Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Sooo, a skinwalker, then.”

“What? No – I”

“Creepy not-quite-animals, intelligence of a human, evidence of weird blood magic. Skinwalker”

The bewildered stare makes it clear we are starting from the bottom up.

“You came to me because you were having trouble with something you couldn’t explain, and even though you personally think I’m a quack, your people are scared, and you called me to make them feel better.

“You tell me the descriptions you have gotten from witnesses, describe the states the bodies have been found in, and other odd occurrences, and I tell you that what you are dealing with is a skinwalker. A former human being who, through blood magic, usually a specific animal sacrifice, has given themselves the ability to disguise themselves as animals, to walk in the skins of animals, so to speak. They are different from other ‘human-turned-monster’ things in that they retain almost all cognitive function post transformation. It is just that they require continuous blood sacrifice to maintain their state and the only people crazy enough to try to change themselves into monsters via blood ritual are power hungry maniacs willing to do anything and everything to keep said power.”

“You,” a pause, the Uchiha patriarch was obviously collecting his thoughts “Ok, say I believe everything you said is true, how exactly would someone do that to themselves and how do I get rid of them.”

“I, regrettably, actually have no idea on the specifics of how one attains that sort of power other than it involves a lot of blood and an intense degree of meditative focus. It’s specific to some very old cultures who both didn’t keep many written records and aren’t willing to share any information they do have. However, I do know how to kill them. And that will be the only way to get rid of it, crazy power-hungry maniacs do not generally stop otherwise.”

“This shit is crazy.” The younger brother murmurs, almost to himself as if it weren’t for the fact he obviously wasn’t trying to be quiet. The older one gives him a glare.

“Continue.” An order.

“But of course,” a bow of the head “fire is usually the first step with these things, which is, as I understand, something of a specialty of yours. Instincts are another part, most people are fully capable of picking out the unnatural from the natural, if they simply listen to their gut instincts. As far as my knowledge goes skinwalkers choose one animal and one only. So, assuming there is only one, you should be able to identify what they are hiding as. And moreover, if your people see an animal that doesn’t look quite right, or just an animal that when looking at them makes all their instincts stand up and tell them to run. They should listen because those instincts are usually right.

“Unfortunately, they do retain the intelligence of a human, so your average hunting traps won’t work, often times their senses are enhanced as well, night vision, hearing, that sort of thing. So, it’s very unlikely you’ll be able to trap it. They are also, usually, incredibly fast, and far stronger than most humans. This one has been able to kill fully trained shinobi, so.”

“So, what your saying is, it’s a person, disguised as an animal, and that anything that kills any normal human or animal, will kill it.”

“More or less, yes. I don’t know how good their ability to heal themselves is but like, cut off their head, maybe burn their body for good measure, you should be good to go.”

“Great, we’re hunting after a murderous, magical dear.” Petulance, from the younger again. Which is fair if a bit annoying.

“Hey, listen, you asked for my advice, I’ve given it, whether or not you take it seriously, is entirely your own decision.”

“Right, of course. Will you be staying the night?” The question is only polite courtesy, I’m not actually welcome to stay the night. Part of me wants to say yes just to be annoying, but being on the bad side of the local shinobi is generally how one gets murdered.

“No, thank you, I’ll be heading out.” We all stand up, the Uchiha clan – compound? Base? Camp? – the Uchiha clan residences are rather impressive in a militaristic, less is more, sort of way.

The layout is obviously very deliberate, neat rows of buildings, straight rows, but still little bits of artistry, not just straight edges, and square buildings.

We reach the gate, and I bow politely, keeping my senses trained on my surroundings and the shinobi to my back as I head into the woods to find a place to sleep for the night. Best not to let myself be followed, polite interaction of not.

Really, they probably would have caught the maniac killing them sooner or later even without my help, whoever they are they were stupid to go after a group of assassin-mercenaries for hire. I keep my sixth sense out for what was probably a skinwalker, though you never know with shinobi. Could be some weird new fucked up technique of one of their enemies, rather than anything that would fall under my purview.

It was rather surprising they would come to me, usually I only get village elders from out of the way towns not even on any map. They must have some rather superstitious people among them, though their leaders clearly weren’t. Neither really believed me, though the elder, Madara I think, was at least listening. Not sure why people turning into animals to better kill would be so unbelievable to a people who can spit fire but so it goes.

Ah, there it is. Still a way off, but distinctly unnatural. A presence, it hasn’t noticed me, and it won’t. I have gotten very good at being unnoticed, unremarkable. Couldn’t say for certain it’s a skinwalker, could be something else, but it’s got more intelligence than say a wendigo or werewolf. Though I despise using that name for it, even if here it lacks the cultural context of being the subject of numerous shitty romance novels and is actually a very real threat that can kill an unsuspecting farmer. Weird, still so weird.

One would think being in the warring states period of Naruto would be bad enough but no, I had to get dropped in someone’s shitty au where fictional monsters are also real on top of the all-encompassing shinobi bullshit.

At least my teenage hyper fixation on horror and monsters was finally doing some good. Even if all that meant was telling farmers to stab werewolves with silver or warning against stepping inside fairy rings. Odds are still up in the air as to whether the fae exist here but there’s an alien sealed in the moon so like it isn’t exactly the craziest thing here.

I spot a decent looking hollow in the roots of a very large tree and judge it good enough for a night’s rest. Only slightly less comfortable than rundown inns and the floors of whatever poor sap has offered a place to stay as payment. I would have insisted that they didn’t need to pay me but that makes people uncomfortable, being indebted, and all that.

Digging through my bag yields the menagerie of edible plants I have, village elders and wise grandmothers are excellent sources of easy to find foods and spices. I had saved up a couple years back to buy two notebooks, one of which is now filled with drawings of specific plants and their uses, edible, medicinal, for spices, that sort of thing.  The other is the notes on everything I could remember on the lore and mythology of various spooks. As well as any first or secondhand knowledge I have gained since waking here.

Dinner of some seasoned leaves, a salad fit for royalty, now over. I rolled out my aptly named ‘ground tarp’ then my slightly tattered but very precious blanket. It was soft, animal fur on a cotton backing, or something like that. It had been payment, something I had tried to refuse given it had come from people who were clearly down on their luck, but they insisted. It was probably one of my most prized possessions.

Sleep came fast, but light, as it always had. I don’t think I’ve had a truly restful night of sleep in the last, almost 2 decades I’ve spent here.

And I just had to go and get involved with important story characters, didn’t I. The thought was something, I had been thinking since I got the request, but I couldn’t exactly refuse to come, that would have been equally as stupid. Really the best outcome is that they dismiss me as a quack, and a weirdo, and never think of me again. Lord knows the one group of people I do not need in my life are the Uchiha’s, of all fucked up groups.

Really, I’d blame the crazy on inbreeding if it weren’t for the fact they were all way to pretty to be inbred. Though maybe the chakra means the inbreeding doesn't result in the usual ugliness.

A change in smell wakes me, smoke. It clicks after a moment of bleary confusion.

Guess they took my suggestion of fire pretty seriously. Though I only really said it because I knew it applied to wendigo’s which fall into the same vague category as skinwalkers.

Well, if I’m near enough to whatever inferno they’ve started to smell it I should probably move. Disgusted that my sleep has been interrupted but nonetheless resigned to my fate. I rise –

Only to be immediately bowled over by something slamming into my back with enough force to thoroughly knock the wind out of me. I wheeze on the ground for a moment before doing my best to look around. See what the fuck is going on and if it’s safe to move.

It is very obviously not safe to stand up, at least, judging by the very angry looking shinobi at my back and what looks like a very fucked up wolf-bear-big cat-thing that had clearly been what slammed into me.

I flip from my stomach to my back, keeping my eyes on the skinwalker, judging it to be the greatest threat to my life, if the Uchiha kill me it will be because I am in between them and the thing they are trying to kill.

Slowly so as not to draw too much attention I inch my way back, both parties are locked in some sort of stare down and I am perfectly happy to leave them like that. Though I’m sure they all knew I was there.

Well, I think hysterically, isn’t this just my fucking luck, of all the places in the forest they could have come at all the perfect moments, of course it had to right now. Fucking anime’s man, if I ever figure out what god shoved me here, me and them are going to be having words.

Shink – splat, the wolf – creature lets just go with creature – the creature’s head falls from its body. I stared at it for a second, unfortunately not the first decapitated head I’ve seen. Then look at the form of Madara Uchiha, perfectly silent, despite the fact that he’s the size of an industrial refrigerator.

Shit shit shit he’s looking at me shit.

Madara bows, a part of my mind falls into increasing hysterics, “I thank you for your advice, before. It likely would have been much more difficult to find and get rid of this threat were it not for you. You have thus saved the lives of an unkown number of my people and for that I thank you.”

God, ok, he’s thanking you, murder god Uchiha is thanking you, say something you insane little lunatic.

“No problem, just doing my job…” I stand, doing my best not to look like I was just bowled over by a bear, “Sorry, I was asleep a couple moments ago, not entirely awake. The pleasure is of course mine, though your thanks is appreciated.” There, not entirely terrible, look at you go, putting words in order. Gods but these people talk so old fashioned, I’m fairly certain I’ve offended dozens of people purely because I don’t take a full paragraph to get my point across.

Not the point, focus, literal assassin right in front of you. Several of them in fact.

Madara rights himself, thank God, and nods “Of course, we will be off then.” He signals to his men, one grabs the limp corpse, Madara himself grabs the head, gross. And they leave, just – poof – gone.

A sigh, right, shinobi. All the dramatics of batman, that lot.

Well, I’m certainly not getting back to sleep in this spot, I could feel a rush of water near, though I would likely spend most of the distance there doing more tripping than walking.

Chapter Text

I probably looked like a maniac, staring at the water like I was. Some part of me thought.

The other part was too busy screaming, Stay away from main characters! I said! I do not need that kind of drama in my life! I said! Stick to out of the way towns in the middle of nowhere! I said! Doomed, I’m absolutely doomed, they’ve seen you, they know you exist, you’re going to get pulled into the plot and your death will be used as character development!

Well, I thought back at that voice entirely aware and uncaring of how crazy it made me, maybe this was supposed to happen, it was just so tiny nobody included it anywhere, maybe after this I can go back to villages and middles of nowhere. You’re catastrophizing, Madara was just being polite in thanking you, he is not going to appear out of the foliage to drag you into shinobi nonsense.

Well, I scanned my surroundings critically, OK no shinobi there. If only I had the intelligence to actually do that when I had woken up several hours ago. Maybe then my back wouldn’t feel like I’d been hit head on by a car and I wouldn’t have drawn the attention of one this fucked up story’s main antagonists.

Well hindsight and all that. I never claimed to be any sort of intelligent, I don’t even claim sanity. What with all the grief and anger I keep locked in a box to never be looked at.

I shove all my emotions into a box and then one day I die, I think partly involuntarily. That probably wasn’t even the correct quote, but I didn’t exactly have the means to double check or anyone around that could correct me. So, whatever. What was I doing?

Right, existential crisis. Goodness but do I need to get out of shinobi country.

I pull out my map, old and with an almost incomprehensible number of scribbles and notes of towns and places I’d been. I do my best to figure out where the fuck I am. Its morning, God when did the sun rise, so that ways east. I can feel the Uchiha residence vaguely northwest, so the nearest village is large and a trading hub but at least I can blend into a crowd there.

I wash my hands, splash water on my face. Stand and begin walking in the vague direction I’m fairly certain the village is in. Honestly my reputation as a wanderer is largely because I just keep getting lost. Or distracted.

My sensing, probably chakra sensing, haven’t bothered asking given I already have a reputation for being crazy and I’ve been trying to keep as far away from shinobi as possible, is distracting at times. My tendency to fixate on whatever I’m interested into the point of forgetting my surroundings and the passage of time does not at all help. Anyway, my sensing has a tendency of latching onto anything vaguely interesting and practically dragging me in that direction.

However, it is because I was aware of my surroundings that I noticed the hawk. Well, calling it a hawk was possibly an insult, its presence was huge, larger than anything I’d seen. And it wasn’t an animal, it didn’t seem to have a physical body at all. It was, well, a spirit, I suppose.

It landed on a branch in front of and above me, I was probably staring but I couldn’t really help it.

“I come bearing a message.” It well, didn’t speak, it didn’t have a body or vocal cords with which to speak, but its soul, chakra, whatever. Conveyed (?) its words and somehow that registered as sound. Absolutely wild, honestly.

Then its words registered. “You… are here… to deliver a message?” There was an almost impressive amount of skepticism in my voice.

Its soul did the equivalent of narrowing its eyes menacingly, “is there a problem?” The threat of violence very much implied.

“No, no, not at all. Sorry, you’re just, well, powerful isn’t quite the right word but its good enough. It just seems hard to believe you would let a human, even a powerful one, ask you to deliver their messages.”

The hawk preened, “it is rare to find a human with the ability to distinguish a spirit from an animal so thoroughly. None the less, I have a message for you, and I am to take your answer back.” It dropped the roll of paper I hadn’t even realized it was carrying in front of me.

I picked it up, eyed it warily, you never know what ninja could do. Before opening it.

Really, I think hysterically, Madara Uchiha is offering me a favor from the Uchiha clan. Despite the fact that he already paid me, these people and their weird fixation on debts. Of course, I had to be too nice to tell them to go away. I could justify it by not wanting to get on their bad side but let’s be honest. I just couldn’t help myself. The Uchiha who came to me looked to hopeful. I couldn’t not go to help.

Besides there isn’t a single person who’s dipped their toes into this fandom who hasn’t wanted to get with at least one of the Uchiha. Even if in my case its less sex and more cuddling and a sense of safety. I am entirely aware of me daddy issues thank you very much.

I turn to the not-a-hawk, “So do I need to write my response or can I just tell you.”

“Relay to me your response and I will repeat it to Uchiha-sama.”

“Right, well. Tell him that his gratitude is appreciated but ultimately unnecessary. He has already paid me for my services. He does not need to do anymore for me. I am perfectly happy with how our transaction was resolved.” Wow, look at me go. I sound so important, like a real boy.

The spirit dips its head before flying away at a speed I’m pretty sure isn’t achievable for normal birds.

God, I need a nap, or to meditate. I find a decent looking tree, sit beneath it and sink into my mind, spreading it outward.

No more people today, just trees and squirrels and lizards.

---

It was several months after The Uchiha Incident as I had begun to call it, that I was once again dragged into some more bullshit.

“No, absolutely not, go away.” It was admittedly rather petulant of me, but really how else was I to react to a shinobi appearing behind me. Probably with the intention of asking me for something that was going to drag me into some sort of mess.

He-she-they bowed, “I come to inquire about your services on behalf of our clan head Uchiha Madara-sama.”

I sigh, resigned to my fate of yet again being unable to get out of being dragged into shinobi bullshit.

“You know I’m in the middle of a job right now,” and I was, granted it was a case of murdered cattle, but that is often a warning sign of something worse. Even if I was pretty sure this time was just a case of a particularly clever wolf or coyote or whatever.

The Shinobi, to my ever-growing exasperation, bowed lower “I have been instructed to beg if I must.”

I barely held the words “Jesus Christ stand up” in my throat, Jesus didn’t exist.

“Stand up, I will here you out at the very least.”

He does, I’m pretty sure it’s a man, not that I’m one to judge as far as gender goes. “Something has been hurting – cursing our children” and fuck I absolutely could not refuse if its kids being hurt “we have investigated every possible cause we could think of but have been unable to find anything substantial, anything to explain why they have been falling asleep and been unable to wake.”

This time I held my sigh. “Alright I will help; we will agree on specific payments once I have a better idea of how bad this is going to be.” A pause to think. “I will take an hour to finish things up here, collect my things and then you can lead me to your home.”

The relief doesn’t show much on the mans face but its so powerful in his soul I feel like crying. Shinobi don’t even seem to realize how loud they emote, all the time, over everything.

“Thank you.” Blink-poof-gone. Fucking Shinobi.

I head to village, talk to the farmers who had hired me, tell them it looks like simply a smarter than average wolf or something rather than anything that will try to harm them, that they should carry a weapon but that it shouldn’t be too hard to scare off with their usual means of doing so.

I spend several long minutes talking them out of giving me their first-born child as payment and talk them into paying me in a new coat. Most of their sheep herds are intact even if their cows aren’t.

I head back to the family that had been housing me. Very nice people, I had honestly forgotten their names, I forget a lot of people’s names, or never bother learning in the first place. I’d honestly considered getting a notebook just to keep track of people, but really what would be the point. They are good people, with little to offer beyond an extra pillow, and a roof over my head by I was grateful for them, nevertheless. Their little boy kept me company in the couple of evenings I had spent there, and it made me feel slightly less detached. Kids were always so nice, not that I enjoyed now having to say my goodbyes. When he handed me some sloppily made gloves as a goodbye gift he had apparently had his mom teach him to make I hugged him tight to keep myself from crying.

Why was I being so emotional today, really. I blame it on the grief in the both the shinobi and this entire village leaking into me. They had gotten caught in the crossfire of some clan conflict a couple of months back most everyone had lost someone, they really couldn’t afford the loss of those cows right now.

I bow to the woman who had housed me, thanking her with as much sincerity as I could inject into my voice. Then head out with my pack slung across my back and a new coat around my shoulders.

I wait by the village gates and within a couple moments the shinobi comes from where he had been lurking in the trees to stand beside me.

“It would be faster if I carried you.” He radiates how extraordinarily uncomfortable he is with the offer, it’s enough to cheer me up a bit. “We do not have time to lose, and I can move faster than you.” He adds, clearly trying to justify himself.

I nod amiably, “sure.” He crouches in a way that signals I am meant to climb on his back. Ignoring my own discomfort at being so close to someone, especially someone with a soul as loud as a shinobi I climb on.

Once he starts moving its easy to ignore the closeness. Boy oh boy, did the anime not at all communicate just how fast shinobi move through trees, and how close it comes to feeling like flying. Or maybe like a relatively straight roller coaster.

I can feel the Uchiha residence approaching, and I do my best to shut down my sensing. No need to torture myself. Shinobi feels loudly and a people like the Uchiha especially so. And if their children are being hurt its really an even split of being overwhelmingly angry or grief stricken. Neither of which do I need invading my own already fucked up consciousness.

Chapter Text

There were four cots, four children, looking for all the world asleep.

“You’re sure that this falls under my purview and isn’t just some new, fucked up ninja thing?”

Madara answers, “We’ve checked for poison, we’ve checked for chakra manipulation, there is no seal, as far as any of our medics or sensors can tell they’re just asleep.” The irritation in his voice was just concern, I could feel how bad this whole thing was tearing him up. Madara had so much chakra it was near impossible to block out.

I sighed, “You noticed nothing else out of the ordinary, no marks, no discoloration, what about where they were before they fell asleep?”

“No” he snarled. I suppress a flinch, he’s just concerned, he’s not going to hurt you, stop panicking.

I looked at the kids, really looked, there was something off within their souls, but it was too faint, buried deep.

“Well” cut in the younger one, “our medics did point out that despite them not eating or drinking for several days they show no actual signs of malnourishment, they cannot explain how it is they haven’t starved.” Well that’s a relief, we’re on less of a time crunch than I had imagined, strange though, that whatever it was, was keeping them alive so thoroughly.

“Alright, I’ll see what I can do,” I look around pick a spot along the wall and sit, “I’m going to be meditating, see what I can get from them, it might take me a while.”

“What do you mean, get from them?” The younger one, Izuta, Iguna – Izuna.

“Sorry, bad choice of words, I just mean what I can sense from them. My sensing doesn’t work the same way yours does, from what I understand. Just, give me a minute to do my job.”

I closed my eyes before either of them could continue to take their incessant worries out on me. Gods being the resident fixer of fucked up situations sucked sometimes.

I turned my attention away from the two fire bright presences, towards the sleeping. I focus on the one closest to me and examine him. Small in the way of all children, all the overwhelming emotions from before did their best to invade now but I pushed them away. There would be time for processing those later. Now was time for work, children were in danger here.

I looked deeper, light, crackling, unsteady; the child would likely have a lightning nature. Deeper still, a deep unending love, for his family, his friends, deeper than most, probably what would become the infamous Uchiha obsession. Not important. Deeper.

Shadow. Alive, but not the boys. Wrapping around him like a cloak, pulled so tight it was claustrophobic. Nothing but darkness. No, there’s something over there. A symbol, one I haven’t seen before. It seems to be connected to something, a thread bound to this child and leading to the others as well, and connected to something else. As I look, I feel as though I am being drawn in, pulled into and under that same cloak.

I wrench myself away with a gasp before I can be pulled any deeper than I already have been.

I take in a deep breath and open my eyes to look at the Uchiha. “I have to admit, I haven’t seen something like this before. But in both good and bad news it is definitely something more my speed than yours.”

“So, you can fix it.” Izuna, hopeful.

“I am certainly going to try. Hurting kids is one of the few things I really can’t stand.”

Oddly this makes Madara relax, “do you know what it might be?”

“I’m not certain, however I did find something possibly useful though.” I rummage through my bag for my monster notebook, pull out my charcoal and recreate the symbol. “Does this mean anything to you?”

They study it but both deny ever having seen it before. Disappointing but not surprising.

“Alright, the only other thing I can really tell you is that it is all one entity affecting the kids, and that it is deliberate. It attempted to latch onto me when I went poking about however it is not affecting anyone else on purpose rather than because it can’t. My personal guess is that it is some form of demon or similar entity, something with a specific mission. Otherwise it makes no sense that it is both only affecting the children and also not causing them any harm even though it absolutely could.”

“So this is an attack, I bet it’s the Senju.” Little Uchiha, Izuna’s name henceforth, spat out. Full of righteous anger. These people and their war. “Got tired of never getting anywhere in battle and decided to get some demon to do their work for them.”

Big Uchiha steps in and interrupts Little Uchiha's tirade, “what exactly do we need to do to free our children from this.”

“This depends entirely on both what it is and who sent it. Our best bet is first to figure out who sent it, that is the easiest way to do something about it. Most likely this is the work of someone who formed a contract of some kind with this thing. If we can learn the nature of the contract that would help, like what they gave in return, what their goal is. If it were something weaker, I would be able to banish it or at least cleanse the kids of it, but I can’t. It has too firm a grip on them, I’d risk hurting or killing them if I tried.”

There was a bit of silence I spent looking at all the itty bitty kids, babies really, looking for all the world perfectly content, and just asleep.

Finally Madara spoke, “Alright, we will take you to your temporary rooms where someone will bring you something to eat while my brother and I organize a meeting with the council of elders.” It was, really, more an order than a request. Though I suppose he probably spends most of his time giving orders, and it isn’t like I’m going to say no.

So, I nod along quietly as I’m guided by an entirely new Uchiha to a set of, extremely nice by my abysmal standards, rooms. I am soon given food, again absolutely heavenly by my standards, my usual meals consist of wild plants and the few spices I get as payment or can find, or what little can be spared in whatever village I’m in. This stuff was better than even the more well to do towns I’d been to, even if I do rather prefer those places to sitting in the actual goddamn Uchiha compound. However, my mental breakdown about my circumstances could be put aside for later. Right now, I have work to do.

I pulled out my monster journal, flipping through, looking for anything similar. I’ve encountered a couple of spirits and things that cause sickness to victims, but that is usually with the intent of suffering before inevitable death. The fact that whatever it was is keeping the kids healthy is throwing me off. I suppose the suffering of the adults around them might be the goal, but even then what was the point. Was it planning on just keeping the kids like that forever? That makes no sense.

My contemplation is interrupted by a knock on the door

Chapter Text

“So, you’re the shaman who is going to save our children are you? Is that what the civilians consider a proper seiza these days?” The elder sneered with an almost impressive amount of derision. Especially considering she had literally just walked into the room. She seems like the sort of person who was always looking for things to complain about just because they want to make everybody else miserable.

I look down at where I was sitting crisscross, “No, most of my clients are the civilian farmer types, they hold no concern for how a person sits. They’re much too busy trying to survive the winter.”

The same elder turned to Madara, “and you’ve let this person be in charge of healing our children.” The word ‘person’ was spat with so much high-class disdain you would think I had just spat on her shoes.

Madara, rather unsurprisingly, didn’t so much as blink, “she is here to help our children because she has helped us before and because we have already exhausted every other avenue short of bringing in outside healers.” He turns, “would you please explain to the esteemed elders what you explained to us.”

I really wanted to sigh; it was obvious that at least the first two were absolutely not going to believe a single word coming out of my mouth. The last one, a woman with the absolute tightest bun, seemed like she would much rather be ripping her enemy’s limb from limb than sitting here. There was an impressive amount of violence condensed into that woman’s soul, and this is a room surrounded by bloodthirsty Uchiha.

“Right, someone, somewhere, was desperate enough to sign a contract with a demon” lets call it a demon for simplicities sake, “and in return for whatever they gave away they set said demon onto your children specifically. I can feel the binds of a contract wrapped around their spirits which is how I know, what I have advised your clan head is that there are two paths moving forward, either identify the person who signed the contract or identify the specific entity that the contract was made with.”

There you go, very professional, now if only these people actually believed me. Don’t get me wrong I encounter people who don’t believe me quite often. Most never do more than call me a demon or a witch and be done with it. Every once in a while I get someone who actually is willing to get physical about it, but on the whole I’ve generally stopped caring whether or not someone thinks I am crazy, or lying, or whatever. Been there, done that. However, this situation was slightly more precarious given these people could kill me in a heartbeat. Which should, in theory, make me more desperate to get everyone to believe me but really. If they decide I’m an enemy agent or something and kill me, it is how it is. I am all out of fucks to give about it, especially since the only two truly important people believe me.

The scoff from old lady 1, as I am now dubbing the only elder who has yet spoken to me, is very obviously a well-practiced gesture. “Obviously this woman is either delusional or an enemy come to sabotage us, either way she never should have been brought here, into our home, much less anywhere near our children.”

I just look at her, I mean really, what is this whole pissing contest even supposed to do. She is clearly convincing neither Big Uchiha nor Little Uchiha. What does she expect is going to happen. That I’m going to suddenly start cackling before launching into a villainous monologue about how she discovered my evil plot to murder their kids?

Turning to Big Uchiha because I am so not dealing with privileged old rich people today, I ask “did you need something else from me?”

With a truly impressive poker face considering I could feel how pissed he was at old lady 1, he spoke “I had hoped to get a more in-depth explanation from you about what sort of demon this is and how to go about looking for it or the person responsible. May we sit?”

After my quick agreement, they all sat down in my room. Wow this is a nice room, enough space for 6 people to all sit comfortably. I never stay in places this nice. Stop it, focus, demon hurting kids, no time to appreciate the interior decorating.

“OK, so my thoughts so far are that what this thing is doing requires a lot of power. Keeping the kids in stasis like this it is requires a lot more power than if it were to kill them outright. Which is awful to say but true. It needs to be getting this power from somewhere. So, either it was already powerful before forming the contract, or it is getting the power to do so from the person its contracted with.”

“So, we are dealing with a powerful enemy fueling this demon?” Madara speaks up, the others apparently willing to save their commentary for later.

“Not necessarily powerful in the way you would consider powerful. These sorts of things gain power one of two ways. First is through belief, the belief of a widespread group of people or culture, often through folk tales, or scary stories, or legends. However, I have never come across anything that would really fit this instance. There also aren’t any cults I’m aware of in Fire Country that fit this either. The other way is through sacrifice, you often hear stories of people trading their souls, their lifespan, or sometimes the lives of their children.

“Something like this likely is not actually powerful enough to do this on its own, it would likely be easier to recognize and something I would have heard of. Which leaves the second option. Do you know of any odd deaths, probably a string of deaths, in the general vicinity?”

Madara leans back, shares a glance with his brother before looking back to me, “we have not, but it is something that can be looked into.”

I look back down at my notebook trying to think of anything else that might be useful. I don’t usually fuck with anything bigger than ghosts and ghouls. It also doesn’t help that the bible doesn’t exist here, so the definition of demon is different than before. No devil or angels, no Jesus or God. Although the more European monsters like werewolves and vampires do appear so maybe those sorts of demons exist as well? Unclear. I wish I had the internet, or at least a library.

Then an idea occurs to me, looking up I say, “I do know that there is an old temple not too far from here, I know the head monk there pretty well he might be able to help identify that symbol I showed you. That is the only other place to start.” Probably the closest equivalent to googling I can get here is finding an old wise man and asking a bunch of questions.