A/N: Hi again. This is a short but vital chapter- in it, we introduce a very important character. I'm quite happy to see the mystery begin to unfold! Sidebar: someone pointed out in the last chapter, quite correctly, that she is getting arrogant. I couldn't agree more. Despite how far she's come, she's still a person who's been told she's smarter and better than everyone else her entire life. Hint: the fight does not end with Charlie kicking a Sannin's ass. But I am curious as to what y'all think is going to happen- as well as this mysterious person we've mentioned. Let me know~! Also thank you to Illuminated, who left a very sweet review :') Hope you all are doing well and staying hydrated.

All the love!

Chapter 27

"You good?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"... You sure you good?"

"Shut up, Tiger." Charlie leaned against a tree heavily as she pulled her canteen from her sealing scroll and took a swig. It had been five hours, and they were finally taking a break.

As hard as it was to admit, it was difficult to keep up with their fast pace. She and Sai were both children- well, she was in the body of a child, but still- and yet the dark haired boy had barely worked up a sweat. He sat against a tree, staring at nothing.

"I'm surprised you kept up," Tiger continued. His wolfish grin was in full view as he took a swig from his own canteen. He looked to be in his late twenties, with a rogueish glint in his eye and ginger hair. His face was wide and earnest. There was no way to tell if this was his actual appearance or a genjutsu, but she had a feeling he wasn't the type to hide himself much. "I didn't know they still let shrimps like you into the fold."

"I wouldn't be here if I couldn't keep up," the redhead grumbled, rolling her eyes. "And just because I'm small does not mean I'm weak."

"How'd you lose your arm?"

She nearly spat out the water she'd been drinking. Coughing roughly, she scowled at him as he grinned innocently. "Maybe I'm sensitive about it?"

"If you were a sensitive little girl you wouldn't be here," the man said wisely. "It looks fresh."

Charlie shrugged. "It got lobbed off, that's all."

"You're only 3/4 of the kid you used to be."

"I'll hide your body where they won't look."

The man chuckled.

'This isn't like what I thought it would be,' Charlie thought, watching the big guy meander over to bother Sai instead.

"What did you think it would be?" Minato asked.

'Hmm... more cover of darkness, more killing, less laughter.'

"While that's certainly a part of it, I think any sane person would lose their humanity quickly if they didn't find a way to cope," the blond replied astutely. Hazel eyes drifted towards Sai again, his blank face as the brute above him tried in vain to make him laugh. How did he cope? Or rather, did he cope?

"You're staring pretty hard at Mole there," Spider interrupted her conversation in that smooth voice of hers. Charlie blinked back to reality and shrugged as the woman jokingly elbowed her.

"He's an odd guy," she replied blandly.

"Do you like-"

"Don't even," the redhead interrupted. "He's like... like a kid brother."

"Eh? He's about your age, isn't he?"

"Be that as it may, I see him as someone who needs looking after," Charlie said shortly. She stowed her canteen away in her scroll and glanced at the woman, feeling her strange gaze on her back. "When are we headed out again?"

"A few minutes. Why did you join ANBU?"

Charlie blinked. Spider did truly look curious, her eyebrows raised and her sharp violet eyes beseeching. "It was the only way," she grumbled hesitantly. "If the Hokage had his way, I'd be stuck doing D-ranks for the rest of my life."

"Seems kind of odd that you'd go from one extreme to the other, though." Doubt colored the older woman's tone.

The redhead winced. She had a gut feeling that the less Spider knew, the better. "...I think it would be a crying shame if I didn't use the whole of my abilities for the village, to be honest," she mumbled. It was true, she really thought that. But she neglected to mention that Danzou would not have given her support in the council if she had not taken this route.

This, or nothing. But she could see why it surprised the woman.

The woman ran a scarred hand through the short curls of dark hair on her head before sighing and letting it go. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again. You're better off quitting." There was no malice in her voice or her face as she looked at the girl, only pity.

"Don't worry," Charlie found herself saying, a small smile curving her lips and creasing her eyes. "I don't intend on dying just yet."

Spider hesitantly returned the smile with an unfeeling smirk of her own. "Then, I have a piece of advice for you," she said as Charlie's gaze wandered to their two teammates. "Stay away from other ANBU unless you have to be in their presence. We're all wolves here. Even the littlest ones."

From across the glade, Sai's black eyes burned into her own.

The port city of Hagurashi* was the epicenter of commerce in the Land of Fire. More trade happened there in its crowded streets and harbor than in almost any other part of the country. Merchants selling anything and everything set up rickety stands wherever they pleased, and the port authorities turned a blind eye so long as they received a cut. The scent of the sea and its occupants wafted far beyond the shoreline and far beyond the bustling fish market that rested alongside it.

It was busy, and perhaps a bit corrupt, but for most citizens it was home. Their father's father's father had been a fisherman, and so too would be their son's son's son. Perhaps that was what made them vulnerable. When all one deals in is fishing, the ninja arts fall by the wayside.

Some ways away from the coast lied a ramshackle little place called Rei's Fish and Tackle. It was owned by a woman named Terumi (incidentally, her father's name was Rei), and sold any hardware one could need for fishing. Line which ranged from hair-thin to thicker than one's finger, all manner of fishing poles and lures, and bait by the pound.

The problem was, there were 5 other fish-and-tackle shops, all of them closer to the port than Rei's. Terumi made enough to keep the store open, but nothing more- and she was growing tired. She wasn't getting any younger, and the weight of poverty was a crushing one to bear. Over time, her shoulders hunched, her skin paled, and the bruising around her eyes never faded no matter how much she tried to sleep.

One could say it was a blessing for her when the Yuuhi** Brotherhood arrived on the scene. They arrived in dark clothes, and hitai-ate which bore a symbol she'd never seen before. She never saw a single one of their faces, but all she needed to see was their money before she pledged her allegiance.

All they wanted was her basement, originally. There were five or six members back then, all led by a slim young man with silver hair and unworldly white eyes. But membership expanded quickly. Soon, they took over her shop, as well as every other brick and mortar store on her street. The merchants with their moveable carts and tents were more or less left alone, but the most lucrative were made to pay fees.

Terumi was still quite satisfied. She never had to pay rent again, and though no knowledgeable citizen would ever trounce into her shop again, she never needed to worry about money.

The Yuuhi Brotherhood eventually took over the largest building in the area, and named it their headquarters. But their true leader remained in her basement, hidden from the outside world behind a trapdoor concealed with a genjutsu. She'd only ever seen one man enter and leave it, and he was so large and intimidating that she never dared to speak to him.

The silver haired one was the scariest of all, however.

He talked to her often, surprisingly. She made him food, did his laundry, and cleaned his quarters- a glorified maid, to be honest. If he appreciated it, however, his unreadable mask never let it be known. But he did talk to her.

Today, she was doing just that- cleaning, I mean. She had just tied closed the trashbag in his waste bin when he sat up from the chair he inhabited and said, "Terumi-san, do you believe you've led a hard life?"

The old woman cleared her throat. His voice was so monotone that it was impossible to read his intentions, and the black mask that covered all but his eyes left his expression unreadable. Was he threatening her? Was he genuinely serious? She never knew. All she could do was be honest. "In some ways, Shinsei-sama."

It was an odd name. 'Nova'. Surely it wasn't his true name.

"In what ways?" the boy pressed. And he was just that- a boy, or so she presumed. His voice was still youthful- he couldn't have been more than 18 or so.

"W-Well," she started hesitantly, "it is not easy to run a store all on your own. And there are many shops just like mine, and more convenient."

"And?"

Terumi's lips trembled. "Well, I am all alone here. My husband died, along with the rest of my family, many years ago." It wasn't anything tragic- a sickness had swept the area almost a decade ago. One would be hard-pressed to find a person who had not lost someone in this town, even now.

"Do you feel as though you could've lived a better life, or an easier one, somewhere else?"

"Why, I- I don't know, Shinsei-sama," the woman stuttered. "Why do you ask?"

His white eyes were as cold as glaciers as he stared at her, stared through her. "I am grateful for all you have done the past year or so, Terumi-san," he said, standing from his perch and putting his pale hands in his pockets. "I wish to reward you."

Frigid terror lanced down the woman's spine as she quickly lifted the garbage bag from the tin and smiled nervously. Funnily enough, she didn't think she'd like any sort of 'reward' from him. "It is my pleasure." 'Something is wrong here,' she thought, the hair on her arms raising as a wave of electricity seemed to fill the air.

"Would you like to go somewhere else?" Shinsei wondered as he moved towards her, all feline grace as if he was gliding. "Would you like to be someone else?"

"I-I-I am quite happy where I am at, thank you," she said, in a high-pitched tone which did not suit her.

"But wouldn't you like to be happy? What if I could send you to a place where you would want for nothing, for the rest of your life?"

"W-W-Well, I-I- I suppose I would-"

The milky expanse of his eyes suddenly swirled with black lines, all radiating from the dark-as-pitch epicenter. Her stomach clenched as they began to glow. What the hell was that? What the hell- "Don't be so worried," he told her, grabbing hold of her arms as she fell weak and turned paler than a corpse under his judgement. Her thoughts spiraled away from her until she did not hear his words anymore. "I am sending you somewhere good. You should be grateful."

Her form began to stutter our of existence, her mind already some place else entirely. He waited until nothing was left of her but her faded dress and sandals, then he turned his attention towards the west, where one of his most recent mistakes was rushing towards him at breakneck speed.

"Most people don't get a choice in the life they lead," he mumbled to himself, before flickering away.

*Pulled that out of my ass. The Land of Fire does have a port city though ;)

**No relation to Kurenai.