[Chapter 41: Traveling Back]

"I— I give! I give!" Choji yelled in panic as a giant fireball was shot straight at him. His expanded body was all tied up, no way to escape the iron wires I had wrapped him around. I smiled— all according to keikaku.

In an instant, the ball of flame disappeared, it's light no longer illuminating the floor. Where he laid, the boy was dumbstruck.

'Where's the fire?' I could practically hear him say based on his expression. Behind my hand, I giggled, walking up to him. "Genjutsu~!" I chortled with a smile, my eyes wrinkling with delight.

In the shady battle, the arena was us, just at the end of our fight. The final phase was, as expected, was just like the one we had before. Well, besides the whole invasion part.

"Choji Akimichi has forfeited!" The present protractor announced loudly to the audience. "Megumi Uchiha will move on to the next round."

Releasing the Akimichi from his confines, I helped him up as he complained with a pout. "Mah... you didn't have to go that far." He commented, bruises and ash marks littering his now original-sized body.

I laughed it off. "Sorry, I'll give you a bag of chips later, okay?" He brightened up at that.

Walking up to the staircase, I launched myself at Hiro, who promptly moved away. "Uwah!" Stabling myself before I could fall like a graceful bird, I turned my head at the dark-haired Hyuuga, puffed cheeks and all. "What the hell— let me hug you~!" I whined.

He just gave me a deadpan. "Maybe in the next life, Princess." I snorted, was that supposed to be a joke?

Standing next to him, I leaned against the rails, watching as the next fight began, the one with Tenten and Kiba. "Who'd you think will win?" Out of curiosity, I asked that question him.

Hiro shrugged, watching along with me. "I don't know. Never really bothered to know Tenten's skills."

I giggled. "You don't care about anyone's skills besides your own." The shinobi darted his head with an offended look but bit down a counter. I smiled at that, look at him, the tsun tsun can't say anything~ Glancing away, I hummed in content. You know, just being here with Hiro, doing nothing, acting like naive little teenagers— it felt

I blinked. Why'd I think of that? My head was tilted in puzzlement, though it was one I welcomed. No matter what we did, we always have to remember what we know. No matter if we hate it, unfortunately.

Eyeing the Hyuuga next to me, show as spectating the fight intently, I resisted the urge to sigh. But... it's okay to at least like we know nothing once in a while, right?

"You know... sometimes I feel like the author rushed this mini-arc."

"What."

"What?"

In front of me, both Sakura and Hiro sighed. We were at the Kusagakure gates one last time, along with team 8, as we waited for Kakashi to appear. So, you know, we could leave.

Also, Lee won the tournament. Who would've guessed? But then again, team Gai participated in the last chunin exams so Neji already became a chunin.

Anyways, I giggled, already forgetting what we were talking about. "But really, aren't ya gonna miss this place?"

Hiro scoffed, a hand on his hip. "We were here for literally a month."

"Look, if someone can choose a waifu in a second, you can definitely miss something like this." I countered back, a smile present on my face.

"Eh, I don't really like this place." Kiba piped in, stepping next to us with his dog in tow, who was bigger than the last time I saw him. "It has way less sunshine! Right, Akamaru?" His faithful partner barked in what seems to be agreement.

"Is that so?" Shino popped into view, his hands shoved in his jacket pockets. "I quite like this place. Because my bugs can relax more."

The Hyuuga rolled his eyes at the bug boy. "Not everyone has bugs, Shino." He just stayed silent.

Laughing it off as flashbacks flew over my head, oh god not the bug pamphlets, I turned to my dear Hyuuga. "But no memories made? Not even when you destroyed your foe at the preliminaries?"

He furrowed his brows at me, crossing his arms. "No."

I laughed, inching closer, causing him to reel back at the motion. "Really?" My hands clapped together with mischief bubbling in my chest. "Are you just sad that Sakura and I kept on stealing the spotlight?"

"Hu— huh?!" His voice cracked, eyes twitching with the tips of his ears tinting pink. "Why would I?!"

I giggled. "Oh come on— admit it!"

"You...!"

A sound of a loud click was heard.

I blinked. Hiro did the same. Craning our heads in the same direction. In front of us was Hinata, lowering the camera, that was Hiro's, to show a bashful smile. Sakura stood next to her as well, holding in a laugh. Eh?

Zoning back in, I puffed out my cheeks. "Hinata-tan~" I whined, not at all mind it actually. "If you wanted a picture you could've just asked~!" Not that I cared.

The Hyuuga girl only laughed, thumbing the ends of the camera straps with one hand and fanning the newly developed film with the other. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself." Came her bashful excuse.

"Well, can I at least look at it?"

"Yeah, yeah— later." With a swipe of his arms, her twin took back the film and camera, frowning at her. With a frown, now that he was composed, he shot his head back at me. "But seriously, Princess, I don't care about this village."

I just shrugged with a bounce in my steps. "I know— just wanted to see your adorable tsun tsun side out!"

"Seriously?" He asked with a deadpan, but he shrugged it off. Ah, the things I do for him.

Oh! I sensed a familiar presence. He's finally here! "Ah, sorry, I was on the path of life again." The special dum dum!

Spinning around, I watched Kurenai walk up to the silver-head with a firm frown. "I wonder what the point is in making a timely appointment if you're always going to show up late."

Kakashi sheepishly, or not, laughed with a hand behind his back. Haha, he's not gonna stop. "Mah, mah, it's not like anyone was going to die."

"Well, technically—"

"Moving on," The jonin cut the person off, with a slouched figure and hand in his pockets, he started to walk out of the gates. "Let's get a move on."

We didn't bother to complain, separating off into our little teams. As we followed in tow, why didn't we do this when we first traveled here, I thought back at the times here. As I thought, Karin wasn't here. And while I'm grateful, I'm kinda sad I couldn't see her again. Oh well— there's always shippudden!

I never noticed Hiro's expression as he stared at the photo, that had now been fully developed.

"Haah..." Launching myself face-first onto my twin mattress, I flopped like a dead fish against my forgotten pillow. I'm finally home... Curling up in my sheets, I'd have to air them out later, I let out a satisfying sigh. Who would've thought, me feeling so comfortable in a place to call home? It's really nice, actually. A hum rumbled out from my throat, unintentional but welcoming as I inhaled, taking in the silence and peace.

Well, until something smacked into my window. "Guah..." Sitting up from my bed, noooo, I narrowed my eyes at the closed window, who the fuck— oh it's Kaji. Jumping off, I rubbed my eyes as I slid the window open, the crow on the other side flying in.

Shutting it back, I turned my head at the bird who made himself comfortable. "Itachi has terrible timing," I muttered to myself, walking to my desk drawer to grab the bird food, throwing one at it. "So let's see... did I ever tell you how I almost burnt Sakura's socks?"

Sparing some details, I told it all about what happened when I was at Kusagakure. Although it was a bird, it was surprisingly nice to just talk to it, that I found out years ago. Maybe it was because I was basically all by myself but I felt myself relax when I just rambled on.

"Hey," I looked up at the crow that sat contently on my head. "Do you think Itachi knows when they'll announce the results?" I asked it, who only chirped in confusion. "But then again, he's a prodigy: he might've got a rank up immediately."

I shrugged my thoughts off. Now that I think about it, it'll probably take a month...

ꉺꉺ

Which only felt like a second! What the— I was literally in my room how did I get here?! Huh, huh?! What the

Anyways, here I was, being handed a chunin vest in the Hokage's office. Along with the rest of the Konoha 12 (except for Neji and Shikamaru) "Congratulations," Tsunade in her desk announced with a smile. "As of today, you stand as a chunin!"

"Kya~!" I squealed, grabbing both Sakura and Hinata in a hug. "We did it!" Fucking finally!

I was immediately met with a harsh bonk on the head.

"Stand still! We're still in the presence of the Hokage!" Sakura lectured, a balled-up fist up with a furious expression plastered on her face. In a swift shift of personality, she bowed down to her teacher. "I'm so sorry, Shiso!"

I just giggled out the pain, sitting right back up with a hand rubbing my head. Owwww... "Aah, Megumi-chan! Are you ok?!" The always adorable Hyuuga stammered.

"If for you, I'd always be healthy as a fruit!" Came my immediate response, holding a hand out to her with one knee down. I winced as I did so, but the pain was numbing down. Quickly too. Did Sakura use a medical chakra on me? Standing up and dusting myself off, I turned to the rest of the new chunins. That's nice, guess that means I won't lose my nonexistent brain cells.

Chatting amongst each other, there were all smiles on their faces. Heck, even the people that helped organize the exams seemed to be in a good mood. And yet—

Wait... Blinking with my eyes looking around, I couldn't help but frown. That all-familiar silhouette was nowhere to be seen. Shiori's not here. That's weird, I thought to myself. Idly, my attention darted down as I leaned against the wall. Shiori's one of Tsunade's assistants, so shouldn't they be here?

My eyes narrowed. I just hope he isn't doing anything shady...

I thought that was it. I really did. Because even if Shiori wasn't there, I knew that basically had nothing to do with me.

So imagine my surprise when I found myself followed later that night.

Walking along the cemented paths at a lax pace, I refrained from darting my eyes around. The fact that I can just barely pick their chakra signatures up means two things: they're a die-hard fanboy that never got over me or...

Or they're someone dangerous.

I kept on walking. I had to. I didn't know who they were and I didn't want to cause attention in a place that's filled with innocents. What should I do? Should I ignore them? Or call them out? Maybe I could... I kept my huff to myself, painfully and slowly making myself to my destination.

Which happened to be the KIA Stone. The sun had begun to set at this point, the gentle gusts of wind blowing against my bangs. I planted my feet down, kneeling as I clapped my hands together. Bowing my head, I prayed to it, a playoff to get them located. The chakra source stood still.

And that was the time to strike.

Pushing the chakra in my veins, I charged my body to behind my stalker, the wires I had planted as I bowed wrapping around my perpetrator into a bind as I held a kunai against their throat. "What are your intentions?" I muttered out, eyes narrowed.

"Oh my, attacking an old man, now are we?" My breath hitched. You— I tensed, yet all I felt was panic. I knew that voice. No, calm down! I yelled at myself. You can't let him know!

"Who are you." I rephrased, praying that he couldn't hear my heartbeat. Please, please, please—! "Why were you following me? Do you know how suspicious that is?"

"I'm impressed." He shot back instead. Glancing up at me with only one eye. One stupid eye— when I knew what was behind those bandages. "For you to sense me... yes, that potential."

With furrowed brows, I tighten my hold of the man. Oh god— why is here?! But it was no use: the adult broke out of it easily. Too easily. Stepping back, I held my kunai in front of me. Should I run? No, that only causes suspicion. He should believe that I was blind to the coup.

"My name is Shimura Danzo," His voice, god how much I just loathed it. "A Konoha council member."

In an act, I blinked. And then to further convince him, I immediately backed off, weapon long forgotten as I bobbed my head with hands up. "Sorry, Shimura-san! I didn't know!" I exclaimed in a rush, too informal to keep up with my facade. I fucked up, I fucked up, I

A chuckle came out of him as if he was amused. "Just this once: I'll forgive your mistake." I resisted the urge to sigh in relief. "Raise: I am here for a proposal."

Glancing up (no, I did not tremble. I dared not to), I had to crane up my head up high to meet his eye. "A proposal?" That question was genuine. What does he mean by that?

"Yes," Stepping forward, I had to control my dying mind as he looked down at me as if staring at an item he was inching to get. "You have the potential to rise."

Come on— act! Tilting my head to allude confusion even though I knew an inkling of what he was suggesting, I forced myself to speak. "Whatever do you mean?"

"To ANBU," My eyes widened, though there was no shock in them but fear. He doesn't mean— "There is a special subsidiary, one that I operate, called ROOT. And you," Despite my discomfort, he grabbed my side bang and twirled it. Get your hands off of me you bastard— "I need."

I tried to keep myself calm. I tried. I tried and tried and tried. I let out a shaky laugh, stepping away with a smile. Just smile— everything's ok if you just smile! "Eh? Anbu? But I just got promoted to chunin! Aren't we going too fast?" I reasoned with a small giggle, hands behind my back.

"And under my care, you can progress much faster." I bit down a curse. Of course, he has a counter for that. "You'll be able to get more power than you can think of. More than the people you are with now."

I spun the balls of my feet, replicating my normal moods with terrifying ease. "But~ what about Shi-Shi? I have to ask them, I think!"

"Shiori Senju-Uzumaki does not need to know." My footing stopped at that new information. Senju... Due to my sudden thought, I almost flinched when I saw this wrinkly bastard-eye-stealer patted a hand— one that was completely different from the one he hid— onto my bare shoulders. "For the village's sake—" Don't you bring your disgusting excuse of dictatorship in this! "—won't you accept my offer."

My heart pounded so loud in my ears, the air suddenly a million degrees colder. I have to refuse— I need to! I can't fall for this, I— I can't be manipulated by him. All he wants is the Sharingan, and once he finds out I have the mangekyou, it's over! No— I can't— I can't let that—

Ah. But, for some reason, another side popped into my mind. Isn't this the perfect opportunity? The opportunity to wipe out another problem? You can infiltrate and wreck it from the inside? Isn't the risk worth it?

My eyes widened, the thoughts conflicted with each other: one screaming, one scheming. I don't know, is it worth it? It'll help Sasuke and Itachi! I could be close to Danzo and trick him! But—

How would I face the consequences if I up?

With a hesitance in my voice, I had to choke out a response. "I..."

I didn't finish. I couldn't. Not when an arm pushed me back.

Almost tripping on my footing, the facade cracking under the sudden movement, my eyes frantically darted up to who interrupted us. My breath hitched. In front of me, a familiar pink-headed adult held an arm up, blocking out Danzo. "Shi-Shi...?"

"Shiori Senju-Uzumaki," Danzo's eyes furrowed slightly, most likely displeased by the course of events. "What are the likes of you doing here?"

"What are you doing with my student." His fingers wrote out in my sight. I couldn't see his face, not in my position, but for some reason— I could feel the utter distaste radiating off of him. This is... the first time I've seen him react so emotionally.

The taller adult huffed. "We were having a pleasant conversation, that is all." If it weren't for my memories, I would've thought he was actually being nice. I stayed silent, they must have history with each other. Why though?

"Then you're done." Shiori turned to me. Oh shit. I blinked at his expression. Compared to the usual deadpan he gave me, this was much more... more harsh. "Let's go, we have the training to do."

"Hold on." I didn't object when the Uzumaki grabbed my wrist. But then he stopped— had to, especially when someone as powerful as the bastard before us gave the order. Danzo held a revoltingly professional face when talking to us. "Uchiha Princess," My title felt so disgusting coming off from his tongue. "I do wish you would think of my proposal."

Shiori body-flickered us out of there before I could respond. Well, not that I wanted to.

It only took us a few seconds but, it was enough for me to fall against the floors of Shiori's office. "Holy—" I exhaled a breath I didn't even know I was holding. And then I inhaled as if I was a newborn child. "Thank you— so much, Shi-Shi!" I choked out with raspy breaths.

Looking down on me, my teacher rose a brow, his face like his usual blank one now. "You know what type of person he is?"

"Unfortunately," Standing up, how did I get so tired so fast, I smiled at him, a hand over my chest. "I'm glad you came: I don't know what would've happened if you didn't." I can't believe I considered accepting, even if for a reason like that. Not only would that plan have a low chance of succeeding, but it would also raise suspicion if I just disappeared— which isn't what I want.

The man scoffed, glancing away with crossed arms. "Don't go near him then." They signed fluidly. "I'll deal with him later."

Well, doesn't that would oddly ominous? "Wasn't planning to~" Clapping my hands together, I don't want to think of him now, I skipped towards him. "Look! Look!" With narrowed red eyes, he focused his attention at what I was pointing at, which was the chunin vest that I wore. "I'm a chunin now! Aren't you proud of me?!"

He didn't look amused. "I was there when they picked out the candidates. I would already know if this."

I giggled, the smile on my face getting wider and I spun around him. "Just wanted you to see~!" Skidding to a halt in front of them, I held my hands behind my back. "Well, I guess I should be going by now." With the balls of my feet turning, it was now my back that faced the older one. "Thanks for everything!"

I had to stop at the grab of my wrist. Craning my neck, I couldn't help but be confused. "Shi-Shi...?"