I speak accents and reply to rhythms.
The winds carried sounds, the street bustled and the birds responded. It was quite a lovely day here in Konoha. As she greeted nearby pedestrians, Sebu Hatake wandered the streets to a small library, it was quaint and Sebu hoped that she could find what she was looking for. After months of begging and pestering her father, he finally got her this extraordinary violin, she first heard it during the spring festival, playing tunes of the lands of lighting, the young child fell in love, and her dreams decided.
But it seems she hasn't thought this through, I mean, her father hadn't thought this through, how was she supposed to play without learning it? There was certainly no one in Konoha that could help her, and so Sebu hoped self-teaching herself wasn't a bad idea, with books of pieces, All hope is not lost.
The girl glimmered as she found a booklet with pieces of musical pages, she just had to figure out how to tune this instrument and the locations of the different keys.
She walked back to her home, the Hatake estate, with a book in hand and determination clear on her visage. As she toed her sandals off, her brother sighed
"Here we go again."
"I'd like to see you try" Retorted the girl with a frown "Of course it's going to be bad at the start, I just started it"
As she walked into her room and tried making sense of the screeching of the strings.
Any sound that didn't sound like a hiss was a success as the young Hatake tried to recreate them. After some time, Kakashi came to her room to examine the instrument, She bet he was bored of waiting for Dad, they weren't really a lot of things to do right now.
He didn't come back for lunch so they just opted to munch on leftover rice,
It was hours into the night that Sakumo came back, he passed a hand through his hair tinted with crimson and let out a sigh, the kids were asleep and it seems like the neighbour had brought them food. Good, they didn't have to see the pitiful state he was in right now, he stumbled into the showers and threw away his dirty garment, he'll deal with them before the sun breaks. He sat on the couch while he processed what happened, most of the people were saved, but Kami does he wished this mission doesn't end up starting something, his mind was clouded with a haze of exhaustion and dread. He just wanted to doze off and sleep for a few days.
After a few weeks, things turned for the worse, he was disgraced for his actions, The Third Shinobi World War that was once simmering reached its boiling point,
"What happened?" His son asked with a raised brow, of course his kids wouldn't be out of the loop of rumours and information that was always circling in Konoha, especially not about him.
"He sacrificed the mission to save his comrades" Sebu chirped while casually sipping her miso soup, "I think the mission was important though"
He should be glad that she answered for him, he thought as he watched the twins get ready for the academy, he hoped that all of this wouldn't affect them and their grades. 'Prodigies' they said, Sakumo smiled to himself, he shouldn't worry, they'd become great ninjas.
"I want to be a violinist!" Sebu had announced during the spring festival, A pang of guilt hit him, it wasn't her fault, His name had valour, though the Hatakes doesn't have a lot of members anymore, Konoha wouldn't let go of the chance to acquire a prodigy, besides being older than Kakashi, she was the upcoming clan head.
Sebu stretched on her seat and yawned as she watched a green-suited child challenge her brother with all the poise that a 6-year-old could have, she winced, which to say wasn't a lot, she pointedly ignored them, instead doodling on her papers and chatting with her friends as they waited for the teacher to arrive.
After an hour-long lecture about functions, they had target practice and then simple sparring.
She did adequately for shuriken and kunai throwing, maybe she'll have to work on her stance a bit more,
But here came her favourite period where 4 to 6 years old were allowed to beat each other up, at least in moderation, the starting years of the academy students were taught how to dodge, block and basic stances, all spar happened slowly and safely, of course, that would be excluding those that had a clan or had previous learning.
Kakashi got paired up with an Inuzuka, no surprises there, the clan is incredibly skilled in Taijutsu, the kid was able to keep up with the son of The White Fang though he did lose in the end
She got paired up with Might Guy, huh, there wasn't anybody else better to try her technique on, the two stood opposite to each other, making the sign of confrontation before their sensei announced 'Start' Sebu scrunched her face in determination as Guy settled in a taijutsu stance, feet slightly bent and apart with his arms spread
Suddenly a wave of killing intent bursts out as Sebu quickly rushed to lunge an attack on her opponent, she could see him tremble a bit as he dodges, she twists her body and kicked him on the back, causing him to fall so that the Hatake could place the ending move.
"Wh-What was that!?" The green-clad child heaved as he pushed himself off the ground
"Sebu wins, though, next time refrain from using killing intent"
"Hai sensei," Sebu conceded as she raised her hands in a sign of reconciliation,
The defeated stood up seeming quite unamused "Is that a jutsu? It shouldn't be allowed" Guy said indignantly
The teacher shook his head and responded "No, it's not a jutsu, please make the sign of reconciliation"
"Fine" He huffed.
As they finished up, Sebu watched as some of the kids stared at her warily, it wasn't enough to outright scare them, the amount of KI was only just at the level of a genin yet she still prided herself in achieving it. She let her smile show and sat down on the worn grass of the training ground, leaning her head on her hand, waiting for the next match.
Sebu walked back home alone, stopping at a teahouse that played beautiful music in which she stayed for the scenery, she didn't think her dad would be picking them up anyway, the sun was falling and she could feel the stares weighing on her back, like a mist of murmurs, they didn't say nice things.
Tou-san greeted her when she came home, the noise of sizzling food being cooked ringed in the kitchen,
"Sorry, I stayed at the teahouse for some time"
"Ah, do you know where Kakashi is?"
"No? Do you want me to look for him?" She asked,
Sakumo huffed, he didn't know why the kids started developing a habit of going everywhere without telling him first, he didn't think others their age would do it. Though he guessed they weren't normal children either.
"Yes, be careful, and next time tell me if you're going somewhere" He exclaimed
"Hai, Hai" The girl answered
"Tou-san's looking for you," The older Hatake remarked as she leaned on the pole of the swings, watching as the other swung, the silver light of the moonlit night shining down onto the playground.
He didn't grace her with a response
Sebu shrugged and sat on the other swing, taking out her trusty instrument and absently stringing it,
"He shouldn't have done it" The boy muttered
"He wasn't supposed to-" Kakashi clenched onto the chains "It's his fault" He finished
They sat there for a while, the chill of the air kissing their skin as the crickets sang. Stringing absently mindlessly and staring at the illustrious fireflies of the night.
"You're being influenced by some dumb rumours" Sebu answered, there was her father and there were a bunch of strangers, was she to believe one over the other? Yes. And It was somebody she trusted "I think we should go back" "It's late"
"Fine"
It was maybe a month or so later, just as winter started to thaw, Sebu was devouring the Katsu curry that she made whiles reading up on her latest homework.
"Hey! Kakashi, I made extra curry, you want some?" She called to the other occupant of the house, no response came, she frowned in thought, Kakashi was acting particularly off, he had skipped classes for 2 days straight and locked himself in his room. She stood up and walked to his front door. Knocked on it and waited for an answer.
"Leave" was the muffled reply from behind the walls
"I'll tell dad on you" Sebu retorted,
Quite suddenly, Kakashi opened the door and looked incredibly distressed, he couldn't be that worried abo tou-san knowing, She narrowed her eyes,
"What's wrong?" She questioned, all sense of once casual concern gone, it was pure worry now,
"What happened?" She tried again
And then it hit her, Tou-san hasn't been home for a while now. He would have told them if he went on a mission
Sebu Hatake ever so slowly put both of her hands on her brother's shoulder, emerald eyes in apprehension, she shook his shoulders slightly, grasping the fabric of his shirt.
"What happened to tou-san?"
Kakashi's eyes looked slightly glazed.
"What happened to tou-san!" She seethed as she shook harder,
"I-I...""What. Happened." The older one pinned him with a narrowed icy stare
"He died"
So, Sebu, slowly exhaling a long breath, let go of the fabric wrinkled in her palms, face perfectly blank with not even surprise showing on her features.
"That's fine." She breathed
"That's alright." She gasped
"That's perfectly fine" She exhaled as she belatedly twisted herself and walked the hallway connecting the bedrooms. Step by step, dull thuds padding the floorboards, she grabbed some paperwork from a nearby drawer. the Hatake put on her sandals, reached for the handle, and closed the front door behind her.
Her walk to TI was monotonous, she couldn't have remembered anything of it. She trudged her way to the Information section of the building.
The place was dark, walls made out of stone and a forgotten potted plant in the corner of the room. In the middle, there was a desk, where a middle-aged woman was manning paperwork.
"Hello" Sebu greeted
The woman looked up in confusion, twisting her head to look right, left and up, then finally looking down.
"Are you lost? This is no place for children." She stated matter the factly
The Hatake twisted her head, looking sideways at the dark-haired worker "No, I'm here to file a deceased report"
"You go to the Uchiha police station for that" She waved Sebu off.
The Hatake only narrowed her eyes and seethed out killing intent,
The lady huffed "Fine, fine, and stop that, you're perturbing the workplace"
The woman led her to a closed office where Sebu had seated herself, The woman's facial expression schooled into a more professional one
"So who is it?" She queried while shifting through a pile of paper,
"Sakumo Hatake, Elite Jonin, though there's a high chance that he's was already reported and classified. I'm here to know what is to come for us, his children"
"Ah," "We will need your identification first"
Sebu passed her birth certificate to the Lady,
"Okay, what's going to happen is you'll be either taken care of in a foster home, be adopted or be placed in an orphanage until you become genin" She explained
"And what if I become genin? I would technically immediately be considered adult" Sebu remarked
"Yes, but do you not have a brother? He'll have to be promoted too, there is still a limitation on the minimum age for taking care of a ward. There is an upcoming test to graduate as genin, we can give you a leeway of about a week"
"What about his deposit account? Will I be able to access it?"
"That depends on his will, even so, you won't be able to access it until you either make chunin or are over the age of 13"
"Let me get a copy of it, just wait here for a second" The woman spoke as she stood up and left,
Sebu didn't enjoy the silence that came after, she didn't want to think, it wasn't her fault that she wasn't home that day, so she turned off all the switches and blanked.
2 people came back instead of 1, her father taught her that it was the clan head of the small Kohaku clan. He had dark blue hair and was quite tall.
"Your father has not written a will but you can access it through inheritance, unfortunately you cannot acquire it as you are not of legal age or chunin, which means that Allen Kohaku will be holding it until you come of age, you don't have any older relatives" She explained
Sebu frowned in distaste "Or I can become the clan head"
"That would disrupt the balance of responsibilities and power between the clans, even if you do manage to become a genin you are still 5 and too weak," Allen spit out, looking equally shocked and reluctant.
Sebu leaned her hand on to the chair as she rebutted "There is no law saying I can't become clan head, I might be young but I am not weak."
"You are an academy student." The man dead panned
"Yet I could still beat you in a spar" Sebu said with a raised voice while standing up
"Your arrogance is exactly why you can't become clan head." The man exclaimed as he slammed his two hands on the table, possibly trying to intimidate her.
Sebu was unperturbed and shot back "Then prove it, I certainly don't think I am arrogant, you'll have beat it in my skull! If I win, I will be the crowned head of the clan, If you win, I step down and you can do as you wish"
A small smile made its way up the Kohaku, it had confidence but also had a hint of approval?
"Fine then, Sebu Hatake, you will graduate as a genin and then beat me in a spar if you wish to be granted the title of Clan Head"
Sebu reciprocated a smile, a challenging one, stubborn and prideful. Kakashi opened the front door and stared as his sister balanced stacks of flailing books and scrolls in her hands, steadying them precariously, he stepped out of the way letting her in,
Sebu skipped removing her sandals in favour of keeping balance, as she slowly made her way to the living room table she called out
"So, do you wish to be in an orphanage or foster cared?"
"No."
"Figured" She responded while dropping the whole stack of paperback in a cacophonous thump, scrolls and books fell out of balance and unfurled onto the ground.
Sebu pointed to the mess with her thumb, "then becoming genin is your only option, and for that, we'll be studying 3 years worth's school material in 1 week"
Kakashi stared in silence, then grabbed a book from the pile and quickly flipped through its contents before throwing himself onto the couch,
"We'll also need to train on water walking, and better our academy stance" Sebu then explained as she walked back to the mat to drop off her shoes.
The next week consisted of them exchanging and writing notes on different topics for 30 minutes, going outside to spar and train for another 10, and repeat. I mean, they still ate...if you considered that eating. Their only interruption is when Guy visited them as he was worried, they haven't gone to the school for a while. She scared him off before he could have challenged her brother. All of the cramming and heedlessness was ridiculously good for ignoring the heavy burden that Sakumo's death weighed on them.
Sebu had found the family heirloom made out of a chakra conductor metal, most likely used by dad for his white chakra. She managed to make it work though it was incredibly chakra extensive. Along with the upcoming exam, she also had a spar to plan and was constantly going over strategies.
In the plethora of disadvantages, there were two advantages: her small size and being underestimated, most fighting styles are meant to combat someone of the same size, which she is decidedly not, she could have access to more openings and dodge things that others normally couldn't, all she had to do is find someone to test it on
Both Kakashi and Sebu had also gone over how to cheat, there was no way that they could succeed without being card sharp,
They were sat at the kitchen table, the other one already too stacked with books and too filled to be seated at.
A drawn blueprint of the files room was their target, the test drafts were stored there and the plan was to get in there, copy it and get out, Sebu would watch for any incoming teacher and Kakashi would sneak into the room to find the papers,
Kakashi sighed and sprayed his arms onto the table, resting his head on his arms. It was an incredibly tiring week,
"Will this work?" The boy asked and so Sebu met his gaze with conviction "It has to, you and me, we'll survive"