[There is a place where we would be the safest right now. Even if you take those two.]-Matatabi
'So, you're asking me to take them with me?'
Veronica had calmed down a bit as she moved over to a side and let the children get comfortable around the fire. She didn't need the warmth and it was clear the older one wasn't coming too close to her so she chose to move away.
[Maybe. But you remember when I said how us siblings were given their own place to stay in?]-Matatabi
'Yes, is yours nearby?'
[It is. In fact, I'm sure nobody will be able to locate us there.]-Matatabi
'What about Zetsu?'
That sentient plant had become one of the only worries she cared to think about from time to time. Especially now that she wasn't in Konoha anymore and away from Naruto and Sasuke, who the black and white plant liked to stay away from, she had to always be on guard.
[There are conditions to be met if one wants to enter my place. You have me with you so you'll be fine of course.]-Matatabi
'I see.'
Veronica hummed as she thought of what Matatabi said. Even if she didn't take the children with her she would be going there as she would need some rest.
Glancing towards the teenager who was eyeing her warily, she quickly made a decision.
This was a lie of course. If she was allowing them to follow her to the place she was going then it was obvious she was going to take care of them for now. She had only written what she did to see what the older was capable of. Besides, if she agreed too quickly then the children would be a bit suspicious and wouldn't cooperate well with her.
The boy slowly read over what Veronica had written before hesitatingly nodding. It seemed that he hadn't understood what she was trying to do.
He didn't know if he had made the right decision but it was either this or being killed by the ninjas hunting them down. If his mother was here then he wouldn't need to do this as she had hid herself and them from the world for years. But she wasn't here with them now.
Both Veronica and the boy, who called himself Taku, stayed up all night.
The next morning, the 4-year-old woke up to find the 'demon girl' and his brother preparing to move together. He didn't know what to think of that but like always, didn't question anything and went along with his brother.
Even though he was scared of the older girl, he couldn't help but think how amazing it would if they were even as strong as her.
He was once again reminded of their situation as he thought about how much he missed his mother. If only he had listened to her than they wouldn't have been in a situation like this in the first place.
She didn't need to eat much but now that she had two children with her she felt the need to at least make sure they eat well. It was probably the only thing she could provide them with when they were out in the open.
She tossed the notebook to Taku. He quickly read it and slightly nodded. He didn't think of collecting food while walking through the forest. He had only thought of earning money or stealing to have food for his brother.
Glancing at Veronica, his face showed complicated emotions. Even though he was supposed to be showing his usefulness to her he couldn't even think of such a simple solution to one of their biggest problem.
Unknowingly to him though, Veronica had activated her kekkai genkai. It had been a long time since she did so.
She discretely looked at him and made her analysis.
'Just as I thought... His soul doesn't match his body. Regressor then? Or is it transmigrator? No, he doesn't have his memories of his past life attached to his soul. But he is still attached to his past life, or lives, right now.
So, he's like Makino too.'
Cancelling him as a threat for now, she turned off her kekkai genkai. She didn't even need to look at the four year old and know that he was a transmigrator. Her eyes lost their glow as she felt the power in her eyes go back to usual.
She doubted he made past the age of ten in his past life though. His chakra was imbalanced. He probably couldn't make his body adjust to his mental age fast enough. He wasn't much of a threat but Veronica would be lying if she said she wasn't curious about him at all. She wondered if he was from the same world as her or if it was another world.
Humming the familiar tune, Veronica created a shadow clone. She told the two boys it was to scout ahead, and pretended not to notice how Taku had flinched so badly that he almost fell backwards.
He wasn't scared of the fact that there were two of her now. No, he wasn't scared of the clone at all. However, something in the clone had scared him. And the reaction was a bit delayed so it meant that he made that discovery a second after she had created the clone.
She felt herself smirk a little at her newest discovery.
'How do you feel? Being out in the open after so long must feel good.'
[It does.]-Matatabi
--- --- --- --- ---
A new mission had come for Minato to assign. It may have been a simple D-rank but he couldn't think which genin to assign it too.
Iruka, bless the man as he always helped him out with reports from the academy and assigning genin team missions when he was free from the academy, also seemed a bit reluctant to recommend a team this particular mission. But they couldn't afford to put it off for too long.
"With all due respect Hokage-sama, I think that the kids are still a bit you-" -Iruka
"Instructor Iruka-san, as ninja they will have to face these things sooner or later. We cannot coddle them for long. I'm sure you know this already."-Minato
Iruka sighed and said that he couldn't help Minato out with this. Minato nodded, knowing it would too hard on the man to see his students suffer like that. Even he didn't want to traumatize kids who were his own son's age like that but it had to be done.
He knew that most of the jonin sensei would not pick this mission and so he had to assign this one himself.
He put some chakra onto the calling seal placed on the corner of his desk. It couldn't be used for long distances however it was more secure and unlike the phones now being introduced no one could listen in on the conversation if they weren't on the other side, the voice receiving side.
"Call team Kurenai."
No one needed to know he still hadn't checked what the team numbers were this time.
The team had reached him within 15 minutes, he wished that Kakashi's team could do the same, and he passed the mission to them.
"It's a clean up job. You will need to make sure that the whole house is spotless and throw away the previous owner's belongings. Also, you will need to carry out a burial as the previous owner did not have any relatives to do the same."-Minato
The genin seemed confused as to what a burial would have to do with a house clean up. They should've been two different missions. They even looked sick at the thought of having to help with a burial.
Kurenai seemed to have understood what exactly had happened as she nodded towards him and ushered her genin out of the tower.
"We'll meet at the main market district in one hour and then head towards the house of Suzuki Makino. The burial taking place will also be hers. Until then I'll be giving the order for the making of the grave."-Kurenai
She paused for a bit and looked at each of them.
"Bring masks and try not to throw up."-Kurenai
She shunshined away and the Genin all wondered what was going on. They seemed to have a slight idea of what could be happening but they didn't want to imagine the rest.