S: “Wellllll…, Riku managed to get in contact with a few others and ya know, the experiment actually worked! Tsunade’s stuff was vague so it’s a minor effect but, it managed to preserve both of your lives.” (Julia)

 

“That’s a relief. ” (Hibiki)

 

S: “Also, not exactly Otogakure yet. It's Ta no Kuni (Land of Rice Fields)!” Julia stared at me, but I couldn’t look her in the eye. (Julia)

 

Sōzō Saisei [Creation Rebirth], it’s been trial and error for us for the past two and a half years. Well, for me and Julia that was.

I lacked a lot of critical medical information so I couldn't be as precise with how the chakra flowed into the body but, the trial and error for the seal have been going much better recently. The only thing I was confident in was its ability to cover three chakra points in the body at most.

 

The greatest help was the memories of medical techniques our parents have witnessed, it took a little digging, and it was vague as neither were medic-nin, it was just enough to get the gist of its principles. Well…

 

Nah, we’ll leave it at that. 

 

Both fūinjutsu and medic-nins had a specific requirements to them.

 

Control.

 

If I wrote out an explosion seal and made the lines too thick, it’s now considered a safety hazard to everyone in my presence instead of being a defect. Heh, had to learn that the hard way…

 

Julia and I managed to replicate the effect to some degree but minimize its expense by focusing the energy on the place where it was critically needed rather than the whole body. This is also my way of saying I couldn’t figure it out, it’s a lot easier said than done alright! 

 

To not just bet our lives on it taking the right spot, I took a note out of one of my favorite character’s books and decided that it’d be better to find a way to reject it from happening. My [Will] just so happened to pull through with the small barrier I managed to create around a part of the body.

 

With time moving slower inside my psyche, it’s been a lot easier to experiment with fūinjutsu. If I’m spending six hours sleeping, I can normally spend 24 hours in my psyche if I wanted to and still be well-rested. Problem is that it’s using up the chakra I’m collecting when I’m asleep, trying things out. So, I’d still need to conserve what I have to not die. 

 

Besides, whenever I get low on chakra now this bean sprout kicks me out or just when she doesn’t want to deal with me anymore. Normally, around 2-3 hours now. So, progress is a little slower than I liked but you work with what you have.

 

 Then there’s Riku Fūma, my older brother who was simply trying to get by after the 3rd Great Ninja War that our parents, unfortunately, passed away in. He decided to leave our home in Ame not long after returning and to live on by selling half of the seals our parents left behind with me. 

 

It wasn't their greatest parenting moment, I’ll admit. You just gotta make do with what you had sometimes. It’s not like I could fend for myself while they were away.

 

Selling the seals surprisingly went well with the number of ninjas and bandits getting petty shots. Of course, it wouldn’t be possible if I didn’t let them get any bright ideas. Sprinkling little hints of my ability here and there. 

 

It was an even better time to either come up as missing-nin or dead, I made sure we came up as dead though.

 

At some point before then, probably within the time of mom and dad’s death two years ago, he met Orochimaru who was helping us get by. Riku has been assisting with his experiments ever since. I couldn’t complain, my life before wasn’t much better at this point either. I got lucky to even get the chance to graduate from university with my degree. What a great use that was!

 

Furthermore, we were living from location to location with the occasional trip to one of Orochimaru’s laboratories. Especially now that he has been making use of him more for some reason, Riku had been on more of a power trip. 

 

I think our parents’ deaths finally got to him; just looking forward to his next victim to experiment on especially, those from Iwagakure. I’ve learned the hard way that sometimes, I shouldn’t ask how his day went.

 

We haven’t spent as much time together as before. How would he react to knowing that his little brother died four years ago and was replaced by me…?

 

“My bad then, so we aren’t in Oto no Kuni and we still have that delay?” (Hibiki)

 

S: “Yeah, but that’s all the chakra we’ve managed to save up in the seal.” Julia relaxed and followed in line with me as we approached two shut gates.

 

One of the gates was a lustrous bronze depicting the image of a figure meditating on a rock while with a sunrise upon the horizon behind them, it gave this sense of tranquility. It was something I found to be ironic.

 

 The other gate was gold. It had multiple cracks over the surfaces and was slowly losing its color. The edges of the door were already fading into a light gray. The surface was so scratched up, that you could barely make out the image. It was of a shell of some sort I think, surrounded by jewels and sparkles as it rained in the background. 

 

I tried to keep it together as I hid my shivering arms, placing them behind my back as I kept my eyes on the two gates, letting the time drag on. One second became one minute, and the minute became an hour. It felt like my body was shrinking the longer I kept thinking about them. 

 

I lost count of how many times I did this now; we were all hurting.

 

I straightened up and turned to Julia, “There’s not much we can do about that then, we’ll just need to get more chakra. At least it got to Riku in time. How long have I been out for?”

 

S: “It’s been 6 hours so far, while the seal did its job Riku hasn’t left your side since. He hasn’t eaten as much either.” Julie didn’t point it out, but she gave me a nudge with her elbow and a soft smile.

 

 As much as she gets on my nerves, it’s just been the two of us for quite some time.

 

I took a moment to steady my breath. Even though healing was something I was used to, playing with this line of life and death was no easy feat. Especially, when your life had to be on the line to make it work.

 

“No surprises there, it’s not every day you get to see your loved one die before your eyes.” I sighed, and turned around, starting to head back up the stairs

 

S: She paused for a little before joining my side again, “... You aren’t staying longer this time, Hibiki?” (Julia)

 

“As much as I’d love to, we gotta start working on our psyche again, the kid’s mentality is probably in shambles. I’m his older brother sometimes just as much as he’s mine.” (Hibiki)

 

S: “Hey, No-Fro?” (Julia)

 

I turned to face her, glaring down at this midget, “You’re dead built like a stick bug and you’re still talking?” (Hibiki)

 

Julia gasped before giggling slightly as she shifted into a small boy, 6 years old with auburn hair tied into a ponytail that spreads out like nine petals in the formation of a lotus flower.

 

 Dad joked about mom being a ninja from Kumo thanks to the copper complexion she got from her father, I felt like a lot of people would believe that if it wasn’t for the Fūma clan symbol she bore on the back of her clothes. 

 

He always took life more slowly than you’d think a ninja would be, more relaxed. Mom was more rabid… That’s how it appeared to me at least. 

 

I remember how cute they were, mom would explain things to me while Riku would whine that I wouldn’t understand. Dad always chuckled. It always seemed like the two of them knew better and told me things anyways. Like Riku, I got the brown skin from mom while getting dad’s auburn hair. The only difference between us was my light green eyes.  

 

S: “Well, it's been a while since you’ve seen your appearance fully. I figured it’d be good to remind you.” (Julia)

 

I sighed and knelt towards her “Ah, that’s right. We wanted to dye part of my hair right? Why did we want to do that again?”

 

S: “Cause we thought it’d look cool! Wait, there’s one more thing I’m supposed to remind you of…. Right, we need to get back into physical training! So, What’s gonna be the plan now?”  (Julia)

 

“Ah, well. The situation is already pretty weird. I don’t think it was investigated during the manga much.” (Hibiki)

 

S: “The anime gave a lot more info about the people here though~.” (Julia)

 

“Yeah, gotta love all that filler though~.” (Hibiki)

 

Julia pouted as I mimicked her and chuckled

 

“Relax Jules, once we figure out our chakra nature and expand on it more, we’re already covering the basics and making progress with fūinjutsu. Our taijutsu could use some work though… I’ll find a way to include psyche training too. It’s not as fun without you anyway.” (Hibiki)

 

S: “Now that sounds like music to my ears~.” Julia shifts back into herself with a swift twirl of an excessive amount of glitter

 

“I’ll see you again when I sleep on my own terms, it already looks like it’s gonna be a long day.” I sighed as I reached the top of the stairs and waved Jules goodbye, disappearing in a flash of light.

 

S: “Let’s hope this goes well, time to see what comes next. Teehee~.” Jules rushes back to her seat in front of the screen and summons a bowl of Hot Cheetos to enjoy the show.

 

Taking a moment to drop her jolly exterior, the illusion of the white room began to fade, sitting down, she stared at the blackened cracked walls, the broken furniture, and a series of shattered photos strewn across the ground.

 

S: “We may be restarting but the damage is still done… He better not be lying to me. I’m sorry... It looks like we may have to wait a little longer before things are back in order.” (Jules)

 

***

*Click*

 

“How was that?” (Hibiki)

 

“...” (???)

 

“Well?” (Hibiki)

 

“...I-It could use some work…” (????)

 

“Finally, you’re talking! Alright, so how should we do better?” (Hibiki)

 

“... You just want me to tell it, don’t you?” (????)

 

“Pff- What?! No! I would never…” (Hibiki)

 

“You know what, you’re doing great keeping going.” (??)

 

“Well, if you all insist. Don’t mind if I do.” (Hibiki)

 

*Click*

***

-Itachi’s POV-

 

The rain was letting up as Kakashi and I were heading back to Konoha. We jumped from tree to tree with our cloaks being the only thing to shield us from the rain. Making our way back, It seemed like I wasn’t the only one shaken up by what just happened. 

 

We were assigned to capture the subjects to be interrogated…Even if it wasn’t as obvious on his face, the atmosphere around us was clear as day. It was only when we were halfway back that Kakashi-sensei spoke.

 

“W-What happened to us?” (Kakashi)

 

“I-I don’t know. I just felt the urge to kill.” (Itachi)

 

“You weren’t the only one. I just felt… furious? At least the order was to kill if we couldn’t capture them.” (Kakashi)

 

“It’s just unpleasant to kill unconsciously like that, without the reason even being listed at that… I think we should take a break for a while.” (Itachi)

 

“We’ll request to start back up in a week, you can finally spend more time with your little brother.” (Kakashi)

 

“Thank you, Kakashi-sensei.” (Itachi)

 

The idea of killing someone Sasuke’s age still weighed on my mind, am I capable of such a thing? 

 

After returning to the Hokage’s office, our request was agreed to. I reported the current situation to Lord Third. It felt odd to recount the events, I was positive some force pulsed out of Kakashi around the whole room. I was probably seeing things... 

 

On my way back home, I couldn’t get what happened out of my mind. The young boy looked tired, but his eyes were clear and focused. The look he gave me in his final moment was a sort of acceptance of what was occurring. His eyes glowed faintly before my kunai went through his throat.

 

I reported the same thing to a Root ninja, now I was sure something was going on. The very same pulse surrounded them before they went on their way to report to Danzo. I didn’t take note of it as much since the situation within the compound has become tense, the clan had to move further away from the village after the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox’s attack. This mistreatment had led many other Uchiha to begin to plot a coup d'état to instill Father as the Hokage. 

 

I can only hope that the situation won’t come to fruition…