Family Accommodations

(Naga's Point of View)

Naga stood frozen as a purple blur tackled her into a hug. As soon as their group walked within visual range of her, the lady bolted in their direction and threw herself onto Naga. It was certainly an odd feeling to be hugged by someone other than her mother. At least she resembled her mother, even if that only applied to the version in her memories, in the earlier stages of Orochimaru's experiments on her.

That said, this lady really should be more careful. If Kamui hadn't warned her of this clan member of hers, the lady would be dead. She had been around too many despicable figures, especially in these facilities, to let someone hug her like that. Hell, if she weren't designated as Orochimaru's new 'vessel', she would have already been assaulted by now, especially in her younger, weaker years. It was just that Orochimaru warned everyone against it. It wouldn't do for his new body to be tainted by filth.

"So…you're my supposed relative?" Naga asked skeptically, not really trusting the concept too much.

Starting to notice Naga's discomfort, Reina slowly released the hug and stepped back to introduce herself.

"Of course. My name is Reina Kocho. I'm the heir to the Kocho clan and likely to be clan leader soon after we complete this mission." Reina introduced.

Hearing the introduction, Naga sighed and responded in kind, "I'm Naga Kocho. From Kamui's explanation, you already know about my heritage, so I won't bore you with the details. You should know, once we get to Konoha, I'll be serving as Kamui's retainer, not as a member of the Kocho Clan." Naga stated, wanting to make sure her affiliations were clear.

Reina's eyebrows furrowed at Naga's statements.

"Are you sure you don't want to join the clan? We could provide you with a family." Reina asked, hoping to persuade her otherwise.

"I have an idea." Kamui stated, deciding to prevent Naga from taking any more distance from the clan. She didn't really have much experience in this type of situation, but she knew it wasn't healthy for Naga to be without family. Forging bonds with family is just what Naga needs right now. Revenge would come, but it shouldn't at the expense of her mental health.

"Oh?" The two voiced as they turned to her.

Kamui smiled and elaborated, "What if Naga lived in the Kocho Clan compound for a few months? She wouldn't officially join until she felt comfortable and could leave any time she wants. My room will always be open if she needs it. With this, you could try staying with your newly discovered family members and see how you like it." Kamui suggested.

Before Reina or Naga could put in their opinion, Yugao responded, "Like Kamui, you can also come to my house at any time, whether it be day or night. She lives with her family, so it may be a little harder for her, but I live by myself for the most part. If everything goes according to plan, I'll be your sensei or, at the very least, the mission commander of any missions you join us for. In that capacity at least, it's my obligation to make sure you're taken care of."

Naga and Reina paused to consider the suggestion.

Reina personally liked this option. She understood how weird this must be for someone with as abnormal of a social life as humanly possible. Aside from stories from Ana, Naga probably hadn't ever had a family to rely on. It wouldn't be conventional, but it was certainly something she would make happen. After all, it's not like anyone in the clan had the right to stop her. Her father certainly wouldn't.

Naga was of a similar thought process. Her mom had told her stories of her life growing up in the Kocho clan, but it had always been fantastical. It was a distant dream she'd never see. The funny part was, the Shinobu Island Base was the one she hated the most. It brought her so physically close to her mythical family, but it felt the farthest, the most agonizing. Kamui was right. This gave her the best of both worlds, freedom and family.

"Thank you. If you'll have me, I'd be happy to stay with the clan." Naga said to Reina, agreeing with the suggestion. Then she paused and looked up in reminiscence. She continued, "Truthfully, I've been looking forward to this for years. The clan's mostly what mom ever talked about. She loved the clan with every fiber of her being. I've wanted to see it for years, to understand why it meant so much to her."

Hearing this, Reina's face took on a glowing smile, a genuine one, as she pulled her new family member into a hug.

A few moments later, Kamui killed the mood.

"By the way Naga, do you need any clothes? Not that I don't appreciate the view, but we'll be heading to Kocho village pretty soon." She asked, causing the hug to turn awkward and the Kocho's to separate.

Naga considered her options for a second. A few moments later, she responded, "I have some clothes in one of the spaces here, but it's Orochimaru's standard sound uniform. As well-known as it is, I don't think wearing that is a good idea." She stated, receiving a nod of agreement from the other three. Considering they were planning on assassinating four of the man's chief lieutenants, then moving back to Konoha, wearing that would absolutely invite unneeded trouble.

"Well, why don't you wear one of my spare uniforms then. Our sizes are pretty comparable, so it should work. I have a few extra sets. The only item I didn't bring spares for was the haori, but that was more so due to it being a recent experiment more than anything. While your changing, I'll do so as well." Kamui explained.

Naga nodded in appreciation. "Thank you." She gratefully stated.

"Now that that's settled, let's plan our approach." Yugao stated, getting everyone's attention. "Here's what we're going to do. We'll have Kamui send shadow clones to retake their positions. They'll watch the camp for us until morning. In the meantime, we'll move outside this compound and establish a base for the night. In the morning, we'll move. Normally, we'd take this opportunity and strike under the cover of night, but these are Orochimaru's elite unit. That wouldn't provide any advantage. In fact, I expect that they'll be in their element at night." She explained, getting a skeptical expression from Reina and understanding ones from both Kamui and Naga.

Naga, of course, grew up under those conditions, so the same familiarity with the dark applied to her too, while Kamui simply understood why the familiarity would be there due to her mind walks of the scientists. Those disgusting researcher's might not have been shinobi, but they did attend a lot of the practice sessions to take notes for their master, especially when he was training Naga; they needed to get all the data they could from her performance metrics during practices.

Yugao continued, "Don't worry Reina. This time, if the shadow clones detect the sound four acting, one of them can pop and Kamui can alert the group right away. We'll move immediately." Yugao stated, smiling as she watched Reina's frown shift quickly into a genuine smile. Yugao continued, "Regardless, as soon as we leave this place, Kamui will activate two barriers, a stability seal to reinforce the cavern's structure and a barrier seal to prevent anyone from entering." Hearing that, Kamui decided to put in an alternate suggestion.

"Sensei. I have another idea for that." She stated, receiving a silent prompt to continue. She continued, "How about I still use the reinforcement seal, but instead combine it with a teleportation barrier. Then, I can teleport the entire compound above ground over training ground alpha, specifically the leaf simulation zone. I'll also use the barrier seal to keep any escapee chimeras in the compound. The process shouldn't be too difficult. The only chakra draining part will be the super long-range teleportation of such a large object, but I might be able to solve that problem by having the seal draw the natural chakra from the environment while we sleep." Kamui suggested.

Naga's eyes widened at what Kamui was suggesting. She'd heard the fourth was able to perform marvelous feats of teleportation, but this is crazy. Granted, her new friend did say that she wasn't too sure on the chakra cost, but she sounded awfully confident. Reina was less surprised, but still shocked at the suggestion. The amount of chakra required for something like that would be astronomical.

Yugao seriously pondered the suggestion. It had never been done in Konoha's history. You don't just teleport entire compounds back to Konoha. There was no guidance whether to do it or not. On one hand, it would cause a lot of commotion and alert almost the entirety of Konoha's military force. On the other, there was way too much intel in this place to risk Orochimaru reclaiming it. Plus, if they moved it to Konoha, he couldn't reclaim it. She would ask Kamui about the teleportation cost when the mission was over. Although that sounded expensive, it should be possible with the amount of chakra the girl had. It may seem ridiculous to notice, but the fourth had specifically told her that his daughter had a near limitless chakra capacity. For her to be worrying about cost… Well, that could wait. Kamui would tell her if it was a significant problem for the mission.

Looking at Kamui's bright eyed face, Yugao asked, "Can you add a contract seal to the barrier so he can't summon it or use it to reverse summon?" Kamui nodded without hesitation.

Adding the seals wouldn't be a problem. Those were easy for her to create, and she didn't need any ink to do it. She just needed to be specific with her intent and supply it with enough chakra. The specificity was the primary purpose of the ink. While there were other languages, the Uzumaki's invented the currently used standard.

The reason for their usage of language in the sealing process was to focus their genetically scatter-brained minds. If they didn't, they'd lose focus during the process. Since it took them longer to perform the sealing, their scatter-brained minds opened more opportunities to mess up.

Uchiha had the opposite problem. They tended to tunnel-vision their thoughts and perspectives, which was normally a problem for them in their emotional struggles. That said, in the case of other things, including focusing their minds for the sealing process, it was extremely beneficial; they just weren't blessed with a talent for passing their intent through anything but their eyes. Kamui didn't have this limitation and could therefore take advantage of her genetic tunnel-vision to perform her unique brand of sealing.

All of this was something Kushina had explained to her after years of researching the idea in her fallen clan's records; it was almost an obsession after her initial conversation with Kamui eight years ago. It was motivated by something like, 'finding it odd that their ancestors would create something complicated for no reason.' She said it went against every behavior their clan is known for.

Initially, Kamui had hesitated on whether to suggest using such an expensive seal due to her newfound chakra restrictions. Then, she thought of another possibility.

Even if she couldn't harness nature chakra with her own body yet, that doesn't mean she couldn't have her seals draw on it themselves. She herself had the capability to draw it, she was just being patient. By having the seals absorb it themselves, she could fuel chakra hungry effects during this 'dry period' of hers while minimizing the amount needed from her own reserves. In this case, they're underground on an island filled with an abundance of poison attributed nature chakra, if the beasts are any indication. In short, this was the perfect place to try this out. After all, what can possibly go wrong? The worst that can happen is for the excess nature chakra to get wasted due to it being too potent, right?

"That's what we'll do then. Kamui, I'll write a note to the fourth that you'll need to send him. Make sure he knows it's a high priority message. I'll hand it to you ten minutes after we break from here. Now, everyone, make your preparations. We need to be ready to move at any moment. Once Kamui finishes her tasks, she'll go to sleep. The rest of us will rotate on two-hour shifts. Are there any questions?"

She received silence from the group.

"Good. Dismissed."

Secret Hyuga Passage (???'s Point of View)

In a secret passage known only to the most prominent Hyuga Clan members, the girl ran as fast as her untrained legs could carry her. On her shoulders was her daughter, while her arms carried her son. Due to being confined in her room for so long, she'd never been given the opportunity to train, so her pace was barely comparable to a young jonin. Even then, she had to force an enormous volume of chakra through her legs to barely reach that pace.

"Mammy, where are we going?" Her daughter asked. She had been asking the same question repeatedly for the last ten minutes, receiving the same answer every time.

"Honey, we're going somewhere special, okay? Just let Mommy take you there and keep quiet." The girl explained, trying to keep her daughter as calm as possible.

"Okay…" the toddler finally acquiesced.

Her Clan Head hadn't been wrong in his assessment of the little girl. She was indeed special. Just listening to the fluency of her questions and the instinctual wisdom for a girl her age really made that point clear. Her daughter clearly knew that something was wrong with this situation and even helped her in keeping the youngest calm.

It was an hour before midnight. Without arousing suspicion, she gathered her immediate belongings, took her kids, and left toward the main family's secret escape tunnel. It was designed to bring non-combatant members of the main family away during times of crisis. For example, while Hiashi may have participated during the nine-tails attack, his wife was escorted through this tunnel to ensure her safety. The only non-clan members aware of it are Hiruzen, Danzo, Koharu, and Homura, and three of those are already dead.

Soon, the trio saw a rapidly approaching bright light, indicating they had reached the exit leading to the outskirts of Konoha.

'Finally, we're safe.' She thought, thinking that leaving the village would secure their escape.

Once they exited the cavern, the girl ran for about ten seconds before she heard it.

"Stop right there Mami Hyuga!" A furious voice shouted.

In that instant, her stomach dropped thousands of miles.