Katrina's Rambles

Everyone paused, looking down at where Danzo was gasping for air. Then the former Hokage, now reinstated, looked at Kisuke.

“He shouldn’t have attempted to use a genjutsu on me,” Kisuke said easily, still holding Naruto in his arms. “It triggered off the seal.”

There was a shift in the group around them, as Kisuke’s smile sharpened. Sarutobi frowned. The twins had always been dangerous, but Kisuke had been the quieter of the pair. Where Minato was friendly and outgoing, Kisuke was willing to take a step back and let the attention fall on the other man. Enough so that even Sarutobi fell into the trap and forgot that the Namikaze twins were both geniuses and highly lethal. Kisuke simply didn’t leave enough survivors to pass on information about him.

“Seal?” he asked finally, aware of Danzo catching his breath but staying down and quiet. The man was an excellent ninja, after all.

“When Minato took over, we put together a seal that was based off the caged bird.” There was a pause as the blond considered. “Well, less based off of and more inspired by. The original is rather pathetic.”

Ah, that got a flicker of chakra that was there and gone again. Sarutobi knew he’d be hearing from the Hyuga later. But for now, he was listening to what the surviving Namikaze brother was saying.

Kisuke laughed, giving a little bounce to Naruto, who started making little baby sounds. They faded as the baby fell back asleep, but Kisuke didn’t stop smiling or looking at the group.

“It was a simple seal. We couldn’t control anyone, nor cause them pain. Not intentionally. But what happens is when someone attacks one of us, or Kushina, in an actual attempt to cause harm, the seal would trigger and backlash it on them.”

Pale eyes glittered. “We knew there were traitors in Konoha. We’ve seen it before. A bit of a test run to keep our people safe. A seal that would keep people from trying to kill each other in the village. We started off with a limited amount of protected people. Minato, Kushina, and me. Had to figure out the limits of what counted. And the seal itself did nothing if you did not try to hurt us.”

He shook his head. “Glorious piece of work. Contagious in a way that only an Uzumaki could figure out. And there were controls. Though there is a minor issue there. Two of the three controllers are dead. Which is not a good thing for anyone else.”

“Why not?” asked someone. Sarutobi thought it might have been the Uchiha head.

Kisuke tipped his head. “It’s an experimental seal. We made it so it attached to everyone inside our walls. Without one of us alive to keep it controlled, we might have an Uzushio incident on our hands.”

That made everyone who knew the truth go still. When Uzushio fell, it wasn’t because the invading armies that shattered the city past any repair. It was seals, held in control by various families, breaking free and causing utter devastation of those who lingered.

“There is no way Minato would let something like that happen to Konoha,” Jiraiya protested, voice still cracked and rough from everything he had been dealing with.

“And here I thought you knew Minato,” Kisuke snapped back, showing the first emotion beside maniacal glee since this conversation started. “One doesn’t get the kill count and reputation like his without being utterly ruthless to yourself and those around you. For the good of Konoha, he would put a seal on every body that came in here to make them incapable of attacking the people of Konoha.”

Then Kisuke calmed down again. “Minato also thought that he and his wife would be safe while she had their son. With the three of us, there was never any danger from the seal.”

“You need to give Jiraiya access to the seal,” Sarutobi said flatly. It was clear that Kisuke was rather unstable. Not that he expected much. He had a better understanding of Kisuke than most. The man reminded him so much of Orochimaru. The only reason he had for sharing this much detail was to weaponize it for his own safety.

“No,” Kisuke said cheerfully. “I am going to keep control of it until Minato and Kushina come back, and you can ask him for it. Right now, it’s the only thing keeping me safe from those who would wish to take me nephew away.”

Sarutobi hated being right at times. And he hated that Kisuke was not incorrect in being wary. There was going to be a war over Naruto, one that Kisuke was inconvenient for everyone else involved.

“The Fourth Hokage and the former jinchuriki are dead,” rasped Danzo, painfully levering himself up. “Do not do something you regret later, Namikaze.”

Kisuke’s smile was wide and amused, a strong sense of mockery in his eyes. “Ah, you of all people should know. When there is no body, you shouldn’t assume death.” He hummed. “I’m surprised none of you have asked where Ichigo is.”

He was correct. Since they had become a pair, it was unusual to see one without the other. “What…?” Sarutobi started, only for everyone to shudder as a wave of power rolled over them.

Kisuke was torn between being beyond delighted and being murderously furious. On the delighted side he was fairly certain he was an entire new place to explore and study, unique and different from most things he knew. Even if their main source of economy and social movement seems to be taken straight from the wettest dreams of the old Shihoin lore.

At least, he was pretty sure he was in a new place. He definitely had memories that were very much Not Here. Far more than he had of growing up an orphan with a twin brother. He likes that he even got a sibling out of the deal, as delightfully curious and subtly vicious as Kisuke could ever want. It was like if Yoruichi didn’t have an absolute aversion to blades and was just as manipulative as Kisuke himself was.

Kisuke would happily maim and murder for his adorable twin Minato, who seems as devoted to him.

The fact he has such a strong emotional attachment was something Kisuke wanted to rip from his soul and dissect to weaponize.

Minato seems to get that things have shifted as well. While the pair were both younger, and they were fiercely devoted to each other, both knew that something was… different.

They had chatted and his brother had been delightfully plotting ever since. Mostly on how to break reality with seals and figure out why things had changed and how to use it to his own ends. But neither of them wanted to stop being brothers. Kisuke couldn’t tell if that was because they had memories that were just as solid and real of growing up together as they had of when things had been Different, or if whatever caused it had bound them together.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

However, Kisuke was here with no Ichigo. So he was already plotting how to shatter reality himself to get his partner back. His smiles had a sharp edge that seemed to charm Orochimaru to no end, the man coming by to chat with Kisuke as often as Jiraiya came to interact with Minato.

Kisuke wished Yoruichi was here almost as much as he wanted Ichigo. She and Tsunade would either get along brilliantly or break the country in their attempts to ground the other into a bloody smear on the earth.

The most pressing issue was the lack of Ichigo. Even Minato was starting to get a wary look in his eyes when Kisuke was in his more violently cheerful moods. Someone always got hurt. Not Kisuke, of course. Or Minato. But someone.

Danzo was the last person. Kisuke rather thought that was just housekeeping than a problem. Besides, the man had brought it on himself. And nothing indicated it wasn’t natural causes.