"I wanna know – how much does it hurt 'ttebane?"

"Hahaha," Mikoto laughed delicately, "so there IS something you're afraid of, Kushina! Who knew!"

"C'mon, tell me," Kushina insisted, pouting.

"Well, if you insist. The truth is that it varies. Itachi's was a still painful but ultimately easy birth; it was over in less than twenty minutes. Biwako's, on the other hand… it took many hours, and I suffered serious Chakra exhaustion afterwards," Mikoto replied, shuddering at the thought of her daughter's birth.

Itachi and Biwako had gone to sleep, and Fugaku took the opportunity to get frisky.

He was kissing Mikoto's neck when she stopped him, saying, "wait, Fugaku."

"Mm?" Was Fugaku's reply against her throat, making her shiver.

She pushed him away, and Fugaku was giving her a look of mock-betrayal, making her giggle. Mikoto suddenly got serious again and considered how to word what she wanted to say.

Fugaku, bless the man, let her think, though he raised an eyebrow.

Mikoto finally decided to just blurt it out and said, "Fugaku, I don't want to have any more children."

If anything, his eyebrow climbed higher… he sighed and nodded, though, saying, "I get it. Even if something like that is unlikely to ever happen again, the thought is always there. We should take precautions before we go any further."

"Yes," Mikoto admitted, "Biwako is a one-in-several-generations prodigy when it comes to Chakra capacity, maybe even one in a million. Still, I don't want to take the risk. I love my daughter and I'm glad she exists, but I wouldn't be able to survive such an experience twice."

"Tekka is only sixteen, but he is an amazing sensor, though his range is still rather limited. I swore him to secrecy and brought him before Biwako the other day. Do you know what he discovered?" Fugaku said, very serious.

Mikoto's own eyebrows climbed – for all her skill as a kunoichi, she never could get only ONE eyebrow to move; other than his Chakra capacity, that was the only thing she envied in her husband.

Fugaku continued, saying, "he could actually feel her Chakra, and it was extremely potent; he advised that we teach Biwako how to lower the density of her Chakra early on if we want her to learn the Academy Three, or at least the Bunshin no jutsu."

Mikoto's eyes opened wide, but she didn't let out a sound.

"That's not all. Despite her Chakra being inactive," Fugaku said, "her reserves, according to Tekka's estimation, are not completely subpar for an Uchiha entering the Academy."

This time, Mikoto couldn't hold in a gasp. Her daughter… had Academy-worthy reserves?! "But Biwako isn't even three years old!" Mikoto said loudly.

Fugaku nodded. Then, he said, "we need to train her early, Mikoto…."

Mikoto's very soul rebelled against the idea. She said, "you promised. You promised, Fugaku!" A bit hysterically.

Fugaku shook his head. He said, "I am not going to take her to a war-zone, Mikoto. The gods know I am only making that mistake once. I wanted Itachi to know not to take people's lives lightly; I was such a fool," putting a hand on her back and rubbing it in circles.

"Still," Mikoto said, panic leaving her and her breath returning to normal gradually, "training her early… at least tell me you won't enter her in the Academy early."

Fugaku shook his head again. He said, "I will enter her as normal, when she is six, and make it clear she is not to graduate before she is ten years old."

Mikoto wanted to insist on her graduation age being twelve, but considering the circumstances, she compromised – Biwako would be allowed to graduate at eleven. Considering Itachi had recently graduated at seven after only one year in the Academy, eleven was outside the norm for their family; Mikoto herself had graduated when she had been nine, same as Fugaku.

She sighed and changed the subject. Mikoto said, "so, how is the entire situation?"

Fugaku sighed as well. He said, "not good, Mikoto. Danzo has outmaneuvered us completely. I never knew he was such a treasonous bastard."

"So the Third believes him still?" Mikoto said, getting angry despite herself.

Fugaku replied in the affirmative.

Mikoto swore loudly. Then, she said, "not that the Third is a paragon, himself," bitterly.

"Are you certain?" Fugaku simply asked.

"Of course I'm certain!" Mikoto yelled, snapping at her husband. "...Sorry," she said afterwards, "but yes, I am certain that Uzumaki Naruto is also Kushina's child. I don't doubt Namikaze Mito is who she is supposed to be, and nobody said anything about Kushina having twins, but I have no doubt."

Fugaku's expression changed into something impish.

Mikoto knew that expression, so she simply said, "Fugaku, what did you do?"

Fugaku smiled slyly and said, "I may have gotten Tekka to check on two more children."

"That was risky," Mikoto chided him, "he could have gotten caught, and then where would we be? Anyway, what did he find?" She asked, impatience coloring her tone.

Fugaku said, "before that, please promise me you won't fly off the handle."

"Fugaku," Mikoto said, her tone making Fugaku shiver.

"Mikoto," Fugaku said, pointing towards his eyes.

Mikoto checked the nearest mirror, and in her reflection, she saw two active Sharingan, with three tomoe each. She took deep breaths and deactivated her eyes.

That would never have happened when she had been an active-duty ninja. She was getting rusty in her retirement. Fugaku fortunately did not mock her for her slip, regardless of how embarrassing it was for a Jounin-ranked Uchiha, one who had once had better Chakra Control than most medic-nins at that. Hell, she had survived going up against the Third Raikage with only mildly crippling injuries!

The man said, "according to Tekka, the two of them had similar Chakra. But there is more – there were trace amounts of Bijuu Chakra… in Mito, and few to no such traces in Naruto."

Mikoto couldn't believe her ears. She said, "that's-"

Fugaku said, "it's not a certain thing, of course," hurriedly, "it could be a fluke, or it could be that both children were exposed to the Kyuubi's Chakra, and Naruto simply absorbed it more efficiently."

Mikoto paced around the kitchen. She said, "I thought Minato's seal was airtight. Is Tekka really that good of a sensor?"

"Yes," Fugaku replied simply. "Besides," he then said, "only two years or so have passed; the Chakra of a Bijuu lingers long after such a sealing. You know Fuuinjutsu (the Sealing Arts) far better than I do, Mikoto."

Mikoto did. Unbidden, a thought rose within her. She said, "if we are going to teach Biwako from early on, I would like to teach her Fuuinjutsu."

Fugaku fell silent. Then, he said, "the Uzumaki arts, too?"

"Yes," Mikoto said, her resolve solid, "Kushina didn't teach me as much as she did Minato, but I am still more than a fair hand at Fuuinjutsu, especially at the Uchiha Style."

She tried to distract herself, but she couldn't get Naruto out of her thoughts. Would the Third Hokage really fall so low, and if so, why?! Wasn't it enough that he had removed the smile from Fugaku's, and her other clansmen's, face? Did that man have to ruin everything?


Fugaku was studying his daughter carefully. She had just said that she had finished the Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu (Fire Style: (Great) Fireball jutsu). When her first attempt at it had been very much subpar (compared to Itachi), he had thought that it was too early.

'Why would she be ready?' He had thought. Though she possessed more Chakra than twelve-year-old Itachi despite being five years younger, her Chakra Control could easily be too low.

Not that there was a correlation between high reserves and low control, despite what some ninjas (usually first generation) believed, but Mikoto didn't want anyone to teach Biwako Chakra Control exercises yet, and Fugaku wanted to spare his daughter from Chakra density exercises –they could cause Chakra burns, which were extremely painful– so he had agreed.

Still, to claim that she learned the Great Fireball jutsu in four days…? He had thought that she either didn't have enough Control yet, or that she had little to no talent with the Element of Fire like her mother! Possibly both!

The two of them walked to the small lake used specifically for Fire jutsu practice. Biwako went through the hand-seals for the Great Fireball, and what she breathed out was, simply put, magnificent.

Fugaku was dumbstruck by what he saw. When Biwako looked to him for approval, Fugaku was walking away fast, so that his thrilled expression wouldn't be seen. He finally said, "as expected; you are my child, after all."

Biwako's gasp let him know that his words had not gone to waste.

After that, Mikoto started teaching Biwako Fuuinjutsu, ninja theory and how to counter genjutsu, while Fugaku handled the physical conditioning and taijutsu. The two of them split the Chakra Control, though it was Fugaku who handled the Chakra density exercises, with help from Nanako, the recently deceased Shisui's grandmother, who had jumped at the chance for something to do; especially something related to the field of medicine like providing Biwako with specialized burn salves.

As Biwako progressed, Itachi started objecting vehemently, but after Fugaku explained his reasoning, his son ended up stepping aside (eventually)... he even showed Biwako a few tricks. As the rebellion ran closer to execution, Fugaku had less and less time to spare for his youngest, but he always checked on her progress.

For some unknown reason, Biwako thought that she hadn't progressed much in Fuuinjutsu – possibly because she compared herself to Namikaze Mito who, at the age of seven, was already a recognized Sealing expert who sold various kinds of tags to shops all around Konoha.


It was happening again – at least, that was what Tsunade believed.

According to her father, Hashirama and Madara had been best friends once, though her grandfather very seldom spoke of Madara.

Her father had also severely disliked his uncle, Tobirama; even more than he had Madara – he had believed that neither Madara nor Tobirama should have ever been Hokage and that they had both betrayed Hashirama.

Once she had gotten the full story out of Roupu, her father, she hadn't exactly been pleased with Tobirama, either. Tobirama had used what had later come to be called a referendum as an excuse to keep Madara from becoming Hokage twice; the first time, he had pushed for making Hashirama Hokage, which the latter had been unsettled by but ultimately accepted. When the time for Hashirama to make a decision on who was to be Second had been near, Tobirama had, once again, resorted to a referendum… that time, though, Roupu had strongly suspected that Tobirama had rigged the process; it was one of the few points in which her father had fully agreed with Madara, and the point that had been the last straw for Madara, convincing him that defection had been the only way.

When Tobirama had died, Hashirama had taken back the Hokage position; he had tested and taught Hiruzen -Tsunade's future sensei and Tobirama's chosen successor- thoroughly, though obviously not thoroughly enough. It was around that time that Hashirama had been diagnosed with a terminal disease, but he had hung on until Hiruzen had turned twenty-four.

That was Tsunade's original motivation for becoming a medic-nin who would surpass her grandfather: to cure people with the same ailment as Hashirama. When had she forgotten that…? Back to her original thought: Naruto and Biwako. One could almost think that they were the second coming of Hashirama and Madara, but Tsunade knew: they most likely were.

A Senju and an Uchiha, the pinnacle of talent for their respective clans, being at roughly the same power and skill level and becoming friends… them practically being the only ones in said clans was irrelevant. Tsunade could tell that it was no coincidence. That was the main reason why she had decided to teach Biwako too; Tsunade wanted to make sure that Naruto wouldn't have to go through what her grandfather had, so she had gotten to know the Uchiha brat, as she often called the girl.

Thus, Tsunade made sure that Biwako was devoted to her friendship with Tsunade's great-nephew -and new apprentice- and wouldn't turn on him for power or out of insanity. Fortunately, Biwako didn't disappoint so far… at least not completely; her obsession with killing her brother was understandable, though. Fortunately, from what Tsunade could tell, it was slowly giving way to a resolve to get answers from said brother.


Recently, Biwako had gotten into the habit of lifting and channeling Chakra through a particular war fan hidden in the Uchiha Shinobi Library. She faintly remembered a tradition of every male Uchiha who had recently awoken the Sharingan doing the same, but what she did was not related to that.

Simply put, the Gunbai felt strangely familiar to her.

One day, when she was putting her Chakra into the Gunbai, she found herself in a strange place which looked like the bank of a small river. Biwako quickly put herself on guard, but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.

A handsome boy in his mid-teens, with messy black hair and black eyes. He was very familiar.

Biwako said, "Shisui-san!?" Not dropping her guard.

The Shisui look-alike (?) looked at her in bewilderment. He looked a bit younger than the last time she had seen him.

He said, "...Biwako? Is that really you? You look so much older!" Smiling cheerfully.

Biwako activated her Sharingan, but nothing was out of place – she couldn't see through whatever genjutsu this was! She said, "what the hell is this?! You died, didn't you?!"

Shisui's shoulders slumped. He said, "did I now? I only have memories up to the point I touched the Gunbai for the second time and practiced with it, when I was sixteen, then darkness. I somehow know that I'm a kind of clone, not real. Did I die then and there? If not, how old was I when I died?"

Biwako was wary -this could be an attempt to extract information from her through genjutsu- but she still answered, saying, "you were seventeen or eighteen – I'm not sure which. Before you ask, that man -Itachi- killed you."

"What?! No, there's no way!" 'Shisui' said, his eyes wide open.

Biwako told 'Shisui' about what had happened leading up to the so-called Uchiha Clan Downfall, and the slaughter itself.

Shisui seemed angry after that, then contemplative, and said, "Biwako, I wouldn't believe Itachi so easily; I seriously doubt that he was telling you anywhere near the whole truth."

Biwako's shoulders slumped too, and she said, "yeah, I kind of figured that out already. He's a phenomenal liar, and I can't tell what's the truth and what is not, though."

Shisui said, "I'm willing to help you out. I knew Itachi better than anyone else did," smiling again. "Though I wouldn't have guessed he would use such a genjutsu on you, so my knowledge might be outdated," he then said, anger visible on his face again.

Biwako thought it over a bit, then said, "so, you are like a Shadow Clone of Shisui-san?"

"I think so," Shisui said. Then, he twitched, saying, "wait, how do you know about that jutsu?"

Biwako crossed two fingers of each hand in the Clone seal and produced two Shadow Clones.

Shisui's black eyes turned Sharingan red and he examined the clones, saying, "amazing. You can't be older than nine or ten, and you have easily enough Chakra for the Shadow Clone!"

It was obvious that there was something peculiar about that Gunbai. She ignored Shisui's praise and said, "do you remember why you touched that Gunbai?"

Shisui fell silent for a bit, then said, "well, I had just become decent at Wind -my third element- when I got the brilliant idea to channel Wind ninjutsu through the Gunbai! I still don't get why Fugaku-sama scolded me and went to take it away. As soon as he took it from me… well, I ended up here!"

Biwako ignored the fact that Shisui was able to call an idea of his 'brilliant' without a hint of sarcasm and pondered the deepening mystery. "If only there were someone who knew more," Biwako murmured.

It happened suddenly – a man appeared between the two of them.

Biwako was immediately on guard again, same with both her clones, and she could see Shisui was wary, but he also looked much more relaxed than her clones did.

The unknown man had chin-length brown hair, was not exactly tall and his eyebrows were cut short. His eyes were a familiar black, which soon turned Sharingan red, with three tomoe each. His facial expression could be best described as 'blank'; or, at least, Biwako was unable to read it.

"Who are you?" Biwako asked, not having ever seen this man before. Her clones were guarding her, but Shisui still looked suspiciously relaxed.

The man started speaking in an archaic-sounding dialect, but soon enough, he managed to speak normally. He said, "is it not polite to introduce oneself first?"

"I am Uchiha Biwako," Biwako said, something seeming more and more familiar about this man.

"Well met," the man said, "I am Indra," his expression barely changing.

"My name is Shisui, Indra-san. Are you an Uchiha?" Shisui asked, seemingly dropping his guard completely, but Biwako could see from his subtle body language that he was very much ready to act.

Indra turned towards Shisui, looking at him as if he were less than a cockroach, and said, "I am no Uchiha."

Indra might not have had much in the way of ninja training, because he had apparently discounted Shisui as a threat because of his seeming naivete. Biwako noted that the Sharingan on its own wasn't enough; one had to interpret what the Sharingan told them. What did the man mean with his latest comment, though?

"How is that possible?" Biwako asked in turn.

Indra turned back to her and said, "the Uchiha clan came about after my time."

Biwako mulled that over, but Shisui intervened again. He said, "no way! Are you the Uchiha Clan Ancestor?"

Biwako lifted an eyebrow, as if asking Shisui to explain.

Shisui didn't disappoint. He said, "legend has it that the first person to possess the Sharingan was the elder son of the Rikudo Sennin, and was the progenitor of the Uchiha clan. In turn, the younger son, also known as the Senju Clan Ancestor, was the progenitor of the Senju clan and the Uzumaki clan."

Indra seemed… angry at the mention of his family. He said, "indeed; I am who you believe me to be. I am also one who was inspired by my father's Ninshu and made my own version."

"What did you call it?" Biwako asked, though deep down, she already knew.

"I named my skill 'Ninjutsu'," Indra said, obvious pride filling him.

Both Biwako and Shisui -not to mention her clones- were speechless. They were in front of the creator of ninjutsu?!

Then Indra filled them in on the nature of the fan. He said, "this instrument of war that you touched takes Chakra from its users and turns it into a copy of said user, once he or she dies. The copy has memories and skills up to the point of contact with the weapon. If the next user has Chakra which is compatible with this 'Gunbai', he or she is able to meet the copies previously stored. A lot of Chakra is necessary both for a copy to be created and for one to enter the Gunbai's world."

"Is this fan truly that ancient?" Biwako asked, beating Shisui to the punch for his own question.

"That is a story for another time," Indra said, but Biwako could see approval in his face; was her question that smart?


Indra hated a slew of things, but Ashura and his transmigrants were at the top of that list.

This Biwako, his own newest transmigrant, was otherwise flawless in his eyes; her relationship with that boy, Naruto, was a serious black mark against her, though. He intended to plot a way to persuade her to distrust Naruto; Indra was certain that an opportunity would present itself eventually. For the time being, Indra would ingratiate himself with her.

Curiously, a pattern had established itself in the transmigrants of himself and Ashura. Each successive transmigrant was significantly more powerful than the previous one, approaching the original strength of the two brothers, culminating in Madara surpassing Indra once he had assimilated Senju Hashirama's genetic material.

In the same vein, Hashirama at his best had been more powerful and skilled than that fool Ashura, though he could not compete with Ashura with the Six Paths Yang Power included. Indra would strive not to even think of that abominable 'Six Paths Sage Mode', the power that had killed him. According to their father, Hagoromo, it could get even more powerful if the Chakra of the Tailed Beasts were added. Indra had thought of the Six Paths Sage Mode, after all. Oh well….

The pattern seemed to confirm itself in Biwako; she had been born with exceptional reserves of Chakra, had reflexes that even Indra had not possessed the like of at her age, moved faster than any other person her age Indra had encountered, her physical strength was well above par for a female, and she had reached two tomoe in each Sharingan at an age most possessors of his Chakra only managed one each.

The Ashura transmigrant, though, seemed to be different. His reserves of Chakra were barely adequate, though his Bloodline Limit might compensate for that. Nothing else was sub-par where it concerned Senju Naruto except his amount of Chakra, though. Could it be Ashura's 'late bloomer' tendency?

Most likely. That might mean that Senju Naruto would reach near-impossible levels of Chakra once he reached a certain age and skill level; the attributes most affected early-on tended to grow the most in the end.

Madara's copy wished to speak to Biwako, but Indra kept blocking him; the man was too… enthusiastic to allow any interactions with his newest transmigrant; fortunately, this was Madara from long before he had managed to steal Hashirama's genetic material, thus not powerful enough to overcome Indra. This Shisui, though – what threat could he pose to Indra's plans?