With a deep sigh Yugao sat down on the seat of the ramen stall. She had only been to this place once before with her mother but that had been ages ago.
The young girl sat next to her not a moment later and ordered two miso ramens. A woman took the order and left to make the food.
Flicking her hair behind her ear the blond smiled gently towards Yugao as she felt a shiver run up her spine almost instinctively. Something was wrong here and she wasn't quite sure what it was.
"Miss Yugao, I'm Uzumaki Kazemi. I apologise for not introducing myself immediately. Please forgive me." Kazemi blinked innocently towards the older woman as the name 'Uzumaki' rang in her head like the academy school bells.
"Don't worry about it." Yugao didn't let any emotion slip onto her face. "Do refrain from breaking into ANBU headquarters in the future."
"Of course." The blond agreed easily as she placed money onto the table. "I think the food will be here soon."
As if timed the girl from earlier, who's name she would later find is Ayame, came out with two bowls of ramen and placed them onto the table. She then looked at the money that was placed on the table before smiling.
"Ah, Kazemi, you know you don't have to pay so quickly." She smiled towards the girl who chuckled.
"Oh I know but I like getting money problems out of the way so that I can properly enjoy my meal Miss Ayame." Kazemi remarked as she picked up her chopsticks. "I won't be ordering more anyway."
"That's big sis Ayame to you Kazemi." The girl groaned in disapproval. "There's no need to be so polite."
"Big sis Ayame." Kazemi gave in easily enough. "Thank you for the food." Ayame beamed before taking the money on the counter and left.
The conversation Kazemi wanted to have was quite private considering the topic but leading the ANBU to her old house just wasn't secure on top of being a tad suspicious and taking her to the Uzumaki estate was out of the question given the fact that Kazemi has yet to infer if Yugao is trustworthy or not. Also, Kazemi wanted ramen.
Casually placing down a silencing seal would look out of place to any unwanted eyes so Kazemi had placed the seal on the bottom of the money notes. Since it takes a couple seconds to activate it wouldn't be noticed immediately. The seal automatically blends in to the table so once the money is removed it wouldn't have been seen by anyone.
Since the privacy of the conversation has been dealt with it was time to start the discussion. "Do you like ramen Miss Yugao?" Kazemi inquired while snapping her chopsticks apart.
"Though I'm not awfully fond of it I do have it on occasion." The woman responded curtly. "And you?"
Perfect. "Oh, ramen is like a life line to me. One of my friends had joked that it must be ingrained into my blood to love it so much." It was Chouji, but Yugao didn't know him so she wouldn't mention it.
"Is that so?" It was more of a statement then a question.
"Indeed. I had to agree with them at the time to. Ramen is simply something I could not go without in this lifetime." Kazemi brought some ramen to her lips. "Do you think it is possible to love something so much that it's ingrained into your DNA?"
Yugao took in a deep breath as she picked up her chopsticks. "Maybe. I think that it would depend on the person."
"As do I Miss Yugao. I'm glad we share the same opinion." Kazemi eyed Yugao's still untouched ramen. "Though I suppose while we are on the topic, do you think that it could be ingrained into your DNA? To love something that much, that is."
There was a pause. "Kazemi, right? I think it would be best if I didn't answer that." Yugao replied wearily.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to brush up on a sensitive topic." Her smile didn't falter for even a second. "It is not my business what your family DNA is like, even if they were once part of my own."
Yugao didn't let anything show on her body that Kazemi's comment had effected her in anyway. "I suppose..." She trailed off, her eyes growing distant. "The children of Uzushio will find each other one way or another."
"Will you answer my questions Miss Yugao?" Kazemi presses the other woman who turns towards her.
Shaking her head at her the purple haired woman looked at her with hollow eyes. "Uzushio is long gone. A word of advice Kazemi, don't search further into this, it'll only bring you pain."
"You can say that because you have experience in the matter, do you not? It's hypocritical of you to say something like that."
Letting out a bitter laugh Yugao gets up. "I suppose you're right little Uzumaki. I'll tell you this much then, there's a shrine hidden within your compound, you may just find the answers you seek there."
Kazemi smiles as she watches the woman retreat back into the bustling street. "Thank you."
-----
Iruka walks them to a room filled with supplies. "We can't really provide assistance until the stage concludes but we can give you a room while you wait." He informs the kids as they nod.
"I have the necessary scrolls but I don't have a team to pass through with." Karin says while taking out a he scrolls from her bag at d showing them to Iruka.
"That's fine." He smiles gently towards her as Karin starts to relax without even knowing it. "As long as you have the scrolls it's all fine, if your teammates make it to the tower at a later date then they can enter as well."
"I see." The redhead nods at Iruka's explanation before turning to Sakura. "Let's go rest. Sasuke looks like he's about to pass out."
The boy in question glared at her before Sakura burst out laughing. He looked utterly betrayed. "I'm perfectly fine." Sasuke insists. "You can't even stand Sakura."
"Then I guess we all need some rest." Sakura smiles as Sai nodded.
"The exam has been completed, we can now recuperate."
"So that's that." The pink haired Kunoichi clasps her hands together. "By order of the most responsible person here I order everyone to have the best nap of their lives."
Iruka shakes his head but smiles fondly. He then looks to Karin, for some reason she looks extremely familiar, he just can't say from where...
-----
"The Sage is testing me." Kazemi groaned for what felt like the fifth time that hour.
It had been four days since Yugao had basically ghosted her and she's no closer to getting any new information that awful shrine. Kakashi got snatched by the Hokage to go to the Chunin exams so she can't ask him. Iruka-Sensei is busy doing...something. At this point she thinks Yugao was just messing with her, there wasn't anything here and she's been searching for ages.
With a great sigh Kazemi sat down on the comfy office chair and started swinging around on it. Lady Mito's office had the best chairs ever.
"What are you thinking about child?" A low male voice floated around the room.
Kazemi immediately fell out of the chair.
"Who the hell are you?!" She exclaimed while grabbing a Kunai.
The man chuckled while shaking his head. "An old friend. I mean you no harm..." There was a pause. "Yet."
They stared each other down as Kazemi took that moment to see what he looked like. The man had long black hair and pasty white skin. It looked as though he hadn't touched a drop of sunlight since birth. Only one person filled that description...
"Orochimaru." She ground out between grit teeth. "How in Sages name did you get in here?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "I merely matched the requirements necessary to enter the estate. Thankfully, Lady Mito never seemed to think of me as a threat." A blood thirsty grin split across his face. "Oh how wrong she was."
Kazemi narrowed her eyes. "What do you want?"
"The same as you I assume." He tapped his index finger against his cheek. "The Uzumaki shrine has something I want. Do you mind showing me the way?"
"You're out of luck their bastard, I don't know either." She deadpans with a hint of annoyance.
Orochimaru scanned her face to see if she was lying before letting out a sigh. "Ah." The man's eyes started wandering around the room. "Well I didn't expect you not to know. That certainly..." He frowns. "I suppose that the trip here was rather pointless."
"Then I guess you can leave." Kazemi smiles while gesturing to the door. "Bye then, I can't say it was a pleasure meeting you."
A smile bloomed across the missing-nin's face as a shiver ran down her spine. "Oh, I don't intend to leave just yet. You see my dear, the Uzumaki are an awfully intelligent bunch. I was reminded of this after seeing one of you in the forest of death."
Kazemi felt a sense of foreboding in her heart but her curiosity was peeked enough upon hearing of another Uzumaki that she didn't care. "I know what you're doing and it's working...go on."
"Where to begin..." The man tilts his head to the side in unnatural angle. "Oh! I know now." His eyes lit up in delight. "I absolutely adore the Uzumaki. Their longevity, sealing and culture, it's all wonderful."
"I don't want to hear you fan-girling about my clan." She drawls and clutches her kunai tighter.
Orochimaru chuckles before his chuckles blew into full on laughter. "Yes, I suppose you wouldn't." He wiped a tear form his eye. "I would love to take over an Uzumaki body but you lot have a tendency for leaving pieces of your soul behind in places they ought not to be in."
At that Kazemi perked up a little. "Leaving bits of the soul behind?" She questioned as the man smirked, pleased that he got her attention.
"Oh yes my dear, I once tried to enter Uzushio only to be bombarded by a group of Uzumaki's screaming at me to get out." Smiling slightly at the memory he looked towards Kazemi with a gentle expression. "I had never seen such hatred from people that weren't even their full selves. Though, I suppose that I was rather lucky, the soul fragments seemed to have been fighting someone without any mercy."
Biting her lip Kazemi had a question she knew she would hate the answer to. "I'm sure you're not saying this to be helpful. What exactly does this story mean for you?"
"Well I'm glad you asked!" Orochimaru grinned as Kazemi immediately felt like withdrawing her question. "My Jutsu allows me to switch bodies you see and while I may be fine physically it is quite a strain on my soul to do it so often. I would just love to find out how the Uzumaki keep their souls so strong since it is obvious that it doesn't come from their bodies."
"And you think the shrine holds the answers you want to make your soul stronger." Kazemi guesses. "Then it's just too bad that you won't be finding it."
"And that's were you're wrong my dear. I will find it and you will help me." He smirked. "Let's make a deal Uzumaki Kazemi. You will help me find the Uzumaki shrine and I will send you all the information I have on members of your clan."
"And how do I know that you'll keep your word? I have no insurance that you'll even keep your side of the deal." She questions, not dropping her guard for even a second.
"No, I suppose you don't,m so here's one more thing that you'd like to know." Orochimaru turned his head towards the door, as if expecting someone to barge through at any moment. "There are a group of ninja after Jinchuriki. They call themselves the Akatsuki and they are formed entirely of missing-nin, S-Rank to be exact. I know Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, Kakazu and a woman called Konan are all members. The leader is a man who calls himself Pein, though I have never seen him outside of holograms he appears to have a Rinnagan."
"You mean the legendary eye that the Sage of Six Paths is said to have?" Kazemi whispered, feeling completely done with her life.
Her memories take her back to the Wave mission. Gai-Sensei had said something about Kisame being their on the bridge and how he had mentioned Itachi. Gatō must've had his fingers in a lot of pies to be able to hire such a group.
She couldn't fight such a group. Gaining the power needed to fight them was simply beyond her right now. She's incredibly lucky they didn't fight her at the Wave. If she just had more time, if she just had more training...or if she just knew the right people, like her clansmen.
Kazemi's eyes shone with determination. "You have yourself a deal Snake." She extended her hand towards him.
Orochimaru took it as they shook hands. "A pleasure doing business with you child."
-----
AN: hope you enjoyed.
This chapter made me realise that doing the chunin exams on top of extra plot it actually the most scary thing ever. For that reason I wont write about the preliminary exams. They will be mentioned but not in detail.
Also, for anyone wondering how Orochimaru got into the Uzumaki estate I kinda touched upon it but didn't go into depth. He basically said that the seal was made before Mito had died so way before his fall from grace and seeing as though he is her granddaughters teammate they were bound to have met so he was probably allowed in on the condition that he didn't hold any intent to harm an Uzumaki that resides in the building. Which basically means Kazemi is safe so long as she stays in the compound.