A/N: Oneshot. Tiny spoilers for manga #699/700. Don't want to know? Don't read. I don't own Naruto; that's Kishimoto's baby. M
Jōnin
Bright black eyes, shining black hair, a sweet face and a kind smile.
It is her first day at academy, and she is excitednervoushappyscared as she looks around at her fellow students.
She doesn't really know anyone yet. She sees the boy with the dark glasses and hears someone say the name 'Aburame,' but that doesn't mean anything to her.
She listens to her first lessons, and the teacher explains the ninja rankings.
Mikoto makes up her mind right then and there.
She is going to be a Jōnin.
The boys laugh and joke, each ready to show off how good they are for the rest of the class. The girls talk to one another and ogle the boys. They try to draw her into conversation, but she smiles sweetly and stays quiet. She is not shy, but she often does not feel like talking.
It is her turn for shuriken practice. She passes a boy who likes to bully and pick on his classmates. "Just a girl," he snorts. "What can she do?"
She quietly steps forward and takes her turn, and he laughs. But as the shower of metal stars fly from her fingers and sink into the middle of the target in a perfect line, he stops.
"Well done, Mikoto!" the teacher praises her, and the boy mutters "not bad," as she walks by.
She doesn't mind.
She is going to be a Jōnin.
She doesn't make it to the final round the first time at the chunin exams.
"Mikoto, right?" a voice says from behind her. She turns and is surprised to see him there because he is five years older, and from an elite clan. Why is he speaking with her? She nods.
"You did well," he says, crossing his arms. "You just need some more practice. Your shurikenjutsu is excellent though."
"Thank you…" she says, lifting her eyebrows, gently asking his name.
"Fugaku," he supplies. "Uchiha Fugaku."
"Thank you, Fugaku," she replies with a bow.
She feels his eyes on her as she leaves, and she is encouraged. He thinks she can do it, she just needs more practice.
She goes home to train.
After all.
She is going to be a Jōnin.
It all starts in January with the Aburame baby, and it looks like it will end sometime in December with the Huyga's. It is early October, and the Akimichi's have a new heir, Tsume and Yoshino have their sons, and Inoichi is absolutely smitten with his daughter. She smiles knowing that her younger son will have fine classmates. She passes a woman in the market carrying a bundle of a baby with pink hair – a girl born just this March. At nearly 6 months old, the child's green eyes are bright, and she reaches for the sleeping baby in Mikoto's arms. She laughs as the child's mother admonishes her daughter gently "Sakura! We don't just reach out to boys – that isn't polite!" She is still chuckling as she makes her way through the market, and smiles brightly to see her friend rushing toward her.
"Didn't you have a girl?" she asks.
"No, another boy," she smiles.
"Well what's his name, Mikoto?"
"Sasuke," she smiles gently down at her son.
The Third's wife nods approvingly. "Ah, the same as the Third's father. Yes I'm sure he'll become a fine shinobi."
Mikoto glances over to Kushina, who is cooing over the sleeping baby.
"You're almost due, too, aren't you Kushina?" She asks. "You should pick out a name before it is too late."
"We've got one – 'Naruto.'" the redhead enthuses. "He and Sauke-kun will be in the same grade! I hope they become friends!" She suddenly drops her voice and leans in closely. "By the way," she hesitates, flicking her eyes to the side and then back again. "D-does it hurt? Like, bad?"
Both Biwako and Mikoto look surprised, but Mikoto smiles gently. "Well, well," she teases. "Even you are afraid of something, Kushina. I'll be."
Biwako loses her patience and hauls Kushina away. "Let's go," she grumbles.
"Sorry," Kushina calls over her shoulder.
"See you!" Mikoto replies. She resolves to go see her friend very soon and try to give her some peace of mind. She looks down at the small child in her own arms and smiles. "You will have friends, Sasuke," she assures him happily. "I have a feeling you and this Naruto could be great friends."
She finishes her marketing and returns home. When Sasuke is down for his nap, she gets some shuriken practice in.
After all, she is a Jōnin.
"Tadaima!" she hears Itachi call from the house.
She smiles and goes in to see her son.
Because now she is a mother, too.
The Nine-Tails is ravaging the village, and the Uchiha's are being kept from the front lines. Mikoto looks with worry to the bright night sky and says a quick prayer for her friend. "I have to help the villagers," she kneels in front of Itachi, putting both hands on his shoulders. "Stay here with Sasuke. I am counting on you to keep the two of you safe."
"Don't worry, Okaa-san," he smiles that same gentle smile that she has. "I will keep Sasuke safe no matter what."
Mikoto kisses her sons, and rushes to go be by her husband's side. They won't let the Uchiha near the Nine-Tails, and she knows why. She only hopes it doesn't cause more problems than they already have.
Fugaku is glad to see her, even if he doesn't show it. He directs her to protect some of the women and children, as she is able to see to their care.
She knows this is because he trusts her.
After all, she is a Jōnin.
And she is a wife, and a mother.
And she is his partner, no matter what the world brings to their door.
She sees the small child in the nursery and goes to Lord Third.
"Kushina was my friend," she pleads. "Don't let him be alone – not when he doesn't have to be."
The old man shakes his head sadly. "I know your heart is in the right place," his sigh is heavy. "But it cannot be. You know as well as I do, Mikoto. The village will never abide the Nine-Tails being handed over to the Uchiha."
She does know. She knows of the tensions building between the clan and the village. She knows of the suspicions directed toward them. She perhaps even knows that there are some in the clan that would try to use the Nine-Tails to their advantage. Perhaps the best way to keep him safe would be to keep him away from her clan.
"I am sorry, Naruto" she later whispers her apologies through the nursery window. "I would have liked for you and my son to grow up as brothers."
That night, there is another secret clan meeting, but she doesn't attend. She waits until Sasuke and Itachi are asleep to go outside and fling every senbon, shuriken, and kunai she can get her hands on. The tears stream down her face as she thinks of the loss of her friend, and the small motherless child left behind, and how she can do nothing to help him.
She shouldn't cry.
After all, she is a Jōnin.
She is a Shinobi of the Leaf, and the children of the Leaf often grow up with only one or no parents.
She knows this, but today, it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter, because she is a Jōnin that is also wife, and a mother, and she knows how her heart would break if either of her sons had been left completely alone the way Kushina's had been. "I am sorry Kushina," she sobs softly in the cool night air. "Maybe… maybe we can still make it right. Maybe they can still be friends."
She aches for what she selfishly wishes could be and for an end to these shadows that lie between her clan and the village.
And in that brief moment, she is only Mikoto.
"Niisan, practice with me!"
She looks over her shoulder just catches sight of Sasuke trailing after a patient Itachi, clutching a handful of kunai and shuriken. She loves her older son's gentleness, and knows how deeply he loves his brother. Sometimes she thinks about Naruto, and she is happy that Sasuke will always have Itachi. She knows that no matter what happens to her or Fukagu, Itachi will always protect his brother.
She pauses while washing the dishes, listening to their conversation.
"Sorry, Sasuke," she can hear Itachi sitting to put his shoes on. "I can't right now. Why don't you ask Kaa-san to practice with you?"
"I don't want to practice with Kaa-san," he grumbles. "And you are better than Tou-san – I want to practice with you."
There is a pause, and she knows he is waving him closer. She hears the familiar sound of his fingers tapping his younger brother's head. "Forgive me, Sasuke. Next time."
She hears him pause in the doorway. "I didn't practice shurikenjutsu with Tou-san," he says over his shoulder.
"Why not?" Sasuke asks. She can hear Itachi smirk.
"Because Kaa-san is better."
She hears the door slide shut. It is almost a full five minutes before Sasuke comes into the kitchen, hands jammed in pockets, and trying to look uninterested. "Kaa-san, are you busy?"
She smiles, and turns to dry her hands. "Not really."
They practice for several hours, and she marvels at her son's progress while relishing this small time they have together.
He improves within one lesson.
But of course he does.
After all.
She is his Mother.
Sasuke is starting at the academy and eager to excel. Itachi is coming home more and more tired, but tries to give Sasuke the attention he craves from their father. The lines around Fugaku's face are more pronounced than they were even a few months ago.
Mikoto is trying to hold her family together.
She is not only wife to Uchiha Fugaku – she is wife to the head of the Uchiha clan, and that comes with responsibilities. She secretly hopes that her husband will abandon this course of action against the village, but she knows deep in her heart that he will not because he can't.
She speaks gently with them all, and is unerringly supportive. She wishes her elder son would come speak to her as he did when he was younger, but she knows now that the burdens he carries cannot be shared. She is sure, as only a mother can be sure, that Itachi's load is more than what the clan has put upon him. She has always been exceedingly clever. She is certain that her son is being used by opposing factions.
She watches Itachi leave, and Fugaku disappear somewhere in the house to work.
Sasuke is in the kitchen, feeling abandoned by everyone.
"Tou-san never praises me like he does Itachi," he mutters.
She takes a seat across from him, and can see everything as if his thoughts had been neatly laid out on the table between them, ready for her inspection.
"Your father is the representative of the whole clan. If the clan is in a bad position, he must protect it. Itachi is the older of the two of you. The job of looking after the clan must be left to him. Your father is the supervisor of that job so that's probably why he pays more attention to your brother. But the conversations in here alone. When your father talks to me, he only talks about you and because of that, he's always awkward with you."
She looks to her younger son, fondly. "He is very proud of you, Sasuke."
Sasuke's eyes go wide for a moment before he smirks a smirk often attributed to the Uchiha men. "Can we get some more shuriken practice in tonight?"
Mikoto smiles. "Of course."
When Sasuke nails the center of targets that even a week ago he could not strike, it is evident that the Uchiha boys have their mother's rarely seen smirk.
She glows with pride, even as she mulls over the undercurrents in their daily lives.
She is always alert these days, feeling as if the air is heavy with the charge of a storm prickling against her skin. She trusts her instincts and is ever vigilant.
After all.
She is Jōnin.
She is a Mother.
She is an Uchiha.
And her most precious people need her.
They know he is coming. He tries to urge her to leave, but he knows she won't. She makes a final request of him, and he bows his head. He kisses her fiercely. She holds him tightly for what she knows is the last time. She conceals the weapon in her sleeve. He rubs the salve on the inside of his forearms and then hers. She kneels in front of him and kisses him before taking the first step of her request. They calmly sit beside one another, waiting.
There is a slight change in air pressure.
Itachi has come for them.
Mikoto prepares to die as she lived – protecting her clan and by the side of her husband. Itachi trembles behind them, and she knows without looking that he is crying. She knows because she is his mother. She knows her husband supports their son. She knows because she is his wife.
She tells Itachi that they already know – and they do. He promises to protect Sasuke, and Mikoto gives her son the only comfort she can. She calmly laces her fingers with her husband's, his palms already slick with the blood trailing down his arm. She hears Itachi gasp, and knows he has finally noticed the pool of blood at his father's right side and between them. Wordlessly, she slices the inside of her right arm from elbow to wrist just as she slit both of her husband's as she knelt before him. They can feel nothing; their arms are numbed with the salve. She holds Fugaku's hand, because he can't feel his. Her son sobs, and she can hear him unsheathing his sword.
Mikoto knows about life.
She knows about sacrifice.
So does Fugaku.
She willingly spares their son from taking their lives; the wounds she has inflicted have already sealed their fate. She can feel Fugaku swaying from blood loss and she tightens her hold on his hand.
The end is swift.
She sighs her last breath,
And she does this willingly
As a wife
As a mother
And as a Jōnin and proud shinobi of Konoha.
After all.
She is Uchiha Mikoto.
"Tadaima!" she calls out as she takes her shoes off at the door.
She is surprised to see her parents at the table, sipping tea. Tou-san's hand is over Kaa-san's and her cheeks are pinker than usual.
"Tou-san!" she exclaims, dropping her bag and racing to hug her father. "When did you get back?"
He holds her tightly before tousling her hair. "Not that long ago," he says mildly.
She turns dark eyes to her mother, who is watching them fondly. Something about her is…off. The sweater sits off-kilter on her shoulders, and her hair looks less tidy than usual. "Kaa-san, you look flushed - are you feeling alright?"
Her mother darts eyes to her father before clearing her throat and answering. "I'm fine. Just, um, a touch under the weather."
"Good thing you had the day off from the hospital," she says, adjusting her glasses.
"Hn," her father smirks into his tea. "Good thing."
Her mother shoots her father a warning look before turning back to her. "How was the Academy today, Sara-chan?"
"Fine," she says sitting at the table. "We worked on shurikenjutsu today," she grins. "Aburame-sensei says I'm a natural."
"Well, you didn't get that from me," her mother laughs. "I was awful at it for the longest time. That's all your Father."
"No," her father shakes his head. "That is my mother - your Obasaan, Mikoto."
"Really?" Sarada asks.
"I didn't know that, Sasuke," her mother says, mildly surprised.
"Hn," he nods. "I used to practice with her," he replies in a voice that Sara-chan recognizes as the one that he rarely uses and makes her mother look like she is far-away. Kaa-san calls it her father's 'remembering voice.' He glances at the clock. "Finish your homework," he instructs. "When you're done, we train. I want to see how you've improved."
"Hai!" she grins broadly, getting up to kiss her father's cheek. "I'll start right away!" She grabs her bag, goes back to kiss her mother, and hurries off to finish her work.
Later that evening, she is with her father, and her mother watches from the window - allowing them their time together.
"You've improved," her father says, and her heart swells with pride. Her father never says anything he doesn't mean, and he is hard to impress.
"I've been working hard," she says with a look that might border on cocky.
"Oh?" he asks, even though he can tell.
"Of course," she says, and the smirk widens. "After all. I'm going to be a Jōnin."
A/N once I realized Mikoto was a Jōnin, this started swimming around in my head. I couldn't figure out how to round it out, until Sarada/Salada/Salad was introduced. Forgive me, but for this initial submission, I refuse to call her 'Salad.' Give it time.
*The conversation with Kushina/Biwako is straight out of the manga. Mikoto's explanation to Sasuke is directly from the Wiki. Thanks for reading!