita. She was not a genius. Itachi was a genius and yet even he was able to be easily manipulated when he was a kid. And who the kid was? It was obvious after one collected all the facts.

"We'll need to get rid of her in the two year waiting time period. There is no use for a person who's mind works like hers."-Nita

Nita thought for a moment that Veronica was a bit like Itachi in some ways. Both of them were willing to sacrifice for their goals. And he had a hunch that Veronica's goal was similar to that of Itachi's.

--- --- --- --- ---

"So? Just how long do you plan to avoid the conversation?"-Shisui

Veronica paused before looking at Shisui. She always looked at him straight in the eyes, it always showed a very high level of trust for an Uchiha; perhaps that was why he trusted her as well. After all, for Uchiha, their eyes were the strongest weapon. If he wanted to then he could put her in an infinite tsukuyomi and kill her. She knew that as well, but she still looked in the eyes.

He could see her hesitating, the small twitches and glances were hard to ignore when you got used to picking out the small bits of emotions which would leak on her face. He pointedly did not think about the fact that whatever had made her this way might have been what compelled her to leave the village and what drove him to jump in that river.

<Use your mangekyou. We'll talk in my mindscape.>

He easily caught the paper she threw at him, having gotten used to this way of communication a while back.

She once again looked at him straight in the eyes and he was very happy, even though he might not say it, to see her not even flinch when he activated the mangekyou while staring at her. He wondered just why did she trust him so much?

"I didn't think that you would come in so suddenly, Shisui. Maybe we should've cleaned this place up a bit, it has been a while since the last visitor came in."-Matatabi

Veronica frowned at what Matatabi said, having thought that it was a given for them to not talk about Tobirama. Now, Shisui would definitely be curious about what she meant.

"You weren't thinking of telling him some kind of half truth, were you?"-Matatabi

"Maybe. It's not like it matters now though, you've already ruined my plan."-Veronica

Shisui was confused, also angry and hurt, but he tried to not voice it for now and wait for them to settle down. It was weird to see Veronica's mindscape. He couldn't tell if it was normal as he hadn't had the need to enter someone's mind more than once.