The father and daughter pair went back to their house by the lake, arms full of groceries and bags of sweets. After they washed everything that needed to be washed, and stored everything in its proper place, Hideki stood in front of the vegetable basket with a contemplative look on his face.
Yume started worrying. She loved her Papa, but she had to admit that his cooking was truly horrible. In their small family, Mama was the one who used to cook, and in the final months of her life, when she knew that she was running out of time, she had spent quite a bit of effort teaching Yume all the basics that she could learn giving her young age, and compiling the rest of her culinary knowledge into a book for her daughter to study over the years.
That cooking book was Yume's most treasured possession.
Mama had insisted that she learn cooking from her because she knew that none of the females of her family would take the time to teach her, and Hanako was the type of mother who spoiled her male offspring so much he didn't even learn how to properly boil an egg. He might be a great father, but she worried that her child would have to survive on a diet made strictly of street foods.
Yume calmly went to stand beside him and asked: "What are you doing?"
He turned his head, beamed at her and replied: "Some guests will be arriving in a short while. And since lunch will be the spoils of their fishing expedition, I thought that we should provide the side dishes and drinks. Why don't you help me? Your cooking is to die for, I'm sure they will love it."
Yume's eyes widened greatly. Guests were a rarity in their house.
The only females that used to come over were Grandma Hanako, Aunt Mei and Aunt Maki, and she didn't like their visits one bit.
Aunt Maki was fine, she always tried to smile discreetly at her or say a few kind words, but she was a big time push over and mostly stayed silent during their visits.
Grandma Hanako didn't seem to like her, but she was neutral in her attitude mostly ignoring her existence as much as she could, with some times a regretful look, or a guilt driven gift.
Aunt Mei was the image that came to Yume's mind whenever her parents told her a story about witches and evil spirits. She was always scowling, with nasty, not at all hidden, jabs in her comments and her look told Yume all she needed to know about her profound hate for her and her mother.
Yume didn't even know why she bothered with the visits even if she disliked them so much, especially during Mama's funeral, but Papa had once explained to her that it was because Aunt Mei cared a lot about appearances. He was slightly drunk at the time, so he was a bit chatty and explained to her the truth about Aunt Mei.
When their father had died, the family of four had fallen into a difficult financial situation. The clan always gave the widows and orphans of shinobi a monthly allowance to survive. However, even in such a large and wealthy clan, the costs had to be kept at a minimum, so the allowance was always the same amount for everybody and the just enough to get by.
For most families that would be fine, but Hanako and her husband were both descendants of two of the noblest lineages in the Senju clan. In a sphere of people that put great emphasis on appearances, their small family had become looked down upon. Grandparents from both sides had tried to help, but even if they were refused by a newly graduated Hideki, Hanako and Mei had felt humiliated in front of the rest of their family. Both women were too proud and superficial, and felt like their cousins, aunts and uncles were looking down on them and trying to give them charity.
The family, thanks to Hideki's additional income, had managed to survive decently, but Mei especially always felt envious whenever she saw the fancy outfits, jewelry and snacks that their more well-off cousins had.
As the years passed, Hideki started bringing in more money, and his rising position in the clan had splashed on his family, so Mei and Hanako could finally walk around with their heads held high in the most expensive outfits they could find. Hideki and Maki weren't as superficial, but he loved his sister and didn't mind her peacock like attitude, especially when she used to act cute and snuggle up to him to get him to do something for her. He even used to find it funny. In the end, he had helped her marry into the kind of noble house she always dreamed about, with a lavish dowry so that she wouldn't feel inferior to the other daughters-in-law.
But once he lost his position, her nastier side came out. Hideki knew that his sister loved him, but every time he saw her venting her anger and frustration on his sick wife or shy daughter, he regretted spoiling her so much in the past.
Mei took his 'offence' quite personally, and had many times complained to him about all the effects his actions had on her. Because of him, her in-laws were angry at her and her kids, since they linked them to an Uchiha. Because of him, she had to bear with the snide remarks her friends would make whenever they met. Since he was no longer her husband's direct superior and couldn't protect him, the guy had to actually get to work and his incompetence became clear to all, which meant that he got reprimanded and sanctioned more often, which directly affected her ability to proudly boast about her standing in the clan.
Just how dare he do this to her?
But she still had to come visit him and act nice in public, because all the clan knew about how he had worked hard at supporting his sisters and giving them good lives, so she had to keep up the appearance of a loving and grateful sister.
From Papa's happy look, Yume knew that the ones visiting weren't his family. It wasn't also one of those clan widows who had, about a year ago, gotten into the business of cooking too much snacks and just dropping by to give them to him and his lovely daughter. Papa was never really happy about those, and he always said so while they both feasted on whatever they got that day. His few shinobi friends weren't as hostile to her as the rest of the clan, but they would never come around so early in the morning. It was still barely ten, and she had a theory that they were afternoon and night creatures.
So she had no idea about who will be visiting them.
She had tied up her hair in a high ponytail ever since they came back home, so Hideki could see the barely there frown, indicating that she was deep in thought. He put down the tomato in his hand, and poked at her head while saying: "It's supposed to be a surprise, so let's just let them surprise us. Instead of thinking too hard about it, come and prepare some of your delicious meals, ok?"
She looked up to him and seriously said: "No."
He pouted: "And why not? You don't want to be a good host?"
She gave him one of her signature blank looks, and answered: "It's not that. It's about my cooking."
Hideki was a bit at a loss: "What about your cooking? I already told you it's great. Don't be shy."
She turned her head to the side, and side quietly: "Any guest we could have is a Senju. All the recipes I know were taught to me by Mama. They are Uchiha recipes. And even the dishes that are common to every clan, have different seasoning from region to region. We can't serve Uchiha food to a Senju. So I can't cook. Sorry."
Hideki's eyes widened. The sadness that came from her hurt him deeply. He had never thought about things this way. To him, it wasn't important even if had noticed early on that his wife and daughter didn't use the same flavor palette as the females of his clan, but he didn't want to pressure her. He knew that Yume was quite sensitive when it came to her mixed origins. She was proud of what she was, both her parents had taught her that, but it only made it hurt worse when others rejected her for it.
He crouched down to get to her height and engulfed her in a bear hug, only stopping after she tentatively returned it for a while. He finally looked at her and said with a big smile: "You know what? We don't even need to cook. We have some of the snacks that I bought you, and we will probably fill up on fish, so lunch is covered. We just need to have some fun.".
Noticing that her head was still down in a sad way, he tried: "Hey, we still have a couple of hours before they get here I think. Why don't we train a bit? It has been a week since I let you practice that Raiton justsu on your own, so I guess you have already mastered it. Let's have a good old fashioned spar."
Hideki knew that Yume loved training. Her Rinnegans and natural talent gave her quite an advantage, and she loved honing her skills as much as she could. When she was practicing or sparring with him, she always forgot about the outside world and finally let out her brilliant true self.
As he expected, she perked up at the mention of training, and bolted into her room to change into her training outfit, a sleeveless blue V-neck shirt with mesh armor underneath; blue shorts and sandals. He too changed into a more training-adequate outfit, and joined her in the back of their house.
Their house used to be a cabin that the elders and some authorized members of the clan used to go fishing or get away from the clan for a few days without being too far. There was no fence separating the large clearing from the forest around it, and the lake was a few feet from the back of the house. The back of the cabin even had a large wooden porch with two chairs and a table on it, so that the occupants could sit there and enjoy the view of the lake.
Father and daughter faced each other on the gravel between the house and the lake, and started sparing.
In reality, only Yume did the attacking, while her father just smilingly kept fending off her attacks, or dodging them. In these types of spars, nothing was off limits. Taijutsu, ninjutsu and shurikenjutsu were all on the menu.
Yume's taijutsu was practically entirely from his repertoire, because her mother had been too weak for this type of training by the time she became ready for it. Hideki still remembered some of Akari's signature moves, and tried to teach them to her, but she mainly got his style: fast execution, to the point, with barely a move more than needed, and accompanied by some of the Senju clan's innate strength. Akari used to secretly lament the lack of harmony in her daughter's sequences, as the Uchiha often compared their fighting to a dance. Still Yume's skill and vicious attacks would put many adults of the clan to shame.
He had also learned that her Rinnegans also gave her excellent analytical abilities, even if they weren't as good as those of the Sharingan, according to Akari.
When Akari was still alive, they had tested Yume's abilities in Genjutsu, and even if she had no apparent skill in it, they had discovered that she was immune to it, even a Sharingan enhanced one.
But no matter how lacking she might be in genjustsu, she was a prodigy in ninjutsu. The legends they knew about the Rinnegan all said that its wielder should have the ability to master all of the five basic nature transformations, so he had slowly been easing them into her training. Raiton was the last one he had taught her to use, and if all went well, he would consider them all mastered as of this fight.
Shurikenjutsu was the only thing Akari had been able to teach her daughter personally, and Yume had mastered it already. Her precision, even with moving targets made both her parents 'chests swell with pride.
And her training was still in the beginning. So far, she knew only the basic skills that any shinobi could learn. Soon, they will have to start testing the power of the Rinnegans, and looking for the jutsus that will only be hers.
They both lost track of time as they spared. Yume was getting better every time they fought, and now he had to be moving constantly, even if she never really hit him. Previously, she barely managed to make him spin on himself, let alone move from the place he was firmly rooted in.
As the sun got to higher and higher, Hideki smiled a bit viciously as he bent his arm, and used his elbow to give her a kick to the stomach that sent her flying back. The pain blinded her for a second, and she even dropped the kunai in her hand, but she came into her senses mid-air, and did a backflip to land safely on her feet. Her feet touched the ground, but she was still sliding backwards, so she had to bend over and use hands to slow herself more.
The moment she stopped moving, she raised her head to meet her father's slightly mocking expression. Hissing a little bit, she promised herself that she would at least wipe away that smirk today, and launched herself into the air while doing her hand signs. She bellowed: "Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!" and proceeded to launch a magnificent stream of fire at her father.
Hideki smiled appreciatively at the magnitude of her jutsu, but then proceeded to do a Suiton jutsu of his own that annulled it. He smugly started: "I already taught you not to use Katon against me. Know your opponent. You have the ability to master all the five nature transformations, so always pick the one that is detrimental to the person you are facing. No need to waste chakra. I have a Suiton affinity, so what should you use against me?"
He had expected that her answer would come while the cloud of vaporized water dissipated, but suddenly the side of his eye caught a small sparkle from his left, and he barely had the time to move backwards before a hand coated in Raiton chakra tried to slice through him.
He finally understood that she had anticipated his move, and had all along planned to use the smoke screen to hide her Raiton attack until she was close enough. He couldn't be more proud. His Yume was learning fast.
Still, she had poorly hid her presence, so he caught her arm midair and tried to throw her around one more time, but she wasn't willing to go down without a fight. The hand attached to the arm he was gripping gripped him back, and she used his extended arm as an axe to spin herself, and aim a kick directly at his face. Only someone with his quick reflexes and experience could have dodged that, but as he did, she spun around in the opposite direction and directed a vicious kick to the back of his head. The kick actually hurt, and he let go of her hand on reflex, so it was too late for him to notice that she let go too, and had used her free hand to snatch something from his belt.
When he looked at her again, she had already bolted a few feet away from him. He was totally fine, aside from the dull ache in his head, but she was panting heavily, a strand of hair had fallen from her ponytail and she had a bit of dirt and sweat all over her face and clothes. Still she was giving him a taunting smirk, and a silver bell dangled from the arm she had extended to show off to him.
Even if they both knew that he had gone quite easy on her for the past two hours, she had earned the bell this time too, like all the times they spared.
The silver bell exercise was something that he actually came up with to let his students see for themselves how far they have gotten. He was one of the most skilled shinobi of the clan, so whenever Hashirama or Yume sparred with him, they would be pretty disappointed since they never manage to even give him a scratch. He knew that their levels exceeded those of their peers by a lot and that results against him meant nothing, but they didn't see it that way, and were starting to get discouraged. So he came up with a simple game to give them a clear measure of their skills. He would tie a silver bell on his belt, and their goal was to use whatever means necessary to get that bell.
At first, both could never even come close, but little by little they managed to brush it, then actually touch it and finally snatch it. Each time the last one happened, they considered that they have reached a new level, and so he used more strength against them.
So far Hashirama was way ahead of Yume. Hideki was now always serious when facing him, and the boy had even started needing less time than his Sensei actually anticipated, with less moves even. But he was also three years older than Yume, so it evened out.
He put his hand his hip and was about to congratulate her, when the sound of applause came from behind him.
Father and daughter turned around and were met with the sight of five people. The Senju clan head and his four sons were standing there, and by the looks of it they had caught quite a bit of their little training session. Butsuma was the one who had done the clapping accompanied by Hashirama who had a big smile and a glint in his eyes, Tobirama and Itama both had appreciative glances, and Kawarama's expression looked even a bit jealous.
Yume panicked a little bit, quickly dropping her hand and her smirk while her free hand shot up trying to pull on her hair so that it would cover her face, or at least her eyes. Her expression might have returned to her usual blankness, but she was deeply uncomfortable at having been caught unaware and face uncovered like that.
All the people present noticed her slightly frantic gestures, but they acted like they didn't as the father and sons made their way to where Hideki was standing. Yume did the same, but she slightly hid behind her father.
Hashirama titled his head to try and catch her barely covered eyes and said with a smile: "That was impressive. You already have mastered two nature transformations and you're Itama's age. And let's not forget about your taijustsu. You're quite talented for your age. As expected of Sensei's daughter!"
Yume's pale skin betrayed her blush, especially when all the others present nodded to confirm his words. She could only stand there awkwardly while tightly clutching her father's pant leg with one hand, and internally panicking. The situation was getting a bit too much for her.
When her father had told her that they would be having guests, never would have she dared to imagine that it would be them. Thinking about it, it was a bit obvious since they said that they were going to be fishing earlier, and her father had told her that they would be eating fish for lunch. He had even told Hashirama that he would see him later, she had just not thought that it would be close to her home.
Knowing exactly how awkward his daughter was, Hideki decided to spare her and beamed at his friend: "You should have come earlier if you were planning on inviting yourself to my house for lunch! It's close to noon; we are going to starve waiting for you to catch our food."
Butsuma gave him an annoyed smile: "Sorry. We were going to head out earlier, but I had one last thing to settle before I could be free for the rest of the day. And the kids told me that they met you in the market earlier. That ruined my surprise, but I was hoping that you would be decent enough to prepare the seasoning and the side dishes that will go with the fish."
Hideki gave him a sugary sweet smile and said: "Oh, I didn't know that you were coming to this particular place to fish. I guess I'm just too dumb to put two and two together."
Now that was probably the worst lie ever. Before Hideki and his family started living there, that cabin was the designated fishing spot for their group of friends. These past few years, people had started to avoid coming there, probably to give them their space, but mainly to avoid the Uchiha and her daughter. Butsuma had actually never taken his sons fishing as far as Hideki knew, so he had already deduced that his oldest friend will be dropping by that day.
And he had already guessed that this visit wasn't as simple as Butsuma wanted to make it look.
Butsuma responded with an equally fake smile: "Well that's quite alright, after all we are the ones who came uninvited, no need to make things difficult for yourselves. Tell you what, why don't we get the kids started and then come back to prepare the barbecue together."
The kids, who had all silently watched this exchange, had different reactions. The boys started sheering loudly, while Yume's heart got even tighter at the thought that they would be invading her home for the rest of the day.
Butsuma took his sons to the lake side, and started showing them how to use their fishing gear, while Hideki took Yume inside the house to freshen up a little bit, and get the vegetables and seasoning.
When she came out of her room dressed in her outfit of the morning, she found that her father and Butsuma were sitting in the chairs on the porch, while chopping vegetables and talking about their most recent missions. A small fire had been started outside the porch on the gravel, and the boys were a by the lake side sitting with their fishing rods in hand.
Butsuma looked up when he heard her coming and said with a smile: "Why don't you join them? I'm sure you kids can have some fun together."
Yume was startled and at a loss. She didn't want to be anywhere near them, or away from her father, but at the same time Senju Butsuma was the clan head, and Papa had already told her that she shouldn't refuse his orders. Plus he was a really scary man, even when he was smiling, and she was terrified of him.
Hideki sensed her dilemma, so he gave her a reassuring smile, and after a while she gave up on any attempt at resisting and calmly made her way to where the boys were sitting.
When she was far enough, Hideki finally asked: "So, to what do I really owe this pleasure?"
Senju Butsuma didn't look up from his work: "Can't a man take his sons to his friend's house on his day off to have some fun, chop vegetables and eat fresh fish ?"
Hideki smiled nonchalantly: "He can. But I have known you ever since we were kids, and even when you had your own kids, so I know for a fact that the only type of quality father-son time you like is checking up on their training and skill levels. You wouldn't be here unless your wife actually made a scene, and her asks just happened to coincide with something you have in mind."
Butsuma gave a good chuckle: "I don't see how you two can't understand that the limited time I have with my kids is better off spent trying to make sure that they won't get killed first in battle. To me that's what good parenting is."
Hideki smiled: "It is a good thought. But all your kids do all day every day is train. If he isn't with me on missions or training, then Hashirama is on the training grounds with the rest of the younger shinobi. Tobirama is starting to follow him more and more, and I guess that you have already planned the next ten years of the other two's lives to the minute. But you forget that they are still kids too, and they need some playing time. Preferably with their father, the person they admire the most. I mean come on, don't you remember when we were their age and used to be angry at our own fathers for not giving us the time of a day?"
Butsuma just shrugged still not looking up from his chopped carrot: "I guess there is some truth to that too."
He fell silent for a while, thinking about how to get to the subject and then started: "Your daughter is coming along great. I dare say even Hashirama wasn't that skilled when he was her age."
Hideki paused for a second and then resumed his work saying: "Well, she has to be. If she isn't skilled, then she loses all her worth to the clan. I can't let that happen."
Both men fell silent for a while. They were both thinking about the same thing, just with different perspectives. The crux of the matter was that this situation was unfair to Yume.
In this world, most shinobi were men. Some clans, like the Uchiha, trained some of their women too, so oddities like Akari were not totally unheard off. A lot of clans even started to form all-female squads, mainly as support in the battlefield.
The problem was that the Senju clan wasn't a part of them. Being the largest clan out there, with wealth and plenty of skilled shinobi meant that their living conditions were a lot better than most. It was actually a sign of wealth that they could afford to let almost half of their population be untrained and unaware of the shinobi life. Senju women were mostly expected to get married, be housewives or civilian workers, bare children and live safely and somewhat comfortably.
But Yume wouldn't be afforded the same courtesy. From the get go, everyone knew that she would have to enter the training grounds when she became of age and then join the battlefields as a weapon of the clan. She was cursed to be the only female in an exclusively male environment. She couldn't even dream about being able to choose the normal way of life for a Senju woman.
Butsuma even felt slightly guilty talking about this subject to his best friend. If it hadn't been for her mother, Senju Yume's life would have been brilliant. Her father was his second in command, and a star of the clan, her lineage was impeccable and she would have had more money than some people could even count to. In short, she would have a spoiled princess in the clan. Before Uchiha Akari had entered the picture, Butsuma had even promised himself that if his friend had a daughter, he would immediately betroth her to his eldest son, to link their families forever.
But now he had to be the one to ask Hideki to send his only off-spring, and a female at that, to the battlefield. If only she was a boy, it would have made things a lot easier for her, for Hideki and for him too.
Butsuma had to start: "She is six years old this year. In a few months, she will have to formally enter the training grounds. The good news however is that she won't have to go in alone."
Hideki raised his head with a curious look, so Butsuma continued: "The Senju clan don't train their women but there is actually no rule against it, so a lot of fathers and brothers teach their female relatives some moves, basic stuff to keep themselves safe in case of an attack. A few weeks ago, I saw my niece, Touka, training with her father, and I have to say that she has even more potential than some of her brothers. She even told me that she wants to become a shinobi. I asked around, and a few fathers in the clan also feel that their daughters' potential is being wasted. So the elders and I decided that we will give it a try. We already picked twelve young girls from the clan, Yume included, that will also join the training this year, as some sort of side promotion. We will see how it goes from there, and if they do well, more females might be allowed to join the ranks."
Hideki gave a snide snicker: "So in other words: the Senju clan wants to make use of my daughter's powers. However they don't want to seem greedy and heartless in front of the rest of the world. So they will set up a big play about feminism and equal opportunities and use the other girls present as a smoke screen to hide the one they are actually counting on. Did I miss something?"
Butsuma gave him a glare: "Get your head out of your ass, and try to work with me here. What I said about wanting to give them a shot is all true. I have been thinking about this issue for years, and there is no better moment to go into action than now. Sure, Yume's presence is a huge factor in this, but don't act like this isn't good for her too. At least she won't stick out like a sore thumb too much. And who knows, she might be able to make friends there. You know how bonds created on the battlefield are."
The men glared at each other for a while, and then Hideki sighed: "You're right. I'm sorry, I don't even know why I got angry since I was expecting this. It's just that she is my child, my only child. I can't even sleep when I think that one day, she will be out there too."
Butsuma sighed too: "Trust me, I get it. I'm a father too, and the perspective of my sons being out in the battlefield is enough to give me a heart attack. Let alone if I had a daughter. But this is their destiny, as children of the clan head. They live in glory, but when the time comes I have to lead by example and send them first, or I can't ask other fathers to do the same."
Hideki gave his friend a sorry look. Butsuma had never had it easy, and it only got worse when he became clan head. Even with all his problems, Hideki still got to put everything at the door when he came home, and focus on spending a happy time with his daughter. But his best friend didn't have that luxury. All his life, and his kids' lives revolved around the clan. The man's constant frown and hard attitude wasn't his choice, it was just his lot in life.
Hideki started slowly: "So this is really happening? If you are talking about enrolling your kids in the army, then war must be close."
Butsuma nodded: "So far it has only been a few skirmishes here and there, or a couple of fights, but the situation is getting worse and worse. Our enemies are unrelenting, our allies are restless. I give it about six months before we go into an all-out clans' war."
Hideki swore: "Shit. We haven't had a clans' war in decades. Any news from the Uchiha side?"
Butsuma nodded again: "We are now sure that they are aware of Yume's true lineage, as do most of the clans in the Land of Fire. I was expecting it. We have a lot of visitors and one of them was bound to notice the girl with purple eyes and start sniffing around. However, my informants tell me that Uchiha Tajima is restless. We all know how weird the Uchiha's sibling relationships are, and he won't stop until he gets his sister's daughter back to his side. The fact that she has Rinnegans finally convinced his father too."
Hideki's grip on his knife tightened so suddenly that it broke the handle.