Arc 2 Chapter 7 Part 4- Age: 10.02, Year: 14.02

...

I knew the town's name sounded familiar. It was one of the areas I'd visited during my little hunt for the noble killer.

There was a distinct change to it since then that escapade though and no I wasn't referring to the heavy cultish-like expressions I was seeing in the townsfolk's eyes, even if that somewhat concerned me. This was pretty close to Konoha after all.

No, frankly I was more concerned about the new centrepiece they decided to erect in front of what qualified as the town hall.

I recognised those shades anywhere.

"What magnificent workmanship," The noble we were escorting remarked, a genuine surprise toned to his voice. "I must know who made this!" he idly ran his fingers along the stone sculpture of someone who had no right to exist in this world. "I would have them come work for me within the Court!"

I ignored the shallow man whose existence evidently decided whether war was coming sooner rather than later.

"Meisai-san, we don't have time-" Tobirama's voice washed over the noble's, an irritated tone to it.

"I agreed to take this path, as you suggested Tobirama-san, however, that does not mean you dictate where I decide to rest my legs."

"On the contrary, it does," Tobirama remarked back utterly unbothered. "My mission is to see you to your location alive and in one piece. That does not extend to accommodating your whims."

I tuned their brewing argument out as I focused on the statue itself, my mind picturing my earlier expedition through here.

I know I'd transformed myself back then, but it sure as shit hadn't been to Doflamingo. My eyes narrowed ever so slightly. And even if I had chosen to, there was no way a passerby would've glimpsed this much fucking detail with how fast I'd been moving.

There was only one real explanation for this and quite frankly it didn't bode very well.

Ninshu, if pushed hard enough to another person's psyche, gave them access to knowledge they had no right to learn.

And all things considered, I had a feeling whoever had created this statue, was no longer alive.

I doubted any civilian could live with that knowledge in their head and judging by the common expression I'd seen so far, I had a feeling some of said knowledge had leaked into the town itself and it definitely wore on its people.

I let out a long sigh at that thought.

Honestly, though, the worst part about it was it gave me a very, very dangerous idea all things considered and if that didn't say anything bad about my mental state, I wasn't sure what would. For all that I'd locked Kira's memories away, it was telling that they still managed to seep through every so often- Because I could picture it clear as day right now, the damage I could do by the sheer virtue of overshar-

"Danzo?" I blinked out of my stupor at the sudden voice. Turning towards it, I found a slightly concerned Hiruzen staring at me with a frown.

"Yes?"

"We're leaving I think." He remarked idly pointing towards the moving figures- Evidently we weren't sticking around too long, though I made an internal note to tell Kakuzu to keep a few eyes in the town when that little operation kicked into the works.

I nodded at the boy, surprising him somewhat. "Guess there's no rest for the wicked huh?" I made a lousy attempt at breaking the tension.

Hiruzen, to his credit, just chuckled at that and agreed.

...

In the end, the noble had gotten what he'd wanted- somewhat. Instead of resting in that official town, we'd elected to rest in a tavern along the roads further down the paths.

I had a feeling Tobirama hadn't felt entirely comfortable with that place.

We'd taken up two rooms in the recently developed building, paid for by the noble we were escorting and by paid for, I mean it was practically free considering the moment we arrived the fucker broke rule number one and told the owner who he was.

And while I doubted my teacher had had any intentions of actually falling asleep, that sure as shit killed that fucking idea altogether.

A small part of me felt bad for him- He was the one sharing a room with the fucking idiot.

The other part of me felt somewhat annoyed I was currently stuck at babysitting my two teammates.

Don't get me wrong, Hiruzen was a great friend to have, but the fucker had the survival sense of a goldfish. And I had no idea what Koharu's deal was so that was going to be fun to figure out.

Thankfully we each had our own beds, not that I had any intention of sleeping because and I repeat, Hiruzen had the survival sense of a goldfish.

We'd made a plan about who was keeping watch and when and I very much doubted that was going to survive so I'd just taken up first, and what was likely going to be the second and third watch for the night.

"...You still awake?" And look at that, Koharu was already fucking wasting her chance to get any sleep, though that might've also been 'cos Hiruzen's snoring probably got in the way of it.

"...I would be a terrible fucking watcher if I wasn't." I deadpanned as I turned to stare at the girl on the furthest bed by the window.

She promptly got up from under her cover at those words and let out a snort. "I didn't even think about that." She chuckled.

...Maybe the D Rank system was important after all.

"Doesn't that bode well," I sighed.

"Right?"

I blinked at the fact the girl was been so supportive of her own failings for some reason- Had she somehow become self-aware from all the menial labour she had to do or something?

"You should get some rest," I idly pointed out. "You won't have another chance any time soon."

"Yeah, yeah." The girl waved my words away. "I know I gotta be up to watch in a few hours-"

"Don't concern yourself with that." I cut her off. "Just sleep, I'll handle the watching."

My gaze drifted off towards the window by her side, the moonlight having died down somewhat over the past hour.

"...What about you?" I blinked at the sound and frowned when I noticed the fact the girl clearly wasn't in the mood to listen.

"What about me?" I questioned, bemused.

"Don't you need sleep?" A frown was the only expression I could currently make out of her face.

"Not really." She blinked at that. "A ninja can go without sleep for days on end, provided he has enough chakra." I locked eyes with her. "That practically makes me an android,"

She gave me a confused look.

"What's that?"

The lack of culture really was hurting my hopes and dreams- I freakin' wrote a few books about that universe! Doesn't she read my stories!?

"Forget it." I sighed and turned my gaze ahead of me. "Just get some rest already."

She crossed her arms in response. "Only if you tell me what the deal was with that statue." I blinked at that and turned back towards her. "...I saw you staring at it."

"I guessed as much," I muttered dryly. "There's nothing to explain, I just thought it was a weird statue-"

"You're lying."

"Even if I was, you wouldn't be the one to figure that out," I snorted.

To my surprise, that didn't annoy her at all as intended.

I was losing my touch.

"You're not gonna tell me?" She questioned after a moment before she uncrossed her arms and started fiddling with her bed cover. "...You don't like having me as a teammate do you?"

...This is not how I intended to spend my fucking night- I held the urge to rub the bridge of my nose. That felt like it'd enable her. "I don't particularly feel any way about you to be honest," I shrugged. "You're my teammate, that's about it."

Oddly enough that offended her.

Talk about mixed signals.

I idly turned my gaze back towards the window, my chakra pinging out of it subtly.

"...Well we were classmates."

Yes, I remember the attempts at getting me into trouble. 

"And the three of us used to hang out as well-"

Can't forget the passive-aggressive comments. What fun we had.

"Your point?" I questioned, somewhat tir- Scratch that I've been tired of this conversation since it started.

"...Can we be friends?"

I'll admit that caught me by surprise. I turned to stare at the girl, utterly confused.

I wasn't sure what part of anything about me screamed I was a good option for that kind of commitment.

"Why?" I deadpanned, wondering if the girl had hit her head one too many times against a cow or two.

"...I want to learn," I tilted my head at her, more confused than before. Which was honestly an achievement. "You're teaching Hiru-kun about chakra... so..."

"We don't need to be friends for that," I snorted after finally getting her point. Though that didn't really explain the frown that was etched onto her face. "You just need to accept you'd hate every moment of it,"

The frown on her face changed to confusion at my words. "Hiru-kun doesn't look like he hates every second of it."

"Hiru's a prodigy, he picks things up quickly." I pointed out and slowly turned back towards the window.

"...And I am not?"

Was she asking or..?

"No." I elected to answer regardless. Better to pop that bubble early and all-

"You know, it doesn't hurt to tell someone a lie if it'd make them feel-"

...This can't be fucking happening right now.

"-better? Like I know I am not a prodigy but I'd like to-"

"Koharu." I cut her off with a sigh, briefly turning back towards her, and taking in the admittedly unsurprisingly upset expression on her face. "I mean this in the nicest way possible, " She blinked at that, her expression changing ever so slightly. "You're a ninja," I focused back on the window. "Grow up."

Cue another breakdo-

"I know."

Huh? Hol' up did she just- I turned back towards her and found her arms around her legs, her chin on top of her knees. "I know I need to grow up." I am pretty sure my mouth was slightly hanging open at this point. She turned her gaze towards me, a wistful smile on her face. "I just wanna dream a little you know?"

I wanted to tell her that was a stupid thought to have. That it didn't belong in this line of work. That if she got rid of that thinking she might've had a chance at actually doing something with her life.

A part of me even wanted to blame the open window as the reason I'd even got up out of my bed and walked towards her side, her gaze following me every step of the way.

I pushed my hands on top of the open windowsill and stared out of it, my eyes focusing on the peaceful atmosphere outside, if only to avoid looking at the girl beside me.

"There's nothing wrong with dreaming."

For a small moment, I wondered exactly when Hiruzen had stopped snoring loudly enough to let any silence fill the room. And on Koharu's end, a part of me was starting to understand why Hashirama had so much trouble telling children the real truth.

I ignored the shift she made on the bed as she joined me and laid her hands on the windowsill, though she at least kept some gap between us.

"What do you dream about?" She asked.

I made to answer that question only for the chakra I'd placed outside to suddenly flare, my hand instinctively reaching out just before her face, earning a surprised blink out of the girl- at least until she registered the kunai my hand was holding. The kunai that had been inches away from ending her life.

In the end, I hadn't needed to show her the truth of the world- Evidently, it was more than inclined to teach her itself.

I took in the fear on her face as she registered everything before I promptly grabbed her by the hand, idly noted the fact Hiruzen was already out of his bed- And two flash-steps later, I had a panicking child held by one hand and a very annoyed one held by the other on top of the shoddy tavern's roof.

A moment later, my teacher and a very pale noble joined us.

...

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