Chapter 77: 73: Swirling Threads

Tsunade knelt before the girl, her hands laid upon the child's arm to heal and examine it.

Sumika herself was staring at the mild bruising on her arm with an uncannily blank expression.
No twinges of pain, no worried tears.
Completely silent.
Just a somewhat thoughtful and faraway glint in her eyes as she stared at the green light illuminating Tsunade's palms.

Observing up close, Tsunade could sense the girl slowing her breathing immensely, her chakra's presence also fluctuating even more erratically. In the moment, it felt as if Sumika were trying to suppress her presence, but only sort of... half-effectively?

Dan currently stood slightly aside, but the two adults shared a long and meaningful gaze.

In truth, Tsunade had barely slept that night, kept awake by her worrying, theorizing, and plotting. So, early in the morning, she'd gone out to a training field to let off some steam. Punching something really hard never failed to take her mind off pressing troubles. She'd also been truly grateful when Dan had showed up with the girl, and as if sensing her struggles, provided some fun distractions... only for them to then end in an almost-serious accident.

To Tsunade, knowing what she knew now, this aftermath all conjured a sort of eerie silence and confusion around the girl. Yet even now, it was striking to note that Sumika's body appeared about as normal as one could expect from a regular girl of her lineage. But even with that.... she shouldn't be able to just shrug off the potential for serious injuries so calmly and with some minimal bruising...

They'd laughed it off because Sumika seemed unbothered, but both Dan and Tsunade sobered to the fact that much was unusual about this scenario. She could tell at a glance that Dan wanted to talk with her about it privately...

In the midst of their spar, while concentrating on each other, it gradually became difficult to pinpoint Sumika's presence. They'd both thought her much farther away than she actually had been... but how? Why?

If anything, this was even further indication that the Sannin needed to do what Grandmother had asked, to have that conversation. But it was also thoroughly clear that Sumika feared talking about her past, and it tore at Tsunade to dig up potential trauma without proper preparation. Despite her career in medical ninjutsu, she wasn't very skilled at this...

But the situation was developing such that they all might be worse off if she didn't...

Images of Sumika flashed through Tsunade's mind, of the girl out in the forests with clothes stained in blood. Of autopsy reports showing the brutally efficient execution of Dan's assailants. Of the shock and fear that shadowed Sumika's expression soon after they met. Of the silence that lay behind the girl's adorable and earnest behavior.

However such a child had managed to survive on her own for so long, it had certainly made her capable... far more capable than the girl seemingly wished to let on...

And that was smart. Tsunade could hardly blame her, in a world of isolation and war. But with that much raw talent and ability, combined with Sumika's reserved personality... it produced a duality of expectations that left the Sannin hesitating in more ways than one.

Tsunade couldn't help but feel perturbed. Was this fear... or rather anticipation?
That, both... both were undeniably there, but honestly... the frustration and guilt at the possibility of being so unknowingly negligent was more off-putting.

Tsunade gave a slight shake of her head, chastising herself internally for the irresponsible thoughts. The Sannin doubted she'd be able to handle it if her unease and hesitation inadvertently caused the young girl any more pain. Considering all that the girl likely went through, of course she'd be a little... unique. As long as she could be safe and happy, did it really matter if her abilities were unusual, or if her past was bleak? She would just have to help Sumika grow and explore her own nature one step at a time... starting with those extraordinary abilities.

Yes, thinking this way was much more encouraging. Focus on the problems at hand...
Preventing meddling from those who would exploit the girl was the first step.
Right... and, honestly, something like this was nowhere even close to the strangest thing she'd encountered on the battlefield. Given just half the stuff the Aburame ClanAburame Clan, home of the freaky bug-stuff normally got up to-

At that moment, her stray thoughts were immediately abandoned.

Tsunade's eyes widened and her attention snapped to Sumika's's arm. Without the Sannin having changed anything, the bruises began to mend and fade twice, even thrice as fast. With her full focus, to Tsunade it felt like the girl's own body was enhancing the healing process on its own. Wherever she directed her chakra to accelerate natural healing, so too would the Sumika's chakra follow, grasping onto the same directives and coordinating with them.

The Senju Clan had always healed quickly, but this was on another level entirely!
Was this Grandfather's level, innate healing faster even than the Shōsen JutsuMystical Palm Technique, the advanced healing jutsu!? As a medical researcher, the phenomenon was enthralling to witness.

A slightly sizzling vapor emitted from around the girl's damaged skin, and within seconds the bruises had vanished and the healing completed.

A stunned Tsunade could only glance up, by chance catching Sumika's face sporting a rare and relaxed expression, her eyelids drooping nearly halfway closed.

"Your chakra... it feels familiar. Like before, cool and pleasant..."

With those whispered words, the girl flashed a tiny, comfortable smile. Her mild gaze peeked between a clump of dark red bangs that the earlier commotion had knocked askew.

Tsunade felt her heart twinge and her mind stutter.
Unbelievably precious.

 

---

 

Even after the treatment was completed, Sumika felt a pleasant coolness linger in her limbs, filling her with a refreshed feeling. It was quite enjoyable, so she reveled in it while the sensation faded.

After a minute or so of silence, she watched as Dan excused himself to go clean up and wash his uniform, patting a confused-looking Tsunade on the shoulder a few times as he went. When that failed to elicit a response, he jostled her shoulders a bit, which seemed to return the Sannin's attention.

With her already-outstretched arm, Tsunade then ran a hand across Sumika's forehead, clearing a few disheveled strands of hair from her face and tucking them behind the girl's ear. Sumika found no reason to protest, absorbed in noting how impossibly gentle the gesture felt. A gentleness that felt like an extension of the refreshment still tickling her skin.

"Err, hmm," The Sannin stuttered after a moment, watching Dan depart, "That's... not unsurprising." The woman blinked, shaking her head vigorously. "Members of the same clan often share similar chakra signatures. With sophisticated sensing techniques, it is even possible to identify people specifically by these relations..."

That kind of explanation would have been helpful back when she first met Fuzō... but it was nice to have such concrete confirmation. As for sensing techniques... she'd still been quite interested in them since long before, like when she was observing the samurai. Also when she learned about the Yamakuni's barrier...

Blinking away from of her brief distraction, Sumika managed to reply with, "I... had wondered..."

Waaah, her voice had come out a bit cloudy there.
She really had wondered about it before. Quite earnestly, even. But still, Tsunade's chakra felt more familiar and impactful than even Fuzō's or the others at the Yamakuni Sanctuary. Sumika remembered this particular sensation from that time in the Sanctuary's hotsprings, too-

The reminder of which dredged up some vivid memories, causing a bit of the coolness in Sumika to be replaced by warmth around her heart. She didn't have much time to react to it though, for Tsunade carried on with,

"You know... family members will often feel particularly close in chakra signature, to the point that it would be recognizable even without having ever met. Really, thinking back on it, I-..." she trailed off with a sigh, before continuing with, "I suppose it would be natural to talk about it this way. I... wish I had brought it up earlier, yesterday. I just didn't want overburden you so soon after you arrived, with so much we needed to do..."

Tsunade then released a long and protracted breath through her nose, leading the still-somewhat-rumpled girl over to sit on the bench where Sumika had left her waistband from before.

With eyes that held a look of reminiscence, the Sannin looked up at the grayish winter sky.

"Familiar, huh?" the woman's tone grew wispy, "It all... must be so confusing for you. Places you've never been to, people you've never met. Yet somehow... feeling familiar, am I right?"

Sumika took a second to ponder that, her feelings thus far accurately described by Tsunade's words over these last few days. Almost scarily so. Without anything to add, she affirmed with a nod.

"I'd gathered as much." came the plaintive reply, followed by a sidelong glance that met the girl's eyes,

"Sumika-chan, back when you first met Grandmother... when chakra filled the room then... it was familiar too, right?"

Those words caught Sumika's attention like few other had.
Yet all the same, the resignation in Tsunade's voice resonated with the emptiness, the hollowness the girl sometimes felt in her heart. Even to this very second, nothing had ever brought a greater sense of satisfaction or a more intense feeling of possessiveness and fulfillment than the moment Sumika had reclaimed her identity. She'd even asked Lady Mito about it as well, but they'd ended up avoiding the topic...

Avoided..?

A sense of foreboding suddenly overtook Sumika, and Tsunade's tone suddenly made a lot more sense.

"Mmm," she ventured hesitantly, "I did ask Mito-sama... something similar. That chakra really left a... lasting impression."

"Yes, well..." Tsunade acknowledged while rubbing a hand to her forehead, "I do not know how, or through what technique, but I'm sure now... chakra from that gemstone belonged to her, Uzumaki Masumi. My second cousin, and... your mother."

These words, too; they stabbed at a place in Sumika's heart that felt so empty. A place that fueled her ravenous craving for answers. A place that had been starved and suppressed to the limits of her patience.

That ferocity boiled up the surface now, and a tremor or two ran through her shoulders.
But she held it in, like she always had. Always felt like she had to.

Sumika merely closed her eyes in silence, her head slightly bowed so that her face would be hidden. A fiery warmth tickled at her eyes, annoyingly persisting no matter how many times she blinked.

Inside grew a deep, ingrained conviction. Another certainty. A morsel that sated her ardent curiosity.

In this world of chaos and confusion she found herself in, Sumika had developed a boundless appreciation for certainty. And Tsunade's words rung with the tune of Truth.

Yet now that she heard it, heard it confirmed... Sumika found herself more shocked by how unsurprised she felt.
As if those moments of realization had already come and gone, to some extent. Or perhaps, had been suspected even subconsciously, given all the clues and threads of suggestion gathered thus far.

Threads she had put off time and time again, to keep calm and focus on the immediate present. Threads of thought which swirled around in the back of her mind, nagging for attention. Which had gotten her so worked up this very morning.

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That nostalgia, that intense but ambiguous sensation of yearning, that piece of herself put back in place. The answer had already been there, inside, the moment she felt those feelings, the moment she was touched by chakra from... from her mother?

A memory stirred once more, traces that had been with her all her life — the fragments she had clung to at the brink of death and beyond.
A tinkling of laughter, mirthful and sweet, echoed faintly in her mind as it had not so long ago.

'Sumika...' the memory of a gentle voice had laughed.

So warm, so reassuring. A faint memory of a voice laughing, calling out her name.

A memory of Joy. Her mother's voice, Uzumaki Masumi.
Even in the years spent all alone, even faded and distorted by time, that memory of her mother's voice had stayed with her...
The fragmented hint of joy, of familiarity.

What words could describe what Family was? What parents were? What feelings matched with these words she had learned?
Whatever the answer, Sumika knew it was surely important — to be cherished. This kind of understanding was on the level of a primal instinct.

And accompanying it, that deep-rooted sense of loss which had lingered since forever. A crushing loss, which flared whenever she felt alone... the kind which her heart recognized before her mind.
The certainty that... it was Death which separated her from her original family. But by now, she was almost numb to the feeling. It had been with her for so long...

Yet the squeezing in her throat was almost unbearable now. At times like these, it was lucky that she didn't have to breathe.

Sumika ran both of her hands slowly through her hair, her fingers flowing up through the silken strands before eventually reaching the ornament affixed behind her head. That hairclasp which was said to be Lady Mito's gift to Masumi, a gift to her mother. An heirloom that accompanied Sumika in every moment, perhaps her entire life.

The incalculable comfort this little gift had brought her... had undoubtedly allowed her to survive, to persevere.

An heirloom...

Her eyes stung and moisture gathered in them, but all the same, Sumika felt calm.
She had known from the beginning that much had been lost, that much had been taken from her. Some things... never to be recovered.

But she wasn't that helpless, locked away child anymore.
Someone long gone, then somebody new again: Sumika. 
Someone who could gather all the shattered little pieces of herself and carry on. That was at her core, this fierce determination.
However circumstantial, she had won that through the spilling of blood.
And recognizing it made everything just a little easier, filling the emptiness with that which was both old and new... one piece at a time.

As Sumika raised her head, she was bemused to see that Tsunade looked pained, as if she were suffering somehow as well,

"I'm sorry, I'm just so bad at this." The Sannin hissed through her teeth, distress wavering her voice and twisting her posture, "I didn't mean to hurt-"

"No-" Sumika preempted solemnly, her tone steady as she dragged one arm across her face to wipe away her tears. "No. Thank you, truly. I... I didn't know how much I needed to hear that."

Detaching the hairclasp from behind her head, Sumika placed it between her palms and stared at its signet, the symbol of the Senju Clan. Of Tsunade's family... and apparently, now hers as well. Somehow, she felt she understood that idea a bit better.

"All this time... I can't describe how I've felt." the girl muttered pensively, "Yet I was obsessed with these feelings, this aching familiarity. I guess, in a way, family... was always with me, after all."

"Sumika-chan, that's..." The Sannin's hand came to rest on her shoulder with the most delicate touch, voice strained with a perplexing urgency, "I never knew your mother for long. I'm barely even qualified to speak of her, even less so of your father. Compared to Grandmother, I..." Her words suddenly shifted to something much more energetic in tone, "But she was a bright and motivated woman, that much I know. And what's more, those chains of chakra-!"

Sumika bristled and the hairs on her neck rose at the mention of chakra chains... before remembering that her own had already been exposed. She was still more or less unused to having people know about her abilities, even if only in part. Her immediate reaction was still always wariness and caution.

Tsunade noticed the flinch though, hesitating. So Sumika reluctantly added,

"Ah, it's nothing. I just... forgot for a moment that you already knew... about them."

Even just forcing those few words out was an effort, and she stiffened up subconsciously.

"Please, please don't feel you have to hide them from me. Your chains are an extraordinary gift and a versatile tool. A truly beautiful technique. But I would never wish that to become any more of a burden for you."

At that, a tiny twinge occurred somewhere in the corners Sumika's mind. For a moment she felt the slightest bit conflicted, yet hiding was also like an instinct to her.

"But still, about those chains... there's something you must know. The Masumi-san I remember was particularly adept in the exploration of fūinjutsu, for which her branch of the Uzumaki had developed a special aptitude - an aptitude that developed into a uniquely potent, kekkei genkai variant of chakra chain techniques."

Sumika glanced up sharply, scanning Tsunade's face. Where was she going with this...

"That's right... the very same chains. I once had the privilege to see Masumi-san wield her kekkei genkai — and I'll never forget it. Hers were like a dance of brilliant azure threads."

A scene sprang unbidden to Sumika's mind, imagining dexterous the movements of her own chains... but in a shade of bright glittering blue. An enormous, complex emotion accompanied that moment, squeezing at her throat and twisting in her stomach. In it, some mix of the joy and longing that she had come to know recently.

Whatever had come over her, she must have showed it somehow, for Tsunade sidled closer on the bench and extended an arm around the girl.

"I know what it feels like to long for someone, to feel the emptiness of loss." The Sannin whispered, her tone suffused with a hint of grief that gave Sumika goosebumps.

That's right... she had spoken with Lady Mito about it too, that Tsunade had lost most her family as well...

"But those chains are a gift you share with you mother. An everlasting symbol of the bond you share, an unforgettable reminder..." Saying this, the woman paused, a hand placed to the necklace resting against her chest, "If you ever feel so alone again, think of her and those beautiful chains that link you two together. Then her memory will always be with you, through life and death. Never forget that."

Hearing such a thing, Sumika could barely keep herself together.
If she thought about it this way... then it was her chains that had protected her time and time again. It was her chains that formed her armor almost instinctively whenever she'd felt pained or threatened. It was her chains that slew the abominable Shinigon...

At the moment when she was at her weakest and most vulnerable, when everything was on the line... Sumika doubted she could have controlled them on her own. Yet the chains had enacted her vengeance on the precipice of death, and had slaughtered those damn cultists at every chance! Chains... linking her together with her mother, links whose strength may have even spanned the line between life and death.

The chains, linking her to the family and past she thought she never known.

Perhaps... just perhaps, she had been cherished much more than she could ever have guessed.

The idea alone was bringing her to tears. Her entire being felt wracked with a strident and conflicting passion. The hand clutching her heirloom ornament trembled, while the other clenched to her heart. Her heart... her heart felt like it was compressing, and the immense concentration of chakra present there flared again and again.

Tsunade sat beside her the whole time, softly caressing the girl's nape and shoulders.

"Keeping all that bunched up inside, I can scarcely imagine how you stand it."

With a pause between them, Sumika raised her violet eyes once more to match the older woman's. In Tsunade's gaze, she saw only the same tenderness and warmth that the Sannin had shown all long.

Lifting a hand to the girl's cheek, Tsunade began to wipe away at some of Sumika's tears, adding in a serious but ever so gentle voice,

"Masumi-san's chains were an azure blue. I heard once that another possessed chains of emerald green... Won't you show me what wondrous color resides in yours?"

Doubting she could manage with words, Sumika merely nodded through her tears. Nodded over and over. She barely even waited for the Sannin to scoot back a bit before willing her chains to manifest.

With a sensation of pressure building up on her sternum, five radiant Amethyst chains appeared and rose from her back, one after the another. Fanning out to curl around her form, the five of them almost resembled a set of claws poised for battle. In Sumika's tear-blurred eyes, just today, their color seemed that much more vivid and dazzling.

"Five... so young, but with five chains..." Tsunade breathed out with as wisp of awe, "I didn't get to know Masumi-san well, but I'm sure a woman like her would have been overjoyed and proud of her daughter's talent."