They had been training all day. The others seemed to have recovered, off in the distance, and continued training on their own. From time to time, she felt Itachi and Kisame's gaze on her, but that was to be expected. Not long ago, they had been hunting Kurama, and now he was right in front of them—but far more dangerous than when he was sealed inside her.
For his part, Kurama wanted to train with the chains since, according to him, they were the key to everything. So, she summoned an adamantine chain and embedded it into his back. They were now connected by two seals and their single chain.
"Try to reduce my size," he asked her.
It was something fairly easy to do with her magic, but she wasn't sure if it would affect Kurama. To her surprise, just by thinking about it, her magic entered Kurama and began to shrink him until he was only two meters tall. To say he was pleased would be an understatement. He boasted for a few seconds, telling her he knew it would work.
"Now I want you to protect me from genjutsu. Let the emo try one on me."
"Itachi is still recovering."
"It's funny that you thought of Itachi when I was talking about the other emo."
Kisame, and Naruto, burst out laughing from the top of a tree branch next to Itachi.
"Hey!" Sasuke shouted, offended.
Kurama ran toward them, with her sitting between his shoulders. Naruto and Sasuke looked at him with a hint of respect, knowing that despite his now small size, he was still the most powerful bijuu in existence.
"Come on. Try it."
Seina sent her magic through the chain, trying to pass her mental barriers to him as well. She heard a click that made her blink just as Kurama raised his head to look at her on his shoulder.
"Alright, but don't kill me if I pull it off."
Sasuke tried to use his new Sharingan to place him under genjutsu, but it didn't work. Itachi jumped down from the tree, clearly interested in trying it himself, but Seina shot him a death glare.
"No way in hell! Didn't I tell you not to use the Mangekyo Sharingan until we do the transplant?" she scolded from Kurama's back.
"...Hn," Itachi muttered, ignoring Kisame's mocking laughter. "When can we do it?"
"This weekend, if that works for you."
"Perfect."
"How long can you maintain this form?" Kisame asked with interest.
"As long as we want. My chakra reserves are practically limitless, after all," Kurama rolled his eyes without really looking at him. "And Seina, with her constant chakra training and my help, has colossal reserves as well."
"How far could we be separated?" she asked.
"I don't think very far. However long your chains can stretch. Maybe a couple of kilometres without the chains. I don't know. I've never reached this point with anyone."
Seina climbed down from his back to speak face-to-face. She left her brothers training while she spoke with Kurama under a magical silencing and opaque barrier. Kurama stretched out in front of her, lying down and looking at her with those beautiful red eyes.
"What do you think?"
"I never imagined I'd be able to move freely again."
"But you're not entirely free," she said, a bit sadly, even though freeing him would mean her death.
"I don't mind being bound to you, Seina. Maybe at first, but not for many years now. I owe all of this to you."
"It's what any decent person would do, Kurama."
"I know, bunny," he looked at her with a strangely affectionate expression—for a non-human creature. Seina resisted the urge to get exasperated at the nickname; after all, it was her fault for giving him the idea.
"Would you like to stay out all the time?"
"I imagine there will be times I prefer being inside you. Even though it was my prison, I've come to love it. As long as I can come and go, I don't mind."
"Then I'll leave the seal open like this from now on."
Kurama nodded. Seina stepped forward to hug his large head. She felt Kurama rest his head on her shoulder, hugging her back. He was like a little comforting heater. Maybe because she knew his chakra so well after so many years together.
As evening fell, everyone returned to the magical tent. Jiraiya was still missing, but now Kurama was with them. His mere presence eased some of the stress she hadn't realized she'd been carrying after inviting Itachi and Kisame into her tent. Kurama, now slightly smaller to fit through the doors, followed her to her room after dinner, while Naruto and Sasuke also went to their rooms and the other two sat in the lounge talking about whatever it was they talked about.
The chain connecting her to Kurama, now invisible and intangible after several magical modifications, served to link them mentally as well now that Kurama wasn't inside her. Her Occlumency barriers, interestingly, had also wrapped around Kurama after she somehow passed through them via the chain. Honestly, she didn't fully understand what the hell they were doing. They'd have to investigate.
Kurama lay down on the floor of the Japanese-style bathroom, equipped with a drain for showering or washing before entering the large bath, and watched as she prepared the tub for use.
"When was the last time you bathed in the outside world?"
"I can't even remember. It feels strange to see you doing something so mundane and being able to interact with everything," he said, using a claw to lift a glass bottle full of shampoo and examining it with a somewhat surprised expression. "The last time I was out, I wasn't exactly in my right mind to enjoy any small detail."
"I can't even imagine... Despite everything I went through, I was never locked in some kind of virtual prison for years. At most, I was locked in my cousin's old room for a few weeks."
Immediately, she saw Kurama's lips curl in anger at the mention of her old and hateful relatives. He had seen everything she experienced from her perspective, so he knew all about the Dursleys. At this point in her life—her new life—the Dursleys were like a grain of sand on a beach. They had no significance whatsoever. When she thought of them, when she remembered them, she felt nothing but indifference. She had fully moved on. Maybe it helped that she knew George, Hermione, and Ron had made sure the Dursleys would spend the rest of their lives suffering humiliations, plagues, and more—without killing them. At least, her aunt and uncle.
Kurama, who had experienced it all at once a few years ago, still wanted to gut them. She didn't blame him. He was still the most dangerous bijuu of all and had lived her life as if it were his own.
"If I could get to them… I'll always have that thorn in my side from not being able to kill them."
"I know. Anyway," she said, adding bubbles to the bathtub water and stepping out to grab her clothes, "when I finish bathing, we need to talk about our training. We have a lot to do and relatively little time."
"You're right. I'd make the most of this 'vacation' period of yours," Kurama rolled his eyes, "as your idiot brother calls it, to train to the max. I don't think I'll be able to just walk out freely once we're back in the village without causing chaos."
"Maybe we could get people used to a smaller version of you."
"Mmm... Maybe. Go bathe, and then we'll talk. I'm going to explore your tent."
Seina entered the bathroom with her pyjamas in hand. It had been a somewhat exhausting day, emotionally speaking. She was still getting used to Itachi and Kisame being in the tent. Not to mention the whole bijuu issue that kept her on edge at times, wondering what those criminals were planning. Because it was obvious they wanted that much power for something. The question was: for what? If she was right, and it was something they'd been planning since before her parents' deaths, that meant someone had enough patience to carry out a well-thought-out plan. And that was worrying, considering both her and her brother's status as jinchurikis.
Next to Akatsuki, Danzo looked like a mere fly. Even Orochimaru was easier to predict than Akatsuki. Orochimaru reminded her, ironically, of Voldemort. Well, more like Tom Riddle Jr. before he completely lost his mind and transformed forever into Voldemort. She always believed that if Tom hadn't been so obsessed with that useless dream of immortality, he could have easily taken over magical Britain. He had been intelligent, powerful, and charismatic—but, unfortunately, his arrogance had completely overshadowed his best qualities. Fortunately for her, that had made it easier to kill him in relatively little time, because Tom, in his arrogance, was predictable.
But Akatsuki... That was a whole different story. She bathed while thinking about it, but no matter how much she mulled it over, she could only come up with theories and hypotheses. One thing she concluded with reasonable certainty was that whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good for her—so by default, that made her Akatsuki's enemy. Luckily, Team 7 had already cost Akatsuki two more assets. Without Itachi and Kisame, they were likely trying to recruit more S-rank criminals, which wasn't easy. If Akatsuki made the mistake of going after Itachi and Kisame, it would be the perfect opportunity to try to eliminate a few more members. After all, Itachi and Kisame were no longer alone—they were now accompanied by a Sannin, a Jonin, and two Chunin. And best of all, for now, no one knew they were all under the same roof.
She felt Kurama's presence return to the room. She blinked, realizing she had been in the tub for a long while, staring at a fixed point on the wall tiles, lost in thought. She got out reluctantly, having been quite comfortable among the bubbles, and quickly rinsed off. She came out in pyjamas, with a towel on her head, seeing Kurama lying at the foot of the bed like a dog. She had to stifle a laugh at the sight.
"You've got a letter," Kurama said almost maliciously.
Her heart skipped a beat as she realized what that meant. Her cheeks almost flushed at the memory of what she had last written to Kakashi. She grabbed the letter with a slightly shaky hand and sat down in the desk chair, as soft as her mattress.
"Are you going to open it or what?" Kurama laughed darkly from behind her, watching her with eager eyes. "I want to know if your lover is as perverted as he seems to be or if it's all just a facade."
Seina opened the letter, turning her back to Kurama. She had to bite her cheek as she read each word written in Kakashi's unmistakable handwriting. He always seemed so composed, despite his books, but without a doubt...
"...I didn't know the thought of someone else seeing you turned you on. Looks like there's a lot I still have to discover about you—and I love that. But tell me, is it really exhibitionism if the one watching is another version of me? The moment I read what you wrote, I imagined a different situation. Something a bit more… intense.
I imagined taking you to one of those fancy village hotels, having dinner by candlelight in front of everyone, and then bringing you with me to our room, where even those idiotic 'secret admirers' of yours, the ones you don't even notice, would know exactly what we were doing. They'd only be able to imagine it while dying of jealousy, because I'm the one inside you. Maybe, if they were stupid enough, they'd even hear you moaning and screaming my name while I make every one of your fantasies come true. I'd let them enjoy one last night of life because just imagining someone seeing you, or even hearing you, while I make love to you makes my blood boil.
Do you know what I dreamed about the other day? I dreamed that you had come back, that we had finally gotten married, and that we were living together. It was my birthday and you had baked me a cake. When I got home, you were wearing nothing but an apron. Just that. You looked like a goddess, your golden hair brushing against your pale bare skin, covered only by that pathetic little black apron. I grabbed you in my arms without thinking twice, devouring your mouth. You jumped onto my hips, stripping me with your hands and your magic. I tore the apron from around your neck, exposing your chest. I can still remember how you moaned my name as I licked your nipples.
You set the cake on the table, and I came up behind you, pressing my chest to your back and sliding so deep inside you that you bent over the table, clinging to it. It was so real, Seina. I felt how you wrapped around me, how you moaned with every thrust, how your strength gave out after a while and I held you by your hips, biting your neck. When I came inside you, I watched my cum dripping down your thighs, and when I looked at you, I saw you trying not to laugh after accidentally leaning against the cake."
Seina kept reading, her mouth dry, as he described how he licked the cake off her breasts inch by inch while fucking her again, this time sitting in a chair with her straddling his hips. She had to reread the letter a couple of times—for academic reasons, of course. She heard a snort of laughter from Kurama when she finally got up from the desk.
"He didn't disappoint, did he?"
"...No," she admitted. Then she smiled, suppressing a laugh. "He sounded less depressed."
Kurama let out another snorting laugh, closed his eyes, and went to sleep. Seina lay down as well. It had been an erotic letter, but her intention hadn't been for Kakashi to write something like that for her to masturbate to, but rather, as she had told Kurama, to distract him from his depression. She fell asleep with a smile on her lips, realizing that Kakashi was going to be okay. She just needed to be there for him, even if they were thousands of kilometres apart.
She woke up with Kurama's head on her feet, sleeping beside her like a giant dog keeping her company. She yawned while changing out of her pyjamas into her usual uniform, which had been enlarged with spells since it was starting to get too tight. Kurama shifted on the bed, enjoying having it all to himself, stretching out luxuriously under the sheets.
"I'll have to buy new clothes at some point," she said aloud, noticing that she also had to significantly enlarge her underwear and mesh armour.
"No wonder. When was the last time you bought clothes instead of conjuring or enchanting them?"
"I honestly don't remember."
She frowned as she thought about it. After washing her face and taking care of other needs, she stepped out of her room just as Itachi was coming out of his. Luckily, the shop had ten rooms, as it had been designed to accommodate two full squads plus two extra rooms just in case. At the moment, they were occupying six rooms, each with a private bathroom.
"Seina."
"Itachi," she smiled in his direction, walking alongside him.
Itachi glanced at Kurama, now even smaller, perched on her shoulder. She couldn't guess what he was thinking as he stared silently with red eyes, but he said nothing about the fox's presence. At the size of a cat, Kurama was easy to handle. She couldn't stop petting his soft, fluffy fur with devotion. He allowed it, muttering something unintelligible under his breath, but they both knew he loved it. After all, he was the one who had climbed into her arms.
When Naruto saw them arrive with Kurama in her arms, he blinked and then stared into the distance with a thoughtful look. She didn't need to read his mind to know what he was thinking. Compared to her, Naruto had a... weaker relationship with his Kurama-yang. He wanted to improve it, and they were making progress, but it would take months before he could manage even a partial transformation without his Kurama's help. Not to mention how long it would take before he reached the point she was at: carrying Kurama in her arms like a pet instead of the most powerful bijuu in the world.
"Where's the pervert?" she asked, noticing that Jiraiya was nowhere to be seen, even though he was usually the earliest riser. Sometimes.
"He left again. Apparently he got a message or something."
They shrugged. They all ate breakfast together, with Kurama sitting on her lap, eyeing her food with interest. He didn't need to eat since he wasn't a real fox. Her father had created him without that need. He didn't even have genitals to urinate with. He was truly a chakra construct. Even so, she let him lick a few things off her finger to taste them, much to the incredulous stares of Kisame and Naruto.
"What?" Kurama hissed at them. Then he disappeared inside her body, muttering insults, bored of being the centre of attention.
"Nothing, nothing..."
Then the pervert suddenly appeared at the front door, with a serious expression.
"What's going on?"
"They know you've run away."
"What!?" Naruto exclaimed. "How did they find out so quickly?"
"Apparently they were keeping a close eye on Itachi. Even here, I've heard rumours about his supposed escape."
The man in question said nothing. Now that she thought about it, they were no longer wearing Akatsuki cloaks or ninja headbands. Just black pants and shirts, along with their weapons.
"It was to be expected. Tobi knew I was watching him too."
"Bet it was that idiot," Kisame growled. "Kakuzu must be rubbing his hands just thinking about collecting our heads."
Itachi didn't seem very alarmed by the news. He had probably anticipated what would happen if he agreed to flee Akatsuki to return to his brother—and to them, the jinchuuriki of Kurama. Kisame looked more irritated than scared. In fact, he didn't look scared at all.
"So what do we do?" she asked, knowing that now Itachi and Kisame would be actively hunted.
"We need to find a safe place to regroup."
Seina blinked. She knew a safe place. Uzushiogakure. It was protected by the Fidelius Charm, so even if she told the two former Akatsuki members the secret, they wouldn't be able to betray her in the future. Still, she would have to make a new Portkey for Jiraiya so he could come and go. That way, he could keep working in the Land of Fire and also train them safely in Uzushiogakure.
"I have an idea," she finally said.
Everyone turned to look at her. She explained everything she had in mind. Kisame and Itachi exchanged glances. It was clear they had expected to end up fighting other ninja. Jiraiya, meanwhile, looked astonished and quite impressed. Sasuke and Naruto, on the other hand, didn't seem surprised.
"Huh. That's actually a great idea. You'd have a base to settle down in for the next few years without having to drag yourselves from village to village, and I could stop worrying about you while I work here."
"You'd have to buy the food and bring it with you," Sasuke told him. "There's not exactly a market there."
"I know, but that's the least of our worries."
They spent a few hours refining the plan. Everyone agreed the best option was to go and protect themselves under the magical barriers she had placed in Uzushiogakure. She made Jiraiya a couple of Portkeys: one to go to the Land of Whirlpools and another to return to the Land of Fire, to coordinates he gave her. They packed everything, leaving no trace of their recent presence.
"Oh, by the way. Uzushiogakure is in the Land of Whirlpools."
She raised her arms and let each of them grab on before molding chakra and teleporting them all with hiraishin. When they arrived at the stone with the seal she had left for this purpose, Jiraiya, Itachi, and Kisame stood gazing at the half-rebuilt village Team 7 had been working on for several weeks.
Kurama spoke while lounging inside her.
"So this is your ancestors' home. I like it."
"I only saw Uzushiogakure once," Jiraiya admitted as he admired the scenery—the blue sky, the sun high above, the ocean breeze, the sound of running water everywhere—"but it's amazing."
Seina nodded. She would have to go deeper into the forest to place some barriers around the fuinjutsu hideout that she was sure was a chamber full of clan secrets. The last thing she wanted was for someone to poke around by mistake and activate the defences, destroying everything.
They set up the tent right there, considering they were alone on the whole island.
"How about we do that transplant now?" she asked, making Itachi and Sasuke turn to her with interest. "It's not like we have much else to do."
"Fine by me."
"How long will it take us to recover?" Itachi asked, showing a bit more sense than his brother.
"Two or three days. I'd recommend spending the first day resting in a dimly lit room, but you won't have a recovery process, strictly speaking. It's just about letting the optic nerves reconnect properly."
"That's fine."
"Great. I'll go get everything ready."
She went inside the tent and disappeared into the hideout. It didn't take long for her to set up a few magical barriers and return unnoticed. She prepped the infirmary with the necessary materials and checked that the sterility runes were active. Still, she cleaned everything thoroughly with her magic. She sent a mental nudge to Sasuke to come see her.
They appeared a few minutes later. Sasuke looked visibly more nervous than Itachi—or maybe she just knew him better. They lay down on their respective beds. She cast a few spells to disinfect them and sterilize their clothes, then pulled the curtain between them to give Sasuke some privacy. She knocked him out with her magic and carefully extracted his eyes. Who would've thought, in her past life as Harriet Potter, that she'd be performing this kind of surgery—and successfully.
She placed the eyes in a prepared container, already labelled to avoid any confusion. Then she did the same with Itachi. It barely took more than half an hour thanks to her magic and advanced iryo-ninjutsu. She implanted Itachi's eyes into Sasuke, using magical X-ray glasses to ensure she was doing it perfectly. It took a while to connect all the tissue and nerves and to heal the wound she had made removing his eyes. Fortunately, Sasuke's body accepted Itachi's eyes without issue. Maybe that's why the stone tablet said they had to be close relatives?
She repeated the process with Itachi. She could occasionally sense Naruto and Kisame approaching the infirmary out of curiosity, but they didn't disturb her. Once she was done—vanishing the blood and conjured materials—she opened one of Sasuke's eyelids to delve into his mind. She quickly found what she was looking for, having examined him months ago. She saw the connection of the new eyes to the brain was perfect, and interestingly, the dormant curse tied to Sasuke's Sharingan had disappeared. She was meticulous, scanning his entire brain and eyes with magic in case something was hiding from her, but found nothing. Neither did she find anything in Itachi. So she declared the operation finished, bandaged their eyes, and left them to rest for a few hours.
Once Sasuke could use his new eyes, Seina knew a new stage of his training—unlike anything seen before—was about to begin.