The story of the shinobi begins with the end of another's story.
40 years Archaic Ninja Age, there was a war between two groups who wanted the world. The first group was the samurai; the second was the shinobi. The samurai were people who carried bows on their backs, katana and wakizashi at their hips, and exuded a regal nature. Their creed, the Way of the Warrior, their bushidou, was based heavily on honor, duty, and responsibility. The samurai were breed not to become extensively unique, but of a perfect warrior.
The shinobi were different. It was a group created by poor people who were mostly farmers with either makeshift weapons or farm tools to their name. Anyone who was agile, sneaky, and-or excellent in disguises and poison was automatically a shinobi, whether official or not. Eventually, the shinobi outnumbered the samurai - the samurai who focused long years on few pupils - and wanted to rid the samurai.
Thus began the Bushi-Nin ( 武士忍 ) World War. It lasted three decades. The samurai had the upperhand for more than half the war until the shinobi made a breakthrough.
Senju Bushirama, a monk from the small Fire Temple, found the use of chakra, a mixture of spiritual and physical energies. That chakra was originally used during the monks' practice to harden their bodies or to calm their emotions. Bushirama, spurred by the war which killed his sons, found a way to use that chakra in combat. He then taught that skill to his young, only remaining son, Senju Hashirama.
Hashirama then found two other shinobi to which to grant this new and mysterious ability to. The first was Uchiha Madara; the Uchiha had a doujutsu called the Sharingan. That eye ability helped the man copy Hashirama and master the ability just as easily. The second was Hyuuga Hiyomi; Hiyomi was referred as the Byakugan Princess, utilizing her doujutsu to find pressure points and have a large field of vision. Hiyomi used that ability to highlight the weaknesses and monitor the flow of the chakra, which she eventually mastered herself. The three together became the Distinguished Trio, and are the reason the Shinobi group won that war.
Today, 35 years post Ninja Era, Konoha stands as the strongest village where the Uchiha and Hyuuga live. The Senju, however, faded away, something reminiscent of extinction. On that note, their close ancestors, the Uzumaki, suffered mass extinction as well.
The story of Uzumaki Kushina begins with the end of another's story.
10 years Ninja Era. Uzushiogakure hosted the Uzuito Clan, the Uzumushirui Clan, the Uzukeishiki Clan, and, the most prominent, populous, and famous, Uzumaki Clan. All Uzumaki had pure red hair as red as cherries, newborn babies, or even blood. A full-blooded Uzumaki would have dominant genes for red hair, which the Uzumaki adored gratefully - their red hair could never be lost. Any person with Uzumaki red hair could be genetically traced down to the clan, whether the DNA makes up 80 percent of the person, or fewer than one percent.
The three other clans came from the difference in the hair color. Some had strawberry-blonde, ginger, or even auburn hair. If a baby was born without flawlessly red hair, could they still be an Uzumaki? The answer was no, and thus the subsequent clans were formed to classify the small minority without red hair. But the Uzumaki in no way discriminated the redless members; the Uzumaki made sure all clans share in the name uzu or 渦, and all equally received the standard education: fuuinjutsu.
Fuuinjutsu is the study of seals and, boy, were the residents of Uzushio good at it. They were the absolute best at fuuinjutsu, and few disclosed their secrets to the world (much to the world's anger). Another infuriating thing about the Uzushio clans was that they didn't make shinobi in an Academy (after all, one of the requirements to a hidden village is having a standard educational facility); a child at any age would perform a test for their ideal sensei and, if they pass, would immediately be apprenticed and become a "Genin." They would receive not a hitai-ate, but a bronze scroll imprinted with Uzushio's symbol and would carry that scroll around, never to open it until they become Chuunin (for a now un-openable silver scroll; a special Jounin would receive gold until they become Jounin). Nobody can ever tell any other person what the scroll has inside, only a vague idea that probably their sensei or family wrote the contents if there's anything written inside.
The "queen" of all Uzumaki was Uzumaki Mito. Married to the First Hokage, Mito left Konoha when he died and took some of her redhaired children with her so she may eventually die among her family. Mito's children were revered greatly, and when her children had children, they were treated as some kind of royalty.
Uzumaki Kushina is the great great granddaughter, first removed, of Uzumaki Mito and the baby of her family. Perhaps the only other person who could understand her anguish would be Uzumaki Mahara, the great great granddaughter, twice removed. And that connection was the mutual feeling of them wanting to accomplish something but had obstacles, not a very complex dream.
But such hopeful thoughts were encouraged during war.
One day, two months after her seventh birthday, Kushina and Mahara sit on a green hill overlooking their village. Uzushio favors white, traditional buildings with gold and red decorations and their spiral imprinted onto every column and building wall both inside and out. It's fun to watch the sea of red and few offshades that is the Uzumaki hair. Sometimes Kushina sees red faces, and knowing her people, it is always because they were angry. Her people are known for their "fiery" personality.
What Kushina loves most about Uzushio is the lakes and streams that pass through every part of it, and sometimes she can see eddies and whirlpools while walking home or having a bad day. Water, she thinks, is the best, best element there could be. (Is it ironic that she has a Fire Release affinity?)
"Hey, Mahara-chan?" Kushina says to her family member lying down under the sky. "I really, really think we need to get a sensei soon. I mean, we've been seeing less and less of our own shinobi because of the war, and I hate sittin' around."
"Suppose so," Mahara sighs. "But, you know, we're different. You've ... you've got special chakra - everyone talks about it. It's not hard to see it. And I'm ... all I've got is my intelligence."
"Ya make sound like a bad thing, channo!" Kushina groans as she abruptly sprawls background beside Mahara. Kushina has a little habit of saying -ttebane or channo when she's upset or flustered because she tends to speak fast and think while speaking. Mahara also has a quirk of saying -deyo or y'see, though that's only because she spends so much time around Uzumaki who do have speech quirks.
(Uzumaki are contagious - hear about them, see them in action, or even talking about them gives chance to develop a person's speech quirk.)
"Intelligence isn't the best thing ever, book dumb. You know why? I hate Uzushiogakure."
Kushina stares at Mahara with a puzzled expression. " ... eh? Wh-What do you mean?"
Mahara closes her eyes. "All Uzushio Clans are just loud, obnoxious people who can't control their temper, and whose hair has them sticking out like a firecracker in a library. All I want to do is master fuuinjutsu, then I'm leaving."
Kushina can't take her seriously, particularly because Mahara is six going on seven, and she knows the girl isn't fond of social ... anything. Really, Kushina thinks of Mahara's opinion as a rant about being an introvert in an extroverted family. So, Kushina smiles. "Sure, Mahara-chan." The girl in question rolls her eyes.
It takes two more years until Kushina's story begins.
Now her Uzushio is red.
The red of hair and the red of blood; the waters were red, the burning buildings were red, and the Uzumaki lying unmoving on the ground sprawled in a pool of red, their hair perfectly blending into the color to make it seem as an extension - that was red. Only the bodies of Uzuito, Uzukeishiki, and Uzumushirui lying next to the corpses gave sign it is blood.
The Battle of Uzushio took seven days without pause. Three nations - Lightning, Water, and Earth set a diversion within Konoha so that it could not help its sister country. The Uzumaki were stubborn and had high vitality, but the sheer number and rapidly increasing army plus the decrease of fatigue shinobi for fresh one saw Uzushio fall. When Konoha shinobi could get to Uzushio saw either corpses, labelled missing Uzu-clan members (which would be presumed dead after two years), or, if early, tried any citizens, but only one makes it out, solely because of her protector who sacrificed her life.
Uzumaki Kushina was saved from death by Uzumushirui Karuna. Kushina knew that woman was indeed related to Mito more closely than she was - only the great granddaughter of Mito - but she had auburn hair, brown eyes and skin more like the First Hokage, only having Mito's diamond on her forehead. And whereas Mito would be around 90 years old, Karuna could be no older than 50.
But ... the thing about Karuna was, while others did treat her specially, she had a very, very large amount of chakra that almost felt scary to Kushina. How could a person have that much chakra and yet have flawless control?
Kushina had to get used to her abnormally large chakra reserves because the closest descendants of Mito hid together underground during the Battle of Uzushio. She had to get used to not only Karuna's chakra, but the fact a first removed besides her aren't considered close to Mito, so her family never came to the shelter, nor Mahara and Mahara's family. It got even weirder for her when Karuna took her - her alone - and left while the rest of the members departed to provide a distraction they all knew they would not survive, all for Kushina's sake.
Was she grateful? As a nine year who couldn't see her family, friend, or water for seven days, no, she was not grateful.
Kushina, crying, was tossed over Karuna's shoulder and forced to see her red-painted Uzushio for the first time, until Karuna managed to enter the forest nearby, obscuring her view. Now there was yet another thing to worry about, another reason she can't control her tears.
"Stop, stop, STOP, channo! Why is this happening, ch'no?! What's happened to Uzushio?!" the girl sobbed, hitting Karuna's back. "Stop it NOW!"
"Please, Kushina-chan," Karuna had whispered. "I will be forced to knock you out if you don't stop those noises - "
"I-I don't care! It's g-gone! Everything I knew is burning! Why?!"
"Kushina-chan - !"
"Stop her! Stop the jinchuuriki!"
"The Kyuubi jinchuuriki?!"
Karuna cursed under breath; she couldn't use her chakra because not only is there a lot, it's incredibly noticeable.
This is not very good ...
But she wasn't stupid enough to not think of a plan if anything went wrong.
Karuna created a flawless, seal-less Wind Clone for a distraction while Kushina and her real body Body Flickered a hundred meters away. It doesn't matter how far she goes - there will be scent trackers and it isn't ideal for her to led them to Konoha - she will deter them when the most important thing is done.
She dropped Kushina to the ground who tried to see through her tears.
"Wh-What's a jinchuuriki ... ?" Kushina said in a still shaking voice, her brain just not making the connection to the folklore and reality yet.
"If the Kyuubi dies during the war against countries with twice the beasts, Konoha is doomed," Karuna said instead, her hands slowly forming a tiger seal.
"What's that supposed to mean, ch'no ... ?"
Karuna's brown eyes darkened. "I'm sorry, Kushina-chan. I knew we wouldn't make it to Konoha - not just by using stealth. Either the enemy stays until they are certain every Uzu is dead and Uzushio burned and I use chakra before the sealing to protect you, or I perform the seal on you now and can use whatever remaining chakra to protect you."
"S-Seal? What seal? What's happening?!"
"This wasn't supposed to happen until you turned twelve, until we knew you could handle this, but then Uzu was caught before we could notice ... "
She remembered that day. That day filled with tension as silent ravens and crows delivered coded messages to any Uzu outside Uzushio to come back home, even though she could see no visible threat. And by the time most of the Uzu were back home, by the time they caught foreign chakra, they no longer breathed.
"Kushina-chan, I unwillingly bestow this seal upon you, because your chakra is the most capable of storing the Kyuubi within." Karuna punctuated her words with flaring chakra her seal, giving birth to whatever jutsu she intended to make.
That sentence had everything click into Kushina's head. She's to be the Kyuubi jinchuuriki? Stories of the hateful, vindictive monster made her tears resurface, but she saw the way there were chains emerging from Karuna's back like angel wings, and how the golden chain plunged into the ground around them, sealing them within a barrier. Kushina gaped at the clear barrier that was designed to block chakra from leaking and once more to Karuna who now stared at her with empty eyes.
"K-Karuna-san ... ?!" She felt scared, a girl who was supposed to be mighty and strong because of her special, special chakra sat on her butt, had tear stains, and looked as pale as the white of an egg. She felt like a huge baby all over again. She couldn't move as Karuna knelt in front of her, performing more seals. "Please stop ... "
No response from the woman flying through the hand seals. Whatever made her become so detached that her friendly eyes looked like bleak vortices scared Kushina infinitely more than becoming a jinchuuriki.
Karuna hit her last seal: bird. "Uzumaki Art: Spiral to Spiral Seal."
What?! Kushina didn't know anything about seals besides the basics and the thirty-two different kinds of calligraphy used to write a seal, and now this a seal without the usual ink and paper?
In her bewilderment, she did not see two spirals form under Karuna and her and the line used to connect them. She did see Karuna fall over just before red - red - covered her eyes and the only thing she could feel was her chakra being violated.
She could feel chakra pouring into body and centering around her stomach - like a tsunami crashing into a shore. Her entire chakra system was rearranging itself to encompass the foreign chakra, and even though the chakra collected inside the seal, her chakra was never, ever going to be the same again. As of now, her chakra was completely, and wholly, sensitive and uncontrollable. She could feel herself falling ...
No! Wake up, now, ch'no! Don't you feel that?!
She opened her eyes to see a tired Karuna panting heavily - but she knew they haven't moved, not in the slightest - with chains gone and her still high chakra fluctuating because it didn't know how to function without that seal and, as a result, collapses in on itself.
Uzumaki have vitality; Karuna wasn't going to die just then. She did one seal and the diamond on her forehead blossomed into self healing jutsu that ate up Karuna's plentiful, chaotic chakra. The woman looked exhausted, yet beautiful with the vine-like markings covering her skin. Karuna grabbed three scrolls out her pouch - bronze, silver, golden - and put them into Kushina's own pouch she received from her sensei during shinobi training.
No, the gold still remained in her hand as she smiled bittersweetly. "It's funny how ... in my youth ... I was too arrogant to read these scrolls, and now ... as a Jounin, I never will. I don't deserve these scrolls, but ... I know you will. Without the comfort of a home and family and the obligation of being the holder of a beast you don't understand ... these scrolls seem unworthy to give to you with all the sacrifices you're forced to make."
Karuna placed the last scroll into the pouch and picked up the girl who could not move her limbs bridal style. "Now, we must leave ... that Wind Clone will soon become to unstable to exist."
Kushina couldn't do anything - her body was unresponsive; her body wanted to have her completely unconscious while it figured out how to keep her alive using the seal, but she was too stubborn to sleep. Karuna added upon more seals to fully hide their presence, and Kushina forced herself to watch. Her stubbornness kept her awake the entire trip to Konoha - a full three days with Karuna's unstopping, top speed. Even then, the woman did not take the normal route, but the hidden route only used by ANBU and Root, which led into a secret base into the mountain.
As soon she entered the ANBU headquarters and could give Kushina to any person, Karuna collasped and her markings faded; another few seconds and multiple pulse and chakra checks indicated Uzumushirui Karuna was dead; a body check yield an official note soon delivered to the Hokage that held, among other things, Kushina's official classification: Mito's granddaughter, shinobi in training, the new Kyuubi jinchuuriki, and sole survivor of the Uzushio Fall.
The story of Sarutobi Hiruzen began with the end of another's story.
12 years Ninja Era. It had only been two months after the Second Shinobi World War and one year in total the Second Hokage, his sensei, had been dead. Only six months since Uzushio Fall. That massive lost to their sister country invigorated every shinobi who had caught depression over their Hokage's death. They wore red spirals on their uniforms into battle and came out victorious.
It's such a shame the Second War began all began with the smaller villages. Multiple, small villages wanted to become the capital of their land, the Land of Fire in which Konoha was located within. They felt as though Konoha wasn't true to the Land of Fire - that it should be symbolized by Fire Release civillians, not the best Water Release Hokage, or a melting pot of diversity that did not include Fire Release. They felt like Konoha was a joke.
Those smaller villages began to deal with the Land of Earth, Lighting, and Water, but a string of corruption, misinformation, and betrayal broke out, causing the three Lands of suffer internal war which eventually turn external. And their target: destroy the Land of Fire. Konoha truly had no idea what happened until five months within the war.
Now Hiruzen stands to lead Konoha hailed as the God of Shinobi. Within those ten months of grief until the war end, he was an unstoppable force, a practical juggernaut. Only in battle. At home, he showed off his sincere, kind, and wise nature made dull with grief.
He's scared, of course. A twenty-four year old man is terrified. He was apprenticed under Tobirama at twelve, independent by sixteen, and had his own team of Genin at seventeen. Now his team watches him as he places the Hokage hat and cloak and tells a sincere speech of his love for Konoha and his will to protect it. Hiruzen does not realize at this moment, would could occur almost twenty-five years from now.
SHINOBI OF THE HIDDEN LEAF
This story chronicles the lives of Konoha shinobi. A redhead jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, a girl genius of the Uchiha Clan; this is a fix-fic with twists to make it less of a complete copy and more like something new. AU
Episode 1
A Preface Told in Bits and Pieces
The beginning of this story started with the end of another's story.
One can say the end was simply the death of the Fourth Hokage's short reign; some say is was the very death attributed to the first war well before the modern shinobi of Konohagakure, a village hidden by leaves. Every shinobi does believe through the Fourth's demise, a very special person began their story, coincidentally this story beginning with life.
Thirty-five years during the Ninja Era, a name to mark the start of the modernization of hidden villages, a ferocious red fox attacked Konoha on the night of October fourteenth. Just the name, a "fox," isn't terrifying, however this creature had hands the size of the diameter of skyscrapers, as tall as mountains while being heavier than one, not to mention its incredible output of Killing Intent. From within fifty kilometers, a highly trained shinobi could only resist the urge to take their kunai and stab their jugular.
This fox was made with chakra more than ten times the amount of the entire village, and a deadly advantage of negative energy sensing, the process of sensing target due to how much negativity their chakra, person, or both, emits; from terror, anxiety, wraith, they all constitute to negative energy.
That made the job to apprehend the red fox beast called the Kyuubi, the Nine Tailed Beast, completely grueling. Nobody could calm the beast, and survivors recall the beast's eyes being red in color with three tomoe spiraling, a matured Sharingan.
Fourth eventually came to relive Konoha of the Kyuubi and, using his life, sealed the terrible monster into a newborn.
... perhaps foreshadowing her life, the girl remain completely ignored (sans her basic, basic needs halfheartedly performed) during the three day funeral focusing on hundreds of lost lives. After those dismal days, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, had to come out of retirement. Before he formally announced just that to the fearful Konoha, he officially met the girl for the first time.
The girl had redhair (whatever the old man could see) just like the Kyuubi, with three whisker-like birthmarks on her cheeks, appearing similar to a humanoid version of the monster sealed within her. She had been alive only for four days before the attack.
Hiruzen knew the girl was half Uzumaki. But being both an Uzumaki, a clan that was destroyed during the Second War and still carries a dangerous connotation, and a jinchuuriki, especially the one who murdered so many lives, was begging too much trouble to the girl.
He knew that Uzumaki woman had sealed the beast into her newborn daughter born on October tenth, but why, why did the Kyuubi escape four days later? The Uzumaki is a seal master in good hands, and yet - ?!
There had to be fowl play involved, and the only lead there is: the Uchiha Clan and their Sharingan. It's painful to believe a clan that are descendants of The Distinguished Trio's Uchiha Madara would make such a painful and lethal attempt against Konoha, but there's nobody else to blame ...
It's only natural the Third banned all talk of the Kyuubi - especially any information reaching the generation of kids born on year thirty-five - and kept her entire identity secluded by only giving her a first name: Monaka.
The story of Monaka began with the end of another's story.
At the age of two, the orphanage no longer wanted to care for the girl, even after secluding her far more harshly than what the Hokage requested. She was not a troublesome child - she was afraid of other's attention, afraid to walk while the keepers were nearby, and afraid to even make any noises.
Her being alone almost twenty-one hours a day meant she was severely behind. She could not speak properly, didn't understand basic manners; that lack of information led to her getting into to more trouble by ignorance, which finally made the caretakers furious with the girl and demand her to be gone.
The spoke about her with words like "that thing" "that creature" "demon girl" while the only Monaka understood was their negative energy seeping out, something akin to the Killing Intent's effects except it did not hurt her. It felt like smelling stale air after walking through a clean forest. Secretly, it was due to the expert seal keeping in the beast on her stomach. Its property is to use both the beast and the girl's chakra to keep the seal working. With such a fragile body, the Kyuubi's chakra performs all of the work thereby making her chakra feel completely inhuman.
That inhumanity made it so much easier treating her like filth. Civilian and shinobi alike can easily detect the Kyuubi's chakra pouring out the girl, and her fox-like appearance hardly helped matters. Soon, Konoha itself considered the girl not as a human, but as the Kyuubi itself.
The story of codename Jackal began with the end of another's story.
ANBU Jackal discovers he cannot run away from his past any longer. That revelation come from his mission: babysitting the four-year-old girl named Monaka. Unlike everyone, he doesn't hate her, but hates himself. Because it's all his fault the Kyuubi killed the Fourth, his sensei, and it's his fault so many of his loved ones had to die. If it weren't for his teammate Uchiha Obito surviving their last mission as a complete team with Nohara Rin's death - sacrifice - he might have lost it a bit more.
Jackal enters the apartment through the window with all the sound of a mosquito's bite; the aggravated energy of the Kyuubi is a lot less harsh since the last time he had to babysit her. As usual, a note is placed on the counter.
Sorry, but I cannot take that demon's chakra anymore! Please find someone else. Jackal tosses the note away.
He stalks though the cold, quiet, and tiny apartment to see the girl sleeping with a scrunched up face. It's cruel how no one could stand her presence so she had to be hidden yet again. He wonders just how much she's learned. Most likely nothing.
This not how he expected to spend his break after that whole Danzou-Root affair.
He sits by her bedside while the sky is a vivid blue, a prequel to fiery orange then yellow of dawn. Maybe Monaka senses his presence (how?) because she wakes up.
All she sees through blurry eyes is a man hidden behind a mask, eyes hidden in shadows, and decorated in a cold, blue uniform.
" ... who you?" she mumbles.
Jackal normally become a tad unhinged spending too much time with her, and is an absolute last resort, but with the events of last night, a few hours earlier, remains almost numb. "Uh, Jackal. I'm ... I'm your babysitter."
(How does Obito chat so freely? This is why he does all the speaking.)
She wrinkles her nose with least minimal effort. "Ain't no baby."
"Yes you are. You're a toddler. That's still a baby. A child is classified from ages 5 until 12, which is coincidentally the amount of years the Academy is open to children, so - "
She rolls over and places the pillow over her head - it is way too early for any big words she can't understand. Jackal sweatdrops at her reaction. Talking to others really bites.
It's a big risk sending the most hated girl to the Academy.
Any child born during and after year thirty-five have no idea what she is, so the children at a shinobi training facility and education would be more accepting; however, children mimic what their parents do, even if they can get pass her chakra that remains thirty percent Kyuubi free.
Plus, training a cursed girl as her has many people wondering if teaching a "ticking time bomb" the art of assassination is really such a good thing. Thankfully, some "genius" happily added that she's extremely likely to die in combat, which upset the Third tremendously.
But by being the keeper of the beast means she has to learn some way to defend herself. The Third walks into her apartment and catches her all alone, again, coloring. Closer inspection shows all her drawing a colored by an orange crayon and none of them are colored inside the lines or even on the paper.
"Monaka, good morning," says the Third, unintentionally startling Monaka.
"It you again," sighs the six-year-old. "What, what?"
"You have to say 'good morning' back," he patiently replies, sitting down forty-five degrees across from her.
"What, what?" she repeats, awfully concealing her wish to see the Hokage frustrated. It's starting become a habit he does not like.
"Monaka, how would you like to join the Academy?"
"'Academy?'"
"Yes. To become a ninja and fight for Konoha."
She looks out the open porch doors giving her a perfect view of trees. "What 'Konoha?'"
"It's where you and I live. It's where the Fourth Hokage sacrificed his life for you to be a ... 'hero' to the village."
Her bright blue eyes meets his calm. "He ... ro?" It's a bit difficult for her to mimic the sound.
"A hero is one who leads others," he says, aiming for the simplest definition. "They're the kind of person others look up to."
The meaning rolls over her young head. She focuses her attention back on the forest, and for a girl with a short attention span, that worries the Third slightly, similar to an itch.
"Wan' Academy," she says quickly. "Don' like here."
Maybe she thinks of the word "Konoha" as home and her apartment as "jail." It's too difficult to tell how complex a child could think.
"Excellent. For a fortnight, I'll send someone over to collect you for school, then you must go on your own. Alright, Monaka?"
Monaka, again, looks at trees, with every time spending a spike in her chakra. "Uh-huh."
"Monaka, is there something in the forest?"
"Nuh'in, 'cept - " She slaps her hands over her mouth.
The Third arches a brow as Monaka quickly gets up and says something about her being right back before she heads for the forest. The Third does a quick sense of the forest, smiles at the results, and, deeming she'll be safe, heads off to deal with a much more ... dangerous matter.
The story of Uchiha Sanada begins with end of another's story.
On that eve of October tenth, the Kyuubi was controlled by the Sharingan; the only clan that could use that Sharingan was the second most populated clan in Konoha: the Uchiha Clan. Absolutely no one could believe that their own would cause this much chaos, but the town thought otherwise. The Uchiha Clan was already treated with wary with its members in charge of Konoha's Police Force and many speculated the Uchiha created the whole scheme of the Kyuubi as a way to profit for arresting "potential suspects."
The leader of the clan, Uchiha Fugaku, vehemently denies all theories and says the event must have been caused by someone non-Uchiha. The public retort a non-Uchiha can't utilize the Sharingan.
On the first week of August, it marks two days until the "anniversary" of seven years worth of isolation from Konoha and persecution.
"I'm home! Itachi-nii! Mom!"
Uchiha Sanada, after a long day from Academy, steps through her home to discover her mother isn't cooking or cleaning as usual, but sits next to her father, Fugaku, as she quietly talk to Itachi.
The seven-year-old doesn't get it. She gets her family and every clan member is hiding information from her, but last week, her world was turned upside down when her big brother Itachi was accused of killing Uchiha Shisui, both of the sibling's closest friend.
By the way the adults at the Academy avoid her like some kind of rabid dog also scares her. A murderer brother, a town who's she suddenly starting see hates her as well, just what is her family?
She hides, unable to hear anything, and waits until they finish speaking, in which Itachi finds her hiding spot easily: under the table next to the sliding doors. He smiles, a little, as he says, "Welcome home, Saa-chan."
She doesn't smile. " ... something's wrong, isn't there?"
"There is. But it doesn't concern you; you're completely innocent."
"Itachi-nii," she scolds, but does she really want to know what's happening? She's curious, no doubt, but her fear is just as real. "I want you to train me to defeat my classmate - "
Itachi cuts her off with a gentle finger poke to her forehead. "Sorry, Saa-chan. Maybe next time?"
She covers the area he poked by a small, chubby hand. "Why won't you train me now, Itachi?"
"I must fulfill a mission for the sake of Konoha and the Uchiha," he states, watching his little sister intently.
"You're barely a teenager! Shisui told me, um ... I know you wouldn't do that, but - "
"Sanada, come here, please!"
Sanada pales at her father's voice just behind the screen. Usually, he focuses heavily on Itachi and never her (unless it's to protect his baby girl), and now he's beckoning her? Her brother has an unreadable expression as his slips on his ANBU mask and stalks out.
That's not very comforting.
Why is her family so screwed up?! That small yet intense flare of anger helps her enter the room and sit seiza across the the wooden table facing her parents. Though young, they look very exhausted, but even when no one can see them but her, they still keep their composure.
"Sanada," her father says calmly, "due to Itachi's 'stunts' this past week, I have deemed him unfit to lead this clan."
Sanada had no idea hearing those words would hurt more than make her happy. Finally her father and her brother have more free time, but she knows without doubt Itachi is better than her ... which is why she trusts him with her life without hesitation or confliction. (Well, this is if Itachi doesn't finger poke his way out of everything; "Sorry I couldn't make the meeting; maybe next time?")
"However, there still must be some clan head, and I will teach you the prerequisites to leading our clan, Sanada."
She beams. To be able to do the things Itachi never had the time to teach her! "Thank, you, Father!"
The story of Hyuuga Hotaru began with the end of another's story.
In Konoha, there is a tradition named the "Shichi-Go-San Festival" in honor to celebrate the fact children can now make it until their seventh birthday instead of dying years before. On "San," the third birthday, the Hyuuga Clan honors their new heir for achieving three years of life.
However, that Hyuuga heir's birthday coincided with Konoha's peace treaty between Kumogakure, a village hidden by clouds located in the Land of Lightning as opposed to Konoha within the Land of Fire. Using that peace treaty signing as a distraction, one Kumo ninja stole the three-year-old heir to observe the secrets of the great Byakugan.
The heir was no other than a boy named Hyuuga Hotaru, son of the clan head Hyuuga Hiashi and, rather oddly, an unknown woman who Hiashi refuses to disclose the information of. All Hyuuga members realize that the woman must be a Hyuuga or else their heir would have a hard time using the doujutsu (eye technique).
Hiashi easily dealt with the ninja by punishing the man to death, but also broke the treaty he had no idea of. Without cold evidence that Kumo kidnapped Hiashi's heir, Kumo demanded the dead body of Hiashi to be delivered to the Raikage. These set of events created the Hyuuga Affair.
Three years after the affair, the heir Hyuuga Hotaru is forced to hide in a forest just minutes after the Academy ended for the day. Ever since his kidnapping, his relationship with his entire family took a nosedive.
For starters, his cousin Hyuuga Neji despises him for the murder of his father (for the greater good, they told Neji). Every day during practice - no, it's less like practice and more like one-sided beatdowns and tears particularly on Hotaru's side.
And the tears. He is a boy, a boy is suppose to be strong, confident, and able to lead. All Hotaru displays are shyness, low self-esteem, and vulnerability like that of a girl than a young man. It doesn't matter his confidence was destroyed the moment his cousin regarded him with utmost contempt; it doesn't matter his little sister, just two years younger than him, shows more prowess to lead and strength than a boy who's trained all his life.
And even though his family constantly talk of eliminating him from being heir and are openly disappointed or ashamed of him for his weakness, he does not cut his hair to symbolize he's defeated, though he acts that way. He keeps his long, bluish-black uncut in silent defiance.
... or so he likes to think, but now he must face the threat of children mocking his "pretty boy nature," and how easy it is to make him cry or stutter or blush all like a girl. All Hotaru does is fear talking to anyone and fears being acknowledged and all he wants to do is give up because he is a failure,nothingmore -
"Oh, princess! You can't hide from us, ya know!"
He whimpers. Not again. Not again. He can't move.
Something grabs his hair strong enough to pull him backwards from his hiding spot and rip a few strands of his thin hair. He looks up to see three boys in class smiling at Hotaru's tear-filled eyes.
"Looks like Princess is crying again!"
"That just ain't right! You's a guy just like us, so why you such a big baby, Princess?"
"Ya embarrassing us real boys!"
Hotaru is too mortified to speak. Only tears leak out which aggravates the boys more - a vicious cycle. The boy who still holds his hair yanks on it. "Such a girly girl! Why don't ya just cut this off?"
"Yeah! No real man has waist length hair! Get outta here!"
"Whatta crybaby."
The taunts go on and on and on. Hotaru is used to trying to hide all the time, it never crosses his mind to fight. Could he even if he tried? He's certain it would not work.
"N-N-Neji-nii-san!" Hotaru watches as his cousin walks past him going the opposite way without speaking. It's been three months since Neji started Academy and Neji's reactions with Hotaru grew more and more violent the more ninja abilities he acquired from the Academy. Hotaru stands there watching the fleeting cousin, hurt, but against all odds, follows his cousin. "I-I-I'm sorry!"
Neji turns abruptly around, smacking into Hotaru who gets knocked back while the older stands uneffected. "As the heir, you're supposed to be strong. You're supposed to lead us and the very day we finally accept you as our heir, you get my father killed for your weakness! Sorry won't help a thing!"
Once again, he can't stop his crying. "I-I'm trying m-my best ... "
"Try?! You're supposed to be a leader! There's no trying, there's only doing! Whatever. I'm going to become strong and change the Hyuuga unlike you, Hotaru, who just wants to whine and complain!"
"I don't!" sobs Hotaru, reaching for his cousin
who slaps his hand away harshly enough to leave a red mark. "Silence, you pathetic ... pathetic waste of space! Get lost!"
I'm sorry ... I'm so sorry ... Hotaru rubs at his ceaseless tears both caused by the insults of the bullies and his hurt cousin he can't begin to fix -
The boy holding his hair throws him onto the ground. Weakly, Hotaru lifts his head and, though his vision is blurry, can see something unmistakable.
Red.
He rubs his eyes. It looks like whoever is here head is bleeding fiercely with all that red - no, it's hair. Red hair - he's never seen that before ...
"Whatta ya doin'?!" shouts the girl, cheeks scarlet.
"Oh, ew, it's her!" One of the boys cringe.
"It's true! She really does feel disgusting!"
"Gross! Run away before she eats us!"
Huh? Hotaru blinks. Nobody has had any interest in teaching him anything about the world he lives in for years, except the Academy, but he still doesn't get how a girl could be so scary ...
As she gets closer, he can feel her chakra. It feels poisonous and venomous; he wants to pass out from fear. But her face looks happy and innocent and, well, she did help him. It'd be impolite to run and scream from her. ... resist the urge ...
"Hi, nee-chan! Monaka!" She points to her chest. She hardly looks older than him, but they're both pretty short for their age.
Hotaru can't even manage a polite smile, exhausted from ... everything. " ... u-u-um ... I-I. ... "
"S'okay! Don' mind! Don' be upset!" The girl, Monaka, sounds more like a four-year-old than Hotaru's age of six.
" ... um ... "
Monaka picks him, he being slightly taller. "I gon'be Hokage, nee-chan!"
"H-Hokage?"
"Uh-huh! Hokage is ... " She thinks for a moment. "A he-ro!"
"Oh!" And my classmates talked about her eating them ... how odd. "G-G-Good luck ... "
"Yeah!" Monaka pushes both Hotaru's cheeks to make him "smile." "Nee-chan, if you no happy, I be there!"
"Y-Y-You don't have to ... "
She shakes her head. "I wan' be Hokage. I wan' help you! Smile~!"
She grins which Hotaru thinks is the most adorable thing ever - with sparkling, blue eyes, her somewhat mischievous smile, and her complete sincerity. Hotaru finds himself smiling as well.
"O-Okay!"
She giggles. "Good! See ya, nee-chan! Hungry!"
Hotaru waves as Monaka scampers back to wherever she came from. It's very enlightening to see that not everyone is ashamed of him. Then he freezes.
D-Did Monaka-chan call me "nee-chan?" Like ... a girl?
The story of Uchiha Itachi begins with the end of another's story.
(Though one could argue that "end" was his clan or that "end" was his sister's innocence.)
Sanada is home from the Academy much later than normal, but she so wanted to practice practice practice the things her father taught her and impress him to make him think she was the genius and not her brother.
On the twilight of August 3, Uchiha Sanada takes her first step into the Uchiha Compound and realizes something is wrong wrong wrong.
It's too quiet; there is no noise, there is no speaking, and, yes, her clan have been more irritated than chattty, and, yes, they go to meetings every other night that she has to stay home with just her mother, but this is too silent.
She continues the path to her house, now slow, now cautious, observing the appearances of the houses - but their outside is completely intact - and the lack of people.
Finally she gets to her house, her stomach hurting as she slides the door open and cannot say anything. If this were a meeting, then she would just be panicking for no reason and she and her mother can laugh it off until the men get back and she can train with her dad because there is nothing no nothing wrong
there is something very, very wrong.
The common room in her house usually has its porch doors open with a lovely view. That view is made warped by the ambiguity of night and shadows. That ambiguity creeps into her house. The world is one of three colors.
The unforgiving black of night.
The cold, detached blue.
And the haunting of red that dyes the floor and her brother's sword.
"I-Itachi-nii - ?"
Her brother's sword reflects the moonlight unintentionally (perhaps?) highlighting the objects just above that red dye. That would be her ... her -
Honestly, had she not been exposed to concept of "death" by the demise of Shisui, she would have thought something very naïve, such as her parents were sleeping and that red stuff was just markers or red ink dripping out from underneath. Sanada understands what corpses are.
"You ... you killed my mother and father?!" Her body is between two extremities: warm tears of sadness and trembling from her violet surge of anger (even her eyes burn like an inferno). "I trusted you! I knew you didn't kill Shisui, but I was wrong!"
The common room in her house paints horrifying view of two siblings with a bloodlust and two parents with blood loss. The color of blood is the same color of both of their Sharingan flaring. The world is one of two colors.
The red of rage deeper than the sea.
The red of blood she wants to see Itachi bleed.
The story of Umino Iruka began with the end of another's story.
That cursed Kyuubi slaughtered his parents and takes residence within a girl whose chakra still faintly drips with the beast's chakra. That girl remains in his class he's supposed to teach.
The class is called 1-D 1, with the first 1 symbolizing the beginning quarter, the D being the lowest class ranking, and 1 to symbolize what room his students are located in.
Twelve students catches his eyes.
Uchiha Sanada has a hallow look in her eyes, everyday haunted by the secret she is forced to keep and that her clan's massacre cannot reach the minds of young children.
Hyuuga Hotaru tries to make himself smaller, but a glimpse of hope fills his pale eyes when he looks at Monaka.
The next generation Ino-Shika-Chou trio remain unaware of the other's existence, most likely for the three to develop their skills independently as a shinobi.
Then there's the Aburame famous for their insects; the Inuzuka famous for their dogs (to which his Inuzuka student has no dog at his side due to its youth); and a civilian girl with pink hair similar to a cherry blossom.
Finally, there is the redhead, whisker-faced girl who is behind her six, seven, and even eight-year-old classmates in every way possible. Iruka thinks the only reason why she's here is to simply humor the girl, and with those thoughts running through his mind, Iruka, with the help of his old classmate, Mizuki, begins the first day of the Academy's second year.
•
Monaka admits her memory isn't the best, but she clearly remembers seeing her classmate Sanada staring gloomily at the reddish sunset and stops on the middle of the path to observe her. She can feel negative energy radiating. So, carelessly, she walks down the hill and plops next to the startled girl.
"Yo!" Monaka smiles.
Sanada glares warily at the girl, her chakra mostly her own. "You're in my class. What do you want?"
"You're the best in class, ch'no," she states. "I'm the worstest. So, I'm gonna beat you one day."
Sanada hugs her knees. "Why do I care what you do? Go away."
"I seen the way adults look at ya ... they do that to me, too. I wanna let you know ... I's here, 'kay?"
The only thing she knows about Monaka is that she looks weird, she makes Sanada's spine cold when nearby but her happy face betrays that hidden aspect, and everyone loves to hate her. Yes, it's true Konoha has never looked at her the same, whether it's pity or disgust, but she does not want to be compared to Monaka.
"I said go away."
Monaka notes her energy refuses to leave. "I don' like being alone. I'm here."
To Monaka, it feels less like her comforting Sanada, and more like Monaka subtly begging for someone to give her attention. All she wants is attention and Sanada's pretty close to her as it's going to get.
Sanada doesn't know why, but she feels relieved then irritated because this weirdo isn't a complete weirdo (though she's still stupid and awful at anything in the Academy besides lunch - ah, Chouji beats her there, too). "Whatever."
Monaka is content she was able to stop Sanada's negativity for a moment. "I've gotta go! Needa talk to the old man! Bye, Sanada!"
Sanada refuses to acknowledge her until she knows she's gone. Then she sighs. It really is lonely living within her compound as the sole Uchiha left in existence besides that man.
You're too weak, little sister.
She clenches her fists and stalks off. She will bring justice. People will stop looking at her with those looks, and she won't need to hide her past from her classmates. She will assassinate that man by those eyes.
This is the telling of stories that begin where one ends. The life of a shinobi is one filled with death and endurance, and those who cannot understand that fact will fall into despair.
This story chronicles the lives of Konoha shinobi.
A/N
Welcome to the rewrote SOHL, originally published on February 29, 2016! I'm a sophomore, so, yeah, I'm not that great at writing, but I do want to publish a book one day, and what better way to practice than to write fanfiction? I'm a pro a write essays from things to Literature, DBQs, and even lab reports, but creative, unique writing that isn't so bound like an essay? Tough. (Thanks War of the Worlds by HG Wells.)
Anyway, the purpose of this fanfic is simply me trying to learn how to write a story by using a pre-existing one and flipping it on its head so that it isn't just a repeat. Sasuke/Sanada Uchiha is a girl because I wanted the crush problem between Sakura and Ino gone, and Naruto/Monaka is a girl because of: Naruto looks way too much like Minato and I wanted Monaka and Sanada's relationship to be like sisters just the canon brothers theme. There's a whole lot more changes, but I'll explain those (probably).
Changed Hinata into a boy because I thought others might hate an all-girl team. Gave them all real names instead of weird/confusing names like Naruko, Sasuhime, and Hinato. Plus, shinobi references multiple, multiple shinobi while ninja 忍者 means a person who practices shinobi 忍 (shinobu, shinobi) 者 (sha, person), so ninja is used is used to refer to specific shinobi.
Also, I plan to un-OP (overpower) many main bosses because, thought the fights are epic, aren't really ... enticing. There's no real ... threat, you know? I don't plan on Shippuuden happening, my goal is to just write about the first series until I'm satisfied with my writing style.
If you enjoy this story, then keep reading! Else, I'm sorry I couldn't keep your attention, but you should read other stories that people worked really hard on! With nothing else to say, thanks for reading.