Unaware that her background had already been pieced together, Konome Taketori walked along Konoha's main street.
She tuned out the clamor around her and gathered chakra at her heart. The Byakugan drank deep and brought the world back into light.
Hum.
Crystal clarity and a three-hundred-sixty-degree god's-eye view settled her nerves like armor. A road wide enough for three carriages ran through the district, crowded even under a sun hot enough to melt hair. A toddler's ball bounced onto a rooftop and a passing shinobi uncle flicked it down with an easy toss.
The noisy, peaceful air left Konome a little adrift. The gore of Kirigakure felt like a nightmare now, and waking here was like slipping back into the quiet world she once knew. Only the four colossal faces on the distant cliff reminded her that this was the village she had dreamed of reaching.
Her stomach spoke up. Time to eat. Then the Hyuga compound to claim kin, then talent on display, then training in the Main House's Gentle Fist. If things went well, maybe she could even compete with Hinata for the future clan head.
With that rosy plan in mind, Konome headed straight for Ichiraku Ramen.
Ichiraku. Konoha's beloved landmark and, more than once, the stage for fateful brushes with the Nine-Tails. For someone who had learned to devour and blend tailed-beast chakra, the fox sealed in Uzumaki Naruto was a temptation. A nibble of the Three-Tails had already doubled her strength. If she could get a taste of the Nine-Tails, her power might rocket into the sky.
Tok tok tok.
Her cane tapped the threshold. She pushed aside the noren printed with the two characters for Ichiraku and stepped in.
The place was plain and a little worn. A long counter. A handful of square stools. But every seat was taken, so full that even the Byakugan could not find a gap.
Ayame came out from the back with bowls in hand and an apron tied at her waist. Her eyes paused a heartbeat on Konome's bandaged eyes, then she beamed the practiced smile of someone who genuinely liked people.
"Hello, little one. We're full at the moment. Would you mind waiting over there for a bit?"
A popular shop at peak hour. Bad luck, but nothing unusual.
"Sure…"
She had not finished speaking when a bright, cutting voice rang from the doorway.
"I'm eating five bowls of tonkotsu today."
"My wallet cannot take this, Naruto," an old man grumbled.
"You promised to treat me before the academy term starts tomorrow. No take-backs."
The noren lifted and the pair came in.
Konome glanced over. The glare of their chakra made her lashes quiver. She dialed her vision down a notch.
One old, one young. The elder wore the Hokage's robes. A powerful frame had bent with years. A staff steadied him. Knife-cut wrinkles ran from the corners of his eyes to his cheekbones. The boy behind him had a shock of blond hair, six whisker marks on his cheeks, and sky-blue eyes that shone.
Sarutobi Hiruzen. Uzumaki Naruto.
What luck.
Konome was not the only one who recognized them. Several diners started to rise to greet the Third, then spotted the boy at his side. Smiles died into sour looks.
"I'm full."
"Check, please."
One after another they set down their chopsticks, paid Ayame, greeted the Hokage, and left.
In no time the packed counter felt hollow.
Ayame returned change only to find the customer gone. She logged it, then looked up at Hiruzen. "What would the Hokage like today?"
"Sorry, Ayame-nee," Naruto murmured, head low. He had grown used to the village's scorn, but driving away business at Ichiraku still made him ache.
"It's alright. Now there is room. Naruto, what will it be. Tonkotsu again," Ayame said with a smile that made it clear she did not mind.
"Tonkotsu—"
"Wait, Naruto. First come, first served. No cutting," Hiruzen said with a kindly chuckle, turning to the little girl who had stood there quietly all this time. "There is a young lady ahead of you."
"Oh, right."
Ayame tapped her forehead, chiding herself. Whenever Naruto came, customers left, and she had assumed the blind girl would have slipped out too.
"Sorry about that. What would you like," she asked, coming around to guide Konome to a stool. She set the pack and cane to one side and bent to take the order.
"I cannot see the menu. What do you recommend?"
"Tonkotsu. Tonkotsu is really good," Naruto blurted, sitting beside her, blue eyes a little shy.
"Alright. One tonkotsu to start."
Ayame jotted it down. "Naruto, tonkotsu too."
"Extra extra extra large."
"I will have a regular," Hiruzen said, smiling.
"Coming right up." Ayame whisked away dishes and slipped into the kitchen.
"Thank you," Konome said suddenly, turning toward Naruto.
"Uh… hehe… y-you are welcome," he said, scratching the back of his head, startled by the attention.
"Hey, are you afraid of me," he asked.
"Are you ugly," Konome asked back.
Naruto froze. Looking at the lovely face before him, even with the eyes hidden, he did not dare claim he looked better.
"It is fine if you are. I cannot see anyway," Konome said, tapping the band over her eyes.
"I am not ugly."
"I believe you."
"Really."
"Okay."
Hiruzen stroked the beard on his chin and watched the exchange with a grandfather's smile. The boy the whole village shunned and the beautiful girl who could not see. A poetic little meeting.
Boom.
Smoke billowed outside. An ANBU in a green vest and a monkey mask strode in. He stiffened a fraction when he saw the silver-haired girl at the counter, then relaxed and leaned to murmur in the Hokage's ear.
"Lord Third…"
The voice was too low to catch.
Konome, chatting with Naruto, sensed the man's tension. Her ears gave the faintest flick. Invisible ocular power sank into them. Dominion over flesh engaged.
Her pinnae reshaped into a more acoustically efficient funnel without changing appearance. The ear canal lengthened and narrowed to favor human speech. Then the tiny bones of hearing reconfigured under chakra, the malleus, incus, and stapes hollowed into honeycombed struts to speed vibration.
The whisper grew, thread by thread, until it was intelligible.
"Hagane Kotetsu… found a suspicious blind girl… name Konome… the barrier recorded no chakra signature…"
"Konome. Your name is pretty," Naruto boomed.
His natural volume made her wince.
"…Thank you," she said.
She kept listening as the ANBU finished his report and watched Hiruzen's eyes slide to her when Naruto spoke her name.
Mm.
Pins and needles.
Not one hour after slipping into Konoha and she was already flagged as a spy to the Third Hokage. Worse, here she was chatting happily with the village's Nine-Tails jinchūriki, under the Hokage's gaze.
Tch.
Careless.