Hello! Thanks in advance for reading this fiction, or at least this chapter.
Just to be clear, it is an Alternative Universe starting two months before Shisui' death. The protagonist is an OC and it is a reincarnation fic, but the protagonist is from the Naruto Universe as we know it. Her knowledge is based on what people told her and her own experience. The whole reincarnation process is explained through the story and it's...you need to read it carefully to understand all of it I think, as I used a technique, the Death Reaper Seal, that does not have a lot of explanations in the manga and gave it a story.
I apologize in advance for any mistakes, English is not my first language.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own Akane and Akiko, the rest is Masashi Kishimoto.
Chapter rewritten on 01/15/2019.
There was a lot of things that could go wrong with fuinjutsu. I knew about it, as I had been a Seal Master ever since I was twenty-seven. It was almost ten years ago I took this exam and became the third youngest Seal Master in Konoha, the other two being Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato. As I knew my fuinjutsu, I knew the slightest millimeter, the slightest dose of ink, counted in the success of a seal.
I knew all of that.
I also knew one should not experiment seals on themselves. There were a lot of rules in fuinjutsu, one being you should not test a seal on a living being. Of course, I was no stranger at breaking that rule by testing on myself.
This...this was different.
There was nothing in the scroll mentioning sides effects. I summoned the Shinigami, gave him my soul to save my son, Shisui, and his sister, Akiko, who was hurt outside. I summoned them to save my children and seal the unstable seal back, Sasuke and his eyes powerless next to me. I was expecting to be faced with eternal turmoil with the man I sealed with me.
Not...running away from a ghost.
"Will you stop!?"
"Shut up fake, shut up!" I shouted back, running through the trees, away from him.
"I'm not fake! I know it was a long time ago, but I swear I'm Uchiha Shisui Aka-chan!"
"Shut up!" I sped up and bumped into him suddenly. He grabbed me rather harshly by the shoulders, an angry snarl on his face.
"Alright, enough now. Stop calling me a fake." He raised a kunai next to my head and I stared at it nervously, until I felt something being cut. "Ha! Finally I can get this off!" I blinked in confusion at the forehead protector in his hand, Kiri symbol carved in it.
"What...what...how old am I?" He looked down at me in concern and pursed his lips.
"Itachi's thirteen next month, so you turned thirteen two weeks ago, didn't you?"
Itachi was twelve? But...but he died almost fifteen years ago, almost at the age of twenty-two!
"Akane, let's sit down for a second, okay? You're acting weirdly." He sat me down against the trunk of a tree and stayed crouched in front of me.
"Captain Shisui, is everything alright?" someone asked him. Shisui turned to them and nodded.
"Yes, I have everything under control. Work on the fastest way to her mother's." They left swiftly and Shisui sighed, his hands now palpating my head. "I'm sure my genjutsu was controlled, could it be you have bad reactions to the Sharingan?"
I bit the inside of my cheek and went over everything I knew.
I was a thirty-six, almost thirty-seven, Seal Master from Konoha, named Sasaki Akane. I was born in Kiri and wore my birth name, Uzumaki, for a year, although I had a quarter of Yuki blood in my veins. When I was one, my family, my parents, my brother and I, left Kiri and its regime to have a better life. We settled down in the Land of Hot Water, where, I did not know how, my mother found her cousin back. Cousin who had been sent from Uzushio to Konoha before the former's destruction. It was Aunty Kushina, and when she visited, although it was war, Minato-oji and his team, Obito-nii, Rin-nee and Kakashi-nii, were there. Until Obito died, until Rin died. One day, my father lost his mind and tried to kill me. Kakashi had me in his arms and tried to protect me and my brother, who was sick, the same sickness than Itachi, protected us and died from my father's chains, under my godfather's powerless eyes.
After that event, Mom left me in Kushina's and Minato's care for a year, to grieve and be sure she could take care of me. I had good memories of it, and befriended Shisui. I spent a lot of time with him, and once when Itachi was with him, I called him a 'cute girl' and he blushed in shame. The day I left, Shisui came to tell me goodbye. I had to say goodbye to my heavily pregnant aunt at her home and she hugged me tightly. At the gate, Minato-oji promised to send us a letter when he would be done with preparing our installation in Konoha, and gave me a book from his sensei about a shinobi called Naruto, hugged me tightly and asked me to behave.
A month later, we received a letter from the Third Hokage. He was informing us of their death, and the death of their baby boy Naruto because of the Kyuubi.
Mom refused to go to Konoha. There was an Elder, Shimura Danzou, who had...voiced some interests in me and my potential. Without Minato, it was too risky to go back there. We were fine for a few years, slowly moving on from our losses. As Uzumakis, Mom made us move a lot. She taught me how to defend myself, kept training me in fuinjutsu, continuing what oji-chan and Aunty had done in Konoha, made me refine my chakra control.
At the age of eleven, I found myself facing Hoshigaki Kisame and Samehada. The Fourth Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura, had sent him to take me to Kiri to become a shinobi. The First Mizukage had established a law stating any baby born in Kiri was Kiri's property.
It was that exact law he was using.
I tried to fight back, awakened my Hyōton, but still lost and found myself in Kiri. I found myself in the Bloody Mist, being the apprentice of the very man who gave it this name. It was hard, violent. It was abuse every single time I did not meet his expectations. The expectations my father had fulfilled and thrown away when he left for his family, the expectations my brother, Fubuki, the genius he had been, fulfilled easily too. I was not them, I did not want to be a shinobi, I did not like that system, but it was my survival. The villagers hated me, seeing in me an easy way to attack Yagura, ignoring how I hated him too. The only nice person I knew was Mei-sensei, who was training me with my kekkai genkai.
I could not have a break, unless I ended up in the hospital. When I became a genin, I was put in a team with sensei, her younger brother and Mangetsu. It became easier then, I was not as alone as before.
I tried five times to leave the village, then gave up on that idea. I went from nothing to jounin in a year and a half. One day, I was sent on a mission, which result would tell me if I could integrate the ANBU. It was a success and we were on our way back when Shisui appeared in front of me and knocked me out.
I was not a genius, but I would do anything to survive. When Shisui told me Mom had hired a team to get me out of Kiri, I looked at Shisui in disbelief but when I was back with my mother, I cried and ran in her arms. Shisui and his team stayed a little. He promised to come back when it was safe for us to go to Konoha, a deep concern lingering in his eyes. He promised he would help me see a place where people would not be used and seen as weapon, and we stayed in contact through letters.
It was also him, before leaving, who told us of a blond little boy called Uzumaki Naruto, living in Konoha. Mom and I did not go though, it was too dangerous.
And in a dark part of my mind, I did not want anything to do with him as he was the reason his parents were dead. At least, it was the stupid and senseless thoughts I had at the time.
Two months later, I received a letter. I was happy, it was Shisui, but I was surprise at the note at the bottom of the page. It was another hand writing, and dropped on my knees when I read Shisui had killed himself.
This rotten world had taken someone from me once again.
At the age of sixteen, maybe seventeen, I met a guy. I had a crush on him and let my guards down.
Even when he told me his name was Sasori, I did not see any threat. He was just the sweet and cute guy who liked art. Three months after I met him, I went and saw my mother's body on the floor, Sasori leaving as if it was nothing. I fell on my knees and cried, begged for my mother to come back but nothing.
I took what mattered the most to me and set the house, my mother's body still inside, on fire.
A year after wandering around aimlessly, I saw him with a loud blond guy. I tried to attack him, not caring if I died because, who was waiting for me to go home, when Itachi, my Itachi, caught me by the waist.
I traveled with Hoshigaki-san and him for a while until I stayed in a village near the border of the Land of Fire in the Land of Earth. I had developed a friendship with Itachi, because of Shisui and how he trusted him entirely. I knew there was something nobody knew about the Uchiha massacre he had committed. When he came to my place, I was sure of it. He kept coming and I kept welcoming him back.
In my house, and in my bed mostly. I fell deeply in love with him.
I was perfectly aware it would be pointless. He was sick, and implied he would die facing his brother. The naive part of me dreamed of him staying because he loved me. The rational part of me knew it would not happen.
I tried though, I tried to make him stay. He told me he loved me and knocked me out with his sharingan. I woke up, on my couch, realizing he was really gone. I was alone once again.
After his death, I was surprise to see Hoshigaki-san coming at the tea shop I worked at. I was not good, I was depressed and by his presence and his only, I knew Itachi was dead. He also told me that the Akatsuki probably would not try anything against me, and left. I fainted when he did, and when I woke up, at the local doctor, she told me I was pregnant.
That there were two fetuses. After a year and a half, I had drawn a contraceptive seal to stop using condoms, but it failed the last time I had seen my love.
The pregnancy was hard. The Fourth Shinobi War was fought, and the Infinite Tsukuyomi we were all put under made me even worst emotionally speaking. I would raise my babies alone. In December, someone knocked on my door. I had trouble to get up.
I had frozen on my spot at the teenager in front of me, barely taller than me. He was missing an arm, but the most striking was his resemblance to his brother.
As Sasuke introduced himself to me, explained to me how Itachi asked him to bring me to Konoha as Danzou was dead, how he showed him where I lived and what I looked like, I felt my heart break.
My water broke too.
I went into a long a painful labor, Sasuke staying by side and, dared I say, panicked at what was happening. However, as he had guessed the babies were his brother's, he stayed and held my hand. I almost broke his last hand by doing so.
However, he was actually here with the Rokudaime's permission and request. For the first four months, we did not move. He kept sending eagles to Konoha and years later, he told me ANBU were around to keep an eye on us. He had escaped a long imprisonment because of me.
Sasuke loved his nephew, Shisui, and his niece, Akiko but mostly called Aki, to death. They were a part of his brother, the good there was in him, and would protect them, and me because Itachi had asked him to, with his life.
I said 'no', that I was not important. That the children would always come first now. He stared at me but nodded solemnly anyway.
Then, we went to Konoha. I would raise my babies there, even if I knew sensei had become the Fifth Mizukage. I had too many bad memories there. Konoha would be good, even if I dreaded meeting my cousin, now war hero.
What was not my surprise to see Kakashi-san sitting where Minato-oji used to sit, a relieved expression on face, with no sharingan anymore. He got up quietly and hugged me, careful of my son sleeping in my arms as Sasuke had Aki behind me. He told me he was glad I was back home and I apologized for taking so much time because of my cowardice.
Then, someone knocked on the door. Two persons entered and greeted Sasuke with enthusiasm. A blond boy and a pink-haired girl. They froze at the baby looking at them with big, onyx eyes, whereas my son was still sleeping peacefully. Then they saw me, asked Sasuke if I was the person he had to pick up.
Sakura was lost at my sight and the baby that looked a lot like Uchihas, but Naruto had that knowing look when he set his blue eyes on me that told me he knew they were Itachi's. Kakashi-san then introduced me, not forgetting to tell them how I was related to Naruto. He stared at me with disbelief, not believing he had any blood family left.
Without a word, he hugged me tightly, calling me 'nee-chan' instantly. I hugged him back weakly. Kakashi-san helped me find a place and asked me to, as one day people would know my children were Uchihas, to say it was a one night stand. I agreed grudgingly. I did not want my children to be known as the children of a mass murderer.
Once I had a place, Sasuke moved in with me until he left to travel again. We were under ANBU's surveillance. I was still getting used to be here and having Naruto around, and he was getting used to be back among people he betrayed once. For a while, we were only comfortable with each other and he was, apart from the kids, the first real family I had in this new Konoha. We were sibling by everything but blood, like him and Naruto, through our deep love for Itachi.
At some point, he showed me Itachi's memories. I had been told of everything about the war, about Obito and everything he did, about Madara, about Kaguya, about that Black Zetsu thingy.
About how my best friend, Mangetsu, had died years before the war.
So, Sasuke showed me the memories Itachi showed him before being released from the Edo Tensei. Ever since that day, I had a bad reaction to the Sharingan.
Ever since that day, I regretted letting Shisui go back to Konoha.
Time passed by. The twins grew up and befriended Sarutobi Mirai. Naruto, to whom I apologized and was now closed to because he just wanted me to feel at home, married Hinata. Sasuke came back, stayed a little at home, and left on another journey, with Sakura. They came back with a baby and stayed with us until they got a place.
Eventually, everybody got kids. I became friends with Temari, and therefore with Shikamaru. I was working on the barrier around Konoha and for the Hokage directly until I had my diploma, so I would see him often. He would play shōgi with them.
Shisui was cheerful and kind of lazy by nature, not showing his genius, because they had to inherit this from Itachi of course, to be left alone, whereas Aki was not afraid to show it, but she was also calm to most situations. I grew close to Kakashi-san, slowly seeing once again as the brotherly figure I used to see him as when I was a child.
My children were put on a team with Mirai under Rock Lee's supervision.
As for me, Sasuke's missions being sometimes related to seals, I would help him. It turned out the Otsutsuki clan used a lot of old fuin and I was the only one able to read. Kakashi-san would also send me on occasional missions, but there were rare. When Naruto took the hat, he stopped that except if it was Sasuke's request.
That was how I used the Death Reaper Seal. We investigated an unstable seal and found my children's team. Aki was hurt and Shisui angry. He followed us and got hurt. I used this kinjutsu. I was fully prepared to die.
I was not prepared at facing Uchiha Shisui. I tried to break the genjutsu, but nothing except him looking at me funny, making me realize it was reality.
"Akane!" I glared at Shisui. "Good, you're back. You've been spacing out for fifteen minutes! We're supposed to bring you back to your mo..." He stopped when I jumped on my feet and checked his pulse. He raised a brow.
"You're alive," I stated with a lump in my throat. "I...am alive too."
"Yeah, we're both alive," he confirmed warily. "Look, I have to..."
"Bring me to Konoha with you."
"What? No!"
"Shisui, Danzou is dangerous, you have to bring me..." He put his hand against my mouth with wide, alert eyes.
"Don't say that kind of things so loudly," he hissed at me quietly, his face close to mine. I nodded quickly and he removed his hand. "I know he's creepy but...he's an Elder."
"Shisui, he's going to steal your eyes." Shisui stopped at that and his face lost all friendliness. "I...I...I should not be here, I should be dead."
"What are you saying?"
"The coup won't happen, but not because of you. Danzou will steal your eye, you'll kill yourself and give the other to Itachi, and he'll be ordered to kill all of them!" I found myself pinned against the tree, a kunai against my throat.
"How do you know that? How many spies does Kiri have?" he asked me in an icy tone, his eyes bleeding red as three tomoe were spinning in them. I bit the inside of my cheek. Of course, Shisui was a great shinobi, he would have such reaction.
"Look into my memory then, look and see for yourself if they're fake or not."
"Don't mind if I do then, Akane," he said, stressing threateningly on my name. I found myself falling, thinking about Itachi's memories, and everything I knew about him.
It did not last long, but I found myself sliding against the tree, exhausted. I hated the Sharingan with a passion, so much it pushed me to create a seal to block any dōjutsu. It took time and a lot of research, but I did.
However, Shisui slowly sat down in front of me, eyes wide open in horror.
"Shisui?"
"The clan...all dead...Itachi..." He took his head in his hands. "Fuck, Itachi and Sasuke!" I averted my eyes to the ground when I felt his on me. "The twins he never...fuck!" I gulped silently.
I...I truly was back in my thirteen year-old body, wasn't I? I...I was in the past, Shisui was still alive and could be saved. Itachi's future could be saved.
It was…
"How is it possible that you..."
"The jutsu, I can only think of that." He nodded swiftly, stood up and pulled me on my feet. He caught me when my legs could not support me. "Sorry, the Sharigan...HA!" I squeaked as I was on his back, his arms under my knees.
"You and your mother are going to Konoha. It's too dangerous to leave you in the wilderness." I bit the inside of my cheek and tensed. The way he was speaking...I was not a fan of it. He must have sensed it because he turned his eyes to me. "Akane, do you trust me?"
"Yes."
"Then trust me when I say I won't fail this time. That you want it or not, I'm in this with you. I don't understand how, and you don't look like you do either, but I'm with you." I leaned my chin on his shoulder and nodded. Then, a slight blush made its way on his cheeks. "And sorry, I've seen one or two encounters you've had with Itachi." I blinked and blushed furiously, knowing what he meant.
"Forget about it?"
"Trust me I'll try," he mumbled to himself.
After two days of traveling, my eyes watered when I spotted the old place we lived in. One of the old places we lived in. Mom came out of the house in the blink of an eye and raised her hand to her mouth when she saw me.
Shisui put me down, as he wanted to carry me on his back and who was I to say no to that kind of proposition, and I stood there, frozen in my spot. Shisui gave me a push and smiled at me in front of my panicked gaze. He body flickered away with his team to give us some space.
When I looked in front of me, I almost had a heart attack at my mother right in front of me. She was frowning though, accentuating the single wrinkle in her forehead. Her bright red hair, slightly darker than Kushina's, was still long and reached her chest, but her gray eyes were staring, making me uncomfortable.
"Honey," she called me and I fought the urge to weep, her voice bringing me so much memories. "What did you do?"
"Wh...what?" She knelt in front of me and caressed my cheek in a motherly way.
"I know it's you, that you are you but your chakra...feels older that it should. There's something more to it...something that reminds me of death." I started sobbing and told her what was going on between my sobs.
She hugged me and listened without a word.
Actually, she sighed at the end.
"Mo...Mom?"
"That idiot, leaving something like that at everybody's sight when...I don't know everything about it, but I know Minato put the pieces together from what he got his hands on. We lost a lot in Uzushio, it would not be surprising if an entire chunk of the jutsu or its aim had been lost too." I snorted loudly and wiped away my tears with the back of my hand.
"So...so what? He didn't use it correctly?" She shrugged.
"I don't know honey, but I know you should not use a jutsu without knowing its side effects."
"So what, my soul being thrown back in time is...is like the Shinigami side effect?"
"Probably, maybe Konoha has..."
"Yes, let's go to Konoha! We have to!"
Knowledge was power. Right now, I was powerful.
If...this was real, I felt like it was surreal but real nonetheless, so I...I had to do something, right?
Change things.
Try to make it better.
Give Shisui and Itachi a future.
Thanks for reading!
