Disclaimer: I'm not making any monies nor do I own Naruto & co, they belong to kishimoto.
Chapter 1
If only he would stop running and just pay attention to him and fight!
"DAMN IT SASUKE!"
Blonde hair can be seen through the trees that are old as time, while up ahead, black hair that shines blue, lands in a lighted spot to see the one who screams at him.
"Hn...Dobe"
As they face each other, a tan teen with whisker marks on his cheeks and a pale teen with a dead look on his face, with blue eyes boring into black eyes, bodies are tense with the promise to get fast and violent with each other in an awesome explosion of ninja abilities beyond comprehension.
(Little did the boys know that their world is going to end up tossed and turned inside out by a surprise.)
A bright light encompasses them, blinds them for a few moments, when a bundle lands in between them, surprising them from what they had set themselves to. At first glance, it seems to be a mature woman to have landed, however, as she gets up, she groans out "damn, I fucked up bad."
Of course, the boys couldn't understand what she said. Sasuke sees that her face is facing him and her eyes looked odd. Even to him, he can tell that she COULD be an Uchiha, since her eyes had the tomoes of the sharingan going back to her normal color of hazel. But what caught Sasukes attention the most was that her sharingan had green in it, not the red. Naruto's looking at her like 'WTF?!' written all over his face.
They cautiously make their way to the now small bundle of clothes, to see if they could see more of her. Sasuke, who never shows much emotion to begin with, reaches her first to get a better look at the new arrival and gets one hell of a shock...Naruto, that goofy blonde, sees Sasukes' face and smirks himself...
She's about the size of a 5yr old with reddish brown hair, an athletic like body and very pissed off for the crappy landing that she had made. Sasuke gets close to her and crouches next to her with a very intense look, trying to figure out, just where she had come from. She looks in his direction and pales rather fast, 'this whole scene could be funny if wasn't so damn serious' is her thought.
"Why are you here?" Sasuke asks after doing a language jutsu so she could understand him and vice versa.
"I had hoped that I would have made it before you would hurt your best friend that is behind you. And my name is Mari." she says.
Naruto goes nuts and yells like his normal self..."Teme! Please tell me you know who she is?! Tsunade-baa-chan is gonna have my head on a platter!"
"Enough! Her name is Mari and no, I have no idea, who she really is!" the normally stoic teen just blew his lid.
"So, we need to get her back to have Tsunade-baa-chan look her over." Our favorite blonde thinks out loud.
'Damn, I wanted to take her with me to our hideout and ask a few questions before I go anywhere near Konoha and its damn council.' "Hn, where are your teammates?" replies Sasuke.
"They should be here any moment...speaking of which, here they come," says our blonde.
Naruto's teammates finally catch up to them and Kakashi is looking grim, while Neji, Sakura, Sai, Yamato, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru look on in confusion. The smallest of the bunch is currently trying to figure out what will happen to her since she has the sharingan and Sasuke is her uncle. However, before anyone has a chance to do anything, Mari passes out from chakra exhaustion.
"Awe man, she's out like a light." Kiba lets them know, since he close enough to see the new arrival.
Sasuke's teammates are near now and Karin is getting very jealous of Naruto's closeness to him. "Sasuke-kun, who's this little girl?" Karin says while Suigetsu just looks on out of curiosity.
Tobi is hiding from them since he wants to know what is going to happen to the little one. He knows that those with the green sharingan are a rarity in the family. There has not been one in over 60 years since his defection from the village and the Uchiha.
"Hey guys! This young lady is Mari. And she might be related to Sasuke!" Naruto happily says, and everyone else groans at the hyper blonde. "So, how are we going to get her home to Tsunade-baa-Chan?"
Kakashi looks at everyone and thinks of a plan to get her home with Sasuke in tow. "Sasuke, you can hold her for the first day out. The rest of us will take turns holding her while we are on the move, that way no one person has to hold her all the time. Is that all right with everybody?"
All those present nod in agreement to the plan. Sasuke, of course, is fuming on the inside since he would rather take out the council then most of the ninja in Konoha.
And so, with Mari placed on Sasuke's back, they head off to Konoha and the Hokage.
~~~~~~~~~ Later in the week ~~~~~~~~~~~
Sasuke has told them in order to talk to her they had to use a language jutsu.
"Hey, how are you doing Mari?" Sakura asks.
"I hurt in a lot of places that I can't seem to figure out. The pain is unbelievable. Can you help me out?" Mari pleads.
"Let me see what I can do." Sakura's hands glow green with healing chakra.
"Oh, man that helps, but not much." Mari is still in pain, but not as badly as before.
"You should see Tsunade-sama when we get back to the village. She is THE best medical shinobi that I know and trained under!" Sakura happily says with a smile.
"Then that would be a blessing for me. I just hope that everything goes ok." Mari dejectedly mumbles.
Sakura looks on in sympathy and knows that when they get to the village; the Hokage will want a full report and to test the lineage of the 5 year old little girl.
~~~~~~~ Just before they get to the gates of the village ~~~~~~~~~~~
Everyone stops and rests a moment before they continue their journey to the village. Mari is given a chance to walk and flex out all her sore muscles. She eyes Sasuke and the others. She just hopes that nothing bad goes down while she is busy with the Hokage. She can tell tension is on the rise and Naruto is getting very antsy to get Sasuke home no matter what he wants to or not. Kakashi checks out the area and figures it will be ok for Mari to walk the remainder of the way to the village since they are very close to the gate, only an hour or so from it, and proceeds to tell them. "We'll go ahead and start walking the rest of the way to the gate. Mari you can walk in the middle with Sakura. Naruto, you take point with Sasuke. Suigetsu, Karin, Shino and Sai you walk behind Mari. Yamato, Neji, Kiba and Akamaru can cover the back. Anyone disagrees to this?"
None disagree with the set up that Kakashi has made. And so our little troupe head out to the village with Tobi following behind them the whole way there.
As they cross the gate, they had spoken with the guard posted then made their way to the Hokage Tower. Sasuke felt very uneasy about where they were heading and little Mari is just looking around her, gawking at the sights that are Konoha. He realizes that she has never been here in his hometown. She is getting her first taste of being in this place were Itachi and him had grown up. He finally sees what she sees, a place to start over, to be in, to live in, to have a real place to call home. She hopes to have a family here waiting for her, but she knows that the family she has is walking next to her now, looking at her with new eyes for the first time. She gives him a blinding smile of sunshine, just like what Naruto gives him, when he smiles.
They arrive at the tower, everyone having a different set of feelings. Some are feeling that a chapter has finally closed while some feel like a new one has opened up and given them a New World to see. Guards escort them to see the Lady Hokage. They are bid to enter.
"Well, I see that you have finally got the stray Uchiha to come home and you also brought a few new guests. Any occasion I should know about?" Tsunade asks with a scowl on her face.
"Tsunade-baa-chan, why can't you just be happy that I have finally made good on a promise from a few years ago? Sasuke-teme can introduce to you his new friends he made; however, this young lady he is holding hands with is Mari. She interrupted our fight that we where in." Naruto happily expresses.
Mari is scowling at him for the remark about the fight that she HAPPILY interrupted. 'How is Sasuke going to explain about Tobi following us to this point? I just hope Hokage-sama doesn't blow her top off any time soon,' she thinks.
Shizune is looking around at the new faces and old familiar ones. She is glad that Naruto has come home with the one Uchiha and hopes that the new faces can help protect the village from the new threat. "Naruto, you be nice to Hokage-sama! It is nice to see you again Sakura, Kiba, Yamato, Kakashi, Sai, Neji, Shino and Akamaru. And you three would be?"
The water ninja calmly states his name, "I'm Suigetsu, this chick on my right is Karin and the guy behind me is Juugo."
"If you don't mind my intrusion, I would like to have our smallest guest checked out with some tests. Sasuke, you go with her to the hospital and take your new friends to get checked out as well. Kakashi report back when they are signed in." Tsunade orders. "And don't forget to write the reports! I want every bit of detail you can give me! You understand?"
"Yes Ma'am!" All shout at once.
Sasuke notices that Tsunade is looking at Mari rather closely and is very worried about what is going to happen now that he is home since the council now knows that he is here. He takes Mari towards the hospital with his new team in tow.
~Mari's POV~
Things were not supposed to get this way at all. I was supposed to be 35 damn it! Not stuck in this little body of a 5yr old. This sucks so much it hurts. I am so going to get that jackass of a monk when I go home! I mean come on, who would ever think to look for me here in this place? And Sasuke is looking at me funny again. Well, hell we are here at the hospital. DAMN. I really didn't be here. I don't want a check up, I just want to go home since I was able to stop them from killing each other, but it doesn't look like I'm going to get the chance to get out of here any time soon.
I reluctantly follow them to where go for the check up. Sasuke will not let go of my hand, he can tell I want to leave this place as quickly as possible.
"Hey everything will be ok soon. You'll see," he says to me. YEAH RIGHT. I have heard of that line before. "Tsunade-sama just wants to make sure you are healthy and not hurt anywhere. She does this to all ninja who come home from a long mission. Just trust me ok?"
Like I have a choice in the matter since I can't walk all that normal yet. This is the most I hear him talk to me in the ENTIRE time it took to get here from where they had found me. Go figure.
Naruto has been walking with us and chatting about everything else but the time he (Sasuke) had been with the snake bastard. They talk while we wait for the nurse to be done taking down the information I can give without giving away too much info about me and where I had come from. I think Tsunade will believe me more than anyone else.
Naruto seems so much happier than ever before, I can see that now. I will have to leave when I can; being here is not good for them or me.
I ask the nurse if I can lay down somewhere to sleep. I'm very tired and I need to get rid of my headache so I can think straight. I'm shown to the cot in the office so I can lie down. As soon as I lie down, darkness and oblivion take me.
~~~~~~~Sasuke's POV~~~~~~~~~
I see that Mari has gone to sleep so quickly. My mostly non-verbal comments don't deter my former teammates at all. Sakura looks like she is happy for me to be home and is not so annoying any more either. They really look ready to ask more questions about what has happened between Itachi and me. I am not saying a damn thing yet.
If anything I just want to chase them out of the room we are in so I can go to sleep as well.
I see my chance when the nurse tells Naruto that he needs to go wait outside in the hall with Sakura, Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo. I had asked her why. "The information I have is very much private between you and Mari. Hokage-sama has asked me to relay this information to you sinceā¦." She's waiting for them to get out completely. They all get out quickly. "You are related to Mari. We are still trying to figure out just what kind of relation you have with her." I'm beyond shocked. I sit quietly on a chair and think 'how, just how am I related to her?!' My face, of course, gives nothing away. I let her know that I would like to sleep as close as I can to Mari. I don't feel well. I need to sleep and think things through. I also ask her to let everyone else know that I don't wish to be bothered till later. She does do as I requested. I lie down and go to sleep, letting darkness claim me.
~~~~~~ Mari's POV~~~~~~~~
Things couldn't get any weirder. It did in my dream. At least I think I'm dreaming.
I see Sai, Naruto, basically everyone I have met so far, in my room. I look around and noticed that Sasuke is tense.
Very tense.
And holding a scroll in his hands.
I assume the worst has happened.
"So, what's with those expressions?" too scared to really know, but very curious none the less.
"Here, Itachi had this on him." Sasuke hands me the scroll while he tells me this. "I was only able to read the part that was meant for me. The rest is for you since it is in a strange language that I can't seem to understand. I have been trying for the last week and a half to decipher it and I am not getting anywhere with it."
I hesitantly get it and begin to open it up with a small smear of blood on the seal, so I may read it without being knocked into oblivion.
What I read floors me.
(My dearest daughter,
I am sorry if you are reading this now, instead of my being there to hold you and tell you about our family. You are only half bonded to the Uchiha name just by your birth alone. I have always tried to get to you, to explain why you have been with your mother and not me.You are my ray of sunshine I was able to have after I had left the village for killing our clan under orders by the elders. They are the ones to blame for this mess more than anyone.
You are Sasuke's heir now. I accept that. My partner had tried to get me to tell him about you, since for the last few years I have been getting him to tell me how you are. You might have seen a guy with blue skin around? Well his name is Kisame. Take care of him, Sasuke and his teammates, both old and new. I have to go now. My death awaits, at the hands of your uncle. I know, you are asking yourself why? Well, I just wanted my death to be by his hands and not anyone else's since I am now a missing nin. I just want him to have the best eyes possible.
Ask him if you have any questions about our family's inheritance, the sharingan. I have always loved you even though I could not say so to you in person. You and Sasuke will always be in my heart, forever.
Your loving father,
Itachi
P.S. Before I forget, the name I had wanted for you was Uchiha Mizuki. You can take it or not. It is your choice.)
I'm crying freely, I can sense that everyone is looking at me with some trepidation in their faces. Even Sasuke is looking weirdly at me. I can just barely see through my tears at them.
What I want more than anything though, is to be left alone to deal with my sadness and to ask Sasuke some heart wrenching questions. The kind he doesn't want to answer, EVER.
I try to talk. Naruto beats me to it.
"Tsunade-baa-chan says you're Sasuke's niece. So, how do you feel now that you have had some sleep? And just how old are you?"
Sasuke is giving him the patented Uchiha Death Glare. Sakura looks thoughtful, Sai's just being Sai, and Kakashi is ready to get everyone out of the room so he can talk to Sasuke and me in private. Everyone else wants to ask more questions of the like that I won't be able to answer.
"I'm going to be 5yrs old soon. And I feel like shit, thank you. You try being a big person upon arrival, only to shrink to this! It sucks big time!" I can tell I just gave away some not so good news to be telling. Oops.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sakura's POV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I can see that she didn't want to say that out loud.
To anyone.
Naruto has this look that says 'holy fuck' and I can tell he wants to shout some more. I restrain him from doing so. I whisper in his ear "be nice she's not feeling very well right now. Sasuke needs to talk to her alone about who is her daddy. So leave them be. Go outside on the windowsill and guard them from that side. Okay?" He nods and does as I had asked.
I get everyone else's attention to get them some privacy to talk.
Kakashi is being stubborn about it. He is acting like he knows how to speak the girls' home language. I would not be surprised if he can.
The others have managed to leave and only Kakashi, Sasuke, Mari, Tsunade and I remain.
"Why did you say that Mari?" softly asked by Kakashi. I then can't understand what he says next but I see she goes pale and red at the same. She looks ready to faint or to run.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kakashi's POV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The question I asked her was "what is in the letter that you are holding?" In her own language. She has the deer in the headlight look. I see that Sakura has managed to get everyone else out of the room for now.
"Here, you can read this since you can speak my home language so easily." She had given me the letter that came from Sasuke. Or so I had thought. I found out rather quickly that it's from Itachi. Not Sasuke.
My face feels like it is in shock. I know now why she said that so loudly. This floors me. What I had read makes sense. Itachi had a daughter while in her home area for that time frame. It so figures.
Sasuke looks like he is about to shake her silly for not telling him about what is in the letter. So I tell him in a very serious voice, "This letter explains a few things about where Itachi had gone to shortly after leaving here."
Sasuke jerks around and is just...flabbergasted. He sees' that I can read the letter. And so asks, "What does that letter say about her? And me for that matter? I want to KNOW NOW!" He starts to yell by the end of the question.
I give him a look that says 'NO'. "What name do you wish to called by, now that you know what the name he gave you?"
"I...really don't know...not right now. I don't want to right now. I have too much going through my head. Too much, too soon. Please just let me have some time to finally get used to this...family thing again. I had to leave a family behind just to get here." She is pleading. Begging really.
I see that this is information overload to her. I sigh and say, "how about we get you a place to stay so you can get used to us. Okay?"
She's ready to just leave. I can see it even though she is wounded and needing the rest.
"I...no...No. There is no need for me to be placed anywhere else. It would not do me any good to be moved again. It would actually hurt me more than I already am."
She looks apologetically at me. "In any case, could I go back to sleep now? I don't feel so good anymore."
Things start to make some sense to me about this young little girl. Here where ninja's are the norm, things seem more than what she can handle. I can tell it has been a very big ordeal for her to be here. I have gone to her home many a time without her knowledge or her ever seeing me.
"Go ahead and get some rest. I'll come back by later to make sure everything is okay."
She smiles and lays back down for a spell.
"Sakura, let's go. I have a few more questions for Sasuke about the family scrolls at the Uchiha Manor."
I look out the window to let the blonde know what we are doing. "Naruto, you're coming with us."
"Sure senpai." The two curse as we head out with Sasuke in tow. He doesn't wish to leave Mari behind.
"She'll be okay Sasuke. They will make sure of it or the council will have their heads. Tsunade would actually. " Sasuke just nods his head comes along quietly after that.
~A few days later~
*Mari POV*
I fill better now to tell the others as to who I am, so they can understand what has happened.
I mean, so much has gone on that I needed a few days to put it all in prospective and come up with a plan of action.
Sasuke has been nice and he has gotten a bit protective since he found out that I am his niece. I know he suspects that I have another life somewhere else and he probably has plans either to help me or to keep me byhis side if he can.
I only hope that the council doesn't find out about the family I had to leave behind. Nor the portal in which I had been sent by the monks. That is something they don't need to know. My father was summoned by the monks after he had received his orders from them (the council). They (the monks) helped him to have a child, so his family bloodline would continue.
The monks, for some reason, know things before anyone else. It was as if they could see into the future to help move it along where it was the most beatifically to the balance of good and evil.
Ah well, I don't want another headache by thinking too much. Besides, Sasuke is about to get here any moment, with the entourage, both new and old. Goody, goody. This is going to be a long day.
Most people think that being an Uchiha is a blessing. I think it is a curse.
As I see the others filing into my room, I wonder what it would be like to be normal. Then I remember I had been normal before I got here. I am going to enjoy being a kid again. Cuz I just figured it out, I can't go back, and I think letting the council know that my mother is dead will keep my family safe from the idiots!
"So, when can I go see the manor?"
"EH!?" -this is said by everyone.
"Seriously, I want to go out and play now. Can I?"
Kakashi just looks like he is ready to laugh. He figured it out that I am stuck here now and that I need to start training with the other students at the academy. Boy do I have my work cut out for me.
It's looking like one of those days...I can feel it. Most everyone is looking at me, and I just want to be able to go. The last few days here in the hospital have been kind of boring when Sasuke is trying to crawl into my skin, trying to get to know me and such.
"Hey Sakura, when can I leave here?" My biggest puppy look ever on my face, just hoping for them to let me know.
"Tsunade-shisu said you can go later today after the debriefing about how you got here." Sakura waiting for my explanation. Sasuke trying to figure me out.
"Oh, well, uh...I got here by a special ship and it left after I got to shore. As for me knowing where to find those two when they were fighting, a friend of mine helped me locate them with a jutsu." I so politely said to every person in the room with me.
Kakashi made notes and sent one of his summons to Hokage-sama filling her in on everything that has happened so far in regards to me. Looking around at those here, he makes a mental note on who can teach me how to be a ninja, since I did say at some point I wanted to be one. "I have been told by Hokage-sama that we can take her to an apartment near Sasuke's old one or let them live in the district. Your choice."
I look at Sasuke, he's looking at me, and we then look at Kakashi, "the district please." We both say and smirk the same too. Creepy...
We have them floored by our reaction. God I love to pull surprises on these guys. And what's more, is that I now have new clothes waiting for me by the nurse. "Here you go little one, Hokage-sama said to have thesefor you so you can go to your new house today."
"Thank you very much." I am smiling big time, the shirt is blue/pink strips and short sleeved with the family crest on the back, the shorts are pink with the Uchiha emblem on the hem of the left leg. And for shoes, I have the ninja sandals that are blue. I go to the bathroom to change out of the gown I have been in for the night.
Yay! We finally get to leave the hospital and start for the district, while going towards it, I ask if there is a chance to go shopping for more clothes or are they already there. Villagers are surprised by my appearance since I am with Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Kiba, Neji, Sugetisu, Juugo, Karin, and the last of the rookie nine, plus team ten.
Ya know I like my new family; we all are just trying to survive what life is throwing at us.
We all make it to the shops that the lovely girls know about. Me, I think they're just trying to dress me since I am so little. Gah! It sucks to be stuck inside a small body! Ino is having fun looking at all the clothes to put on me.
As most beings are aware of what we like, the others couldn't fathom just why I wanted to have as many clothes WITHOUT the color pink. Just purple, or blue, or even red, for that matter.
I kept trying to get the girls of the group to let me pick my new stuff, but NO they think I need to be dolled up in frilly crap. I beg the guys to get me out of the shop we landed in after all, and of all things, THEY look AWAY. Buttholes. They haven't seen the tattoos I have on my back, yet. HEHEHEHEHEH just waiting for the reaction I will get...
