Title: Precision Tactics (for the Hopeful Shinobi)
Chapter Summary: In the dead of night, an explosion occurs too close to home, and Namikaze Minato is first to arrive at the scene. Meet Namikaze Rika, the Yellow Flash's little sister, and Konoha's best bukijutsu-nin… well, at least, not for another twenty years.
A/N: Right now, I'm thinking this will be Uchiha/OC/Hatake. Canon divergence, reincarnation fic, life of a shinobi and all that. If you aren't comfortable with any of that, don't read this. If you are, welcome to my latest obsession. That simple. Let me know what you think.
Prologue
The Namikazes weren't rich.
As a matter of fact, they weren't a clan at all, and Minato was the first in his family to walk the path of a shinobi. Being an only child then, his mother had been horrified. And to an extent, he understood. She was a civilian housewife, and the stories of children dying in the lines of war was a fate she did not wish for her son. His father, on the other hand, welcomed his decision with firm support. The head of the family had dreamt to be a shinobi once, just like him at that age, but like most civilian academicians, the lack of chakra affinity and jutsu proficiency cemented his father's career to preserving historical texts and scholarly scripture in schools and libraries instead.
Without a hitch, Minato was able to enter the academy, and in time he learned how to navigate his new life. He could never show his mother any of his blades, bruises, or books, as she would definitely burst into tears shortly after, but his new learnings were quite welcome in his father's study. They would spend after school hours slaved over a common interest for fuuinjutsu texts, and Minato's prodigious aptitude for multiple jutsus made his father infinitely proud. Strength and prowess came easily to Minato, and rigorous training sharpened his senses beyond natural ability.
But his duties piled up, and between studying, training, and missions, Minato began to grow distantly from home. His parents would assure him that the village needed him more than ever, and that all he had to do was remember to drop by whenever he had the time. They would be there when he needed them.
A couple of years later, his father had written for him, and Minato found himself at home the first second he was free. The moment he stepped into the house—he knew.
"You're going to be a big brother," his mother had announced shyly, palm curving at her burgeoning belly.
There were four heartbeats in the room, and he didn't need enhanced eyesight to notice the change in his mother's figure.
"Now you better do your best to protect the village!" His father had clapped him on the back, startling him out of his reverie. "The safety of your sister depends on you!"
So he works harder. Trains harder. Studies harder. Teachers and friends congratulate him for the records he'd earned along the way, but all those were inconsequential to what he endeavored to achieve. It wasn't just him now. Not just his parents, not just the village. There was new life coming, and this was the one he needed to protect.
Namikaze Rika was an angel. She was born with deep, golden hair and blue eyes, just like his and his father's, but her locks lengthened smoothly into waves as she grew.
She came into the world with a price.
It had been a difficult pregnancy for his mother, and no one was ready for her passing six months after Rika's birth. But the youngest Namikaze quickly became the world to him, and every time he came home, sparkling eyes looked up to him and called for him endearingly. Grubby hands reached for him and insisted him to stay this time, and the next time, and the time after that. She meant so much to him, more than his own life, and she was living evidence of what he wasn't willing to lose to the world.
Months into his mother's death, Minato noticed his father spiral into silent depression and detachment. When his father threw himself into his books and archives and familial neglect, Minato decided to leave his apartment temporarily and move back home to raise Rika. Not before too long, the babbling, angel-eyed mess that was his sister livened the somber air inside their home.
"When will you be back?" She would sob every time he went away. "Why do you go?"
And again and again, he would explain, "Because I have to protect you, Rika."
She grew up waiting for him to come home. From crawling, to waddling, and once, when he'd come home after a ten-week long dispatch to the Land of Tea, she had surprised him by walking up to him to the front door.
"Nii-chama's home!" Her little voice would announce with perpetual glee every time. "Rika-rin loves nii-chama!"
"Tadaima," he would reply, fondly mussing her hair. "I'm home."
Minato had just completed yet another mission, and he dutifully delivered the accomplished mission scroll back to the kage tower. On his way out, an explosion sounded in the dead of the night. Right from where his family house's district was supposed to be.
With frantic speed, he was the first responder to make it into the familiar neighborhood, thick, heavy smoke wafting through the streets. Immediately after assessing his surroundings, he delved right into the origin of the blast… his own home.
The first thing he registered was the smell of burnt ink. And then the scattered bits that was his father's corpse on the walls… the windows… ashes and dust floating around in murky space.
Then the smoke thinned and revealed the small figure of his sister, laid in the exact middle of a summoning circle. Blonde hair sprawled in disarray, pale skin touching the wood grain of the floor.
His mouth dried at the sight, and the world crashed around him.
"Nii-chama's home!"
Painted onto the floor were seals—characters that his father had been the one to teach him once upon a time—dripping in void ink and malice.
"Rika-rin loves nii-chama!"
Life, strength, transfer, rebirth.
His legs, with stability that had been drilled into each muscle from years of grueling training, sauntered into the confines of the seal. He kneeled and pulled the body of his sister into his arms. Her head almost lolled back, and he quickly fixed his hold to check her vitals.
"Tadaima."
No breath.
"I'm home."
No life.
"No… no! No, no, no, no!" Was the screaming voice him? Was he the one sobbing? "Rika! Rika!"
And then… a pulse.
In just a split second, he was on a mindless, acute state of mind, performing methodical chest compressions and breaths, frantically breathing life into the waning life force in his sister.
She started to cough, dry, like she was choking from the heavy particulates in the air, and eyelids fluttered.
"When will you be back? Why do you go?"
His father had tried to bring his mother back from the dead.
His sister was the sacrifice.
"Rika, look at me." He forces her gaze to him, his hold on her desperate. "Rika, stay with me. Look at me."
Bright eyes find him, but they don't recognize him at all.
"Where… am I?"
His breath hitched. His sister's voice was barely a whisper.
"What... happened to me…" her cold fingers twitched weakly around his. "…who are you?"
And then she lost consciousness, eyes rolling back into her head.
The kid — that was Rika but was not Rika — confirms his worst fears when she regains consciousness.
He had lost Rika that night, and someone else had been pulled into the body of his sister.
But then the kid had looked at him, looked at him with his sister's eyes, glistening with tears, his sister's voice, broken and wispy, his sister's face, looking at him like he was still the world, like she had been waiting the entire time.
"Won't you protect me?"
Life, strength, transfer, rebirth.
Many years later, when the Namikazes stroll through the district, people would whisper about the inherent disparity between the two siblings. Despite having similar physical attributes and having chosen identical professions in life, only one of the two garnered an infamous reputation. And to date, none of it had been completely unwarranted.
"Ah, her? She doesn't look like it at all!"
"Right? But let me tell you, that girl's definitely troublesome..."
Rika kicked her sandals into the dirt as she gnashed her teeth together, struggling to keep her temper in check. They were in the outer districts, and it definitely wouldn't do to tarnish her brother's pristine reputation and reinforce her lack thereof with a scene. And as much as she wanted to give the gossipmongers a piece of her mind, her brother had promised to cook katsu curry tonight, and she didn't want the ingredients they were buying to go to waste.
Minato's heavy hand landed on the top of her head, and he bent his head slightly to smile at her.
"Don't let them bother you." He said, and then after a few seconds of consideration, "Or, maybe let it get to your head a little bit…"
Rika crossed her arms petulantly and huffed, "I keep telling you, nii-san! You have your seals and your speed and all those flashy jutsus, while I—"
"—only have an interest for sharp things and explosives." Minato finished for her with a dry chuckle. He turned and walked back to the direction of their residence. "And I keep disagreeing, so here we are all over again. You can definitely do better than blowing up our house regularly, Rika-chan."
"Regu—?! It was only twice, and the last time was six months ago!" Rika ran after him with a scowl. "You made me promise to do my experiments at the training grounds since then. And you said you wouldn't bring it up anymore..." A stomp. "You know what, I'm gonna go back and tell them off!"
Minato's hand shot out to catch Rika by collar of her jacket before she could march back into the market district. With a stern look, the younger blonde relented, and she trudged alongside him again.
"How are you doing at the academy lately?" Minato had asked as they made it to their home street. "Any trouble I should know about?"
"There's a lot of trouble," Rika confirmed gravely, eyes alight with a hint of humor. "Not with my studies though. But some of my classmates… and, oh! There's this boy in class…"
His eyes widened. A boy? In her class? Faces and memorized profiles flitted in his mind automatically. Which one?
He tried to keep his voice steady. "Oh?"
"Ha!" Minato watched his little sister run ahead of him and into their house. She pulled the door open and twisted around to reveal a mischievous grin, golden locks cascading around her form. "You'll have to put some curry into my system before I tell you anything!"
With a fond chuckle, he stepped in after her, and the both of them removed their sandals at the genkan.
At the same time, they murmured, "Tadaima."
Rika turned to her brother with a wide grin.
"Okaeri, nii-sama!"