[However, it's not like you didn't want to help him though... It's that you did it because the benefits would be enough of a compensation for the troubles you had went through. Right?]-Matatabi
'Right. I could've ignored him but I didn't and took the chance. We'll have to see where that will lead us.'
Focusing back on her mission, she noticed Ura looking at her with a determined gaze.
He had made it his goal to make sure she bows to the village. The village's new generation needed to be taught that things like questioning the orders of your superiors is not wise. And he also knew that Veronica was the key to that.
Everybody could tell that she could be a true shinobi if she was taught properly.
A murderer for the village.
A manipulator for the children.
'I will not let Danzo-sama's plan fail.'
He looked even more determined with that thought. Glancing once more at her, he made sure to keep an eye on her on the whole entirety of the trip.
[Stay on your guard.]-Tobirama
'I will.'
She felt a bit nervous with what was currently going on. Although she did know that the C-rank mission would be going a lot more smoothly than in the original but her instinct was practically screaming at her to be on her guard.
'It's been years since I've felt this way.'
The last time she was feeling something similar was when she had saved Shisui. And at that moment, she had felt more nervous and scared than ever.
Matatabi decided to try and distract her after thinking for a while.
[Danzo might be thinking of turning you into one of his puppets. What will you do if our suspicions about those two are correct?]-Matatabi
'... We'll go with the 'leave the village plan' then.'
[Will you be able to leave your family?]-Matatabi
'Sometimes the harder decision is the best one as well.'
They all already knew the answer to Matatabi's question. But she still asked her that. Maybe it was the fact that she had watched her grow up so close to this family of hers. Maybe she had grown soft after meeting someone who never tried to chain her down.
Or maybe, she had just grown too fond of this little human.
However, she knew that that it would end in disaster for her. Human lives weren't even a quarter for her seemingly endless lifespan.
The team soon arrived at their location. It had been an hour since they had started running.
'A teleportation scroll? It's not like this is such an important place that we have to use teleportation scrolls to go to. Plus, it's just for training... What the hell is he planning?'
[Maybe he'll go on a killing spree and kill you all.]-Matatabi
[Or, he doesn't want anyone learning of where you all are.]-Tobirama
'Hmm, he might want anyone to not know of our whereabouts like Tobirama-san said then. But a killing spree doesn't sound so impossible considering he might be a psycho. Whatever, we'll just have to see.'
Ura took out the teleportation scroll and guided them all to teach them how to use it.
'Ohta already knew how to use it. And that psycho also knew that Ohta knew that.'
Although Ohta had pretended to not know about how to use the scroll. However, for someone like Veronica who was a highly capable sensor, it was an easy task to know that he was easily able to navigate through the teleportation.
It was as empty- no, still, as usual.
[They might be a part of ROOT together.]-Matatabi
'Yes... But it seems that my new teacher isn't just a simple ROOT agent in disguise. Haven't you noticed how he moves? There's also different two different types of kunai and shuriken he owns of which only one is found in Konoha.'
[The other might be from Iwa.]-Tobirama
[It's similar to a design I saw in Kumo once but it has a few details on it's handle which were never seen there.]-Matatabi
The two older people in her mind sighed after they realized something. They suddenly pitied all of high-ranking people of the village. Veronica had already figured out so many secrets by not even going near any of them and just by observing people around her.
The team had soon teleported to a bridge.
'Just as I thought. Ohta and this psychotic bastard know what's going to happen here. Either they're in cahoots with the cow print man's employer or...'
She was completely on guard and this time she didn't bother to conceal it. Tanaka looked over at her and she could feel him tense a bit afterwards too.
[I sense Sakura coming here along with someone else.]-Matatabi
'Yea... I'm guessing that team 7's first run in with cow print man has happened already. Well, it could also be that the whole incident is over since it has been a few days since they left.'
[You're worried.]-Matatabi
'You're damn right I am.'
That response caught her off guard. She hadn't expected Veronica to be so honest with her all of a sudden. Perhaps, Veronica wasn't as dense with her own emotions as she had originally thought. Matatabi had a small fond smile on her face as she watched what happened next.
Veronica's annoyance was clearly felt by her teammates. They wondered just what was going on in her mind to be radiating such emotions.
"No, of course not. For now, let's move towards the ports and see if a ship is moving to the land of sea."-Uta
They all walked off the bridge and ran into Sakura and the bridge builder.
'Her arm was probably dislocated... Minor scratches aside from that.'
Ignoring the surprised face Sakura made, Veronica quickly finished her analysis on Sakura's injuries.
"Vero-chan?! What's your team doing here?"
Her shock was quickly replaced by a bit of happiness and some relief. Veronica was a bit put off by that emotion but still put on a questioning expression.
Sakura also ignored the rest of her teammates and explained the situation to her.
"I see... So, you all had a run in with Zabuza. I'm glad to know that you all are fine now, and even managed to defeat Gato. We have some medical supplies and such, so we'll go and see to your teammates."-Ura
"Thank you. Kakashi-sensei is mainly only suffering from chakra depletion with some other wounds. Sasuke is having a fever right now due to chakra exhaustion and some mild poisoning. Naruto had gotten hit a few times from Zabuza's sword but he's in the least danger right now, however his mental state didn't seem to be that good."-Sakura
Sakura had looked at Veronica while saying that which made her team realize that she only trusted her here and not even their teacher. They guessed it did make sense as Sakura only knew of Veronica, and Veronica is known to be quite reliable.
[She really isn't as dumb as she was before.]-Matatabi
[Yes. She's made a large improvement from the weak kunoichi she once was.]-Tobirama
Veronica agreed with the both of them as she quickly listed down all of the things she's have to do once she goes to where the rest of Team 7 was. Of course, that was assuming her teacher didn't have other plans.
"Ohta, I want you to stay here with Sakura and assist her with her tasks. If anything happens, use your bugs to communicate with us. Tanaka and Veronica are coming with me."-Ura
'A nice plan. Ohta is the best with long distance communication out of all of us here. Tanaka and me have already progressed with healing and taking care of injuries under the psycho so we'll be good help to him.'
Veronica mentally made notes of this in case she had ever wanted help in forming some sort of plan, although she guessed asking Tobirama that would be more helpful. She could see Tanaka pushing a bit of chakra in his legs and following after Ura. She did the same and they all arrived fairly quickly.
Veronica noticed a yellow ball far from her. He seemed to be shouting something as he ran inside a house. She almost would've laughed a bit at his usual antics but her instinct was saying that something had happened.
'This weird chakra... Is it Zetsu? I guess he could be here to spy on the jinchuuriki. I have to be careful around him. He can probably sense Matatabi if she even tries to communicate with me, considering there isn't even a seal to bind her.'
It seems as though Matatabi had already known what to do without Veronica telling her. She had completely buried herself in Veronica's chakra and soul. Not even an expert in sensing chakra would be able to tell if something like a tailed beast was residing in Veronica.
"Zabuza and his companion might still be lurking around. Although we did get to know they are injured enough to retreat and probably won't be attacking again, it's still dangerous to run into them. So be careful."-Ura
Veronica took notice of Ura knew of how Zabuza had a companion even when Sakura hadn't mentioned anything of the sort.
'How could he know that?'
[He was probably involved with Gato then.]-Tobirama
'Yes, but if those two do work for Danzo, then they probably will go off to finish Zabuza and Haku or at least try and manipulate them to their advantage.
I should watch out for the psycho though. His associations are still unknown. He will be a bigger threat then Ohta.'
She glanced at the boy running beside her before silently motioning for him to not stray off somewhere.
'He'll be the most troublesome for me though.'
She sighed at him giving her a pouty betrayed look. He was quite shocked at not being trusted to be on his own.
"I can take of myself...!"
Although he had whispered that, she was sure that their psycho teacher had caught that, as he slightly snickered. She sighed at Tanaka while giving him a blank stare and watched as Tanaka seemed to get what it meant.
They soon reached their destination and Veronica at once went in. Her face had a small frown as she looked around.
[Don't overdo it on showing your 'emotions'.]-Tobirama
'I won't.'
He knew that if Veronica stopped faking most of her emotions, she would only have a blank face. It wasn't as though she couldn't feel, she could. But her face had already stopped showing emotions ever since she had faced death. He could himself feel quite detached to a lot of things.
"... Can I help you with something?"
A young woman had asked her this question as she hesitantly came towards them. Seeing as though Veronica made no moves to speak or write out her thoughts, Ura decided to explain the situation.
"We're Konoha ninja who were passing by and heard what happened from a Genin girl. We have some medical supplies so we thought to help out the team. Hopefully you wouldn't mind more company."-Ura
He had a kind smile on his face as the woman hurriedly greeted them and showed them where the rest of team 7 was.
"Naruto, Sasuke."-Veronica
She greeted them slightly as she nodded towards Kakashi. They were all quite shocked but Veronica slightly noticed Kakashi being quite tense when Ura came in the room. She guessed Kakashi might have figured out that something was off about her teacher by now too. He was an ANBU commander once after all.
"Vero-chan?!"-Naruto
He was shocked to see her before he ran up to her to hug her. Sasuke nodded at her and she could see Kakashi giving her his mock salute.
'I guess he really might have been low on spirit. It doesn't seem too bad though.'
She felt a bit of Matatabi's chakra shoot up in her as she decided to stay close to Naruto for a while.
She also felt Kurama's chakra stirring.
'I'll have to ask her what's happening later.'
Kakashi was soon checked by Ura while Veronica and Tanaka took turns to watch over Sasuke. It seems as though the situation weren't as serious as they were hoping for it to be.
She felt as though something was amiss with her teacher however, with no sign of him showing anything suspicious she could only prepare herself for whatever might happen.
However after learning of how team 7's mission went, she could only say one thing.
"What?"
--- --- --- --- ---
Saki was disappointed in herself.
She didn't think that she would be able to form bonds, with her targets no less, again. It was the worst possible outcome she could hope for.
She guessed it might have been due to her being a half Uzumaki. Perhaps she felt some sort of attachment to the woman because of that. Or maybe it was because the couple had gave her a sense of safety.
She didn't try to understand it further.
For now, she could only laugh together with her new friends.
She would just have to make sure nothing happened to her family. She could do that.
Right?
She ignored the small voice in her heart saying how it was too late to change anything. It was too late to fix things. The voice once again said how she didn't deserve this. She only deserved hell for what she'd done to those innocent people.
She at least deserved to have a family. That's what she said to herself every night.
{How could you deserve something you took away from others?}-???
The voice was much louder whenever she was alone in her room. She hated it. It always seemed to be a reminder of her mistakes.
{You chose to make them suffer.}-???
It would be a reminder of her despair.
{What about their despair?}-???
She hated how it only asked her the questions she chose to bury deep in her heart. She knew that she should be repenting for her crimes, even if they were unforgivable. She knew that after what she did she did not deserve this happiness.
"Saki-chan! Come on!!! We've been waiting dattebane'!"
The familiar red haired woman ran towards her.
"Saki-chan! How are you today?"
The blond Hokage. She nodded at him in greeting before they all started chatting about how their day went.
She didn't like where this was headed but, she once again consoled herself by saying it was ok to live in the present.