"A man who caused my wife a great deal of personal harm. He pretended friendship to gain her trust and once he had it, broke her in half to suit his whims and used the pieces that remained as he saw fit."

"Some differences, then, but... A mirror all the same."

"Important differences, I hope."

Sigh.

"I can sense the same echoes you can."

"Two echoes can exist at the same time, but - people reincarnate, too."

"And Sayuri is not the first of her alts you've known."

"No."

"Years ago - and this is the extremely classified part, for all that a significant number of people have probably guessed - "

"I was Yagura, the Mizukage before our current one. I took office during the Second Great War, and I negotiated its end."

"I was a jinchuuriki - someone with a bijuu, a powerful being of pure chakra, sealed in me. It turned out... At least one man had the ability to not only control bijuu, but influence the jinchuuriki through them."

"He turned me against my people. I broke out of it, eventually, but - it was too late, then, for the Kiri of old. I tracked him down and died killing him, and my country descended into open anarchy."

"I was unable to pass into the Pure Land and so lingered. Eventually - "

"I came across a young child with a near precise mirror of his chakra."

"She was badly wounded at the time - and Sayuri's power allows her to heal herself in proportion to how much she heals others. She had no control of it, yet, but - fear and desperation are important components of bloodline manifestation, and the first burst is always incredibly strong."

"She resurrected me, and - I found myself in the middle of a war zone, newly alive, with an unconscious toddler who resonated perfectly with the man who broke me."

"Sayuri is my daughter in every way that matters. She is not that man."

"I see. Thank you for telling us."

Occlus gently probes Ani for her reaction.

Sad, mostly. Empathetic. 

"Raising her sounds - hard."

Small smile. "It was. But children always are, and at least I got to skip potty training," she teases.

"How fortunate for you. It is not as fun as it sounds."

"It sounds approximately zero fun, so." Fond smile. "She's been good for me."

"And you for her, it seems."

Soft smile. "That's been my greatest hope, that my children and students will do better than I did, and I'll have had some part in it."

"Mm. I know the feeling."

Grin. "They haven't quite surpassed me in power, yet, but they're doing very well in general."

"Well of course. Any time they have to train, we do as well."

"They're accelerating, though, faster than I am. It's good."

"You are fortunate."

"I got very lucky with all of them." Smile. "I've somehow ended up with five at least partime students. It's quite ridiculous - they're Sayuri, Elaise, Elieyha, Chihiro, and Amajina."

"And Tobi had said Elieyha and Amajina seem to be alts, too..."

"Yeah. A lot of interesting coincidences."

"Fate, perhaps."

"I'd prefer 'consistently good taste.'"

"Fair."

"It wasn't accidents that brought us together, too. Not really."