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I DO NOT OWN NARUTO IT'S SUCCESSORS IN ANY SHAPE OR CAPACITY. I ONLY OWN MY FICTITIOUS OC'S.
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Glossary: Scene breaks will be denoted by a line of X's
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Demonic or summons speech"
'Demonic or summons thoughts'
Jutsus shall be rendered in Japanese and as such I will be using certain parts of the Japanese language, such as names for family and honorifics.
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"One day you'll walk the world and keep in mind, the heart you've been given in winter time. And through the bitter cold, with opened eyes you'll find the strength to fight and stand upright." - Gojira
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This is an attempt at a one-shot that I may or may not decide to pick up as a story down the line. Till the ending,
~Ardent Chronicler
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It's not easy being a bastard, especially in a small town. I lived in a town named Katsuro village on the edge of the known Senju territory. I was born to a woman named Hachiko Uzumaki and a man named Kai Uchiha. I was not supposed to be born, you could say I was an accident, and boy was I always reminded of it. You see there is a stigma in this part of the world, a stigma of being a child born in December. We are called the Children of Winter and all our life misfortunes tend to follow suit. I was less than a year old when my mother died of an illness, no one ever told me what exact illness, but sometimes I wonder if she was poisoned.
I was two by the time I was taken from the orphanage by a couple. Cita Fukushiro and Namine his wife, the only things I can remember from early on was that they had been a happy couple, more than happy to take in a redheaded black eyed girl. Though after a few years it had turned to horror.
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I fell to my back nursing my bruising cheek, tears filled my eyes.
"YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING BASTARD!"
I never had seen my father so drunk or so angry before, he usually only hit me a few times, but this time he had been hitting me for an hour. I braced myself as his large leg smashed into my head, my body sliding across the hardwood floor I layed in a heap. Blood flowed from a tear in the skin of my forehead, my head pounding, my ears ringing.
"All you had to do, was make sure that the food was fully cooked but no, you wanted to serve me OVER COOKED BEEF!"
I felt a heat approach my hand and I screamed, louder than I ever have as my foster father pressed the red hot poker from the fireplace into the back of my hand. I cried, and cried, my body shook in pain, and then I heard it. A crash, a bang, then I was lifted. I saw him, the young man who had been my constant friend. He had short black hair, black eyes, and over most of his hair had been a green bandana. I idolized this teen, he was kind to me, he bought me treats, and came to see me.
"Butsuma! Bring the girl to the doctor, then meet me by the gate."
"Hai tou-san!"
I clung to the red armor of the boy, my working fingers tracing the image on his right shoulder plate. It was a clan symbol for the Senju clan, he was a clan ninja, and I only wished at the time he would take me from this place, and never let me be hurt again. How wrong I was.
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I was eight when I met my first friend, her name was Sora, Sora Hakudo. She was a stunning visage, though only thirteen she had all the boys by her finger. She had stunning strawberry blonde hair, gorgeous honey-comb colored eyes, but the most amazing thing about her, was her smile.
"Ame-chan! Hurry or Dai-sama will be angry again!"
I chased after her in my work garb, I had been taken in by a family. They were known as the Dai, led by Lord Minamoto Dai the Daimyo of the area. I had only been five by the time I was placed under Soras wing and had begun to learn from her, she was truly an angel in disguise. We worked day in and day out in the mansion, cleaning, cooking, and even doing field work. It was tiresome but there was no beatings, no anger, just us. Until I met Goki, the Lords eldest son.
"Why hello worthless."
I frowned to the boy, taking in his visage, the bowl cut brown hair, the blue eyes. He was barely older than I, but he was my bully.
"Good evening Goki-sama."
I felt the hit before I moved, a strong right hook to my jaw. I stayed down as he kicked me over and over again, the blows kept coming until Sora ran him off. I nursed my bruised skin as I stood slowly, Sora thankfully had helped me to my feet. She fussed over my scratches and bruises, and that became the beginning of my lessons, I vowed never to be weak again.
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I sighed, my stomach had been aching all day. I wiped my brow of the sweat from working in the field with the cattle. I noticed something strange, something warm running down my leg. I excused myself to the bathroom, maybe I had soiled myself. You see, I was at this point eleven years of age, and I was experiencing something all girls experience at a certain age.
"AHHHHHH!"
I was looking at my womanhood, and blood had been leaking from it. The door flung open and Sora entered in, and as soon as she saw what was wrong her eyes softened.
"Oh dear, little Ame-chan is becoming a lady!"
After teaching me how to clean myself, she began teaching me what this all meant while we worked. She taught me of development, sex, and what the bleeding was. At the end of the day I was exhausted, my stomach hurt so bad I was going to cry. In the morning the pain was debi;itating, you see I suffered from a condition that was undiagnosed at this turn of the century. I suffered from an problem called Endometriosis. I was forced to work through it and at the end of the week when the pain subsided, I was called into the Dojo.
"Took you long enough trash."
I saw a tall man, green hair, amber eyes, he was a very visually appealing man. Next to him stood my personal terror, Goki.
"Good evening Goki-sama, Retsu-san."
"Good, you are here. Now, you are going to be the training partner to young Dai-sama here. I expect you here every morning at six o'clock prepared to work."
My eyes widened and I realized what had just happened, I had been volunteered as a punching pag for the young lord.
"Understood Retsu-san."
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Three years after my appointment as Goki's personal punching bag I had been learning. Retsu had been teaching Goki but he did not realize I was practicing on my own, in the bathroom of course. It was the eve of my fourteenth birthday when I had been called into Lord Dai's study.
"Sit Ame-kun."
I sat on my legs in front of his low desk, my eyes averted to the ground.
"I received a marriage proposal from Yamato-san who lives in the town of Katsuro village. I have accepted on your behalf, and you are to be moved to his home immediately. You will not receive your dowry as that was given to me to pay for your hand in marriage. I expect you to be a good wife."
I bowed low to the lord not only out of respect for him, but to hide my tears. I was returning home. It had taken two days to return to my home, and less than three to be married. My husband, Yamato Haruno was a wealthy man, though he was older than me by thirty years. He was warned by the medical officers who had performed my Virginity check that I was too young and would not be able to bear a child for another year at the least. He had not headed their words, and night after night I was used, abused physically and sexually by the man who dared call himself my husband. It had taken a few months, but sure enough, I missed my period, an I was indeed pregnant. HE had not hit me a single time during my short lived pregnancy, at least till the night we awoke, my legs and the sheets covered in blood. I screamed in agony, it felt as if someone had shoved a porcupine into my gut and filled it with fire. I made my way to the bathroom as my husband ran for the nurses, but I did not need their confirmation to realize what had happened. I miscarried my baby during the first trimester. I was taken by the doctors, who barely wished to help the Child of Winter that had returned, but they did so at the behest of the nurses. I was ill for two weeks, barely able to move or eat, but that did not stop my husband from beating me or raping me. I endured his torment, for a year, and on the eve of my fifteenth birthday, I struck. He had just finished having his way with me and as usual, collapsed on the bed.
"Be a nice whore and fetch me some Sake."
I stood and made my way to the kitchen, a collar with spikes pointed inwards lined my neck. I grimaced feeling the needles jab my neck if I moved the wrong way, I cleaned myself and I looked at the countertop. He forgot to put away one of the cooking knives. I grabbed it in my hands and knew what I had to do, I returned to the room and when he had noticed what was going to happen it was too late. I stabbed him over fifty times and cut his throat, he would never hurt me again. I quickly dressed myself in one of the few clothes he had given me, a simple white yukata with a yellow obi. I rushed from the house, bloody knife tucked behind my obi and I fled. I would need to find someone to help me, and there was only one name that stood in my mind. My last name, and my father's last name. The Uchiha.
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I stretched my limbs and began my kata. I had taken Retsu's lessons to heart and with the help of my foster parent, Takato Uchiha, I began my lessons on how to be a warrior. I had only recently picked up the sword, and had been training to unlock my Sharingan for quite a while if I could. I had only completed my morning stretches when I heard someone call my name.
"AME-CHAN!"
I turned and smiled brightly, it was my sunshine, my ray of happiness, and my savior. Tora Uchiha, a middle-class Uchiha soldier. He had found me two years ago in the forest, dying of an infection and delirious. Since then he has stayed by my side as a constant companion and confidant.
"Tora-kun, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just noticed your hair was extra red today, it really is pretty like the Sharingan!"
I blushed at the boys words, he was blunt, crude, but he never said anything without a meaning to it. I hugged him tightly and I felt at home, I was home. I never found my father, when I had asked one of the elders they had remembered him, but they also remembered how he died. He fought with the clan heir of the Senju clan, one Butsuma Senju, and had been killed in action. That one had hit me hard, my savior, my first friend, had been the one to kill my father. I couldn't believe it.
"So? Have you thought of what you were going to do tomorrow?"
"Hm? What do you mean Tora-kun?"
"It is the festival of the Sakura blooming! You can't stay inside this time cause you're not dying from an infection. You're gonna come with me!"
I relented, and that night, beneath the Sakura blooms, we kissed. He may have been four years older than me, but I found my sixteen-year-old brain had been fried.
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It had been three months since we kissed, and we kissed every day, multiple times. I loved him and he loved me, though I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was when I heard a knock on my door. I opened it and it was Toras mother.
"Good evening Satsuki-san."
"Good morning Ame-chan, can I come in?"
I nodded and I moved back to let her walk into my home. We ended up settling into the dining room, talking and gossiping like school girls, but that is when I noticed her face took a serious look.
"I am here on behalf of my husband and little Tora-kun. We have signed papers, and have made an agreement with your guardian for you to be wed to Tora-kun in eight days."
I was shocked, my heart dropped, I remembered my last husband. I remembered the hands around my throat, the seed in my womb, the pain in my chest. I did not know when but I began to cry.
"Ame-chan? What's wrong!"
I looked her in the eye and told her everything about my life, what had happened up to this point, and what I had done. After I had finished with Tora finding me in the forest I had seen her mouth pursed in a fine line. I expected for her to curse me, to hate me, call me filthy, but I was not expecting her to hug me so tightly it hurt.
"I am so sorry Ame-chan, I had no idea."
"I, I know. I want to marry Tora-kun, I want to so badly, but I am so scared."
In the end, we made an agreement and I would wed Tora by the week's end. I had been skipped over for the Virginity test when I had relented about being raped, the marriage continued. The day f our wedding had been the happiest day of my whole life. There was music, dancing, every single person was happy, including my own self. The night, I was nervous, I trembled as he approached me, clothed in only a robe as I wore nothing but a white yukata with no obi. He was supposed to throw me to the bed, strangle me, hurt me, violate me but he did not. He sat with me, he calmed me down and kissed me. He was so gentle with me, patient as well, and he always asked permission. He was an attentive lover, and by the time we both ended, he had never hurt me, not once. I wept into his shoulder for an hour, feeling his seed in my womb felt right. This was my love, my rock, my foundation, he was my protector, my lover, my best friend. It was not long afterward, only a couple of months when I had told him the wonderful news, I was pregnant. Though with a ninja clan you had better medical service and being married to the cousin of the clan head had its perks. The pregnancy had been rocky at certain points, but after nine months, I had our first child. A beautiful black haired and black eyed baby named Mina. For the first time in my life, I felt complete.
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It had been five years since Minas birth, and I was a mother of four. Mina, Torune, Hanataro, and Momoshiki were my sweet sweet babies. I had since been training as well as raising my children and I had done it, I unlocked my Sharingan. I was promoted from civilian to full Shinobi status. My husband was worried, but my mother in law loved to watch after the kids. I was so proud when I learned that Torune had beaten his cousin Daichi, the heir of the clan, in a spar. The boy was only four and was beating boys six years is senior! There were only two boys he could not beat in a spar. A young boy named Madara, and his younger brother Izuna. The two were the youngest children of Lord Kagami and had both become best friends with my little Torune. I had been on a few skirmishes with the Senju, and I met my one time savior, and idol, Butsuma on the battlefield.
"Ame-chan?!"
I took in Butsumas confusion and smiled softly to him.
"Nii-san."
"What're you doing here! You shouldn't be dressed up like a ninja! If it was not me who caught you, you would be dead!"
"I am a ninja Nii-san. You may not have known, but the Uchiha man you killed not long before you met me, that was my father."
I saw his eyes widen and his eyes filled with sorrow, but then hardened to a cold ice.
"Then you will die by my hand, just like your father."
That fight had been the hardest of my life, in the end, I managed to land a blow, a long slice down his torso. Though he had marred me as well, a sword to my stomach that ended my days of being able to bear children. My husband and I grieved for the loss as we wanted more children, but we accepted that this had happened.
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It had been a long time since I thought of that day, the day I met my apprentice Kagami Uchiha. Little Madara had become clan leader, he united the Uchiha and Senju clan after his brother had been killed and in the end, he left the clan as well. I had taken young Kagami under my wing much to the ire of Tobirama and had trained him to be a deadly swordsman, much as my sensei had taught me. I was proud of the boy, and one his wedding day I gladly sat in the spot of his mother, you see Kagami had lost his parents at a young age similarly to me. I still remember being called in one day to meet my godchild, little Fuma Uchiha, Kagami's brat, and the next coming in to identify the boy of two of my babies. Mina and Hanataro, both killed on a peacekeeping mission to Kaminari no Kuni. I never held Torune and Momoshiki as tight as I had that day, though looking back I should have held on tighter. The next year my husband fell to disease during an outbreak of the plague, it had left me so empty that I had nearly died from grief. I would have died from my grief had it not been for Momoshiki having a daughter, a wonderful baby girl named Mikoto. She was so lovely, so happy as a child. I adored her with all my heart. I was reaching my sixty-second birthday when I had been told of the Third Shinobi War. I worked as a nurse in the hospital taking care of the babies for the longest time, and I met a wonderful young woman named Kushina. She was being kept close by for the time being due to her status as the Jinchuriki, though she stayed close to me when I told her my mother had been an Uzumaki. I had begun to love this little girl as much as I loved my little Mikoto, and much to my love the two became sisters in all but blood. I had been so happy to hear of the end of the Third war. It was not long afterward my Mikoto had gotten married to the clan head Fugaku, he was rough and abrasive, but once you got past that, he was a loving and hard working man. You can imagine how happy I had been when I learned Mikoto was pregnant with Itachi, I was so happy it nearly killed me! I decided, for my great-grandson, I would write a memoir of my life, and so I wrote and wrote. When I had heard both Kushina and Mikoto had been pregnant I was so ecstatic, I was reaching my Seventieth birthday when I had finished my memoir, and it was close to Kushinas due date, I had presented the gift to little Itachi and told him to read it only when he needed guidance in his life. The book was a small one, but thick, full of adventures from my time as a Shinobi, full of pain and horrible circumstances I had been through, from my birth to now this book told my story, my whole story. I had felt the dread wash over my body as I felt the Kyuubi's chakra, and I had known something happened worn. In my worry, I had a heart attack, and here I lay, in my hospital bed, less than a week since the Kyuubi event, dying. Hiruzen was nice enough to let me see my great grandbabies, biological and not.
"This is him Ame-sama, this is little Naruto."
I smiled weakly as I held him in my arms, Itachi sitting next to me in my hospital bed. I caressed the baby boys cheek and smiled weakly.
"He, he will be strong, like my Sasuke-kun and Itachi-kun. Please, Itachi, take care of Naruto and Sasuke both."
"Hai, obaa-chan."
I felt my strength waning and I told Hiruzen to let the children leave to go play. I felt tired, oh so tired, and then I rested, forever more.
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"Oi, Itachi! Stop lollygagging and come on. We need to find the Kyuubi Jinchuriki before he leaves with Jiraiya!"
I looked up from the book, the old leather binding had been worn from use and time. I closed the book, finishing the chapter about my grandmother choosing to not kill Butsuma even though he wished her harm. I ran my finger over the title and I smiled softly.
"Winters Child."
This was the story of my great-grandmother, this was the story that inspired me to do what was right. I think it is time I gave the book to Sasuke, he may hate me for this, and I do hope he kills me one day, but until then I hope this book will give him comfort even in the darkest of times.
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This is my one-shot, let me know how you feel about this one-shot. If you feel strongly for it then leave a review, I may be picking this up after I complete part one of the Flaming series. Till next time,
~Ardent Chronicler