Summary: When both Mikoto and Kushina have twins, the world is drastically altered. Sasuke is not the only one consumed with revenge when the Massacre comes and Naruto knows the love of a sibling. Just how will this change things on top of the fact the Sharingan isn't the only Kekkei Genkai the Uchiha have?
Chapter 4: Academy Days II
Noriko pushed open the door, hoping that everything was okay. Fear pounded in her heart as the moon's bright light was the first thing to filter into the room. Then, as the door opened wider, it revealed three figures. Two were lying on the ground, lifeless, and the other held a sword. Noriko decided to foolishly disregard the sword.
"Nii-san! Tou-san and Kaa-san are…!" Noriko gasped, staring at them and her brother's figure.
"Who would do something like this?" Noriko asked, getting scared. A shuriken embedded itself into the wall after slicing into her shoulder. She disregarded that as Itachi spoke. She hoped he'd give her an answer. His eyes opened and she stiffened, seeing the Sharingan.
"Foolish little sister," Itachi said. Mangekyo Sharingan!
Noriko was caught in his genjutsu. Over and over the deaths of people she knew and cared about died in front of her. They charged at Itachi in vain to be murdered in front of her. Blood splattered on everything; the ground, their clothes, and Itachi's ANBU vest.
"Nii-san! Don't show me this!" Noriko screamed. More and more bodies were felled and the only thing to come out of her mouth was screams.
Then, the death of her parents was replayed.
"No!" Noriko screamed. Their blood sprayed in an arc on the floor and their bodies became lifeless!
"Stop!" Noriko screamed. The genjutsu, a second in reality, but a three days in the genjutsu world, stopped. The images of blood and murder were flashing in her head. She dropped to the floor. Her eyes glazed over, only one thing on her mind.
"Why," Noriko said. Itachi's Sharingan receded into black before he responded.
"To see what I was capable of."
"And…what were you capable of? That was it? You killed everyone just for that?" Noriko asked, getting angry.
"It was important," Itachi said simply, as if stating a fact, like the sky was blue or grass is green. Noriko lifted her head a little and looked at Itachi with hate and confusion. More anger filled her features and she glared at Itachi.
"Don't fuck with me!" Noriko screamed as she suddenly ran at Itachi. The breath was knocked out of her and her eyes widened. A punch had firmly landed itself on her stomach and she fell onto the floor once more, face to face with the face of her dead mother. Tears formed in her eyes and she began to fear, truly fear, something.
No, it was someone. Someone she trusted. Someone she admired. Someone she hoped to be when she was older. Someone she loved.
But now, it was someone she feared, someone she resented, someone she hated. Everything he'd done was a lie: being kind, being helpful to training, being a good role model. Sasuke and her had always looked up to him but now…now she hated him and feared him with all her being.
She forced herself up and fled the room. I'm scared!
She fled the house and ran through the streets of the bloody bodies she'd seen brutally murdered in front of her. She shut her eyes and focused on running far, far away. She almost tripped when running so fast but she simply kept going to get away from the teen who had ripped everything away from her.
Wait.
Sasuke!
Noriko began to panic. Where was Sasuke? Was he still training? She stopped and looked around helplessly, panic being the only thing she could think about. She didn't dare call out his name; Itachi would find her quicker.
"Don't kill me!" Noriko screamed. "Don't kill Sasuke!"
Fear came back in a huge wave again, making her legs shake, making her unable to move.
"You're not even worth killing," Itachi said. "And neither is Sasuke. Foolish little sister. If you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and live in an unsightly way. Run, run, and cling to life. And one day when you possess the same eyes as me come before me."
Noriko stared in shock and confusion. Same eyes…did he mean that strange Sharingan he had? The one that Tou-san was talking about? The Mangekyo? A strange an unpleasant feeling rushed over her and she fell to her knees. When she managed to stand, her eyes burned a deep crimson with a single tomoe.
After that, Itachi began to flee. She scowled in anger and grabbed a few kunai and as she pursed him, threw the kunai at him. He managed to block most of the kunai but one escaped him and it knocked off his hitai-ate. He put it on once more, noting the scratch it made on the Konoha symbol. Tears flowed from his eyes and as Noriko held her arm in pain and dropped to her knees, her eyes turned back to black, she heard a voice.
"Nii-san! Noriko!"
Shock and fear washed over her but she could do nothing. Darkness enveloped her consciousness and she collapsed on the ground. The last thing she heard was a scream, from Sasuke.
After receiving the Tsukuyomi like his sister had, Sasuke collapsed by Noriko's side. He too, was a victim of the horrible genjutsu from Itachi but since Itachi wanted to conserve chakra to fight off any ANBU he may encounter, Itachi couldn't let it go on as long as it for as long as he had had for Noriko.
Sasuke came to a few days later in the hospital. The images of his fallen clansmen weren't necessarily as brutal and bloody as Noriko had seen, but for a child who had never seen murder, anything was just as horrible. He looked around and saw his sister bandaged up more than he had and sitting in a chair, the glimmer in her eyes gone.
"Noriko?" Sasuke asked.
She didn't respond right away. She looked up slowly and gave a small smile before it faded into sobs with her head and knees tucked into her chest and her straight hair covering her face. Sasuke didn't know what to do.
After a minute, she stopped and wiped away her tears.
"There's something you have to know," Noriko said. "The last words Itachi told me."
Sasuke's face darkened at the mention of the murderer but he motioned for her to continue, his attention rapt.
"Itachi said, 'You're not even worth killing. And neither is Sasuke. Foolish little sister. If you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and live in an unsightly way. Run, run, and cling to life. And one day when you possess the same eyes as me come before me,'" Noriko quoted.
"He wants us to avenge the clan," Sasuke realized. "That was obvious. Noriko, together we're going to kill that murderer and make him pay for all the things he's done. And, we're going to revive the clan."
Noriko nodded. Her eyes drifted about, as if unsure of where to look.
"What did Itachi show you?" Noriko asked softly.
Sasuke shifted in his covers, his fists gripping the sheets angrily.
"He showed me just Tou-san and Kaa-san's death," Sasuke said. "What did he show you?"
"Everyone's death," Noriko said, biting her lip to keep from crying again. It didn't work but this time, Sasuke reached out to embrace her and she simply collapsed on the bed sobbing into Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke began to cry as well, on top of the fact that he was frightened to see his sister so frightened.
"In the genjutsu he told me about the Naka Shrine and the seventh tatami mat from the right that there was a secret Uchiha meeting place," Sasuke said. "Do you know anything about it?"
Noriko nodded. "Yeah. It's at the southern part of the compound and we need a Sharingan to get in. Looks like we're going to have to train to get our Sharingan."
Sasuke bit his lip. "He told me another thing. In order to get the Sharingan, we have to kill my closest friend. I think he told me more things, but I can't really remember."
Noriko lifted her head to let Sasuke have some space. Neither of them had ever really been fond of physical contact, but this was a particular moment. The two sat in silence until the nurse came in and saw they were both awake but eerily silent. She frowned in shock and called the Hokage to come over after taking both of their vitals.
When the Hokage came, he was at a loss for words. Hiruzen, in all his wisdom and experience, didn't know what to say past the usual 'It's going to be alright'. He knew the truth and he knew that nothing was alright. The girl seemed more distant than the boy, who remained quiet, not striking up a conversation like their peers, specifically the Uzumaki twins. He'd heard how annoying and smug the Uchiha twins were from the two blondes, his surrogate grandchildren, but this was something completely different.
Then again, the two children who lay in silence with only each other left in the world were subjected to the world's most powerful genjutsu. From the looks of it, the girl had seen it first and Itachi must've been conserving chakra to not give the boy the full extent of the Tsukuyomi.
Or, there was another reason behind Itachi scarring the girl more so than he did with the boy. She had bandages covering most of her visible skin with the exception of her face, while the boy simply had bandages on his shins and hands.
Hiruzen had really no idea of how to deal with this and what to say. Perhaps if Kushina were here she'd make Minato approve of taking them in. No, if Minato were here that wouldn't even be necessary; the Uchiha Massacre wouldn't have happened. Minato was a better problem solver than Hiruzen, although the old man would never admit it. Because of this, Fugaku, Mikoto, and their whole clan wouldn't have died and Itachi wouldn't have had to sacrifice his future.
He sighed and decided to have the children look to he future. By that, he simply meant things returning to a mild state of normal. If normal could even be understood by the children anymore.
"Your Academy teacher is offering remedial lessons for the two of you to catch up on nearly a week's worth of work. He's willing to do them whenever and wherever you'd like. Also, I've paid for an apartment for the both of you, if you'd like to live there. The village is worried about you two," Hiruzen said gently.
"Hokage-sama, we appreciate your kindness," the girl started.
"But that is not necessary," the boy finished.
Hiruzen was slightly taken aback by the two. Their minds seemed almost linked. In fact, something in the air seemed to change and for a moment, he couldn't tell the two apart. He shook the thought out of his mind and nodded.
"Well, if you two need anything, you can tell me anything. Both of your injuries have healed enough to discharge you two so you are free to go whenever you like," Hiruzen said and disappeared in a shunshin.
The last two Uchiha turned to one another and walked out of the hospital, ignoring the stares they received from the loitering patients and nurses and doctors. It began to rain hard outside and Noriko ended up ripping off her bandages and Sasuke walked by her to where they'd agreed to: the Uchiha compound.
Denial.
They weren't dead.
It was impossible.
Itachi wasn't a murderer.
He can't be.
However, the lines where dead bodies used to be were enough to bring new tears to the seven year olds faces'. All the blood that had splattered the ground and walls and tatami mats was cleaned but in the last two Uchiha's eyes, nothing was clean anymore. Everything was stained, no, drenched, in the blood of the murdered Uchiha and Itachi stood at the epicenter.
He had the nerve to say that we weren't worth killing. We're nothing but dirt beneath his feet!
He was never our brother to begin with. He was always this way, just keeping it hidden until he simply grew bored of the peace and destroyed it!
Sasuke and Noriko looked up in surprise. They shared a wry smile before leaving the compound just as quickly as their smiles faded.
They'd gone through the surrealism already. The graves were clumped together and the bodies probably cremated to save space; it seemed a little unbelievable to think that all the bodies of the large Uchiha clan could fit in a small area in the Uchiha graveyard.
Their tears had dried to leave behind a strong resolve. It was such that the two had drawn their goals surrounding themselves and not widening it to include anyone else but each other. This resolve was to get revenge on Itachi by killing him. This meant that they had to get stronger.
Much stronger.
The clan died because we lacked power. We can't let our weakness plague us forever, no, not for another moment. We refuse to be dirt beneath his feet; we will be the skies that rain down his death on him.
The two walked solemnly away from the Uchiha graves. It was too much, at least for now.
The sun was beginning to set and the two Uchiha ended up taking money from their old home and changing out of the itchy hospital garb. They were seen walking through the merchant district of Konoha. Neither was too fond of sweets so they ended up ordering a bowl of soup with chicken and shrimp stuffed wonton wrappers, bean sprouts, and cabbage and lettuce slices.
The children were perfectly aware of the entire customer body staring at them. It wasn't strange to see children eating without adults, although it was far less common than the opposite. It was simply the children themselves. Everyone had heard about the Uchiha Massacre and wondered if the children were okay.
No one, though, had the guts to approach the two last Uchiha. It was very similar to the way no one had the guts to outright tell the two Uzumaki everyone in the village hated their entire existence and wanted them to die and how they killed the Yondaime Hoakge and whatnot.
Once the two children had finished their soup, they paid and left. Stares followed the two children and once they were out of sight, whispers flooded the air.
"Hokage-sama, we'd like to take you up on your offer with the apartment," Sasuke said.
"We'll move our things from the Uchiha compound to the apartment on our own," Noriko added.
Hiruzen nodded and flicked his wrist. An ANBU appeared and the children were too lethargic and grief-stricken to be surprised. The ANBU was given his orders to show the children where the apartment was and the children dutifully followed.
The apartment was nice. Well, apartments. Hiruzen had bought two for each of them and clearly didn't realize that the nightmares would come with a vengeance and the only person in the world capable of consoling was their twin. It didn't matter. Hiruzen would figure it out soon enough.
Over the next few days, the children moved their things into the apartment and organized everything to their liking. With their monthly allowance, they stocked the kitchen, although small, with essentials and took many of the cooking utensils from their old home to save money.
When the day to return to the Academy came, really just a Monday, Noriko had made an effort to cook bento. It was very, very simple since the girl honestly had no idea how to cook anything. Sasuke was glad he had anything. It was just rice with an ume plum in the middle taking up half of the box and the other side was slices of lettuce with slivers of boiled pork.
Noriko didn't fry the pork; she'd tried doing that and all the oil splattered everywhere so she abandoned that idea for a simpler one. With a simple cloth tied around the box, they were off for school.
During their downtime, Noriko had gone out go get Hinata's notes and the two Uchiha studied them to make sure they didn't fall behind. In reality, they didn't really need to; Iruka was going over past lessons since their test on the theories of ninjutsu and genjutsu and taijutsu was a week from then.
It was like the two Uchiha spoke a different language, created a bubble around themselves from others, and lost their original personalities—their smiles, their smirks, and their air of content. Their test scores hadn't gone down a bit; they were still the top students. And, everyone noticed the two Uchiha suddenly back at school and stared in awe.
"Hey, did you hear? Everyone in the Uchiha clan was killed and only they lived," a boy behind the two Uchiha said.
"Yeah, I heard. My dad was talking about that," another boy replied.
Naruto and Mei overheard the two boys and looked at the Uchiha, thinking the same thing. They were tempted to approach the Uchiha, but something made them hesitate. It might've been the dark aura that surrounded the two Uchiha. It might've been the recent events discouraging the two Uzumaki. Whatever it was, it made them uncertain.
Iruka walked in and quieted everyone down.
"Well, as many of you have noticed, two students have returned to class. Please give them your warmest welcome back because things have been very hard for them and be kind," Iruka said.
"Iruka-sensei, is it because their entire clan was killed?"
"I heard they saw everyone die."
"Sensei, how come they're so quiet?"
"Silence!" Iruka yelled. He glanced at the Uchiha, worried they were offended by the comments but they acted as if no one had said anything. For the rest of the class, the Uchiha answered questions as a last resort when no one else could, which happened often, and kept to themselves. This only served to further intrigue their classmates.
When lunch came, no one could find the Uchiha twins. The Sasuke fangirl group and the Noriko fanboy group searched high and low but they couldn't find any sign of them.
The boy with red triangles on his face and a dog on his head looked up when his dog barked. The boy nodded and ran to a tree where sure enough, the two Uchiha had climbed and were eating their lunch with a distant look.
"Noriko, I don't care that you're suffering or whatever, but you need to get away from Sasuke-kun! Your negative personality is making him negative!" Mei yelled up the tree as she tried to climb it. Noriko ignored her.
Mei's face contorted in anger. This girl hadn't changed; she was still acting like she was better and keeping Sasuke all to herself. She didn't care that she and Sasuke were sister and brother; she'd be the one to marry Sasuke in the future. That was her dream.
When Mei finally was able to reach the branch where the two Uchiha sat, they closed their bento boxes and did a backflip gracefully to avoid Mei. Landing in sync once more, the two Uchiha stalked away, the other children afraid to approach them.
Once again, back in class after lunch, Noriko and Sasuke were quiet. However, sometimes people would see a spark of anger in their eyes only to be drowned out once more by the darkness of their eyes.
"Naruto, what did Sasuke just say?" Iruka asked, exasperated. The blonde still wasn't paying attention.
"Why would I pay attention to that sulking idiot over there? So what his clan got killed? I don't see why all of us have to suffer for it," Naruto said. A moment of silence passed over the class, almost tangible and suffocating.
"What did you just say?" Sasuke looked up and stared straight at him, his anger and resentment for Itachi directed solely on the blonde.
"Yeah, Naruto-nii is right! That Noriko just makes him all negative and sad! I bet she helped in the massacre," Mei said, suddenly feeling regret after saying it, but disregarded it.
You think I helped Itachi slaughter everyone in the clan? I was there first and I saw the deaths of everyone in my clan played over and over and over again. It always ended with the deaths of our parents, the blade falling in a clean arc to bring death to them. This genjutsu was a second in the real world, but three days in the genjutsu. Can you imagine that? Noriko thought.
Noriko knew the answer was a 'no' because Mei didn't have parents. She never had a brother who killed her parents, who she lost trust in. She never had anyone but Naruto and they were fine with each other, as far as Noriko knew. She'd never had bonds severed or seen murder.
Sasuke looked at her and felt as if he knew what was running through her head. He took her hand in his and held it tightly.
"Believe what you want," Noriko said. "I don't have time to explain anything to you."
Mei gawked and got up to storm over there to the other side of the classroom. Iruka stopped her and looked pitifully at the two Uchiha. He glanced at the clock and seeing how class was about to end, he dismissed the class.
The two Uchiha were the first to leave, followed by the Sasuke fangirl group. Mei was right behind Noriko and was about to land a punch onto Noriko's head, but Sasuke said it out of the corner of his eye, grabbed her arm, and slammed her against the wall.
"I said, no one hurts my sister," Sasuke's eyes held a cold and dark fury in them and Mei didn't know whether to fear him or be in awe. Seeing how she was crushing hard on Sasuke, she went with the latter option.
"What're you talking about? I was just going to pat her shoulder for consolation," Mei said, giving a smile.
"Mei," Noriko turned around to look at the Uzumaki, who glared at the emotionless eyes of Uchiha Noriko.
"What?" Mei spat.
"You will never understand either of us. Please, stop trying to," Noriko said softly, too softly for anyone but Sasuke to hear.
He let go of the blonde and the two Uchiha walked away, the bubble around them seeming almost tangible. Mei stared at Noriko's back and for a moment, wondered just how terrifying the massacre must've been. She knew both of them were affected by some genjutsu and some guy named Uchiha Itachi killed everyone but that was about the extent of her knowledge. She could only put her and Naruto's solitude up against their pain but felt as if she'd never really understand the Uchiha.
Maybe it was for the better?
Later, at night, while the Noriko woke up from another nightmare with Sasuke calming her down, Naruto admitted something to Mei.
"I understand Sasuke's and Noriko's feelings. The solitude, the stares. That's why I'm going to be best friends with him and bring him out of his solitude," Naruto stated. "Are you going to do the same with Noriko-chan?"
"Of course not. That girl is full of herself, no matter what anyone says," Mei said as she turned over on her bed and curled up. Naruto shook his head, never understanding girls and their fights.