Tender Sea

Chapter 28

"Have I changed too much?" Miyu carefully cleaned her sword, using the time to chat with her partner. The house itself was quiet; she had almost forgotten how lonely a home with no one in it was.

''What defines too much?'' The fox asked, glaring at the metal blade. He greatly disliked the self-proclaimed Masamune, even if its spirit had only appeared on their first meeting.

"I wonder." She had a lot of things to consider. For one, Konoha was flourishing with Minato as Hokage, especially with him actively working to repair the broken relationships they had with other villages. It was considered one of the safest, most secure hidden village, most likely because of their overwhelming strength, having come out on top during the last war. But would this deter her enemies? Could she protect Sasuke from Orochimaru? Was Sasuke even his prime target anymore? "I have no way of knowing if their motives have changed."

''Either way you can adapt,'' Kurama rumbled, ''I believe you will able to stop the snake. And if he were to get his way, there will be no defection. There is no need for it.'' He spoke truth; after all, the snake would find no vessel here, no one willing to become a slave for power. ''But this much you know. It is something else on your mind troubling you.''

"You know me too well," She gave a small laugh, holding the sword up to the light, and searching for and chips in the blade, "How much of my life will Naruto be forced to go through? He has a loving family and the village treats him well. He's grown up with good morals, Kushina made sure not to spoil him, but I wonder if he understands what it is to be a ninja."

''Ah...'' The demon sighed, padding over and resting his head on her lap.

"Sasuke was forced to learn the hard way, and I took away from him the pride backing the Uchiha name," It would be a lie if she said she regretted her actions, it was merely the consequences that left her unsatisfied, "He may not have seen it with his own eyes, but he understands death more than his other classmates."

''What do you expect?'' They are growing up in a rare Miyu is was the proof of her efforts but the fact that they were shinobi meant that even with peace your life would still be in danger.

"Do you remember, when Neji came back from his C-rank a few weeks back Gai called me over to talk with him. You see, he finally picked up his first kill. He did it to protect a teammate, but apparently it put him a state of shock." As stoic and calm-headed the genius Hyuga was, apparently he found it difficult to come to terms with how fragile the human body was. "I think it's particularly bad for his as a taijutsu user. To kill your opponent with a single well placed strike you would have practiced with your friends earlier. He became afraid Gai told me. Apparently he refused to spar with anyone, especially Hinata."

''I do recall you got injured during your 'talk' was that his doing?'' The fox questioned, remembering the echo of pain he had felt through their link.

"I merely reminded him that he was in control of his actions. If he didn't want to hurts his friends then he didn't have to. It's a simple fact." And she may or may not have purposely hurt herself to show him that people can recover, but that was a small side note. "If that was Neji, when I think of Naruto I can only worry. Surely you know what is about to happen?" He knew everything about her including the details of her memory. As such, as soon as Team 7 received their first C-rank, they knew it would only be trouble.

''You could interfere. Make sure it ends how you want.'' And indeed she could, she had at least that much power. ''But then they will not learn.''

"I don't even know if they'll meet." She sighed it was tiring to think about, "Will Naruto meet Haku in that field? Will he have a reason to go there? Will they talk and befriend one another? Or will Haku simply die protecting Zabuza. Dying together with no one to hear their story, it seems sad."