There weren't many things that could take Uchiha Shisui by surprise.
Being one of the resident Uchiha prodigies, he quickly became accustomed to a shinobi's motto to "expect the unexpected." All of his missions, though different in their circumstances and their complications, had some air of familiarity to it – a similar formula to their structure. In his fourteen years of life, he'd had teammates – friends – killed, maimed, and tortured on the battlefield. As much as he hated it and tried to prevent such tragedies from happening, there was nothing unexpected about these events.
Though he wasn't particularly pleased with being forced out of his bed and sent on a sudden mission on a windy April night, it wasn't surprising in the slightest. His skills were highly coveted in the village, and though he was currently taking a break from his ANBU career, he was often drafted temporarily onto different ANBU teams, depending on where his abilities may be of service.
That is precisely how he found himself sprinting through the dark forest, covering the right side of Team Ro's captain, Hatake Kakashi. His younger cousin and best friend, Itachi, was only a few short paces behind him, and to his left was the Leaf's resident Wood-release user (Tenzō, he heard Kakashi-sempai call out once). Following behind the entire group was Aburame Yōji, though his tracker beetles had gone ahead to search for their target. All of them wore characteristic animal-style porcelain white masks to cover the solemn looks on all of their faces.
There was not a more pressing mission for the security of their beloved home. There were reports that Orochimaru had infiltrated the Land of Fire yet again, and his whereabouts were too close to Konoha to be comfortable for any of them. It particularly didn't sit right with them that Orochimaru was as unpredictable as they came. While they always prepared for the worst, Orochimaru always seemed to surpass their expectations, and that was the downfall of any shinobi.
Thus, it was crucial for them to neutralize the threat before it could get anywhere near the village.
"To your left!" Yōji called out suddenly, and the whole team immediately followed his direction. Some of his bugs returned to him, crawling up his sleeve and conveying their findings to him. "There's an abandoned caravan in the middle of the road. It seems to have been attacked."
"How far away is it?" Kakashi asked, not turning around to look at him.
"About a kilometer," the Aburame answered.
They picked up the pace.
Shisui didn't need to have an Inuzuka's nose to catch a whiff of the events that unfolded prior to their arrival.
It seemed to be an absolute massacre.
Blood and pieces of organs laid strewn along the dirt path and covered the white tarps of the caravan. Puddles of the red liquid covered the ground like an inundated rice field. Dismembered livestock were scattered haphazardly throughout the landscape, like the dirty remains of a slaughterhouse. Though the scene was certainly off-putting, one eerie detail was blatantly obvious to the squad of masked elites.
There were no people to be seen.
It wasn't possible that all of the blood at the scene was from the livestock. There definitely had to be people manning the caravan, but where had they gone? Had they all been able to escape, despite the ambush?
"Look for survivors, and any evidence of Orochimaru. Keep your guard up, this blood was freshly shed," Kakashi ordered, his voice low and weighted with wariness.
"Hai, Taichō," the rest chorused, before fanning out over the extent of the caravan.
Shisui checked each of the compartments, his Sharingan activated and scanning for chakra signatures. There was something very strange about the scene. It was unlikely to be some petty thieves, because although they were known for looting unsuspecting caravans, they would hardly cause such carnage to a group of civilians. There was also the fact that not a lot seemed to be taken. One of the carts Shisui checked even had a large collection of expensive gold and jewels, seen on Konoha socialites of high economic status. If these weren't taken, then there couldn't have been a profit motive behind it.
Still, there was not a single soul in sight.
That's when he saw it, just a flicker of blue in his periphery – so small that even he had trouble seeing it. It was strange, this flicker of a chakra signature, because he could not sense it at all. Shisui approached with caution, since it could be an enemy advanced enough to completely cloak their chakra signature from an Uchiha, which not many could do.
He entered the caravan cart he'd seen the chakra signature in. It was like a small home, albeit a destroyed one. The white tarp covering the roof had a large seam down the middle, exposing the room to the glare of the moon. Wooden chairs laid toppled from their original positions, tables had been overturned completely, and broken glass crunched under his thick ninja sandals. Once again, blood laid splattered about.
He scanned around for the signature yet again, but he could not find the initial flicker he spotted. He supposed a Hyūga would be much more efficient at this, but it took someone with proficient chakra control to hide themselves from the Sharingan, and that put Shisui on his guard.
The flicker appeared once more, and this time he knew whoever it belonged to was under the wooden floorboards. He unsheathed his tantō and readied his other hand to perform a one-handed jutsu if needed.
But as he dug his sword under the boards and lifted them, the sight shook his resolve slightly. There, in some kind of secret compartment underneath the floor, was a little girl. He couldn't make out all of the child's features with the slivers of moonlight provided through the tarp, but it did reflect off her wide jade-green eyes, making her look like a cornered deer. Her breath was shallow and frantic.
It could be a trap, Shisui reasoned internally. After all, even civilians had a chakra signature, albeit an underdeveloped and weak one. But…if the enemy used a genjutsu to make themselves look like a little girl, then the Sharingan would have been able to dispel it. She could be a civilian child-turned-spy, but the frightened look in her eyes looked sincere.
He couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was, but something about this girl told him that she was not a threat.
"Hey," Shisui said softly as he knelt down. The little girl kicked her feet to push herself even further into the corner of the already-tiny bunker. Her eyes looked frantically past him, searching for a way out. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."
"Eagle," he heard Itachi call his codename from behind. Shisui saw the girl shrink even deeper into herself. Itachi walked over and peered over at the girl, and though his face was covered Shisui was positive that he was at a loss of what to do also.
Shisui started to reach his arm out towards the girl, but his shoulder was caught by his younger cousin, silently asking him what he thought he was doing. Shisui just shrugged him off,
"Don't worry," he said to the little girl, "we're here to help you."
She didn't move a muscle, but tears were freely streaming down her face from her wide eyes. She dared not blink in the presence of the two masked shinobi.
It was then that Shisui did something that disobeyed the very basis of ANBU. He slowly slipped off his mask, deactivating his Sharingan in the process, and attached it to his belt.
"See, I'm not too scary, am I?" He said, trying to lighten his tone with a bit of teasing. "My name is Shisui, I'm a friend." He felt Itachi's grip on his shoulder tighten to an almost painful degree; the younger Uchiha couldn't understand what would compel Shisui to be so reckless, revealing his face and identity in at a high-risk scene.
The little girl relaxed her posture slightly at the sight of his face, perhaps glad that there was a human behind the emotionless mask. She stared at the hand extended to her like it was an alien's. Shisui could tell she was weighing her options for what to do next, even at her young age.
Moments passed without an inch of movement. The one minute Shisui had his hand outstretched felt like an hour, but he didn't move from his place. Itachi moved into a position behind his cousin to get a better vantage point on the girl, should something go wrong.
Finally, the girl raised a bony little hand towards his, placing the very tips of her fingers in the palm of his hand. He slowly wrapped his hand around hers, knowing that any sudden movements would scare her away. Once his grip on her was secure, he was able to pull her out of the shallow bunker and onto the floorboards beside him.
Out of the shadows, he could finally make out some of the girl's features. She had short, matted hair – pink hair, he noted – and the green eyes he had noticed before seemed all the more vibrant. She wore regular civilian clothes: a brown woolen vest with a white long-sleeved shirt underneath, and beige-colored trousers. She was incredibly tiny in size and bone-thin in stature, giving Shisui the sneaking suspicion that she was malnourished. Most importantly, she didn't seem to have any injuries.
However, Shisui could see how much she was shaking. Well, perhaps "shaking" was putting it lightly. The girl was practically wrought with tremors, reverberating throughout her entire body. He saw her inhale shakily and try to control her trembling, but to no avail.
Before Shisui could even register it in his own mind, he had gathered the girl in his arms and cradled her, with her head resting on his chest. The girl's trembles amplified for a moment before they calmed, not ceasing completely. She refused to look at the dark-haired man who was holding her, but somehow found comfort by hearing his heartbeat.
"We need to get her some help," Shisui finally said to his companion. Itachi, who still had his face covered, stared at the girl for a moment, almost expecting a trap to be triggered any moment now. In the end, he just gave a nod and went out to find Kakashi. "Okay, sweetie," Shisui addressed her lightly. "I'm gonna lift you up, real slow. Just trust me, you're safe now." The girl gave no indication that she had heard him, still focused on trying to control her own breath.
Shisui slowly made his way outside the caravan cart, holding the little girl tight in his arms. She started to grip his vest – unconsciously, he presumed – but her tremors only became worse as he moved her. "Close your eyes," Shisui ordered softly. She didn't need to see the destruction of everything she knew. Whether it was because of a small bit of trust or just fatigue, she did as she was told.
He exited the caravan to find both Kakashi and Itachi standing there. He almost winced from looking at Kakashi's mask, knowing that there was a deathly glare behind it. The last thing Kakashi wanted to see was one of his ANBU members' bare faces in such a high-risk situation. Even worse is that he was carrying a potential threat to the village without fully examining her.
"I'm sorry, Taichō, but can I explain later?" Shisui asked quietly, not wanting to rouse the resting girl.
Kakashi breathed a heavy sigh. This was surely going against protocol and he was the one who would get chewed out by Hokage-sama and Danzō when he had to make a report. However, if ANBU's two Sharingan users believed that the girl was not a threat, then he would trust their judgment. He had to conserve the use of his own.
Yōji appeared beside Kakashi. "Taichō, there are no sightings of any survivors or enemies," he said, while staring a quick glance at the unconscious girl. It didn't have to be said, but she was the exception. "My bugs have identified one hundred and sixty-two different blood samples from the entire caravan. Most of the carnage is definitely from humans."
"And what of Orochimaru?" Kakashi asked.
"His chakra signature lingers somewhere near, but the attack itself was done by a larger group. My bugs are tracking their signatures and are using the blood to track where the people have gone. All parties seem to be heading east."
"Then east is our next destination," Kakashi said, "find Cat and prepare to move out." Yōji immediately left to find Tenzō. Kakashi then turned to the two Uchiha. "Fox, you're coming with us, we're going to need all of the manpower we can get." Itachi nodded. "Eagle, bring her to the outskirts of Konoha and send a summon to the Hokage for a sealer. We'll transport her into the hospital from there."
Shisui didn't particularly like that the girl was being treated like a toxic substance, but he respected his superior's assessment. It was just a precaution against Orochimaru's antics.
"Understood, Taichō."
"Good, now go," Kakashi ordered, and not a second later, Shisui had flickered away.
As Kakashi ordered, he sent for a Fūinjutsu user to seal the unconscious girl in a scroll once he had reached the village. At the hospital, medical ninja conducted an exam on her well-being while sensor ninja checked to see if there was anything strange about the girl.
Instead of waiting for the procedure to be done, he went to report to the Hokage about his arrival. Fortunately, he was spared recounting the gruesome details of their findings until his whole team returned to make the official report. Regardless, the superficial details he gave the Hokage made his old face scrunch in distress. After he had finished, the Sandaime excused him and turned back to his work, but Shisui stayed where he was.
"Hokage-sama," he addressed, making Hiruzen look up from his desk papers, "what will happen to the girl? As far as we know, her parents are likely dead, and we don't know exactly where she comes from."
Hiruzen put his pen down and folded his hands, resting his chin on them. "That will depend on whether or not the sensors find anything strange about her chakra. If it's true that she is just a normal civilian, then she will likely be put into a Konoha orphanage until we can find some distant family member to take her in."
"But…what if she doesn't have anyone left?" Shisui asked.
Hiruzen sighed. Despite Shisui being one of the more expressive Uchiha, he still retained the habit of trying to mask his emotions, especially when he was upset. The Hokage truly felt for the boy, having lost his father to illness after the Third Great Ninja War and his mother to suicide not a month afterwards. Even if he still lived amongst his Uchiha brethren, Shisui had always been a little different – never truly conforming to the viewpoints of his peers and thus being ostracized by his family. All at such a young age.
Hiruzen could understand why he was worried.
"Families who work in caravans typically don't have a specific village to call home, as they are always on the road. If we are unable to find any living relatives of the girl, we will allow her to stay here in Konoha," Hiruzen answered.
His old heart felt heavy. There was a shortage of childcare in Konoha – too many children had lost their parents to the War. Too many children were forcefully stripped of their childhood. Those who were not in the orphanages lost their lives on the battlefield, and it was a shame he would never be able to live down. If there was something he could do to save even one more child's life, he would do so immediately.
The Hokage saw Shisui process his words, but couldn't tell exactly what he was thinking. After a moment, Shisui bowed and bid his farewell before leaving to check on the little pink-haired girl he had rescued.
It was mid-morning by the time he had entered the medical exam room. To his relief, the girl was awake and sitting on the medical bed, staring intently at the floor as to avoid eye contact with the people around her. Her shoulders were scrunched up, trying to make herself as small as possible as a protective mechanism. The doctors tried to ask her questions, but she remained silent and unmoving, almost like a statue.
That was until he had made his presence known. The girl finally raised her head to look him, her body relaxing ever so slightly, but enough for Shisui to pick up on. Her green eyes locked with his and refused to look away, metaphorically holding onto the one person who as vaguely familiar to her in this strange place.
Shisui took this as a sign to save her from the stressful questioning. "Can you give us a few minutes?" he asked the doctors.
An old, graying woman sighed. "Fine, but don't expect to get much out of her. She hasn't said a word to us since she woke up." With that, the two doctors and the young nurse exited the room.
He approached the girl cautiously. Her eyes followed his every movement, still wary of this strange older boy and his intentions. Shisui walked up to the bed and knelt down on the tiled floor so that he was looking up at her. As he took a closer look, he was amazed at what a pretty shade of pastel pink her hair was, concluding that the doctors must have washed it during their exam. They also cleaned all of the dirt off her face, revealing smooth baby skin that thankfully, didn't have any scratches. It contrasted greatly with the battered and drab clothing she was wearing.
"Hiya," he said with one of his characteristic toothy grins, "I don't know if you remember, but my name is Shisui. It's nice to meet ya!"
He didn't exactly expect the little girl to respond, but was pleased when she bowed her head slightly in greeting. His grin grew as he saw her slowly unfold herself from her curled position.
"What's your name?" he asked. The girl looked like she was about to open her mouth, but dropped her chin and tucked her knees into her chest before she could say anything. "Aww, come on, that's not fair! I have to know your name if we're going to be friends!" he said in his most whiny tone – the one he would have used with Itachi if he wasn't too mature for his age to find it funny.
The girl seemed to perk up slightly at the word "friends," as though it was a tempting offer. Perhaps it was because she was starting to trust him, or just because she wanted to feel some normalcy in her life – Shisui didn't entirely know. Either way, he knew for certain that the girl needed a way to process being taken away from everything she knew, and that meant she needed someone she could lean on.
He wished the same thing when he had lost everything.
The girl then started looking around the room for something. Shisui tried to follow her gaze, but it was moving around too frantically. She then started pointing at something outside of the hospital room's window.
Shisui stood from where he was kneeling on the floor and hopped onto the examination bed beside the girl, careful not to get too close. He followed her finger out the window to the scenery of trees and birds outside.
At first, he thought she was pointing at the sky. "Sora?" He asked with a scrunched brow. The girl shook her head frantically and continued to point, as if that would make his job any easier. "I don't know what you're pointing at, sweetie," he said sheepishly.
Unexpectedly, the girl wrapped her tiny arms around his neck and pulled him down to her height, so that his face was right next to hers. He followed the imaginary line of her finger again. From this vantage point, he could finally see what she was pointing at.
Tucked between the leaves of capacious blue oaks and walnut trees was slivers of a different tree, whose flowers swayed calmly in the breeze. Since most of the tree was covered, Shisui wouldn't have even been able to see it if it wasn't for it's characteristic pink color.
Ah!
"Sakura?" he tried again. The girl shyly released her arms from around his neck, avoiding his eyes but nodding slowly. How silly of him to think it was any other name. It fit her features perfectly. "Aww, don't hide from me, Sakura-chan! We're friends now!" He said as he stuck out his hand towards the younger girl.
She lifted her head and stared at his hand, like she had done when he had extended his help to her in the caravan bunker. But this was different. Her face wasn't plagued with fear, but curiosity and a twinge of excitement.
Her fingers twitched for a few moments before she brought her hand up. Instead of grasping his hand with hers, she wrapped her tiny fingers around his index finger. He marveled at how small her hands were, and knew that his hand would have completely swallowed hers if they had done a proper handshake. Shisui chuckled a little at how endearing it was.
Uchiha Shisui was a shinobi. There weren't many things that could take him by surprise.
But he didn't expect Sakura to let out a little laugh along with him.
And he definitely didn't expect to feel so protective over his new little friend.
Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've been on here. My old name was RansomeNote if that rings a bell for anyone.
Anyway, please leave a small review and let me know what you think! I want to gauge interest in this idea since it's something that's been festering in my mind for a while. And reviews are always motivating me to write :)
Have a great day, y'all!