THE RIGHT OF CAST

Tadashi informed her of the situation on the way towards the hospital. Madara had somehow tracked down their clan, surrounding their people with not only his clone army but had somehow got the chi clan on his side as well. He gave them a choice. Join him or die. Surin had turned against the clan, along with a few others who wanted to live but a majority of the clan stuck to the old clan way. Stand together and look death in the eye. Clearly, Madara had underestimated them because they Tsukiko clan may have been small but they had a few tricks up their sleeve to use against them. They fought. They escaped. They ran. The cruel Uchiha had sworn that they would fund them and tracked them done to the ends of the earth. In the end there was only one place they could go and that was to Konohagakure. Walking through the street, Anju felt everyone's eyes on her. All of them had mixed emotions in their eyes. Some had the same resentment they always had, others confusion and finally fear. But among all of these things she saw something spark at them that she thought she would never see; hope.

All her life, Anju had looked at this man and seen hard cold ice. Nothing seemed to touch this man, no battle, no famine, not even a stupid fight would break the man. It was like nothing could get to him, excepted when he looked at her and saw that everything he fought for had been in vein. But when she wasn't around he ran his people like a well oil machine. Just looking at him now, it changed everything she believed in life. She couldn't accept the fact that she had not notice his appearance early. His skin was hanging off his face and was a strange grey tinted colour, the chest moved up and down abnormally; these were usually signs that he didn't have much time left. Kneeling down beside him, she took her hand in his and squeezed it tight. She didn't know why. To be honest, she had no real reason to give him any sympathy after everything he did to her. But seeing him like this… she just couldn't help herself. Feeling her touch, her father slowly turned his head towards Anju and looked at her.

"A-Anju…" He breathed heavily and even winced a little in pain with the intake of break. The grip on her hand tighten and Anju was surprised by the amount of strength still left in a dying man. "Anju, I… I…" She shushed and gently brushed his grey hair back from his sweaty forehead. So that it wouldn't itch against his skin. They needed to try and make him as comfortable as possible. His lips quivered as he shrugged to speak.

"It's okay father, save your strength." She tried to ease him as she continued to stroke his forehead. All of a sudden, his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist; hard. It was so unexpected that she didn't even realise that he was cutting off the flow of blood to her hand.

"I… pass… m-my… right…of…of…l-leader… to…you." His voice hissed and it seemed that all his strength had suddenly vanished as his boy went limp. She looked at him, shocked what he had just done. Never in a million years would she believe this to happen. Suddenly, she felt her father's hand go abnormally cold. Her whole body was suddenly gripped with horror. She checked for a pulse but was unable to find one. The leader of the Tusisko can had died and named her as successor. No one was going to be happy about this.

Tadashi tried to tell her that there was nothing they could have done. Their father had lived longer than most of people in their clan and his body had shut down by itself. Sitting in her room, she felt so lonely. Even though she found it strange that her father was no longer alive anymore she had accepted. People died; it was just a part of life. But something in his mind must not have been working right as he had just bestowed the power of clan leader on to her. Even though she already processed her rank from the Uchiha blood that ran through her brains she could never have imagined this happening. Oh man the clan was not going to like this. Then again the clan didn't know yet and maybe they would be softer if Tadashi was the one who became the leader, it would make much more sense and less paperwork. Suddenly, her thoughts turned to Surin and fear crept up her spine. She had always known that her brother was a dirt bag but to sink so low was another. Probably the next time they met would be in the battle field. That question that haunted her was would she see him from afar? Or would she facing him in hand to hand combat? Never had she liked her brother but she had never hated him or felt the need to kill him. She once thought that way about her father and she had easily forgiven him. It was then that Anju realised that she was a big wimp. She was not good at killing people unless she really needed to. But she had never tried to kill a relative, she was so doubtful about herself. When the time came, would she be able to do what was right or would her heart stop her?

Hard grey eyes looked at Anju as she finished telling him her idea. They were not enough to make her soul turn cold like their fathers but there was still something in there that made people need to be weary of. It wasn't like she had been expecting this, her idea was very insulting to their clans beliefs and even though her brother had never liked the clans attitude much after she was born, he had never stopped being loyal to the clans beliefs.

"Anju, a clan leader has never given up their position before; it's a rite of passage." Tadashi argued and began rubbing the temples on his forehead, no wonder he was getting a headache, this decision was probably bouncing around in his head like an out of control rocket.

"Let's face it Tadashi I'm not actually normal and I can't rule two clans." When she finished she couldn't help but make a gag face. Did I really say rule? Anju wondered, maybe she should go and see a doctor; she didn't want to be catching the Uchiha bug of big headedness.

"Focus Anju this is serious!" Her brother snapped making her jump out if her skin and back to reality.

"I am being serious!" The Uchiha shouted back at him feeling the anger build up in her chest. Except for the few moments I was worried about big headedness, she worried to herself and now directed all her attention to her brother. "Do you know what will happen if I announce that I'm the next leader? It's going to be chaos and we don't have the time or the energy or the money to sort out any problems that might come afterwards!" It was true; if they found out the Tsukiko clan would cause an uproar and some of them might get so angry and attack; some might even get hurt… or worse. Tadashi rubbed his fore head, suddenly looking ancient, it scared Anju to see him change so easily. She wondered what was making him worry so much.

"Look…" Tadashi stated, sitting himself down on a chair nearby. "I can't do this, our clan has never had much but it has always had principles…"

"Our clan chucked our principles into the dirt when they threw their lives to the hope of a future that everyone knew would never happen!" She screamed at him finally losing it. "Our code has always been to stick together, to fight together and to survive together no matter what and they prepared to throw that all away just because…" No more words could come. She could not focus on talking and stop her tears at the same time. Warm arms embraced her and she knew her brother was trying to comfort her but she didn't want it. Pushing him away she turned her back and forced herself to get a grip. After a few moments she swiped the tears away and straightened herself out. She was a clan leader kami dammit, she couldn't break down. Turning around she faced him and just looked at him. "I'll see you tomorrow." She tried to smile but couldn't find the energy to do it. Turning to the back door she left, feeling his eyes on her back with every step she took until she was gone.

Closing the door of the Hokage's office behind her, Anju leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. She had got the Hokage's pardon; today she would be announcing that she was the new leader of the Tsukiko clan. As if my life couldn't get any more depressing, she sighed as she made her way home. It was quite late but it was the only time that she was able to get an appointment. The air was chilly as November came and people were busy, preparing sales for the upcoming festival. It only made her mood more sour, Naruto was away and she wasn't able to celebrate his birthday with him. She had his present stored away just in case he suddenly decided to turn up. Reaching the Uchiha compound she had to stop a few times to answer some questions from the staff and residents of the area. When she safely made it to her office she locked the door behind her and settled into her chair, picking up the diary in her hands. She had read on a little and was glad to see that Eri getting help and finally making friends, with the other children's help she had been able to raise to the top ten in their class before graduating to genin. Anju smiled, for some reason she felt connected to the girl in the diary and was glad her life was starting to turn a little better. Shaking the silly thoughts from her head, she opened the book and began to read…

Dear Diary,

We got placed into our genin teams today and I got place with Hikaru and some Lee, I'm glad to be placed with Hikaru and Lee seems like a nice guy, a little outgoing but he seems passionate and determined to be a good shinobi but I admit the busy eyebrows crept me out a bit and only graduated on his impressive taijutsu skills. Though I will be sad I won't be spending as much time with Airi as before but she seems happy in her team. We were ordered to wait for our new sensei but the thing was he was over an hour late. Lee was childish enough to place a board rubber on top of the door. I honestly didn't think that a jonin levelled ninja could fail to see this minor trap. Turns out they could. Our sensei is Kazuki Hatake and he's meant to be one of the best, though when we went to the rooftop he didn't seem very nice, in fact he said he didn't like us at all and that we had to pass one more test. I'm so nervous but Hikaru was good enough to help calm me down and with Lee we went to go and plan how to possibly survive our test.

Dear Diary,

We did it! We passed! We are now an official Genin team! So did some of the other teams including Airi's. We've got our first mission tomorrow, I wonder what it is. I hope it's something high classed, like protecting a diplomatic or something big.

5 Entries later

Dear Diary,

Finally we got some action. We're going on our first C rank mission. We have to guard a row of travel carts to a nearby village, nothing big just need off a few random bandits that might attack. We did some longer training sessions today to make sure we were ready, my muscles are all sore but it was worth. Hatake says he'll find me a good medical ninja to teach me part time as he thinks I have excellent charka control and thinks I'll be a great medic. I've heard there are only a few medical ninjas as much training is needed and needs to be good at ninjutsu. He also said he'll teach me some genjutsu since that's what I seem to be best at. Lee taijutsu seems to be getting better every day and Hikaru seems to already master ninjutsu and he even told me that his mum was going to start teaching him fuinjutsu soon.

3 Entries Later

Dear Diary,

The mission was boring, there wasn't a single attack. But we got go feedback by our sensei and he'll said he'll try and get us more C-rank missions but right now we have to do D rank at the moment. I better not have to catch that stupid cat again otherwise I might just kill it. In fact the chunin exams are coming soon and he says if we get enough experience in time he'll sign us up for it. Going to Airi's restaurant now. There are a little under staffed and I offered to help, it's the least I could do with all the help they are given me over the years.

Dear Diary,

I can't believe it. When I got home last night there was a letter from my father. He wanted to see me. I should have been angry, he just abandoned me and then expects me to come and meet him out of nowhere. But I couldn't help but want my dad back. I thought at first that he wanted to say sorry that he was wrong and that he'd help me become a great ninja. It turns it was completely the opposite. He had heard that I was partnered with the Hokage's son and wanted me to get close to him and learn the family secrets. What he hadn't known was that Hikaru was one of my best friends and had even let me in on a few secrets. In exchange he would let me back into the Uchiha clan. I told him to stuff it! Hirkaru was my friend and he cared about me more than the whole Uchiha compound combined. He hit me but he hadn't expected me to rebound back up so quickly and slash him with my kunai. I left quickly after that. I hope to never relive something that scary again.

The banging on the door made Anju dropped the diary straight on to the floor. Shocked she scrambled onto the floor and picked it up, stroking the corners gently. Inspecting closely, she made sure it didn't have any dents or corners broken. Sighing with relief that there was no new damage added to. Carefully, she placed it back into the top desk and secured it.

"What is it?" Anju shouted, annoyed that had her reading disrupted. The door slowly creped open and Sakura poked her head in.

"The Tsukiko clan are all gathered around the compound waiting for you." The medic informed her, turning around she looked at the clock to see that it was the right time she had ordered the clan to come and meet her. Deeply, she took in a lot of breath and exhaled, trying came herself. Walking passed Sakura; she saw the deep concern in her friend's eyes. Anju couldn't blame her; she must have looked like shit. Making her way to the front porch where she saw the large crowd gathering. In the distance she could see Tadashi, in his work gear as he was leading one of the horses he had brought recently towards the stables. Noticing the crowd gathering, he stopped and somehow he eyes somehow managed to find her. It took a lot of strength to tear her eyes away from him.

"Yesterday, the Tsukiko leader died…" Anju spoke, he voice firm and confident, even though on the inside, she felt like she might shut down any second from fear. "And he passed his right of cast to me."