Beta: The one and only Prince Nemui
It was several weeks later when Michiko experienced a break from her day to day life.
She was outside with her mother, training her speed and dodging, as her mother launched chain after chain at her.
"An enemy will not show you any mercy. If they can't capture you, they will kill you." Was her mother's favourite statement.
Just as Natsumi was preparing to launch another chain and trap her daughter, she felt several chakra signatures heading towards them at high speed.
"Get inside the house. Now"'
Not wasting a moment, Michiko ran inside to tell her father. When she found him he was already changed into his 'ninja gear,' guan dao in hand.
"Stay with your grandmother," he said. She attempted to protest, saying that she was able to help, but one look from him silenced her. Ayaka came to grab her by the shoulder.
"Come Michiko-chan, let us go activate the barrier seals," she didn't like this situation either, which was a given. They were all sensors and while Michiko was not nearly as trained, she could still easily feel the eight chakra signatures coming their way. Two of which were flickering, suggesting that they were wounded or at least tired.
Still, this was bad. They outnumbered them and Michiko didn't even want to entertain the thought of something happening to her family. So doing as her grandmother asked she quickly went to activate the barrier seals.
Just as she was about to push some of her chakra into the fifth seal, she felt the foreign chakra spike in warning as they reached the clearing. Heart in her throat, she made her way to the back entrance.
From this position she could see her parents. Four ninjas stood before them, the other team concealed in the surrounding trees. She strained her neck a bit to get a better look at them and to look for any identifiers, such as a headband.
The middle one, the one speaking with her parents, he was wearing one with a cloud image on it. 'Kumo, then. Fuck. Weren't they then ones that tried kidnapping Hinata? Wait, which village tried kidnapping Kushina? Oh, this was not good. Not good at all,' she thought, with rising dread.
'Mi-Michiko! Come here this instance!' Ayaka's whisper was not lacking in command, and any other time she would have listened immediately, but not now. Now she had to prepare for the worst.
It all seemed to be going fine, her parents and the Kumo-nin exchanged nods, the other ninjas came out of the forest and that was when it all went wrong. One of the previously concealed ninja made their way to the one who was speaking, by this point she assumed he was the leader, and whispered something in his ear.
Whatever it was caused him to freeze up and look at her parents again. Seeing him appraising her parents made the blood in her veins freeze.
They knew.
Then the chaos erupted. They began attacking her parents, who wasted no time in returning the favour.
But no matter how good Takeshi and Natsumi were, the odds were still not in their favour. Eight versus two, wasn't in their favour.
Her grandmother seemed to think along the same lines. Screaming at her to stay put, Ayaka jumped into the battle. Extending her own chakra chains and incapacitating one of the Kumo-nin, however in her haste she did not see one coming up behind her, blade drawn.
'MOTHER!' Natsumi cried, seeing Ayaka about to be ambushed. Michiko didn't think anymore, drawing chakra to the soles of her feet she used this to propel her self forward and kicked the bastard away from her grandmother.
In a fluid motion she pulled out a scroll, drawing out the weapon within, and bringing it down upon his head. The force enough to split his head open, spraying blood on her.
Michiko quickly recovered her momentum, not caring in that moment that she had killed someone for the first time. There was a total of five ninja left. No, four ninja left as her grandmother killed the one she had captured.
The Kumo ninja seemed surprised, not having expected Ayaka's and Michiko's presence, before rage seemed to take over them due to their dead comrades.
One of them charged at Michiko, both hands surrounded in electricity. She used the side of her blade to block, the wooden pole acting as an insulator preventing her from getting shocked, before summoning her chains the surprise enough for her to send them through his left leg, preventing him from dodging as the next one went for his head.
Joining her grandmother once again, they worked together to quickly eliminate another ninja. Turning around, she saw her parents fighting the remaining two, seeming to be evenly matched.
However her mother was slowing down, sometime during the fight she had received an injury to her side which was bleeding through the material of her kimono.
Red eyes blazing, Michiko bared her teeth in anger. Charging at the remaining ninja, she attacked him with her guan dao, only cutting his flank as he tried to get out of the way. That was all the opening her mother needed to finish him. When they were done they sent their chains to wrap around the final enemy, which her father swiftly ended.
Nobody said anything afterwards, all of them mulling over the events that had just transpired. Till finally, Natsumi realised what had happened, and what Michiko had done. She exploded like never before, her daughter's actions having scared her.
"What if you had died?" she demanded. "Do you know how reckless your actions were?" But Michiko wasn't paying attention to her mother. Instead she was staring at remains of the Kumo-nin that attacked them.
"Are you —,"
Michiko interrupted her. "It's because we are Uzumaki that they attacked. One of them recognised our features, so they hoped to return back home with clan blood. I'm sure that would have made their Kage glad."
They weren't questions. Simple statements devoid of emotion.
"Michiko…," her grandmother tried, voice wavering due to exhaustion. They were watching her, waiting for her reaction. This was not her usual behaviour and they were especially worried since this was the first time she killed as well.
"Yes," Takeshi finally said. "As long as there is Uzumaki blood, it will be hunted—" Natsumi butted in before he could continue.
"Anata!" But Takeshi, merely shook his head.
"It's not like she doesn't realise it, love. She deserves to hear the truth," directing his attention back to his daughter — who was still staring at the same spot, eyes unfocused — he continued:
"When Uzushiogakure was destroyed, our clan lost more than our homes and relatives. We lost the protection it offered us and others with special bloodline traits," he said.
"We became easy pickings," Michiko concluded. Takeshi gave her a hard look, attempting to understand what was going on in her head.
"Yes," he whispered. They all looked down in sorrow, the truth bearing down on them. Fist clenched and teeth grit, Michiko whirled around to face her family, eyes blazing in fury.
"Then I'll change that truth," she growled out. They all looked up in shock. Her words seeming to not fully register with them till Ayaka that finally asked:
"What?"
Focusing on her Michiko elaborated: "If the loss of Uzushio is what caused this mess, the I will rebuild it. I'll raise it from that rubble and make it once again a village people looked up to."
Her words were determined, voice never wavering and she maintained constant eye contact with her grandmother.
"Michiko, honey, that's—," Natsumi attempted to reason with her daughter.
"No. I have made up my mind. This will not be the last time this happens and we are not the only Uzumaki alive. The are probably going through the same things as us, if not worse. Hiding, stealing, lying. All because we were chased out of our home," Michiko interrupted once again, rounding on her mother this time.
"And it is not just the Uzumaki. Anyone with any blood related ability is treated the though we are animals…Belonging to nobody. Fair game," the truth of her words was biting and uncensored. Unknowingly tearing open wounds that her family had allowed to scar.
"I know the impossibility of what I am saying. I know. But I also know that we can't keep on living like this. I've see what was left of Uzusiogakure. There were barely any remains even left—,"
"Michiko! That is enough," but Natsumi never finished. Michiko was on a roll. She was livid and plans were forming in her mind. Ideas taking root and making space for themselves within the confines of her mind.
"No, mother," she said softly this time. A direct contrast to how she had spoken earlier. "You can imagine why so few were left, right? … They took them. But no more. No more. I could have lost you today!" Michiko exclaimed finally.
"You could have died today. And for what? Because we have bloody red hair ttebane? Is that it? Well I don't care! We can't choose how we are born. But, we can choose how we live. And I refuse to live in hiding for the rest of my life, hoping nobody finds me, being terrified of having children and then worrying for their lives because they had the poor luck to have my blood running through their veins."
Taking deep breaths, she paused, calming down, her verbal tic manifesting itself in her anger. Finally, she looked at her family once again, making eye contact with each one.
"I will rebuild Uzushiogakure, no matter how long it will take. I promise I am done hiding," she said in the silence of the clearing, determination shining in her eyes.
A/N:Seriously thank you for reading this story people, it is really encouraging and your reviews were all very nice!
But gah, I really don't like this chapter, I will need to work on it but I had to get it out of the way so that the real action can finally kick off. If I delayed this, trust me, I would have never gotten it done. So please let me know of any spelling or grammar mistakes so that I may correct them and maybe an improvements you would like to suggest? Please let me know in the reviews guys!