Crimson Flash Chapter 1

Here's the shallow edited version of Crimson Flash chapter 1, Hope you like it, I had fun writing Kushina.

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Flash 1

(Kushina Uzumaki/Ayame Kiryuin)

25th January
Konoha

Konohagakure no Sato, Village Hidden by Tree Leaves in english, the hidden village of the Land of Fire. Konoha resided deep within a forest at the base of a mountain known as the Hokage Rock, which had the faces of all those who had taken the office of Hokage engraved on it. I could see the said mountain from the open green gates. I still liked Uzu better.

The village was surrounded on all sides by enormous walls, and it was somewhat intimidating… it looked normal and… there was a lot of green. No wonder it was called Konoha, I didn't like it at all. I was a daughter of the sea, I hummed the Jaina Proudmoore song, an original, never heard on this planet. Thanks to my meditation, it was becoming easier to remember things from my previous life. Science, pop culture and general knowledge from another world made me a weird Uzumaki by their standards, but at least they liked my songs.

"Beware, beware, the daughter of the sea. Beware, I'm coming"

As I finally entered, I was stopped by the two guards at the gates, I didn't remember them. The two guys from the episodes in Naruto who were still chunin must not have been born yet. They wore green uniforms and the usual Konoha flak jackets. Urgh I was never going to put that on even if I became a Chunin in this village.

One of the guards who wore dark shades placed himself before me. "Halt, identify yourself!"

He was right to stop me, I was covered by a dark blue cloak. I took my hood off, long dark hair flowed and as I looked directly at the man’s face I said, "Hi, I am Ayame, I come from Uzushiogakure." I said as I took a scroll from my personal storage seal and presented it to the guards.

The man stared at me strangely before taking the scroll from my hand. It must have been because of my odd eyes. I've chosen to look like Tifa Lockhart from final fantasy seven, but having completely red eyes would make me look like a Uchiha so I went with eyes of different color, a silver and a red eye. As if I was a mix of Hyuga and Uchiha, but I was obviously some random girl from Uzushiogakure. I loved seals, layering a permanent glamor seal and anchoring it via a tattoo with invisible ink was the best idea ever. Though we had to build UV lamps to work with it. The seal used a negligible amount of my chakra to keep my disguise.

The man finished reading the missive, whistled and someone appeared out of thin hair. He looked young with wild long black hair, Inuzuka red face paint and the green uniform of Konohagakure. There was a grey dog at his feet that was super cute.  I beamed at it and waved.

The MIB wannabe guard stood at my side and said, "Kosuke, take this kid back to the Hokage residence."

'Kosuke' looked down at me, I waved and he rolled his eyes and snorted at me. "Who is she?" The Inuzuka asked as he looked at the guard.

"Classified." The guard answered simply.

With another snort, Kosuke sighed and said "Fine, girl take my hand." He held his gloved hand to me.

I took it and I felt it when he burst into motion, I didn't see around as he was moving to the center of the village. This wasn’t my first time seeing Shunshin, a high-speed movement technique, allowing a ninja to move short to long distances at an almost untraceable speed. I was also able to use it already, but I intended to play the weak genin level girl for a while to not arouse any suspicions about my true capabilities.

I was a shinobi, and our functions included espionage, deception, and surprise attacks. We used irregular warfare and were proud of it, I wasn't a samurai, we didn't fight fairly. I hoped that I was wrong and that those ninjas I kept seeing everywhere didn't act like what I had seen in the manga or anime. But, I was already disappointed… When we stopped before the Hokage residence, all the ninjas were visible and acting like civilians.

That wouldn't go well in Uzushiogakure, everyone left the Uzukage palace through secret tunnels or entrances. I rolled my eyes but didn't show it. I needed to return to my innocent girl role.

I turned with wide eyes to Kosuke-san. "Wow, fast! You are super fast Kosuke-san!"

The man scratched behind his head and his cheeks reddened. "Hehe, thanks girl. C'mon this is the Hokage residence. I must confirm that you entered the building." He pointed to the red building.

I bowed a little and then chirped, "Thanks for the trip!"

"You're welcome, kid."

When I entered the red building, he disappeared by using the body flicker, again, leaving a puff of smoke. I shrugged and turned to the inside of the building and followed the plan that was on the wall of the lobby, it showed which department was which. It was really well organized.

*It seems they aren't savages after all.* I thought.

Uzushiogakure was more modern than this place, we used seals for everything, we had even developed our technology with it. Going to Konoha was literally a downgrade civilization wise. Yes, they had strong shinobi, but they didn't seem to move with the world, I mean come on, I kept seeing people wearing traditional clothing everywhere. In Uzu, fashion was at least comparable to the 1990s.

As I thought, I found myself on the last floor and was stopped by a trio of guards and a secretary. She was blonde, with blue eyes, she looked like a Yamanaka and was wearing black and purple clothes and glasses on her face. She looked like a naughty secretary about to get banged.

I waved at her and smiled. "Heya, I am Ayame and I think the Hokage is waiting for me!"

One of the three guards who blocked access to the door said, "It's indeed the same girl."

They looked strong, I focused my chakra in my senses and largely guessed how strong they were by feeling how heavy their own chakra was and how fast it flowed in their body. Yes, I was a sensor type shinobi, a potent one. I had to spend one month wearing a blindfold to learn to move and fight by simply sensing people, animals and… nature chakra that I could use somehow. I'd read how a female Naruto could wrap herself in nature chakra and practically become invisible to others ninjas and sensor types, it worked like a charm, now I could be a literal ghost to others. I wasn't ready for full on senjutsu training but I could use that.

One of the guards smiled at me, his chakra felt cold, and murky, I didn't like him at all. The pretty blonde woman who was behind the desk asked neutrally, "What’s your full name?"

Game on, time to get this show on the road, I smiled and said, "Just Ayame, auntie."

There was silence suddenly, then two of the guards snorted and laughed, while the secretary's face froze, one of her eyes twitched and then she finally started moving and shouted, "A-auntie?! Listen you little shit,  I am barely twenty five years old, don't call me auntie!"

"Oh, sorry. But you remind me of one of my beautiful aunties, she had the same hair and eyes." I said, faking being sad and lowering my eyes pitifully.

The men of course came to my defense. "Akane don't frighten the kid, she's barely seven, for fuck's sake."

The secretary Akane, relented. Seeing my sadness. "Are you an Orphan?"

Looking up at her, I nodded with sad eyes. "Yes Ma'am."

Akane in my opinion was really strong, her chakra easily on par with my own mother's. I never saw her in Naruto, who was she? Akane rolled her eyes and laughed. "Kid, don't Ma'am me, I work for a living."

"She needs a family name, we can't leave her like this." One of the guards said, the one whose chakra's felt cold and murky.

I understood why they thought I needed a name. In genealogy we usually concentrated on surnames since they were the most important way of identifying people who were related. A surname was usually inherited and, while it may be changed, some form of it was usually retained. Given names were more important in a way because they represent a voluntary choice by the parents or, sometimes, by an individual. A name was usually not given lightly. It represented thoughts and feelings and could be significant to the researcher.

So it was with internal smugness that I asked with innocent eyes, "Um, can I give myself one?"

The adults turned their eyes on me and the cold chakra guy was the first to answer me. "That would be good." With a nod, he gave me a pen and a registration form. It asked me my name, age and citizenship, as well as my level of education.

I looked at them and asked idly, "What about Kiryuin?"

The kanji used for this individually meant "oni" 鬼 (which means demon or ghost.) "dragon" (now this used an older, more traditional character for dragon so I thought that it meant the traditional wise serpent. I thought 龍.) and 院 which meant "imperial house, empress, emperor" or " ex-empress or ex-emperor".

Akane, the secretary, looked at the ninja roster that was without a doubt at her disposal and after a minute said, "It's not taken."

So I wrote it down with the intended Kanji. When I gave the form back, Akane looked at me strangely. "I hope that you won't regret choosing the name."

"I will make it famous, believe it!" I raised a tiny fist in the air.

Akane and the two guards laughed, the cold chakra guy didn’t and placidly stared at me. He made me want to take two baths. They made me wait for another two minutes before announcing me for the Hokage. I thought about how I wanted to present myself to him. I didn't respect him, he was an awful politician and a weak man, his place was better on a battlefield or in his house doting on his family. However, I was a stage actress, a shinobi and an Uzumaki; I would hide my dislike with self hypnosis and play the innocent girl like I already had been.

"The Hokage will receive you now, Ayame. Please enter." Akane smiled as she led me and opened the red door.

I breathed in and out, projecting my nervousness. Akane must have felt it, because she reassuringly took my hand and pulled me inside the Hokage's office.

------------- 真紅 瞬間  ------------

(Hiruzen Sarutobi)

Hokage’s Office

I puffed my last puff of smoke, then put my pipe in its box after emptying the cinders in the trash can. One of the ANBU guarding me agilely fell from the green wooden tiled ceiling and landed on her feet. It was the ANBU with the tiger mask, one of my favorite guards, she always anticipated my needs. She aired the room by opening one of the windows behind me.

The female ANBU turned toward me and I had the impression that she was glaring at me. “Smoke is bad for children Hokage-sama.”

Chuckling, I raised my hands in surrender. “Sorry, sorry.”

Leaning in my comfy chair, I waited for the girl Uzu had sent to become the new Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails. It saddened me to burden such a young soul. There was a reason that name existed, it literally meant: Power of Human Sacrifice. Oh that condition came with extraordinary gifts such as immense chakra reserves and whatever abilities the tailed beast possessed.

But Jinchūriki were often hated and ostracised by their fellow villagers, treated as no different than the beasts they contained. The issues laid with the difficulties involved when learning to control a tailed beast. However, because a Jinchūriki was so valuable an asset, it was not in the village's interest to let them be captured or turn into missing-nin. To strengthen the Jinchūriki's bond with the village, it was tradition for them to be related to their village's Kage.

I sighed, the poor girl was going to have so many hardships… but I would keep the secret about what she would become from everyone as much as I could. Because, while many Jinchūriki did indeed experience hardship in their early lives, either being mistreated by the majority of the village or dying in their failed attempts to control their tailed beasts, some were able to earn respect and recognition both within their village and in the wider world.

It was a fifty-fifty chance at this point, Konoha was taking a huge gamble but… I had great hopes that this new girl, being related to the Uzumaki, would succeed the same as Mito had done. From the file they had given me, this Ayame girl was an orphan and distantly related to the Uzumaki. Looking at the open folder on my desk among all the papers on it, I took the file with the picture of the girl in question.

Ayame, she was seven years old, had long black hair and odd eyes that were red and silver. If I was superstitious, I would think she had a Kekkei Genkai or would be the forbidden fruit of the union between an Uchiha and Hyuga, but there was no way…

*Just in case, I will do a discreet DNA test.* Things could get ugly politically if my first impressions were true.

The door opened and I lifted my head, preparing myself to receive our new guest from Uzu. First to enter was Akane Yamanaka, as beautiful as ever, she slightly bowed and then placed herself at the side of the door. A cute little black haired girl entered my office, she wore a short red kimono with white bird designs and a black skirt and brown boots, everything was covered by a dark blue hooded cloak with the red Uzumaki symbol as a brooch holding it on the girl.

She looked at me with big eyes in wonder and staggered back. I narrowed my eyes, I had a suspicion that she was… I flared my Chakra momentarily and she covered her eyes. *Ah! She’s a sensor!*

Her odd eyes flashed with outrage and her hair bristled into the air as if it had a life of its own. “That’s mean, old man!”

*Here it is, the Uzumaki temper. No titles! Finally, someone not afraid or deferring to me!*

I heard snickers from the ceiling, the girl looked up and narrowed her eyes as she detected my elite ANBU. I felt Akane move and try to catch the little girl who sidestepped the attempt by backing down further against the door.

My secretary shouted after the little girl, finding something to be desired about her manners. “Ayame! Call Hokage-sama by his title.”

Akane was one of those prim and proper women from the Yamanaka, she was always so strict and brokered no argument against me. This was the price of power, sometimes people were afraid to say what they really thought. I could only count on my wife Biwako, Danzo, my old friend, my pupils and my sons to set me straight.

I sighed, until I heard the whiny tone of the young girl, making me laugh. “But… he is mean! He blinded me!”

Ayame was really funny, I couldn't wait to get to know her a little bit more. She seemed fun to tease. “Oh oh oh, forgive me little Ayame. I was just testing something. Since when are you a sensor?”

Ayame quickly sidestepped Akane as she walked up. Her balance and the way her little body moved showed that she was trained. The way she sidestepped and flowed before my desk to not get caught by Akane reminded me of one of the most deadly Taijutsu styles from Uzushiogakure called Waterbird Fist, its movements were compared to a graceful water bird, however, its destructive power was without equal and could slaughter enemies with its devastating slicing and kicking techniques. It was equally adept at destroying enemies with open hand attacks.

The higher level of this frightening art focused on powerful hand strikes which stabbed the enemy and hit the pressure points at the same time. This style also used flying kick techniques. It was a pain in the ass to deal with...

*What did the Uzukage give me here? I need to test her. I need to do that anyway to place her accordingly in the academy.* I told myself as I took notes by writing them on a rectangular yellow colored Post-It note.

I was interrupted by Ayame who said loudly, “Huh, old man Katsuhito taught me how to sense chakra after he took me from the Orphanage and trained me.”

“The Uzukage’s luck… finding a diamond in the rough as usual.” I chuckled.

Ayame blushed prettily and gave me an angelic smile. “He said that he wanted to keep me because of that but… Huh, where are my manners?” The girl scratched behind her head as she felt Akane's gaze on her back. “I am Ayame Kiryuin! And I'm going to become the strongest ninja and seal master in the elemental nations!”

Kiryuin? So she chose a family name for herself. It was a strong and important sounding name, I hoped she lived up to the name's meaning. What bothered me was how different she was from my own son, Asuma. The little hooligan wanted my job, this girl didn't seem to want any positions of authority. “Oh? Normally kids like you want to become Kage of their village.”

Ayame’s eyes widened and she made an ‘X’ by crossing her arms as she said, “Eww! No! Too much work! I saw how old man Katsuhito is overworked, no way!”

I couldn’t help it, I laughed and held onto my stomach. It took me three minutes and cold gazes from Akane to calm down. I wiped a tear from my left eye. “Smart kid. You shouldn’t want the job, I agree…”

The hat was heavy and the responsibility over thousands of ninjas and even more numerous civilians was crushing. I couldn't believe I had wanted that job, but the Nidaime Hokage had given me the job before going to his death, so I would give my best for the village.

Ayame’s smile became thinner as she said, “So… um, I still don’t know why I came here to Konoha. Old man Katsuhito didn’t want to tell me, he said you would.”

*Shit.* I cursed the Uzukage in my heart.

I stared at Akane, who suddenly understood and left the room; after she closed the door, I linked my fingers and took a deep breath. When I looked at the little girl, she was looking at me with ambivalence. Then I spoke to her, told her the truth about why she was here and the way villagers or anyone who might know of what she would have inside her body would react.

Ayame Kiryuin didn’t cry or flee, a normal child would have, but she didn’t. Her eyes shone with resolve and fire. The Uzukage couldn’t have found a better candidate to become Konoha’s Jinchuriki, she belonged here, I realized.

Ayame looked at me straight in the eyes. “If Ma’am Mito could do it, then so should I. I won’t flee… even if things are going to be difficult for me, b-but… are you going to be with me? You will be helping me old man, right?”

I smiled, and tried to reassure her, “Ayame, I will help you, I promise you I won’t desert you. The village will…”

She wiped her eyes with her hands and then she narrowed them as she looked at me with reproach. “Old man, don’t insult me; I don’t believe in people like you do. I grew up on the streets and in an orphanage, I know how people can be. So…”

I flinched at the scowl and what she told me. *So she wasn’t just a clueless kid… I really need to know everything about her.*

Ayame looked at me defiantly. I waved in surrender, trying to mollify her. “I see, little Ayame. I will protect you, if you have any problems, come to me.”

The little ravenette smiled smugly at me. “I will keep you to your words old man. Anyway, where will I be staying?”

So young and already a bit of a manipulator, I chuckled bitterly. She was going to rule the academy if my feelings about her were right. “That my dear, you’ll have to come with me.” I stood up from my chair, walked around the desk and held my hand out to the little girl who took it without hesitation.

We walked in companionable silence to the door to exit the office. Ayame’s hand was trembling in mine, but she continued to walk straight. *She is so brave.*