Chapter Text
Shikako could easily admit in hindsight that it had been a poor idea to suggest Shikamaru take her arm to replace his missing one. Too many people there to hear her suggest it, all of them the worst possible individuals that could be allowed to hear it, and Shikamaru being in too much of a heightened state to think logically about it.
She was the motivated Nara, the one most likely to be able to recover and continue to grow stronger, even if it would be to a lesser degree than if she had both arms.
But Shikako also had knowledge that no one else had and therefore the awareness of the sheer danger which the future held for those she loved the most.
Shikamaru was vital in supporting Naruto, guiding him when she could not do so herself. Shikamaru was needed to ensure the futures of Ino, Choji, and even Asuma-Sensei. Team Ten wouldn’t be nearly as much of an effective fighting force without its Nara.
Even if her brother would come to hate her for this, or her family to disown her in disgust, Shikako went through with her plan anyway for the sake of her most cherished people.
At the crack of midnight when everyone was in their deepest state of sleep, Shikako moved along the floor of her brother's room while in shadow state. The bright light of the moon allowing easy movement. There was no need to open the door to get into her brother’s room, an action that would have certainly woken him up.
The stump glared at her, roiling her stomach. The protective sock had to be removed for this to work -delicately so as to not wake him- and therefore she could see all the angry scaring that still had weeks before it would be completely healed even with the help of medical chakra.
Shikako moved the section of shadow that represented her left arm and aligned it neatly where Shikamaru’s would be, if there had been anything remaining-
That emotion was shoved forcefully into the shadow, focus was needed now. Her brother had no Gelel stone of his own to maintain the technique that would widely be considered a perversion of their clan's bloodline limit.
With her here, there was no need for him to have one but no one knew that and so would never agree to the suggestion. Sometimes you just had to act, particularly when you knew the consequences of doing nothing.
She grew tired of the Nara tendency to delay.
This arm would not be one of shadow but flesh and blood. Bone and marrow, veins and muscle, a completely functional human arm. Her arm.
Once it was fully attached, Shikako crept off of the bed leaving it entirely unruffled. Her shadow state was now the one missing an arm.
Yet this state was merely her Nara chakra filtered through the Gelel Stone. Theoretically all she needed to do was supply more chakra to make up for the section she had forfeited.
The amount required far exceeded that which naturally circulated throughout her arm when it still existed, as she was creating an entire copy of the internal system of the limb.
Shikako let out a mad little giggle at the realisation that her stone could effectively be a flash save of her current self so long as she had the immense quantity of chakra required to ‘download’ from it.
Which she definitely did not have for anything larger than half of an arm.
She exited her technique breathless but completely whole. Her once full reservoir of chakra were in that familiar state of being alarmingly low. She really needed to find a way around that handicap if she actually intended on going up against S-ranked ninja on the regular.
For now, the best thing to do would be to go to sleep like everyone else currently was. That would be a good first step to restoring her chakra as well, after all rest and good food is the most well known remedy for chakra exhaustion.
Predictably the morning started with Shikamaru slamming open her bedroom door, though Shikako was so exhausted that she barely woke up. That state in which your brain failed to properly reboot and therefore had no idea what was going on.
“What did you do!?” He shouted angrily, hysterically, with a crazed look in his eyes.
Shikako glanced up from her duvet covers completely hollow eyed, drenched in sweat and still half asleep, to confirm that yes her brother was fine and therefore it was safe for her to go right back to sleep.
Her rolling over to find a more comfortable position in her overly warm water drenched bed probably wasn’t a considerate thing to do in the face of her beloved brother’s distress but she was just so, so, tired.
Let her sleep. Let Shikako be an ordinary Nara for once.
“Shikako!” Ripping the blankets from her bed was just cruel, after all he’d done the action with both of his fully functioning hands.
So ungrateful.
“What's going on in here?” Their dad of course rushed in to see what all the yelling was about. Probably thought that he would have to intervene in yet another sibling shouting match but Shikako was long since over those useless wastes of energy.
“Look at it!” Shikamaru presented the seemingly regrown arm for all to see, as though it was some grotesque monstrosity and not just a normal human arm. It would seem that in his morning distress, Shikamaru had forgone putting on any upper body clothing.
The beautiful feat of sheer utter brilliance was there for all to feast their eyes upon. Strong muscle and familiar scars that were not his own. The arm of a combat specialist, of which he was not.
Right now Shikamaru could be the poster child for thanklessness. Come to think of it, Shikako never seemed to get all that much recognition for her improvements, only complaints of never ending headaches.
Her shadow was leaking unwanted emotions, currently overfilled to the point of bursting.
Shikako became more than a little unsettled when the silence extended and Dad’s face began to pale. She hadn’t actually done anything wrong, right? She’d solved the problem after all and now everything could go back to normal.
“I think we should all head to the Hospital.” Dad said with his rarely used serious voice, while Shika began to hyperventilate in the early stages of a panic attack. This was Konoha’s Jounin Commander speaking, not the man who had raised them both.
Shikamaru was hardly mollified, having not received any answers or even a suggestion of attention from his sister who was without a doubt the culprit for this. It literally had her fingerprints all over it, and right after she’d suggested offering her own arm as a replacement!
He wanted it off.
“Sounds good. Just let me shower and get dressed.” Shikako yawned as slowly crawled out of bed, her soaked pyjamas sticking to her body. Her legs weren’t able to immediately respond, so she just ended up falling onto her bedroom floor in a heap.
It would be good to have an actual medical expert check the arm over and maybe get herself checked for any irregularities in her chakra system. Good news was that she didn’t feel dangerously chakra exhausted. She was very familiar with that sensation by this point.
Her current state of being was an obvious sign of guilt. Not even the laziest Nara was so bad as to fall out of their bed in the morning. At least not the ones who got up before it reached the afternoon.
Both male household members watched in silence as she used her bed as a crutch to pull herself up into a standing position. No, her legs were not wobbling like a newborn foal’s, that was just pins and needles.
“Now.” Shikaku ordered, his stare that intense one which was completely uncompromising. Shikako felt compelled to stare back utterly deadpan, somewhat mulishly.
There was no threat, no danger, to Shikamaru right now other than perhaps himself. And Shikako was wearing deer themed pyjamas which were in a less than desirable state.
She’d been meaning to get some cool shuriken themed ones like sensei’s but he’d refused to say where he’d gotten his from. Sensei was a sad man at heart who struggled with agreeing to fun bonding exercises.
Mistaking her lack of follow up for compliance, Dad reached out and placed a hand on both of their shoulders before dragging them off in the direction of the hospital in a body flicker.
They were all perfectly capable of walking -yes she most definitely was- and now mum would worry unnecessarily about Shikamaru possibly having had a flare up. She shouldn’t be given reasons to stress in her current condition. Couldn’t these idiot males at least understand the bare basics of that?
It was foolish for Dad to overreact so badly. Did he honestly think Shikako would mess up so badly as to harm her twin brother?
The thought hurt more than it should. She often seemingly broke the barrier of the impossible, therefore one could never know what she was truly capable of. Maybe that was why he felt he had reason to doubt.
Shikako had once been a God, for a brief moment.
Reception wasn’t all that busy and when a determined Shikaku Nara starts throwing around orders, everyone naturally complies.
Shikako still hunched her shoulders when her Dad sent a runner to go fetch Tsunade, as though the Hokage wasn’t busy doing other more important things. Like running the whole village.
Doctors were already floundering about over her brother’s restored arm. One even had the gall to attempt to dispel a Genjutsu around the area of it.
Surely wilder things had happened here than a mere arm replacement, right?
Apparently not, as Tsunade soon bulldozed her way through to the patient with an intensity that was more than a little alarming.
She only required a moment to ensure that it was real and fully functional, as Shikako had ensured. There was no circular scar from the amputation nor was there any issue with the connection of bone to the transplant. Shikamaru was of the shadow just as much as she was, only significantly less motivated.
How great of a revelation it had been to discover that she could take others into her shadow state, and so easily with a fellow Nara. it would be interesting to explore this further, perhaps with Sasuke-
Tsunade straightened up from her inspection to level a dangerous look her way, immediately waking her up from the half lucid state she had been in.
“How?”
Tsunade demanded an answer that Shikako honestly didn’t know enough of the exact science behind it to be able to do so. Time to deflect or come up with an ass-pull, lest everyone here comes to realise just how much she was operating on Gelel magic, which they would all have no hope of understanding.
One could live a hundred lifetimes, and still you would not have scratched the surface of Gelel.
It was also classified under the highest level of secrecy in the village restriction system. Definitely not something she could talk about so openly in a public environment such as this.
“Why are you asking me?” Shikako was also only fourteen, albeit a special Jounin, but that was in sensor abilities, therefore she should be so far down the list of those who could be responsible for this.
She wasn’t a doctor nor any other kind of medical professional.
“Don’t try to play with me, Nara!”
“Tsunade-sama, I am not capable of regrowing someone’s arm nor could I take a stranger’s and then reattach it to a different person.” She really shouldn’t need to explain this. She needed to stand firm on this.
But the shared accusing mindset of the room focused solely on her threatened to draw her down into a meek mess. A part of her wanted to allow it, so that these people might be more gentle with her.
She needed every advantage here that could be found, lest they deem Shikamaru’s arm to be too much of an uncertainty and choose to take it off.
Maybe she wasn’t thinking entirely straight but she was dead tired and had an angry Hokage bearing down on her.
“I’m well aware of that and yet here your brother is with a new arm. Now isn’t that a little suspect?” She even waved her brother’s new arm up and down despite Shikamaru's visible annoyance at the action.
“I’m overjoyed for my brother’s good fortune. I hope others could also share in my relief that the problem has so neatly been solved.” Shikako responded with a surprisingly strong tone, which may have been bad because it kind of came out as if it were sarcasm.
“Don’t give me bullshit, Shikako. As your Hokage and your brother’s doctor, I’m ordering you to explain how you managed to regrow Shikamaru’s arm.”
“I didn’t regrow it.” That was the complete truth but seemed to be the wrong thing to say, judging by the final look on Tsunade’s face, as though Shikako had just stepped over the last warning..
It sounded a lot like she was denying responsibility, which would be a lie. Spoken towards her Hokage.
“Do I need to put you in T&I?” She asked inquiringly, as if she actually wanted her opinion on such a thing.
Shikako tilted her head slightly to think about it and to properly assess the room. How odd of a sight was this girl in silly pyjamas, seemingly refusing the Hokage? She hoped that the rumours that would inevitably result from this wouldn’t grow to be too outlandish.
Beside her, Dad moved forward to do whatever he intended to do. Likely attempting to de-escalate the situation before trying his own hand at getting an answer out of her.
Shikako beat him to it before he could achieve anything.
“If that would help reassure you that I’m telling you the truth, then fine by me.” She huffed irritably. Prison cells came equipped with beds and then she could get right back to doing what everyone told her she should do more of.
“What?” Tsunade almost whispered, the first crack that she might actually be starting to believe her. She clearly hadn’t expected her to agree to the idea of what horrified most people.
But then who else could have done this?
The answer was no one.
“You can send me to T&I if it would help you believe me.” Shikako repeated. Everything she had stated so far was the truth, and nothing but the truth. She had not regrown Shikamaru’s arm. “We can talk there if you want.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Shikaku spoke up, and there was authority in his voice but this was the Hokage he was now going up against. Though thanks for the effort, Dad, even if it had been you who'd requested the Hokage’s presence for a non-emergency.
Tsunade would always have the final say, no matter who protested the decision she eventually decided on. But she was also incredibly experienced in spotting hidden meanings, codes and what not, given all of her years spent as one of the greatest Shinobi to have ever been produced.
“Shikamaru will stay in the hospital for the day while we run some tests. Shikako will not leave her home until she is summoned.” Her stance just dared Shikaku to protest.
“Very well.” He accepted with a grimace on his face.
This was actually kind of interesting. Despite all the craziness Team Seven had gone through in the very short time they’d been together, none of them had gotten into trouble quite like this.
And for something as inane as restoring a promising shinobi’s combat capability. It was for this reason that Shikako had full confidence everything would work out just fine.
Shikamaru was ordered to remain in the hospital for further testing, which made the walk back home one of less baggage but also plenty awkward. Just Shikaku and Shikako, leisurely making their way through the now bustling streets of the village.
Dad’s gaze focused solely on her was keenly felt.
“I did it, okay?” Shikako whined, folding under zero pressure. “It all worked out fine, perfect really, so if everyone could just get off my arse about it-”
“You lied to the Hokage.” The words weren’t spoken loudly, given they were currently out and about, but it was annoying that they were even uttered.
“When exactly did I do that?” Shikako somehow managed to find the smugness necessary to throw a genuine look of superiority her dad’s way. Clearly he’d been too ruffled by the sudden resolution to Shikamaru’s condition and his daughter’s indisputable role in it.
Her confidence may of helped in alleviating some of his concerns, given how he spent the rest of their journey in quiet contemplation. Didn’t ask her to clarify, just got started on mentally reviewing every single exchange from the moment he rushed into her room to where they are now.
It was as they were stepping onto the front porch, a stern Yoshino standing at the door with hands on hips trying to hide her worrying, that Shikaku spoke up.
“I see.”
“Took you longer than I thought it would. I hope that’s not age related.” She surprised herself by being a bit snarky about it. That had felt mean spirited and she really didn’t like directing that sort of thing to anyone in her family.
“Given that you’re so clearly on top of every little thing, even that which does not concern you-”
“Excuse me!?” How did the loss of her twin brother’s arm not concern her, particularly when she had caused it?
“I’m sure you won’t mind at all offering a helping hand to your old man, now would you?” Shikaku continued as though she hadn’t tried to interrupt. He even turned his back to her as he sat down to take off his sandals.
“I only specialize in miracles, anything else I’m sure you can do infinitely better than I ever could.”
“You are entirely my better when it comes to Fuinjutsu, Shikako.” He gave her a serious look, unbothered by her grimacing at the words. “It’s about time that you start accepting that you’re capable of achieving great things with your own two hands and not just manipulating events from behind the scenes.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” She narrowed her eyes. That felt way too close to the truth for her to ever feel comfortable with.
“Shikako!” Mum had no idea what was going on but clearly didn’t approve. That made two of them.
“You’ve stopped hiding behind Shikamaru, become more assertive, more sure of yourself even if you don’t realise it.” He stood up and placed both hands down on her shoulders, weights to keep her from bolting.
“You fixed the problem and now it’s time to let the guilt go.”
“Let it go?” Shikako huffed a small laugh, one of disbelief. “Just like that? His arm is back so it never happened?”
As if Shikamaru hadn’t suffered under the pain of a severed limb. As if he hadn’t agonized over the thought of being forced to retire from field work for good right at the start of his career.
All because of her failure.
Shikaku heaved a great sigh, shifting his hold to one better suited for guiding her inside as if she couldn’t do it on her own. She was tired, not useless.
“Shikamaru’s fine.” He finally bothered to alleviate some of the stress his pregnant wife was no doubt suffering under. “Shikako created a jutsu that created a near identical replica.”
“What? Just like that?” Created a 'new' jutsu out of thin air? Ridiculous.
Now Shikako really laughed. “I know right? Just like that, as if it were so easy.”
If feelings of guilt were that easy to rid oneself of, like taking off a coat at the end of the day, then it would barely even be a concept.
Shikako’s shadow had no more room for her insecurities, and she knew exactly what happens when you continue on anyway. She almost yearned for it, to just let go, but there was a soon to be meeting with the Hokage that she should try to prepare for.
“Go have a shower, get dressed, and we’ll have a late breakfast.” Shikaku would usually have been at the office ages ago by now yet seemed to have no inclination to go any time soon. “Then until you get your summons for the meeting, you and I can go over some work together. It’ll be nice.”
“Am I being punished?” Because that sounded horrible.
“That remains to be seen, but I’d say the chances are low.”
.
.
An ANBU came by to pick her up. It made mum frown with distaste, but there wasn’t anything she could do to stop it. Dad had gone off to do Jounin Commander work roughly an hour before the operative showed up, so maybe Tsunade had offered him some kind of courtesy after realising there was nothing critical about the situation.
Let Shikaku handle the ethics side of things and then once Shikako was in a more stable state of mind, Tsunade would grill her over how she’d managed to achieve it and whether or not it was possible to do so on someone else or a different limb.
The answer was no, because those were her limbs and they weren’t a one size fits all product. Perhaps she could alter the shape and size while in shadow state, but that was so low on her level of projects that it didn’t even register as something that needed doing.
It would also only have a chance of working on a Nara, given that their unique chakra affinity was a requirement for any hope of success.
There were a handful of clan members who she knew to have lost legs, arms, or even just a few of their fingers. She wasn’t looking forward to the day where they would come to ask her with potentially false hopes and offer nothing but fear and caution as her reward in the face of such an ability.
The Nara did not like it when a clan member stretched the bounds of what their shadows can do, given the many dangers involved in doing so. It made them fearful of any advancements in shadow jutsu and Shikako hated it.
She’d been to T&I as a guest more than once in the past when lazy office Chunin sent her off with messengers from the hawks and was even given the tour by Ibiki-taicho who she shared a pretty good work relationship with.
She wasn’t guilty of having done anything wrong, so Shikako walked in with her head held high and a face of complete composure. She was guided to what would be her cell for the duration of her time here, however long that may be. Bets were on it being a short stay.
This wasn’t a special cell or anything like that, one made for someone who was of some high standing and whose guilt was in question. The cell was as bare bones as any other. Appearances needed to be maintained. There were repercussions to disobeying your Hokage, or at least that was how it had looked in the hospital ward. A metal slap served as the sleeping area, a toilet with no privacy protection whatsoever and that was it. Not even a sink to wash one's hands.
How homely.
Her brother better change his tune to gratefulness real soon or she would be holding this against him for ever. Or until he made Jounin.
“So Ibiki-taicho, what’s the food like here?” She asked cutely, hands clasped together behind her back.
The man didn’t scoff with amusement like he might of if she wasn’t currently his prisoner, but there were other ways to detect that he did in fact view her as not guilty of any true crime.
The fondness that she held for this man soared ever more from that small vote of confidence by someone who had no reason to be biased. She was in good hands.
“I doubt you’ll like it.” He stated blandly as he locked the cell behind her.
Jokes on them, because no one had bothered to check for possible seals on her body. There were a dozen Ichiraku ramen meals alone, just in case she was lucky enough to cross paths with Naruto while out on a mission. Not to mention the multitudes of other, more healthy foods, also in there.
Not that she would remain sane if it really took that long to get this stupid situation resolved.
“Hokage-sama will be here soon, so freshen up if you can.”
Shikako looked around rhetorically in search of a non-existent sink or mirror to do exactly that before realising that Ibiki-taicho had made a joke. At least this time she was in her normal day attire, only minus the ninja attachments.
When Tsunade did arrive, it was straight to business.
“I hope you’ve changed your tune, Shikako?” She stood before her cell with her hands on her hips, looking very stern.
“Per your explicit orders Tsunade-sama, I can’t talk about it.” Shikako answered sardonically. It was far more ballsy than what she would usually respond with, but she was in a bloody prison cell, all because of an overaction. She had a right to be caustic.
The older woman looked heavenward but she was no fool. There was one main source as to which this Nara accomplished her bullshit. One which was most certainly top secret.
“Ibiki give us a moment and clear out the other watchers. I’ll call you back in once we’re done.”
There was a short break as they allowed time for everyone to clear out. Shikako monitored them with her chakra sense, just to be sure that everyone was gone.
“The stone.” Tsunade guessed correctly.
She hadn’t made use of the shadow state all that often but had clarified certain pieces of her mission reports in person to the Hokage. This woman would have at least an idea to the fact that Shikako was capable of utilizing the Nara clan jutsu in ways no other member could do.
“Correct.” Shikako nodded. “I initially suggested during a semi family meeting, mum wasn’t there, that I could offer Shikamaru my arm as a transplant.”
Tsunade levelled her with a very unimpressed look.
“I know, I know. It was stupid to suggest it at the time.” Shikako crossed her arms defensively. Why was it so wrong to just want to solve a problem in the quickest and most simplest way?
Yet Tsunade seemed to know her better than Shikako had any reason to expect other than perhaps her being one of Naruto’s teammates.
“But you did it anyway.” It was a statement, not a question.
‘Doing it anyway’ was practically the unofficial Team Seven motto.
“I imagine you noticed the differences between Shikamaru’s arms.” They were twins but Shikako bloody well didn’t live an easy life. Her arm was just as muscular as Shikamaru’s, if not more, so it hardly resembled the arm of, say, a civilian woman’s.
But it was far more battle worn than the arm that had once been in its current place. Shikamaru lived a relatively easy life in comparison to the average Chunin, more due to his attitude towards training than anything to do with his status as clan heir.
“All the doctors did, but fortunately for you, none of them are your assigned practitioner and therefore remain only slightly doubtful that it isn’t the arm of his ingenious sister.”
Shikako shook her head in amusement. It was more than obvious that there was only one individual who both had the ability and motivation to achieve such a thing, though they wouldn’t know that much about the former part.
Tsunade definitely did.
“I didn’t cut it off and then glue it onto his stump. Nor did I regrow it.” It was obvious but she still felt the need to clarify.
“Again, I’m well aware that you are not capable of reattaching a transplant to a patient. It’s tricky stuff and even just one mistake almost always results in reduced functionality or outright failure.”
“But I did alright, didn’t I?” She asked worriedly, not having had the energy or time to do her own proper check. “Full functionality right?”
“Yes.” She stated gravely, as though it were somehow a bad thing. Shikako waited impatiently for the other shoe to drop.
“It’s important to me that you understand the severity of this. Even if we went with the normal transplant option, Shikamaru would be looking at only eighty percent functionality in that arm in a best case scenario.”
Shikako stared at the woman, waiting for her to get to the point that she actually wanted to convey. Because that had sounded very, very good and not at all bad.
“Not even I could improve on that.” Tsunade continued in the face of her silence, and honestly Shikako really didn’t understand what the big whoop was.
“Yes you could.” She stated bluntly. Perhaps that hadn’t been the brightest thing to say, judging by the outraged face her Hokage made.
“Excuse me!?” Who was this child to say what she was and was not capable of?
Shikako placed both hands over her mouth, completely aghast. She did not mean to say that.
“Explain your reasoning for that belief, Shikako, and don’t give me some propaganda spiral about my healing fame.” Oh god, she was seriously mad.
Was she being too nonchalant about all this? Honestly, why was everything being blown out of portion? She didn’t even use any seals this time.
Now she needed to come up with an explanation that would work, but even she knew that this one was immoral, particularly when it was Tsunade who was about to hear it.
“Your grandfather’s cells have been used in the past to restore limbs, particularly an arm in this case, where they may have otherwise been without mobility.” Shikako explained meekly, hoping beyond all else that she wouldn’t blow up on her.
Shikako had never met any of her grandparents but even then, she wouldn’t like it if their bio matter was being used without prior consent. Hashirama would never allow such a thing to be done with his own cells, knowing full well the danger they pose.
Tsunade remained silent for a moment at the mention of her grandfather, the Shodai Hokage. Shikako had no idea as to the relationship the two of them had shared, though she knew that Tsunade had been quite young when he had been killed by overwhelming numbers in the early days of the First Shinobi War, weakened by the wounds from his final fight with Madara.
It had been his brother, the Nidaime, who’d ended that war at the cost of his own life. Shikako could understand not wanting to continue on without your brother being there.
“As the world’s foremost medical expert, if you lowered your morals, should there ever be the need to do so, then I have full faith that you would be more than capable of replicating such a procedure.”
“And who was this limb restoring operation performed on?” Tsunade would be far more aware of the numbers and identities of her personnel who’d both lost limbs and had received replacement operations than Shikako ever would.
Perhaps she thought to catch Shikako in a lie? Or maybe just a wrong assessment made by an overthinking sensor who knew little to nothing about Konoha’s more advanced medical procedures?
“Shimura Danzo.”
While it did have to be said, being this far in the game, Shikako felt instant regret for having done so. This was way too reckless.
Tsunade couldn’t possibly understand the full danger that this man represented. But if there was even a tiny flicker of hope that he could be dealt with, Konoha’s strength would soar to new heights without his poison constantly bringing it down.
Ironically.
“How could you possibly know such a thing? I was not aware that you had access to the medical files of Konoha’s council members.”
“I don’t, obviously.” There really wasn’t any need for rhetorical questions, and maybe she had dumped too much of herself into her shadow because she would usually never be brave enough to talk like this to her village leader.
“But as stated in my medical files, which I imagine you have read, and also the reason for me being a special Jounin-
“Cut the shit!” She’d accused a village elder of potential high treason and Tsunade had long since lost any remaining patience for this day.
“I’m something of a decent sensor.” Shikako flinched. “Maybe a bit more than just decent.”
“When one digs really deep into an individual’s chakra, sometimes if it’s thick enough I can actually detect the family they descend from.” She continued.
Tsunade stared her down before motioning her to go on.
“It’s easy for me to recognize Senju chakra because you’re right in front of me and I’ve enough experience around Uzumaki chakra to be able to remove that part from yours.” Even if she’d only met the one Uzumaki in her life so far, if one didn’t count Tsunade as being one.
“And you can sense this Senju chakra in Danzo’s arm, leading you to theorise that it has Hashirama’s cells in it. How did you jump to it being my grandfather's cells and not any of the other Senju clan members?” Tsunade asked a really good question which unfortunately the easiest answer to was rather rude.
What other clan members?
Other than Tobirama, who had no talent in anything medical, the Senju clan weakened itself via a false sense of security in relying on just two shinobi.
“I do not wish to insult the Senju Clan, Tsunade-sama.” Shikako fiddled with her hands, feeling somewhat embarrassed despite the current environment. “If I had to guess, it was probably Orochimaru who performed the operation at some point after the Second Shinobi War had ended. You can say whatever nasty thing about him you want and most of it would be true, but I don’t think he’d ever steal biomatter from his teammate.”
Tsunade stared at her prisoner yet she seemed to be seeing through her, lost somewhere in a different time period. One of complete trust in one another and the close comradery that came with it.
“I heard from Naruto what Orochimaru offered in return for-”
“You’ve gone off topic Nara.” There was a firmness in Tsunade’s tone which Shikako knew to never go against. “Get back to the arm.”
“Right, ah, um, sorry about that.” Shikako had to take a second to remember where she’d been before branching off into the Senju Clan’s decline.
“Okay, well, It gets weirder.” She ignored Tsunade’s heavenward look. “It’s also loaded with Uchiha chakra, focused in ten different sockets throughout the arm. It’s super gross so I didn’t look too deep into it, but yeah that arm works.”
“Though I can imagine why he wouldn’t want others to see it. The thing properly resembles a tree.” Shikako tried to downplay the seriousness of all this, despite how much she didn’t want to.
It's just that she feared Tsunade would do something rash with this information. Once again, it was Shikako who’d burdened the Hokage with life altering decisions that only she could make and be the one who suffers the blame should things go wrong.
There was a lot that could go wrong if she went too fast with this. It would be better to gain evidence in advance of springing any accusations, at least more than the word of a young teenager, though delaying ran the risk of Danzo noticing that he was being investigated.
“I have never lied to you Tsunade-sama and have no intention of ever doing so. You are capable of so many things that you’d never lower yourself to doing because you’re a good person.” Shikako had complied with the secrecy orders her Hokage demanded of her and revealed the unethical conduct of a bitter political rival.
Now it was time for her to be released from this jail cell.
“That's why you’re my second favourite Hokage.” Because Tobirama was untouchable in first place, but the gap between Tsunade and her next preferred Hokage was just as wide. Sorry Minato, but you really dropped the ball at the end there.
Tsunade rolled her eyes but remained in deep contemplation, her thoughts moving in a direction that Shikako wasn’t sure she liked.
“Thanks brat. It means a lot.” The sarcasm was thick with this one. She then did something with her chakra and the door to their private discussion was opened.
Ibiki-taicho walked in with a raised eyebrow, probably not expecting anything that juicy to have been revealed by a fourteen year old who was only a Genin a few short months ago.
“Call for a general meeting in the war room, get all available personnel from Alpha to Beta to attend plus those pain in the arse councillors. Time for-“
“Wait, wait!” Shikako grasped the bars which kept her imprisoned, desperation and fear written on her face. “You can’t just confront him. He’s beyond dangerous!”
Tsunade stared at her with steel in her eyes at the interruption, completely ignoring her concerns.
“14:00. Make sure there’s no chance of Hatake being late.”
That was just cruel.
She could escape from here. Her chakra, while still low from her actions the night before, wasn’t restrained in any shape or form. The Gelel Stone sat below the neck, resting against her chest.
Ready for use.
“Shikako Nara, as punishment for disobedience and disorderly behaviour towards your Hokage, as witnessed by many, you will remain in this cell until released by either myself or Ibiki.”
“You can’t be serious! I complied with your orders to the letter!” She had not disclosed S-ranked secrets despite the many high ranking people, including the Hokage, attempting to get her to go against those orders in a public place.
If she was to be punished for following orders, then she would never do so again. Her breathing was becoming erratic.
“Shikako!”
She flinched and stepped back from the bars, averting her gaze to the ground. She did not do well with superiors shouting at her, at least when she lacked the fury to stand up against it. Were it anyone else other than the Hokage, she would have stood her ground
“He won’t die.” It was only a whisper, done without conscious thought.
“What was that?”
“It’s the eyes. He won’t die.”
“Shikako, if you know something, then now is the time.”
How could she possibly explain having the knowledge of Izanagi? She may as well just reveal herself as being unnatural to this world.
“There are eleven eyes. He will need to be killed twelve times.”
“You said there were only ten in his arm.” She’d never said there were Sharingan eyes implanted in his arm, but the mention of Uchiha chakra in the form of sockets had likely made it obvious enough.
“His right eye. It’s a Sharingan.”
“Hokage-sama?” Right, Ibiki-taicho wouldn’t know what they were talking about.
But Tsunade had caught on.
“And why does he have that when he is no longer a field operative?” If he wasn’t using it for copying jutsu or reading an opponent's moves during a fight, then that left only one other option.
But why would you ask that of a low ranking child? Slow down and stop thinking so recklessly, this is dangerous!
“It’s for you.” She answered lifelessly, knowing it was already too late. Tsunade was already determined to go in guns blazing.
With more than forty-five years of experience as a Shinobi, serving alongside Uchihas in both ‘peace time’ and two Shinobi World Wars, Tsunade did not need to ask her to clarify.
“I see.”