Age Ten, Six Months Later
The delegation from Konoha arrived on a gray morning in spring.
I stood at the docks with the clan elders, wearing my formal robes—black with red spirals, the Uzumaki crest embroidered over my heart. My Sharingan was hidden behind contact lenses, a precaution that the elders insisted on. The Hyuga of Konoha could see through most disguises, but the Uzumaki had spent centuries perfecting seals that could fool even the Byakugan.
The ship was a Konoha battleship, sleek and white, with the Leaf insignia painted on its sails. It cut through the whirlpools with ease.
The gangplank lowered.
The first person off the ship was a girl my age.
She had brown hair pulled into two ponytails, brown eyes that seemed to take in everything at once, and a green haori over a mesh shirt. She was pretty—I noticed that immediately, though I didn't know what to do with the observation. I had never really looked at a girl before, not like that. But there was something about her, something that made my stomach feel like I had swallowed a school of fish.
She stopped in front of me and looked me up and down.
"You're the heir?" she said. "You look like a scarecrow."
The elders behind me gasped. No one spoke to the heir of Uzushio like that. No one.
But I wasn't offended. I was intrigued.
"And you look like you bite," I said.
She smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. It was the kind of smile that promised trouble.
"I do," she said.
Behind her, a boy with blond hair and whisker marks on his cheeks bounded down the gangplank. "Tsunade! Be nice! We're guests!"
"Shut up, Jiraiya."
Another boy followed, pale and slender, with long black hair and eyes that seemed to look through me rather than at me. He studied me like I was a bug under a microscope.
"Fascinating," he said. "Your chakra signature is unusual. Uzumaki, certainly, but there's something else. Something darker."
"And you're creepy," I said.
He smiled. It didn't reach his eyes. "Orochimaru. A pleasure."
The last person off the ship was a small boy, maybe six or seven, with the same brown hair and brown eyes as Tsunade. He had a nervous smile and a habit of bouncing on his heels.
"Hi!" he said. "I'm Nawaki! I'm gonna be Hokage someday!"
"You're six," I said.
"So? A guy can dream!"
I found myself smiling. It was the first genuine smile I'd smiled in months.
"Welcome to Uzushio," I said. "I'm Ren. The scarecrow."
Tsunade snorted. "I was joking."
"I wasn't."
She laughed. It was a sharp, surprised sound, like a bird taking flight. And something in my chest shifted, just slightly.