A strange new life [Naruto fanfiction]

I held the customized kunai: seal-inscribed, Yondaime-inspired. In theory, it should work. In practice, it didn't. A tired sigh escaped me. I flopped back on the chair, groaning loud enough that Karin, on the bed, stirred.

This wasn't working. I canceled the chakra light bulb, shambled to the bed, flopped on top of Karin. Proceeded to grab, grasp, and squish the redhead, my stress relief ball, of sorts. Karin mumbled something half-coherent, then grabbed me in return.

I was almost asleep when she pulled my hair.

Months of suffering this same fate taught me a few tricks. Gently, I turned her around until her back was to me. Then I spooned her. That way, she only had access to my arms. She still grabbed and pulled and sometimes even scratched, but like this, it wasn't so bad.

Why hadn't I gotten a second bed yet?

Sleep eluded me even if my eyes drooped. No matter what changes I made to the jutsu, I couldn't copy the same effect the mokuton clones provided. I worked and reworked the whole thing. It should work. It just didn't, and I had no idea why.

I was at wits' end and considering the unthinkable: to ask for help.

It took me long enough to admit I was a prideful person. I wanted to do things my way, on my own. I kept having to reinvent the wheel. It grated a lot even now, almost four months later, that it was Jiraiya who helped me with the seal in my throat.

Worse yet, I was almost sure the seals had a censoring effect.

The clue that cinched it was simple: Shizune and Jiraiya could understand parts of the diagram that I couldn't. 

It made sense, right? If you were a paranoid psycho, hell bent on living forever, already dabbling in human experimentation, would such things as mind control and free will even bother you? It was that or admit I was that bad at fuinjutsu, admit that, seven years later, I still couldn't do anything regarding the ones inside my body.

I chose to blame the snake. Yeah, it was his fault.

Ugh, I was supposed to be better than this. I squished my stress relief harder. More incoherent mumbling ensued.

Two weeks before my four-month deadline, I sat in the Hokage's office across from Shisui instead of taking another mission from the hall.

"I have a mission for you," he said as soon as I placed my behind on the chair. He slid a mission parchment across the desk. He didn't even give me time for pastries, which wasn't acceptable.

Out popped a simplified version of my good impression kit, already with the hot tea.

Shisui smiled.

While he served tea and ate muffins, I took the parchment and read the mission details. I tilted my head. "C-Rank for a pet rescue mission?"

Between bites, Shisui nodded.

"What's the catch?"

"We heard rumors about Tsunade in the Land of Rivers."

I looked at the mission details again. Find a ferret in the land of rivers, and deliver it to its owner near Takumi town.

"She's there, then?"

Shisui shook his head. Sipped more of his tea. "Not sure. That is her last known whereabouts. The intel is a few days older."

I mulled over things. Shisui had been level with me, but the delay in getting the info rankled a bit. "Why the delay?" I ended up asking.

"There have been complications," he said.

I looked on, my stare drilling into him until he sighed. "The team that learned that was on a mission in Wind. They were attacked."

I blinked. "Suna turned on us again?"

"No," the Hokage said. "A third party is attacking Wind from the sea. The team got caught in the attack."

"Iwa or Kumo?"

Shisui looked toward the window and the view overlooking the village. It was peaceful, happy. It didn't even seem like there was a war going on at all.

"Neither. The attackers don't resemble any known shinobi group." He looked at me, big expressive eyes that still scared the shit out of me. "They don't resemble shinobi at all."

That was strange. "An enemy from across the sea?"

"That's the conclusion the Intelligence Department reached."

"Is that why the mission is C-Rank?"

Shisui shook his head. "It's expected the mission will take a while, since you'll have to find a pet in the countryside. It also places you closer to Rain. You shouldn't face any danger, and the mission shouldn't be a C-Rank, but."

He left the rest unsaid.

That was fair. Longer mission away from home without support.

"Thank you," I said, bowing. It was strange that I was still seated, but that was fine.

The Hokage nodded, finished eating his muffin, then got back to his reports. I looked on for a bit, at the mountain of paperwork and all the politicking and bureaucracy. I don't think Naruto had any idea of the mess he wanted to inherit.

The minutes passed by, until Shisui stopped, looking up from his papers.

I hadn't left.

"Is there anything else?" he asked.

I mulled over things. I wasn't ready to ask for help regarding the Kuro jutsu, not yet anyway. I'd give another deadline. If by the time I came back from the mission I still had made no progress, then I'd bite the bullet.

No, the matter was something else entirely.

Under Shisui's interested eyes, I got up, walked to the walls, plastered a privacy seal. Then another barrier seal was added to prevent the pesky ANBU outside from entering the office. I kinda trusted Shisui, I didn't trust any of the ANBU besides Kakashi and Yamato. The person outside was neither of the two.

Shisui's eyes followed me unblinking. I couldn't guess what went through his head. It was only when I sat down again that he blinked, seemed to relax. 

Weird.

"The cursed seal," I started again without a preamble. "I don't think Orochimaru is dead."

Shisui straightened. "What do you mean?"

I tilted my head. This had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. Somehow, this new mission left me feeling spooked for some reason. I think it was the number of bad flags Shisui raised. No matter the case, there were a few things I wanted to put in motion, just to make sure.

"Anko's cursed seal, did you ever remove it?" I asked instead.

The Hokage just shook his head. The look on his face told he wanted to ask me things, lots of them.

"It can't be removed because Orochimaru used a part of his soul to create the cursed seal." I let Shisui digest the information. He opened his mouth, but I spoke again. "Orochimaru can't die while there's cursed seals around."

Shisui closed his mouth. In a very uncharacteristic gesture, his hands rose to his face.

"Sasuke?" he asked.

I shook my head; I didn't know. "I don't know. But keep an eye on him for me?"

"Do you know how to remove it?" Shisui asked.

I tilted my head. Thought hard about things I barely remembered. I knew that somehow Sasuke used a jutsu to remove the seal. Which one was it? I didn't remember, but at least knowing why the seal couldn't be removed gave them a better starting point on getting rid of the thing, right?

"I know there's a jutsu, evil something, I think, but I don't remember for sure," I admitted.

Shisui sighed. "Thank you, Hinata."

I nodded. I could feel the ANBU outside trying to break through my barrier. Heh, not yet.

Shisui looked at me; I looked at him. I didn't get up.

"Is there more?" He sounded way more tired than I ever heard him before.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Danzo was behind this whole war business. It reeks something fierce." I had no real evidence he was behind it, but pointing Shisui at Danzo was never bad. I also hadn't forgotten Danzo had a lot of hatred toward the Uchiha clan in general. I wasn't about to let them be blindsided because I wanted to keep secrets. I could at least point them in the right direction.

The Hokage nodded.

The room shook. Even Shisui was now looking toward the door. The barrier strained, but it wasn't about to break yet. I don't think the people outside were trying their best; maybe they feared hurting Shisui.

"Akatsuki isn't just a band of criminals. They want to gather all the tailed beasts." The barrier shook, cracked. I was out of time. I got up, walked toward the door. Stopped before opening it. "There is one member, Hidan. He's immortal." I didn't look back. What was in my mind was that I didn't want to see Ino crying because Asuma died. "If he drinks someone's blood, any injury done to him is also done to the person whose blood he drank."

Before the barrier shattered, I cancelled it, pulled the door open. Outside, a full squad of ANBU glared at me.

Shisui did something, maybe, because they let me pass without stopping me.

Telling Shisui some of my secrets could backfire, a lot. I had plans that wouldn't be effective if things changed too much. I hoped it hadn't been a mistake.

My steps were heavy when I left the tower toward training field three.