A strange new life

1.10

For days I struggled with ideas on how to tell a bunch of trained killers I had important knowledge and prevent them from locking me inside a room where I would never see the sun again. From a logical point of view, the best choice I could ever make was tell them everything I knew. When events started to happen just as I predicted, they would have no choice other than believe me.

And I would have no other choice other than probably be killed by Danzo, or someone else that thought I knew too much. I wasn’t exaggerating, even if I was being dramatic. And I was selfish. I was in Naruto gawdammit. I wanted to be a ninja, use cool jutsu, be a bad-ass kunoichi, maybe snog some of the female cast. I didn’t wanted to do the right thing. I wanted to enjoy this new strange life.

With that in mind, and given the situation I was in, blaming everything on a possible, maybe even plausible concept like genetic memory — even if I’m just saying they are dreams — should be doable. Stranger things happened in Naruto story all the time. I mean, people could just plug eyes from bodies and fit it in their own head without issue. Trippy.

I could feel Kakashi’s burning need to know more from behind the mask. If that man could shoot laser through his eyes, I’d be dead. I took another deep breath. I wrote. “Most of the dreams makes no sense, or nothing happens.” I started. Better introduce the dream as iffy memories, in case some of them turns out wrong.

I wrote some more details. “Almost all of them are just glances, or a single image, or a jumbled mess. I see papers I can’t read. Places I don’t know. Other laboratories.” I stop here, shuddering. I had made a point of not even thinking of about that small moment when I woke up, trapped inside a vat. Trauma begone. I pushed that to the back of my head. “Two dreams are clear.”

Kakashi leaned forward. That’s good, at least he was interested.

“I’m on the branches of a huge tree, there are two others with me. They are dressed in black robes with red clouds. One, Orochimaru addressed as Zetsu. His appearance is strange. Half his visible body is black, the other half is white. There’s like a flytrap plant coming from beneath his robe, above his shoulders.” I stop, if Kakashi asked, I could try to draw it later. “Zetsu asks about the mission. Orochimaru says it’s done. Zetsu nods and disappears inside the tree.”

I stopped, took another deep breath. This was more tiring than I thought it would be, and I wasn’t even speaking. Really.

I wrote again. “The second man wears a orange mask. It’s like a spiral, with the center being the right eye. There’s only one eye hole. Orochimaru calls him Tobi. They talk about someone called Mizukage.” I shook my head. “Sorry, I don’t remember all the details. There’s one thing I remember. Orochimaru asked how Tobi managed to control the Kyuubi, Tobi just shook his head, left after that.” I looked at Kakashi. “Even in the dream, Orochimaru wanted to know it, really bad.”

Kakashi had started pacing again. He looked at me several times, before pacing even more. I gave the man time. I had just dumped a shitload of things on him. And I was about to make his day even worse.

“The second dream?” Kakashi-sensei asked, after what felt like an hour of pacing inside the small room.

I didn’t know if the first ‘dream’ was plausible, but at least believed it could be. I tried my best to give some details about Zetsu, and hint the Uchiha clan wasn’t responsible for the kyuubi attack. This next one was pure fabrication. I would be pushing credibility. I didn’t pick Kakashi-sensei just because he was cool. I did it because I knew the man didn’t liked Danzo, on the account of Danzo trying to kill him to steal Obito’s sharingan. I was banking on that prejudice helping Kakashi-sensei look past all the holes in my story.

“In the second dream, I’m somewhere underground. A lab of sorts. I’m talking with—” I stopped, hesitated. Damn, I was such a coward. Even now that man scared the fuck out of me. I shuddered. Moved my fingers again. “I’m discussing plans to create something for someone Orochimaru address as Danzo.”

Kakashi went still. I couldn’t blame him. God save me. I soldiered on.

“I don’t understand all the details. But Orochimaru is making something out of something else called Senju. Most of the conversation is too difficult to follow, but Orochimaru is getting, not excited, but anticipation? Orochimaru asks about a sample, says Hiruzen would object. Danzo dismiss those concerns with a wave of his hand, says the old fool can’t do anything.” I tilt my head. The narrative I was trying to hint was Orochimaru hard on for anything dojutsu. “At some point, he asks Danzo how is the eye behaving. Danzo got defensive. Aggressive. They argue. Danzo left soon after. Before the dream ends. Orochimaru chuckles, very creepy. He murmur, intense, looking to where Danzo went, more like a question. Uchiha Shisui next? The dream goes on for a bit more, but Orochimaru is reading papers I can’t read.”

Tension bled from my shoulders. I leaned back on the bed again. Took deep breaths. Man, this was hard.

Silence stretched inside the room. Until I heard Kakashi walking to the door. I sat again. Looked at him. “Don’t go anywhere. Sleep. You are safe here.” He ordered.

I did as the man commanded, and settled down to sleep again.

I didn’t know what I expected. It certainly wasn’t another meeting with the Hokage. The man asked me how I felt, and ask nothing about what I told Kakashi-sensei the previous day. I hoped that meant Kakashi-sensei hadn’t told the old man. I took the opportunity to press on my luck, to ask stuff.

I still didn’t have any replacement for my board, I wrote in the air. “Do you know who tried to kidnap me?” I almost added ‘this time’, but stopped myself. That sounded petty. Old man Hokage wasn’t cool, but he did his best.

“I don’t,” the old man admitted, “but I’ve taken steps so it doesn’t happen again.”

That was good. I wanted my best life in Naruto. I nodded, bowed at the waist. I couldn’t even be angry with this attempt. Clearly the old god of shinobi had set Kakashi to keep an eye on me, to spy on me.

I wrote something else I wanted. “Can you teach me chakra control exercises?”

The old man’s eyes twinkled. “What do you know?”

I tilted my head. Why was he asking this? If he had people keeping tabs on me, probably knew what I could do. I shrugged. Nothing for it. I picked the cup by my bed. Slapped it onto my forehead. Held it there with chakra. Got up from the bed. Turned around. Walked to a nearby wall. Walked up on it, cup still stuck to my forehead. Walked to the ceiling. I didn’t have enough control to keep my clothes and hair from moving. That was still a work in progress. Upside down, I wrote with my good hand.

“I’m thinking now about water walking, but these are the only three I can think of.”

Old man Hokage nodded. “Talk to me when you’ve mastered water walking. I’ll prepare something for you then.”

Damn, was the old man a lazy old man? That looked a lot like procrastinating.

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