AC_D4: Sound's Strange (Part 7)

Had some internet issues, so I'm going to do some major uploading catch up over the weekend (thank heavens it's the weekend!).

Anyway it's time to revisit my current fav AU of AtO. According to the rough outline I made for this, this AU could end up with at least 15 chapters (if I stick to that outline).

How did this happen? I just wanted to write some dumb dialogue.

Previous Chapters are here:  Part 1,  Part 2, Part 3,  Part 4, Part 5, Part 6
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Under the room's dim and buzzing light, the redhead, Karin, woke with a startled gasp. Glazed red eyes, that were as red as her hair, looked around as though searching for something before they sharpened as she looked right at him.

"Your glasses are..."

"How?" she demanded, a desperate undercurrent in her low voice. "How did they find you? There's no physical way that they'd know who you are. Did you tell them? You look clueless about what's going on here."

Stunned at the onslaught of words, it took Harry a moment to collect his thoughts and admit, "I am confused. What do you mean by who I am?"

"You don't know?" Karin frowned as she took her glasses from him. "You're an Uzumaki! You might not have the red hair or loads of chakra but your chakra has a strong Uzumaki feel to it."

"You can tell that I'm a Uzumaki?" Harry asked, lowering his voice even though there were spells around him for privacy.

"I can," Karin said. "And they probably suspected that I can tell with my sensing abilities. Why else would they isolate us in here?"

"Isolate?" Harry repeated in confusion.

"This room is blocking everything outside. I can't sense anything but the two of us in here. They want me to know exactly who you are and why we're locked in here together."

Harry shook his head in confusion. "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about."

Karin huffed. "Of course you don't. What did you do to catch their attention?"

"I was travelling on my own when they saw me talk to a snake through hisses." Harry said, unconcerned by secrecy, because everyone in Sound knew about his Parseltongue ability.

"A mutation that lets you talk like a snake? That would have been enough to get his attention," Karin shuddered. "Being an Uzumaki is a pain, isn't it? Only we would have the bad luck of mutating abilities that weirdos would covet."

Harry stared at her. "Do you have a unique ability too?"

"Obviously. He has a thing for unique abilities from soon to be extinct clans." Karin narrowed her pupil-less red eyes. "And with two Uzumaki, it's obvious to see why he's locked us in here. Though the fact that we're not drugged..."

"Okay!" Harry held up his hands and took a deep breath, "Let's just clarify a few things before you continue that unnecessary train of thought. First of all, no one locked us in here together. I came in here because I wanted to talk to you in private."

Karin frowned at him.

"Secondly, which probably should have been the first thing I clarified, when you say 'he' are you referring to Kabuto or Orochimaru? Not that it really matters because they're both dead," Harry said, cautiously waiting for her reaction.

"That rumour goes around Sound every few months, but I've learnt not to believe it. Once when I couldn't feel their chakra, it turned out that they were carrying out some sort of loyalty check. A lot of people ended up in Kabuto's corpse collection that time," Karin said.

Harry shook his head."This time, they're really dead. I saw Sasuke land the killing blow on Orochimaru."

"You might truly believe that, but unless you have my ability to sense chakra, you shouldn't believe everything that you see when it comes to Orochimaru. He's perfected his tricks over the decades."

Harry shook his head. "If he was still alive, why didn't he stop me from becoming the Otokage?"

Karin grabbed his wrist in an unforgiving grip. "Say that again. The part about you being the Nidaime."

Harry took a deep breath and explained everything that happened since he woke in Sound. He felt relieves as he reached the end of the story, "I ordered them to let me talk to you in private. Which reminds me, why were you trying to wake Sasuke up?" Harry asked with a concern. "He's cranky all the time."

Karin snorted as she pulled her fingers off his wrist. "On the off chance that these rumours were true, Sasuke was the only one in Sound who had the power to defeat Orochimaru and become the new leader. Since no one was talking about him being the Nidaime, I thought that someone had taken advantage of him being worn out after the battle."

"I barely managed to catch him before he hit the ground." Harry said and then frowned in confusion. "People don't know there's a new leader?"

"I told you, everything is just rumours and we've survived the fallout from past 'rumours' that were deliberately spread to weed out disloyal factions." Karin said. "There wasn't a swearing in ceremony or anything to show the populace your face as the Nidaime. And as far as I know, you haven't even met with the Daimyo to make things official."

"I think I was going to meet with a bunch of ninja to discuss all that before you showed up." Harry said and then paused with delight as he realized something important. "Wait, that means I can still get out of this position. Hideo didn't mention that."

Karin frowned at him. "Why would you want to give up the position of Kage?"

"I don't anything about running an entire village filled with labs, imprisoned cannibals and really bad grey food. Also, I'm not a ninja. Hideo didn't know what he was doing when he named me as the leader."

Karin snorted. "Don't underestimate Hideo. He might have hid it, but he has a sharp mind. He kept his head down and did his work without complaint. That's why he survived while others who were dumber than him but more vocal about their greed were killed off."

Harry considered that revelation with a bit of wary consideration. "Hideo can be sensible. And he knows how to get things done. And he is also kind of concerned about the village. I've tried to make him take the position."

"Hideo isn't a leader. He's admin smart and good with behind the scenes work," Karin said. "I think he only stayed here because his wife is ill. Orochimaru knew how to tie people to this wretched place."

"So you didn't like him," Harry said with relief.

"No one liked Orochimaru. Not unless they were brainwashed or desperate for whatever Orochimaru was offering them."

"Looks like she won't hurt you," Trouble hissed as he slithered down from Harry's upper arm towards his wrist, until his purple head poked out of Harry's sleeve.

Karin stared at the snake with wide eyes. "I didn't sense your summon at all! Was it here the whole time?"

"Trouble isn't a summoned snake," Harry said as he pulled his sleeve up. "He's just trouble, literally. He's the reason I got kidnapped in the first place."

Trouble huffed with an insulted demeanour but didn't argue.

"But he also dealt with Kabuto, so he isn't all that bad."

Karin looked at Harry with an unreadable look. "What would do if you weren't the Otokage?"

"Before I got kidnapped, I was searching for other Uzumaki," Harry said. "I didn't really expect to find anyone. But now that I've found you, I'm sure that there are other Uzumaki to find."

Karin frowned at him. "Why are you searching for more of us?"

"Shouldn't I?" Harry asked in confusion. "Aren't you happy to meet me?"

"It's not safe to be an Uzumaki." Karin glanced away from him. "You might have escaped the fate of being a breeding pair here, but there are many other worse fates for Uzumaki out there. You're better off being a Kage, because you'll have your own power and bodyguards to protect you."

"Bodyguards? Considering all that has happened so far, are Hideo and Suigetsu my bodyguards?"

Karin had a look of distaste in her eyes. "I can't believe Suigetsu is still here. I thought he would have left now that Orochimaru isn't there to stop him."

"You two have some sort of history, don't you? He was worried that you would try and trick me or something."

Karin snorted. "Hard to imagine him showing any actual concern. He must have some sort of ulterior motive."

"He tried to flirt with me because I'm the Kage." When Karin's lips curled into annoyance, Harry hastened to add, "But I told him that he should be seducing Hideo, because he's the one actually doing things. Even finding out that Hideo is married hasn't deterred him."

Karin leaned back against the wall beside her cot, looking at the ceiling as though she was praying to some higher power. "Everything you say is ridiculous, but you're genuinely honest." After a moment, she looked at him, "I'm going to make sure you stay in the Nidaime position. Your positions will be the difference between life and death."

"Why? You obviously don't like Sound, why would you want to stay here? We could go search for the others together."

"I won't let this opportunity got to waste. With you as Kage, I can change the way things are run. Without Orochimaru and Kabuto, this village can be different. Maybe even a safe place for others."

Harry frowned at her. "Why don't you just take the Kage position, then?"

Karin snorted. "No one will accept me as Kage. I can't use any ninjutsu let alone fight like a ninja."

"Neither can I," Harry said.

"But you survived Orochimaru," Karin said. "And people witnessed that. Nothing else will compare to that. I don't need the position to do things. Having your ear is much better than anything."

"Hideo will veto dumb ideas," Harry said.

"Lucky for everyone that I don't have dumb ideas," Karin retorted as combed through her red hair, smoothing down flyaways. "You'll need to tell at least a handful of people why you are willing to give someone like me power in your administration."

"Because we're both Uzumaki," Harry said.

"Nepotism is a bad reason."

"I suppose I could just say that you're very good at sensing. Hideo was telling me not to harm you because you were useful to Sound," Harry remembered.

"Really?" Karin sounded pleasantly surprised. "I didn't think anyone would speak up for me. No wonder Hideo has survived here for so long." Then she turned to Harry with a knowing look. "Suigetsu must have said something annoying."

"I think that's his usual default."

"Being an idiot is his default," Karin muttered as she swung her legs off the bed. "We need to get out of here. People are probably worried that you're dead or something."

"I suppose you're right." Harry opened the door to find Hideo inches away from the door, his weapons drawn and glowing. Deep burnt gouges on the door glittered where drops of waters reflected the hallway lights.

"Nidaime-sama," Hideo said as he stepped back and lowered his weapons.

"I told you he would be fine," Suigetsu said at the same time, his purple eyes never wavering from them as his translucent body solidified into pale skin.

Harry turned, so he couldn't see the damaged door anymore. "Karin and I have come to an agreement."

"She'll let the Uchiha sleep forever?" Suigetsu said with a venomous glare at Karin.

"We talked about other things which were more impor..."

"He needed an adviser," Karin interjected.

Suigetsu skin flickered into transparency and his sharp teeth gleamed through the vicious curl of his lip. "And you suggested that you would be perfect for the role?"

Hideo's hand landed on Harry's arm and a flicker of static raced over Harry's skin, making his hair stand up. Trouble hissed in annoyance from around Harry's wrist.

Karin snorted. "I didn't use anything on him."

With a glance at a perturbed Hideo, Suigetsu frowned harder. "Like we'd believe that."

Unhappy with the mounting tension around him, Harry said, "I'm keeping her close because we're from the same clan.”

"You're from a clan?" Suigetsu asked, staring completely at Harry with surprise.

Though she shot Harry an unhappy look, Karin flipped her red hair back and said, "The Uzumaki."

Suigetsu spluttered. "No way, the Uzumaki are extinct."

Karin rolled her eyes. "Why else would Orochimaru be so adamant about keeping me around?”

"Of course," Hideo said with wonder as he looked at Harry, eyes wide with an epiphany. "Uzumaki seals."

"Right. Well, I'm glad we've sorted all this..." a distant explosion interrupted Harry. Harry grit his teeth. "Bloody Sasuke."

"That came from the east," Hideo said, the glow around his weapon brightening. "We're keeping Sasuke in the west, Nidaime-sama."

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An explosion away from Sasuke? What could it be? I'm sure it's nothing to worry about.

Polar