The next morning, Sasuke and Seina found themselves in the kitchen first, already dressed.
"Good morning, Sasuke," she smiled. "How do you like your room?"
"It's fine."
"I'm making breakfast and bentos. If you want, we can show you the whole house afterward."
"Let the clones cook, nee-chan, and let's go show it to him."
Seina, who didn't usually use clones to cook but rather her magic, nodded. She left a couple of clones cooking and they went for a tour around the house. First, they showed him the vegetable gardens by the entrance wall, the garden surrounded by fruit trees, the back porch, and the pool.
"You have a pool," he said, surprised. "How much did all this cost?"
"We made it ourselves. We also fixed the garden, planted the trees, and made the vegetable gardens."
"And we just finished building the second floor since it wasn't completed."
"You did all this in less than a month?" he asked incredulously, but then seemed to understand. "Of course, the clones. But how did you know how to do it?"
"We had been planning to buy a house for a while and, due to our budget, we knew we'd have to do renovations," she shrugged since it was true. "So we've known for a long time how to do it and saved up for the materials."
They showed him the first-floor bathroom, living-dining room, the large pantry, and the small laundry room. Then they toured the second floor, showing him their rooms and studies. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the wall full of scrolls and the cauldron on the potion station, but said nothing. Finally, they showed him the other guest room, which he had likely seen already, and the armory.
"What do you think?" Naruto asked proudly.
Sasuke smiled faintly.
"It's fine."
"What!? What do you mean, 'it's fine'?" and they started arguing again.
Seina stifled a laugh. Coming from Sasuke, who sometimes answered questions with a "Hn" and was one of the most negative people she knew, "it's fine" was a high compliment. She deactivated her clones when she saw they were finished and only needed to plate the food. She accepted Sasuke's help in preparing the bentos while Naruto set the table with plates and glasses. They ate in silence and then quickly cleaned up.
"We should go, it's almost time," she said, looking at the wall clock.
"You'll see, we'll end up with another D-rank mission," Naruto complained again.
"Didn't you agree to talk to Kakashi-sensei?" she asked, bored of the topic.
"I'll remind him today."
"Hn. I don't think he'll listen to us."
"He'll have to listen, dattebayo!"
Seina rolled her eyes. As soon as they saw Kakashi-sensei, they noticed he seemed more cheerful than usual, euphoric even. Naruto, with his usual tact, couldn't hold back.
"What's up with you? You're acting like Sakura-chan!"
"Uh… who are you talking about?"
"A Sasuke fan. Hmm… now that I think about it, Naruto's right."
"For your information," he said, raising his nose in the air, mocking them, "yesterday the author of- a famous author signed a book for me."
"Are you talking about Jiraiya?" she asked, and the jonin stumbled slightly but recovered instantly.
"You don't miss a thing, Seina."
"Who is this Jiraiya?"
"He's the author of Kakashi-sensei's porn book."
The mentioned person blushed as the nearby people looked scandalized. Seina, who had done it on purpose, pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. Naruto wasn't as compassionate. Even Sasuke seemed to smile next to her, turning his face away to hide his shoulders shaking with laughter.
"Kids these days!" Kakashi-sensei excused himself with a fake laugh, grabbing her by the shoulders and walking faster. Then he whispered in a loud tone, "You don't say those things in public!"
"Okay. I won't talk about your porn book around other people," she rolled her eyes, and Kakashi-sensei groaned in frustration hearing her mention it again. "Do you really read it or just pretend to?"
Kakashi-sensei looked at her, then glanced at Naruto and Sasuke behind them, laughing in the distance. He seemed to debate intensely whether to lie or not but, as had started to happen, decided on the truth instead of a deflective answer. Maybe because he knew she didn't believe half the nonsense he said to mislead others.
"Many times I use it as a shield, it's true."
"Why? So people don't approach and talk to you?"
"With the book in hand, only determined people approach me," Kakashi-sensei shrugged, and a comfortable silence fell.
Seina walked beside her sensei, grateful to have Kakashi-sensei as their jonin team leader. She didn't know if it was thanks to him or all of them, but the team's harmony was a relief. She knew, since Iruka-sensei had told Naruto, that they were surprised Kakashi-sensei had accepted them. Apparently, they were his first genin team among countless failures.
"Kakashi-sensei…"
"Yes?"
"I'm glad you're our jonin-sensei," she confessed.
Kakashi-sensei slowed his pace and, as he was about to look at her face, she caught the end of a slightly moved expression before he smiled.
"Will you ever stop surprising me?"
"Surprising you with what?" she asked, not understanding why some things seemed so strange to him.
Had she behaved so differently with him compared to others? All she had done was comfort him when he was on the verge of collapse and tell him that she appreciated him. She felt sad realizing that maybe no one had comforted him in a long time. While she thought about all this, the jonin shook his head and ruffled her hair as best he could, considering that this time it was tied up in a careless bun.
"Kakashi-sensei, you know that if you need us, we're here for you, right?" she said seriously.
"And you? Do you know that I'm here for you?" her teacher asked, and she was surprised. "Sometimes you seem to try to carry everything alone. I hope someday you trust me more because I assure you I won't betray you. Until then, I'm going to earn your trust, Seina."
They entered the mission department right after. Meanwhile, she tried to regain her usual calm after hearing Kakashi-sensei's words. He had spoken to her differently. It wasn't Kakashi-sensei talking to his genin; it was Kakashi Hatake talking to Seina Uzumaki. She knew it was impossible for him not to notice how different she sometimes was from Naruto, simply due to her mental age. She hadn't hidden her quirks since it was exhausting and painful to pretend to be someone else, an ordinary 11-year-old girl. However, Kakashi-sensei, Kakashi, wanted to earn her trust without exposing her first, despite knowing she was different. Never before, not even in her previous life, had anything like this happened to her.
When she had a secret to hide, Hermione and Ron were there to ask her and extract the information. Sometimes that had put her in a very bad mood because no one respected her privacy. And yes, it had saved her life a couple of times, but it had also dehumanized her throughout her adolescence because everyone had a piece of her, taken against her will, except her. In her adulthood, she got used to keeping her secrets, even information that didn't need to be secret, because she felt she had to compensate for that feeling of not being in control of herself she had felt as a child. The only reason she didn't end up alone and pushed all her loved ones away when she went through that phase was realizing, with horror, that she was behaving like Dumbledore. That helped her correct her behavior until she became a normal and functional person. That, and therapy.
Now, Kakashi-sensei had broken her defenses like nothing. As if he weren't the first person to want her trust without expecting anything in return. Damn Kakashi-sensei. Naruto discreetly touched her arm, noticing her turbulent emotions, and she calmed down. She realized they were in front of the chunin on duty and that Kakashi-sensei was accepting a mission of which she hadn't heard a single word.
"It's another D-rank mission. We have to do the shopping for all the grandmothers in a building."
Seina nodded and stopped thinking about what had just happened. She would have time that night, in her bed, to meditate on the memory while working on her mental barriers.
"Well, team 7. We have several shopping errands to run," said Kakashi-sensei, taking the wad of money and the list from each grandmother. "We might need to visit several stores to buy at the lowest price."
Sasuke turned to look at her, Naruto smiled widely, and Kakashi-sensei shrugged with a sigh.
"Seven more."
"Done," Sasuke didn't even try to haggle.
"Kage bunshin no jutsu," ten clones of hers appeared, and she proceeded to give them half the lists and the money. "You know what to do. Find me when you're done."
The other 10 clones of Naruto ran off behind them. Kakashi-sensei, instead of pulling out his book and accompanying them to some place to do nothing in the meantime, closed the book abruptly and stood up straight.
"Alright. Since we have a lot of downtime, let's go train. See you there," and he disappeared.
Seina used the shunshin without thinking, followed by her brother and Sasuke.
"Okay, okay. Today we'll practice kenjutsu. We'll add a couple of kilos to your weights on your arms and legs. Kage bunshin no jutsu. Perfect," said Kakashi-sensei, seeing the pair of clones. "Each of you will fight me using your new weapon. When the clones finish shopping, we'll complete the mission and take a break to eat. Any questions?"
"When can we practice the new ninjutsus?" asked Sasuke.
"Tomorrow we'll practice ninjutsu and taijutsu. By the way, Seina, the hospital has agreed to teach you some iryo ninjutsus. You'll need to go there this afternoon. They've confirmed that they can give you classes for a couple of hours two days a week, if that works for you and they accept you."
"Really?" she said, almost having forgotten. The jonin nodded.
"How are you doing with genjutsu?" asked Kakashi-sensei, looking at Naruto and then Sasuke.
"I've managed to learn the genjutsus that Seina taught me," affirmed Sasuke.
"I haven't yet," Naruto frowned.
"No problem. We have time. Well, let's start training."
The next hour flew by. She made several clones and attacked her sensei with sticks and the wakizashi, knowing she wasn't going to be able to do much damage. Kakashi-sensei, contrary to what she had expected, pushed her to the limit. Making her jump, roll, feint, duck, dodge. Again. Each blow weighed more and more, and she realized that the new weight on her arms and legs was taking its toll. Fortunately, every time one of her clones exploded, she learned a little more. She adjusted her stance a bit, gripped the handle of her weapon tighter when needed, minimized her movements when falling to conserve energy...
"Stop," said Kakashi-sensei, and everyone halted.
Seina was breathing deeply, almost panting from exhaustion, and saw that she wasn't the only one. She deactivated the clones and lay down on the grass, exhausted. The jonin made them drink water and eat some cereal bars which, by the way, were disgusting. She mentally noted, as she ate it, that she would cook some that tasted better than the ones on the market.
"Look, there are your clones," informed Sasuke, pointing into the distance.
Seina didn't even lift her head from the ground. When she had the clones by her side, she made them put the bags on the ground and hand the change to Kakashi-sensei before disappearing.
"The cucumber is on sale," she informed them, retrieving that bit of information from her clone.
Kakashi-sensei chuckled. He let them rest for a while, and Sasuke wrote the report, and then he made them get up to finish the mission. It took them half an hour to give the bags to their owners and collect the mission reward.
"I think from now on, we'll use this time to train," commented the jonin. "After all, if your clones do the work, we'll have plenty of time to do other things. How about we go eat ramen?"
"Yatta!" exclaimed Naruto, suddenly more animated.
And that how they ended up eating ramen instead of the bentos they had prepared. When she thought about it, she realized that Kakashi-sensei almost never ate with them unless they went to a restaurant. She wondered if it was really for security reasons, which didn't seem likely, or because he didn't have bentos like they did.
"Kakashi-sensei. Why don't you ever bring a bento for yourself like we do?" she asked, with the background noise of noodles being slurped.
Naruto and Sasuke looked at him, surprised and clearly curious. They had been trying to see the jonin's face since day one but, to their misfortune, Kakashi-sensei was too fast to uncover his face. It was to be expected from an elite ninja. Seina hadn't even joined her brother and Sasuke in their game. For one, she knew how irritating and obnoxious it was when people didn't respect your privacy and, secondly, it was clear that she wouldn't see her teacher's face unless he wanted her to.
"Ah… The truth is, I'm the kind of person incapable of cooking a single dish."
Naruto mocked him while Sasuke narrowed his eyes in his direction, not believing him. Seina didn't know whether to trust his response, to be honest. Then she realized that maybe he didn't mean incapable because he was a lousy cook, but incapable for another reason. Maybe cooking brought back bad memories, or it reminded him that no one had cooked for him for years since his father had committed suicide, or some other trauma he had, which didn't seem to be few. She didn't press the issue, but made a mental note to prepare an extra bento from that day on.
Naruto, who had been perceiving her thoughts due to not closing the bond out of exhaustion, frowned. Sometimes Naruto behaved like the kid he was: disrespectful, tactless, eager to prove his worth... She knew that much of the maturity he normally showed was due to the connection they shared since, when she meditated on something and realized things that escaped her brother's young understanding, Naruto would learn something new all at once. He would realize the reasons behind many things thanks to her understanding and, remorseful, promised himself not to mess up again.
She saw him slurp the noodles much more slowly, in a silence that did not go unnoticed by Sasuke or Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke looked at him confused by his radical change in attitude, but the jonin knew immediately what had happened and looked at her. Seina shrugged, eating her soy ramen. Kakashi-sensei stretched his arm over her head, and Sasuke's next to her, and ruffled Naruto's hair, who was sitting at the other end to make room for his more than 5 empty ramen bowls, and counting.
"Not all ninjas know how to cook, birdbrain."
Naruto smiled, accepting the implicit apology, and straightened in his seat. After eating, Kakashi-sensei continued talking to them about military strategy and team formations. When it was time for her to go to the hospital for those 2 hours of class, Kakashi-sensei accompanied her to the crossroads leading to the hospital.
"Naruto will learn," he assured her, without reproaching her for anything.
"I know. I didn't say anything, he just perceived my thoughts," she replied and saw him raise an eyebrow in question. "Sometimes people hide what they really want to say by saying part of the truth."
Kakashi-sensei understood that she didn't believe him when he said he couldn't cook a single dish. He looked at the sky, as if gathering strength to talk about it, but Seina spared him from having to answer and put himself in an emotional bind.
"See you tomorrow, sensei."
"...See you tomorrow, Seina," the jonin finally said, watching her walk away, standing in the middle of the street.
The 2 hours at the hospital flew by. First, she had to demonstrate that her chakra control was good, passing a couple of tests that she did without much trouble. Then, they taught her her first medical ninjutsu. A kind of medical orb that she could direct over wounds, healing them as it passed.
"It works for superficial and intermediate wounds. With this jutsu, you won't be able to heal severe wounds or internal bleeding. For severe cases, you'll need another jutsu, which we'll teach you later, and in life-or-death cases, a team of at least 3 or 4 medics is necessary," Mina-senpai explained to her.
"Is there a jutsu to extract poison?" she asked, which was what concerned her the most.
"There is. Before I teach you that, I'd like you to learn about anatomy, physiology, and cytology."
Seina raised an eyebrow and took the stack of books the medic handed her. She glanced through the books and saw that it wasn't too much. One of her granddaughters had been a surgeon, so it wasn't the first time she had heard about cells or something similar. In fact, she had studied quite a bit of science to graduate remotely from her muggle studies, after much insistence from Hermione. She had even attended university to study psychology and criminology, fields that were very useful in her work as an Auror.
"I'd like you to start reading the cytology book first," she instructed. "Next week, on Tuesday, I'll ask you questions about the text. I expect you to give your best effort. If you impress me, I'll consider teaching you for 2 hours every day, instead of a couple of days a week. But only if you impress me! Is that clear?"
"Hai!"
She planned to impress them so much their jaws would drop. She left having learned her first medical jutsu and with three books of over 300 pages each. She wasn't worried, despite everything. She had studied much more in much less time for her final exams at the muggle university, and there she didn't even have her shadow clones. As soon as she got home, she saw that no one was there yet, so she left a clone making dinner, took a shower, and started studying. She duplicated the cytology book 20 times and summoned 20 clones. She wouldn't stop until she had memorized and understood every concept.
Hours later, Naruto walked through the door followed by Sasuke. They looked more tired than she did. As soon as they saw her, they raised a hand, breathless, and collapsed on the sofa.
"You look like you've been running a marathon," she commented, raising an eyebrow above the book.
"Kakashi-sensei made us run a few laps around Konoha."
"Why?" she asked, surprised. "What did you do?"
"Naruto, the dobe. He kept complaining about the C-rank mission," Sasuke grumbled with an annoyed expression. "What did you do at the hospital?"
"They taught me a medical jutsu for superficial and intermediate wounds. Next week, they'll test me on theoretical knowledge."
"Pff... Better you than me, nee-chan."
She rolled her eyes and continued reading. The clone indicated that dinner was ready and vanished in a cloud of smoke. Naruto and Sasuke went to shower, and she kept reading.
"Kakashi-sensei heard Naruto talking about my situation," Sasuke informed her minutes later, appearing in his pajamas with wet hair. "I think he suspects I don't live there."
"It doesn't matter," she shrugged. "Kakashi-sensei isn't going to force you to go back, even if he knows the truth. And even if the council asks for explanations and you have to tell them you've moved, it won't change anything."
"Are you sure?" Sasuke asked, and she nodded. "Okay."
"Besides, sooner or later, it was obvious that Kakashi-sensei would find out."
"Find out that you have special powers?" Sasuke said nonchalantly and started setting the table with placemats and glasses. She raised an eyebrow. "It's not like you've been trying to hide it from us. So far, I haven't seen you put anything in your pouch, but I've seen you pull out a bento the size of a backpack, a thermos full of water that you've never refilled in my presence, a diary, several pieces of parchment, pens, a medical kit... Do you want me to go on?"
She couldn't help but laugh at his observation. From that point of view, it was obvious that her pouch wasn't very normal. Sasuke smiled that arrogant smirk that drove some of his fans crazy and served the plates.
"What do you want for one of those?"
"You want a pouch like ours?" she asked with a smile. "It'll cost you making breakfast tomorrow."
"Deal."
Seina gathered her things and sent her clones to study in her room. While eating dinner, listening to Naruto's stories with occasional comments from Sasuke, she promised them that she would teach them the medical ninjutsu the next day. Thinking about the pouch and kunai holster she was going to make for Sasuke as a welcome home gift reminded her of Kakashi-sensei. Without a doubt, the pouch and holster would be very useful for any ninja, but if she gave it to him like she did for Sasuke, she would probably have to explain how she made it. It might even reach the ears of the Hokage.
The same was true for the potions and ointments. She had potions that were ten times more effective than the pills for recovering energy or blood, and without most of the side effects. However, if she started distributing them, people would wonder where she had acquired such knowledge. What was she supposed to say? That she had created them out of thin air? That's why she was so interested in learning at the hospital. Once she demonstrated a good theoretical level, and if she showed interest in studying poisons and antidotes, no one would be surprised if she started creating her own medicines. No matter how impressive their efficacy was. But, for that, she needed to be accepted at the hospital as an apprentice.
Most potions, however, could be produced by any ninja, but the runes required magic to be activated. Naruto could use some sequences without her help. Other, more complex ones, she activated herself initially. Then they were maintained by the ambient chakra, which in this world substituted for magic as natural energy, even though it wasn't exactly the same. That meant no one could use the runes without her activating them, no matter how well they knew how to draw them.
"Sooner or later they'll figure out you have a kekkei genkai that Naruto doesn't have," Kurama spoke up, making her jump. "So far they've overlooked you thanks to your orange clown of a brother, but you've heard the emo. An eleven-year-old has figured you out in less than a month."
"That's because I don't want to hide all my life. If I had wanted to, he wouldn't have caught on because I would have used spells to confuse him," she reminded him.
"So, what are you waiting for to tell your teacher you have a kekkei genkai?"
"To be stronger. Kakashi-sensei can protect me to a certain extent, but he isn't the leader of this village, and I don't know if I trust the Hokage. Look how he's left Sasuke to fend for himself in the Uchiha compound after everything that happened there, instead of standing up to his advisors. Or how he let the whole village know that we are your jinchuriki, putting us in danger... It seems the Hokage always chooses the option that avoids the most confrontations possible, but sometimes that's at the cost of the people he should be protecting."
"Clearly his power is waning or someone is intervening from the shadows. Maybe both. Remember he retired years ago, passing the baton to your father. He shouldn't be in command anymore. He's too old to handle the real problems of a ninja village."
"I know. Do you understand why I can't risk revealing certain things yet? Sasuke is different; he's a genin and doesn't answer to the Hokage like Kakashi-sensei does. Besides, I know he wouldn't betray me after what I did for him." And there was the crux of the matter. Kakashi-sensei was under the Hokage's command. No matter how much he might not want to betray her, he might be forced to.
"You think Kakashi could betray you if he has no choice."
"Exactly. However, I've learned some things in my 131 years of life, you know?" she thought with a mischievous undertone she couldn't help. "I don't have to tell him directly. I can let him figure it out on his own. If he doesn't have solid proof, even if he knows the truth, he won't be obligated to report me until the Hokage asks him directly about me."
"And you think Kakashi wouldn't go to the Hokage with his suspicions?"
"I do. In fact, I think he's realized what I just told you. That's why he doesn't ask me so that I don't have to lie or tell him the truth. He was the one who said he would earn my trust. I don't think he's talking about letting him read my diary. He only told the Hokage about the fake Madara Uchiha because Naruto and I might be in danger, as well as the whole village. As soon as I told him, I knew the Hokage would find out because withholding that information would have been treason, and dangerous."
"Mmm... Maybe you're right. From what I've seen of him, I can say he's not just any ninja."
Seina sighed and hoped Kurama was right. Otherwise, she didn't know how things might unfold.