Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ A Girl Named Yama ❯ Chapter 24 - Answers ( Chapter 24 )

Notes: I never forgot. Yea I missed the October deadline but it seems like I've made the November deadline! XD Yea um… I had this chapter out on fanfiction.net already. I just never had the time to post it here -_- SO! That being said, it is obvious that fanfiction.net is my top priority place for posting new chapters.

 

Last Chapter:

 

Ooo! Haku! And Zabuza! Alive! You didn't think I would forget about them, did you? After a not-so-happy letter from Konoha, we find out that the chuunin exams have virtually been ended as an attack from the village of Sound has occurred. Sasuke is missing and Kakashi warns Yama not to return, since the Hokage is now dead. But it seems like the attempt to escape her teammates have been thwarted due to some blond idiot. Now doesn't that sound familiar?

 

Warnings:

 

Spoilers for Manga chapter 367.

 

Foul Language- youngins, beware.

 

Totally un-proof-read so beware!

 

[.a.g.i.r.l.n.a.m.e.d.y.a.m.a.]

 

A Girl Named Yama

… A Naruto fan fiction

 

A Girl Named Yama © SilverDragon

Naruto © Kishimoto Masashi

 

Chapter 24 -

“Answers”

 

It took me about a split second to move.

 

Over the next three seconds, several things happened.

 

One, I used shunpo and travelled to the furthest distance I could (which was about ten meters to my right).

 

Two, Itachi disappeared and there was a clash as two kunai met and stuck together, both quivering from the tension. Kotetsu was facing Itachi dead on. I hoped he wasn't looking into Itachi's eyes. He should know better than that, right? Enemy now or not, they were still my old teammates and comrades from Konoha. I didn't blame them - they didn't know the entire picture anyway.

 

The blonde guy masquerader had disappeared. I have no idea where the hell he went. I couldn't sense his presence anywhere.

 

Genma was still facing me. Izumo… had also disappeared. My assumption was that maybe he had a trace of where blondie had gone and was pursuing him.

 

“Yama,” Genma said carefully. “I believe the council ordered for our return to Konoha.”

 

I gave Genma a slow, hesitant look. “I don't think I'll be able to go with you guys…” I took a step backwards. “But you're welcome to return!” I added perkily. If they went and did that I wouldn't have to worry about fighting any of them. Easier for me!

 

A blur shot by me and Genma went flying.

 

Eyes wide, I stared as Kuro proceeded to sit on Genma's chest. My heart went out to the dog. I wish I could take him with me. But I'd rather he grew up in a more stable environment. Gee, doesn't this sound like what parents think of their own children? I'm too young to have kids… so let's just not go there.

 

Genma's reaction was instantaneous. As he tried to push the dog off of him, I turned tail and took a step forward, preparing myself.

 

“Kuro get the fuck off me!”

 

I felt myself grimace slightly at Genma's harsh words. I heard Kuro give a sharp yap and whine in response. Inwardly, I grinned. Thanks, Kuro. Looks like putting all that weight on helped out after all!

 

All right then, time for me to go!

 

“Yama!”

 

I glanced over my shoulder at Genma's voice. He had stopped struggling and was giving me a pleading look. “Don't do this. There's no turning back.”

 

I couldn't help but let out a bark of stale laughter. “Genma, there was no turning back the minute I came here.” I said wistfully. Lots of things have been set in motion. Of course, Genma wouldn't understand my implications of `here.' The only one who would was Kakashi and maybe the blonde guy from earlier.

 

“Take care, taichou.” I said before using the classic shunshin to move away from him. As I moved, I picked up speed, knowing that Kuro couldn't keep Genma distracted forever. I could sense Itachi's chakra fluctuating somewhere behind me and I knew we would have to meet up later. Itachi could easily escape them— he was probably distracting the others in time for me to escape quietly. The first priority was to get away; otherwise there would be no other choice but to fight. And fighting was the last thing I wanted to do at the moment.

 

As I continued to move through the trees, I tried not to think about anything at all. If I did, I think I would either start second-guessing myself or start crying. And I don't feel exactly thrilled about either of those two options occurring.

 

Kakashi wouldn't lie to me. If he said it wasn't safe, then it sure as hell wasn't safe. In fact, Kakashi tended to `under' report things. So if he was saying that Konoha wasn't safe for me to be there, then I was probably not safe being close to Konoha as well.

 

I didn't want to stay away from Konoha. I wanted to go home and sleep in bed only to wake up to Sasuke's grumpy face in the morning. Nice and simple. But was anything ever nice and simple for me?

 

Noooo. Never.

 

It always had to be so complicated. I gripped my side pocket tightly, where Kakashi's letters still sat. There was no way I was going to lose those— they were all that I had left of Kakashi's presence. There had to be some sort of way I could contact him… it couldn't stay like this forever.

 

But never mind that right now. If I returned right now all that would be waiting for me was a cold, dingy cell anyway. I'll think about it later. I grimly focused my gaze on the distance horizon. Like I said before; no regrets. Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Yama.

 

It's amazing how easy it is to rationally talk yourself into things. Like how I keep telling myself that everything was okay. Sooner or later…

 

At my next step a hand appeared in my field of vision and virtually hook-lined me.

 

I went tumbling forwards; rolling and finally crashing into a tree branch before falling to a stop. Yes, falling. I wasn't exactly travelling on the ground to begin with, meaning that the unknown arm caused me to go flying to the air and slamming into a tree. And then I fell about 4 meters to the ground.

Groaning, I wrapped my arms around my stomach. The fall had knocked the breath out of me.

 

“Daijoubu ka, Kunoichi-san?”

 

My eyes sharpened into a glare at the familiar voice.

 

“Damn you, Haku,” I wheezed. “What the hell was that for?!” I curled up on my side, bringing my knees up in hope that the pain was cease. A moment later, Haku's face appeared in my field of vision, his head sideways so that his face was symmetrically facing mine.

 

“Ara, Gooooo-men!” He grinned at me in a scary kind of way. “But I thought that you would've dodged that. Were you not paying attention?” Did it look like I was paying attention, boy?

 

Oh that's it. I'm gonna kick the crap out of you for that comment… Once this pain goes away.

 

I think Haku felt sorry for me after a few minutes of watching me just kind of writhe on the ground like a fish out of water because I felt a hand touch my side (which caused to me flinch, by the way). A second later I felt his hand fill with chakra and gently press against my thorax.

 

To my relief, the `out-of-breath' feeling faded and I sighed, rolling so that I was lying flat on my back. A hand waved back in forth, effectively blocking my view of the sky and trees. From now on I will officially avoid getting thorax or abdomen wounds… because having difficulty breathing is no fun.

 

“Yama-san? We need to get moving.”

Before I could open my mouth to ask him where, he grabbed a hold of my arm, yanked me up and proceeded to flash out some fancy hand seals. And fancy hand seals usually meant baaaaaad things would happen. And just as I was about to high tail it and get away from Mr. Fancy-seals, Haku tightened his grip on my arm and everything kind of went black.

 

Stumbling and gripping onto the only thing that I knew— which happened to be Haku's arm, I choked and tripped forwards— right into someone's back.

 

I blinked.

 

Well, nothing was black anymore. Where was I? Had Haku teleported somehow? I thought techniques like that don't exist. I glared back at Haku in time to see the swirl of water disappearing from around him. Huh. I couldn't have been a shunshin move… because we were way farther from where I used to be. Shunshin can't move people great distances.

 

A hand gripped my shoulder and I blinked, looking up slowly to see Zabuza grinning eerily back at me. I `eeped' and propelled backwards, faster than I had ever backtracked in my life. Who wouldn't; after seeing a creepy s-class missing-nin grinning like a cat that caught the canary mere centimeters from their faces?

 

Zabuza's grin widened, if possible and he cracked his neck with his left hand. “And we were even looking for you, kunoichi. It was easier than we thought to get you here.”

 

I glanced around conspicuously. `Here,' was nothing but a simple clearing. Well, besides the fact that a cliff was on one side and a very wide river on the other… otherwise a simple clearing. No where for me to run, in fact.

 

“So… uh why were you looking for me?” I squeaked. I backed up and bumped into Haku, who pushed me forwards slightly. I glared at him.

 

“Well… let's just say that after we split… `Souzu-sama' never… paid us.” Haku said sheepishly. “He managed to escape while we were resting... somehow.”

 

“You said you guys got paid already!” I accused suspiciously. Zabuza snorted in reply.

 

“I said we were paid handsomely. But the money never made it to the bank account.” Zabzua glared at me.

 

I blinked. Okay… sorry about your loss then. So what did that have to do with me?

“So we figured that looking for you Leaf-nin's for payment was a pretty good idea… seeing as the mission was requested originally from the leaf, after all.” Zabuza smirked, leaning against a tree. “And what a surprise it was when we just so happened to overhear a conversation between Souzu—” I winced at his emphasis. It was pretty obvious that they knew Souzu had never really existed anyway. “— and yourself. So, when will we get our payment, daughter?”

 

Crap.

 

“Um…” I stared slowly, inching sideways. “I'm not quite sure what you're talking about.” There was no way they could've heard that conversation right? Wouldn't that mean… they would've heard the part about `another world?'

 

Clink!

 

I froze, neck arching back slightly at the large sword now positioned at my jugular.

 

“I don't have time for games, you brat. All I know is that I want my money.” Zabuza shifted the sword slightly to that pressed harder against my throat. “Or… you could come with us; that would count as a payment too.” He sneered at me. “There are a lot of unanswered questions lingering around you… and I don't like mysteries.”

 

I raised my hands slowly. “If I answer your questions, will you let me go?”

 

The ex-mist-nin lowered his sword. “Perhaps.”

 

Haku suddenly jerked his head and he seemed to stare west for a few seconds. “Zabuza-san!”

 

“Hai, hai, I know.” Zabuza snarled. “Stupid leaf shinobi are so stubborn and persistent. We're moving, little Uchiha.”

 

That's when I saw Haku near me with a senbon in hand. “Oi!” I demanded. “What's that for?” That better not be what I think it's for or else… I backed up, and stopped when I felt half of my foot hit air. The cliff!

 

“Gomen, Yama-san.” Haku managed an apologetic look, and it was almost sweet enough for me to forgive him. Almost! “But Zabuza-san would prefer it if you kept quiet for a few days.”

 

A few days? A few days?! Oi, that's not funny!

 

Wait—!

 

[.a.g.i.r.l.n.a.m.e.d.y.a.m.a.]

 

I sneezed. Uh. It's always so cold when I wake up in the mornings. Damn you Sasuke for leaving the window open! Just because you have duck-down quilts doesn't mean I do! One of these days I'm going to steal those from you and make you feel just how cold it is for us duck-down quilt-less ones!

 

“Sasuke… close your freaking window…” I whined, nuzzling further into my pillow.

 

My very hard and cold pillow. My pillow isn't supposed to be cold… or hard.

 

Ooo, déjà vu much?

 

I woke up.

 

“Oiya, is the Uchiha brat finally awake?”

 

“Hey! I'm almost twenty! I'm no brat!” I snapped. I sat up and peered around cautiously. I was in some sort of cave. What had happened? All I remember was escaping from Genma and then meeting up with Haku, bumping into… Zabuza…

 

… And then Haku coming at me with a needle.

 

I saw said boy sitting in a corner of the dark cave we were in. “You!” I pointed accusingly. Haku sat up straighter. “Did you have a good rest, Yama-san?” He asked pleasantly. I felt my eye twitch. I don't think I would be able to deal with this boy any longer. It felt like he was mocking me every time he said something. So much for Haku being a sweet boy— he was too sly and cunning to be sweet.

 

“Is my little Ya-ya finally awake?”

 

I covered my face with my hand. You have got to be kidding me. Could my luck get any worse?

 

This time when I turned towards the voice, it was not the blonde from earlier but my dad's visage looking back at me. I glared tiredly at him too. “…” Now what was going on?

 

“Ohayo!” My father grinned down at me. “You've been out four days already. It's about time you woke up.”

 

“Where am I?” Let's start with the basics first, all right? Then we'll work our way up from there.

 

“In a cave back on the mainland,” Haku said cheerfully. “We made our way back to the Tea Country by ship while you were out.” The mainland? Four days… I gave Haku a weary look.

 

“Can you guys not… knock me out like that again? I don't like having holes in my memory all the time, you know.” I said wryly. “And besides, why did I have to come with you guys when I could've just answered your questions then and there? And more importantly…” I gave my father a bland stare. “What's he doing here?”

 

“Awww, Yama, don't be like that!” My father's brown eyes twinkled at me and I tore my eyes away.

 

“Can you… not be in that form… please?” I said through gritted teeth. “My father died a long time ago.”

 

The man fell silent and didn't answer. When the pause felt too long, I finally lifted my gaze again and was slightly relieved to see that my father's image was no longer there. He had reverted back to the blonde man again. I was slightly taken aback by his sad eyes. Before I knew it, he had approached, knelt down and enveloped me into a hug.

 

I could've sworn he whispered a sincere apology and I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing seemed to come out. I relaxed slightly and merely rested my forehead against his chest. It's been a while since I've been hugged like this. The last time was nearly a month ago when I was still in Konoha.

 

Well, I guess I could somewhat forgive him… maybe.

 

That's when Keito started squeezing. I choked. “Aak!”

 

“Ya-ya! I missed you so much!” he whined. “I thought I would never see you again~!” I struggled against his grip. Well I'm not going to forgive him if I die by suffocation in the next few minutes. My eye twitched and I managed to push his arms away slightly. It was enough time to allow me to get some air.

 

“I think…” I gasped. “… You have to answer some questions…”

 

He leaned back and started down at me while I narrowed my eyes meaningfully. Finally, Keito sighed and released me, stepping back to sit down on a rock. I saw Haku edging towards the opening out of the corner of my eye. A few seconds later, he was no longer in sight. Mmm. Smart kid. But why he was leaving us alone was a mystery— weren't Zabuza and he trying to get answers from me? Speaking of which, where was Zabuza anyway?

 

I gave the cave a quick scan. No missing-nin. Well, from what I could see of the cave from the lantern beside me, there was no one anyway.

 

“So… where do we start then?” Keito said slowly, running a hand through his blonde hair. His blue eyes narrowed at me slightly. Um… I can't exactly call him Keito forever right? That can't be his real name.

 

I rolled my eyes at him. “Let's start with your name?”

 

“Ah, yes.” He grinned sheepishly. “Namikaze Minato.”

 

I stared at him for a few seconds. Minato? Minato?!

 

“Liar,” I snapped bluntly. There was no way… no way he could be the fourth. The fourth had died during the sealing of the Kyuubi. There's no way he could be alive. Besides, if the fourth was alive… wouldn't he be like, very old? Well actually… maybe not. I don't know the fourth's age when he had `died.'

 

“That's not very nice, Ya-ya,” the blonde gave me an amused look. “I thought you would've recognized me due to all the media coverage I'd received…”

 

My eyebrow twitched. So that was what he was talking about before…

 

`This face should be well known! They had hundreds of thousands of fan-groups just for me!'

 

“Yondaime is supposed to be dead and six feet under!” I blurted out. Minato rubbed the side of his face tersely. He leaned forwards so that he was closer to me.

 

“Technically… I was.”

 

I blinked stupidly at him. What?

 

The fourth sighed miserably and slouched slightly. “I'll make this as short as I can… all right? We have other issues to deal with. I'm sure you get the concept of the fact that there are two worlds, yes?” I nodded slowly. Well, duh. I came from the other one.

 

“Well, there is a gateway between those worlds,” Minato continued slowly. “But the only way to get through it is uh… dying.”

 

“To die,” I echoed. Scowling, I sat up straighter. “If you die you can't come back to life…” I eyed him suspiciously, “Then what are you? A zombie? A spectre?” You better not be a zombie… I've seen too many `The dead have come back to life' movies to count.

 

Minato glowered at me and continued without answering. “When I sealed the Kyuubi, I was supposed to die. I was fully prepared to die.” His blue eyes softened. “I had already set my resolve. But something happened. I think that once I finished sealing the demon, I wanted to see Kushina again. I thought about my son growing up without me, but then I also figured that he would be fine with Kushina…”

 

So what had happened then? Why wasn't Minato dead?

 

“… Until I saw Kushina cross the River.” Minato continued quietly. “That's when I knew that Naruto would be alone.” I blinked. What?

 

“I think it was at that point that I felt like I couldn't die yet…” the blonde mused slowly. “Then I passed out. And woke up by the river in the other world.”

 

I held up my hands, “Rewind!”

 

Minato blinked at me. “Yes?” he inquired.

 

“You're… Naruto's dad?” I gave him a bewildered stare. Since when? Okay, so maybe I knew on an unconscious level… I mean, Naruto's only the exact freakin' replica of the fourth… right? Or maybe it was revealed later in the series or something… I had stopped watching it once Naruto and Sasuke had their battle at the Valley. Now that I think about it, would that battle even occur?

 

“I thought you knew that.”

 

“… You thought wrong.” I deadpanned. Minato gave me a weary stare.

 

“Oh.”

 

“Yeah… oh,”

 

“Anyway…” Minato said finally. “Like I said, I woke up in the other world once that happened. I was half-dead too. Luckily some people nearby found me and called for an ambulance.” He cocked his head at me. “Three months later… I found you, washed up by the same river I appeared at.” Minato leaned forwards and ruffled my hair. I felt myself tense slightly but I made no move to push his hand away. “You were almost dead too… and you were carrying a forehead protector. I recognized you as Fugaku's daughter and I assumed that he had placed the forehead protector with you… seeing as you can't have graduated at the Academy quite yet.” The fourth gave me a smirk. “I also remember seeing you naked when you were still one or two years of age.” He lowered his hand.

I turned red. I don't remember any of that… but then again who would?

 

“Is the forehead protector the same one the neighbor gave me?” I said dryly, my blush fading away slowly. Well, now I know where it came from… and I think it was safe to assume that Minato placed my name on there as well.

 

“Uh… I think so,” Minato said in an unsure tone. “I don't quite remember what I did with it.”

 

I nestled against the blanket that was still around my bottom half. Well doesn't that sound like fun? Although I hadn't thought about returning to the non-ninja world, it had been my previous goal before all this had happened. To return to the other world I needed to die. Sounds easy to me.

 

Wait, wouldn't that have meant that I had died before Minato found me?

“Yeah,” Minato said quietly. “I think someone tried to kill you… and you somehow got pulled into the other world instead, where I found you.”

 

I held up my hands. “How old was I when you found me?”

 

He blinked. “About seven or eight. Why?”

 

I chewed on my thumb worriedly. According to Sasuke's story… that meant around the time Uchiha Fugaku sent me away, I had been killed? I thought he was just sending me to live somewhere else? Had he actually meant to send me to my death? So… because I was born out of wedlock the Uchiha clan had tried to off me?

 

Selfish bastards.

 

“I think there's more to it than just the Uchiha clan trying to knock you off because you were born in a legal marriage, Yama.” Minato's came wryly. I glanced up at him in surprise. So he knew. “It's more of having to do with who your mother was, actually— or at least what she was.”

 

“How's mom?” I asked suddenly. “Do you have any idea?”

 

Minato suddenly looked very sheepish. I felt a shiver go down my spine as he elaborated. “Well… actually that `mom' never existed.” I stared at him.

 

Blink, blink. What? I think today my entire world has been thrown upside down. Everything I knew was wrong!

 

“She was an illusion I created… in order for you to grow up in a normal family.” Minato continued. “I want children to grow up with a mother and father… not with one or both missing,” he trailed off and I knew he was probably thinking back towards Naruto.

 

Uh… “So why did she still not disappear when you disappeared?” I demanded. Minato had disappeared around the time we had left China.

 

“Something happened and I guess using chakra in that world made it unstable…” Minato said slowly. “After holding the illusion for the first couple of years or so the illusion somehow… stuck and became a living entity.”

 

I stared at him. “You mean like an A.I.?” Could illusions do that? Become a solid… thing?

 

“Something like that… I'm pretty sure she's disappeared now though. Before I could still feel it, now I can't sense anything at all.” Minato gave me a sideways look. “I guess that after you came here the remaining chakra just disintegrated, feeling like it is no longer needed. Besides, it's because of that I kind of learned how to make a different kind of shadow clone. It's actually how I made Gunter and Seiran.” He paused and shrugged slightly. “Although Seiran was sort of based off of a kid I knew who left Konoha a while ago. Gunter, however, I made up.” Ah, I see. That's how Genma knew Seiran then… I guess.

 

“… So why did you leave me?” I asked quietly. It was the question I had been dreading. Half of me wanted to hear the answer, half of me didn't. Had he left on purpose? Because he wanted to go back to his real son? I didn't know if I wanted to hear his answer.

 

“I thought you were listening earlier, Yama, when I said that in order to travel between the worlds you need to die.” Minato said in amusement, his blue eyes twinkling. “Long story short; I went to war—” Yes, I remember that. “—got shot, fell into a ravine and died—damn bastard took me by surprise. Anyway, looks like I hadn't wanted to die then either, so I was given another chance.”

 

I could feel my eyes tearing up again and I blinked them away furiously. All this time… he had been alive when we— no, I thought he was dead… So he hadn't left me all alone on purpose. And mom… wasn't even fucking real. Shit man, I had been practically alone for all those years…

 

Like he had read my thoughts, Minato scolded me immediately. “I didn't choose to become a soldier during the War, baka-ya-ya. It isn't a simple thing to refuse to go, you should know that.” I nodded in response. Minato had a point.

 

“So were you the one who was watching over me back then?”

 

Minato frowned at me. “What are you talking about?”

 

I felt myself grow cold. I had thought that the mystery of who had been watching me that one day by the fence would've been solved… if indeed it had been Minato that had been watching me. But if it wasn't Minato… who was it? And who had left the shuriken?

 

“So it wasn't you that dropped that shuriken that one day…” I murmured, “Guess I'll have to dig around some more.”

 

Minato caught my arm. “What shuriken?”

 

Bewildered, I answered him. “Someone who was watching me the day before I came here left a weapon behind.” Minato's face darkened.

 

“You didn't… touch that did you?”

 

I rolled my eyes. “Noooo… I just have this nifty scar on my hand for nothing.” I held up said hand, displaying the thin line. I received an instant scowl from Minato, which caused me to recoil back slightly.

 

“Haven't I ever taught you to never touch sharp objects, Yama?” He demanded snappishly. I felt slightly cowed, until I remembered that he had only taught me that when I was a kid, when I still didn't know how to handle sharp, pokey things.

 

“You can't blame me for being curious…” I muttered. Minato only sighed and shook his head.

 

“Whatever. We'll deal with that later.” Minato's annoyance seemed to fade. He smiled softly and gave me a sideways look. “You seem to be taking this entire thing in pretty well. Learning everything about the past, I mean.”

 

Only on the outside… I thought grimly. I'm a pretty big mess inside right now.

 

`Then tell me if you are…'

 

I blinked. Taka? I glanced at Minato by accident, looked away and did a double take. He was smirking at me. That's when the puzzle pieces seemed to click together.

 

“No way…” I started in a hushed tone. “… Taka?”

 

A nod answered my inquiry. But… how?

 

“I felt it when you came here, Yama.” Minato said wistfully. “There was a pretty big power surge too. But then again, there is some sort of power surge when someone crosses over. I've felt a few over the decades. I'm sure a lot of others probably felt your arrival as well, if they had been looking for you, that is. If not, they would have assumed that some sort of training went haywire.” He paused. “And the telepathy technique is something I learned over the years.”

 

There had been others?

 

“Anyway,” Minato (also known as the mysterious Taka) stood up abruptly. “I think you've had enough information to make you brain-dead for the next little while. It's time we get out of here.”

 

I struggled to my feet and nearly stumbled again. “You said… there were others.” I winced, leaning against the slimy cave wall. Ewww…

 

“Correct, I have not been able to track down who they were, however.”

 

Oh. I was slightly disappointed. I had been looking forward to meeting someone who was somewhat sane and not ninja-happy all the time… but I suppose I would have to deal. And I'm sure that if I really wanted to I could've found plenty of people who weren't ninja happy. I suppose I just miss the twentieth century feel. But then again, it was technically the twentieth century here as well, or at least approximately parallel anyway. It was only the culture that was different.

 

I stepped forwards and grimaced when my knee almost gave out. It's been a while since I've walked. About four days in fact. I felt my eye twitch again. I'm going to get you back for that Haku one day, I swear. I feel sore, weak… and—

 

My stomach grumbled.

 

—hungry.

 

“Always thinking about your stomach, Yama.” Minato said in amusement. I blushed but didn't answer and settled for glaring instead. That's when Zabuza walked in from the entrance. I shrunk back at the sight of him and settled for hiding behind Minato.

 

“It's time to get moving, old man.” Zabuza grumped. “And you had better be paying us soon too… or you're not going to like me very much.”

 

“I already don't like you very much…” I muttered, letting out a squeak when Zabuza's gaze locked onto me.

 

“Let's go.” Minato said finally, “Yama, come on.” Zabuza disappeared out the entrance, followed by Minato. Wincing, I took hold of my pack that I had discovered was leaning against the back wall and hobbled towards the entrance. When I reached it, I realized that it was completely dark outside. It was night.

 

Uh… exactly how was I supposed to see?

 

“Mi… Minato-san?” I tested hesitantly. I wasn't sure what to call him anymore. I don't think I can stomach calling him dad yet… and calling out Yondaime was a little awkward. I suppose calling him by his name was good enough… right?

 

He and Zabuza were no where to be seen.

 

I heard a sigh. “Just wait a few seconds for your eyes to adjust. There's moonlight out tonight so you should be able to see.”

 

Sure enough, about a dozen seconds later, my eyes had adjusted enough for me to make out shadows and a few objects. If I wasn't mistaken, we were standing on a cliff. Below us was… a town. Haku had said that we had crossed the ocean to return to the mainland… and that we were in the Tea country. I wonder how far down in the Tea country we are?

 

“Oh, don't forget about this hat.” Hat? There was rustling and I let out a yell when I felt Minato begin to play around with my hair, twisting it around. “Relax will you. You need to disguise yourself somehow, you know. We are back on the mainland now.” I quietly down, allowing him to do whatever it was he wanted to do. A few seconds later, a soft cap sat on my head, my hair tucked inside of it. I fiddled with I self-consciously, a little unused to my neck being bare.

 

“So… where are we going?” I asked finally, testing my legs out slightly. It was getting easier to walk now.

 

“We,” Minato said quietly. “Are headed for that building there—” I followed the direction his index finger was pointing towards. It was a lone cabin that was a little ways from the town's east boundaries.

 

“There's a man that will be able to answer a few of the questions you have, Yama. And I have a few as well.”

 

“Hmm…” Zabuza mumbled, “I suppose you wish that Haku and I keep watch while you talk to him?”

The fourth shrugged, “That would help, yes.”

 

“Very well, we'll meet you there.” Zabuza disappeared. And as soon as he did, I turned to Minato.

 

“Exactly why are they still with us? You paid them for their previous services, right?” I demanded. I'd rather not have Mr. I-kill-children-for-fun around me for so long. There's only so much anger a man can hold in before he snaps, you know. Well, at least Kuro wasn't here to provoke him.

 

The blonde rolled his eyes at me and started to move through the darkened night down a path. “Yes, I did, after I found out that they had decided to use you as payment. And then I hired them again. We're going to be needing them later, Yama.” He continued mysteriously, “We are not the only ones after this old man for answers.”

 

I frowned. What did Minato mean by that?

 

[.a.g.i.r.l.n.a.m.e.d.y.a.m.a.]

 

The cottage was tiny. I think the cabin we had stayed in during that blizzard was bigger than this. And this one didn't look any sturdier either… I gave Minato a long stare as he proceeded to march right up to the moldy door and rap loudly three times. A lone breeze blew in from my left, causing me to shiver and wrap my arms around myself in order to keep warm. After a moment's hesitation, I tossed the bag onto the ground and dug out a parka, slipping it on quickly. There was no snow here in the Tea Country, but that didn't mean it wasn't cold. The trees didn't hold any of their leaves, after all. That meant that it was an autumn/winter season here as well but probably warmer because it was closer to the south. That's what I reasoned out, anyway.

 

The door creaked open slowly and a wrinkly old man peered out. The small eyes merely sharpened to a glare when they landed on Minato. “You again… What is it you want this time, brat?”

 

Minato responded with a sheepish laugh. “Aww, don't be so mean, Ari-san! We only need a bit of information…”

 

Just when I thought the door would be slammed shut, Ari-san's eyes landed on me and widened slightly, before returning to their normal size. He shoved the door wider with a roll of his eyes. “Fine, get your asses in here then.”

 

Minato ushered me in before closing the door quietly behind him.

 

“All right then, what do you want this time, Namikaze?” Ari was sitting quietly in a chair, casually rolling what seemed to be a coin between his two hands on the table in front of him.

 

“Well first off, I figured we'd do introductions. This is Uchiha Yama.” Minato's hand landed on my head. “Yama, this is Ari. He's going to answer questions you probably have about your clan.”

 

I blinked. I had totally forgotten that I was had been researching about the clan…

 

“Well, I sure I can answer a few questions right off the bat… you aren't full-blooded, are you?” Ari started wryly. I gave him a blank stare but didn't have a chance to ask him how he knew because he continued. “Your eyes...”

 

Minato gripped my arm and whirled me around to face him. “…I didn't even notice… aren't you supposed to be disguising those eyes, Yama?” I winced at his sharp tone and reached up to touch my eyelids.

 

“… I forgot, I guess.”

 

“Well put them in now.”

 

Grumbling, I dug out the container that held Haku's contacts and pulled them out, learning forwards and putting them in easily. It's only easy because I've done it a few times already. I remember the first time it took me nearly 45 minutes to get it in and then another 30 to get it out. And that's only talking about my right eye.

 

Blinking to allow the contacts to settle, I straightened. “There, happy?”

 

“Well then, first things first; who are your parents?” Ari leaned forwards slightly and it might've been my imagination, but wasn't he just a little too eager?

 

“Um…” I glanced at Minato hesitantly. Was this really okay? When the blonde nodded, I sighed and relented. “Uchiha Fugaku was my father… I don't know who my mother is now.” Ari's eyes narrowed again.

 

“Oh.”

 

I jerked, taken aback. What was with that reaction there?!

 

“So you're the disgraced one.”

 

I glared at him but managed to hold back from screaming back at him. One more insult, old man and I'll…

 

“Or at least that was what was written about you in the family scrolls.”

 

…

 

“… Family scrolls?” I asked hesitantly. Why would I be in the family scrolls? If I had indeed been cast away because of my incomplete blood why would they have my name in such a scroll?

 

“Believe it or not, Uchiha-san, the Uchiha clan likes to have organized clan information. They did not find out that you were not of a legal marriage until after you had been born and raised.”

 

Oh. That mean I would've been in the scrolls anyway… since names were added as soon as someone was born.

 

“Either way, you are here for information today, am I correct?” Ari continued, “So what kind of questions do you have for this old man?” I rubbed the side of my arm carefully. What did I want to know?

 

Well let's start by confirming the rumors that Haku had spoken to me about.

 

“Is it true that my bloodline will degrade?” I asked quietly. Ari's eyes watched me carefully and he finally sighed, setting the coin down quietly.

 

“Yes.” Ari started slowly. “I will also saw that your eyes will stay that way forever. The only thing that will change is that over time the commas in both eyes will start to fade.” My eyes widened. “Usually the process of degradation doesn't start to occur until you hit your late thirties.” Ari rolled his eyes at me. “I don't know what you did to cause degradation— since the permanent sharingan eye color is an indication that the process has started— but it looks like you're out of luck this time, Uchiha-san.”

 

I grimaced.

 

“Unfortunately for you, Uchiha-san, the information I have is actually quite limited.” Ari started wryly. “Besides knowing that little tad-bit of information about a half-blood's abilities, the only other thing I really know pertains to the Uchiha bloodline's ancestry.”

 

A loud crash outside cut Ari off.

 

We all stared at each other.

 

What was that?

 

A quick movement of Minato's and had Ari moving more towards the back of the room, where I saw a door. Just when I was about to open my mouth and ask Minato something, he shot me a glare and shoved me not so gently towards Ari. Then he himself exited the front door quickly.

 

I was a little confused but I think I was more pissed off that Minato didn't trust me to help him deal with whatever was happening out front. But I guess with what is going on nowadays and everything… I think it's safer to listen to whatever Minato told me to do.

 

Following Ari out the door, I blinked, realizing that yes; it was still very dark outside. I could see the faint outlines of trees and bushes. Peering and blinking furiously, I finally managed to make out a human shape slinking through the woods. After a few seconds, the figure turned back and made a little motion with his hand. Ari?

 

I attempted to follow, managing to not kill myself by impaling my forehead into a branch or whamming my head into the floor.

 

Squeezing between two bushes, I caught of glimpse of Ari disappearing behind more bushes and I managed to squeak out a quick phrase. “Ari-san! Wait up!” Shoving away a particular unyielding branch, I stepped forwards and froze at a muffled grunt. Eyes widening, I shot forwards and stumbled through the shrubbery into a clearing to see Ari being held at weapon-point.

 

Ah, shit.

 

I hovered slightly. I don't think the figure had noticed me yet, but sooner or later, he would. What to do… what to do…?

 

Snap!

 

Dammnit. My eyes lowered slowly to the betraying broken stick now lying under my right foot. Screw you too, you stupid branch! My eyes rose into time to see something whizzing towards me. Yelping, I dove sideways, crashing into the floor with a groan. Disorientated, I peered into the darkness and saw Ari being thrown to the floor, before the figure began to walk towards me.

 

I guess now would be a very good time to run.

 

Pushing myself off the floor, my head slammed into something.

 

“Fuck!”

 

I agree. I winced, gripping my head and praying that the stars would stop showing in my eyes.

 

I blinked. That wasn't me. I glanced to my right quickly. And I guess that sun had just chosen a wonderful time to start rising because I caught a glimpse of dark hair and blue-tinged skin. I paled. Kisame!

 

He glared at me. I leapt to my feet. But I couldn't seem to summon my hands to do anything. I blinked. What was wrong with me? I couldn't think… I didn't know what to do!

 

“You have a really fucking hard head, brat.”

 

I winced and managed to back up a step.

 

“What?” Kisame asked in amusement. “Can't do anything without your brother around?” My eyes narrowed slightly. Itachi. Holy crap. I had completely forgotten about him. Where was he? The last time I had seen him was… uh… when I was still awake and conscious.

 

Four days ago. Could he even find me, for that matter? How would he know whether or not I was still on that island? And now that I think about it… he had always been there to keep me out of trouble. And now I didn't seem to have any strategies for getting out of this one. Had I really become that reliant on him?

 

“Well then…” Kisame straightened. “I suppose it's time to finish off this little thing so I can go back to headquarters and rest.”

 

“We need him alive, don't we, Kisame-san?” I turned in surprise at the childish tone. Now that it was starting to get brighter out I managed to make out the mysterious figure that had been holding Ari-san. Well not really. He was wearing a mask.

 

“Yes, Tobi, we need him alive.” Kisame snorted. “Didn't expect to find you here though, Uchiha.”

 

I blanched. I suppose all of Akatsuki knew about me… seeing as Deidara and Sasori had totally seen my eyes back in Konoha. Damn. Maybe I should've… not used it against them.

 

“Whatever. I don't suppose the Leader is opposed to me finishing you off anyway. He thinks you're going to be a nuisance in the future.”

 

I caught a glimpse of Kisame reaching for his sword and I jumped backwards a split second later in time to avoid his heavy weapon smashing into the dirt floor in front of me.

 

“Tobi, get the old man away from here.” Kisame maniacal grin caused me to shy back from my crouching position mere centimeters away from his sword. “I'll finish her and follow you.” I whipped my head around. Ari! He looked like he was out cold, what had the masked figure done?

 

“Tobi will!” In one smooth movement, the masked Akatsuki member threw Ari over his shoulder and bounded away.

 

“I'm still here, Uchiha!” Kisame crowed. I felt his leg slam into my stomach and I let out a whoosh of air, summoning chakra in my hands and bracing against the ground in order to stop myself from slamming into a tree.

 

Coughing, I managed to block his next blow by filling my arm with chakra. But fuck was this guy ever strong! Even though I had tried to encase my arm in chakra to block the blow, my arm was still tingling with pain. I blinked at him. He had left his sword… back by the trees. What was he doing?

 

As if he had caught my curious gaze, he sneered at me. “I'm pretty sure I can handle you without my sword, kid. I wouldn't be in Akatsuki if I couldn't handle someone like you.”

 

I managed a glower but I knew that what he said was technically true. There was no way I was on even par with Kisame. Far from it, in fact.

 

The next couple of blows I managed to block, using both arms and my leg when he suddenly decided to try and kick me from the side again. For a few seconds, we just stared at each other. My leg was trembling against one of his, and both my arms were blocking his two arms as well.

 

I think my next best plan was to now retreat and regroup with Minato before doing anything. And possibly hunt down Itachi so we would have more fire power on our side as well. It wouldn't do Ari any good if I went off the deep end and said an early hello to the Prince of darkness, right?

 

All right then…

 

Shoving in Kisame, I used his weight versus mine to propel backwards and instantly used shunpo to step to his left. I saw Kisame's eyes widen slightly and knew that he probably wouldn't be able to track me with his eyes. However, if he used chakra to track me… that was a different story; which is why I needed to do whatever I needed to do… and do it fast.

 

Whipping through the familiar hand seals, I shouted out, “Suiton: Koorimizu Bakuha!” Two balls of hard water shot out and I winced slightly at the large chakra they consumed. Thank god for early morning mist, otherwise I wouldn't have even been able to make one ball of water… The large amount of chakra it used was mainly due to the fact that no water around made it harder for me to form the stupid things.

 

Kisame's eyes met mine and I knew that he had found me quite easily.

 

But just when I thought something along the lines of; `Yes! They're going to hit,' Kisame disintegrated in water. I gaped.

 

Clink.

 

I froze; feeling cold metal against my neck for what must've been the millionth time since I've come to this world. What was it with people and threatening me? Did I have some sort of sign on the back of my head saying `please kill me' or something?

 

“Well that was quick,” Kisame's bored tone drifted into my left ear. “I thought that you would at least have put up more of a fight.” The metal pressed tighter but I barely blinked when I felt something trickle down my neck. My hands were still splayed out in front of me and I didn't dare move them in case Kisame decided to end things even quicker. “But I guess this is the end—”

 

Before Kisame pressed the kunai even further, something whizzed by my head and I heard the missing-nin swear colorfully into my ear. Taking the chance, I whammed my elbow back, satisfied to hear Kisame let out a grunt. His grip loosened and I whirled around and shot my leg out to slam into his chest.

 

Score!

 

I may not be much competition in terms of weight but I managed to make him stumble back a few feet. Not bad… seeing as Kisame is a lot heavier than I am. He was holding the side of his neck. I blinked. Blood was seeping through his fingers. My gaze followed the line and trailed towards a tree that was behind him.

 

A wicked looking shuriken dug deep into the bark. By wicked I mean super-curved edges. Super.

 

“Leaf-nin bastards…” Kisame growled. His gaze was hovering somewhere above my left ear. My eyes rolled sideways slowly. Leaf…nin?

 

I turned my head slowly.

 

An Anbu team. There were five of them. I saw one of them make a `go' signal in the direction where Tobi had taken Ari in and two of the members disappeared.

 

I took a slow step sideways. Could my luck get any worse? And why the hell was a Konoha Anbu team so far down south anyway?! I paled slightly. I hope to god they didn't recognize me. I had contacts in… and I wasn't exactly dressed like how I was before anyway. What I wore now resembled rags more than anything. My guess was that Haku or whoever had discarded my old clothes, which practically screamed Konoha ninja. Now all I wore was a simple black turtle neck and brown slacks. And of course, my hair was hidden in the cap anyway.

 

I tried to keep my head down and leapt aside when two Anbu jumped in to intersect Kisame's attempted escape.

 

When I tried to edge out of the side of the clearing, I bumped into the last Anbu member.

 

Erm…

 

I didn't look up. I'd rather not get recognized and dragged back to Konoha, thank you very much. Not after all I went through to stay out of there. I didn't think talking would be a very good idea either.

 

But when I hand gripped my chin and forced my head upwards, my eyes couldn't help but look at the ninja. My eyes widened.

 

A dog mask stared impassively back down at me. Though the mask was probably intended to hide the eyes of the ninja, I could see them. They looked sad.

 

`I know those eyes…' I thought hesitantly. When my eyes trailed towards his hair, I swear my heart stopped. White, gravity-defying hair…

 

… Kakashi?

 

To be continued…

 

[.a.g.i.r.l.n.a.m.e.d.y.a.m.a.]

 

XoXSilverDragonXoX

 

Completed November 25, 2008