Six Years Old
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"Daddy?" Uchiha Jomei's six-year-old voice couldn't have been quieter, but her father was by her side in a moment. Accustomed to reading his expressions, she could see easily the strain in his face. Uchiha Sasuke had never been an expressive man, but his oldest daughter was also his favorite one, and so he was a little more open around her.
Well, that, and he was in the hospital. He was more than used to being here, but when it was her mother in the ward he just became overly worried. Funny, because her mother had given birth twice before anyways.
"I get to name him, right?" A smile, if it could be called that, was offered to her. "Of course." As if on cue, a doctor came out of the hospital room. "It's a healthy boy, sir." The doctor said politely. The name of 'sir' was probably out of habit rather than fear, although it was hard to be sure. Uchiha Sasuke was as awe-inspiring at 26 as he was at 17.
From behind the still swinging ward door, they heard a small cry. Jomei and her father entered the ward to see an exhausted Uchiha Sakura with a squalling, little pink bundle in her arms. Jomei peered curiously at it. She didn't remember Sarada being that small and pink when she was born, but then again, she had only been three when Sarada was born and couldn't remember much of anything from then.
Then, she hugged her mother. "Hi, Mama! Hi, baby!" she said. Her mother offered her a content smile. "No name yet?" Looking astonishingly insulted at this assumption, she shook her head. "Of course he has a name," she said. "His name's Ichiro." This was all spoken like it was obvious, which to her it was.
"Naturally." her father muttered. Her mother suddenly glared. "What was that?" Jomei giggled as her father shook his head. It was nice to have her parents to herself now, with Sarada at Aunt Ino's house. Whenever this kind of teasing happened, Sarada got exceedingly confused.
Suddenly, Jomei felt a swooping sensation as her father's strong arms lifted her into a bland, nondescript hospital chair. The cheeky grin on her face didn't fade as her father pulled up another chair and continued muttering to himself.
"She's such a Naruto."
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It was so loud at the Hyūga manor tonight, Emiko thought, watching the adults from a stone bench. Every six months, the Konoha 11 held a get-together to have fun and chat, while having the advantage of keeping their children occupied with each other and some blunt toy kunai. Tonight, it was her Uncle Neji's turn, and so the party took place at the Hyūga manor.
Which explained why it was so loud, because Emiko could hear her father loudly telling jokes further away in the garden, and her best friend Jomei's mother equally loudly telling him to shut up Naruto that's not appropriate for children's ears.
Her mother would likely have chimed in, but Emiko knew that her mother had gone in to take care of her baby sister, Himawari, and besides, Emiko was used to tuning out her father's antics by now. At the Academy, they'd learned about all the other Hokage, and they were all pretty dignified. (Most of them, anyways. She couldn't say anything about her Grandmother Tsunade.) So how had her daddy become Hokage? Emiko didn't know, but maybe Jomei did.
Jomei knew a lot of things, usually because her parents talked to her that sort of stuff. Speaking of Jomei, where was her dark-haired friend?
Two childish hands dropped onto her shoulders. "Boo!" Emiko jumped off the bench, then turned around. "Jomei!" she said reproachfully. Uchiha Jomei, in all her six-year-old glory, stood there grinning at her, long dark hair pulled back in a neat ponytail no doubt done by her mother, dark eyes filled with good humor.
"Sorry, 'Miko." Jomei shrugged, not really sorry at all. "It was just some fun." Jomei walked around the bench, coming to a stop next to Emiko. "So. Whattaya want to do?" Although Jomei had just as much blue blood as Emiko did, the older girl had a tendency to slur her words when in casual company.
Emiko shrugged. "I don't know. Do you know how Daddy became Hokage?" The abrupt change of subject didn't faze Jomei at all, who sat down and patted the spot on the bench next to her. "Well, not really. But the books in Daddy's study-" At this point, Emiko's eyes widened.
"You go in your father's study?" This was a daring crime if there ever was one, but Jomei waved it off and continued. "All his important stuff are on high shelves anyways, it's not like I could get anything actually secret. But the books in his study say that the Hokage is the strongest ninja in the village!"
This was accompanied by a dramatic throwing open of the arms, and Jomei's forearm nearly hit Emiko's nose. Emiko pushed Jomei's arm away from her delicately. "But your father is super strong, Jomei. Why isn't he Hokage?"
This muted Jomei almost immediately. Both girls knew that there was something about Uchiha Sasuke's past, but Jomei was the only one of the two that knew most of the truth. "Well. Hokage has to be good with people, and stuff. And loyal to the village." But Jomei was quick to follow up, waving her hands frantically. "Not that Daddy isn't loyal! He just doesn't talk a lot."
Emiko nodded. That made sense. Every time she saw Jomei's father, he looked pretty scary. Besides, he had one arm, and unlike Emiko's daddy, hadn't replaced it. So he probably couldn't be Hokage. "Anyways, let's go find someone to play with."
Jomei stood and so did Emiko, and they were about to wander into the adults' area when a shuriken went flying into a bush next to them. They both froze, and the thrower of the toy shuriken appeared. "Sorry about that." The girl said sheepishly. She had long black hair, and Byakugan eyes widened, clearly mortified.
Emiko had no idea who this was, but her face looked familiar. "It's fine. You should see Tetsumi." Jomei said amiably. "You know her, right? Nara Tetsumi? Anyways, I think Tetsumi has an entire collection of Suna puppetry things. Probably because of her uncle."
Emiko almost pitied the other girl, who was clearly some sort of relative to herself. Jomei was a little talkative when she first met people (and every other interaction after that). But the other girl nodded.
"That's cool. My mother uses weapons a lot, so she gave me a bunch for my birthday." The girl strode over to the bush and pulled it open cautiously. "By the way, I'm Chisaki. Hyūga Chisaki." she said from within the bush. "Oh. Hi, Chisaki!" Jomei said. "Hello." Emiko said, a beat late.
"I'm Uzumaki Emiko." Emiko finally said. Jomei decided to follow suit. "And I'm Uchiha Jomei." The usage of their names prompted Chisaki's head to pop out of the bush, and then her arms, toy shuriken in hand. "Oh, I know your parents. They're at the party with my dad."
It took a moment for Emiko to process. "So, you're my cousin?" Chisaki nodded. "I thought I knew you." Emiko said, tilting her head a little. Jomei shrugged. "Haven't met any of your cousins, to be honest. I even didn't know Neji-jisan's daughter was at the party."
"Well, now you do." Chisaki said. Jomei grinned at her. "Want to be friends?"
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Nara Tetsumi was a genius. Not as much of a genius as her father, of course (she doubted anybody could match him) but still up there. They'd had her take the test a few weeks ago – it had been simple really. Puzzles and games of shogi had never been able to foil her, especially not against somebody who was obviously distracted.
Really. The psychologist had been looking at his grading sheet the entire time. Picture cards of common items and descriptions of their uses were simple enough. A test of her speed and dexterity with a pencil? Not a problem. So Tetsumi felt more than a little disappointed after the test.
All this she pondered while lying on a picnic blanket outside on a grassy hill, looking up at the clouds. It was one of her father's favorite pastimes, but unlike him, she wasn't actually looking at them. She was talking to her best friend, Yamanaka Nina.
"So, Inojin said what?" Their younger brothers were a source of consternation for them both, but more so for Tetsumi, because Shikadai was a lazy lump, like their father. But worse – her father without the accomplishments. Tetsumi took more after her mother, both in looks and temperament. Her hair was blonde, her eyes were grey-green, and she was anything but lazy.
Nina sighed. "Inojin's only three! And he already figured out that he's part of Ino-Shika-Cho and I'm not." Tetsumi shrugged but made a sound of commiseration all the same. After all, Shikadai was smart too, and he'd figured that out ages ago. It wasn't like it was a big secret.
"It's alright." Tetsumi soothed. "We're just not part of Ino-Shika-Cho because Choji-jichan didn't have Chocho until we were three." Nina still harrumphed. "Besides," Tetsumi continued. "We're still the heiresses."
Nina threw her hands above her head. "How come Emiko and Jomei don't go through all this? Lucky them." Tetsumi arched an eyebrow, a movement learned from her mother. "Well, they do have two younger siblings." Poor Jomei. Tetsumi had heard that the Uchiha family was a very traditional one – perhaps with the birth of a baby brother, she wouldn't be heiress anymore.
Tetsumi couldn't imagine that. Being heiress had a strange way of both defining and not defining Jomei. Emiko, on the other hand…
Well, Emiko was only six. They were all only six. Nobody knew whether any of them would be good clan leaders yet.
"Besides, if we're talking lucky, you should mention Herumi." Nina groaned. "Kami-sama, Herumi." Herumi was one of their best friends and the only member of their group of six that didn't come from the Konoha 11's families. "She's not even heiress! So lucky."
Terumi made a noise of agreement. "Jealous?"
Nina shrugged. "Look, let's actually do some cloud gazing." Her finger pointed straight up at a passing cloud formation. "I think that's a turtle."
"What?! That looks more like a pile of poop than it does a turtle!"
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A/N: I hope you all liked the first chapter! Please review, flames will be used for my fireplace. Thank you!
-amazonqueen03