A/N: Random thoughts snowballed into this ...thing. No comment.
Disclaimer: Don't own Shingeki no Kyojin.
When she was four, she found out her Kaa-san's eyes turned red and the black would start to spin lazily, and she felt as though she could stare at those beautiful, hypnotizing orbs forever.
"Kaa-san, you have pretty eyes," was what the young child would comment each time. And each time, a sad expression would flash across her Kaa-san's face before being smothered by a forced smile. A hand would then reach out to poke her forehead and she would squeak and quickly cover it, ducking away in a hurry.
The naïve child would not understand her Kaa-san's actions, at least not now.
When she was five, her Kaa-san gave her the clan mark. It was quite painful, but Kaa-san had told her to be brave and strong. She would hate to disappoint Kaa-san. As the metal carved a bloody path on her shoulder, she barely made a noise. Focusing on Kaa-san's pretty eyes, the girl lost herself in the endless red sea. She was brought back by a relieved sigh.
"Now, Kasa-chan, this is the symbol of our clan. You are now an official member and can continue the tradition. These eyes of mine, they can only be wielded by one with our blood. Although they come with a burden, the power granted is incredible. Do not lose yourself to these cursed eyes. Understand?" Kaa-san's tone and expression was extremely heavy and serious.
"H-hai, Kaa-san." Her voice was firm, as serious as a five-year-old could be. Glancing at the marked shoulder, a fan-like symbol was etched into the flesh. Uchiwa, her mother called it. Her Kaa-san then smiled, pleased with the reply. "Good girl. Let's get this cleaned up, shall we?"
Her Kaa-san's cool hand hovered above the mark, glowing a pale green. The pain faded away almost instantly and the bleeding slowed down. As Kaa-san drew back her hand, the girl noticed that the mark had mostly healed, but the remainder had been left to naturally heal, ensuring that the scar remained. It was quickly bandaged and covered by long white bandages.
Amazement filled her silvery-grey orbs. "How?" she managed to utter. Kaa-san only smiled, whispered, "It's a secret tradition, musume," and poked her forehead, watching as her daughter 'eep'ed once and shielded the area with her small, pudgy hands. "I'll tell you more when you're older. Go to bed now."
Like the obedient, well-behaved child she was, the girl did not question her Kaa-san and headed to her room despite the burning curiosity, although she could not help but pout slightly.
At six, the lessons on being a shinobi were introduced. Kaa-san had her swear to keep it a secret and not brag about it. That was not a problem for the humble and quiet little girl. And so, the hand-seal memorization, genjutsu, basic taijutsu and chakra training began with training every other night in the nearby forest.
By the age of seven, the little child had managed to not only understand the concept of chakra, but also control it quite well, despite her higher-than-average reserves. Her Kaa-san was slightly shocked when her daughter managed to walk up the wall and remain on the ceiling for half a minute after numerous attempts. Of course, the walls were slightly damaged and dented after that due to some ...accidents.
Her taijutsu was coming along nicely and her body quickly adjusted to the Flowing River style, a style that allowed the user to dodge attacks easily while striking at the vital points of the opponent. It required flexibility, which was easy to hone as a child, and accuracy. She could hold her own against her Kaa-san for 20 to 30 minutes now, which was a major improvement from her measly 2 minutes at the start.
Genjutsu was fairly easy for her to learn, considering that it used to be a favorite choice of jutsu to use in battle for her clan. Needless to say, she was a natural and took to it like a fish to water.
However, medical ninjutsu was definitely out of her reach. The level of chakra control required was out of her league and any more attempts at the Shōsen jutsu was quickly dissuaded by the multiple chakra burns on her hands.
Fūinjutsu was a newly introduced part of her lessons. Since her Kaa-san was unable to understand or use fūinjutsu, she had to learn through whatever notes there were on hand. She found some useful information in an ancient-looking scroll. There were very well-preserved basic notes left in a scroll on the art of sealing, along with a short letter written in Kaa-san's mother tongue.
It read:
Sasuke-teme,
Your birthday's comin' up and Sakura-chan told me to get you a gift. I still don't see why we bother, since that stick up your ass still hasn't been removed and you're still being a asshole-ish jerk, teme. Sakura-chan just punched me for writing that, but I'm still sending you this letter. Here, I sent you some miso ramen and wrote some notes on fūinjutsu for ya.
Happy freakin' birthday!
From,
Your Awesome Rokudaime Hokage
Uzumaki Naruto
P.S. I did steal your underwear and sell them to your fangirls.
P.P.S. In your face, teme!
P.P.P.S. Sakura-chan just hit me. I'm blaming you for that, Sasuke-teme!
She had giggled a bit at the letter, wondering what a 'Hokage' was and who 'Sasuke-teme', 'Uzumaki Naruto' and 'Sakura-chan' were, before reaching for the notes and scanning them carefully and studying each word. She requested to learn more kanji that day. After a grueling month-long crash course on kanji courtesy of Kaa-san, she was ready to declare her fingers paralysed and numb. It paid off, though.
Dull kunai and shuriken were sealed and made portable in small pouches with seals embroidered on the inside. Food items were stored safely in tiny wooden boxes to ensure they remained fresh. Life was already remarkably easier with a basic fūinjutsu user ready to seal items in small containers, no matter how little she knew of the subject. The little genius/prodigy had outdone herself.
"Still a bit too young for ninjutsu, though," her Kaa-san would tell her when she asked to progress further. Despite her protests that she was both mature and prepared enough, her Kaa-san would just hand her a few wooden kunai and instruct her to practice her aim instead. The girl would begrudgingly make her way to her room and practice flinging the kunai at the little target board her Papa had made for her.
After much pleading and displaying her insane accuracy, Kaa-san had finally agreed to teach her E-rank ninjutsu. However, learning jutsu was tough for her at the start.
The bunshin no jutsu was terribly frustrating. The first ten clones she made were horribly deformed, not even slightly resembling a human. The next few tries managed to give the clone a proper body, but its features remained missing. After many days of practice and near-collapse from chakra exhaustion, she finally mastered it. The pride and joy that rushed through her being as she gazed into a face exactly like her own was intense.
After that ordeal, the other jutsu seemed less difficult. Obviously, there were a few more mishaps, but they were overshadowed by her little achievements. There was the time when she tried the kawarimi no jutsu and was flung into a tree though...
On her eight birthday, she received a small piece of paper from Kaa-san."Channel some chakra through the paper," Kaa-san had instructed, "and watch."
Doing exactly as Kaa-san said, she watched with surprise as the paper split in half and turned to ashes in her hands.
"A wind and fire affinity? I suppose it fits you," Kaa-san commented nonchalantly, watching as the girl disposed of the used paper. "I think we might have a few scrolls left over on your affinities from our ancestors. I'll get them out for you later."
She was overjoyed and rushed towards her Kaa-san, throwing herself forward and wrapping her short arms around the older woman, snuggling into her waist. "Someone's really eager, huh?" Kaa-san teased, picking the small body up and kissing her forehead. The young girl turned and kissed her Kaa-san's cheek, muttering her thanks repeatedly.
When the scroll was shown to her, she scanned the contents before pointing to the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu.
Her Kaa-san seemed highly amused by her choice, and she sent her a questioning look. "Well, Kasa-chan, the Great Fireball jutsu was once seen as a 'coming-of-age' rite when performed successfully in our clan. It's fitting that you chose one of the clan's preferred jutsu on your eighth birthday, where the children were then eligible for attempting the jutsu."
The not-so-little girl was proud of herself as Kaa-san praised her, wanting to keep Kaa-san happy.
With her prodigious skills, she picked up on things more easily than others her age. When she returned from a shopping trip with Kaa-san, the dirty paths and weathered, crumbling buildings were enough to clue her in on the lifestyle of the people nearby. There had even been a faint cry of "Thief!" coming from the butcher's right after they left. Crime was rife in these areas, and her family would try to avoid it as much as possible.
One stroll through the forest had her witnessing a scene no child should view. A conclusion was made when she witnessed a predator take down and kill a small rabbit with ease, scaring her immensely.
Nature was merciless and harsh, she realised, and only the strong survived in those conditions.
Her somewhat naïve mentality pushed these darker thoughts to the back of her mind for the time being, until that day brought them to the surface, raging and crashing through her mind relentlessly.
On that day, Leon Ackerman and Uchiha Junko died, leaving one Mikasa Ackerman as the last Uchiha.
musume - daughter
uchiwa - paper fan used to fan flames
bunshin no jutsu - clone technique
kawarimi no jutsu - body replacement technique
Shōsen jutsu - Mystical Palm Technique
Katon: Gōkakyū no jutsu - Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique
Yeah, I don't know either. I should be updating my other fic, but... Should I continue this? And yes, that was an Itachi-moment right there. Review?
~ Pride
P.S. I think we all know where this is going. ;)