The Amazonian Gambit

Disclaimer. Naruto is not mine.
Rating. T
Pairings. Eventual MikotoxFugaku, KushinaxMinato; Slight RinxObitoxKakashi
Warnings. Canon and non-canon character death
A/N. Mikoto! what a badass, polite woman. yay Uchiha women protecting their own. yay nice Uchihas. also yay attempts at romance. just as a quick side note, in case it's not clear, i intend to revisit the four characters in different sections of their life. so eventually we'll see them all as mom's, and Rin kicking ass as a jounin and what happened to Kakashi, etc.


From the moment she was born, there were no expectations placed upon Uchiha Mikoto's shoulders. Her birth had resulted in the death of her mother, and from that moment forward, it seemed to the rest of the Clan as if her future had been summarily decided. Her father never publicly lashed out at her or otherwise seemed to cause the girl harm, but his lack of interest in her upbringing spoke volumes about how little he cared for her.

Nobody dared comment, of course, for Uchiha Hayato, current head of the Uchiha Clan, did not suffer fools who dared criticize his methods.

And so the newborn girl was passed through Uchiha women who had the time to take care of a growing toddler, while Hayato concentrated on training his eldest sons, the most likely inheritors of his title.

-o-

When Mikoto turned five, the first stirrings of Hayato's purpose for his only daughter, a daughter he spent as little time as possible with, were felt through the Clan. He had begun to knock on doors and ask about sons of a similar age who would be keen to marry into the main family. It seemed he wanted a union cemented as soon as possible, thereby once more riding himself of having to further ensure he had to take care of his daughter.

Unbeknownst to Mikoto at the time, she was engaged to Uchiha Fugaku the morning of her sixth birthday, which she celebrated with the Uchiha women who had been taking care of her since she was young.

(She didn't hear, then, the grumblings of some of the women at such an early engagement, but they never made it past the kitchen.)

-o-

(She was very happy, at the time, when the stern, cold man she had learned to call Father didn't show up to the celebrations, as he had in the past.

It wasn't until she begun to pay more attention to the other Uchiha families that she realized how different her situation was.

Her Father wouldn't show up to her birthday again for many years.)

-o-

Mikoto's relationship with her elder siblings was somewhat better with her non-existent relationship with her Father. They acknowledged her existence, and would sometimes share meals with her, but as they learned from their Father, they never spared her much thought.

Mikoto, on the other hand, was absolutely fascinated by her elder brothers.

She had spent most of her girlhood around the various Uchiha housewives, who took turns caring for her and her brothers, ensuring they were fed and clothed, as their Father never had time and there was no Mother to help. Once her brothers reached a certain age, however, they spent a lot more time outside the Uchiha Clan complex, running around rooftops and throwing pretty, shiny stars at trees.

(Mikoto may have spied on them, once or twice.)

She often heard the housewives comment on what good shinobi her brothers were becoming, how they were protecting everyone, how they were a symbol of pride for the clan and for Father. Eagerly, Mikoto awaited the day in which she too would be able to put down the dishes and needlework she had been taught to help the housewives with, and also throw pretty stars around to protect the people she cared about, the Clan women who took care of her.

But time passed, and Mikoto was not called upon to serve her Clan.

When she finally asked one of the housewives, the woman blinked in surprise, and said, somewhat hesitantly,

"Mikoto-chan, you're the princess of the Uchiha Clan, and you've got two elder brothers, there's no need for you to be a kunoichi if you don't want to,"

Mikoto blinked, and scratched her head. The little girl didn't notice, but all of the women in the room were staring at her.

Uchiha women weren't required to become shinobi, and indeed it made perfect sense for Hayato to keep his only daughter away from that world, as a mere assurance of the continuation of his line. But most Uchiha women did indeed sign up for combat, either because their mothers had been shinobi or their fathers wanted their daughters to be protected, and more often than not, they were thankful and proud of it. There had been some discontent within the Clan women when it became obvious that Hayato had no intention of beign proactive in ensuring his daughter was a trained kunoichi, but none of them dared to complain directly to the man.

It was a very different matter, however, when the girl showed initiative.

"Can girls not be shinobi?" Mikoto asked.

"We can, dear, of course, but the questions is, do you want to be one?" another housewive, this one a former Chuunin, asked back. Mikoto tilted her head cutely, as children do, before nodding decisively.

"I want to throw the pretty stars and protect the Clan like my brothers!"

-o-

The Uchiha women made a formal request to sign Mikoto up for the Academy and begin training her themselves in their free time. Hayato, who had spent minimal time with his daughter and only knew her as a shy, dutiful little thing that reminded him too much of his late wife, laughed hoarsely, before saying,

"Sure, let the little one try it out, and once it kicks her over the head, she'll take it all back,"

(Several Uchiha women had to be subtly held back by their peers, as they nodded and walked out of the main house, victorious.

They had tried to get the Clan males to help their cause, but it had proved fruitless. While their husbands and brothers had agreed with their sympathy for the girl and with their concern at the prospect an untrained main house heiress, they had also pointed out that there was no real need for it given her two elder brothers and her clear purpose as a wife. It had been up to the women, then, to make sure the little girl was trained.)

-o-

Mikoto's first day at the Academy was whirlwind. It turned out she was a very good student, as most Uchiha's were. She had met so many kids her age, and none of them were keeping their distance or constantly bowing their heads. She had even met kids from other villages, like the redhead girl called Kushina, and kids younger than her that were smart enough to be in an advanced class, like the small civilian girl called Yoshino.

All in all, it just made her surer in her decision to be a shinobi.

-o-

(By this point in time, one of her brothers was a chuunin and the other a genin. Occasionally, they would oversee her training with the Uchiha clanswomen, but for the most part, their Father was drilling them in family techniques and history.

Their Father was somewhat of a cruel taskmaster, but there was no denying that his methods saw results, and so no one in the Clan ever commented. He believed that by pitting the brothers against each other whilst grooming them for the parts he wanted them to play in the continuation of their line would yield formidable results.

He wasn't wrong. But it had the side effect of giving Mikoto's brothers a cruel edge with dealing with the enemy and sometimes their peers, but it was never more apparent than when, on a whim, they would sometimes take it out on their younger sister in the pretense of a training session.)

-o-

Mikoto passed the Academy test the first time, and was placed on a genin team with Kushina and Yoshino. Their sensei was Hatake Sakumo, who was enough of a legend in his own right that even Kushina was a bit (just a bit, ya know!) awed by him.

When she told her Father the news, very formally over the family dinner she had been requested at since she begun at the Academy, the man laughed, before informing her he'd be training with her in a few days if she passed the second test.

(Later, Mikoto would realize that the reason for her father's laughter was that their team had been very deliberately set-up as a failure. Her Father's reasoning was sound, after all. Sakumo was too useful a ninja to be relegated to babysitting duties, and the a team made up of an immigrant, a civilian kid and the Uchiha princess was pretty much guaranteed to not pass the man's test.

But Mikoto had been quietly and steadily proving her Father wrong from the moment she was born, pushing back subtly and slyly like only a young girl knows against a man who seemed to hate her when he should lover for no discernible reason. And Team White Fang passed the test.)

-o-

The training session Mikoto suffered at the hands of her Father was essentially a glorified beating. A way for Hayato to channel his anger and frustration at his daughter, his daughter who refused to do as he said and keep away from him because she reminded him too much of his wife whom he had loved dearly and she had killed-

A way for the Uchiha Clan head to try and force his daughter into the box he had made for her from the moment she was born and she stubbornly refused to stay in, no matter what he threw at her, for all that she was polite, and refined, and a fine young lady, as the other Clan members often said.

Because at some point the Uchiha Clan had begun to resent Hayato's brusque management, and the cruelty he had instilled in his sons, and instead began to quietly root for the daughter, their princess, young Mikoto who didn't deserve the hatred or cruelty of her parents or siblings, and who managed to persevere and continue to grow despite it all.

But Hayato sensed this slight switch in allegiance, and it would not do. So he showed his daughter, reminded her, that she had a place in the Uchiha Clan hierarchy, and that place was not a shinobi, but a bride-to-be to ensure the continuation of Hayato's line, the line of Uchiha Izuna that had been protected by the Uchiha for centuries.

-o-

(It is best not to repeat the words Kushina growled when Mikoto showed up to the team meeting the next day, looking like she'd picked a fight with a volcano and lost. Mikoto shrugged of the concerns of her team, although both Yoshino and Sakumo looked concerned for weeks, instead concentrating on her training and missions with her new team. She declined any help or gave away any times, polite as always.)

-o-

Mikoto remains unaware of it, but her father received a visit from a very angry Hatake Sakumo, demanding to know why his team member had looked as she had. Hayato explained it away as a training accident, and the girl trying to take on more than she should. But Sakumo, who was neither an Uchiha Clan member nor someone who suffered fools who disregarded their comrades, did not buy it.

In no uncertain terms, and fearless in the face of one of the most influential man in the village, Sakumo reminded Hayato that Mikoto was no longer his daughter, princess of the Uchiha clan, but Sakumo's soldier, and that he would not allow Clan pettiness or jealousy to damage his soldiers or their missions.

When Sakumo walked out of the Uchiha compound that day, leaving behind a fuming Clan Head, he thought he heard the sounds of clapping.

(He may have smiled: it was good to know the girl had the backing of the Clan, at least.)

-o-

(The extent to which Hayato Uchiha or his sons may have been involved with the mission that killed Hatake Sakumo's wife is unknown, but Mikoto and the Uchiha Clan have always had their suspicions, and as a result, one Hatake Kakashi has never faced any police problems, either when he became an orphan, or when he returned with a Sharingan eye from a mission gone sideways at Kannabi Bridge.

The Uchiha paid their debts.)

-o-

Despite how much Mikoto's life had already changed by becoming a member of Sakumo-sensei's pack, it wasn't until that fated mission when Kushina revealed her jinchuuriki status that she really began to feel different. It was that mission in which he activated her Sharingan, and it was that mission when they truly began to feel like a family.

Mikoto had always been polite and soft-spoken, something she had learned growing up as a third, unwanted child to a prominent Clan and taught by the Clan women to be as good and unobtrusive a daughter as possible in order to avoid her Father's anger. (Not that it mattered given how much he had ignored her.)

But the mission and the knowledge of how much her team trusted her changed her outlook. Perhaps she was simply spending too much time Kushina and Yoshino and picking up their traits, but whatever the case, she became more outspoken in confrontations with her father, more likely to make a snide, cutting remark when her siblings were being particularly cruel. It was especially hurtful given the fact that neither of them had yet to activate their Sharingan.

And her Clan, whom she had begun to realize, had always quietly protected and favored her, was incredibly proud. It warmed her heart.

-o-

(Unlike either of her siblings, Mikoto received no congratulatory dinner when she passed her Chuunin Exams with her team. But she didn't care. Her dinner happened with her team, her family, and that night, they all piled into Sakumo-sensei's house and had a proper sleep over with his new wife, a bright kunoichi who had also originally been from Uzushiogakure, like Kushina and delighted in having the girls over, much to the embarrassment of Sakumo-sensei.)

-o-

But then suddenly, as Mikoto was changing, so did the world. And it changed drastically.

(They went to war.)

-o-

In the span of a few months, Mikoto's life became a depressive downward spiral. Both of her elder siblings dead in the front lines, sensei's young wife dead, all these dead relatives, everyone just deaddeaddead-

In the middle of all this, Mikoto was suddenly the sole heiress to the Uchiha Clan. Her interactions with her aging Father were exhausting, as he drilled into her all the knowledge he had favored upon his sons but now had to pass on to her before he died. She knew the Clan was expecting a lot, still cheering her on, but tired, drained and hoping for a fresh change in leadership.

Mikoto had never been and never will be one to cave under pressure, but the prolonged exposure to a parent who hated her (she knew why, now, but she still found it altogether inexcusable) was taking its toll. But then, Kushina, with all her unique enthusiasm in the face of adversity, once more woke up her entire team when she gave their sensei a piece of her mind.

With renewed vigor, Mikoto took on the mantle of Clan heir, and began to plan out a new vision for the Uchiha, hopefully riding them of the hatred that clung on to the Clan even all these years after the expulsion of Madara. More than ever, she interacted with her Clan members, taking turns with her team mates to take care of baby Kakashi whilst sensei was away, and for the first time in a long time, as Mikoto watched her team flourish and her Clan begin to head towards a new destiny, she thought, this could be good.

-o-

And then, sensei died. Killed himself after facing too much criticism for saving his comrades. Left behind a young boy who is scarred beyond resolve.

-o-

Mikoto leaves the initial caretaking to Kushina, who is more stubborn than little Kakashi can ever hope to be and will be able to push through better than anyone else. Instead, Mikoto and Yoshino put their minds together. And as Kushina could tell you, that is a truly fearsome combination.

You see, Mikoto is not the strategic genius Yoshino is, nor is she the powerhouse Kushina is, but Mikoto's techniques are crafty and rely on illusions and cunning. She has also been victim to cruelty from family, and is not averse to using cruelty and other, underhanded methods to deal with the enemy.

Mikoto and Yoshino know Kushina does not like nor does she approve of these particular methods, the dark underbelly of being a kunoichi, but that she grudgingly recognizes their necessity. And so it is these kunoichi that face Danzo head-on, having gathered over the years an impressive collection of blackmail material (mostly at Yoshino's insistence that something fishy was going on with the old war hawk and given Yoshino's ability to think forward, Mikoto had shrugged and agreed to help her) that they will not hesitate to take to the Hokage should Danzo even attempt to make a move on Kakashi.

-o-

(Danzo is forever wary, after that, of engaging with either woman, instead devoting an entire team to come up with counter measures against the surviving members of Team White Fang, whom he had discarded as being on the road to house wives previously.

Kakashi finds himself with constant warm meals and sisterly affection, and never spends a night by himself in the Hatake household, accompanied by one of his father's team members or their summons every night. And the cold winter that had seized his heart slowly thaws, to the extent that he one day finds himself once more joking around with Obito, no malice intended beyond teenage boy posturing.)

-o-

Uchiha Hayato dies on a non-descript Wednesday night. Mikoto arranges for the funeral to happen at the end of the week, and adds to the service the other Uchiha that have been declared KIA in the last few weeks of the war. An unheard of event, for a Clan Head to share their funerary services, but one few people complain against. Indeed, Mikoto receives many thankful smiles from the widowers and new orphans in the crowd.

Once the funeral ends, she gazes at the picture of her father that was set-up for the service. She did not cry, as she did when her siblings died, as she has no fond memories of the man. She inclines her head in respect, but offers the man that made her life hell for so many years no other recognition. He does not deserve it.

She spins on her heel, intent on looking at scrolls at home and beginning to plan with the Elders for her inheritance rites, when she bumps into a muscular chest encased in jounin gear.

"So sorry, Mikoto-sama!" a voice is quick to apologize, as an arm reaches out to steady her. In her funeral outfit, Mikoto is not as graceful as in her jounin clothes, and stumbles lightly, making her grateful for the support.

"It's quite alright," Mikoto looks up, meeting the eyes of her supposed fiancé, Uchiha Fugaku.

She's a bit surprised, and so is he. They have never interacted much with each other, despite their future nuptials. All Mikoto knows is that Fugaku is a decent shinobi, more keen on working as part of the Police Force but willing to step forward to the front lines during war time. A suitable match, Mikoto thinks, one that also is very respectful of her as both Clan Head and fellow shinobi.

She startles slightly as he tries to go past her, and Mikoto lets him, her dark eyes following him as he bows in front of two pictures, his father and brother, she realizes. Mikoto leaves him to his goodbyes, but waits for him to return to the compound, having asked the Uchiha at the entrance to tell him to come to the main house as soon as possible.

When there's a knock on the door, Mikoto calls that the it's open, and her supposed husband-to-be comes in. She's sitting looking at the garden when he finds her, and, at a loss as to what is expected of him, sits quietly next to her. They sit in silence for a few minutes, before Mikoto takes a breath.

"I'm not an easy woman to be with, Fugaku-san," she starts, "I'm headstrong and I'm trying to instill change in a Clan very adherent to tradition, a Clan that will soon be pushing for me to get married and have heirs, especially because I'm not willing to step down from my position as Clan Head after having gone through so much pain, but I'm also very proud of my accomplishments for the village, intend to continue working for the village in whatever form I am able, and I'm afraid I will always be very fond of my team mates, who are as un-Uchiha as possible,"

At this, she turns to him and smiles, and he allows himself a chuckle. Mikoto knows Fugaku and Kushina do not get along, both too headstrong and loud and somewhat similar in their ambitions to prove themselves to others, but she also suspects that they would die for each other just as quickly. As he fixes his eyes on hers, she continues,

"Knowing all this, Fugaku-san, and knowing we are arranged to marry, would you still be interested in becoming the husband of the Uchiha princess?"

Fugaku's mirth is gone from his face, instead replaced by a slack-jawed expression. While he had expected to have a conversation about his supposed marriage to the new Clan Head someday, he had most likely envisioned a cancellation of the arrangement, and he would not have protested. To be asked for this instead, he is flabbergasted.

"Mikoto-sama, you…you are a beautiful, tenacious woman, and any man would be lucky to have you, I am beyond honored that you would uphold an engagement set-up by our parents so long ago, and if you would have me, despite all my short comings, I would be happy to marry and follow you anywhere, even if you choose to become a missing nin or decide to become a follower of Jashin," Fugaku replies honestly.

Mikoto is startled into a laugh by his heartfelt confession, and as Fugaku stutters to try and make amends, she waves her hand at him, before pointedly looking at the garden,

"Well, then, are you going to ask, or no?"

Surprised once more (a state Fugaku is beginning to suspect he'll be in constantly for a while around this amazing woman who will be his wife), Fugaku eventually understand and kneels before her. He does not have a ring, but he takes out a kunai, and, holding the rounded end up, asks,

"Uchiha Mikoto, will you marry me?"

Her happy, girlish laughter, heard for the first time in a house that had previously meant nothing but disdain and cruelty to her, is the most resounding, most beautiful 'yes' Fugaku has ever heard.


comments appreciated.