A scroll sits on the table. It has been opened by the receiver, who also sits on the table.

It wasn't a bank statement, though it looked like it initially. No, it was a message scroll from the fire Daimyo's court. To be replied by the end of the day, and if accepted, to leave for the capital the day after tomorrow.

The Daimyo's son was getting married and his wife wanted to hire her services.

On one hand, the woman was an incredibly unpleasant customer who habitually stayed after closing and made a mess of the shop whenever she came. Many of her noble friends were also incredibly arrogant and rude to her workers and herself. Plus she was made to do several tasks without compensation. She probably could've kicked them out of the shop but the shitestorm that followed certainly wouldn't have been worth it.

On the other hand, she was being offered a great deal of money and prestige. Being in the noble courts would also give her the opportunity to wander and get revenge for the poor treatment. Of course, given how they flaunted their riches she was pretty sure they wouldn't miss a few bits of jewelry. Surely they had something in her house colors over there. Or perhaps a nice shiny crystal pendant of some sort…

Pretty shinies.

Should she be pleased? Or irritated?

She wished Kakashi was here, if only for the company. Maybe he'd have suggestions on what to do. Even if he didn't it would still be fun to wind him up. He always flailed a bit when ever she teased him.

Of course, he often gave as good as he got so no complaints there.

Still, the Lord Hokage and his council seemed pretty insistent on having her there so she may as well accept…

But, the shop wasn't going to be empty for long. School was almost over for the day so there was no time for that.

She did have a stack of tarot cards on the shelf though. Perhaps she could use that? It was better than nothing.

Claudia had always said that Mina's tarot draws were more accurate than her own. She was probably just trying to make her feel better about constantly drawing the cards for danger during the class readings. Claudia wanted to become a healer for both muggles and wizards.

Not to mention that at the time, everyone was in serious danger. They'd been in the middle of a wizarding war at the time and people were dying left and right.

Still, for some god forsaken reason, everyone had still depended on her draws to predict the future when they didn't have the time for arithmancy.

Never mind that it was creepily accurate anyway.

Mina chalked that up to a coincidence. Divination was a load of rubbish, everyone knows that. The only reason people ever took that class was for an easy O.

She summoned one absent mindedly just to see what would come up.

The tower.

Again. The card for danger and destruction.

Mina dropped the card as if it burned.

Then the silliness of fearing a piece of paper sank in. she threw her head back and laughed as she put the tower on the table. She must've put that there on top of the deck specifically so that someone else could draw it and she ended up getting it anyway. "Well, that wasn't much help" she cackled. In a village filled to the brim with aggressive mercenaries, cunning spies, and trigger happy assassins danger was never far away. The dangers of daily living had effectively rendered the card useless.

Good riddance.

She poured herself a cup of tea from her trusty tea pot, a gift from Shisui, into her teacup. Pardon, her tea mug. Which had been a gift from Mister Hyuuga.

What is it with these heads of houses who enjoyed giving expensive things? If she were Riddley, she would've been insulted. The sheer difference in the value of the delicate tea set and her income was wide enough that it may as well have been useless junk not to mention the hopefully unintentional flaunting of status.

Of course, Mina's possible appearance in the Daimyo's court would be a blatant flaunt on their part.

Ugh, nobles are such gits.

The witch sighed into her tea and glanced at her current shop. Her current setup wasn't too bad. She never truly expected to run a magical convenience store, but it worked. She was making a decent amount of money, and if she got tired of this, she could also change the shop into a magical bakery. Or even open an oddity shop like the ones from knockturn alley.

Her grandmother would roll in her grave if that were to happen. Grandma Sayuri hated such shops with a passion that rivals the heat of the Mojave Desert.

Not all magical rituals required the participants to be magical and sometimes, sufficiently potent ingredients would pick up the slack. Riddley was horrid at potions and couldn't really help Cass from across the room. She had to buy her own potions ingredients with her allowance and while her pockets were deep she was considerably poorer by the end of her fifth year. So much so, that inspite of getting an O in potions the monetary demands of N.E.W.T. level potions proved too much for her wallet to handle.

Mina was sure that some of the ninja would be happy patrons if she were to run an occult oddity shop. Civilians even, if the number of fangirls were any indication.

The witch poured herself a cup of tea. Two cubes of sugar floated into the tea cup.

She didn't have to accept the offer.

But it would be wonderful advertising, and she always did like to show off her talents. Not constantly of course, that would be improper., But just enough that people knew she wasn't to be trifled with. It's too bad she couldn't learn any secrets from Professor Mcgonagall. She was the master of underhanded badassery.

The rest of the tarot cards stared back at her from it's spot on the shelf. They beckoned, whispered almost.

She probably should get ready for the afternoon rush, avoid another trip down memory lane. That would be the wisest thing to do. After all the past is the past.

Still, she drew another card, if only to keep Claude in her memory. She was also somewhat curious to see what else she would draw.

The first card, the moon. It was upside down for some odd reason. Creativity perhaps. Or danger, as always.

The second card, the sun. For light. Or perhaps Happiness. The first positive card that she had drawn in a while. Unless it meant happiness in death, which was very disturbing.

Third, a star. Renewal. Hope. Okay, that was better.

Mina paused for a few moments before pulling one more. It was a bad idea to start a reading and not following through whether she believed it or not. The last thing she needed was more bad luck.

Two of cups. Romance, friendship or prosperity.

She stared at the five cards spread out on the table. She mentally scrolled through a number of meanings the cards could represent. She almost regretted not bringing that textbook with her. Almost.

'I'm going to suffer and I'm going to be happy about it?' She was mostly sure she wasn't a masochist. Some of the books at hogwarts did make it sound interesting though.

'I'm going to cause trouble and enjoy it?' Causing trouble was one of her only methods of entertainment. Of course she was going to enjoy it.

'There's problems that will pop up soon but they will blow over?' That could mean anything.

'Danger followed by opportunity?' Perhaps she should look into specializing. That was always a big business risk but specialists tend to earn more money as well.

"Claudia would be so much better at me then reading this." She sighed.

"Hey Nee-chan!" Shouted a familiar whiskered boy as he burst in through the door, almost slamming it hard enough to dent the wall. "I'm back from school!"

"Hello Mina- oneesama."

"Hi Naruto. Hi Hinata. The snacks in the kitchen." She gestured with her wing- her arm. "It's those bacon and maple syrup biscuits that you like so much. Heaven knows why Krr." She made a face and shook her head. So much sugar and fat.

The boy gave a loud cheer and dashed to the back.

"Um… Mina-san. What are you doing?"' Asked Hinata as she peered at the strange cards on the table. "Are you playing a card game?"

"No. Not at all. I'm looking at the future."

"Eh? How?"

"Magic." Chirped the shopkeeper in response.

The girl gave her a flat stare. "That's your answer to everything Mina-san."

"Krrhahaha." Chuckled the witch. "Fair point. I will give you that. The future can supposedly be divined from the cards drawn from an adequately shuffled deck depending on the order and position they are sketched."

The Hyuuga house heir nodded before correcting the witch. "The word is drawn Mina-san. Not sketched."

"Semantics. Semantics." She waved. "Now go eat and do your homework."

In the end, the prospect of getting a good look at the homes of the nobility proved too alluring for Mina to resist. She scribbled down her acceptance, took it to the ninja post office and watched a hawk take off in the approximate direction of the capital. The witch was mostly certain that she would regret it but hopefully the payoff would be worth it.

Unfortunately, accepting the offer meant that she now had to rewire her entire schedule. Some of the potions ran on a cycle of sorts and could only be made during certain days of the month.

The night of the new moon was the perfect time for making blood replenishing potions and she would have to figure something out. The hospital had put in a rather large order for them. Mina would have to write some very detailed instructions for Kurenai once she got it started. The girl was rather skilled at mixing delicate and distasteful poisons and potions weren't TOO different.

Shisui's magic was too inconsistent for making such a volatile potion and she would never hear the end of it if the mercenaries turned into blood fountains while she was out due to a magical influx. A village-hidden-in-the-blood would be a terribly cheesy name for a mercenary city. No No. The boy was much better suited to grunt work, which he seemed to enjoy more than the delicate stuff. Something about the magic making his eyes burn.

Calming draughts were better made under the fullmoon, but none of the ingredients she needed were available during this time of the year so she really didn't need to worry about that.

Kakashi mentioned that he would be out of of the village as well which means her little ward would be left alone for a week until she got back.

Mina trusted that Naruto knew how to take care of himself but the day she leaves a child to fend for himself would be the day she married an assassin. What sort of nutter would do that anyway? Kids are dumb and cause far too much trouble when they are unsupervised. The way Naruto constantly collapsed her closet was living proof of that.

Thank heavens he wasn't a magical child. Imagine the marauders running about.

There was also the issue of what she should take with her to the capital.

Back home, traveling meant bringing a few casual outfits, a few work outfits, a formal gown, books to read, school notes to study, food, drink, toiletries, and a gift for the host. But this was primarily for family reunions.

Travel for work meant one formal outfit, a whole bunch of work clothes, her entire tool kit, and trapping equipment.

She was certain that the latter would be inappropriate for catering nobles.

"Hey Dogface. Can you help me out here? What do you take on a trip to the capital?"

"Maa Maa.. why are you asking me?" Called the Masked Man from the ceiling. "Aren't girls supposed to be better at that sort of thing?"

Mina gave him an unimpressed stare "Well you travel for your job don't you?"

"With armor, weapons, and two empty storage scrolls mostly."

Mina blinked as that statement sunk in before gaping at him. "How revolting," She responded "I hope you at least wash your clothes."

"I thought that stuff was self explanatory." Kakashi chuckled at her response. " I'd get tracked by scent if I didn't."

She made a rude gesture at him. "I'm not taking anything like that when I leave."

"I hope not. You'd have to do a lot of fast talking if the Daimyo sees knives in your bag." He dropped down from his spot in the corner and pulled up a seat for himself. "Of course, you could just go in your underwear. No one knows anything about witch culture after all."

"You just want to see me in my skivvies don't you."

"Well, I was under the impressions that you enjoyed wandering about sans clothing." Shrugged Kakashi. He slouched slightly, as if smirking from beneath his dog mask. "Considering that's how you greeted me this morning. Nice towel by the way, the chickens on it were cute."

"You know, it's things like that make me wonder if you timed the shelf break while I was taking a shower on purpose." She glowered at him as she shifted self consciously.

When the sounds of shattering glass passed through her shower the first thing that had come to mind was. 'Oh god. I hope the potions don't mix and melt the floor.' She grabbed the closest thing she had for modesty, a large chicken towel that Claudia had bought her as a joke, and flew down the stairs.

It wasn't until after she had cleaned up the mess that she noticed Dogface perched on the table.

There were some things- scars… that are never meant to be seen.

Ever.

Dogface watched her with a curious look on his face before stepping back cautiously with his hands in the air. "Maa… I like my limbs attached to my body so I must decline."

She shrugged and abruptly changed the subject. "Oi. How long are you supposed to be gone?"

"About a month or so? Why?"

Bugger. There went her plans for Naruto. "Oh… I was going to ask you to watch Naruto."

"He can take care of himself. He's responsible and he can always ask Hinata and Shisui for Help." Replied the man.

"Have you gone round the bend? Leaving him alone like that is like asking to be arrested!" Squawked the witch.

Now it was the ninja's turn to gape at her. "I keep forgetting how different your world is."

"It's not just that either. Never underestimate the power of old, rigid, and greedy politicians in power." She dead panned.

"Bad run in with one?"

"Shimura tried to force an exclusive contract." She snipped. The old geezer had stayed well past his welcome trying to buy the proprietary rights of the shop with his army of creepy minions. Fortunately, after growing up in a craftsman family whose' standard patrons included upperclass twits and rival wandmakers, she had seen every single kind of bartering tactic possible from showing up at inconvenient times, to being imperiused. The latter one brought forth dark memories.

Mina would get her pound of flesh one day. No one got away with something like that.

No one.

"Now I have to deal a mysteriously high number of public misdemeanors and fines stuffed into my mailbox every week."

"Ah. Do you need any help with that?"

"Not really. I know just about every negotiating trick in the book." Hell, she'd even used some of them. Minus the imperious curse. She wasn't sure she could bring herself to complete and utterly dominate someone else. Or that she would ever stop if she started.

"Now help me get my blasted things together will you?" She commanded without any real force in her voice. "The money from this job should be enough for me to close my shop while I deal with this crock of shit."

….

While the ride to the capital wasn't worth mentioning, it found Mina wishing that she could take the knight bus.

It had been interesting at first reading through an etiquette guide Kurenai and some of her ninja friends had given her, the strange rules and ceremonies were fascinating, but after that there really wasn't much to do for the rest of the journey.

There wasn't much she could say to the cart driver as that was rude and distracting. The lady sent to escort her there had proved rather intolerant of Mina's accent so conversation was out. Plus she was a noble, they had proven to be rather stuck up.

In the end, she had opted to bring her standard work kit. That is to say, her emergency kit, a few dress robes, a number of potions ingredients pack into a tiny bundle, and a stack of business cards for her shop.

Mina might not like nobles, but she sure as hell wasn't going to pass up the chance for advertisement.

At any rate, the looks on their faces when she began using magic were certainly entertaining, The daimyo's son looked like he had just seen the creation of the sun. The ninjas of Konoha were nowhere near as expressive. Honestly, if running a store in Konoha didn't work out, she could probably pack up and move to the capital. Or perhaps she could just levitate her entire house and fly it over. Flying a house can't be that different from flying a broom after all.

The servants had taken her to what seemed to be an upscale hotel room. She assumed that these were to be her chambers for the duration of her stay.

The walls were a soothing cream color. One of them was decorated by what appeared to be extremely messy handwriting on a scroll. The window was right above the bed and if she sat on the edge she could look outside and see the magnificent landscape of the capital. A series of buildings dotted by gigantic trees and large wide courtyards. Even a small koi pond could be seen in the distance.

If she ignored the buildings, it was almost like being in Hogwarts again. Maybe she'll go out for a nice evening flight after she figures out what the Daimyo's son wants catered for his wedding.

Speaking of which…

"Majo-sama." Announced a young lady, no more than twelve years old. "The Honorable daimyo-sama is is requesting your presence."

"Very well… I will be shortly." Replied Mina, never once taking her eyes away from the window.

Mother had always been a very… eccentric woman.

She had always been a passionate and enthusiastic woman. Even if her enthusiasm was inappropriately misplaced a good portion of the time.

From the time she decided on using cat decor to the time she took to hiring ninja to find her cat. It was always something that made her the talk of the palace. It also meant that few if any persons took her seriously.

But hiring a witch?!

For his wedding?!

That really took the cake. Kiyoshi had been hearing all sorts of rumors from his younger brother too, about the witch of Konoha. He'd heard many stories of how it's potions transformed the drinker into demonic beasts, stories of how it would speak in its strange foreign tongue and the world would twist to match its desire, stories of creatures that would roar from deep within it's labyrinth, and stories of its unnatural and terrifying beauty.

That last one sounded rather farfetched but given that he had seen a variety of creatures in ninja outfits the last time he went to konoha he knew some of the stories had to be true.

Given that this was his wedding he figured that he should at least get some say in the proceedings.

Perhaps he could request that the animal transformations came at the end of the celebrations? Or maybe do some tricks to keep the other nobles from staring at him too much or-

"I have been told to come here. Have you called for me KYOshi-sama? " Asked a voice from the entrance of his chamber in an accent he could not recognize. It seems that the witch was indeed from a foreign land. The voice was smooth and it rolled strangely. The accent too, was odd. The words seeming to rise and fall like the mountains of Lightning country.

He turned around and he saw-

A perfectly ordinary woman if a little plain.

What ever Kiyoshi was expecting, the lady in front of him certainly wasn't it. There was nothing unusual in the jet black locks which cut off just past the shoulder. Nor the indigo eyes which looked at him with the sureness of a professional confident in their skills and the pride of a noble. Even her skin, pale like the moon was an ordinary sight in the noble courts. He found himself a little disappointed in the mundanity.

Then he noticed the witch's attire.

The woman wore a elegant blue robe which twinkled like stars. It had streaks of white running up and down and across the torso and down the flared sleeves and pooled at the bottom like a stylized image of a snowy forest. If he stared at it long enough, it even looked like there was snow falling. It was beautiful, unlike anything he had ever seen.

And also entirely inappropriate for the warm weather of fire country.

Perhaps his mother had finally come up with a decent idea for once.

The woman coughed awkwardly into her hand distracting him and reminding him of his manners. "Was I not supposed to enter? I am afraid the customs of this area are unknown to me."

"Ah the fault is mine for I have forgotten my manners." He acknowledged. "I merely wish to inquire the reasons you were invited to the palace. My mother is not an accurate source of information and my guards were most reticent with the details."

The woman bowed "I was requested to come cater your wedding."

"I see." He pushed his glasses up for a moment. "Is that all?"

"That is all I was asked."

"Are you against entertaining guests as well? I will pay you handsomely." He offered. Competent ninja are never willing to use their jutsus for entertainment unless they were paid an astronomical amount. Even then it was always the same tricks. Mother's spending habits meant that bankruptcy was almost certain unless Kiyoshi could find a way curb some of the costs.

If the witch truly changed the world as easily as she breathed then perhaps she would be willing to do so for a modest fee.

The witch cocked her head. "That would depend entirely on what you mean by entertainment, what you expect from me, and how much you pay."

So the witch was open to the suggestion. Excellent.

"I am unfamiliar with your skills so I must leave that to your discretion. I only request that whatever you do be impressive."

The woman pressed her fingers together and leaned forward with a small smile. "Excellent. Now let us discuss the price."

…..

The negotiations took many hours.

The preparations took days.

Watching the witch work was truly a spectacle.

The witch flittered back and forth between her carpet bag and the kitchen counters as she prepared a feast fit for a god.

The wedding guests oohed and ahhed as she brought twilight to the afternoon and began painting the room with sparks.

"Let me tell you a fairy tale from my home land." She said as she waved a stick about. "I grew up listening to this as I went to sleep."

Sunset colored sparks shot from the end of her wand and slowly, carefully rearranged themselves into words.

"This is the great tale of the Fountain of Fair Fortune." She spoke, stumbling over one of the words. Funny, he would've thought that her magic would've allowed her to speak without an impediment.

But the images which came from the wand more than made up for her heavy accent.

Sparks formed into a hill and the groom's own wine goblet drifted to the top of the hill acting like a fountain. It even had a small spray of liquid coming out the top.

"The Fountain of Fair Fortune sits on top of a hill, in the middle of an magical garden, and is protected by strong magic. Every year, on the longest day, between the first light and last, an unfortunate person was given a chance to bathe in the Fountain, and would receive a fair fortune forever more. On the appointed day, hundreds of people, male and female, rich and poor, young and old, would gather from all over the kingdom to reach the garden walls before dawn."

Then the hill with the goblet fountain collapsed and reformed into the shapes of people.

"Three witches, named Asha, Altheda and Amata, each came to the garden with the same hope: that they would be chosen."

The first witch form was bone thin, and delicate, as if a gust of wind would've caught it her long wispy hair and carried her up into the sky. "Asha was sick with a malady no Healer could cure-"

The second witch form was smaller it wore a white apron to differentiate it from the others. Her hair was bound tightly in a bun. "-while Altheda had been robbed by an evil sorcerer-

The final witch being the tallest with long bedraggled curls and robes that trailed behind her. "-and Amata had been deserted by a man whom she loved dearly."

"-Pitying each other, they agreed that they would try to reach the fountain together if one of them got chosen to enter the garden."

The witch spoke with the precision of months of practice and memorization. As magic swirled and twirled to fit the scenes of the fairytale.

Rin would've loved it.

She would have laughed with the nobles when the unlucky knight got dragged in by accident and gasped in shock and clutched his arm when the great worm appeared.

If she were still alive that is.

He was definitely sure that she would've cheered louder than everyone else in the crowd upon the conclusion of the show.

Tobi had been watching the witch for a long time now, ever since that night at the graveyard and today he had come to a decision.

Oribanda Mina was a clever witch. Strong too.

But she was naive and she was blind.

Why else would she stay close to Him?

Didn't she know that he would kill her one day? Just like how he killed Rin!

At least she knew that Hatake was dangerous, always threatening him with her wand. He could only observe the two through a window, but Mina always had her wand hear by whenever Hatake was close.

Smart witch.

Maybe Tobi could just leave him to her. It would only be a matter of time before something happened.

No. No. Oribanda's talents lay elsewhere. They would be wasted in Konoha where no one would appreciate them, something that multiple people had agreed. Her skills would be much better used in Akatsuki.

He stared silently at the witch, his fingers rubbing idly at the music box hidden in his robes.

It would spring open at odd hours of the night and wake him with its terribly beautiful music. The song kept drawing up painful memories of his dead past and it had nearly driven him mad. That person was dead.

Uchiha Obito was dead.

But no matter what he did, it kept opening and playing that damn song. Glue wouldn't seal it, ropes kept snapping, and weights continuously fell off each time he tried to force it shut. Until he gave up on silencing it.

The enchanted wood, protected by what must've been numerous protective charms had defied all of his attempts to destroy it. Blunt force had done nothing but give him bruises, kunai bounced off the air around it, the strange energy rippling around it had caused his jutsus to go awry, and not even the zetsu was able to do anything about it.

Tobi wasn't about to do something so stupid as appearing and forcibly shoving her the box. He'd seen some of the things that she'd done to Root nin, and regrowing cursed arms would be stupidly inconvenient.

No.

His opportunity would come tomorrow, where he would have the chance to complete multiple objectives.

Tomorrow, the woman would be leaving for Konoha on a week long ride by carriage.

Tomorrow, he will take her to Ame.

Tomorrow, she will meet Pain.

And finally, he would have peace again.

AN-

Hey everyone. Thank you all for being patient with me.

I tried to get this chapter done by christmas but Calculus was kicking my ass and holiday prep got the best of me. Still, I'm on break now and I should have time to work on the next chapter.

Now onto the chapter notes.

Cartomancy is otherwise known as card reading. The most commonly known method is tarot reading and as for the prediction. Mina like most muggles doesn't put much stock in divination given how different interpretations can affect the reading. She happens to be one of those people who will look at it and say thats not very useful.

I actually did consult someone for what to put down. The tower card in divination represents adversity, calamity, ruin and misery or something along those lines. The inverted moon is for a lesser degrees of deception and instability. The sun represents material happiness, contentment and good marriages. The star apparently could be read as loss and abandonment, or hope and bright prospects. The two of cups is typically interpreted as good prospects for business and relationships.

I repeat, tarot cards are not my area of expertise and I did consult someone about it.

Make of that what you will.

To the ever mysterious guest- I didn't know that's what Ollivander meant. Thank you for telling me