Me: I do not own Naruto~

Maika: ...

Me: *laughs nervously*

Maika: *glares*

Me: Visit the blog, review, and stay alive, everyone! *runs away*

Maika: ... *glares*


There is no force equal to a woman determined to rise. ~W.E.B. Dubois

I.

'Itachi is going to die.'

That was all Maika could think as she watched the enemy ninja hurl towards her teammate, her pillar in the storm, her best friend... with a kunai in his hands, murder in his eyes.

'Itachi is going to die.'

They were on a B-rank mission to escort an important mayor to his home in a small village on the edge of Iwagakure. It had been going well, almost boring... until the Iwa ninjas had ambushed them. Then, in the fray, it had turned out the mayor had been hoarding a valuable scroll worth thousands that he had illegally obtained from his rival, and said rival had decided to hire ninjas to assassinate the mayor and steal back the scroll. Naturally, their client hadn't told them this.

She always found herself amazed at what lengths others would go to for money, but that was neither here nor now.

Enter the situation Team 13 was currently in.

It was the four of them against more than a half dozen ninjas, a mixture of chunin and genin. Not green shinobi, but seasoned attackers. Killers.

To their credit, they had stood their ground, three genin and one jounin. There was a time for staying and fighting a good fight and performing a tactful retreat. If she was honest, Maika would have preferred the retreat, but that really hadn't been an option. There was no way out.

Until Itachi had gotten caught by surprise, they had been doing reasonably well. Not winning, no, but holding their own.

Juro-sensei had dealt with the two chunin, blasting them with fire and wind jutsu, successfully keeping them off of his students. In accordance with that goal, he had also lured the two a bit away from them, doing his best to keep the powerful jutsu they were spewing out from affecting them.

Shisui had fought with two genin, flickering randomly around the clearing and thoroughly confusing them. His speed had always been ridiculous and he had learned to use to his advantage. His opponents' reflexes were quick enough that Shisui couldn't just stick a kunai in their backs, but it didn't look they were going to go anywhere anytime soon.

Itachi had engaged with two genin, too, easily ensnaring one in a genjutsu, and locked in hand to hand combat with the other. The unfortunate victim of the Uchiha Heir's frightening talent for genjutsu convulsed on the ground, while his teammate gritted his teeth and did his best to overpower the stoic Uchiha. It wasn't working out well, to say the least.

That had left Maika with only one opponent, rather exasperated with her teammates' protectiveness. But the battlefield hadn't been exactly the best time to complain, so she had went with it. Her opponent was a large, bulky, twelve year old who obviously didn't know what he was doing. He also severely underestimated the petite, eight year old redhead and suffered the price, the hilt of a wicked sharp katana to the neck.

She didn't like to kill unnecessarily. It reminded her too much of crumbling villages and terrified screams and fire, fire everywhere. And a world of crimson and blood.

Maika had been cleaning the blood off her katana when the hidden chunin leapt from cover, a trio of inconspicuous bushes a few feet away, and towards the preoccupied Itachi with the clear intent to kill. She didn't know how he had bypassed her own sensor abilities - a jutsu? one she didn't know? was it her fault? - and time had frozen.

'Itachi is going to die.'

She could see it clearly. Itachi was dealing the finishing move to his opponent, wouldn't be able to turn around in time. Shisui was too far away, for all his speed, to help and he knew it, too, horror painted on his classic features. Juro-sensei was still fighting his opponents and they were all too far away!

"Itachi!" Shisui screamed and time resumed, the clock ticking away without mercy. No one could fight against the clock; time was an eternal enemy, an invincible enemy and she was suddenly reminded of the harsh grip of years passing by while being buried under meters and meters of dirt, unable to move or talk or scream or even to cry.

Eyes wide, Sharingan spinning frantically, Itachi tried to get out of the way, but he was slow, too slow -

"Damn!" Juro-sensei cursed harshly, thrusting a kunai into the throat of one of his enemies. The other was already bleeding out on the floor, but he wouldn't make it.

No one would make it.

'Itachi is going to die.'

Something snapped inside of her with a nearly audible sound and she cried out in anguish and pain and helplessness.

'He's going to leave me, going to leave me just like Okaa-san and Otou-san and Uzushiogakure and Nee-san and Nii-san and Naruto, no, no, NO!-'

Maika fell to her knees violently and let her chakra loose.

II.

When the dust cleared and she could see again, she stared. Shisui stared, Itachi stared, Juro stared, and the enemy ninja stared. Everyone froze in shock.

Links, binds, chains formed from her chakra had shot out from her back to burrow themselves into the ground, assisted by blades on the ends, before surfacing to wind and coil around the enemy ninja, stopping him a bare inch from where Itachi stood, form unmoving. The chunin's kunai hovered centimeters away from her teammate's throat.

The chains glowed softly, a gentle eerie glow from her chakra. Maika shook her head slowly. What... how... she didn't understand...

Before he had left a month ago, Jiraiya had patted her head and said in the most serious tone, "You're an Uzumaki, Maika-chan. Don't ever forget that."

You're an Uzumaki. An Uzumaki.

Oh. Oh.

She had heard of this ability in some of her kindred, but she had never expected...

The chunin reacted first. "What the hell?!" He roared, struggling against the chains that wrapped tightly around him. He had reason to be frightened; after all, he was immobilized and there were plenty of enemy shinobi around him. And he had just attacked one with the intent to kill.

In desperation, he surged chakra through his body and began trying to break out through force. He was a veteran of the Third Shinobi World War and he had experience, power, control. Maika, for all of her training and impressive abilities, was a child.

Unprepared for the assault, a chain broke, and Maika gasped, face going pale at the sudden spike of pain. When the chunin had broken the chain, half of the chakra that had formed it had simply dissipated, but the other half...

The other half snapped back into her, and it hurt. A little like being rammed by an outraged bull and then stabbed through the gut and then taking a fire jutsu point-blank. That sort of hurt.

Cheered on by his success, the chunin threw all of his chakra into augmenting his strength, flooding his body with jutsu. Desperation did wonders and he had torn through half of the chains before Maika had whimpered, jolting Itachi enough to swipe a kunai over the man's jugular.

He was dead in seconds, warm blood leaking all over the floor, and the chains quickly turned back into chakra that returned to their user, depositing the dead man on the ground. A corpse, skin already cooling, but everyone had already dismissed him, more concerned with the only kunoichi of the team.

Dazed with pain and exhaustion, Maika lifted up her head and her pale pink eyes met Itachi's red Sharingan eyes. In it, was a quiet truth that she knew was reflected in her own eyes.

She had manifested the Uzumaki chakra chains.

Sighing, Maika surrendered to the darkness and collapsed, her red, red hair falling over her like a blanket that was just as symbolic as the Uchiha Clan's fan.

III.

Maika was in a coma for three days, as the nurses had seen fit to inform her. When she woke up at last, she was in the hospital, her teammates asleep on chairs beside her bed. There, for hours, she reflected on what her new ability meant. To her, to her team, to her... family.

It would be useful, certainly, once she got past the pain of having her chakra stabbing back inside of her. It was a trait of her clan, her village, her family. She should be proud and, maybe, she was, just a little. Just a little. But... it was also a reminder of all that she had lost. Kushina had showed her little sister her ability to create chakra chains, once. She had never forgotten.

'If my sister was still alive,' Maika wondered helplessly to herself, 'would she be proud of me?' Of course, that rapidly produced an ache in her heart for if Kushina had been alive at this moment, she wouldn't have to guess. Maika closed her burning eyes, leaned back against her pillow.

She missed her laughing, generous-hearted, lovely older sister. She missed her warm, smiling, gifted, handsome older brother. She missed her adorable, cherished, loved, orphaned little nephew.

When they woke up, her teammates didn't mention the incident or the tears that streaked her face. Instead, Itachi gently wiped them off with his thumb, and Shisui regaled her with tales of the pranks he had in mind to set up for next month.

The next time they trained as a team - approximately two weeks later; God, her teammates were overprotective! - she quietly opted out of the sparring and sat down underneath a tree, eyes closed. Itachi and Shisui didn't comment, didn't object.

As they spared, kunai against kunai, Sharingan against Sharingan, she concentrated on her chakra, on the feeling she had felt that abrupt second before Itachi would have been killed. Anguish, fear, pain, anger...

An hour later, as the fight between Itachi and Shisui was coming to an end, glowing chakra chains burst from Maika's back and wound around her boys, gently restraining them. There was no force, no harm. Later, when asked, Shisui would claim that it felt like she was hugging him, and Itachi would nod quietly in agreement.

Maika opened her eyes and smiled at them. They smiled back and Juro-sensei stared at her for a moment, before nodding curtly. The first sign of approval he had ever given her.

The Uzumaki did not reject it.

IV.

She had always known of Itachi's problems with the clan. He was her best friend and she was his. They didn't keep secrets. They were young enough, still innocent enough, to not do so.

It wouldn't last, Maika knew, but she would treasure it while she still had it. Trust was a rare commodity in the shadowy world of shinobi and she would never betray any of her boys. She didn't think she had it in her.

It occurred to her, one day, as they were relaxing with Shisui in their meadow, that the Uchiha Clan could take her boys away from her.

"The Elders are angry." Itachi had murmured to her, petting her hair in that way he liked. It was comforting and relaxing and normally, she would have been drowsing in the later afternoon sunlight. But the vibe her best friend had been giving off had worried her and she had resolved to stay awake until she got it out of him.

"Why?" She'd asked with a small frown, resting on his chest. He had smelled good, dark chocolate mixed with sandalwood and cashmere wool. Itachi smelled like home.

"They want me to take the Chunin Exams this year." He'd replied. "But Okaa-san insisted on next year." And only the stupid and suicidal argued with Uchiha Mikoto.

The Elders. The Clan. The Heir.

They were all connected. Connected by blood and family and politics.

She couldn't interfere in the first two... but the last one was hers. She hadn't worked so hard to let them take away her boys.

Maika knocked politely on the ornate door and a moment later, it opened and she was faced with the Uchiha Matriarch.

"Maika-chan!" Mikoto smiled warmly at her in welcome, and she felt a flood of affection. Itachi's mother had always cared for her, and had done her best to substitute for Kushina despite her duties as the wife of the Clan Head and the pressures of being a mother of two. She knew she owed the lady a great deal.

Speaking of, she realized that Sasuke was close to turning five years old. And so was Naruto. Her heart clenched painfully.

"Mikoto-sama." She greeted, bowing in respect.

"It has been a long time. Are you here to see Itachi? He's out with Sasuke, right now." Mikoto asked, eyes soft with maternal love and pride.

Her Okaa-san had once looked at her like that. Nee-san had once looked at her like that. Nii-san had once looked at her like that. Maika shook her head, shaking the depressing thoughts away. Now wasn't the time. She couldn't help the dead, but she would protect the living. "No. I'm here to see you."

Mikoto blinked and stepped back. "Well then, come on in, Maika-chan. You know you're welcome any time."

V.

"Now," Mikoto said, when the two were sitting down and Maika was drinking a cup of hot tea. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Maika paused and gently set her tea down. Steeling her resolve, the young kunoichi looked up, straight into the Matriarch's obsidian eyes, eyes that she had passed on to her sons.

"I would like for you to tutor me in politics." Maika declared, her voice soft but firm.

Mikoto interlaced her fingers, placing them thoughtfully on her lap. She could guess why the young girl would want to know about politics; this was about Itachi and Shisui. Staring intently at the red-haired girl, she noted the determination and fiery will that shone through those pink eyes.

Maika would not let the Uchiha Clan take away her team even if she had to resort to political maneuvering and subtle manipulation, an affront to her honest nature. She understood that force would not win her this battle and Mikoto was an expert in getting things done without anyone knowing different.

She smiled. 'Kushina, you would be proud to see how your sister's turned out.' Courageous and bold and protective and loving.

"I believe you do not want Itachi or Shisui-kun to know about this?" Mikoto questioned gently.

"No." She replied simply. The boys would protest, try and keep her away from their clan, and that couldn't be allowed.

"In that case," Mikoto reached across the table and laid a guiding hand on Maika's smaller one. "We had better get started."

Maika's relieved smile could have outshone the sun.

VI.

For the next several months, she came to the Uchiha Matriarch when Itachi and Shisui were out, and Mikoto taught her everything a lady of the Uchiha Clan was expected to know.

"Coax rather than force. Manipulate rather than threaten. Compel rather than demand." She told Maika, gently guiding the younger girl through the tea ceremony. "But in the end, never hesitate to use brute force if necessary."

Maika listened and remembered and learned.

Flower arranging, singing, tea and calligraphy, perfumes and jewelry; Mikoto taught them all to her and she learned eagerly.

"In the Uchiha Clan, women are subservient. The men tell us what to do and we do it. But we do other things, too, things that they don't know and will never understand." For they didn't want to understand, to notice and comprehend, but that was alright for it worked out to their advantage.

She was taught how to dance with ribbons and fans, twirled silk and satin high above her head. She learned how to listen to the politics men thought they controlled and how to exploit the loopholes no one else noticed. She held her head high, back straight, face serene, and hide the defiance and wildness behind elegant gestures and cultured manners.

Hide your weaknesses well enough and no one would ever be able to use them against you. Protect your assets well enough and no one would ever be able to harm them.

"A word there, a look here, and a subtle glint of steel are all you will ever need to get the things you approve of done and the things you disapprove of never accomplished."

Maika learned how to weave commands in between sweet words, the art of poisonous flattery, and much, much more.

"You are yet a child, but innocence is a great advantage. When you become a woman, remember what I have taught you and put it to good use."

Graciousness. Politeness. Subtlety. Loyalty. Devotion.

Resolve.

"You are a female, Maika-chan. Never forget. Men will always underestimate you if you appear demure and meek; do what you will in the shadows and they won't ever find out until after it is done and over with."

"Hai, Mikoto-sama."


Next time:

"Fugaku-sama and the Elders want to break up Team 13." He explained and Maika's confusion turned into the coldest rage.


Me: Yay! Reviews~

iciclefangAJ: No worries! Maika-chan got to him in time! And traumatic situations galore. Thanks for the review, hun!

Good Omens: Whoops! Already edited that part; thanks for the catch, sweetie! Jiraiya'll keep an eye on her. :3

Caeleste: It's okay! Maika-chan did some damage control. No one was hurt. Well, except for the chunin, but no one attacks Ita-kun and gets away with it! Thanks for the review!

AnimePleasegood: Ah, it's fine, it's fine! Cliffhangers are fun! A decoy, hmm? Maybe. ;) Thanks for the review, hun!

Draconos: Aww... thank you! I'm so happy you like my story! As for Itachi and Shisui... hmm... guess we'll have to see! Danzo... that guy is annoying. For now though, I think Maika-chan is safe. Thanks for the review!

Me: Alright! Thanks to all my reviews, and, of course, my awesome beta! Visit my blog and review~