砂時計

En Avant: refers to the direction of the execution for a step, specifically moving forward or to the front.

砂時計

It wasn't like Minato and Kushina were blind to the signs. Their daughter was far too smart, too intuitive, and too curious for both her own age and her own good. Being children of war themselves, they knew exactly what she was about to get pulled in to, and were trying to do everything possible to make sure that didn't happen.

"I mean, honestly Minato. Seals, already? She's only four, goddammit. They'll take her and make her a weapon and I won't be able to protect her anymore," Kushina railed, burying her face in her hands and she sat on the edge of her bed.

Minato paced the room softly, a frown marring his usually cheerful features. He'd noticed it as well, and being a child genius himself he knew exactly what Takara would be in for. He turned to his wife and sat down at her side, reaching out a hand to rub her back.

"We're only 21 years old, a jinchuriki jonin who never gets let off her leash and a jonin growing much more infamous as the war drags on. We have no clan to back us up, no political clout to bargain with. If they come for her, she has to go…" Kushina told him.

Silence stretched between the two parents momentarily, each mired in their thoughts of the future for their baby girl.

"From what I've seen of her, Takara is a fighter. She wouldn't just let them walk all over her. Would she have to go? Yes, especially since we're in a time of war. If it were peacetime, we might've gotten out of it. But not now, not when they're sending all available bodies to the frontlines. But I swear to you Kushina, she will not be cannon fodder. She will not be another unprepared genin sent to her death just because we're running low on manpower. She will be exceptional," Minato said firmly.

A single tear slipped past Kushina's facade of strength, and she clutched Minato's shirt desperately.

"I'll hold you to that, dattebane," she mumbled, brushing the stray tear from her cheek. "Takara, you are going to kick ass whether you want to or not."

Minato studied Kushina as she pulled herself back together, spine of steel slipping into place as it always did.

If I ever make it to a position of power, there will be changes. Children should never be sent off to battle before they even make it to double-digits.

The promotions that came for Team Minato were nothing fancy. It was war, there was no time for pomp and circumstance. Kakashi had been promoted to chunin quickly, and was now at a point that he qualified for jonin. The fighting had worsened, so there was no way for even the original team to get together and celebrate.

Takara decided to write short letters to the group instead. She occasionally wrote to her father and mother when they were out on the frontlines, but had never written to her father's students. She also sealed a few items into the scrolls with a standard containment seal - not her new one, which, annoyingly, wasn't anywhere close to being done yet. Apparently manipulating space and reality in order to layer several pocket dimensions on top of each other was a little bit difficult. But Takara was nothing if not stubborn. She did have to give credit to the creator of the storage seal though. Altering pocket dimensions and modifying an existing seal was hard enough. Doing it workout any reference point at all? That must have felt impossible.

For Rin, she included some healing salves and creams, things she'd put together with her aunt in their spare time. Well, it was mostly Takara picking whatever Kaiyo told her to and Kaiyo doing the actual making, but it was the thought that counted. Since Kakashi was currently an unfeeling bastard (though not as bad as directly after her parents' deaths, apparently), Takara wasn't entirely sure what to give him. She settled on some treats for his dogs, perhaps winning them over would help her carve out a spot in his frosty heart.

Obito though, Takara gave him something a little more important. She'd been tweaking with her food preservation seals recently and had finally figured out how to make them work. She had done a victory dance that she'd deny to her dying day once she figured it out, because that meant no more horrific ration bars on missions if she could help it. She sealed some of her favorite dish - ramen, naturally - and Obito's own favorite - Takoyaki, discovered through some rather talented conversation maneuvers, if Takara did say so herself - into the scroll and hoped it'd make him smile, even just a bit.

Okay, so she may be showing favoritism. But honestly, if it was either save the world or be fair to everyone, there was really no choice. The smallest actions had the biggest consequences, after all. Ideally, Takara would be able to keep Obito from going off the deep end. However, Takara had been there herself many times over, most notably when Sasuke was murdered in front of her, but she tried not to think about that. There was a chance of coming back, but it wasn't without scars. Her night terrors were just the tip of the iceberg. But at least she'd know what to do if it got to that point. She could even commiserate. After all, insanity was always better with company.

The Third Shinobi World War had quickly become a war of attrition. No side was truly gaining ground, instead everyone was sending off shinobi simply to perish and prolong the battle. The leadership refused to budge, entrenched in blood and conflict.

Takara was truly disgusted by it all.

Fighting a war for something you believe in, whether it was to protect your home or to take back what was rightfully yours to begin with, is one thing. But to keep fighting simply because you don't want someone else to win? Shameless. Younger and younger children were being sent into the fray, and Takara knew enough about war, had lived it for long enough in this life and her past, to know that many of them wouldn't come home in more than a pine box. That is, if there was enough of them to fit in a box to begin with.

Her parents had noticed, which Takara had honestly expected at some point. It was worth the trade off though, in her opinion. She may have the knowledge of a battle-hardened kage, but she was still physically a child, and some things she couldn't work on by herself and get away with. She'd shown Obito her knowledge of tree walking in hopes that it would keep him interested in his sensei's genius daughter. If she presented him with a puzzle, a relationship to work on, Takara was hoping it would help him build stronger anchors to more than just Rin. Even if she didn't manage to save both of them, even if Obito was kidnapped and Rin murdered, perhaps another girl he cared for nearly as much as Rin could keep him from losing his mind.

Takara was playing with fire though. One wrong move and she could end up scorched, her situation burned beyond repair. There was also the Danzo factor to worry about. He always did like keeping tabs on the geniuses. Perhaps with her parents teaching her she could begin to leverage her knowledge.

Minato and Kushina had taken to slowly training her when they were home. Granted, they didn't exactly come out and say it was training, but Takara could tell what it was. Parents didn't normally challenge their five-year-olds to a "race" (laps) around the park multiple times a week, nor did they suppress their signatures while playing hide n' seek to work on her detection skills (she had an unfair advantage there, as they still had no idea about her sensory capabilities as far as she could tell). Takara wasn't entirely sure whether to call them on it or not, but in the end the benefits outweighed the negatives of enlightening them about her intellect.

"I can feel you Kaa-chan," Takara stated one morning as Kushina was attempting to sneak into the room. Granted, the woman wasn't using all of the stealth training she had under her belt as a jonin, but she was employing some. Enough that a normal five-year-old would have no clue her mother was near.

"Can you now," Kushina prompted, entering the room and giving up her attempt at concealment.

"It's not like you and Tou-chan are that sneaky," Takara said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "I can tell training when I see it."

She moved over to the dresser, pulling out a purple skirt, black shorts for underneath, and a white shirt with was was evidently her father's clan symbol on it. She'd been surprised to know there was one, as she'd always thought the Namikaze a singular family rather than a clan, but Minato had explained that there had originally been a few families. They'd been a wandering clan back in the time of the wars, sticking to a nomadic way of life to stay away from conflict. That had served them fairly well, especially with their sensing skills, until the Second Great Ninja War. That was the war that took the lives of the other families, and Minato and his sister were the only two to survive. Her father kept whatever records he could find, which weren't much, as well as his clan crest. Even if the clan never grew again, he wanted it preserved for history.

The symbol itself was a circle containing three curls. Takara assumed it was meant to imitate waves, but she really couldn't be certain.

"So if you realized what we're doing, why haven't you said something earlier, Takara-chan?" her mother asked from the doorway she was leaning on. Takara could recognize a probing question when she heard one.

"War is happening, Kaa-chan. I'd have to be blind not to see that. I'm sure you're afraid I'll be forced into fighting, so I didn't want to worry you."

Takara changed her sleeping clothes to the ones she'd chosen for the day, and turned to face her mother. The woman's mouth was set in a grim line, and it seemed Takara had hit the nail on the head with her analysis.

"It may be better for you to be prepared, sweetheart. Your tou-chan and I have been thinking about giving you more to work with. Would you like that?" Kushina questioned. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

Takara barely let a moment slip by before answering.

"Of course, Kaa-chan. Teach me everything."

When Takara told her mother to teach her everything, she hadn't expected that much of a difference in training methods from what they'd already been employing. Maybe a few more laps, some handsign practice, but nothing major.

She'd been quite far from the truth.

The very first day Kushina had available for official training, the pair had headed to one of the more secluded grounds. She'd then gone on to promptly sneak attack Takara, setting her on the defensive.

"I need to know how much you've taught yourself my love. Come at me with all you've got," Kushina taunted, a trickster's grin spreading across her lips.

"Okay Kaa-chan. I'll do what I can."

Takara jumped back, intent on putting space between her and her opponent. In all honesty, she hadn't spent much time forming actual jutsus, instead working on control and creating her clone. She'd been doing some exercises as well, but not as much as she should have.

Damn, I have got to stop being so single-minded. When this is over, I'm doubling my usual exercise and working on as many jutsus as this tiny body can handle without overtaxing myself.

"Too slow baby girl," her mother crowed, darting forward.

A flash of metal caught the light, and Takara dodged to the side before the kunai could strike. A few handsigns and a puff of smoke covered Takara's shunshin. She was about ten feet off where she was aiming for, but it was out of her mother's striking path, so she'd take it. She could work on accuracy later. Takara focused a small bit of chakra to her feet and jumped onto the tree nearest to her. A few more handsigns and a standard Academy clone peeled off to the side.

I never thought I'd see the day that I was actually thankful for those damn clones. I miss my shadow clones already.

Takara hopped over a few trees and climbed as high as she could get.

Time to practice that concealment skills. I'd have to be extremely lucky for her not to notice me.

She dropped into a meditation pose and pulled at her chakra.

What did Karin used to compare this to? Something about compression, I think…

Takara visualized her chakra, and began focusing on condensing it into a tiny sliver of what it was. The act itself wasn't hard, but that was probably because she'd used up a fair amount of chakra already with the few jutsu she'd done.

I have utterly terrible reserves. I'm an Uzumaki, goddamn it. I should have so much more! Am I taking more after Tou-chan this time?

"Found you Takara-chan," a voice murmured in her ear.

A cry escaped her lips and she almost startled off the branch, but Kushina's hand caught the collar of her shirt before she could.

"Don't fall to your death now baby girl. Can't have your dad killing me after the first day of training," her mother teased.

"I give up, you got me. Tell me I tricked you for at least a second with the clone?"

"Mm, maybe a second, two if I'm generous. What I would like to know though is how you figured this all out on your own."

Leaves whirled around them and Kushina deposited the pair on the forest floor. Takara moved to sit up against the tree she'd been on.

"I wanted to know what I was gonna do in the Academy, so I looked up the basic requirements. The jutsu aren't too hard, I just suck because I don't have much chakra," Takara replied. "I'm still working on kawarimi though. Haven't tested it much yet."

Kushina sat down next to the girl, and pulled out a kunai from her pouch.

"Not bad honey. How's your kunai and shuriken skills?"

Takara took the offered weapon, and pointed to a tree across the way. There was a patch of moss halfway up the trunk that she chose to mark the spot. Shuffling to her feet, Takara slipped into the proper throwing stance and hurled the blade. It hit the edge of the patch, not bad but certainly could use improvement.

"Well, now that I've seen what you can do so far, I think I know where to start with you. It looks like you'll need some stamina and chakra reserve building techniques. You could do with some polishing on your jutsu as well, but your hand signs were lovely Takara-chan. Have you been practicing?"

"Yeah. I figured that if I could do the basics well enough and without thinking, I could only go up from there."

"That's a good sentiment. Most people learn the basics and then move on, never taking time to practice them," Kushina replied.

If only you knew, Kaa-chan. That's exactly what I did the first time around, and why I'm focusing on it more this time.

"I've been working on my handwriting too, for fuinjutsu. I read that it's the most important part of sealing," Takara told her mother.

Kushina reached out a hand and ruffled her daughter's hair. A frown slipped onto Takara's face as she tried to bat away the offending appendage, but failed in the process.

"Good idea honey. You're well on your way to a solid foundation for your skills. Let's get you back to the house and cleaned up before your dad accuses me of beating you up when he gets from from his mission," Kushina told her, pulling the girl into a shunshin that deposited them back at the house.

Since the war had begun, Mikoto's visits had become infrequent. She never stopped visiting, per say, she just went longer periods between seeing her best friend. Which was a travesty, honestly. She needed time with Kushina to decompress and work through the glamorous life that was being both a jonin and a mother.

She also wanted to bitch about her husband without him the possibility of him showing up, to be honest.

His most recent parenting choice left much to be desired. Mikoto understood that shinobi life was cruel and Itachi was, perhaps, slightly attached to his flights of fancy and dreams of a better future, but the cure for idealism was not shoving a child onto the battlefield! She's argued with Fugaku for weeks because of it, and then he'd up and taken Itachi there anyways while she was away on a mission.

Mikoto had been furious the moment she returned home and found her son a shell of the boy she remembered just a few days prior. She'd immediately packed a lunch and set out to Kushina's place, Itachi in tow. She honestly didn't care if she still smelled like the desert she'd been fighting in, Itachi came first.

"Well you look like you could use a strong drink," was the first thing that came out of Kushina's mouth when the redhead opened her front door.

"And a new husband," Mikoto replied, pulling Itachi inside and flopping down on the front couch.

A smirk pulled at Kushina's lips and she turned to the miniature Uchiha.

"Itachi-kun, go ahead and go to Takara's room. She hasn't seen you in a while, I'm sure she'll be happy to talk," Kushina told him, ushering the boy down the hall.

As soon as Itachi was out of sight, Mikoto leaned forward and began running her temples.

"I'm going to murder that man and no one will be able to tell it was me."

"Just let me know when you need an alibi," Kushina cheekily responded, pulling out a rather strong bottle of sake she had stored out of sight from Takara.

There was a moment of silence in the conversation, the sound of sake being poured filling the gap.

"Fugaku thought it would be a good idea to bring Itachi to the warzone."

The bottle of sake would've dropped if Kushina was any less of a kunoichi. Instead, she schooled her features behind a pleasantly blank face.

"Come again?"

The weariness and frustration Mikoto had been inundated with began to catch up with her, and it seeped into her voice.

"While I was gone, Fugaku thought it would be smart to shock the idealism out of Itachi. He's four years old, goddamn it! He doesn't belong on the battlefield, not yet."

Kushina handed her a saucer, and they both downed the liquid in one sip.

"Well, I can almost commiserate. I'm fairly certain my six-year-old daughter is a genius and will be thrown into battle soon as well," Kushina told the Uchiha matriarch.

"When did you figure that out?" Mikoto queried, grabbing the bottle so she could pour another drink.

"The signs have been there for a while. I just think we wanted to be oblivious. Given whose daughter she is, she's going to have a large target on her back. We've started training her just to keep her alive."

Mikoto hummed in agreement.

"Our children don't deserve this, Kushina. They just don't."

Takara perked up when she felt two semi-familiar signatures approach the house. They hadn't expected a visit from the Uchiha clan head's wife today, so Takara was willing to bet it was not necessarily a social call.

Her guess was proved right when what was essentially a catatonic Itachi walked into her room.

Even if she hadn't particularly cared for the man in her first life, she's begun to grow attached to his curious, childlike self in this time. To see him look so shattered and broken, like the world had fallen into pieces in front of him, disturbed Takara at her core. She had known he was a pacifist buried deep inside his layers of monster and murderer, Sasuke had explained as much, and Takara was willing to bet this moment was a seedling that led there.

"Are you alright?" she asked simply, getting up from the desk she'd been sitting at. Her sealing arrays she'd been working on were safely stored in a storage seal on the underside of the wood, and in their place was a hastily scratched drawing of a tree and a bird.

"Otou-sama took me to one of the battlefields yesterday. I- I knew what fighting and shinobi life meant, but it was just...different, seeing it in person," the child replied, frozen like a statue in her doorway.

Takara grasped Itachi's hand and brought him to sit on her rug, the same one concealing her privacy seal. She brushed a finger along the edge of the seal, knowing it by heart enough to activate it properly without looking.

"Start from the beginning," Takara prompted.

Sometimes when faced with trauma, all someone could do to help was listen. She'd spent many nights sitting and listening to people talk towards the end. The act of saying things out loud was cathartic for many, and every single person had experienced some form of trauma throughout the fourth war.

Itachi illustrated (in terms that she hadn't expected a four-year-old to know, but then again she wasn't really one to talk) how his father had taken him on a trip to one of the border skirmishes. There had been dead as far as his eye could see, and he'd gone to assist one struggling ninja, only for the man to turn on him.

He'd had to make his first kill in self-defense.

"I bet the first kill is your worst," Takara responded after a moment of silence signalled the end of his tale. "Sometimes I can see the haunted look in my parents' eyes though, so I wonder if it ever gets better."

Itachi remained silent, eyes vacantly staring at the floor. Takara reached out a hand to comfort him, brushing his shoulder lightly.

Anger. Frustration. Despair. Hopelessness. Isthisallthereis? There'snohope. Howwillthingseverchange?

She retracted her hand like she'd been burned.

What the hell was that? There was so much emotion. Was that...Itachi?

Takara shook her head to straighten things out. Seeing as Itachi was still basically unresponsive, she dipped into the sensory plane for a moment.

Itachi's signature swirled beside her, and she focused her senses in on the boy beside her. The same volley of emotions burst into her mental space as soon as she made contact.

No wonder he's so messed up. That's a huge pool of emotion all mixed up together, and I'm willing to bet he has no idea how to handle it. Fuck, where's Ino when I need her?

Reality blossomed before her as she returned to the real world. Ino's expertise in the mind and how it operated during traumatic experiences would've been great here, but unfortunately she'd been one of the first to go. Takara had never gotten the chance to learn from the Yamanaka, and she bitterly regretted it at the current time.

"You don't have to feel sorry for killing him, Itachi. He was trying to kill you. If you hadn't done that, you might not be here. Your mother would be devastated."

"Aa."

Takara was fairly certain that meant something along the lines of she would, but her Uchiha-ese was a bit rusty at the moment. Still, single syllable words were better than no response at all.

Another moment of silence passed by.

"I may not know what it's like to kill someone yet, but you can still lean on me for help, Itachi. War is not kind to anyone, and you'll need people to support you."

The two children who were on a path to violence already sat without conversation for some time. Takara stealthily observed what she could from both Itachi's minimal expression and the emotions in his chakra.

"I will...try to keep that in mind," Itachi replied eventually, turning to face Takara. "Thank you."

"I wish I could do more," Takara responded.

Itachi shifted into a standing position.

"You've done more than you know."

Today was one of the few moments that Minato's whole team, himself, Kushina, and Takara were all available. That hadn't happened in such a long time, especially since the genin's promotions, and Kushina decided that they needed to make it a nice, relaxing moment, away from the horrors of war.

Takara wasn't going to complain. She knew that the mission she dreaded had to be coming up soon, and she'd had very few opportunities to weasel her way into Obito's life recently. She helped her mother pack several lunch dishes into the picnic basket, and the pair started making their way out to the forest where they were going to meet up with the team after a training session.

"Tou-chan!" Takara cried, darting over to his side as soon as she saw him through the trees.

"Hello there, Takara," Minato replied, a warm smile slipping over his face. "Wrap it up guys, looks like lunch is here!"

The three youngsters stopped the spar they'd been in and made their way over to the small family.

"I am so hungry, I could eat a cow, I swear!" Obito crowed, his eyes lighting up in delight once he noticed Kushina's home cooking.

"Thank you for bringing us lunch, Kushina-san," Rin told her, sitting quietly next to her boisterous teammate.

"It's no problem at all, really. I wanted to get out of the house with Takara-chan," Kushina told her, pulling out dishes to place on the blanket she'd spread out.

"Do you have any cool new jutsu Obito-san?" Takara asked, turning her attention to the Uchiha.

"Eh, I mean not really anything new per say. But I have been working on making my fireball bigger! Maybe I'll show you later, huh?"

"Sounds cool!" Takara said, clapping her hands in excitement.

"Food first Takara-chan, then lighting things on fire," Minato said, concealing a quirk of the lips that Takara guessed was a smile. She didn't blame him, Kushina was adamant on her not learning katon jutsu just yet in case she burned down the house. Minato, on the other hand, didn't mind, likely because he knew there would be no burning down of the house anyways. Takara had better control than that.

The group dug in to the delicious food, and Takara took the moment to simply relish in the feeling of family and loved ones.

I've had enough war in my life. This one needs to end, and quickly. Preferably without major deaths as well.

Soon enough, the food was finished and Team Minato had lazed around long enough for digestion to properly settle their food.

"Alright, back to spars you three. Takara, Kushina, you can stay if you want, but watch out for Kakashi and Obito. They tend to get a bit- explosive, shall we say," Minato told them.

"Oh please Minato-kun, that hasn't stopped me before," Kushina teased as she packed what was left of their meal. "Would you like to stay for a bit Takara-chan?"

Takara nodded, and deposited herself below a rather large oak that gave her adequate shade. The two boys of the team took up their positions, and blurred into motion on her father's signal. They clashed first with weapons and taijutsu, neither wanting to open the field to ninjutsu just yet.

"Can you teach me more taijutsu Kaa-chan?" Takara asked as the woman moved to sit down next to her.

"I could honey, but your body isn't very developed just yet. You'll need more muscle conditioning and stamina training before you're very effective. I'd also have to figure out which style fits you best. The standard Konoha style that's taught in the Academy is fairly easy, but also somewhat predictable because so many people have learned or experienced it. The Uzumaki have their own taijutsu style, but it might not work as it's based on being able to take hits and redirect your opponent's motion against them, which also won't work for you just yet."

Takara hummed, mulling over options in her head.

"I'll figure something out Kaa-chan."

Both women turned their attention back to the match as they heard Obito call out a jutsu.

"Katon: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

A swath of flames danced through the clearing, and Takara's senses went haywire. A torrent of flames darted towards them, and Kushina instinctively pulled Takara away with a shunshin.

"Hey! Obito-chan, watch it! Takara's still here, you know!" Kushina bellowed across the training field.

"Sorry!" He called over as he continued to dodge the assaults Kakashi made.

"I'm fine, Kaa-chan," Takara said after Kushina wouldn't stop searching her for any injuries.

That was interesting though. Now that both Kakashi-sensei and Obito are using large amounts of chakra, I can sense it much more. Is my ability bleeding into the real world now?

Takara dropped into a meditative stance, slipping into the sensory plane to see if what she was feeling in the physical world matched. As soon as she opened herself up to the plane, both of the boys' signatures erupted around her once more. Obito was a singular fire-type with no sub-type, while Kakashi was definitely lightning with the static electricity that was bombarding her senses. Being so close to two signatures locked in combat was beginning to give her a headache, so she dropped back into the physical world.

"-ello. Takara-chan, you there?" Kushina was saying, waving one hand in front of Takara's face.

"Ah, sorry Kaa-chan. I wanted to know what Kakashi-san and Obito felt like," Takara replied. She pressed a hand to her head, trying to soothe the headache that momentary exposure to two powerful signatures had given her. Now that she was back to reality, it wasn't as bad. The signatures were still there, just muffled, as if she was separated from them by a buffer.

"What they felt like? What do you mean honey?" Kushina prompted, curious.

"I dunno, it's just how they feel. Can't you feel it too if you focus? Obito is really bright and feels like a sun. Kakashi-san feels like he's going to shock me," Takara replied, playing dumb. She hadn't come across any books or scrolls on sensory types just yet, so she couldn't play it off that she'd learned it. This way, perhaps she could get her parents to tell her more about the Namikaze clan sensory skills.

"Actually I can't. But I bet your father can. Let me get him real quick," Kushina told her.

Her mother stood and ambled over to Minato, speaking to him for a moment. He nodded and spoke back, before returning to Takara and leaving Kushina to supervise the spar.

"So your mother tells me that you can 'feel' what Kakashi and Obito are like. Is that true sweetheart?" Minato asked, sliding into a sitting position next to Takara.

The girl nodded.

"Obito is super hot, he feels like he's made of fire. Kakashi-san is all tingly and static-y," Takara replied as she refocused on the spar for a moment.

"Interesting. Well honey, I think you might be developing the same skills that Kaiyo and I have. Did you know that it's a trait of my family to have sensory skills?"

"I figured. I heard you and Kaiyo-baa talking about it sometime. But I wasn't really sure what you meant."

"Is this the first time you've been able to do this?"

"No, when I was trying to figure out my chakra for the first time I accidentally went to this really dark place instead. I could only see little blobs of glowy stuff, and when I tried to touch them, they felt like different things. Mom feels like a sea breeze. You feel static-y like Kakashi-san, but you also sound like it's really windy and sometimes I can feel something warm if I really look close," Takara told him.

Minato sat back and took in the information for a moment.

"Next time I have some free time honey, we're going to work on your sensor skills. They'll be very important in keeping you safe," Minato replied, pulling Takara into a hug.

I'm all ears. Tell me all you know about our clan's skills, Tou-chan.

"A new report has arrived, sir."

A scroll was placed lightly on his desk.

"Very well, you may go," Danzo told the child. Said soldier bowed lightly and left, silent as he had come in.

The marks indicated it was one of his higher level operatives. He had suspicions as to whom. A small drop of blood was all it took to deactivate the seal keeping the scroll locked.

The secondary subject has begun to show more promise. She spoke today of being able to 'feel' how her father's team was while they were in training combat mode. I have suspected this recently, but needed more proof before bringing my findings to your attention. It is unknown if she will fully develop the bloodline as has been known in the clan, only observation will be able to tell. Both her father and the primary subject are now aware of her skills as well, and may begin attempting to train her. I suggest missions stationed out of the village for them, as far as possible. She is left in more agreeable care when they are gone for long stretches. I may be able to start counterconditioning.

-NK

Danzo closed the scroll with hardly a snap. It would certainly prove beneficial if the child could be brought directly to Root. But...if the Namikaze could get her niece to trust her, to believe in her ways… Well, listening to someone who cares for and loves you is always a better form of brainwashing. At least until he can strip her of emotion entirely and make her the perfect agent.

Namikaze Takara… you will certainly do well in my program...

砂時計

Recommended Read:
Kunoichi's Burden: Village First by lilac haze
Minato/Sakura
She was dying. She should have died. She was supposed to die but the Gods had other plans. Sakura is thrown back in the past, where a dangerously attractive blonde and a loud mouthed redhead have taken it upon themselves to make her life even more difficult. If Naruto's parents didn't get together, kami, she would be in a lot of trouble. In-progress.