You heard knocking on the door. "Go away," you mumbled from underneath your blanket. But the knocking just continued.

"I'm not here," you raised your voice this time.

It was of no use as the lock turned and in the door came Hyuuga Hizashi.

"Good morning Sota. I was asked to check up on you." Lies! "The sun has been up for several hours now, shouldn't you be up already?" He asked and opened the curtains, letting the bright sun enter your room.

"There is no point anymore, without my leg I can't do much. They won't even give me a wheelchair, the nurse said she was ordered not to give me one," you said.

"I could talk to them if you want?" Hizashi offered.

"The Hokage is mad at me, so it is pointless."

"I guess you'll just need something else to occupy your time with. Have you thought more about what we talked about the last time? Will you help Neji?"

"The seal? I've no idea at all, I don't even know where to start."

"How about learning to make your own cursed seals, they don't need to do anything, just something easy that you know how to apply and remove from people," he suggested.

"Who would I ever test it on, I'm not stupid enough to test something like this on my friends."

"Test it on animals or fish if you so prefer," he suggested.

"I… no… this is all a dumb idea. I'll get in trouble with your clan. I don't even understand why you'd take this risk. If they figure out that you're trying to betray the clan, they'll punish you. They'll punish Neji."

"I want to make Neji free no matter the cost and you've nothing to fear. They won't go against Danzo, as we're already walking on a thin line for not providing Root with any recruits."

"I'm not in Root, I'm not…," what did you want to say there. You didn't think of yourself of working for Danzo. You were nothing like the others in Root.

"My clan sees it differently and that is all that matters. Have him teach you how to apply seals on people. You enjoy learning new things, right? Do it for Neji and help me free my clan."

"I don't want to make any more deals with Danzo, he's just causing me trouble. Go away and let me decide my own fate without interference from you or Danzo."

"I'll take my leave then. If you want to talk to me again, just talk to Neji and I'll work something out."

Now that he was gone you could continue hiding under your blanket away from the world and maybe take another nap.

-x-

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

*KNOCK KNOCK…. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

Not exactly the sounds you'd want to wake up to.

"Sota, are you in there?" Naruto asked from outside.

"No," you yelled back."

"Oh, I guess I come back later then," Naruto said and you could get some peace again. "Wait, Sasuke tried to do the same thing on me. I know you're in there."

He sadly caught onto you. How could you make him go away? You had no idea and he had already started to pick your lock and it didn't take long before he got a peek inside your room.

"Are you tired?" He asked you.

"I just don't want to wake up. Without my leg, I can't become a ninja, and I think sensei lied about it growing back again," you said.

"But I'm going to carry you on my back and we can be ninja together," his tone still cheerful, "believe it!"

"Naruto, you'll be a great ninja on your own one day, carrying me around will just hold you back and let the bad guys win," you said. "You'll become better than Sasuke and even Itachi someday."

"Being strong isn't everything Sota. If being strong means you have to leave your friends behind, then I stay weak with my friends."

You really didn't reserve a friend like Naruto.

"Do you want to come and visit Itachi?" he asked.

It felt like weeks since last you'd seen Itachi now. He was a good friend so you should take the offer. You could go back to bed afterwards.

"Yes, I'd like that," you replied.

"Great, hop on my back," he said and moments later you were off. So fast that you didn't realize that you were still in your pyjamas or that you hadn't locked your door. But given the circumstances, an open door might just be a bigger deterrent to anyone breaking in. No one respected your locks, but if the door was still open someone might expect a trap.

But Naruto didn't lead you to the Uchiha compound but rather a nice looking apartment block. He knocked on one of the doors and a moment later your favourite cyclops opened the door. As Kakashi's only competition was Danzo, that wasn't a big accomplishment.

"What do you want?" He asked and looked over you two. His eyes made it clear that he was not happy to see you.

"We want to see how Itachi is doing," *Naruto said.

"He's not doing well and we're about to set out on a mission, so please leave."

"But…" Naruto exclaimed.

"Please let them in senpai," you heard Itachi from inside, his voice was soft and weak.

"Come in for a moment," Kakashi said. "Take off your shoes."

An annoyed noise from Naruto made it clear that he didn't like to be told that, but you were pretty sure he never took off his shoes when entering your apartment, so maybe he needed a reminder.

Itachi was sitting on his bed, eyes red, but not from the Sharingan.

"How did your mission go Sota?" he asked you.

"We accomplished our tasks," it was all you could say before Itachi got a glimpse of your missing limb.

Itachi started to sob. "It's all my fault, I'm a terrible brother and I failed to protect you. I caused this. I helped you graduate and now this happened. I was too busy being worried about Sasuke that I didn't think properly. I guess you hate me now too?"

"I don't hate you Itachi, I did something stupid and that's not on you. You're a good brother, I'm sure Sasuke will see that one day too, that you did that to protect him."

"Hug him", Naruto whispered in your ear.

Slowly and a bit unsure about yourself, you embraced the older boy.

"He doesn't want to be protected, he wants to defend himself," Itachi sighed.

"It's okay Itachi, just give it some time," you said and kept holding around him.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"I know I'm not supposed to ask, but where are you going?" You asked and let go of him.

"Oh, I'm going to Wave, just helping the village with some repairs and maintenance. It's not really worth the money they're paying us as it is basically just D-ranks. I've not done those since I graduated, so I don't mind. Kakashi thinks the change of environment is good for me and its just a vacation with him doing some chores around the village," Itachi explained.

How was Wave now? Wasn't they too poor to afford ninja?

"You're going to help me, doing something constructive with your hands is good for you," Kakashi said.

"None of this will help me with Sasuke, I don't think I can be happy again before I see him smile again," Itachi said.

"Give it time, children that age doesn't keep grudges forever. Soon he'll run back to you. Now I've packed the stuff, so you need to leave kids," Kakashi said.

"Ahh, a bit longer, please? Naruto asked.

"Naruto, you'll see me again in maybe a week, be patient and look after Sasuke will you?" Itachi asked.

Naruto nodded.

"Sota, please keep your hope up. This isn't the end of the world."

"I'll try," you sighed. "Goodbye, I'll hope you come back better," you smiled at him.

-x-

As you walked away from Kakashi's apartment, Naruto asked you something. "You know that fire flute I got from Sasuke?"

"Yes," you replied.

"Sasuke wanted to try it, but it didn't work. Shisui said maybe you'd know why. Can you help me?"

"I can take a look I guess," you answered.

"Thanks," Naruto said and began to speed up.

He brought you to a training ground, nice to see that someone had told him how to safely deal with these kinds of things. Based on what you'd done before, you'd hate to say it, but he was more responsible than you when it came to seals now.

"Can you put me down?" You asked.

Naruto did as you asked him.

"Let me take a look at it," you said and Naruto took it off his neck. He seemed to be wearing it as an amulet or good luck charm.

Taking a lot at the outside it looked unharmed and there was no sign of damage. Same could be said for the inside. You couldn't access the paper seals without damaging this thing, so you weren't sure if those were intact, but you were not sure how they could have become damaged either.

But why would it work for Naruto and not Sasuke? Sasuke's lower chakra reserves might explain some part of it, but the seals shouldn't require too much chakra to activate and Sasuke could probably a decent amount of chakra already, just easily run out. It made no sense.

You wiped off the front of the flute with your shirt and tried it yourself. And it seemed to work quite well. A glowing fireball flew out from it as it should.

What separates you and Naruto from Sasuke. He was not an orphan, Jinchuuriki or an Uzumaki. Being an orphan shouldn't change anything. That left Jinchuuriki and Uzumaki. That it would only work for Jinchuuriki was a bit far fetched, so that left only one option. You had to be an Uzumaki. It made kind of sense as you made it thanks to your Uzumaki powers. You just had to confirm it.

"Can you bring Shisui here?" You asked him.

"Shisui is gone on a mission. Why do you need him?" Naruto asked.

"I think it only works for Uzumaki. It was made for you right, so you wouldn't want an enemy to take it from you and use it against you," you explained.

"Oh, it's even better than I thought then. Too bad it doesn't work for Sasuke. He has been struggling with the fireball Jutsu and has been in a grumpy mood lately. So he wanted to get a feel for it," Naruto explained.

"I'm sure Sasuke will get it soon, he's an Uchiha after all. They go together with fire like you and Ramen."

"I guess you're right."

-x-

Back at your apartment, you noticed that the door was unlocked. Who was it this time? Shin, Danzo, or maybe someone else. You looked up in the ceiling making sure there wasn't anyone hiding there. Then under your bed. It wasn't before you opened your wardrobe you realized you never locked your door when you went out.

You were hungry, but you didn't feel like making anything. So you got some cold leftovers from the fridge. You only managed some bites as food didn't taste any good at the moment. Naruto was like the sun, all bright and warm when it was there, but when gone all you were left with was cold darkness.

The bed looked extra nice right now and you were already in your pyjamas so you drew the curtains and laid down in your bed waiting for the next day to come.

-x-

Next morning you wake up to the smell of tea. Your windows were closed so it made no sense that it would come from any of the neighbours.

"Get out," you mumbled into your pillow.

"I gave you a task remember? It was Danzo sitting at your table sipping tea.

"What task? You asked.

"You were supposed to produce some explosive tasks for me, I hope you've not forgotten."

"I don't care," you mumbled. It was time to break up with Danzo.

"How is Naruto doing lately? I hope he's not as prone to accidents as you?" Danzo asked.

"You wouldn't dare? Sarutobi will stop you!" You yelled. That coward. This had nothing to do with Naruto so why threaten him because of you?

"Dare what? Being worried about the well being of your friends?"

"I'm not stupid," you said.

"No you're not, so you know what to do. I hope to see you again later today," Danzo said and left.

He didn't even clean up his teacup, just left it on your table for you to deal with. Why couldn't this bastard leave you alone?

And then someone knocked on your door again. You grabbed your crutches by your bed and went to open it. If it was someone extra annoying, you could hit them with one of them.

"Good morning Sota," Aburame Shibi greeted you.

"Good morning Aburame-san," you replied. It was nice to see someone not walking in uninvited.

"You're Torune's new teammate right?" He asked.

"Yes, but I doubt it will be for long with my injury," you said.

"I want to invite you to dinner. You're still my son's teammate so I'd like to get to know you better. He's worried about you."

Your stomach was rumbling and it would be nice to not have to make your own food. And it would be nice to see Torune again.

"Thanks, let me just get dressed," you said.

It was the first time you had been outside with your new crutches and it was hard to keep balanced with one side being heavier than the other.

But you got there in the end and it wasn't hard to see who was living there. A botanical garden was a good way to describe the place with lots of insects swarming around the flowers.

And it didn't stop outside. Even inside Shibi's house, there were lots of flowers in pots in the hallway and living room. You just hoped no wasps were flying around inside.

"Hi Sota, I'm glad you came," Torune greeted you with a smile. "I'm glad you're fine. I look forward till you can join the team meetings again."

"Thanks," you replied. There was no question of if with him, just when.

"The food is ready in a moment, so just sit down at the table you two," Shibi said.

Soon after he put down some rice dish on the table, you had no idea what is what, but it smelled good.

"I hear you're proficient at seals, who is teaching you?" Shibi asked.

"Oh," you paused for a moment. "Genma taught me the basics then Kakashi took over, but now I'm experimenting on my own." You were not going to mention anything about Danzo.

"Hmm, you're not putting your team in danger are you? Raidou mentioned how you blew up the road without warning."

"I thought someone was ambushing us. This was my first mission so I guess I panicked," you said.

"Most fresh genin would not notice anything weird or freeze up in situations like that. If I didn't know better, I would think that this wasn't your first mission. I'm disappointed that you didn't tell me about this Torune."

"I didn't want you to get a bad impression of him," Torune explained.

"The food is good," you said, trying to steer the conversation in another direction.

"I'm glad someone likes my cooking," Shibi said.

"You make the same three things all the time," Torune complained.

"Maybe I should learn another dish," Shibi muttered to himself.

"I need to go," Torune said. His father was looking at him prompting him for more information. "Sensei wants…" he paused for a second. "Sensei wants an extra team meeting."

It was a nice gesture of him to try not to remind you of the team meetings you couldn't attend, too bad it failed.

"I want to talk to you a bit after Torune has left, is that okay?" Shibi asked you.

You nodded, as you didn't see the harm. He seems nice enough, despite his weird questioning. He was just being a protective father, though a bit strange.

As soon as the door closed behind Torune, Shibi lifted you up by your shirt collar and pushed you into the wall. What was going on?

"What are you trying to do? Stay away from my son, Root scum!" He snared into your face.

"I'm not.." you tried to explain yourself.

"I saw Danzo leave your apartment. You've got the same sword as them. Open your mouth," he ordered but didn't give you any chance to obey as he forced your mouth open with his hand.

"And the seal," he said and pressed his forehead into yours. "Tell him that if he wants Torune too it will be over my dead body. I will protect him with every man and every insect of this clan. I will stop at nothing, if he wants a war he will get war."

"He doesn't…"

But you got cut off again. "Then why are you on his team?"

You finally got saved from this as Torune was interrupting you. "Dad, what are you doing?"

Shibi dropped you on the floor.

"Weren't you supposed to meet with your team?" Shibi asked.

"I forgot my kunai. Why are you hurting him?" Torune asked.

"He's with Danzo, the man that took your brother so stay away from him. I don't want you to go outside alone anymore. Ask Mikio to follow you to the meeting and ask Raidou to follow you back home. I'll explain the situation to him."

"You are overreacting. He's a good person, " Torune said in your defence.

"He's a good actor," Shibi argued back. No, you were definitely not. "You saw it for yourself on your last mission. Him acting suspicious and coming back poisoned. You never got an explanation did you?"

"Sensei said it was confidential and that he doesn't know himself," Torune said.

"And that doesn't worry you?" Shibi asked.

"Maybe you're right. Shino is also in Root, and he's not a bad person. Sota, have you seen him?" Torune asked you.

"No, I've not," you said. It was hard to deny your affiliation to Root at this point, even if there was no real affiliation. So there was no point at denying it at this moment. You just needed to fulfil your mission and then break off your connection to Danzo. You should also get rid of that cursed sword.

"Dad, two ANBU agents are waiting for you, I think they'll start to get…"

"Impatient," a masked woman said. "The Hokage wants to talk to you. He hopes that you clear up some things before we send your men to Ibiki. Do you ransack the home of all of your son's friends?"

"I've done nothing wrong here, but I will talk to him. I've other business to take up with him anyway," he said and looked at you before turning to Torune. "You should meet up with Raidou before he starts looking for you."

"Let me help you home," the other ANBU agent said and sat down in front of you to prompt you to climb on his back.

-x-

You arrived to a mess. The Aburame had done a real job searching your place. even under floorboards where you didn't even know could hide stuff. But given that it was such an obvious place to look for things, it was probably not a good idea to hide any secrets there yourself.

"I'm sorry about this," let me help you clean this up. He started by fixing your bed so you'd somewhere to sit.

Over the next hour, you sat still watching an ANBU agent put everything back in order. Kind of strange really, it would seem to be a thing you'd send a genin team to do, not your elite ninja.

After sweeping the floor with a mop the agent left.

It was time to go back to Danzo, the sooner you were done with this, the sooner you were free. You just need to grab your… your crutches were gone. The ANBU had forgotten to bring them with you.

You jumped on one foot to the door to see if you could stop the ANBU agent. But by the time you were out the door, he was long gone.

What could you do? What was there to do but just lie on your bed for the rest of the day. The only thing you could think of was to draw Danzo on a piece of paper and throw kunai at it.

Or it would be fun if your aim wasn't so damn good. Maybe you should try with another target? Who else is a bastard? Sarutobi. Were you judging him too harshly? No, you weren't. He was using you as a pawn in his power struggle against Danzo. You felt like they were pushing you around like a piece on a chessboard to further their own interest. Hiruzen wanting to punish you because he was mad at Danzo. And Danzo, you had no idea what Danzo really wanted.

So you hung up another drawing and this time tried to throw two kunai at a time. It was something you hadn't practised so it kept you occupied for a while at least till it was time to go to bed again.

-x-

You slept for a long time the next day too.

Naruto didn't come to visit you and you were pretty sure the academy was over today. If only you could make your own friends.

Wait a minute, you could.

Your hands were still intact so you formed them into a seal. In a puff of smoke, your clone appeared standing there in front of you. Standing there… He still had both of his legs! He could carry you around.

"That took you long," your clone said to you. "And you managed to get yourself hurt." He looked at your missing limb.

"I'm sorry. Do you think you could help me out? I cannot move around like this." You said.

"If you buy me dango," he said. You were hoisted by your own petard. But it was your only way out of here and you kind of wanted dango yourself.

"Sure, I need to get back down to Danzo to complete my mission, so we can buy something on the way there," you said.

You got properly dressed and realized a problem. "Just wait a moment, I need to resummon you so you can get dressed properly."

With a quick unsummon and summon your clone was wearing proper clothes and you got onto his back.

Hopefully, you wouldn't get too many weird stares on the way, you hadn't noticed any so far.

Your clone walked up to the dango stand. "Let us get four sticks of dango," you said and handed the vendor the money.

"Can you put one in your mouth? I don't want to drop you," your clone asked.

You took one off the sticks and popped it into his mouth and bit into another one yourself.

"You know the way right?" you asked your clone.

"Yeah," he answered.

-x-

Back down at the Root base, nothing had changed since last time and your clone set you down on your desk.

"Can you get the stuff I need?" You asked him.

Your clone nodded and you could get back to making more explosives. It was a hundred Danzo needed right? You still had a bit to go.

"I can help you, you know?" You clone prompted.

"Thanks, grab a brush and... where are you going to sit?"

"We can share the chair, you move to the side a bit," he suggested.

The hours went past and you made great progress, but your clone seemed to tire fast. He didn't have a lot of chakra.

"Do you want me to resummon you with more chakra?" You asked him.

"No, just let me rest on the bed for a bit," he said.

"You know that you won't recover any chakra that way?"

"Yes, but it makes me feel a bit more alive you know," he explained.

He was kind of right. People couldn't just refresh themselves by popping out and in of existence, they had to rest, so even if the gesture was functionally useless, it still held an emotional purpose."

And after some more hours, you too got tired. It was a chakra intensive task, even for you.

"Are you fine carrying me back?" You asked your clone.

"Yes, just climb on my back again."

-x-

On the way back you heard Shin call for you. "Hi Sota, why are you piggybacking yourself?"

Your clone stopped and turned towards him. "I got injured and lost my leg, so my shadow clone here is helping me out. Why are you all dirty?"

"Survival exercises all day at the academy," he said. That explained why Naruto didn't show up today. "Do you want to join me, Shikamaru and Choji for some food? Shika asked me to ask you. We're having BBQ."

You had not eaten much today so the answer was obvious. "Sure."

"Hop on my back," Shin said.

"Sorry," you told your clone and got off his back so you could dispel him before climbing on Shin's back.

He was not very fast, but what could you expect after an entire day of training? And the Yamanaka wasn't known for their great stamina.

The smell from the food, as you arrived, was great.

"Hi Sota," both Shikamaru and Choji greeted you.

"Hi," you replied.

"So how does it feel being a ninja," Shin asked.

"Lots and lots of running all day long," you said.

"I heard fresh genin are mostly doing chores around the village," he said.

"Not my team," you said.

"So tell us about your latest mission," Shin prompted.

"You know I cannot tell you much, it's supposed to be a secret," you exclaimed.

"Hmm, help me out here a bit Shika, where do you think he went."

"Suna maybe," Shikamaru guessed.

"How?" You asked.

"Simple, I guessed a place far away and you confirmed it," he explained.

How did you fall for it?

"I didn't tell you anything," you said in your defence in case anyone complained about you sharing secrets. "But being a ninja is much less fun than it sounds like."

"How was the food?" Choji asked.

"It was fine, I don't think the food is better in Suna than here. They're in the middle of a desert so their options are limited. But we weren't starving or anything. Ninjas work better when they're happy and not hungry, so sensei takes our mental wellbeing seriously," you exclaimed.

"I don't see why you rushed graduating, I'm going to wait as long as I can," Shikamaru commented.

"At least I don't have to go to the academy every day. Or at least if my leg grows out again," you said.

"Legs doesn't grow out Sota, if someone told you that, then it was to make you feel better," Shikamaru said.

He didn't know you were a Jinchuuriki, that would change it wouldn't it?

"I'm going back to the hospital in a few days to see if there is any progress. I'll keep my hopes up till then. Uzumaki's are known for healing fast."

"What are you thinking of doing if not?" Shin asked.

"I don't know. I rather not think about that," you said.

"So how did you get injured?" Shin asked.

"You know I cannot tell you that," you replied.

"Come on, you can at least tell us what caused it, you don't need to say how it happened."

"Poison," you said.

Shin started to think for some seconds before replying. "So you got into a fight with someone?"

"Or it could be an animal or an insect, I'm not saying."

"Dad has taught me about poisons. He thought it was a fun way to get me into flowers and there is nothing in the Suna deserts that can cause that. Which means you get attacked. And you must have been alone, or else it would be treated earlier. You didn't do anything shady in Suna did you?"

How?

"I'm a Yamanaka, we learn about how to read people," Shin said.

Are you reading my mind, Shin?

"Yes," he said.

"Stop it, Shin, it's not funny," you said.

"Stop being so predictable then."

After that, the conversation went over to other stuff and you began to focus on your food and rather zoned out a bit.

"I'm sorry I need to go," Shin said and left the table. "I promised to help my father with something."

"Goodbye," you all said.

"Goodbye," he replied.

After he was gone, you turned to Shikamaru. "Thanks for inviting me, it was nice."

"Umm, we didn't invite you, Shin did," Shikamaru explained.

"But he said you had asked him," you said.

"He kind of admires your success and mostly that you beat Sasuke. He doesn't like the Uchiha with their flashy eyes and thinks they're getting too much credit," Shikamaru explained.

"Oh. I hope you didn't mind me here," you said.

"We're kind of not supposed to talk to you. My father said I should stay away from you this morning, but he didn't tell me why. Shin was probably told the same, but he doesn't care about the rules," Shikamaru said.

"Were you told the same Choji?" You asked him.

"Yes," he said. "We talked to the others in our class and they were told the same."

What was going on? Had Shibi gone around telling everyone in your old class that you were dangerous?

"I think I'm going to leave now, it was nice talking to you guys," you said and put some money on the table before you left.

-x-

Over the next days, you and your clone went for dango, before going back down finishing your mission. You reckoned that you'd be done today, but first, it was time for a hospital check-up.

It felt like an eternity as you waiting for your appointment.

"Sota, it's your turn," a nurse told you. "Where are your crutches?"

"I lost them," you said.

"Did someone take them from you?" She asked.

"Kinda," you replied. Neither Shibi nor Torune had given them back to you, and you were for sure not going there yourself. He had probably hidden them so Torune wouldn't notice.

"Do you want me to help you?" She asked.

"I can manage it myself," you said and started jumping after her.

She walked into a room and closed the door behind you.

"Sit down please and we can start taking some measurements," she said.

You did as she said and started to roll up the legs of your pants and began measuring with her measuring band.

"Do you get told stuff. Secrets?" You asked her. Trying to fish out the truth without telling too much if she didn't know.

"Yes I know what's inside you, or else it wouldn't be much point to be doing this would it?"

"I guess."

Her facial expressions stayed mostly the same, focused but not showing any clear emotion. Was that a good or bad sign.

"I need to listen to your heart and then take some blood from you," she said.

"What was the result?" You asked.

"Wait a minute, will you? Can you take off your shirt?"

You nodded and took it off. Soon after the cold metal of her stethoscope touched your chest.

"Seems fine," she said after a few seconds.

"Now, it will just be a little prick with the needle. But I'm sure it will be fine," she said. "Give me your arm please."

You stretched out your arm and she tied a band around your upper arm and wiped clean the area where she was going to stick. "Ready?" Without hesitation, she inserted it into your vein and blood began to collect into the ampule. When it filled up, she removed it again and tied a piece of cotton over it.

"We'll have it checked at our lab. If you don't hear anything it's all fine," she said.

"What about the leg?" You asked. Why was she dodging this, it had to have grown a bit right?

"No change at all I'm sorry. Your sensei was wrong, there is nothing we can do, it won't grow back," she explained.

You did not want to hear that at all. You weren't that optimistic before, but now it was all gone.

"If your blood is fine, you don't need any more check up here. Let me see if I can find something to replace your crutches."

"Why can't I have a wheelchair?"

"I cannot tell and I don't know. We've been ordered by the Hokage, and I know better than to go against his orders," she said.

So it was him and not Danzo.

"Can you get someone to deliver them to me? I just want out now," you asked.

"I think I can fix that. Sure you're okay?" She asked.

"Yes," you said and jumped back out. Outside you summoned your clone and climbed onto his back.

"Do you want to go back down today?" He asked.

"Nothing better to do is there, I need to finish this so I'm done with him. Now go get us some dango."

-x-

You were right, this was the last day of the unofficial seal-making mission. After counting the stack twice, you were sure you had enough.

"Can you get Danzo? You asked one of the root guards.

They said nothing as they left.

Ten minutes later Danzo arrived.

"I've finished my task," you told him.

"Very well. Let me take a look," he said and picked out random tags from both the end, middle and the start of the stack and studied them. "Looks passable." Did he think you were going to cheat him?

"Thanks," you said. "Can I go now?"

"Don't you want your reward?" He asked.

"I don't know," you replied. You never knew with that bastard. His reward could be another round of getting stabbed.

"I heard about the results from the hospital and you give me no choice," he said. That didn't sound good at all. "We're leaving the village tonight, I know someone who can help."

Not snake-face right?

"Stay here till I go and get you again. I'm sure you've something else you want to work on. You better not leave," he said.

Even if it was Orochimaru, you should give it a chance. He sure couldn't make more harm.

While he was gone you could on your kunai defence seal. You had most of the pieces ready. You just needed to have it activate when a kunai hit you. How could you represent this? You wanted it to activate when a kunai hit you or almost hit you. So you could represent this with the symbols for body and kunai. But wouldn't it need to identify you somehow? Blood was a common element in seals, so what if you added a symbol for Soul and smear a bit of blood on it?

Given the inability for clones to take damage, anything involving blood was out. But he seemed to just want to nap on the bed anyway. Catching a glimpse of what you were doing from time to time.

After your first attempt, you could tell that it wasn't going to work, so you didn't even bother testing it. You needed to come up with a better way to connect kunai to the body symbol.

Your Uzumaki senses started to tingle more and more and you got something down on the paper. It took a few tries before it felt right, and as soon as you picked up a kunai, the seal started to glow. That was not supposed to happen. You wanted it to activate when you go hit, not prevent you from using kunai yourself.

But just to be sure, you rigged up the rest of the seal. At least that part you had done plenty of times before.

With the complete seal, you touched the kunai again and it disappeared. Now, how to make it only activate when the sharp end touched? Maybe replace touch with stab? No that wouldn't protect against cuts. But cut would cover getting stabbed right? So you could use that.

After another few reworks, a new seal was ready to test. Carefully you make a small cut in your left arm, and as soon as it drew blood it disappeared, leaving almost no mark. It would not help you against poisoned kunai, but it was a good start.

You made a few more, you had a vague feeling that it would be useful, or you were just a bit paranoid after what happened in Suna. You could just increase the capacity, but after your previous test with explosives, you didn't want to try storing more than one kunai in a seal yet.

You had spent a lot longer than you expected and had only managed to make a handful before Danzo was back with two Root agents. You stuffed them in your pocket before he could see what you were doing.

"Dispel your clone and climb on his back," Danzo said and pointed to one of them.

One thing was sitting on the back of Raidou or your clone, but as you got on top of the Root agent you felt quite uneasy.

"Put this on him," Danzo said and handed the other agent a blindfold.

Great.

When they were sure it was on properly, they walked out of the room before heading off. But not out the entrance you were used to, as the stale air of the tunnels were ever-present. They were even changing direction randomly to try to keep the layout inside secret. After an hour or two, they finally stopped. Your blindfold was taken off and a dark staircase was in front of you.

They walked out the door and on the outside you could see a town you couldn't recognize. It had already gotten quite dark, but still, Danzo wasn't exactly subtle with his masked agents walking around without even trying to be sneaky.

Danzo moved his arm forward motioning the other agent to go ahead of your group, while you kept a walking speed.

A few minutes later you were in front of an inn. Why meet Orochimaru here?

"Welcome, can I help you?" A young woman at the reception welcomed you.

"I'm here to visit someone, I can know my way," Danzo said and walked past her.

As you walked past the doors, Danzo looked at each door before stopping at one which had a kunai stuck to it.

The door was open so you could just walk in. And what meet you wasn't a slimy bastard, but rather a quite angry Tsunade.

"Greeting Tsunade, I'm in the need of your services, it would be the best for all of us if you can cooperate," Danzo said.

"Let her go Danzo!" Tsunade yelled.

At another end of a room, the other agent was holding Shizune still with a kunai at her neck. Why were you surprised that Danzo took the hostage route to get what he wanted?

"I let her go when you help me," Danzo said.

"What do you want?" Tsunade asked.

"I need you to fix the Jinchuuriki. He lost his leg to poison and I want you to make it grow back out again. We had hoped that his Jinchuriki powers would help him, but so far there is no progress so I come to you."

"Let me take a look at him," Tsunade said and you were let down. But as you got closed to Tsunade, she grabbed you and put her own kunai at your neck."

"Let her go or I kill the kid," Tsunade screamed out.

"Kill him," Danzo replied.

You still had your seal on you, but you had not done a proper test yet, so you wouldn't bet your life on it. But Danzo didn't know that, so what was he thinking?

"What?" Tsunade called out.

"He's useless to me without his leg. Kill him, I'll kill Shizune, and we can all go about our business," Danzo said.

"You're a monster!" Tsunade yelled out.

"Don't make a threat you're not willing to go through with Tsunade. Kill him or help me, that's your options."

Maybe it had its purpose. He seemed to have read Tsunade perfectly well.

"I've no interest in helping you and I've no idea why my old sensei handed you a Jinchuuriki," she said.

"He didn't hand me anything. Sota here isn't part of Root. I just want to help him reach his potential, unlike my old friend who seems to just want our Jinchuuriki to rot," Danzo explained.

At least he acknowledged that you weren't part of Root, even if everyone else seemed to insist on it.

"As if you care about anything other than power," she said.

"Can you stop arguing. I'm not Danzo's weapon. I need your help. Does it matter who benefits from it? Isn't this the kind of cynicism that made you leave the village?" You asked her.

"You don't know how much about the world kid. If you don't think he has you under his control yet, it is too late for you. If I save you, how many are you going to kill?" She asked.

"You're wrong. I've friends, I've my values. I need to be strong for my friends. Without my leg I'm useless," and who needs a useless Jinchuuriki? Fuck. "What will happen to me if Tsunade can't help me?" You directed the last question to Danzo.

Danzo started to smile. "The Two-Tails will be extracted from you and put in another host."

He wouldn't want to kill you right? He smiled because she might change her mind if she thought you were going to get killed.

"I want something in return," she said.

"You will get Shizune back alive," Danzo said.

"You don't get to sell me the solution to the problem you caused. I want money. I want 100 million Ryo," she demanded.

"Are you out of your mind?" he asked.

"No, he is a Jinchuuriki, properly trained they can earn back the money easily. A few bounties and you've earned your money back," she argued.

"You heard him yourself, he is not loyal to me. And we still have the tailed-beast even without him. A new host would also solve the problem," Danzo countered.

"I hope you weren't sleeping during the last war. Good Jinchuuriki are hard to come by. I think it was only B from Kumo and one of the ones from Iwa. And Mist decided to use theirs in quite an unconventional way, so not sure if that counts. So that's a third that played a role in the war effort Our own was not even trained in using the powers of her tailed beast. You wouldn't bother with that kid if he didn't show potential, but rather use this opportunity to petition Hiruzen to find a new host. And no matter what, it would set you back many years. I'm worth my money," Tsunade said.

"You do realize if I were to give you 100 million ryo I would hunt you down to retrieve my money? My first and final offer is 5 million ryo, there will be no further negotiations. You've 15 seconds before my agent here will slit her throat," he threatened.

You could feel that Tsunade begin to shake. And each second passing felt like an eternity.

"I'll help him," she gave in. "So let her go."

Danzo motioned with his hand and Shizune was released.

"I hope you realize who you are working with here and how he didn't care at all that your life was in danger," she said to you and took the kunai off your neck.

A kunai flew through the air, aimed at your stomach. She tried to block it but was too late. But your seal worked perfectly. You had not yet to have any real-world tests, so you were kind of surprised that it worked that well. But it did cut through your shirt, so that was another thing you needed to fix if you wanted to go through a fight without ruining your clothes.

"His life was never in any danger, your kunai would have done nothing. Unlike you, I don't gamble. I think it's Shizune that needs to reconsider her relationship with you," Danzo said, taking full responsibility for the kunai.

"Don't test your luck Danzo," she said. "Now Sota let me take a proper look at you, can you lay down on the bed?"

You nodded and jumped towards the bed.

"I hope you've brought his medical reports Danzo, both from the field and when his checkups at the hospital," she asked.

"Here," he handed her a folder.

"Let me see," she started to read. "This is horrible. Raidou had clearly no idea what he was doing."

She started to roll up your pant leg and laid her glowing green hands on it.

"What's wrong?" You asked her.

"Your Sensei was right, you can regrow limbs, the regeneration powers of the Uzumaki is terrifying, even without a tailed beast. It makes you naturally bigger risk-takers as you can just be patched up again. But then he managed to mess it up completely by letting the two-tails chakra run rampant through your system," she explained.

"What damage did this cause?" he asked.

"It stopped the healing process of the leg, but nothing I cannot fix, but not without complications," she explained.

She then wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to Danzo, "Get this for me."

He looked through the list and scribbled something more onto it before handing it to one of the agents who swiftly left the room.

"I had hoped you would go yourself," Tsunade said.

"You're not to be alone with the boy," Danzo said.

Silence filled the room after that till the Root agent was back along with some other agents carrying the necessary supplies.

She folded out a portable surgical bed. "Lay down here, I don't want to waste my money on replacing the bed. "

"Are you sure that you're up to this Tsunade? You never got over it you know?" Shizune asked her.

"Danzo is paying good money for this, now hand me the sake so I can focus properly," Tsunade said.

"What are you doing?" Danzo asked.

"If you wanted someone sober, you've come to the wrong place," she replied. "You've nothing to worry about Sota, I'm better like this. Now I'm going to put you to sleep while I perform the surgery, when you wake up you'll be ... better."