—
Chapter Nine
Uchiha Arc: Culmination
—
I stared out of the hospital window, lost in thought.
It was a sunny day outside, the skies were clear and blue, the sun casting a radiant glow.
My hands were wrapped neatly in crisp, white bandages, my clothes burned and replaced with scratchy, hospital garb when they noticed the dried blood and tears.
Absentmindedly, I cracked my fingers, the joints producing a hollow popping sound, relieving the growing, aching tension in my healed muscles. The sound was loud in the silence, with only the occasional tick tock of the clock hanging on the wall.
Whatever that man had done, the medics healed—he was good with medical chakra. There was almost no damage by the time I got looked at by proper medics. The aches, however, they told me with pitying eyes, was all psychological; that the trauma he caused by breaking each individual finger with repetitive, frightening precision, caused my mind to relive a small fraction of the pain he caused.
That it was only something time could heal.
I was only thankful it didn't hinder my mobility in my hands, in fact it made it slightly better, to my disgust, since now I could move my fingers with more flexibility than before. As if whatever damage he caused was good for me.
I pretended that it didn't bother me.
(I wanted to kill him.)
When I was rescued from the ROOT base, Mum didn't let me stay for long, immediately shipping me to the hospital before they got started on whatever plan they had to get rid of Danzō and his faction.
They didn't tell me anything, even though I desperately wanted to know what exactly happened after I told Mum to give the Hokage the evidence. I was hoping I could've stayed in the Hokage Tower to see what sort of chaos Mum would've caused, grilling into the Hokage. Sadly, I was just left hugely disappointed at the obvious omission of information by leaving me out of it.
I only knew it turned out okay, in the end, when Mum skipped into my hospital room the next day with a bright smile, followed by Itachi and Shisui bowing their heads, apologetic and so, so grateful.
Itachi and his coal black eyes, so full of emotion.
Shisui with one eye like Itachi's, the other a hazy, faded grey.
Despite their lack of words or explanations, their eyes expressed enough to convey what they wanted to say, without actually saying it.
Thank you.
Itachi had handed us a couple of small patches, saying it was to be sewn onto our regular, active-duty clothing, preferably above the breast area. It was in the shape of a red and white uchiwa fan, the symbol of the Uchiha Clan, their pride and joy.
"Father said it's supposed to represent an alliance between our families." Itachi said, solemnly. Shisui's smile was uplifted with silent approval. "For what you've done for the Clan… for what you went through to help us."
"I didn't really do anything." I replied quietly.
"You helped us." Shisui piped up. "If you and Rangiku-san didn't get those documents, that evidence… Hokage-sama couldn't have done anything and I wouldn't have been able to change the clan's mind."
But it was such a small thing. I wanted to say, not seeing what they saw.
Still, they refused to leave until we accepted them.
I knew, without needing to ask, that this was something never done before in the clan. That it was important we embraced it.
Itachi's shoulders slumped in relief when I nodded, his eyes softening as I cradled the patches close to my chest, Mum promising to stitch them onto our clothes the moment she got home.
"We're family now." Shisui parted with those last words, their gazes heavy and intense.
That was two days ago.
Today was my last day before I could be cleared for duty. Really, I didn't have anything physically wrong with me anymore.
I fisted my thin duvet, crinkling the material in my palm.
My name is Niko Hibari. I was going to be nine in a few days.
Three days ago, I was tortured and at the same time inadvertently uncovered a treasonous plot by Danzō Shimura, involving the genocide of the Uchiha Clan.
The Hokage and his Elders were not to be trusted—the Village Council was not to be trusted.
The Leaf was not to be trusted.
"Happy birthday, to me." I muttered, sourly.
No one was to be trusted.
—
Interlude
Rangiku Uzumaki
—
"How is my daughter doing, Yamanaka-san?"
Rangiku knew she was a formidable kunoichi. She was strong and the standards of Uzushiogakure had always been higher than the other Five Major Villages. That was because the Uzumaki were powerful, they were feared; only the strongest could survive outside the village walls because everyone else literally wanted them dead.
She was a strong kunoichi.
But she had never felt more helpless having scoured the Leaf in search of her daughter, her baby girl, whose chakra was screaming in pain and fear and God what if she had been too late–
Rangiku had torn apart the ROOT ANBU trying to stop her, wanting to kill her. No one gets in the way of her and her daughter. Not alive.
Then, she cried with so much relief and oh God you're okay when she found Niko and held her in her arms, her own mind flashing with images going back to when she was so small, she could fit in the crook of her neck.
When she dropped Niko off at the hospital, Rangiku razed Hell on Earth in the Hokage Tower, ranting like a feral animal in front of Hokage-sama. She had stopped to visit Niko's sensei just before, needing "allies" against the Hokage, who subsequently called a favour in from his "senpai" when Rangiku explained just what happened to Niko.
Things obviously snowballed into action from there, to her immense satisfaction.
It was only after, that she noticed what that damned Danzō did to her baby.
It took all of her willpower not to storm out of the village walls and search for that sneaky fucker who managed to get away in the chaos caused from dismantling his underground organisation—one that the Hokage had let fester and rot.
(She wouldn't forget this. She wouldn't forgive him for this.)
"She's doing as expected Uzumaki-san." Inoichi said, looking at a clipboard filled with notes. "Physically, she's healing very well. I am worried about the mental aspect, though. Niko-chan has kept a very tight-lip about what exactly happened to her down there."
Her stomach dropped, lips turning down into a frown.
"Actually, I have noticed she tends to flinch whenever she gets treated by a doctor or nurse wearing glasses." Inoichi added carefully. "So, I've told the doctors and nurses to avoid doing that. She's also been cracking her finger joints, which isn't healthy in the long-term—she could get earlier signs of joint stiffness in her hands."
"Trauma." Rangiku mouthed, her hands clenching into tightly wound fists. "She's traumatised." She whined, a high-pitched, agonised sound erupting from the back of her throat. "She was tortured."
Rangiku knew the signs.
Inoichi cleared his throat, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "She came to the hospital with only mild chakra exhaustion and dehydration. But, she had older traces of medical chakra used in almost every inch of her body… which coincides with the time she went missing. I think they—"
"They healed her after they hurt her and then kept going?" Rangiku guessed robotically, her vision narrowing into a single point, a wave of sound rushing into her ears.
He sounded incredibly muted when he eventually replied. "Yes. That was the conclusion we came to."
Her chakra erupted like an angry volcano.
She blanked out, fury and rage blinding her completely as if she was a woman possessed.
Rangiku didn't know what happened, but when she eventually came to, Inoichi was gone and the room they were in was completely destroyed. The walls had holes and gouging, claw marks (her chains were hovering around her, she realised) and the desks and machines were broken into tiny, little pieces.
She fell to her knees and weeped.
—
End
—
I stepped out of the hospital, inhaling deeply at the crisp, cool air. I breathed out with a small smile, stretching my arms above my head. Proudly, the uchiwa fan sat against the left side of my shirt, above my heart.
"Come on, Nee-san." Naruto tugged at my new, clean shirt roughly. "I want to go to Ichiraku's!"
"Naruto-kun, Niko-chan just got out of the hospital. You need to be gentler." Mum admonished softly, giving me a serene smile. Her uchiwa fan was on the right side of her clothes, partnered with the Uzumaki swirl covering her upper back.
"Ah, sorry, Nee-san!"
"No more 'nee-chan'?" I pouted at the change, quirking an eyebrow.
Naruto flushed and scratched the back of his head. "I'm almost seven!" He said simply, as if that explained everything.
I chuckled and patted his head, smiling affectionately. "Alright, just don't leave your Nee-san behind, little brother."
"Never, you better believe it!" He beamed at me.
"What have you been up to?"
"Training with Ran-baa-san, it wasn't as fun without you, Nee-san." Naruto soldiered through, cheeks red and ignoring our cooing. "The Academy's boring, that bastard Sasuke still thinks he's God's gift to ninja, seals are boring—"
I gasped, loudly. "Blasphemy!"
"Seals are boring, you know!"
"Traitor! Heretic!"
He shrieked as I grabbed him in a headlock, mussing up his hair roughly. I winced when he elbowed me in the stomach, his arms flailing.
"Apologise!"
"No!"
"Apologise to the Sealing Gods!" I bellowed, loosening my grip.
"No!" Naruto shouted back, escaping from my grasp. He grinned and stuck his tongue out. "No way!"
"Don't make me do this, Naruto." I warned, pointing at him.
He tilted his head, before he spun and decked it.
I gaped and a second later, my legs were pumping to keep up with him.
"Come back here, you little shit!" I yelled, with a broad grin.
"Eat my dirt!" Naruto called over his shoulder.
Thanks to our running—he was fast for a kid, escaping from the aftermath of his pranks definitely paid off—we got to Ichiraku Ramen in good time. I watched in amusement as Naruto collapsed on a stool, dazedly raising a hand to order his usual dish.
When it came to ramen, Naruto was definitely a creature of habit.
Mum strolled gracefully past, looking generally unruffled despite the fact that she also had to run to keep up with us. I watched her enviously as we sat on either side of Naruto.
I ran my hands through my windswept hair, patting it back down. I liked my hair short and cropped, like a boy's, and usually it was slicked back so it stayed out of my eyes.
"Welcome!" Teuchi greeted us with a warm smile. "It's been a while since I saw the whole family." He didn't even give our new clan tags a second glance.
"A few things came up." Mum smiled weakly.
"Teuchi-san, miso ramen for me, please!" Naruto begged, clutching his stomach. "I'm so hungry!"
"Drama queen." I snarked under my breath. "The usual for me, please. Pork."
"Shio, please." Mum said.
"Coming right up!"
Naruto groaned at the wait, face-down.
I palmed my chin, resting my elbow on the counter.
Mum hummed a quiet tune.
"Has something happened?" Teuchi asked, in the middle of his cooking.
All three of us jumped, startled.
"Usually, you'd all be talking over each other until you got your meals."
I carefully avoided making eye contact. Naruto was Naruto and being his usual self, really, it wasn't like he knew any better. He'd only made a small fuss about the Uchiha symbol on our clothes, before requesting the Uzumaki symbol over his heart and on the back of his shirts, making sure to let us know that he wanted to make a name for himself without "that Sasuke bastard's" family in the way. Truly, they were fierce rivals even at such a young age.
No, it was the tension between Mum and I.
For some reason, the air between us was kind of awkward. As if she wanted to ask me something but didn't know how. I… had an inkling as to what she wanted to ask but I didn't want to answer it.
At all.
I'd rather die than divulge how much of a pathetic weakling I was to get cornered and kidnapped like that.
I forced an easy-going smile, the muscles in my cheeks pulling uncomfortably. "It's nothing, Teuchi-san. I just got out of the hospital from chakra exhaustion during training. Mum wasn't happy." I joked, sliding an opportunity to hide the real reason.
Mum took it almost instantly. "Yeah, Niko-chan's been very reckless, lately. Did you hear about the spar she had with Itachi Uchiha…"
I zoned out of the conversation now that the awkward silence had been filled with gossip and mindless chatter about whatever.
Naruto pulled at my sleeves and I raised an eyebrow questioningly. He looked puzzled and concerned, his brows furrowed cutely.
"Are you okay, Nee-san?"
"I'm fine." I answered automatically.
He pulled a face.
"I am." I assured him, weakly, before smoothing out the wrinkles on his forehead with a poke. "Don't worry about it, okay? I'm just going through some stuff."
"Ah." He uttered, nodding sagely. "I heard about that from Sakura-chan. Growing girls go through different stages, or something." Naruto repeated tonelessly, as if reciting from a speech he'd heard countless times.
I barked a laugh, unwittingly.
"Well, you're my Nee-san and my Nee-san is the strongest person ever. I believe you." He put up a peace sign, eyes closed with a bright grin.
Blinking rapidly, I huffed and pushed his face, almost shoving him off his stool. With a smile tugging at my lips, I endured his shouting and playful pushes, trying to throw me off my seat.
"Oh, yeah!" Naruto hopped up, eyes wide in remembrance. He grinned. "Happy birthday, Nee-san!"
"Happy birthday." Mum echoed over his head, expression relaxed and happy.
"Oh, it's your birthday, Niko-chan? Why didn't you say? Ramen's on the house! Happy birthday!" Teuchi-san roared.
"No way, Teuchi-san! Free ramen! Yes!" Naruto cheered.
"That's right, Naruto-kun!"
"Don't eat too much, Naruto-kun…" Mum said worriedly.
I watched them with a fond smile, resting my cheek on my palm.
—
Yamato-sensei ducked from a flying ice spike, flipping, and moving his hands rapidly.
I swung my ninjatō, alight with blue chakra, and cut the wooden pillar in half. My blade shook as I kept my hand steady.
Ice crawled across the ground, spreading like a spider's web. He overstepped and his balance shifted wildly to the side as he stood on a patch of ice.
"Wind Style: Breakthrough." A strong gust of wind sent him flying.
I followed up, appearing above him while he was still in mid-air, swinging my blade down. He tucked his legs in and backflipped, avoiding my swing. My blade smashed into Earth with a solid thud, sinking a few inches.
A pillar of wood slammed into my side, causing me to gasp.
I recovered quickly, flushing chakra into my legs for a seal-less body flicker. I completely overextended and sailed past him, grounding myself against the trunk of a tree sideways by bending my knees.
"We'll work on that." He told me, smirking.
"Shut up." I groused.
I pushed off and we collided blades, kunai against my ninjatō.
When we finished, I was panting, splayed out on the ground. Yamato-sensei was drinking from a canteen, wiping his sweaty brows with the back of his hand.
"Good warmup." He commended.
"That was a warmup for you?" I sighed.
"Well, senpai put me through worse when I was his subordinate."
"Who?"
He paled; eyes glazed. "Well, let's just say he's a worse sensei than me."
I snickered. "Hope I meet him." I jeered, sneering.
Yamato-sensei threw his empty bottle at me, which hit bullseye, right on the forehead. I yowled.
"How do you always hit that spot!?"
"Practice." He chirped. "Alright, let's train your Ice Release, since I've noticed you don't really rely on it during a fight. You know it's much harder to split your affinities like what you're doing now?"
I shrugged, dismissively. "I don't know many techniques with the Ice Release."
"Your entire fighting style relies on speed and momentum to generate strength. You can't spend precious seconds splitting affinities and using wind or water jutsus, during an all-out battle. It would be faster to use your ice."
"Tell me something I don't know."
He ignored me. "So, I have this for you." He threw a scroll with incredible speed, hitting my forehead once more. My head flew back from the force.
I wanted to hit him.
"Senpai got that from the Land of Snow. It's been stuck in the archives for years since no one in the Leaf can use the Ice Release."
"Bastard." I scowled, muttering under my breath.
I opened the scroll and saw a list of Ice Release techniques.
"It's not from the Yuki Clan, at least we didn't think so. The ninja in the Land of Snow could use a similar technique, but it relied on their snowy environment to control ice, rather than a bloodline."
Feeling thankful, reluctantly grateful, I nodded, silently for once.
Yamato-sensei paused.
"Happy late birthday."
I gaped.
"Sorry for not showing up sooner. Senpai was out on a mission so it took a while to find the scroll."
Still gaping.
"Your mother told me." He finally explained, running a hand through his hair nervously. "I know I'm probably not the best sensei—"
"You're not." I said without bite, succumbing to the urge to poke fun at him for something.
He twitched. "As I was saying, I wanted to give you something worthwhile. For being a… gracious student and for your actions with the Uchiha Clan." He gestured to the uchiwa fan on my chest.
I bristled, unexpectedly. I just… "I don't know why everyone's making such a big deal out of it. All I did was get kidnapped." Never again.
"You provided some key evidence, Niko. It was a pretty big deal. Without it, Danzō would've probably gotten away with it."
Which was wrong on so many levels.
"Whatever." I mumbled.
Yamato-sensei unexpectedly flickered next to me, gripping the top of my head with a scary grin. "Now, now, don't be like that. Humility surprisingly looks bad on you, since you make it look like a chore."
I started to sweat.
"Since you're so humble, do ten laps around the village!"
"What!?"
"You heard me…" He trailed off ominously, slowly making hand signs.
I jumped to my feet and started running, not looking back.
"You have thirty minutes!" I heard him call.
Thirty minutes to run ten laps around the village. I thought in horrified disbelief.
"If you don't, I'll make you do worse." Yamato-sensei's voice suddenly sounded very, very close to my ear.
I peeked over my shoulder and my stomach dropped.
He was inches away from my face, easily keeping pace, his expression looking hauntingly terrifying.
I shrieked and flushed chakra into my legs, running faster than I ever had before.
I could still hear his mocking laughter follow me as I finished my first lap.
Demon, he's an actual, god-forsaken DEMON.
AN: i'm not sure how to feel about this chapter… hmm… Thank you for all the reviews though :) chapters might be a bit slow this coming week, postgrad law stuff makin me wanna cry. I feel like I write like a robot, sometimes, how tf do you write emotions?
Anyway, my thought process for this chapter, the end of the Uchiha Arc:
It might seem like it's not a big deal, like Niko. There was no grand fighting between Niko and Danzo – which, imo, would've ended with her dead because damn Sasuke almost died fighting him in Shippuden like, and he had Tobi watching over him in case something went wrong too, which Niko didn't have the benefit of, nor the sharingan.
She's still only 8/9 years - adults in her life wouldn't want to put her into anything over her head just yet.
The lack of this "big fight" was only because Niko wasn't involved. There most definitely was a big fight, with Danzo and ROOT against the Hokage's ANBU, 2xUchiha and 1xUzumaki. Niko wouldn't have survived that, since she was already injured and needed medical attention.
I know it's not the grandstanding ending of the Arc most people would've wanted, but it's pretty apt – without Niko telling Rangiku to get those documents, canon would've just happened, and the Uchiha Clan would've been destroyed; imo the small things are pretty important, when you put it with the bigger picture. The Hokage would've just turned a blind eye and Danzo's a piece of shit; with evidence plus Rangiku Uzumaki?
Well, shit she'd turn herself into a Missing-Nin with Niko and Naruto if the Hokage told her to do nothing, when it was clearly laid out in front of him just how far Danzo and ROOT would've dirtied their hands to stop a coup, in front of witnesses.
(I think I might put a "behind the scenes" chapters in conjunction, maybe, to show what's happening which Niko isn't aware of lol.)
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only my OC's.