Chapter One
[ To Begin Again.]
She is an anomaly.
Her mother fell pregnant a mere week after being told conceiving wouldn't be possible. A miracle baby, everyone said. Until she was born. Her father and mother had been ready for anything. Everything except what they got.
Their miracle baby is born with her Sharingan activated.
It isn't the Mangekyo, or anything so advanced, but it is enough to scare the hospital staff and interest all the wrong people. After hours of hysterical sobbing and the Sharingan not turning off- Uchiha Yue dismisses everyone from the room and just holds her little daughter on her chest. A moment she never thought she'd have. The tiny body has a surprising mass of white curls instead of the traditional black- an exotic-looking baby when paired with large round red eyes.
Yue loves her endlessly- making a vow to always be there.
Yue's husband, Arashi, sits in the lobby filling out the birth certificate and trying to figure out how any of what's happening is possible. And as for the baby? A storm brews inside her. Her brain struggles with an extra lifetime of memories- building a blockage to save itself. Hours pass and just when everyone gives up hope, the dozing cherub awakens- blinking open plain dark brown eyes.
The newborn stabilizes in the night and the couple is allowed to bring her home to the compound.
That first week of life is weird all around.
Her name is Uchiha Misato- and she's not supposed to exist. A misplaced soul, a botched reincarnation, and a timeline forever changed.
As a one-month-old fresh out of the womb, Misato is shitting and vomiting all the time and when that's not on the agenda; it's being greeted by a thousand neighbors prying to meet the miracle baby their prayers brought into existence. She's an abnormally calm infant. Only crying when extremely discomforted. Allowing for one Uchiha to the next to pass her around as if she's a hot potato.
This is odd because the Sharingan causes stress-worthy time distortion when first activated. Misato shows no signs of her early-onset dojutsu inflicting stress or pain of any sort. Yue and Arashi are endlessly proud and thank Kami for their daughter every night before bed and when they go off to their respective jobs every morning.
Time passes and the more she grows, the stranger little Misato gets.
Month two of her life- and our heroine is just learning to hold her head up, wiggle her extremities. But of course, she doesn't just try to crawl like a normal baby. It's always different with her- her parents have come to find out. Misato begins channeling chakra to help advance her movements. Arashi has to stop her at the last second from standing up and skipping crawling all around. Nearly causing an injury, one too many times for it to be a subconscious act.
Month three- all the childcare books they bought says this is when their beloved daughter should begin sleeping through the night. Only- she doesn't. The small girl is awake all night and if she isn't pretending to be asleep, yes pretending, then she's having nightmares. Arashi suggests they bring it to the Hokage or a medic. But Yue refuses and reminds him that at any moment someone could take their special child from them. And Arashi agrees- harrowed as he remembers what happened to his wife's younger sister when she developed their clan's kekkei-genkai.
Misato now cranes her head eerily when people discuss anything regarding her. And instead of making the normal childish gurgles while learning to talk- she mimics her parent's lips. Silently. As if waiting for her vocal cords to come in, as if she already knows how to use them and has decided they just aren't ready yet.
She stares at her parents a lot and when they stare back in wonderment, she simply smiles and claps like an average baby.
Because she is for the most part and will be until the day her brain is large enough to handle the onslaught of visions belonging to her past life.
She has her first birthday party at four months old. All of the Uchiha clan attend, surprising Yue and Arashi as well as worrying them. They knew it had spread- the tales of their oddly accelerated offspring- just...not that much. Whispers of 'prodigy' and 'next Hokage carry around their home that night. On a large playmate- a relatively oblivious Misato munches on a ball of mochi while watching her similarly-aged cousin throw random stuffed ninja tools around. Itachi and her don't separate for the whole night, leaving the dad's Arashi and Fugaku to cheer over a round of alcohol.
A few weeks after the party- Misato says her first word. And to the horror of her parents- it's a word she shouldn't even know technically. As they've never fed her it or read her a book involving it. 'Ramen' the toddler cheers from her high chair with a righteous baby fist.
They write it off with the assumption that someone could have introduced it to her at the party.
Month five is less happy, busier. Her teething is in full effect and she's so miserable, her eyes develop another tomoe and the final one at that. Officially somewhat alarmed- Arashi and Yue go to the Hokage with the situation leaving Mikoto to care for the young miracle baby. Hiruzen issues them a child's psychologist from the Yamanaka's and an ANBU detail in case there are any attempts on Misato's life. The relieved couple returns home that night with a weight off their shoulders and spend it sleeping with their baby in bed for a few cherished hours.
It flies by quick, and before they know it- they've settled into their own perfect little routine.
Months six and seven the tyke dedicates to walking and storybooks. She can't read, she's just learning to talk, but when Yue and Arashi make it home for dinner- there she is with her pudgy little hand flipping through a variety of books they can't figure out how she always gets down from the bookshelf on her own.
Mikoto is obsessed with taking care of her, which means free child care because Itachi has trouble socializing with other babies that aren't Misato.
He's there, and hogging all the mochi while his mother does laundry- when Misato takes her first (chakra filled) steps. She barrels him into a staircase and they both end up getting their cuts and bruises cleaned up by professionals after the incident is said and done. A very upset Yue scolds the white-haired baby and bans Mochi for a bit.
Eight months, almost a year, and to the shock of everyone- Yue gets pregnant again.
Misato begins having nightmares. Arashi takes leave from his duty to his genin squad, with permission, of course, to care for his girls. But his one-year-old won't stop saying that 'wars are gonna start soon' and that 'daddy needs to get out.' She has no explanation other than to say her nightmares feel like more. The medic's on file for the pregnancy advise Yue to give up the baby, to terminate it, for fear of such a high-risk delivery. Yue refuses such advice and grows sicker as time goes on.
Four months into the new pregnancy, Misato has freshly turned one, and Uchiha Yue passes away in her sleep.
Suddenly life takes the kind of turn everyone prays it never will. Her daddy doesn't listen to her about her dreams and is forced to go back to serving as a ninja to provide for the absence of her mommy's income. And what happens?
Exactly one year later- Uchiha Arashi too passes away in a less than peaceful manner.
Only his genin squad make it home, and he's regarded as a hero.
The neighbors watch as Fugaku and his wife help seal off the family's once lively home, carrying a hysterical Misato away to the comforts of their own abode.
A pair of four-year-olds beating each other with sticks. Itachi and Misato entertain themselves with training as Mikoto gets closer and closer to her due date.
Misato is and will be anxious until the baby arrives and Mikoto is safe again. She associates bad things with carrying another life.
Itachi knows but is too smart to say anything. He understands but thinks his smart cousin shouldn't have stupid feelings. He knows if he says that- Misato will beat him.
The dynamics are strange now with the addition to the family, and more than once Fugaku attempts to convince Mikoto to have the girl relocated. Misato, unfortunately, overhears the discussion and makes a decision that would forever change her arc. Around her fifth birthday as Itachi befriends another family member named Shisui, leaving Misato to her own devices, and Mikoto's water breaks- the young prodigy packs her bags.
Where will she go?
The orphanage, she thinks.
She knows the streets are dangerous, she knows people are dangerous, and she knows that the place she should be is one for unwanted children. She doesn't realize that Fugaku is just overworked and somewhat delirious by the time he gets home. She doesn't realize how much she means to Itachi and Mikoto.
The sun is setting, she can see from the window of the hospital lobby. Itachi has just gone to see Sasuke. Misato declined so she could do this.
She takes off.
Looking sure of herself, even at the age of five, the busy medic at the front desk assumes she's gone to get a toy she's dropped or something similarly innocent.
Instead- red eyes activate and with the help of her memory, Misato makes her way down the road towards the bend and the big worn down building. Unknowingly sparing herself from the massacre, and from the hands of Danzo. But at what cost?
Intuition saving your life doesn't mean much if it can't also save your family.
Or at least, that's how she feels once she's grown up and realizes what could've been.
The children at the orphanage don't like her because she foiled their many attempts at stealing her wealthy keepsakes. Oh yeah, and also because of her eyes.
She's eight and Itachi refuses to see her for having left their family. Mikoto used to visit but she's busy with her own life now. Fugaku shuns her like the majority of the clan. It's safe to say Misato has no friends. Depression develops. The solution? Misato enrolls in the academy. Something she never thought she'd do after her father's death. With an increasingly mature mind- she decides to slack until Sasuke shows up. Even if he's not in her class...she hopes to somehow be put on his team.
Hiding it doesn't go too well.
When Misato turns ten those ideals are crushed as she's assigned a sensei. Not a genin team, but an apprenticeship under someone she would swear she knows but can't put her finger on from where.
Hatake Kakashi. Infamous for failing every child assigned to him (the reason he'd yet to acquire a team.)
According to Hiruzen, the Hokage, Misato is supposed to learn from the man while teaching him how to be a teacher. There's no test so he can't fail her. She's to be his apprentice. Whether he likes it or not.
Of course, he doesn't take well to that. Kakashi avoids it as long as possible.
And apparently, she's not too important because no one comes around again to ask how her training (or lack thereof) is going.
On her thirteenth birthday- Uchiha Misato hits puberty, remembers everything from her past life, and loses her clan. Uchiha Misato wakes up to a life somehow her own- but also not. To the anomaly that is her existence, and to the world of fiction she once knew.
Can she do it?
Misato looks around the busy shops at familiar civilians.
Could she save people?
Could she really help end the war?
The sun shines down on the apartment belonging to one Hatake Kakashi.
She has to try.
As she approaches his balcony with chakra-fueled steps- all Misato is left to wonder is why she hasn't chased him down to begin her training sooner. A grief-filled heart, memories of the Uchiha, and a hand poised.
She knocks on his door- ready to begin the disastrous adventures of the Naruto series that have already been unfolding before her own unaware eyes.