Part 28 – Revisiting Old Ghosts

Upon waking up, Uzu first noticed that her head hurt like crazy and that her nether regions were sore like never before.

Sometimes she wondered whether having sex so often was normal for couples? She didn’t know anyway, this was her first relationship and she only knew that she didn’t mind at all.

Moving around a bit, she slowly opened her eyes and soon realized that she, even drunk, had found her usual position on Naruto’s chest.

Seeing that he was still asleep, she decided to just stay below the covers a bit longer, she felt that they were both naked and she wasn’t really keen on getting out of bed yet.

Moving her tongue around in her mouth, she tasted something salty and alcoholic and the two tastes mixed.

Damn just what did she do yesterday?!

Trying hard to remember, she felt her head hurt a bit more and she instinctively moved a healing chakra covered hand towards it, easing her pain.

Feeling her pain lessen, she started remembering what actually happened …

The alcohol had made her open up and easily trust others … though she had obviously still watched what she said, it wasn’t that easy for her to let go of control. But it had been fun and she liked it a lot. Doing whatever she wanted, being free like that, was nice. She didn’t worry about anything like she usually did.

She remembered getting along well with Hinata, Tenten, Ino and Sakura.

(A/N: EHHHH?! Damn … I totally forgot about Sakura in the last chapter. Ah. Well. Uhm. What to do. Can we pretend that Sakura was there as well? :O)

Their topic of conversation had changed every few minutes and it had been fun.

She didn’t necessarily have anything to talk about, but Ino always knew what to say to make others laugh or interested.

Uzu had also been roped into regular shopping trips and lunches with the other girls of the group.

And she decided that she would not pretend to have forgotten about these plans … she would participate, even if only to get to know Naruto’s friends a bit more.

At some point, she had looked at Naruto and while he had been dressed normally, she only saw him naked and she just really wanted to … right then and there.

And well, one thing led to another and she suddenly sat on top of him and kissed him like the world was ending … at some point she did regain herself, but she couldn’t get it out of her head the entire time they had been there.

Upon leaving and saying goodbye, slightly unsteady in her steps, she remembered that Naruto just scooped her up into a princess-carry and carried her home.

And his hands on her skin had made her burn and she almost couldn’t wait until they were home again.

Actually … did Ino put something in her drink? Was Uzu always this needy and horny? She’d say no, but …

Alas, she had had lots of fun that day and she’d gladly do it again.

Shifting around on his chest, she cuddled closer to him and felt the warm embrace of sleep come for her again.

…

It was only when a hand was gently stroking her cheek that she slowly woke up.

Looking up at him, she saw him smile at her softly: “Is my red-haired angel finally awake?”

She almost snorted at the nickname, before she stretched, still lying on his body, and fell back onto him in satisfaction.

Feeling his breath on her ear sent shivers down her spine, making her squirm slightly. He whispered softly: “Wanna get up? There’s some stuff to do today actually. And it’s not rebuilding.”

His voice had a slightly serious and resolute quality to it, which surprised her and made her look at him.

“Hmm?” She hummed questioningly.

Seeing her inquisitive gaze, he nodded: “Let’s talk to Tsunade and some other Children of Iron about Humura today. It’s time to deal with her. Especially since Danzo is gone and the rebuilding of Konoha is coming along well.”

Uzu was stunned for a bit, not having really expected that Naruto would actually do something about that old witch, but she nodded after reigning in her surprise. She would help in whatever he wanted to do.

Again, that’s what they promised.

…

Sometime later, they showered, this time just showering though.

Uzu had thought long and hard, but she just didn’t feel like wearing any kimono top or any other of her stuff today. She settled on wearing one of his black jackets today, it smelt like him and it was comfortable as hell. She added on snugly fitting pants and sandals that also covered her ankles.

The sleeves of the jacket were a bit too long, so she could easily hide her hands in them if she wanted to and she really loved that. It was also a bit baggy, but one could clearly see that her breasts weren’t all that small, even compared to Hinata’s, and she really liked that as well.

Anyway, at the table in the living room, she sat in Naruto’s lap as they ate with Tsunade and Jiraiya.

At some point in their meal, Naruto’s expression turned serious and she felt his arm on her stomach slightly tense up. She weaved her fingers into his and squeezed his hand, trying to comfort him at least a little bit.

He said, facing Tsunade: “I don’t know how much you know about my time in the orphanage, but I’ve decided to deal with it now. We (the children of iron) have decided that we need to deal with that woman now, after the one that always protected and backed her is dead.”

Naruto told Tsunade about what had happened in the orphanage and about Humura’s way to treat children.

He also told her about the iron box … and Uzu could feel how hard it was for him to talk about it. He still feared rejection and he still feared that it would hurt them, and she just really didn’t know what to do to help him. The only thing she could do was stay with him, be his support when he stumbled.

He told them about the seals that made the basement look like a normal room, when it was, in fact, a torture chamber.

The table was quiet as they waited for Naruto to recount his experiences and they knew … him telling them of all that, was a sign of trust. Unconditional trust. He was opening up to them on a whole new level. They were already family before that, but now, you could say that they were truly family family.

After Naruto finished, Uzu finally looked at Jiraiya and Tsunade for the very first time after Naruto had started talking. She could see the hurt on Jiraiya’s face, the guilt. He should have been there for him, that’s what he tells himself.

Tsunade was angry. Angrier than ever before. But she was also sad and hateful. And she felt guilty. Mainly though, she looked determined.

Uzu knew, Humura wouldn’t have a good life in her last few years. She would suffer and she would be broken, and she would most definitely live until her body just couldn’t take it anymore. Uzu’d make sure of that.

“Alright. We’ll deal with her, for sure. Naruto, I need you to gather evidence though. We’ll help and we’ll send people to the orphanage to look into the seals. But we’ll need you to talk to … your fellow …” Tsunade trailed off at the end, not quite finding the right words.

Naruto just nodded determinedly.

“But don’t worry, we’ll take her to court. We’ll get her the harshest sentence we can. We’ll find something nice for that witch.” Tsunade said, grinning evilly.

…

Uzu found herself being led by Naruto to talk to the children of iron that he knew. Whether it should have been surprising or not, many of them she hadn’t ever heard or seen before.

They had told them of what they had experienced, and they had promised to stand witness in court.

Naruto talked to them and Uzu wrote down what they said. Many of them said similar things, making the whole thing stable and giving it credibility.

The more people they found and asked, the easier it would be to get to Humura.

At some point, they also talked to Ibiki and Anko.

“You know … that whole shit in the orphanage with that old witch Humura wasn’t even all that happened to me. Sometimes I think that I’m really, really, really fucking unlucky. My childhood was fucked by the orphanage, ROOT and that old shithead giving orders. And then my own Jonin-sensei, Orochimaru, also fucked me up even further with his curse seal.” Anko said to Uzu and Naruto while downing another cup of alcohol.

Uzu had seen that most of the people had coping mechanisms and many of them took to alcohol to deal with their troubles.

She felt, if she had experienced all that, and alcohol was still able to make her so worry-free like it had yesterday, then she’d be damn well using alcohol to cope as well.

…

A day later, Uzu found herself sitting in court. Her Mom was there, her Dad was there (apparently they really were in a relationship now and Uzu teased Jiraiya by calling him Dad, though he actually rather liked that, often smiling and blushingly nodding at her when she called him that), Naruto was there and many, many children of iron and other orphanage members were there.

The rest of Konoha did not need to know, that was what the children of iron decided and that was how it was going to be.

Soon enough, Anbu brought an exhausted-looking old woman with unwashed hair to the center stage.

Her clothes were already quite … damaged.

Uzu deduced that the woman had been living a very trashy life after the apartment complex she was living in was destroyed in Pain’s attack.

And when you hurt so many people in your life, receiving help from them, food and other articles, is rather impossible, wouldn’t you agree?

It was pure coincidence that the people giving out food and helping others were mostly exactly those orphans that knew Humura from before. Some would call that fate as well.

Uzu couldn’t even imagine the amount of people she must have scarred and hurt and tortured.

Being accused of all kinds of things and many people speaking against her, left the old woman unable to even refute one thing. Her mind was searched by a Yamanaka and her mind’s seals and doors destroyed. They had seen everything the woman had done and it was enough to implicate some others that worked behind the scenes as well.

She screamed and trashed and protested, but all that lacked any argument against what she had done. She knew, with Danzo dead, ROOT truly disbanded, her time was over. She couldn’t escape anymore.

As for her sentence, Tsunade said as follows after hearing every witness/victim speak and having the woman’s mind searched: “Akemi Humura. You are sentenced to life imprisonment. You will never see daylight or anyone but your jailer again. You will get a very, very special prison, built just for you. An iron box. You seem to like those. We will take away your ability to manipulate chakra, rendering you useless forever. You will face solitude in your cell until the end of your days. Now, aren’t you grateful that your life is spared~?”

Uzu shivered seeing the grin on her Mom’s face.

Soon enough, Anbu carried the woman away. Again, she trashed and screamed and clawed at the men taking her away, but it was all useless. She would rot away in that underground iron box and she could not do anything against that.

…

After the court process was done, the children of iron, which included Naruto of course, gathered together, celebrating the end of the ghost that still haunted them.

Uzu was allowed to join as well, seeing that she was Naruto’s girlfriend.

There was lots of alcohol, lots of food and merry laughter abound. Though, most of them seemed defeated, exhausted, sad, depressed, … hell, tortured and just weak. Seeing that woman again, was pure horror for many of her victims, however, being around so many fellow victims and people that understood and knew of their suffering relaxed them.

Many of the victims had never been able to trust other people, always expecting betrayal and violence from others. They had never developed a certain trust in the world around them. How could they, being tortured at such a young age?

Uzu spent the whole evening leaning against Naruto’s chest, listening in on the stories that these people had to tell and learning more about what had actually happened in that orphanage.

There were still things that she didn’t know and there was still more that Humura had done.

Some here were ROOT.

Seeing them without their masks, Uzu knew, these few were the most tortured and hurt of the mass of people here.

Their emotions had been systematically ripped apart and destroyed by the darkness of Danzo. They couldn’t even properly express what they were feeling because they just didn’t know.

She didn’t drink anything that day though, preferring to just listen and watch and enjoy the warmth of Naruto’s arms around her. And she was just so fucking glad that he was here with her and not ROOT or dead.

The ones that needed, were offered psychological help from therapists to deal with all the baggage they had amassed.

…

The day ended in Naruto and Uzu cuddling in their bed and falling asleep easily, both having been exhausted by the events of the day.

The next morning, Tsunade, Jiraiya and Shizune departed for the Five Kage Summit, whose invitation letter had arrived in the middle of the night.

After seeing them off at the gates, Uzu and Naruto returned to helping with the rebuilding process, when they suddenly heard about a team of Kumo-nin talking about Sasuke and asking for information about him.

Uzu just exchanged a glance with Naruto and they both left, holding hands, to learn more about what was going on with that Kumo-nin-team.

…

A/N: Alright, I know, it wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t even that good. But honestly, I had no idea how to really write what happened during the thing with Humura at the court and stuff.

It was underwhelming. And I certainly didn’t do them justice with that and her sentence, but that’s the way it is.

Konoha doesn’t know as a whole, but those that need to know, know. And that’s enough. Humura will rot in her specially created box until she dies a lonely and totally exhausted death.

We can surely talk about better torture methods in the comments if anyone wants to :3