Sign of Change
AN: So another new story. I'm trying something a little different this time.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Standard disclaimer applies to all chapters!
Happy Reading!
WARNING: This chapter contains mentions of violence, rape and assault. An almost M rated chapter.
Prologue
Uchiha Ishara knew she had disobeyed the clan's orders the second she created a single shadow clone secretly in the privacy of her bedroom to sneak out of the Uchiha clan compound that fateful night. She had had no clue of the significance of the order 'to remain in the clan compound no matter what'; which had been strictly imposed by the clan head, Uchiha Fugaku at the mandatory clan meeting the previous night.
These mandatory clan meetings had been getting more frequent and tense since the 'supposed suicide' of Uchiha Shisui. The hostility and restlessness had been steadily rising among the clan members which made Ishara uncomfortable, especially as an empathetic sensor but she had neither the power nor the support to stop it.
Uchiha Ishara was a lowly front desk receptionist at the Konoha Military Police Force (KMPF) whose sole job was to direct informants to relevant departments after taking a brief statement. It was fairly monotonous (compared to normal chūnin missions) which was one of the things she liked about her job, the predictability.
/Flashback/
Two nights ago, as she was returning home after a fairly uneventful day, she almost bumped into a woman frantically heading towards the KMPF. Ishara observed the woman's ripped clothes, the bloody lips as well as fresh bruises in various places and the lack of headband on her person clear indication that the victim was a civilian. Ishara was immediately filled with rage but schooled her expression lest she scare the traumatised civilian even more.
"I'm Uchiha Ishara from the KMPF. You're going to be okay." Ishara assured the woman, leading her towards the KMPF. The woman sagged with relief and started to cry holding onto Ishara.
The KMPF mainly dealt with shinobi crimes (excluding ANBU) but had to take on the rare shinobi-civilian cases as well. As soon as she reached her chair, she called the emergency medic to heal the woman while she took out a new case file. The woman had long blueish-black hair, hazel eyes and wore a modern knee-length skirt with a sleeveless shirt that was ripped at the collar and the waist.
"Name, age and residence?" Ishara asked the woman who sat opposite her, visibly less distressed.
"I'm Usami Sachiko. 19 years old and I live near the market district." Sachiko answered, her voice slightly wobbly, "In Konoha." She clarified further.
"Alright, Usami-san. Could you please, in your own words, describe the incident?" Ishara asked gently. Sachiko's eyes were filled with tears as she no doubt recalled or perhaps relived her recent trauma.
"I- I met this man last night. At Saké-niku. He was charming and rich and very good looking." Sachiko started. "He said he was visiting Konoha and well, he asked me out." She took a deep breath and eyed Ishara nervously.
"No one is judging you here. Take your time." Ishara reassured her. It seemed like the offender was also a civilian. Those had to be forwarded to the General Police Force. She decided to take an initial report and then forward the case to the GPF.
"Everything started out fine, we met up in a restaurant and he bought me dinner and drinks and was, well, romantic." Sachiko said with disbelief. "He asked me if I could show him the forest park which he had heard was famous. And I foolishly led him to the abandoned park where he-" She broke off again to hyper- ventilate. "He didn't get far. He just tried to-, I kicked him and ran."
"I'm glad you were able to get away before anything more disastrous could happen, Usami-san. Many people aren't that lucky." Ishara informed coolly, glad that Sachiko had been able to get away when she did. "I'm going to have to transfer your case over to the civilian police since you, and the accused are both civilians."
"That's the first place I went to, Uchiha-san," Sachiko protested, "but they won't take my complaint." Her eyes welled with unshed tears once more.
"Why not?" Ishara asked angrily. "I'll go with you and we'll see what's wrong."
"Because Noburo-san is related to the Daimyo, they said." Sachiko confessed ashamed. Well, that made it a lot more complicated.
"I'm sorry, Usami-san. There's nothing we can do unless a shinobi is involved." Ishara said apologetically, inside she was seething. Especially when Sachiko bitterly started crying, silent angry tears streaming down her face.
"I don't know why I thought you would help me. After all, influential people always get away unpunished." Sachiko stormed off hurt and humiliated.
The medic pretending to be working on something nodded grimly. No doubt he was observing Ishara who had always got into trouble for defending victims especially women. She was warned and chastised more than once to remain professional and cool while taking such reports.
"This really is not under our jurisdiction, Ishara-kun." The medic, Tanaka Hiro, said softly. "You are getting the hang of this job and showing conduct befitting the KMPF."
"Thanks, Tanaka-san. I'll be leaving now." Ishara left with a small bow. Tanaka-san was one of the few non- Uchiha members of the KMPF. Learning medical jutsu was above the Uchiha clan, obviously, so such jobs were given to outside- specialists.
Ishara had almost reached the corner of the street where Sachiko appeared to be waiting for her distressed. She had wanted to catch up to the civilian herself so she had hurriedly left.
"Please, you have to help me." Sachiko begged. "Think of how many other girls he'll harm if left unchecked." Which echoed Ishara's sentiments exactly.
"There is nothing I can do." Ishara forced out. "Officially."
"What do you mean?" Sachiko enquired hopefully, slightly appeased, wiping her wet cheeks.
Ishara had been helping women like her for a while now. Ever since she had been shot down trying to help victims, she had started to help them in secret. Shisui, (also a strong advocate of justice) had helped her out with stronger targets. This would be the first time she was on her own. The handful of 'unofficial' cases she had taken on was reported to the Hokage by Shisui, who almost approved of it, as long as they didn't reach the official channels.
"We are going to lure him out and see that he's punished for his crimes." Ishara spontaneously came up with a plan. "If he approaches me, an Uchiha and a kunoichi, I can defend myself and go through the proper channels." Ishara had never done anything this stupid or crazy; but Shisui's suspicious death had brought out the stupidity in her. "We'll go to Saké-niku tomorrow and you point out this guy to me."
"Thank you so much Uchiha-san!" Sachiko cried gratefully. "I'll meet you at the adjacent street of Saké-niku at 8, that's around the time I met him."
"I'll see you then, stay safe." Ishara shunshin-ed outside the Naka shrine, where another mandatory clan meeting had been called.
/Present/
Ishara snuck out of her grandparents' house whom she had lived with after her parents' death. She carefully evaded her clansmen (every Uchiha ever, by the looks of it, thanks to the strict way the clan head had ordered every Uchiha to remain in the compound till tomorrow) which delayed her somewhat but she finally arrived at Saké-niku.
Ishara was dressed in a flattering kimono dress and had tied her hitai- ate inside the obi, hidden from sight. She also wore light makeup, minimal jewellery and a high ponytail. She looked like a normal enough civilian to blend in. She was used to wearing traditional clothes despite being eighteen; her grandparents preferred her wearing conservative and regal clothes 'befitting the main family' of the Uchiha clan. She looked around the establishment noting that it was mostly filled with civilians aged roughly between eighteen and mid- twenties. Most girls were dressed in western style clothes which her grandmother would definitely disapprove of but the males in the room seemed delighted.
She was starting to feel restless for some reason. She chalked it up to her first act of disobedience and ordered a glass of some fruity looking drink. 'With alcohol', her brain supplied helpfully. She ignored the uneasy feeling that was bubbling in her stomach, instead opting to discretely observe her surroundings, she didn't get to do typical teenage stuff often, or at all. Her drink finally arrived just as the target himself approached the bar area.
Ishara had only observed Noburo briefly from outside the previous night with Sachiko having a mild panic attack as soon as she saw him. Up close, he really did have a noble appearance only enhancing his sly smile. Objectively he was handsome, too bad he had a rotten mind. She was mentally thinking of ways to approach him without arousing suspicion but he sat next to her giving her a lopsided smirk.
"What's your name, beautiful?" He asked taking a sip out of the whole bottle of whatever he had ordered. He didn't have to wait for his drink it seemed, the bartender just fearfully handed him a bottle.
"I-Imaira." She almost gave him her real name lost in thought as she was. "How do you do?" She tacked on hoping she looked like a shy civilian instead of a lame kunoichi plotting to hurt him.
"The name's Noburo. I'm staying in Konoha for a week." Noburo said. "I'm here on business but I'd have remembered seeing your pretty face." He studied her. "You new here as well?"
"Ah yes." Ishara agreed. "It's my first time here." Which was surprisingly true, just not in the way he thought.
"I thought so. You kinda seem outta place here." Noburo said thoughtfully. He pretended to be thinking deeply and snapped his finger as though a brilliant idea just occurred to him, almost startling her. "I've heard that there's a famous park in the forest nearby which has an amazing night view. Why don't we ditch this place and head over there? That seems more like your thing."
"Yes that does sound better." She agreed, the abandoned park really was the best place to attack someone. The shinobi rarely had patrols around there. Ishara opened her purse to pay for her barely touched drink but Noburo stopped her and told the barkeep to put it in his tab.
They walked for a few minutes with Noburo chattering while occasionally asking Ishara questions to which she answered in curt, short sentences. When they finally reached the forest, Ishara staggered against a tree because her shadow clone dispelled without warning. She felt sick as the memories vividly registered in her mind. She swallowed the sob that threatened to break free. Her grandparents, Itachi-sama and a stranger. A strange Uchiha at that!
"Look here, Noburo. Your days of terrorising harmless civilian girls are over." Ishara bit out angrily. "We do things a little differently in Konoha and no fancy title or influence will save you from being punished."
"Oh so you know of my reputation, yet you followed me here." Noburo seemed amused. "Tell me, what's a damsel like you going to do?" He reached to untie her obi only to graze upon the cool metal of her hitai- ate.
"Oh yes. I am a kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf. Prepare to face justice, you scum." She punched him right in the face; landed a kick and hit him some more. At some point, she had started crying. Fresh tears streamed down her face and she absently noted with dark satisfaction that the man was crying and begging her to spare his life. She tied her hitai- ate with trembling fingers and ran.
Ishara shunshin-ed outside the Hokage tower which was crowded with masked ninja. ANBU, and a lot of them. She tried to walk past them but was stopped by one of the ANBU.
"Look she has the Sharingan." Someone whispered.
"Identification." The cool voice of the ANBU intoned.
"Uchiha Ishara, Chūnin." Ishara stated her registration number robotically and was led to the hokage. Even the Hokage looked surprised to see her.
"Uchiha Ishara, report." The hokage commanded. The whole story spilled out in a blubbering mess of words while she processed what she was sharing.
"…and so my grandparents were murdered by some unknown ninja inside the clan compound and I have no clue what to do." Ishara finished intentionally leaving out the part about the masked Uchiha and Itachi- sama's identity.
"I'm sorry Ishara- chan. It wasn't just your grandparents who were murdered." The aged- hokage sadly told her. "The entire Uchiha clan was massacred tonight by Uchiha Itachi. He has defected Konoha. The only surviving Uchiha is his younger brother Uchiha Sasuke. And you."
Her vision started to blacken and she lost consciousness.
AN: So did you like this plot? The writing? Do let me know if there is any grammar or spelling mistake. I'll edit it. Also should I rate this M or T?