She saw Orochimaru emerge first from the crater, his expression truly furious. It took him less than two seconds to find her with his gaze.
"You again," he hissed, involuntarily clenching his jaw in anger. "I should have killed you years ago, when I had the chance."
"Let me finish her off, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto requested. "She's alone. I can't sense anyone else."
"I am never alone…"
The adamantine chain burst out of her back. She let its metallic clinking echo through the clearing without hiding her presence. After all, they would soon see Kurama bound to her. Orochimaru and Kabuto watched as a fragment of one of her chains slowly fell to the ground from her back. It was clear they didn't know what she was plotting, but for the first time they seemed to be realizing she was far more dangerous than she appeared at first glance. Kurama leapt out of his seal at the same time, using the chain as an extension and driving it painlessly between his enormous clavicles in a practiced motion that lasted barely half a second.
She jumped onto Kurama's back, seeing the no-longer-indifferent faces of her enemies: Kabuto's pale, shocked expression and Orochimaru's fixed, serious eyes. To Kurama, with his height of fifty meters, Orochimaru and Kabuto must have looked like mere ants, and that wasn't even half his true height.
"That's impossible," Kabuto said in fear. His pale, clammy face betrayed him immediately. "Naruto is the Kyubi's jinchuriki."
"And yet, here I am, worm," Kurama laughed maliciously.
Orochimaru didn't speak. He seemed to be weighing whether to fight or flee, so she decided for him. Kurama didn't hesitate for even a moment; he leaned over them and slashed with a claw they barely managed to dodge. The ground exploded upward, along with Orochimaru and Kabuto, who took advantage of the moment to summon Manda. The chief of the snakes barely had time to register where he was or why he had been summoned when Kurama caught him in his jaws, biting into his neck and gripping his twisting body with his claws.
Hisses, growls, and roars of pain and exhilaration echoed throughout the clearing as the humans staggered atop their respective titans.
"Wrap him with your body, Manda!" Kabuto ordered as the horned purple serpent writhed, trying to free itself from the bite.
He obeyed, perhaps out of instinct, and coiled his tail around Kurama. Before he could tighten and crush his bones, she used her chains charged with demonic chakra, driving them into him to defend Kurama. Manda hissed, wounded yet again, and thrashed violently from side to side in a final attempt to sink his fangs into his attacker. She watched as the bijuu beneath her feet spat him away, narrowly avoiding the strike, his snout covered in blood and his claws buried deep in his victim's flesh.
"They're escaping!" she shouted, seeing how Kabuto and his master had taken advantage of Manda's convulsions to dismount the summon almost unnoticed.
Kurama raked Manda one last time before leaping into the air and landing among the trees. They both knew she couldn't leave Sasuke alone down there, so with a furious, disappointed roar, he launched a small bijuu dama toward Orochimaru and Kabuto, devastating everything in its path. When calm finally returned after several minutes, she saw through the ash, smoke, and sand drifting through the air that everything caught in Kurama's attack had been obliterated, leaving a semi-circular crater in the ground and setting fire to some of the branches closest to the shockwave.
She clicked her tongue, using a water jutsu to extinguish the fire before it could spread. She tried to spot their enemies, but had to admit they had escaped, just like the dying serpent they had left behind, which hadn't dared attack them while they were even slightly distracted—perhaps because it lacked the strength, or perhaps out of fear of the wrath of a being far superior to it.
"Damn rats, always slipping away," Kurama growled angrily. "That was a pathetic fight. I didn't even get time to do anything!"
"There will always be a next time… Look, there's Sasuke. Let's go back."
Kurama shrank himself using their shared magic and carried her to where Sasuke was waiting.
"I could hear you even underground," he said, rolling his eyes. "Not exactly subtle."
She shrugged as Kurama hopped onto her shoulder in his cat-sized form, enjoying the open air. They were still trying to get people used to her extra powers courtesy of Kurama, but soon it would be normal to see him walking beside her through the streets. Or so she hoped. She knew Kurama wanted that moment more than anyone, it would mean he'd never have to return to his seal again unless he chose to.
"It's done," he said before she could open her mouth. "I've got a bunch of documents, and the cave is rigged with explosives. Apparently, no one else was there except Orochimaru and Kabuto."
"Great. Let's blow this shit up and get out of here."
The end of the mission was extremely anticlimactic. Mizunoto and Kinoto hadn't woken from their unconscious stupor, so she simply dispelled the Akatsuki-disguised clones and they carried their sleeping teammates' bodies to a more distant area. It would be easy to lie and tell them they had managed to escape. After all, it's not like they could contradict them after being unconscious for practically half the mission.
"Not bad, all things considered," she said as they ran silently toward Konoha.
"I don't know about you, but I'm really looking forward to sitting down."
She resisted the urge to snort with laughter at the dry remark. She glanced sideways at the Ne members, imagining they were probably wondering what had happened to the backpack full of documents, and to Akatsuki.
When they arrived in Konoha a couple of days later, they went their separate ways. She watched Mizunoto and Kinoto's backs one last time, knowing it wouldn't be the last time she saw them. It was night when she finally reached her house, after saying goodbye at the door, and there was no one she could wake with the noise.
"I went on a mission with Naruto. See you soon. I love you. K."
She smiled as she made her husband's note disappear.
"Home, sweet home," she said to herself as she put her things away in the entryway closet and slipped on her house slippers.
She was exhausted, so she just ate something quick, took a shower, and collapsed flat onto her bed. She was so worn out that she fell asleep the moment she closed her eyes.
She woke slowly, instinctively knowing she was safe, when she felt lips on her cheek and a hand stroking her hair. It took her a second to recognize Kakashi.
"Mmm…" she murmured, still clinging to the last scraps of sleep.
Kakashi chuckled softly into her hair, lying down behind her and wrapping his arms around her. She felt his adoration, a hint of amusement, and his love. She wasn't awake enough to speak, but he must have sensed her emotions because he pulled her closer.
"I love you too. Sleep. I'll wake you in a bit."
She drifted between sleep and wakefulness in his arms, without a single worry. She didn't know how much time passed before he woke her again, kissing her face until she smiled. She shifted, burying her head in his chest, feeling him move with quiet laughter.
"As much as I'd love to spend the rest of the day in bed with you, a note arrived for you."
"Ugh…"
She sat up sluggishly, as if she hadn't slept at all, and opened her eyes unwillingly. His face was just inches away as he produced the note with a snap of his fingers. She didn't even need to see her mentor's seal to know what the meeting would be about.
"Fuck."
Kakashi snorted a laugh, giving her one last kiss on the forehead before leaving her in bed. She read the Hokage's brief message while brushing her teeth and starting her daily routine. She heard Sasuke knock on the door before Kakashi opened it. She went downstairs without her vest on, seeing that Sasuke, on the other hand, was already dressed and fully awake.
"Hey! How dare you leave me talking to myself, teme!" Naruto shouted, running dangerously close to the house. He smiled briefly in her direction before frowning at Sasuke, who ignored him completely. "I'm part of this team too! I want to know what's going on!"
"No one is hiding anything from you, dobe. The note was addressed to me."
She saw another argument coming, so she cleared her throat, drawing everyone's attention. She sat quietly at the table, where Kakashi had prepared breakfast and was already eating.
"Are you going to take long settling this stupid argument, or can we get to the point?"
"Mhpf…"
A less irritating silence followed as she finished breakfast. Even so, she knew they were waiting for her to head to the Hokage Tower, so she sighed and cleaned the dishes with her magic before standing up. Contrary to what she had expected, only Tsunade-sama was waiting for them, accompanied by Shizune.
"I thought about gathering you all again," her mentor sighed, "but in the end I decided this was better. I don't want to draw Danzo's attention right now."
"As if he wasn't already watching you," Naruto said, crossing his arms behind his head.
Tsunade-sama shot him a sharp look before sighing. Despite his lack of tact, Naruto was absolutely right. Then she gestured for them to continue, so she explained everything in detail, confident that no one could spy on them through the protective barriers she herself had placed years ago.
"More of the same…" Tsunade sighed again. "That man never gets tired."
"I have to admit his persistence is admirable, if it weren't for the fact that he's like a damn pain in the ass."
"Luckily, there's less and less time before Itachi's reintegration deadline expires," Shizune said more optimistically. "Then we'll be able to capture him and judge him publicly."
"I know, but I wouldn't like anything to go wrong now, right at the final stretch. In any case, Team Seven, you may go. I already have all the information I need. Keep up appearances in the meantime, you know the drill."
"Hai."
They said their goodbyes in unison, leaving the Hokage's office with a bitter taste in their mouths. She had grown used to being at the centre of everything, so it felt strange not to know what was coming or to be absent from strategy meetings with Shikaku and the ANBU commander. Still, she understood why her mentor had been so curt. It hadn't even been two days since her return home, so Danzo must have been extremely irritated not knowing whether his trusted men had managed to carry out their unofficial mission. Without Orochimaru's confirmation, he couldn't know whether the documents had reached him or whether he planned to do anything with them. If she were Danzo, she would be watching them closely, trying to determine whether she was aware of what he had planned.
As they left the tower, they ran into Shikamaru, their former teacher Asuma, Kotetsu, and Izumo.
"Wow, long time no see!" Naruto greeted them with a grin. "What are you doing away from the main gate?"
"We do field missions too, brat," Kotetsu snorted with a laugh, giving his brother a friendly shove as he passed by toward the Hokage's office.
"Heading out on a mission now?"
"Nah… just a strategy meeting with the other teams," Shikamaru replied, suppressing a yawn. "I don't know if you've heard, but Tsunade-sama has gathered twenty four-man teams to deal with… delicate matters."
"Akatsuki?" Sasuke asked seriously, crossing his arms.
"Among other things…"
"Come on, Shikamaru, you can talk to your friends later," Asuma cut in as he climbed the stairs behind Izumo.
"Hey! We want to know what's going on!"
Shikamaru sighed, rubbing the back of his neck with a tired expression. Then he nodded toward them, his face serious.
"We'll talk in a bit, at the old training field."
They watched him walk away, hands in the pockets of his jonin pants, before turning toward the stairs themselves. They left in thoughtful silence, broken by her twin brother.
"What do you think he meant?"
"Do you think Shikamaru knows something about Danzo?" Sasuke thought, asking mentally.
"I have no idea… but I guess we'll find out soon enough. Why don't we walk around the village while we wait? I doubt they'll be done in five minutes."
They wandered through the village at an easy pace, detouring through shops and strolling past a few streets lined with food stalls. She ordered a couple of slices of cake, starving, and they sat on a bench by the river to eat away from the crowds.
"Seina, Naruto, Sasuke!" a voice called out. They turned to see Ino walking toward them with Tenten. "What are you doing here?"
"Killing time until Shikamaru gets out of his meeting."
"Shikamaru? Oh, right, the meeting with Tsunade-sama," Ino waved her hand distractedly. Seeing Tenten's curious, confused expression, she shrugged. "It's about those teams Tsunade-sama formed. It probably has something to do with Akatsuki. Are you waiting to talk to him about that?"
"Yeah. He's going to fill us in. We're meeting at the old training field."
"Great. Mind if Choji and I come too? We'd like to know what's going on as well."
Naruto and Sasuke shrugged as she finished her food.
"I think I'll come too," Tenten added. "I've been hearing some strange rumours lately, and… Neji says he saw a couple of them on a mission a few weeks ago. They were relatively close."
"Seriously?"
She exchanged glances with her team. A silence fell as they considered what they had just heard. In the end, Ino and Tenten decided to join their improvised meeting and left to fetch Choji and drop off their shopping bags.
"See you in twenty minutes."
"See you."
They headed toward the training field, speaking mentally about a bit of everything.
"I think it's time to tell our friends everything we know," she said, stating the obvious. "We've been away for three years. Now they have relevant information too."
"True. They might know something important that we don't."
"And if Shikamaru and the others are going to face Akatsuki… the more information they have, the better."
"Look, Shikamaru's already there."
"You didn't take long," she said, nudging his foot with hers when she saw him lying in the grass.
"I just got out. It wasn't anything important."
"We ran into Ino and Tenten. They said they want to be present."
"…" Shikamaru sighed tiredly. "I should've seen that coming."
They waited for the others lying in the grass, resting, when Ino and Tenten arrived accompanied by Neji, Shino, Kiba, Hinata, and Choji. Seeing them, Shikamaru sighed again, prompting his entire team to chuckle beside him.
"Karin is in a meeting with my father," Ino said by way of greeting, "and Sakura is working."
"And Lee is on a training route with Guy-sensei."
"So, are we finally going to find out what's going on?" Neji asked, leaning against a tree and crossing his arms.
"Finally?"
"It's not like we didn't know something was happening…"
"Do you think we're idiots or something, Naruto?" Kiba asked in his usual biting tone, rolling his eyes, though without real anger.
She raised several barriers to prevent anyone from spying. Even if someone tried to read their lips, they wouldn't get anything useful. Shikamaru sat down reluctantly, and the others followed suit, except for Neji and Shino.
"I think it's best if we start by telling you everything that's happened all this time…" she sighed. "As you know, Naruto and I are the Kyubi's jinchuriki. Our father sealed one half into each of us on the day we were born because he had no other choice. What you don't know is that that same night, a masked man attacked our mother—who was in labor and the previous jinchuriki—with the intention of destroying Konoha using Kurama."
"But wait… that means your father was the Fourth," Choji said, drawing shocked looks from more than one person. Naruto and she nodded.
"Shortly after that, resentment toward the Uchiha clan began to grow because most of them survived the attack. That, combined with the rumour that the Uchiha could control Kurama with the Sharingan, led to the clan's isolation in their territory and-"
"And it led my clan to plan a coup against the Third," Sasuke cut in flatly. "My clan, apparently, also resented the accusations and the constant neglect from the administration, despite being one of Konoha's two founding clans."
"…Your clan planned a coup?"
"That's right. Some members of my clan, obviously, didn't agree. One of them was my brother, Itachi. He told the truth to the Hokage and the councillors. Danzo didn't hesitate for a second and used my brother to eliminate the threat my clan posed to Konoha," Sasuke said, clenching his jaw in anger as he remembered. "He used me to blackmail my brother. Itachi had to kill the Uchiha clan in exchange for my life and for the administration's silence about the coup."
"That way, the Uchiha clan's dignity would remain untarnished," Shikamaru nodded, "and you could rebuild the clan without the other conspirators."
"Heh…" Sasuke let out a humourless sound, smiling without joy. "That's what Danzo wanted my brother to believe. What Danzo really wanted were my family's eyes and to get rid of the clan he both envied and hated."
"Are you saying that-"
"This is treason!"
"Why is that bastard still alive?!"
"Guys!" Naruto called out, having listened in silence until now. "This is just the beginning. If you don't shut up, we'll be here all day."
The hum of voices gradually faded, though judging by the expressions on their friends' faces, they all seemed horrified and angry at what they were hearing. Shikamaru, meanwhile, was thinking seriously about something, his brow furrowed and his back straight.
"Itachi, obviously, didn't know the real reason behind his orders, and he wouldn't learn the truth until years later, since he was conveniently exiled," she continued. "Sasuke, on the other hand, was only six years old when everything happened, so he grew up with no one who could tell him about the coup, and he never learned the truth. Meanwhile, Naruto and I grew up in the orphanage using our mother's surname and being watched by the Third's ANBU and Danzō's. Once we graduated, bought our house, and secured it to our liking, the visits stopped, so I felt safer confessing what I remembered to someone. Unfortunately, the Third died without being able to do anything. It wasn't until Tsunade-sama arrived that something finally began to be done."
"That triggered a series of investigations into Root, Danzō, and Akatsuki," Naruto nodded, "and it was discovered that Itachi was very likely innocent of killing his clan."
"When I realized my brother was innocent, I established contact with him thanks to Seina. My goal was to bring him home, so I began sending him letters regularly. He never replied to any of them, but he did send a warning note about Akatsuki's plans to Shikaku-sama."
"Which should make his true loyalty clear to my father…" Shikamaru sighed.
"While Danzō was being investigated, Akatsuki continued doing what it does best: kidnapping jinchūriki and extracting their bijū."
"I remember you telling us that one of the Suna participants in the chūnin exams was a jinchūriki."
"And that she was kidnapped before she could even reach the exam," Hinata nodded at Ino's words.
"That was only the beginning. With Akatsuki after the jinchūriki and Danzō inside the village, the old woman had no choice but to choose the lesser evil."
"She sent you far away from the village," Shino said thoughtfully, thinking out loud, "for your own safety, and Konoha's."
"That's right. Danzō was actually more dangerous than Akatsuki due to his proximity."
"That, and because the bastard never stops trying to kidnap us," Sasuke snapped. "He tried to capture Seina before we left, how many times? Two or three?"
"I lost count, honestly."
"And me just as many times. Fortunately, we managed to escape without direct confrontations or raising Danzō's suspicions that we knew who our supposed kidnappers were."
"Not to mention Orochimaru, who is obsessed with Sasuke's body for his reincarnation jutsu. Luckily for Sasuke, Orochimaru failed when he tried to kidnap him during the chūnin exams in Konoha, and thanks to the Third he was forced to use another body if he wanted the use of his arms. That gave Sasuke a three-year reprieve, which is how long the jutsu takes before it can be used again."
"So, to sum it up, Akatsuki is after the jinchūriki," Neji began seriously, "Orochimaru is after Sasuke, and Danzō is after all three."
"I don't think he wants all three. From Sasuke he only wants the eyes and to wipe out the Uchiha clan, while if he wants a jinchūriki it would be easier to go unnoticed by capturing Naruto or Seina, but not both," Shikamaru said. "In fact, if I were Danzō, I'd go after Seina."
"But… wouldn't it be easier to capture Naruto?" Chōji scratched his head, then glanced at his brother, who had crossed his arms with a comically irritated expression. "No offense."
"Yes, but if he captured Naruto, Seina would be right on his heels, and again, no offense, it's obvious that Seina would uncover the truth much sooner than Naruto would if the situation were reversed."
"You think Danzō believed that even though Seina was harder to capture, if he succeeded it would be easier for Naruto not to discover it had been him," Shino said. Shikamaru nodded.
"Let me guess," Shikamaru said with a half-smile in her direction. "The times he tried to kidnap you were when you were on missions, alone, right?"
"That's right. Except at the very end, when he grew desperate and tried to kidnap us while the entire team was on a mission."
"And when he attacked us in the village, when we left the restaurant on your birthday."
"That's strange," Neji frowned.
"Not that strange… He had his ninjas pose as Orochimaru's," she said, knowing that last attack didn't follow the pattern Shikamaru was describing.
"He must have been truly desperate…"
"With everything that was happening, Tsunade-sama had no choice but to send us away from the village. With us gone, she could slowly dismantle Root, without Danzō or other enemies discovering it. At the same time, being away from the village meant Konoha was no longer a target for Akatsuki."
"Besides, traveling all over the Land of Fire with Ero-sennin kept us safer from Akatsuki, and meanwhile we could train hard without worries."
"Especially Naruto and me, and Kurama."
They spent a while longer, quite a long while, talking about everything that had been happening. About Itachi and Kisame's return, the training with Kurama, Orochimaru and his bases, what they knew about Akatsuki, the jinchūriki who had been captured, what had been happening lately with Danzō and his mole in the ANBU… They even told them about Obito/Madara's plan, in case they had any information in their clans' secret archives, but although everyone looked worried, no one knew anything about it.
"I don't remember anything related to that," Neji said. He looked at Hinata, who also seemed to be searching her memory before shaking her head. "But we'll investigate in secret."
"Yes. We will too," Ino nodded toward her team, who silently agreed.
"Maybe we should investigate the temple archives. Their records are often even older than what the clans keep."
"Shino's right," Shikamaru said. "If we don't find anything in our archives or the temples, I doubt we'll be able to uncover anything."
"Honestly, the logical thing would be to search my clan's archives, but it's obvious they've been looted," Sasuke frowned. "If it wasn't Danzō or Konoha's administration, it was probably Obito, trying to hide his plans."
"But maybe we'll find something!"
"A single clue is better than none," Shikamaru nodded toward Naruto. "Let's search our archives, and then we'll see."
Everyone nodded at Shikamaru's words. Now that all her friends knew the truth, she felt lighter and supported. It was interesting to realize how comforting it was to have competent friends who could shoulder the weight and responsibility of something like this. The same had happened with Ron and Hermione, and later Ginny, Luna, and Neville. Her former friends, however, had not been professionally trained for war like Shikamaru and the others. They were not interrogators, torturers, martial arts experts, or killers. And that, Seina thought with a smile, made a huge difference when dealing with difficult situations.