Summary: On October 10th, Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina died, leaving behind two children. Sixteen years later, when Minato is revived, he's in for quite a shock. For starters, one of his children is an Akatsuki member and the other is a happy-go-lucky idiot. Huh…not a very good start back into the shinobi world, now is it?
Seventeen Years Prior
Kushina woke Sayuri up before the sun rose the next morning. She pushed Sayuri into a shower where the water hadn't warmed up yet and quickly washed the shivering girl's body and long red hair.
After toweling the girl down, she began to warm up after she was dressed in a formal kimono. Kushina ran a brush through the girl's hair and summoned chakra to her hands as she pinned her hair up to dry it a little faster. To avoid staining the kimono, Kushina carefully spooned miso soup with wakame into Sayuri's yawning mouth.
In the few moments they had before departing, the two looked in the mirror and Sayuri cracked a smile. It was the first smile Kushina had seen since she'd come back from the war and a wave of relief washed over the young mother's mind.
Kushina was wearing a sparsely decorated kimono with the Namikaze crest on a blue background with white cranes on the bottom. The obi was a dark purple with tiny bells stitched on. Sayuri's kimono was much more decorated with gold outlined lilies on a green background with ocean waves crashing on rocks on the bottom. The obi was orange with small white koi fish on a lavender background.
Kushina tucked back a strand of hair and kissed her daughter's forehead. Sayuri looked a bit shocked; it had been sudden, but she gave her mother what she wanted: a smile.
"Let's go! We can't let them wait all day!" Minato yelled from the front door. Kushina pulled Sayuri along, their smiles fading into masks of calm expressions.
"You look presentable," Minato noted as he looked at his daughter. She muttered a thank you and they were off.
It was about 6am in Konoha. Minato had wanted to go early in the morning since he had some meeting with Jiraiya. Sayuri had no idea of why her father was dragging them around Konoha, but could care less. She figured he had some other plans and that would leave her more time to train with Itachi or something.
Sayuri's kimono, like pretty much all kimono, was constricting. Each step was a third of her usual stride so Kushina had to pull her along. A few minutes later, they arrived at their destination: the Uchiha Compound. The guards nodded at Minato and the small family was let in. They turned many corners and finally walked down a long pathway with the Uchiha crest on pretty much everything.
Sayuri knew Minato liked his Namikaze crest with a ship on it. But the Uchiha outshone his love for his crest by a lot. Even the clothes the Uchiha clansmen had the Uchiha crest on it.
Kushina and Mikoto exchanged words and disappeared, leaving Sayuri alone with Minato. Sayuri internally sighed. Where had her mother gone? Why was she leaving her alone with Minato? Minato led her to a room where Itachi and Fugaku were waiting. Fugaku and Itachi were dressed up as well and Sayuri was beginning to get a bad feeling about this.
Sayuri and Itachi knelt behind their fathers and silently exchanged looks of confusion. Minato and Fugaku pulled out identical scrolls and signed both in ink. Then, they bit their thumbs and let the blood flow a bit until it was enough to spread between all their fingers. They applied their reddened fingers to the scrolls and left two sets of fingerprints.
Neither Sayuri nor Itachi dared ask what it was; their fathers already looked serious enough to snap back at the simple question. Plus, they figured that if they were present for such an ordinary looking (except for the fact they were dressed up and the scrolls looked official and ceremonial and they were leaving blood—perhaps it wasn't ordinary after all…) meeting, they'd be included eventually.
Minato and Fugaku turned to Sayuri and Itachi, respectively, and had them move forward and sign the scrolls. Their eyes scanned over the words and they froze as they made desperate and alarmed eye contact.
"Tou-san, is this a betrothal contract?" Itachi asked for both of their benefit.
"Yes. Namikaze-san, you may explain if you like," Fugaku said, shifting in his kimono with the Uchiha crest on it a bit.
"Sayuri isn't the kind of child as I had hoped. However, since she already has some standing being my, the Kiiroi Senkō's, daughter I can't just let that potential go to waste. So because Itachi, you're the kind of child I had wanted, your father and I decided to unite my power with the Uchiha's power. In this way, I hope to have your desirable qualities rub off on her and maybe in the future my grandchildren won't be like Sayuri," Minato explained. "Now, to sign it, just follow what Fugaku and I did with the ink and blood. Sayuri, don't drip ink blots on the paper and don't let your blood drop into these tatami mats."
"Yes, Tou-sama," Sayuri said as she and Itachi began to sign the scrolls. Minato's eyes narrowed as the two finished signing both at the same time. The two children moved back and the two men sealed up the scrolls with blood seals, meaning only Sayuri, Itachi, Fugaku, or Minato could open the scrolls.
"Well, I've got an important meeting, Fugaku. I'm quite sure our wives are gossiping about something trivial so when Kushina leaves you can shove Sayuri out with her," Minato said as he stood and left. Sayuri cast her eyes down and this didn't go unnoticed by Itachi. Fugaku looked a bit stunned that Minato just, in essence left his kid here, but he simply sighed, picked up the scrolls, left to change, and tend to his duties as the Chief of Police. Sayuri didn't move from her position until Itachi pulled her up by her arm. She looked up and mumbled an apology and that Itachi didn't have to bother himself with someone like her. Itachi frowned and led her a large pond.
"This is where I sometimes practice fire style jutsu. I think you can practice your water style jutsu here," Itachi said. "Also, whenever I have something on my mind that's bothering me I come here and I just sit and stare at the pond."
Sayuri looked at him with a shocked expression. She didn't think Itachi would so openly tell her something personal like this, but she simply composed herself with a smile and looked at the pond.
"It's really pretty," Sayuri commented.
"If there's anything bothering you, you can always tell me," Itachi said.
"Uchiha-san…" Sayuri turned back to look at him with an even more astonished expression.
"I—" Itachi was about to explain himself before being cut off as he turned his head to look at the sudden noise.
"Itachi! Sayuri! We have snacks!" Mikoto and Kushina yelled from the house. Sayuri let out a sigh of acquiescence with a soft smile. She pulled Itachi up and walked as quickly as she could to the house. Itachi noticed how she was struggling a little and managed to catch her as she tripped over a rock.
"You okay?" Itachi asked.
"Yes," Sayuri said. "Thank you."
"Yeah," Itachi said as they slipped off their shoes again and entered the house.
"Now that I get a good look at you, you're adorable. Fugaku can be a bit unemotional but I suppose he married me because I'm the opposite of him when I can be. I doubt those two explained the rules of the contract. Sit and eat while I explain," Mikoto said, ushering them inside and handing them ohagi.
Sayuri and Itachi nibbled at their ohagi as Mikoto began her explanation.
"The contract lasts until you two get married, which is hopefully when you two are seventeen. If you don't get married when you're seventeen, the contract basically dissolves and you can marry whomever you like. Also, if something is to happen to the Uchiha Clan or Kushina and Minato, you two are going to be taken in by either party. I think that's it…" Mikoto said.
A cry suddenly pierced the silence. Mikoto perked up and smiled.
"Oh, that's Sasuke. Sayuri, Kushina, do you want to meet him?" Mikoto asked.
"Yeah!" Kushina said and followed her friend to the baby's room. Sayuri and Itachi followed Kushina and Mikoto. Kushina looked extremely excited to see her friend's second child as she practically pranced around.
Mikoto told Kushina to calm down otherwise she'd scare the baby, who was very temperamental. She gently handed Kushina the child, who immediately shut up and babbled and laughed as he pulled on the long strands of bright red hair. Mikoto asked if Sayuri wanted to hold her 'little brother', to which the girl nodded and the baby stared into Sayuri's grey eyes with surprise. He saw the red strands of hair and reached out to tug only to find that it was carefully pinned up. Sasuke pouted but instead of crying as Mikoto and Itachi had expected, he gurgled as Sayuri sat and bounced him on her lap and hummed a song. The three watched Sayuri with surprise and once Sayuri was finished with her song, she playfully poked the baby's stomach.
Sasuke gave another howl of laughter and stopped abruptly. He looked at Sayuri with a look akin to an expectant look. Sayuri teased him saying how he was a bit of a greedy baby but continued to tickle the baby. Sasuke let out howls of laughter and eventually fell back asleep in Sayuri's arms. Sayuri's eyes also began to droop and the two women laughed a little before Mikoto took Sasuke back and Kushina shook Sayuri awake.
"He likes you," Mikoto noted. "A lot."
Kushina paused for a moment before grinning.
"What?" Mikoto asked as the three moved back to the table to eat snacks and drink tea. Kushina grinned devilishly and bit her lip to keep from laughing.
"Spill it," Mikoto ordered.
"I'm having another baby," Kushina said in a fast breath before slapping a hand over her mouth as if what she'd said was forbidden.
"Really?" Mikoto asked. "Do you know the gender yet?"
"It's too early to tell," Kushina sighed as she took more sweets and ate them like a vacuum. After a minute, she looked like a squirrel. Sayuri resisted the urge to laugh as she looked at her mother.
"We should have a party! To celebrate both Itachi and Sayuri and your pregnancy!" Mikoto cheered. "We should do it a month before you're due." The two women began to chatter about arrangements and people to invite and decorations and budgets and other things regarding the party. Once they'd set most of the details in place, Kushina and Sayuri left.
At night, Minato hadn't come back yet. This left Kushina and Sayuri together, able to voice concerns they'd hidden for so long. Almost all of these 'concerns' (complaints) regarded Minato.
"Kaa-san, why is Tou-sama the way he is? Why doesn't he like me? And, I know you can be really scary sometimes with your hair floating and that potent killing aura so why don't you set him in his place?" Sayuri asked as the two sat at the low table in their pajamas. Both sets of pajamas had the Uzumaki crest on it, something Minato grudgingly let the two wear on occasion even though he claimed the Namikaze crest was better (to which Sayuri thought was stupid since if his was a ship and her mother's was a whirlpool and whirlpools rip ships apart, doesn't that mean the Uzumaki crest is better?).
"Your father used to be such a kind man. I don't know what changed though. When you were born, he was so happy. When you started to grow up and speak, something changed and he didn't like what he saw anymore. I don't set him in his place because…oh, never mind," Kushina waved it off.
"Kaa-san, Tou-sama has taught me a lot of fuuinjutsu, but I know you know lots of special secret seals. Could you teach me sometime?" Sayuri asked as she began to draw ibises on a sheet of paper. Kushina gave a soft chuckle and nodded.
"I love you Sayuri," Kushina smiled and reached over to pat her daughter's head. Sayuri let out a small smile of gratefulness and kept on drawing. Sayuri was about to repeat the sentiments but Minato came walking in.
"I have great news," Minato announced, his face beamed at both his wife and daughter. Sayuri felt a little flicker of hope when she saw he looked so happy and he wanted her to be happy with him.
"I've been named the Yondaime Hokage! The ceremony is tomorrow. I'll announce your betrothal to Itachi that day too, Sayuri," Minato smiled. "Isn't this great?"
"Minato, Mikoto and I planned a party to celebrate my pregnancy and Itachi and Sayuri's engagement," Kushina said. "Maybe after your ceremony you can come and then there will be a huge party for all of us?"
"Sorry, I promised the guys I'd go drinking with them after. Maybe after the party with you and Mikoto and when I come home at some insane hour we can have a small celebration, the three of us?" Minato asked as he sat next to Kushina and draped an arm over Kushina's shoulders. She leaned into him and let out a content sigh. Minato smiled back at her and Sayuri glanced back down to her drawing to give a few more details to the ibis.
A few months later, Kushina's belly had begun to protrude. Minato was overjoyed to learn that it was a boy. Every morning or so, he'd sing some kind of ridiculous prayer to Kushina's stomach. Then he'd disappear to his mountains of paperwork and during the day, Sayuri attended the Academy.
Sayuri had hoped that with the changes in the village and her family that Minato would stick to his change. However, he didn't. Instead, he'd gotten even harsher and trained her until she could barely move.
In the Academy, she was teased for her bright red hair and her engagement to Itachi. Even the teacher poked fun at it. Sayuri would simply turn away and allow the bullies' words slip off her. Sayuri was just glad that her and Itachi were graduating that year; Minato had allowed them a special exception to graduate early. Sayuri and Itachi had spent roughly a year and a half in the Academy and were always tied at the top.
As Sayuri was walking out of the Academy with her hitai-ate on her forehead, a group of angry Academy students, all girls, had gathered. Sayuri found herself roughly shoved against a wall.
"You think you're all that cause you're the Hokage's daughter and you're engaged to Itachi-kun? You know what we think? We all think your engagement is a lie! You must've manipulated your father to say all those things because he's too soft on you to say otherwise and as a result you get your way with everything, like passing the Academy at six!" a girl ripped Sayuri's hitai-ate off her her head and threw it on the ground and stomped on it.
The skies darkened and it began to rain but no lightning or thunder came. It was simple rain.
Sayuri's hair began to get soaked and as she was trying to push it out of the way so she could see her attackers and beat them to the ground they grabbed her arms and held her legs down. She glanced to her left and right and down in confusion and then looked up and saw another girl with a strange glint in her eye bring out a kunai, a real one instead of the dulled ones in the Academy. She held it with a huge grin on her face and brought her arm down towards Sayuri's undefended stomach.
Sayuri bit back a small cry, thinking she'd been hit, but looked down and saw nothing but…glowing chains. Chains that were connected to her…and were made of chakra. She looked up and saw the girl had been restrained with the chains and was crying out in pain. Sayuri dissolved them and took a few steps back, and fell into an advanced taijutsu stance her father had taught her.
"You bitch!" the girls cried out and charged at her with real kunai, all of them. Sayuri was beginning to think that this was more than just a petty infatuation and jealously problem.
Sayuri found that their taijutsu skills were nearly more skilled than her own. She gritted her teeth and summoned a large amount of chakra to try to beat them. There were around ten girls but as time went on, it proved that it was just a henge. The girls, no, women, weren't even Konoha ninjas. Sayuri grabbed her hitai-ate and ran for the Academy gates, for the Hokage.
"Well, I suppose the deal Minato and I had didn't work…maybe you're one of those late bloomers?" a man purred behind her. Sayuri found that she couldn't move to get away. Fear rushed through her veins again as the man knelt by her and rubbed her cheek gently with a thumb.
"I guess that's okay. Those chakra chains looked interesting though. You managed to burn my subordinate," his yellow eyes and pale skin and extremely potent killing aura sent chills down Sayuri's spine. Why isn't anyone here?
"We'll meet again," the man promised and vanished. Sayuri fell to her knees and promptly vomited into some bushes. She shakily stood and kept walking towards the Hokage tower until it occurred to her: the man was in league with Minato and he made it seem as if the attack was planned, if the henge and foreign nin hitai-ate didn't give it away sooner. Sayuri stopped as the gates of the Hokage tower and turned and ran home. Perhaps her mother knew…
No, I can't tell Kaa-san. She might let it slip to Tou-sama I know or the shock that Minato is doing this might make her lose the baby. I don't want to worry her when she's already got so much on her mind.
Kushina looked up at Sayuri and scolded her for not coming home sooner and she'd told her it was going to rain and asked why Sayuri hadn't brought an umbrella. Kushina sighed and threw Sayuri into a warm bath and prepared dinner.
Sayuri watched the tap slowly let out a drop every ten seconds dully. The sound was calming. She pulled up her knees to her chest and blew bubbles in the water. Sayuri liked the way it was quiet except for the drop that normally would've sounded so quiet was the loudest thing in the room besides the rhythmic sound of her heartbeat.
After twenty minutes of sitting in the warm bathwater, Sayuri let the water drain and wrapped a towel around her cold body and slipped into plain green pajamas. She put a towel over her shoulders and back to catch the moisture from her hair and rubbed a sleepy eye as she took a seat at the dining table.
"How was the Academy today?" Minato asked. "Did you pass?" His tone of voice sounded as if she said otherwise there would be less than pleasant consequences.
"Yes," Sayuri said as she chewed a rehydrated shiitake mushroom from her udon bowl. Minato didn't ask any more questions. He seemed even more disappointed in her than usual and he made no attempt to mask his glower. Sayuri had never felt a stronger urge to punch him and demand to know what was so wrong with her.
As Sayuri was drifting off to sleep, she heard two voices talking outside her window. Her curiosity piqued, she crept over and eavesdropped. They didn't seem to notice that Sayuri was listening to their conversation.
"…so she didn't unlock her Sharingan? Even after all the passes I gave you to come in and out of the village as you pleased in exchange for bringing out the potential in her Uzumaki blood?" a familiar voice asked angrily.
"Minato, I promise you my labors will not go to waste," a slick voice purred. "She's rather good at espionage too, concealing her chakra like this."
Sayuri flinched and turned and ran for her door to get her mother's help. Before she was even two steps away from the window, a hand roughly grabbed the back of her collar and she was pulled up outside through the window. After hitting the roof hard enough to break some tiles, she pushed herself up and looked at the two people who gave her apathetic looks.
"Tou-sama, who is this man?" Sayuri asked, pushing out fear from her voice otherwise Minato might not answer.
"This is one of the Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru," Minato said. "He's been very generous."
"Generous?" Sayuri repeated.
"Minato, let me explain to the child. When you were two and three, Minato was generous enough to allow me into the village for whatever I wanted in exchange for you. You are half Uzumaki, a clan that is cousin to the Uchiha and Senju. It has been centuries since a full Uzumaki unlocked the Sharingan, and with a half-Uzumaki like you it is even harder to unlock the Sharingan. However, I experimented on you to try to bring out that potential. That attack after you came out of the Academy today was a simple test. I suppose it wasn't good enough. I have to go do much more research so I won't be around for a while," Orochimaru said as he disappeared into the shadows. For a moment Minato had a slightly anguished look but that vanished into a scowl directed at Sayuri.
"Tou-sama…" Sayuri said. What am I to you? A tool?!
"Go to sleep. If I catch you eavesdropping again there will be consequences," Minato warned. Sayuri nodded meekly and dropped into her room and curled up under the covers. Silent tears rolled down her face and she bit her lip until her mouth tasted metallic to not cry out.
So it turns out that Minato was simply using Sayuri. Sayuri wondered if Minato ever cared for her. By the looks of things, it was really starting to look like Minato was using her just for his sake.
Being the Hokage meant that Minato was a rather influential person. Even as simply a fellow ninja, people felt his leader-like aura. Fugaku wasn't unaffected; Itachi was beginning to be used in a similar way. Fugaku had always pushed Itachi to be the best, but that was simply because he was a proud parent. And an Uchiha. Now, Fugaku was having other motives for pushing Itachi; the boy had so much potential to serve the Uchiha clan. The Uchiha clan was also discriminated against and even it was a small portion of Konoha who did this Fugaku wanted them to be crushed. So if Itachi had potential and there was a problem, Itachi could be used to deter the problem or crush if necessary.
In the back of Fugaku's mind he thought experimenting on a child, like Minato and Sayuri, might be going a bit too far but Itachi at least would activate his Sharingan. If Sayuri ended up stronger from the experiments and Itachi would be as strong as Fugaku was hoping, then the Uchiha clan would benefit greatly. Now, if only Minato would tell him more about the experiments. They sounded promising.
In the morning, Sayuri's eyes shot open and she sent out waves of chakra to sense if Minato or Orochimaru were there. She relaxed and allowed herself a moment to lay there in silence. Her ears rang with the sound of silence until her mother called her for breakfast.
Sayuri quickly downed her breakfast after getting dressed and as soon as Kushina handed her bento to her, she was off to meet her team in the Academy. She knew she'd be on a team with people older than her, at least one person anyway. As she jumped across rooftops to get to the Academy, a small strange thought occurred to her: I wonder if Itachi will be on my team.
Sayuri slapped her cheeks and shook the thought out of her mind. She landed on the ground and walked into the Academy and into her classroom where other graduates were. She took a seat and waited for the teacher to come in.
As she was quietly waiting, a person came up behind her and was probably about to hit her or something so she retaliated by catching their arm and nearly throwing them over her onto the ground. Nearly.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down," the person said, holding their hands up in peace.
Sayuri took a look at the person and her grey eyes widened as an apology tumbled out of her mouth, resulting in a hearty laugh from the boy behind her.
"What's so funny?" Sayuri asked, moving over so the boy could sit next to her.
"You're Sayuri, right? I'm Uchiha Shisui, Itachi's cousin. I can't believe he kept you all to himself and never introduced me to you; I'm way more interesting. He can be a real bore sometimes but he's really good at…everything," Shisui looked thoughtful at the end.
"I see. I'm Namikaze Sayuri. It's nice to meet you, Uchiha-san," Sayuri gave a smile.
"Shisui, what are you doing?" Itachi asked as Shisui poked Sayuri's forehead. She held it with her hand and gave Shisui a perplexed look.
"I was just introducing myself cause someone was being stingy. She's so nice, too. From what I hear from the other clan kids, she's the one who saved your ass in the war," Shisui snickered.
"Alright class, settle down! I'm going to read off the team placements so if anyone wants to drop out now, please keep talking!" the teacher yelled sarcastically after walking in. Once everyone had settled down, he began.
"Team 5: Uchiha Itachi, Namikaze Sayuri, and Uchiha Shisui," the teacher said a few minutes later.
Shisui grinned wickedly at Itachi and managed to poke Itachi's forehead with stunning speed and force. It left a pink mark on his forehead and Itachi gave Shisui an unreadable look. Sayuri looked at Shisui as if he'd just committed a crime and resisted the urge to laugh. Shisui turned back smugly as if he'd just gotten away with it. Sayuri looked at Itachi's face and Shisui's face and saw that Itachi wasn't going to let him get away with that.