Part 19 - Orochimaru, Hugs, Tattoos :3

Uzu slowly awoke, hearing a voice say: “So … he got himself killed by his own student?”

Who?

Rubbing her eyes, she slowly sat up, leaving the warm lap she had been resting on.

Setting her legs down onto the ground, she finally sat down properly on the couch.

She looked into the direction of the voice she had heard, identifying it as Jiraiya’s. Jiraiya’s expression showed many, many conflicting emotions merging together.

Sadness, anger, guilty, hatred.

Uzu knew, there was only one person that could make him feel all those conflicting emotions at once. His former teammate, the one he had failed to bring back, Orochimaru the snake-Sannin.

Carefully observing both her Mom’s and Jiraiya’s expressions, she figured that something must have happened to him.

She didn’t dare ask, it might just make it all worse.

Lost in thought, she didn’t notice someone moving towards her until she felt two arms pull her into a hug.

Mom?

She watched as tears started flowing down Tsunade’s face.

Tsunade whispered into Uzu’s red hair: “Even though he was … evil and despicable … and his methods were disgusting, he was nonetheless a student of our sensei and a member of our team. I still remember the kind, albeit weird, boy he had been in his childhood. So intelligent and strong, but too …”

Her voice seemed to have left her and Uzu just moved a hand of hers to slowly and gently stroke her back, aiming to comfort her.

Her Mom was currently crying for the person that he had been before.

Uzu was honestly quite happy that her Mom had chosen to hug her to seek comfort, but she didn’t know if she was the right person for that. Jiraiya was much better at it than her.

Her senses picked up a small figure shooting through the corridors of their apartment. Soon enough, a small ball of fur pushed itself between them, snuggling into the space between them and pressing its face into Tsunade’s stomach.

I’m glad the rabbit still stays with her.

Uzu smiled, watching the small rabbit try to comfort Tsunade with her.

A few minutes later, she heard Jiraiya sigh, exhaustion evident in his voice: “So he was done in by Sasuke Uchiha, huh. Do we have anyone looking for the kid?”

Tsunade slowly raised her head, looking at Jiraiya: “Yeah, we have several teams looking for him. Naruto is a part of that, he has vowed to personally bring him back. You know how he values promises that he gives …”

A silence ruled the room for a few minutes.

So, he … isn’t here at all? But he took the fox with him … so he’ll be okay, right? Searching missions like these could last for months and it sounds like Orochimaru’s death was fairly recent, considering the fact that we did not know of it yet. Jiraiya’s information network is deeply connected with that of Konoha’s, so we should know what Konoha knows.

After that, the conversation took on a much quieter and casual tone. The three prepared and ate breakfast together, which Tsunade had already started before they came into the apartment. After that, Tsunade needed to leave for the Hokage tower.

Jiraiya also vanished to do whatever and Uzu was thus left alone in the apartment, asked to rest by her mother.

…

Walking up to her room, she opened the door and stepped in.

The apartment was thankfully covered in seals that prevented any dusty messes that needed cleaning.

Fuuinjutsu was so versatile and free and creative, you could do almost anything with it, as long as you knew whatever you were doing.

Having not slept on a proper bed for a while, Uzu quickly stripped down to her underwear and slipped beneath the covers, feeling warmth envelop her.

Maybe she should have taken a shower first, but she suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion come over her as her head touched the pillow.

Staring at the ceiling for a while, she thought back to the gentle smile she hadn’t seen in months. Touching her lips, she still remembered the way he had so forcefully, yet gently, kissed her when he got to know that she was leaving.

Giggling softly to herself, unconsciously wishing he’d do it again once they saw each other, she closed her eyes and drifted off into a dreamless sleep that she had come to love.

…

Waking up, she noticed that the sky outside was dark and that even the few people that went to drink in the evenings had already gone home. The city was sleeping.

And they all don’t even know that Pain will soon come here … and it will be he, the one that they all hurt and hate, that will save them.

Sighing softly, she sent out a few chakra waves, looking for Tsunade and Jiraiya. Seeing them drunk and asleep on the couch, looking slightly happier than earlier that day, she decided to get up and go visit the forest and the animals she had created.

Silently taking a shower and taking out a new set of clothes, she dressed and left the apartment, body flickering across the village’s rooftops, unseen by even the guards and some of the weaker Anbu.

Across the months she traveled with Jiraiya, she had fallen in love with thigh highs and kimono tops, deciding to buy a great variety of them during her travels.

Though, she still liked black clothes, she had come to like brighter colors as well, especially the ones that complimented and accentuated her hair. It was very unique after all and she felt that it was really beautiful.

Arriving at the forest, she took off her shoes to feel the grass beneath her skin … slightly feeling stupid that she had put on thigh highs, she took them off again as they only served as another barrier between the rich life force of the forest and her own.

Finally feeling connected to the forest again, she let out a breath of relief, casually strolling through the unchanged and familiar greenery.

Arriving at the clearing she so cherished, she sat down on the grass, not taking out her usual blanket. Looking at the starry sky above her, she smiled before feeling herself surrounded by many different fluffy animals.

Hearing a low growl behind her, she saw a white tiger sit down behind her, it curled up and laid its head down on its paws, closing its eyes and looking very peaceful.

Uzu couldn’t help but smile before slowly sitting back and resting her body against the tiger.

A few cats curled up around her hips, some pulling at her hands to get her to scratch behind their ears, purring in joy when she did.

A few other animals gathered around her and laid down, creating a big pile of fluff that covered most of her lower body and the area around her stomach.

Uzu felt very, very satisfied and warm and suddenly not so alone anymore.

She missed him, but she would wait for his return. There were still some things to do …

…

Returning to the apartment on the next day, she sensed her Mom sitting on the couch, relaxing and recovering from a rather severe hangover, or so it seemed.

Sitting down next to her, Uzu put a hand on her Mom’s head and infused some healing chakra into her, alleviating some of the pain caused by her headache.

Mumbling a thanks, Tsunade’s eyes seemed to focus on the seal/tattoo on Uzu’s wrist.

“What kind of seal is that, Uzu?” Tsunade asked, carefully inspecting it before looking over Uzu’s body, trying to find more seals.

Uzu held out both of her wrist, showing her two seals to her mother: “These are storage seals, I’ve created them a few weeks after leaving Konoha. They can currently hold as much as a normal storage scroll can, but I plan on widening that space later on.”

Undoing the cloth holding her kimono top in place and slightly pulling down her kimono top, she revealed her collarbones and her bra to her Mom, another seal sitting on the place just above her chest and in between her collarbones.

“This is a pain reducing seal … I’ve found that, while I do feel pain slightly less than others, I sometimes find myself being distracted by it when I practice with my clones. I’ve decided that, when needed, I need to be able to ignore the pain. Especially with the upcoming attack …” Uzu reasoned, feeling slightly worried already.

She watched as her Mom nodded, understanding the worth such a seal would have. Not everyone is strong enough to ignore pain just through their own willpower. Many would give a lot to have such a seal.

Of course, Uzu already had quite a high pain tolerance, but when it comes to life and death, she would rather be safe than sorry … she wouldn’t let pain cloud her mind. The seal would dull it even more, but not make it vanish. She would still know that she had suffered wounds and feel pain in the place where she suffered them.

Next was the seal on her lower stomach, below her navel, that her Mom hadn’t actually seen yet.

“This is a chakra recovery seal that I created some time ago. It’s quite useful and it helps when I use a lot of chakra in a fight.”

Gesturing to her forehead, Uzu said: “As you know, I’m still storing more chakra in the Byakugo seal, even though I don’t really need it … the strengthening aspect of the seal is still quite useful though. It also helps me finetune my chakra control, as it gets harder and harder to store more into it.”

Turning around, Uzu motioned to the place between her shoulder blades: “This is an automatic healing seal that makes use of the Uzumaki bloodline’s natural healing capabilities and an automatic generation of healing chakra to heal small wounds more quickly. With time, it can even heal bigger wounds, but it’s essentially just enhancing the already quite strong healing abilities of the Uzumaki.”

Seeing Tsunade nod, Uzu properly clothed herself again before moving on to the last seal she had.

Letting Tsunade look at her left palm, she explained, having a gentle smile on her face: “This is a seal that connects me with Naruto. It lets me know when he infuses chakra into it and as long as it is on my palm, I know that he is still alive.”

Tsunade seemed to think for a while before she pulled Uzu in a hug, saying: “I’m so proud of you! You’ve really improved a lot in your Fuuinjutsu, I’m looking forward to the next things you do, make sure to show them to me too, okay?”

Feeling her cheeks heat up at the praise, Uzu nodded and whispered: “Actually … there are two seals I’d like to draw onto your body …”

Tsunade seemed surprised but wasn’t against it.

Tsunade looked at her, waiting for Uzu to elaborate: “I’ve noticed that you use a genjutsu to conceal your actual appearance and make yourself appear younger.”

Seeing Tsunade blush slightly, but relax again soon, Uzu continued: “I’ve carefully studied your chakra pathways and decided to create a seal that would only take one activation to change your appearance, keeping it permanent and not letting other’s even begin to imagine that it is a genjutsu.”

“That sounds lovely, thank you Uzu~.” Tsunade said, a touched tone in her voice.

Receiving a hug from Tsunade, Uzu spoke again, slightly timidly though, feeling a bit embarrassed and guilty: “Actually … I originally intended to create a seal that would completely stop your aging process and essentially freeze your body in time, preserving its state. But no matter what I tried, it seemed impossible … and this current seal is one of the prototypes that worked somewhat, and I thought it would at least make it a bit easier on you. Also … I’m sorry, I did not even ask you whether you wanted to live forever … I know that not everyone wants that, no matter how magical it sounds. But … since m-my body is somehow frozen in time … just imagining b-being all alone again … i-it just makes me feel so sad …”

Feeling tears fall uncontrollably down her face, Uzu hugged her Mom tightly, not wanting to let go, ever, not wanting to lose the warmth she had just gained far too soon.

Tsunade gently ran her hand up and down Uzu’s back, making her relax and slowly calm down again.

A few minutes later, Tsunade spoke in a soft voice: “Uzu, thank you. It means a lot to me that you even tried that. But indeed, I’m not a person that would do well in a life that’s too long. An eternal life is probably not for me at all. But, please know, if you do ever manage to create this seal and you still need me to stay with you, then I will stay, for your sake. Remember that, but also don’t beat yourself up if you cannot create such a seal. Just the thought of how much I must mean to you for you to even want such a thing, means so much to me.”

Tsunade’s own tears softly fell onto Uzu’s lap when their eyes met.

Moving in for another deep hug, the two women cried softly, feeling warm and happy even though they were crying.

…

Taking out her brush, Uzu made sure to carefully draw the permanent appearance altering seal onto Tsunade’s chest, in between her collarbones. Her mother had chosen a place where Uzu also had a seal, making her feel warm inside.

After finishing, Uzu looked at her mother, stopping her from clothing herself again just yet.

“Actually … there’s still the other seal … it’s a seal that I already told you about. Since you also have the Uzumaki bloodline, it would work on you too. I’ve also made sure that it fits your pathways.”

Tsunade chose the same place in which Uzu had that seal drawn onto herself, the space between her shoulder blades on her back.

Finishing up the seal, Tsunade could finally clothe herself again and the two ate lunch together before Tsunade left for the Hokage office, albeit a bit later than usual.

…

A/N: Alright, here you go!

This will be the only chapter today, seeing that I need to do a practice exam (damn it’s an … well … oral exam?)! :c

Seeing that the exam time is later tomorrow, I will only really be able to upload a chapter in the evening hour :O

(Please make sure to heart the chapter if you read this on scribblehub! I’d really love that :3)