Chapter Seven: A Warrior's Instinct
"My head is filled with ruins, most of them are built with you. Now the dust no longer moves. Don't disturb the ghost of you."
As the Village was plunged in the familiar darkness of the evening, many a lantern was lit to accommodate passerby in their treks back home. The pungent scent of the camphor laurels permeated throughout the summer air, balmy and thick as it filled the nostrils with its scent.
Greenery stretched out for miles and miles upon the road, but the vivid colors were muted under the darkness of the night. The sound of the cicada's melody reverberated throughout the air stifled by the dense humidity synonymous to the summer night. It engulfed them in whole, causing them to sink further into the belly of its heat.
Two figures walked along the path in a leisurely pace, one taller, the other, diminutive in comparison. An adult and their child; a mother and her son.
"Smells funny, huh, mama?" Naruto said in a sing-song voice as he grasped tightly on to his mother's hand.
"Those are the camphor trees. The bark on the tree emits a strong scent where the essence of the tree can be made into an oil. It has many medicinal properties that can be used as a topical ointment for minor cuts and bruises," she replied solemnly.
They were walking back from the village main street after having supped at Ichiraku's Ramen Shop for the third time this week. It seemed that ramen was becoming a main staple in Naruto's diet as of late. It was a perfect balance of complex carbohydrates and fats at a high-caloric intake that Teresa was successfully able to appease without much protest. Now, it was only a matter of going home to ready themselves for bed with full stomachs to lull them to a restful sleep.
Naruto proceeded to sniff at the air again. "No, but it smells...funnier today. Something's different."
Teresa narrowed her eyes, halting in her steps. She kneeled towards Naruto's level and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "What is it, my little fox, do you sense something amiss?"
He nodded slowly, pouting ever-so-slightly as he did this.
Teresa's head cocked back and forth, silver eyes intent on scanning the area for anything her child with attuned senses (thanks to a certain bijuu) had sensed that she could not on sight. Relying on her sense and sense alone, this time, she was able to concentrate on the minute chakra flows that ran throughout the Village in its entirety.
Past the warm bodies, past the trees, past the roots, past the earth, past the myriad buildings that stood across the land. She saw it all in a flush of images that had swarmed her senses within seconds, something akin to an overload in sensory information—all for her to process in the span of a few moments like manuscript files that she could access within reach. She reached out, fingers rooting into the foundation of the earth as if she had taken apart of the celestial sphere itself. Perusing through the natural energy that ran through every single living organism in the earth, searching for any outliers that managed to stray from the natural homeostasis that she had accustomed herself to.
Naruto stared at her with eyes wide as the moon, full of wonder, as Teresa's countenance took on its familiar look of intense concentration.
He knew this look, with her brows furrowed together, eyes shut tightly, and mouth stiff straight into a firm line. She was reading the earth—that was how he always put it. Whenever his mother had that look, the look of a warrior; those were the times when he felt that she was in her most natural state. He believed in the notion that people were put on this earth for reasons that are meant to be discovered through their lifetimes, a belief she had instilled within him from the moment he could fully comprehend abstract thought. And he firmly believed that this was her purpose. To be a warrior, to be a hero—someone he so terribly wished to become someday.
He looked at her like he looked upon the world, with eyes full of awe. That was what she meant to him, the world. Even with her brows knit together in concentration, taut from the massive strain she was putting on her facial musculature.
And suddenly...
Her eyes flew open. The silver within the irises seemed to almost burn with an intensity almost frightening. She was absolutely frightening when she got this way, but something always stirred within him whenever he witnessed this. It was completely compelling.
"Mama! Mama! Did you see something? Whatcha see?" He prodded in excitement, tugging on the sleeve of her shoulder. His smile was infectious.
With her head bent low and her long locks of hair covering her face like a curtain, she looked up. Naruto's smile slowly disappeared at the sight that met him. There was something eery in the way the shadows of her face grimaced, something etched within the lines like a calm comeliness awaiting something horrifyingly malicious enough to make a stone-faced shinobi quiver. Ready to face the inevitable. He could see the distress in every line of her visage, see it as tangible as the light in the darkness.
There was something in the air that night.
"Naruto..." she said slowly. "We must leave. Now."
And then he felt himself being swept up in her arms and suddenly thrust in the air at the full force of her rapid speed in running. She ran and she ran.
It was all a blur right then and there, so much that he was unable to comprehend much less sense what had happened at that very moment. From what he recalled, he could feel his body being jolted, as she held him in her arms and rushed out of the scene. When he was finally able to recollect himself, he expected to be in the safe confines of their home with its familiar bamboo tatami mats and ugly vegetable garden his mother insisted on growing. However, things took a turn for the worse when he realized that she had not stopped at their doorstep.
When he realized that they were standing in front of Kakashi's home, the man himself already clad in his nightwear and tiredly rubbing his eyes in confusion, he knew something was completely wrong.
Hushed words were passed between the two adults.
He watched as the silver-haired man's facial expressions switched from various phases. First it went from curiosity, and then his brows furrowed as he seemed to listen intensely, and then a frown line in the eyes appeared as he nodded his head in what seemed to be understanding, and then he reached out as his mother passed him on to the man's open arms.
"W-Wait, mama, what's going on?" He stammered, watching her retreating figure walk away to the shadows.
She only turned towards him, never saying a word.
"Mama? W-Where are you going?" He was getting more frantic each passing moment.
Kakashi looked upon him, with indifferent eyes, still holding onto him as he nodded towards his mother.
Teresa reached out and caressed his cheeks. "Don't worry. I'll be back. You stay with Kakashi, just like when you sleep over when I have those missions. Do you understand?"
"W-What? No, no, mama. Please, don't leave me. Where are you going?"
He did not understand what was going on. Why was she suddenly leaving him? What did he do? Was she not going to comeback? He felt desperate now, desperate in need for answers. Nothing was making sense. The adults only wore grim faces and failed to answer any of his burgeoning questions. He just wanted to go home, wanted to curl up next to his mother and fall asleep.
She kissed him on the forehead before turning away.
"Wait! Where are you going? Mama don't go! Please don't go! Don't leave me! Please! Don't leave me! Don't leave me...Don't leave me!"
Before he could blink the tears that threatened to spill forth from his eyes, she was gone.
Naruto jolted up from his bed.
The familiar rush of regaining consciousness had begun to clear his senses as he searched aimlessly in his darkened room. Immediately, the lights had flickered on and his mother stood in his doorway with a concerned look upon her countenance. She crossed her arms and frowned before sweeping towards his bed to sit on the side. His breathing settled into a steady inhale as he felt her hand grasp onto his.
It was all a dream.
"I felt your distress," she said knowingly. "Did you have a bad dream?"
He nodded. "Yeah...It was weird. I feel like it actually happened. Do you ever get those kinds of dreams where you feel like you're reliving memories, like some sort of déjà vu?"
"Mm, yes. But, they are usually memories that I know I can recall."
He wore a pensive look as he drew his knees into his chest and wrapped his arms around them, staring into the walls as if staring into the void. The boy remained quiet for a few minutes before looking up towards her once more.
"Hey, Mom, did you...did you ever leave me at Kakashi's?"
"I've done that plenty of times when you were younger when I would go on overnight missions, so, yes. I believe so."
"No...Remember that one night...you know, the night when that massacre happened...you know, the one with the Uchiha's. I don't remember much of it now, but I think that's what I remembered in my dream. You left me to stay at Kakashi's, right?"
Something flashed within her eyes, a look of understanding, and she nodded solemnly. "Ah, yes...That was so long ago though, it's been years now that I think about it. I did leave you to stay there after we had dinner. Something had come up."
"...But you did it abruptly, I-I remember now," he said with his face scrunched up. "Mom...did you, did you go because you knew something was gonna happen that night?"
"...Yes...Yes, I did. If I can recall, you had sensed something in the air that night too. Do you remember?"
"Yeah...Mom, what happened that night?"
Teresa sighed, not one for indulging in some storytelling in the middle of the night.
However, she supposed that she owed him an explanation because after that night, she never really did divulge the truth behind what occurred. The kunoichi simply remembered picking Naruto up in the morning and allowing him to stay home from the academy that day. He never questioned her after that, but she felt that he had an inkling of what had transpired from the very start. Now, she supposed she owed him that explanation.
Teresa cleared her throat, stretching her palms over her lap as she did this.
"Naruto, what do you remember from that night?"
It was uncharacteristically hotter that summer evening. The air felt stickier with humidity even more so than usual. Teresa felt it seeping through her skin, her bones.
They were walking home from Ichiraku, having had a filling dinner in celebration of Naruto's perfect taijutsu practice examination score.
Perhaps it was the heat that had dulled her senses. Perhaps it was the reposeful ambiance of the aftermath of dinner. Perhaps it was her subconscious coping mechanism of denying the truth—Teresa always did say that ignorance was bliss. She was not truly certain what had mitigated her senses from its usual sharpness that night, and frankly, if she tried to delve too deep into it, she would give herself a headache.
In truth, she would invariably allow some of her most repressed issues to resurface to the forefront of her mind again. Because whenever it revolved around him, things were sure to get ugly, very ugly indeed. Not one for idling too much in vanity, Teresa supposed that this issue was but an exception. When she thought about her twisted connection with him, she only thought about the ugliness of the world. The way it was able to turn something that was once so beautiful into something that made her stomach clench in repugnance.
Her head was filled with ruins. Most of them she had built with him. A genuine friendship, not contrived from mere acquaintanceship with organizations, but one that had blossomed from pure trust. And from that camaraderie, grew a love in the purest form—one that only few had been privy to with Shimura Teresa. His memory that once stood like a golden pillar in the hall of her greatest loves, with Clare being there and now Naruto; had crumbled into dust. Every now and then, the dust would swirl around the proverbial chambers of her mind, inciting small memories she had once shared with his former-self.
However, for the past couple of years, the memories had began to surface less frequently until the dust no longer moved altogether. In its place stood a spectre, an echo of the former memories that she likened to a ghost. It was safe to say that her mind had opted on preserving that ghost. She felt that was all she had, the ghost of his former-self. That one pure memory.
So when she concentrated all her senses to check for any disturbances that night, she did not expect to feel that familiar flame.
Though carefully concealed as it was, she was able to grasp at its presence like the blacksmith to his hearth. There was absolutely no doubt how recognizable this chakra signature was. It was the very same signature she had once become so accustomed to in her more formative years as a kunoichi.
It was him.
Her eyes had flashed open and she had to restrain the surge of emotions that threatened to spill over her better judgement. Her heart began to pulsate in a rapid pace. There was anger there. Confusion. And a great deal of hurt. But, Shimura Teresa was a calm and collected shinobi, able to throw herself into battle without so much as batting her eyes.
Thus, she had carefully gathered Naruto in her arms to bring him to safety—her best idea? Kakashi's home.
"Teresa, why are you at my house?" The man queried curiously. He wore a tired look upon his face, but it failed to hide his true concern.
"Something's going to happen tonight. There is a threat within the village, I have to take care of it and I won't feel better if Naruto's not safe."
"What do you mean? What's happening?"
"I'm...I'm not sure exactly, but I can sense something ominous. I just know these things, Hatake. You've seen this before, will you trust me?"
He nodded, accepting her words at face-value. "Should we alert the hokage?"
"No...For some odd reason, I have a feeling that there are domestic issues occurring at hand. Hokage-sama may already be aware of this and chances are he's allowing it. I know there's something wrong. I need to go."
"But then we shouldn't worry about it, right?"
"No. I told you, Hatake, something is wrong. I can sense it. Something bad is going to happen tonight."
The man eyed her warily, looking intently into her eyes as if searching for something. Finally, for what seemed like forever, he nodded his head in acquiescence and brought his outstretched arms forward for her to hand Naruto to. He believed her for what it was worth and for that, she was grateful.
"Thank you, Kakashi."
She reached over and squeezed his hand slightly, surprising the silver-haired man, before leaning forward to kiss Naruto goodbye. The boy began to protest and Teresa almost felt like staying, but her senses were urging her to leave, screaming at her even. Every vein, every fiber in her being ached terribly, telling her the telltale signs of something malicious approaching. Silently, she had come to the decision that above all, she wanted to keep Naruto safe, and to do so, she had to keep the village safe.
Trying to ignore the child's cries, with a heavy heart, she had stormed away.
There was only one thing on her mind, find him.
She allowed her instincts to guide her, allowed that intrinsic pull of energy to cling on to its desired target and flow towards it like a bolt of energy. She felt her inner ki undulate like waves within, pulling her along as her muscles followed the neurotransmitters within the mind. Every spark of energy flowed through, every muscle picked up on the wave, and conductively, Teresa was pulled towards that familiar chakra signature.
She jumped, leaped, ran through the village—veering off buildings and turning various corners as if she had already known her path. That pull, that electric pull, took her around the village, and soon she was beginning to recognize a familiar path. Down the main road, turning off the corner from the street market, edging towards the very outskirts...And then Teresa found herself in a particular part of the village that she had not come near to in nearly ten years.
She was in the Uchiha District.
Although, a strange sight was what met her eyes. The streets were eerily quiet, deserted from the lack of chakra signatures from a mile radius away. The back of her spine began to prickle with the familiar sensation of drawing nearer to her target. She felt it. It was close, oh so close. But why had it led her to a deserted area?
Cautiously, Teresa hid behind the shadows as she continued towards the mysterious chakra source. Her inherent perceptions had also informed her of something amiss with the entire district. Something had happened and if it had not occurred yet, it would be soon. There was something in the air that night, something evil lurking behind the shadows of the sky; ready to sink it's teeth in and draw blood. That was what she felt.
She rushed ahead and within seconds she grasped onto that familiar spark. With her eyes blinking open and her hands instinctively unsheathing her sword, Teresa found herself in the front of the Uchiha Police Department building. Her breath hitched in her throat as she had heard a waning scream echo from within. Surveying the building, the kunoichi noticed several splatters of blood tainting the glass windows. Indeed, something was terribly wrong about all of this. Suddenly a single kunoichi had ran towards her, holding a desperate look on her face.
"T-Teresa-sama, is...is that you?" The girl cried out, blood and tears all over her face. "H-Help, please! There's a man who came in and killed all the officers...I don't know what to...I don't know..."
Instinctively, Teresa grabbed her by the shoulder and drew the girl behind her to protect her. If this girl managed to run out of there, whatever it was that was terrorizing that building was sure to follow right after.
She stepped forward, ready to rush inside, before the entrance door cautiously creaked open.
Though her suspicions were confirmed to be true, she still managed to lose her breath at the sight of the figure before her.
Her voice grew cold and her eyes narrowed dangerously as she tightened her protective grip on the Uchiha girl behind her.
"You..." she hissed.
He sauntered out clad in black robes like before. However, this time he had taken on a new appearance it would seem. Obito had donned an orange mask with a swirl design similar to his white one. His hair had been grown out too, reaching down to his back like an ebony Mane. Though his face was obscured she knew it was him, she knew his chakra like the back of her hand even though now it was distorted to appear as if it was not his own.
"T-Teresa..." his voice was low, and she detected a sliver of surprise running through its timbre. "I didn't know you would be here."
There was a dull ache in her chest steadily blossoming as she continued to listen to his voice, but anger soon followed. "You're a terrible liar. You know what I am capable of, you know that I can sense everything. If you think you can fool me like you did in Kiri, you'd be an imbecile to try it again," she intoned with an icier voice. "What are you doing here?"
He cocked his head slightly. "I told you, I'm making a better world. Don't you understand?"
Teresa's gaze drifted off towards the building behind him, the one with its windows splattered in blood. "And those bodies, those shinobi you killed. This is making a better world? I thought you knew better than that."
"A few lives are but a small cost for the end results. If I have to kill those who are in my way, then I am willing to make that sacrifice."
"You are a fool."
"You just don't understand...I don't think you'll ever understand."
Something dangerous flashed within her eyes as she heard him speak.
"Four years. It's been four years. All those years, you hid in the shadows, continued to leave devastation in your wake," she watched as he was slightly pulled aback by her words," don't think I was ignorant of what has been going on in those villages. That organization, those shinobi from Amegakure. It wasn't difficult to put two and two together that you were behind this, continuing to pull the strings. The art of subtlety is not your strong suit."
He looked down at the ground, clenching his fists.
"...So, you've heard of the Akatsuki?"
Teresa gave him a sad look. "Why? Why did you do it? Why do you continue to do this? Why can't you just come back and make peace with yourself?" She cleared her throat, trying to disguise the tremble in her voice. "I know it's difficult to come to terms with it. Death is devastating. You should know, I've spilled my heart out to you about the loss of my loved one. About the loss of my humanity...And yet...Here you are, continuing in this vain attempt at some futile mission. You can't take back their deaths, you can't take back her death."
"S-Stop! Stop it!" He barked. "You don't know what you're talking about!"
"I don't know what I'm talking about? I don't know? How can you say that with a clear conscience? I've lost Clare! I had lost my life! I-I've lost you! How can you look me in the eye and tell me that?" She was yelling now.
"All this suffering in your life, and not once had you tried to fix it. Not once did you try to do something about it, to shout back at the world. You just stood there and kept walking like some dead woman. You just kept going. But me? I'm trying to do something about it. I'm trying to fix all the things that life had wronged me with!"
"Is that what you think you're doing? By killing all these people who you used to care about? I know what you did! You killed Naruto's father, a man who cared so deeply about you! You...You might as well have killed me when you left. How dare you disparage my ways of coping with my suffering. I kept on moving because I knew that kicking dirt at my feet would get me nowhere. I had the capacity to understand that I had to move on. But you? You're a worthless cause."
"...If that's what you think, then so be it."
Teresa sniffed, trying to hold back a tear that was threatening to spill. "You used to listen to me. You used to listen to me like it meant the world to you...never taking it with a grain of salt. But now...What happened to you? What happened to the boy I used to love?"
He bowed his head, silent for a moment.
"...I...I know that no matter what I do to try to convince you, you'll never listen. You'll never try to understand. I loved you, Teresa, but if your ideals can't align with my vision, then I can't have anything to do with you anymore," he finally said.
That was it. Those words had been the final conclusion. Obito was gone. The dust had completely blown away, the ghost was disappearing now.
"I don't know who you are anymore," she whispered as a single tear fell from her eye. It trailed down the slopes of her face, running slowly.
Obito cocked his head. "That girl—are you hiding her from me?"
She gritted her teeth, roughly wiping the tear from her cheek to regain composure. The kunoichi behind her had been quivering in fear this entire time. "Protecting her from you, yes, yes I am. No innocent life should be taken away at your hands, not on my watch. If I have to cut you down, I will."
Her hand clutched onto the hilt of her sword devastatingly tighter.
"Teresa..." His voice grew uncharacteristically softer and it made her heart crack, just a little. "I don't want to fight you."
He stepped closer and in one fluid second, she had already held the girl closer with one hand and unsheathed her sword to point at his neck with the other. "Step any closer and I'll have to kill you."
"Why...Why are you doing this, Teresa?"
"I should be asking you that same question."
Obito drew back, his shoulders slumping in weariness. "I spoke to your grandfather," he began and Teresa's eyes widened slightly at the mention of him.
"What?"
He folded his hands behind his back, the chains he had been clutching clanked loudly on the floor. "The Uchiha have been planning a coup d'état for some time now. The village council has been aware of this, and of course that means the hokage is...Your grandfather is instrumental in swaying the council's support. In a sense, he has the power to enforce things that level that of the hokage," he swung the chains in his hands idly as he spoke," The Uchiha have committed treason against this village. Your grandfather orchestrated the commencement of their elimination. And I'm here to simply help the shinobi whose meant to execute the village's agenda." He looked back towards the police department building as if to showcase his work.
Teresa felt anger rise in her throat at the mention of her grandfather's heinous acts. But what had really echoed in her mind was the mention of another shinobi.
"So you're using this shinobi as a pawn, aren't you? To kill an entire clan—for Kami sake, this is your clan!"
"Was," he corrected. "It was...But not anymore..."
"If you're meant to kill the manpower of the clan...Where is your shinobi now?"
Obito sighed. "Itachi is finishing off the rest of the job of course."
She knew that name. Her mouth opened in momentary shock as her deductions processed through her mind.
"The civilians," she finished.
He nodded. "Now, Teresa, I told you I didn't want to fight you," he looked back at the building behind him once more," and as of now, my job here is finished. That kunoichi you so desperately want to protect? Consider her spared. But if Itachi sees her he won't hesitate to kill. Best be sure to keep her with you."
She felt an influx of his chakra prick at her skin and suddenly, the air around him began to swirl. His body was becoming intangible as his eye began to distort the air surrounding him.
Teresa stepped forward, hand reaching out reflexively to touch his hand and she noticed that despite it all, he reached out for her too, but it was as if running it through mere air. She went right through him.
As the swirl of air blew her hair around, with the realization of his departure finally weighing on her mind, Teresa could not help but feel tears prick at the corners of her eyes. Each time she saw him, what with the way he was now, it felt like he was dying all over again. This may not be the Obito she once knew, but hidden under the malicious intent, she believed he was still there. Simply lost.
"I'm...I'm going to miss you..." She said quietly.
When she said this, it was as if she were saying her final goodbyes to the ghost that once echoed in her memories. For so long she had thought that it still belonged to her, that she still kept the ghost of him in the blurred lines of her mind. But she was wrong, he was really gone.
Before he could fully disappear into the spiraling void, she saw his eye peeking from his mask look directly upon her.
"I'm still there," he intoned before vanishing in thin air.
At his departure, Teresa quickly turned towards the kunoichi behind her. At a more cursory glance, she noticed that the girl was somewhere around thirteen or fourteen years old, a teenager. She was clad in purple shinobi wear and had long brown hair despite her clan's trademark ebony tresses. A look of fear had been settling in the lines of her face.
"What's your name?" Teresa queried.
"Uchiha Izumi, Teresa-sama. I-I'm a chunin and I work for the shrine," the girl stammered out as she clung to the kunai she had been holding in a timid manner.
"Izumi, I'm going to need you to run away as far as possible. Chances are, you won't find refuge within the Hokage Tower, but if you must, you can hide in my home. Teresa dug into her weapon holster and ripped a piece of scroll out to write down the address," Here are the directions. Keep your chakra as hidden as possible—you may have been spared, but there is still one more shinobi who is after your head," she shoved the paper into the girl's hand," Go. Now."
Izumi nodded her head and took off to the streets and Teresa prayed that the girl would make it to safety by the end of the night.
She turned back to look ahead at the Uchiha compound. Though it was seemingly quiet, she knew that the boy that Obito had mentioned was somewhere there finishing off the rest of the civilians.
With her mind made up, Teresa knew what she had to do.
She had to stop Uchiha Itachi.
Author's Note: It has been quite a long time. But, I'm still here.
