Warnings: Slight Konoha bashing. Dark fic. Violence. Blood. Gory scenes. Possible lemon
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters, but the OC characters belongs to me
Chapter Three: Time's Arm
The head medic of the Uchiha clan, Yuki, had put the girl through various examinations and tests for assessing brain damage after Madara had reported a potential amnesia status when she don't even remember her own name.
"Well, I don't find anything much wrong with her head or brain, but with how injured that she is when both you and your brother have first brought her in, it is possible that she might have suffered quite a knock on her head," said Yuki cheerfully. "She might probably be suffering from amnesia – something which usually happens due to a head injury. Though it is a good thing in itself that she still remembers how to talk and understand language, along with the basic everyday stuff like taking a shower, things like that. Otherwise, you'll be stuck trying to take care of a baby in a teenager's body."
Madara cringed at the mere thought of that, whilst behind him, Izuna and Seina were snickering away at the thought of it.
"So any do's and don'ts, Yuki-san?" asked Madara politely.
"Well, she seems to beshinobi-trained as her chakra coils are quite well-developed," said Yuki with a slight frown. "And I shouldn't really be surprised, especially if your initial assumptions of her having an Uchiha parent are accurate. And since most of her injuries are already healing nicely, she can do some light training, but nothing harsh like extreme taijutsu training yet, Madara-sama." Yuki told the elder Uchiha brother sternly. "And since she is shinobi-trained, it'll probably be easy to teach her what she needs to know again, as the training that every well-trained shinobi goes through is well ingrained into their body. And once you take her through the basic paces of training, her muscle memory will probably kick in. Seina can teach her the kunoichi stuff that you boys don't know."
Seina nodded eagerly. "I can do that," she said. "And I can teach her some medical ninjutsu as well."
Madara sighed. "Izuna, I have to go and see Father about this. Can you both take her to our usual training area once the medic-nins have given her the okay to leave?" he asked, and his younger brother nodded his head. "Thanks."
Uchiha Hideki frowned as he placed down his cup of tea on the table where both he and his elder son were sitting at as Madara reported to him about the girl's current status.
"Amnesia?" he echoed, and Madara nodded.
"It might even be a permanent thing, and even Yuki-san had said so," said Madara. "She had been seriously injured when we have found her, so I'm guessing that either someone must have attacked her, recognising her as an Uchiha, or she had some enemies after her blood for some reason."
Hideki frowned. "Does she remember her name at least?"
Madara shook his head. "But we found only two things on her apart from that sword that she had when Izuna and I have found her," he explained before removing two items from his pocket and laying it on the table in front of his father.
A blue pendant teardrop ocarina, as well as a silver bracelet with a chain clasp holding the bracelet together, and a silver rectangle in the middle of the bracelet with the kanji letters 'Sayo' (佐用) engraved on it.
Hideki frowned as he ran his thumb over the engraved words on the bracelet. "Sayo…" he muttered. "Is that her name?" He glanced at his son who shrugged.
"Most probably, seeing as how she is wearing the bracelet when we have found her," said Madara. "Sayo… That is most probably her name."
Uchiha Hideki smirked. "Uchiha Sayo, huh?" he mused, returning his son the two items that he had taken out of his pocket. "That has a nice ring to it."
XXXXXX
Madara was deep in thought as he walked through the Uchiha clan enclave to the part of the Sun Forest where he, Izuna and Seina have always trained at.
The Sun Forest was part of the Uchiha clan's property, and no one other than an Uchiha is allowed to step foot on the grounds unless they have permission, and it also doesn't help that there are also several seals and blood wards all around the grounds, and no one but an Uchiha could step foot into it. That is only part of the reason why it didn't take much to convince Madara and his father that the girl – Sayo, is an Uchiha. As if she doesn't have Uchiha blood, the blood wards around the place would have repelled her back.
The Sun Forest is a beautiful place, probably only second to the territories of the Senju clan of the Forest, and then again, that clan lives in harmony together with nature, whilst the Uchiha clan lives in harmony with the elements itself. The place where the Uchiha enclave is at had a beautiful waterfall with sparkling beautiful water, along with the several water crystals shimmering at the bottom of the water.
Even the Sun Forest itself is a beautiful place, with birds and little mammals like squirrels running about in peace. Madara used to love to come to the Sun Forest and sit in the branches of the trees with a book or two just to see how the animals act around him.
Madara soon spied his brother, Seina and Sayo in the training area of the forest where they have often trained at. Seina and Sayo were seated across each other on their knees, with an unmoving fish in between them both, and a glow of green chakra were surrounding Sayo's hands as she tried to revive the fish.
Madara raised a brow but said nothing. Seina did say that she is going to teach Sayo medical ninjutsu after all.
"Izuna." Madara called to his brother who turned when he heard his name, and walked over to his older brother. "How is it going?"
Izuna sighed. "Well, she's like a sponge at least," he muttered. "Maybe Yuki-san is right, and that her muscle memory had kicked in as we take her through the shinobi basics, as she is good enough to give me even a run for my money. She's fairly proficient in taijutsu at least."
"Did you test her chakra affinity?" asked Madara, and Izuna nodded. "And?"
Izuna hesitated before whispering into his brother's ear, and Madara's eyes widened.
"What? She has all five affinities?" Madara nearly hissed incredulously, and Izuna nodded.
"It shocked me too," said Izuna with a sigh. "I showed her a few of the basic katon techniques, and she had it down on the first try even without using her Sharingan. She hadn't used it once during our training, by the way."
"Has she forgotten how to activate it?"
"No. Seina showed her how to activate it which she did with no problem," said Izuna with a shake of his head.
Madara frowned. "If I'm not wrong, I remember some of our old clan records saying something about a Rinnegan user being a master over the five elements," he mused. "That doujutsu of legends is said to be the doujutsu that the Rikudo Sennin had wielded after all."
Both brothers fell silent as they stared at the two girls in front of them. Madara do not deny that he is attracted to that redhead. Initially, he is attracted to her because she just seemed so vulnerable to him: so lost and confused, with no identity of who she is. But now, it is like something is pulling him to her.
"You like her." Izuna stated out of the blue, and Madara blinked and turned towards his younger brother who had a grin that he really doesn't like on his face.
"Excuse me?"
"You like Sayo," said Izuna again. At Madara's growl, Izuna grinned that cheeky grin of his that Seina seemed to like for some unknown reason that escaped Madara. "I am not blind, you know, nii-san?"
"Then you obviously need to get your eyes checked," said Madara curtly. "We barely know her!"
"You can't deny that you're attracted to her." Izuna pointed out, and Madara growled.
"You did it!"
A shout from Seina caused the two brothers to turn towards the girls. Seina was smiling that smile of hers that could always manage to brighten up Izuna's day, and Madara's eyebrow rose as the motionless fish in between the two girls a few moments earlier was now flopping about.
"I'm starting to think that you must have some medical ninjutsu training before, Sayo," said Seina as she placed the flopping fish gently into the tub of water that she had with her. "You've been doing fine so far. Give us a month, and we'll soon bring you to our level at least. Your muscle memory is helping you a lot with the whole ninja training."
Sayo smiled at Seina, and several strange images flashed through her head just then, with several strange voices that sounded almost muffled. An image of a beautiful blonde haired woman wearing a green jacket was standing across her with a motionless fish on the table in front of her.
"You get injured so often on missions that I think you need to know some medical ninjutsu at least. You have considerable good chakra control. Not up to Sakura's level of chakra control, but still relatively good chakra control for you to learn medical ninjutsu. Just focus on bringing the fish back to breathing like this."
Seina glanced at Sayo. "Do you remember anything?" she asked hopefully.
Sayo shook her head. "Whenever I tried to remember, my head hurts."
Seina placed her hand on Sayo's shoulder. "Don't fret," she said. "It doesn't matter to us even if you never remember your past. You're just going to have to relearn everything and make some new memories."
Sayo nodded.
XXXXXX
Two days later can find Madara, Izuna, Seina and Sayo in one of the towns of Fire Country.
Apparently, Seina had managed to convince Hideki that Sayo needs some new clothes as she can't possibly keep on borrowing Seina's own, and the Uchiha clan head had packed the four teens off to the nearest town for a shopping trip, much to the dismay of the two boys as they still hadn't forgotten the 'horrors' that they have suffered through the last time that Seina had dragged them for a shopping trip.
Sayo had been living with Seina after being released from the infirmary, as Seina welcomed the company after both her parents have died during a battle with the Senju clan two years ago, and she is the only girl in the clan that Sayo is comfortable with.
The town that they are in was unusually crowded, and Madara nearly groaned when he saw the telltale signs of booths and cubicles being set up all around the town, with several civilians putting up several poles of some sort to hold up the drape coverings.
"Of all the times when we could have come here…it just has to be on a festival day!" Madara nearly groaned.
"It's the Flower Festival." Izuna noted, seeing several civilian women putting up baskets of flowers in front of some random booth. "The celebration of a festival to welcome the spring. I've nearly forgotten about it."
"Well, here's the clothing shop," said Seina cheerfully before pulling Sayo in with her, and pushing the two boys into the shop before her, much to Sayo's amusement. "The Uchiha clan always come here to get their shinobi gear and clothes." She explained for Sayo's benefit, rather than for the two Uchiha brothers.
It is true in a way, as the town that they are currently in is the nearest town to the Uchiha clan enclave, and the clan often dropped by this town to get their shopping supplies like food, water, and even medical supplies, even shinobi gear and clothes. The clothing shop that they are in now is one that the Uchiha clan favours, as it sells both clothes and shinobi gear and weapons.
"Welcome!" said a friendly voice, and all four teens turned around only to see a smiling brunette man in his mid-twenties standing in front of them. "Seina-san! Madara-san! Izuna-san! Long time no see! And who is your companion?"
"Good day, Sato-san," said Madara politely. "It has been a long time. We need some clothes and gear for our friend here." He gestured towards Sayo who was pushed forwards by Seina. "This is Sayo. Uchiha Sayo. It's a long story, but we have…found her recently."
Sato raised a curious eyebrow, but didn't ask any questions.
The man is a former samurai before retiring as a civilian to run this shop that stocked shinobi gear and weapons, though he knew that the Uchiha clan had their own weapon-smith. There are some members of that clan like Seina, Madara and Izuna, along with a few others, who preferred getting their ninja weapons from his shop.
Sato smiled at Sayo. "Hello," he said, inclining his head politely to Sayo like how a man would to a lady. "I'm Sato Isamu. It's very nice to meet you. I hope that these three have been treating you properly. Heaven knows what kind of mischief that they would get up to." His eyes twinkled mischievously.
"Sato-san, you know that I hadn't pulled any pranks for the past two years." Izuna almost whined.
"Don't whine, Izuna. It's not becoming of you, especially for a ninja." Sato teased, and everyone laughed.
Sayo tried very hard not to smile, but she found it difficult to hide her amusement at the banter taking place in front of her. It is obvious even to the most oblivious person that this Sato is very fond of the three Uchiha ninjas with her, and even treated them like his own children.
"So what can I get you four?" asked Sato briskly.
"Well, Sayo needs clothes for training and when she is off-duty, even clothes for festival days that the Uchiha celebrates like the Fire Festival and the Sakura Festival. And we also need a stint of the typical shinobi weapons for her. Madara, Izuna and I also need to stock up on our own stock of weapons," said Seina with a small frown, ticking points off her fingers. "I also need to get a new set of clothes when I am off-duty."
Sato nodded before directing the two girls to the clothing area of the shop. "Well, you two ladies can head there to pick the clothes that you want. I'll leave you both to it as my wife isn't around today, and I believe that Seina knows the tastes of girls better than I do." He winked as Seina and Sayo laughed. "Meanwhile, you two boys can come with me. I have a new stock of kunais and shurikens in, even a new type of shurikens called 'impact shurikens'."
His voice then faded away as Madara and Izuna followed Sato to the weapons' corner of the shop where weapons of all kinds imaginable could be found, along with the typical kunais and shurikens on a high shelf to prevent children from reaching their hands on it.
Sayo and Seina exchanged looks before laughing to themselves. "Didn't take them all that long to pull their disappearing trick," said Seina with a laugh. "I do believe that they still remembered the last time when I've dragged them along with me on a shopping trip. Come on, Sayo. Let's get you some new clothes."
Sayo nodded before allowing Seina to drag her to the back of the store where the clothing area was. There were all kinds of clothing hanging on the racks – normal civilian clothing, ninja gear, kimonos, yukatas, and even battle kimonos.
"Any preference for colours?" asked Seina, sifting through the clothing racks.
"Blue." Sayo answered immediately.
"Well, blue is fine, but we need to have some different colours as well." Seina muttered.
She then pulled out several pieces of clothing, with a number of battle kimonos in different colours, along with the normal kimonos that civilians wore, as well as jackets, pants, and even shirts. The several different pieces of clothing came in different colours like dark blue, black, red, light purple, forest green and even pale beige.
Sayo had quite a mountain of clothes in her arms by the time that Seina was satisfied with her choices, with Sayo voicing out some suggestions here and there, as she wasn't even sure what style of clothing that she wants, as she simply cannot remember what clothing style that she goes for. But a very strange image went through her head of that of a white haired man bringing her to a clothing store before purchasing a black combat jacket for her when Seina had pushed her into the dressing room to try on the pile of clothes that she had.
"Interesting…" said Madara with interest, picking up one of the 'impact shurikens' which are basically special shurikens which exploded on impact. It looks and feels like the normal shurikens that he usually handled, only slightly heavier. "This is one of the impact shurikens?"
"Yeah," said Sato with a nod. "It isn't out on the shelves yet as I wasn't sure how the customers would take to them, and I daren't create too many of it. It basically explodes upon impact, rather like how an exploding tag would, but instead of using your chakra to initiate the explosion, this shuriken explodes on impact, hence the name 'impact shuriken'."
"Sato-san, I would like some!" said Izuna with a grin, studying the impact shuriken in his hand. "Sounds pretty useful to me. It can even give us the element of surprise in battle."
"Get me some too, Sato-san," said Madara, turning towards the shopkeeper. "And get some for the girls as well, along with the usual kunais, shurikens, paper bombs, smoke bombs, flash bombs, ninja wire and exploding tags that we usually get. And we would also like a kunai holster, along with a ninja pouch for Sayo."
"Right away," said Sato with a grin. "Would you boys like to look at some of the newer weapons in stock? I happen to be feeling inventive the past weeks, and came up with some new items."
Izuna and Madara exchanged looks. "Sure!"
Seina waited outside the dressing room that Sayo is changing in.
She had already tried on the leaf-green kimono that she had picked out earlier, and she had liked it, thus adding it to her purchase. Sayo had already shown her three of the outfits that she had picked out, and since the redhead had felt comfortable in them, Seina had added it to their purchase.
The door of the dressing room then creaked opened, and Sayo stepped out, dressed in a midnight blue battle kimono which ended at the thighs, with a pair of black shorts worn beneath which ended just a little below the thighs, with a black fishnet shirt worn beneath it. A pair of fishnet stockings was also visible on her legs, with the standard black ninja sandals that every ninja in the clan wore, along with a pair of black fingerless gloves on her hands. A slim black headband with edges of white around it was also visible around her forehead.
Seina grinned. "Well, I do believe that we've found a look that you like," she said. "Now for festival kimonos!" And she held out three pieces of garments in her arms. One was a black kimono with red flames patterned at the bottom, another was a midnight blue kimono with white floral imprints, and the last was a leaf-green kimono with white leaf imprints on it.
"Well, I must say that you have an eye for fashion." Sayo muttered, glancing over the kimonos in Seina's arms, and she liked the look of them, and even more the moment that she had tried them on.
"Well, that settles your clothes problem," said Seina cheerfully, taking the pile of clothes from Sayo. "Now let's go and rig up our purchases. The boys looked like they were about to die from boredom."
Sayo giggled.
"Remind me again why she's your fiancée?" Madara almost groaned to Izuna as he was almost saddled beneath the weight of the numerous shopping bags in his arms.
Izuna grinned sheepishly at his brother, also with a number of shopping bags in his arms. Though to be fair to the girls, they were carrying several shopping bags as well, though not as many as the boys.
"Come on, stop your grumbling, Madara." Seina snapped. "This is way better than having you in battle, isn't it?"
"I'll rather face off against the Senju clan than being dragged along on a shopping trip." Madara muttered to Izuna who snickered to himself.
Seina who had overheard what the two boys have said laughed to herself before all three of them bumped into Sayo who had stopped in her tracks all of a sudden.
"Ow! What is it, Sayo?" asked Izuna, rubbing his nose. "Why have you stopped all of a sudden?"
"I'm sensing some really high chakra signatures," said Sayo, glancing back and forth.
Seina frowned at Sayo.
During their training two days ago, they have somehow found out that Sayo could be a sensory type ninja, as she is really chakra sensitive. She can sense chakra flows, and could even pick up the chakra signatures of ninjas easily. Sometimes far easier than the few sensory type ninjas that they have in the clan. Seina is a sensory type ninja as well, but even she couldn't pick up the chakra flows or chakra signatures of shinobis like how Sayo could.
"Are you sure?" asked Madara seriously, and Sayo nodded, still looking around.
Izuna frowned as a middle-aged man passed by them just then, and he spotted two teenagers around their age standing at a booth not too far away from them, arguing over some costume jewellery that was laid out in front of them. The older looking one who looked to be about seventeen – Madara's age, had tanned skin and black hair which just reaches a little below his shoulders. And he was wearing red ninja amour. His companion was a fair skinned boy a year or two younger than him with silver spiky hair that sticks up in all directions, and he wore blue ninja amour instead.
Madara, Seina and Sayo saw the two at the same time that Izuna did just then, and Seina almost groaned. "Oh boy… Fancy running into them here."
Madara frowned. "Let's head back to the clan enclave by the west exit," he said, turning around and going back the way that they have came. "I don't know about you, but I think that it is best if we do not get into a confrontation here. The townspeople here won't appreciate it as well."
"Huh? Why?" Sayo asked in confusion as Seina pulled her along with them as they hustled through the crowd.
"Sayo, those two come from the Senju clan of the Forest, our enemies," explained Madara. "The red armoured one is the Senju heir, and the other is his younger brother. There is a long rivalry and enmity between both our clans for generations. When one side hires the Senju clan, their enemies would hire us. Thus, we often ran into each other during our missions. They are also the only shinobi clan out there to fight on equal footing with us. Even the Hyuuga clan can't do that."
Sayo was interested, as she had only heard about the Senju clan in passing from Seina two days ago. "What are their names?" she asked.
"Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama."
Several strange images flashed through Sayo's head just then, and she could almost hear her own voice asking that blonde haired woman that she had seen in one of those 'flashbacks' a few days ago.
"Baa-chan?"
"Hmm? What is it?"
"I've been reading up on the history between that of the Uchiha and Senju clans. What are the names of the First and Second Hokages again?"
"Good grief! What are they teaching you kids in the Academy these days? At least remember the names of the founders of your village! My granduncle's name is Tobirama. Senju Tobirama. And my grandfather is Senju Hashirama."
Sayo can only stare.
'W-What was that? Founders? Grandfather? That guy doesn't even look old enough to be a father, let alone a grandfather.'
Sayo could only take a backward glance as Madara continued pulling her through the crowd.
"Senju…Hashirama…" she muttered.
As Sayo happened to be looking over her shoulder, she missed Madara's brief look of dislike and jealously that only appeared for a brief moment before vanishing again, but it didn't miss Izuna and Seina's notice.
The two in question then exchanged looks and smiled secretly to themselves.
XXXXXX
Konohagakure no sato
Fire Country
The door creaked opened as Haruno Sakura stepped into her old teammate's home.
It is just as she'd left it a week ago, still looking just as neat and tidy, looking like the apartment itself is ready to welcome back its occupant…just like before when its red-haired occupant would return after a long mission or the other.
Sakura sighed.
'Sayo…where are you?'
The pink haired girl then walked towards the bedside table only to see the old genin picture of Team 7 resting atop the bedside table, and picked it up, studying it carefully. What had gone wrong? They were still a team back then. Maybe still a pretty dysfunctional team, but still a team nonetheless.
Just what had gone wrong?
Now Sakura truly is the last member of Team 7, apart from Kakashi-sensei whom she barely sees anymore as the man had gone back to the ANBU.
Sakura studied the genin picture of Team 7 carefully, tracing each face visible in the photo with her fingertips.
Every single member had a copy of that picture when they have taken their genin picture on the day when they were officially made a genin team. Hers was tucked away in a drawer in her home, as she couldn't bear to see the photo and know just where she had failed so badly.
Sakura even wondered to herself just how Sayo could keep on looking at the photo day after day and not go insane.
In the photo, Sasuke was glaring at the camera, with Sayo only managing a very small smile, and Sakura herself was in the middle of the photo, smiling widely at the camera, with Kakashi-sensei behind them, both hands on the heads of Sasuke and Sayo, messing their hair up, with his usual eye-smile at the camera.
Sakura tried, and failed to see any signs of betrayal from Sasuke, when less than nine months after this photo was taken, Sasuke had turned traitor to Konoha. She also failed to see just what Sayo is bottling up inside her, and how she is really feeling. She failed to see just what is hurting both her teammates so much, and yet, she still dared to call herself their teammate?
Sakura set the photo down, and glanced to the side only to see an extremely thick book which she opened only to find several reports and photos of the Uchiha clan. After returning from her training trip, Sayo had been obsessed with finding anything that she could on the Uchiha clan, and their history. Probably just to find out what had caused Itachi to snap all those years ago, and just why Sasuke had betrayed Konoha.
The first photo that Sakura saw on the first page of the book seemed to be an extremely old photo with the edges yellowed with age – taken during the time of the shinobi clan wars even before the founding of Konoha. It seemed to be an old photo of the Uchiha clan heir back then with his brother and friends. But that's not the only thing that Sakura had found.
Her green eyes widened slightly in surprise upon seeing the photo.
'Eh?'