Chapter 4 – New faces, old wounds

Oh joy. Chakra exhaustion, the bane of my flipping life at the moment. It felt like someone had sucked all the strength out of my body, causing me lethargy and a bit of immobility. The weakening of my body, and conversely my immune system, had caused me to catch a very bad cold.

If you didn't know, Chakra is a mix of spiritual and physical energy. There are chakra reserves, which are the 'jutsu tanks' of chakra, and then there is the 'reserve tank' or 'body tank' of chakra, which is the minimum amount of chakra needed to keep you alive.

I think I have more spiritual energy, since it is derived from the mind, and mine is twenty years ahead of development. It might explain my astonishingly good control over shape transformation, if I remember correctly from one of the Academy's lectures.

Now that I think about it, if I didn't know how to turn off my accursed eyes, I'd probably be dead. Isn't that a bunch of sunshine and rainbows?

Of course, my parents wanted to know why I was currently bedridden with a severe fever. In my half-cognizant unfocused state, I just had to decided to answer honestly (because that was such a good idea), saying that, "oh yes, it's because I opted to take a jaunt over to the library to steal some kinjutsu in the middle of the night because I felt like it."

On a side-note, I really didn't want them knowing I had the Sharingan yet; explaining that one was going to be a tough cookie.

Fortunately, in the end they chalked it up to my rather delusional condition and let me rest.

Albeit all the crap life has put me through, I still somehow have oddly good luck.

They commented that Shisui, Itachi and Sasuke had come by to give her get well soon presents. (Of course, Shisui came just so I wouldn't bug him later about how he was such a heartless person.) I was rather pleased but was too tired to verbalise it, so I hummed in acknowledgement before succumbing to the dark.

The last thing I remembered before passing out was my mother tucking me into bed properly, a gentle, loving smile on her face.

And then I was falling, down and down.

Knock.

Knock knock.

Blearily rubbing my eyes, I yawned and sat up. I surveyed my surroundings and oh-ed in surprise.

This was certainly not what I had been expecting. The sole reason why I wasn't freaking out like any good ninja would is because I had never been much of a morning person. Fatal if I don't correct that later, but right now I was an Academy student. I can afford to laze around a bit.

And as such, it took me a few minutes before my brain finally kick-started and I promptly started panicking. I didn't recognise the room I was in; it was peculiarly familiar somehow…

Hold on.

This was my room. As in the pale violet coloured bedroom I grew up in, back in England. A wave of nostalgia passed over me as I heard the bells of Big Ben go off in the distance, and saw the many toys and books littered messily across the floor.

What was I doing here?

…was it all a just a bad dream then?

"Open the bloody door already!"

Groaning in exasperation, I rolled off my bed before making my way to the door and opening it.

What greeted my eyes was quite the shock.

A young girl, who had messy black hair that reached her shoulders and two murky black eyes, dressed fully in kunoichi garb, was standing outside tapping her foot in impatience.

Well, there goes my hope of that being a very elaborate hallucination then. Pity.

"Finally. Took you long enough," the youth huffed in exasperation. She proceeded to waltz in and plop herself onto one of the two pale violet beanbags I had that acted as seats. I stood there, uncomprehending for a few seconds, before closing the doors slowly and sitting down on the other beanbag.

She was strangely familiar as well.

"Do I know you?"

She stared, then doubled over laughing.

"Y-you haven't realised yet? Kami, you're dense," she chortled, then breathed in to steady herself.

"I am not dense!" I protested, but she had already moved on. "Rude brat," I muttered, but she just ignored me.

Humming in consideration, she said, "this should do it."

Looking me in the eyes, her two dark irises swirled into an instantly recognisable ruby red, with two spinning tomoe in each eye.

"You're…Mayue?"

"The one and only," she grinned.

I looked down at my form. I'm…Sophie again, long brown hair and all. Guess I didn't notice the red glasses perched on my nose, nor the two orbs on my chest the moment I woke up. Realising what that meant, I panicked and said, "I-I'm so sorry for taking over your body and-"

"Hey, none of that. I don't mind."

I gaped, open mouthed at her flippant tone, "y-you don't mind? You do realise that I've taken over your life, essentially?"

She frowned in contemplation. "Well, I have forgiven you, I guess. Not that I mind much anymore, not since I looked at your memories that were about the future."

After deliberating for a few seconds, she said finally, "you know what, I think it is for the best. Me and you."

"What? What do you me-"

I started talking, but Mayue cut me off. "Hear me out please. We don't have much time in here."

"Where is here?"

"Your mindscape," she said dismissively, "anyway, I've been here, subconsciously not letting you accept who you are in my body."

I opened my mouth, but she put a finger on my lips to stop me. "The only real reason why I'm still here is because I still have attachments to my world, namely my dreams and my family," she explained.

She took in a deep breath. "I believe you can fulfil the dreams I wouldn't have fulfilled; protecting the family and Konoha."

The black-haired girl looked down while smiling, eyes slightly vacant, "it feels kind of disappointing, knowing that I wouldn't have lived past my graduation." Blinking, breaking out of her trance, she looked back up locked eyes with the older girl. "That's why I'm trusting you with my dreams. Protect Sasuke and Itachi, along with Konoha. Please."

"What about your parents, the rest of your family?"

She sighed and leaned back, staring at the ceiling. "I've been thinking about that. I don't think you can do much about that without revealing too much. I feel conflicted, honestly; when I'm gone, I don't want to be alone."

"But, they're you parents! Can't we do something about-"

"Stop Sophie; it's fine." She reassured me with a bittersweet smile (it's not fine), then grinned at me with a tinge of hopelessness, "after all, you can't do anything if you're locked up in a T&I cell."

She stood up and stretched her arms, and then walked to the door. I hadn't noticed it before, but her body was already starting to become ghostly.

"Well Soph, it seems my time is up," Mayue sighed, then gave me the brightest smile she could muster up, "take care of them, can you promise me that?"

I silently straightened myself and walked right up to her. I hugged her as hard as I could.

"I promise you that I will take care of them in your stead," I whispered tearfully.

"Oh goody, you know you can't break your promises, you know?" Mayue said cheekily as she laughed shortly, then smiled gently at my sobbing form.

"Thank you for everything, Sophie. Go change the world. I'll still be right there, in your heart."

All that was left was a few shed tears and the soft echoes of her last words.

Sophie Beckett made a promise that day, that she'd protect all who she held dear.

No matter what.

A few days after, once I had fully recovered from my chakra depletion I decided to carry on with my ninjutsu practice; it was relatively late in the day, and it was far too late for me to go to attend the Academy.

So once again, I was out in one of the Uchiha training grounds again, mastering the Academy Three jutsu.

'Having a trump card would be nice,' I pondered as I moulded the chakra inside my body, 'might as well try to get one early on. Something like that'd help me get through the Chūnin exams for example.'

After casting my jutsu, yet another Bunshin appeared before me.

Was it strange that I could perform the Academy Three jutsus without hand seals now? I do recall them saying something about how you need less and less hand seals the more you use a jutsu, until eventually you don't need them at all.

I mean, at some point everybody has to master the Academy Three to perfection and execute them without hand seals. The enemy isn't going to wait to skewer you while you flip through the hand seals for Kawarimi.

Maybe I naturally just have good chakra control; for example Sakura did have near-perfect control, she even accomplished the tree walking exercise successfully on the first time.

Sighing tiredly, I flopped down on the grass and stared at the passing clouds. I wonder if Shikamaru is doing the same right now, lazing off in the shade of some tree in the Nara clan's grounds. I wouldn't be surprised.

The Kage Bunshin I had created earlier grumbled at my idleness as it practised created more Bunshins around me.

"Damn lackadaisical original…" it muttered, while tagging on some more unflattering things about me.

"Oh shush," I scolded…it? Me?

Kage Bunshins are confusing. Hugely useful though, easily multiplying my experience in practicing something, so I decided to learn it as quickly as I could after my little tryst with the Library. Admittedly, it wasn't very wise of me to use so much chakra again, and nearly put me back in bed, but with my control it wasn't so hard to master.

One of the upsides of being an Uchiha is that my chakra reserves are pretty large for my age, I probably could pull off one or two B-ranks before collapsing, perhaps one A-rank on a good day, comparable to an experienced genin. Not that I was going to test that; chakra exhaustion really sucks.

At any rate, I couldn't teach the technique to Naruto if I didn't know how to do it myself.

Suddenly, an idea crossed my mind. A stupid, dumb idea. Despite the idiocy of the thought, to me, it was a challenge. And I didn't turn down challenges if I couldn't help it. Like, for example, making my beloved cousin weep!

What? No, I'm just teasing him. (wink)

Well, there just isn't anyone else really worth teasing, to be honest. Itachi is out and about, doing ANBU-y things and isn't so closely related that we spend a lot of time together. We met briefly after Sasuke mentioned me a few times at their dinner table apparently.

I was rather flattered, I must say. It was, on the other hand, rather disconcerting having an (obviously) overprotective older brother studying me for the duration of that whole meal. I can actually imagine the thought process he was going through.

'Is she a threat?', 'what is she doing around my younger brother?', 'maybe she's trying to seduce him?!'

…okay maybe the last one was slightly (very) exaggerated, but it was clear as day what he was thinking about me.

Alright, despite being a part of ANBU, the emotionless masked freaks who don't so much as twitch when you crack the most funny bone-tickling jokes, when it came to his brother, you could tell from the look in his eyes he was going to take drastic measures to keep him safe. It was that tiny bit of insanity all good ninjas have.

It was quite adorable, in my opinion.

Wait, does this make me a cradle robber if I find him a bit attractive?

He was only a year senior to me physically, but I'm mentally nearly two decades older than him. There might've been some relationships in my old world where there'd been two-decade age differences, but…

My face was dusted with a light pink as I hastily stopped my thought process.

I sat up and thought about Itachi's indifferent poker face he wore during the few times I had met him.

Oh ho? I see that another challenge has made itself known. I cackled with glee thinking about all the ways I could crack that stony façade of his.

Let's see how long he can resist my pranking and teasing.

And speaking about challenges and secret trump-card techniques, a smirk on my face as I wondered,

'what would they say,' I thought as I stood up, 'if they saw the signature jutsu of the Fourth Hokage?'

I mean, I do feel a bit bad that I am essentially learning a family technique without Naruto's permission, but I think he'll be fine with it. I think.

I stretched my body, arms behind my head and began thinking about where I could buy balloons and rubber balls without arousing too much suspicion…there was a chance Jiraiya or Kakashi were wandering around in Konoha and might coincidentally spot me. I'm only a lowly Academy student after all.

An Academy student who is mentally older by twenty years.

And knows about some rather important, world changing events in the future.

…yup, just your average Academy student.

Yawning tiredly, I ambled towards home.

I wonder what's for dinner.

Well, it was bound to happen at some point…who was she kidding? They knew the exact moment she approached Naruto. Or it could be her more-than-slightly-illegal activities she had done a few nights ago. She really hoped it wasn't to do with anything about her mysteriously knowing exactly how to learn the Yondaime's prized jutsu.

That'd mean that she would need to explain things that didn't add up at all, most likely in a T&I interrogation room.

Anyhow, now they want to know what's up with her.

Damn ANBU.

So yes, here she was, standing in front of the flipping Hokage, military dictator of the whole village. Calling her 'nervous' was the understatement of the century; scrap that, she was downright terrified.

Deciding to count sheep to calm herself, she tried to start counting them before realising the imaginary fence had been surprisingly set on fire and was burning down, poor sheep running amok around said fence.

You probably could guess that her mental state wasn't very stable at that moment. She winced and silently apologised to the now tenderly-fried lamb chops. Poor sheep.

Noticing her state of discomfort and how far into her anxiety she was, he lightly coughed into his hand to get her attention. When that failed, he asked, "Uchiha Mayue-san, do you know why you are here?"

She fidgeted under his knowing gaze, and looked down, "n-not exactly Hokage-sama."

If she didn't before, the young girl believed it now; all parents had this power that made children feel guilty.

He sighed and stood up, then strolled to the window behind his chair, which overlooked the whole of Konoha. He got out his pipe and lit it with a katon jutsu.

"Mayue-san, what do you think a Hokage does?"

Internally opting for a more childish view as an answer for the Hokage, she replied, "uhm, a Hokage fights bad people?"

He chuckles and turned back to look at her. "Yes, even though I haven't done so in quite some time, as you say, I did use to go around 'fighting the bad people'."

He paused, then said, "but a Hokage's job, first and foremost, is the well-being of the village. Do you recognise what I'm saying?"

She reluctantly nodded. "Is this because I snuck into the Library? A breach of information can potentially put the village in danger. For that I apologise deeply Hokage-sama."

He blinked twice, baffled at her over-polite outburst. before bursting out in raucous laughter. "Y-you broke into the L-library?" he wheezed, "how come I haven't heard of this?"

Mayue went red with embarrassment when she realised that she'd unintentionally let the cat out of the bag.

When his peals of mirth had subsided, he gathered himself despite the smile refusing to leave his face.

"Well, that was the most genuinely amusing thing I have heard in a long, long time," he admitted, a wistful expression on his face, before blinking again and hardening his expression.

"Hokage-sama? If that's not it, then wh-"

"Uchiha Mayue, don't try what you did again. Breaking curfew in a hidden village without permission will have serious repercussions on you and your family. Understand?"

"Yes Hokage-sama," the dark-haired girl said as she looked away sheepishly.

"The real reason why you are here is because of our local fox." He looked carefully for any visible reaction to his words. And unfortunately for her, she was still a novice at the lying game, whereas he was a seasoned expert, and so she couldn't hide the truth from his prying eyes.

The slight widening of her eyes and the slight hitch in her breath gave her away.

"So, you figured it out," he sighed, "don't spread that information around. That's S-rank classified information, punishable by death."

His eyes narrowed. "You may be acting nice to Naruto for now, but my trust isn't as easy to earn. I already consider you a ninja if you managed to break into the Library, so if you move so much as one step out of line, you'll be locked in a cell faster than most ANBU can Shunshin."

Indignation and panic swelled in her chest. In a haze of panic, for a second, Mayue completely forgot all about social etiquette and who she was talking to. Logic and reason seemed like faraway, muddled concepts in her state of alarm.

After all, she can't lose another one, not another person she considered family. She wouldn't be able to handle not seeing Naruto's heart-wrenchingly innocent and bright smiles anymore.

Accordingly, she snapped back at him angrily as she crossed her arms, "Naruto is the happiest child I have ever seen despite the horrors that I can't even imagine the civilians put him through. I would die before thinking about harming him. Believe it!"

He looked long and hard at her eyes before nodding slowly. "…Then I trust you will take care of him properly. Do what I have failed to do because of this cursed position."

She exhaled in relief, all the tension draining away from her at once.

Even though the Hokage's hat was burdened with many duties (and paperwork), he lifted an eyebrow, as he remarked, "Naruto must be rubbing off on you. 'Believe it'?"

Mayue's face flushed a deep crimson when she realised that she'd talked back to the Hokage, in the most disrespectful tone possible, and to top it all off, she had copied Naruto's infamous verbal tick, 'Believe it!'.

She fixed the aged Sarutobi with an all-too-sweet smile. "You won't mention that slip of my tongue ever again, won't you? And if you do, I promise you that Naruto pranking you is the least painful thing that will happen to you. Capiche?"

"Yes, I know," he gave a slightly strained smile as a shiver went down his spine, "now get some rest, we've been here talking for far too long for my age. Dismissed."

"Thank you Hokage-sama," she curtly responded, leaving the room quickly.

A moment later, after Mayue had left, a cat-masked ANBU appeared behind the Hokage, with one knee down and fist flat on the floor. "Was it wise to allow her to learn the Kage Bunshin technique, Hokage-sama?"

"I'm sure she'll need it at some point," he murmured while still looking over the village. He turned around and blanched. "My paperwork has multiplied. Again."

He fell to his knees and cried out to the heavens, "Curse you Minato!"

The hidden ANBU in the room just sweatdropped at his antics, all thinking 'how hasn't he figured out the trick yet?'.

They weren't going to tell him, of course. Besides, the 'Professor' had to live up to his name.

It wasn't until Mayue was well outside the building before she let herself sag in exhaustion. Heaving a sigh, she started walking in the direction of Training Ground Three.

She needed to pay her respects to someone.

After making her way to the tall, black stone shape that was the Memorial Stone, she spotted a masked hunched-over figure squatting in front of the monument. His mask's design resembled some sort of canine, while his hair was a silvery grey.

She knew exactly who he was, but didn't disturb him; it wouldn't be right for her to interrupt his mourning, as much as she wanted to slap some sense into him.

Kneeling, she silently got out a fan that had the uchiwa engraved on it and gently placed it in the quietly smoking incense burner that was next the other daily offerings that were in front of the stone.

"You're awfully young to be here."

Even though his voice slightly startled her, she answered mildly, "doesn't one come here when they have lost a comrade or loved one?"

He doesn't answer for a minute.

"Yes. Though I didn't think that someone as young as you could lose a close friend or comrade yet. You haven't even become a ninja yet."

She chuckled mirthlessly as she lit the top of the fan with one of the other incense sticks and watched it slowly smoulder. "I didn't either. She didn't even get her name engraved here for what she did, because she was still a civilian. The wooden fan barely replaces it."

He glanced at the fan that was gradually burning away. "Family?"

Giving him a small smile, she replied, "Close as any person I consider family, Hound-san."

Once the all the wood had been turned to ash, she stretched her legs and stood up. "It was nice talking with you, Hound-san. The name's Mayue, if you didn't know. Uchiha Mayue."

As she was leaving the grounds, she paused, then called out to him. "I hope you can forgive yourself and move on. That's what they would have wanted."

This time he didn't answer.

'I wonder if I can find Naruto so that I can eat ramen with him,' she mused as she headed towards the Ichiraku ramen stand, 'it is quite lonely if you eat comfort food by yourself.'

A/N: Some vocab to fill you in if you didn't know!

-sama – suffix used to denote people of higher status, or someone you hold in high regard.

kunoichi – a kunoichi is a female ninja or practitioner of ninjutsu (ninpo).

Kami – literally meaning 'god'. Just using it here because I thought it'd be more appropriate, I guess. I could've used 'Jashin' instead though. Hm.

dōjutsu – literally 'eye techniques', meaning techniques that need fancy hax eyes like the Byakugan, for example, to perform.

hitai-ate – forehead protector, usually used to show village association.

Yondaime – literally meaning 'the Fourth', used in Naruto to denote the fourth generation of Kage. In this instance it's the Hokage.

Well sh*#. That was a lot of writing. There is a lot of spare scenes and ideas I haven't even implemented yet. SO much to do but not enough time… (exams, internal groan)

Anyhow, next chapter will probably expand on her fellow classmates' relationships, and more Naruto, Sasuke and co.

-Maki ~-=+ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

SEE YOU SPACE COWBOY