(A Month Later)
It was night time, Mikoto had decided to take the kids out for dinner in the village. She figured they deserved a special treat for how much they are progressing in ninjutsu. As she first thought, Sasuke was the first to master the fire ball jutsu. Naruto being the second. Sakura being last since fire is her natural opposites. She is a water and lightning type after all.
Mikoto then showed them how to practice moulding their affinities by using a leaf. She demonstrated by channeling fire natured chakra into the lead. Which in turn caused it to ignite and turn into ash. So far Sasuke was able to make a leaf wrinkle. Naruto was able to use his wind nature to split the leaf. Sakura could use her water nature to dampen her leaf. She did struggle with lightning for a bit. But after a few days of practice, the pinkette got it down.
So she taught them one jutsu each of their perspective elements. She was proud that it only took them a week and a half to get them down. While she was happy that Sakura was able to master a jutsu for both of her affinities. She suggested to Sakura to pick one affinity to focus on for now. When she learns 3 of 4 more jutsu for one affinity. Then she could focus on the other. So she chose to focus on water.
Mikoto only taught them C-ranks to start off with. She was going to keep it that way until she felt they could handle stronger techniques.
As of now they were all on their way back to the district. The more time she spent with Sakura and Naruto. The more she wished she could hear them call her 'mom.' These 3 were her babies and nobody could tell her different. As usual Naruto and Sakura were staying the night again. They always slept in Sasuke's room. Not that Mikoto minded. She found it cute if anything.
She and Fugaku still weren't on the best of terms. Even when she had threatened him. The man still had yet to apologize to Sasuke. So Mikoto refused to sleep in the same bed as him. It really didn't matter since she hardly seen him anymore anyways.
"Say Mikoto-sensei so the academy starts next month right?" Sakura asked.
"That's right dear, you three will start the road to your careers pretty soon." Mikoto said.
"Aww but sensei do we have to go? You already taught us everything in their curriculum and more. Way more in fact." Naruto whined.
"I know Naruto-kun, you three are borderlining chunin faster than I expected. But I still want you three to go to the academy. There's no reason why you shouldn't get to enjoy your childhood as much as you can. Plus it gives me a lot more time to train you guys the best I can. Trust me, these next few years will be very useful to your skills. You need that time to excel at fuinjutsu and other arts. Just as Sasuke and Sakura need it for medical ninjutsu. I would prefer that they are full fledged medics before you guys are put into a squad." Mikoto explained.
"FULL FLEDGED MEDICS?!" Sakura and Sasuke screamed.
"Yes full fledged medics. As crazy as it sounds for kids your age. I truly believe you two will be excellent medics by the time you graduate from the academy. Especially at the rate your learning at." Mikoto smiled.
Little did any of them know, Itachi was high on a pole watching them. He was waiting for them to return actually. When he saw his mother turn his head in his direction. He was already out of sight.
"D-Do you really think we could do it kaa-san?" Sasuke asked.
"I know for a fact you can Sasuke-chan. All of you are my precious students and kids. I have nothing but the utmost faith in each of you." Mikoto stated with so much pride laced in her tone. She didn't realize just how much her words meant to her students. All three of them had tears leaking out of their eyes. But they were quickly wiped away so they wouldn't worry their sensei.
When they arrived at the gate entrance to the district. Mikoto instantly felt something was off and she wasn't the only one.
"Uhh sensei how come I can't sense any chakra signatures around here?" Naruto asked.
It was long confirmed that Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke were natural born sensors just like Mikoto. The matriarch figured she must've passed on her ability to Sasuke instead of Itachi.
This is when Mikoto's protective instincts kicked in. Channeling chakra into her nose, she gasped at the amount of blood that was in the air. Oddly it was only one person out of the entire district that she could sense.
She quickly turned around to see her students looking at her with confused expressions. Mikoto looked at them seriously. "I don't know what's going on. But I'm going to go find out. I want you three to stay here until I get back." She told them.
All of them looked at her with wide eyes. "B-but kaa-san-" Sasuke said.
"Damn it Sasuke just listen to what I said! I don't want to risk any of you getting hurt!" She cut him off and ran into the district.
Sakura looked at her best friends. "Guys? What should we do?"
"There's no way in hell I'm staying here while sensei is all by herself! I know she's stronger than all of us combined and much more. But it just doesn't feel right staying here." Naruto replied with determination.
"Well said Naruto. Come on guys we're going after her." Sasuke ran ahead with the other two right behind him.
As they were running, they couldn't help but notice the corpses on the ground. Naruto was used to seeing corpses by now thanks to Kurama. Sakura not only killed her stepfather, but she and Sasuke had asked Mikoto to show them genjutsus of dead bodies and gory injuries to get them used to seeing them. Being future medics only meant they were going to be subjected to sites like this. Mikoto had explained that severe injuries are common on the battlefield.
Mikoto herself had just arrived at her house. She couldn't believe the amount of corpses she ran past. It only took her a few seconds to reach the room the chakra signature was coming from. When she slammed open the door to the room. Her fears were confirmed.
"I-Itachi…" Mikoto muttered.
Itachi had his sword deep within Fugaku's back. He turned around to see his mother was in front of him. "Hello Mother."
Miktoto could not believe what she was seeing. Did he eldest son really kill their whole clan? For what reason? "Itachi what the hell is going on?!" She yelled as tears started falling out of her eyes.
Itachi looked at her with the same stoic look. "I'm sure you can figure it out for yourself Mother."
Just as Mikoto was about to reply. She felt 3 chakra signatures of her students. 'Oh no!' She said internally.
"Kaa-san!" Sasuke yelled.
"Seems like everyone is here." Itachi said.
Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto has all arrived in the room. They were shocked to see Itachi with his sword in Fugaku's back.
"F-Father!" Sasuke cried out. He looked at Itachi. "What are you doing Itachi?!"
"What I'm about to tell you all is SS-class secret. No one but the higher ups know what took place tonight." Itachi said.
"The higher ups?" Mikoto echoed.
Itachi nodded. "Yes, I was ordered to eliminate our clan. None of you knew this but the Uchiha were plotting a coup d'etat against Konoha. Within the last year the clan meetings have been happening a lot more. Discussing our position and treatment in the village. The whole segregation of the Uchiha clan. Father and the elders were growing fed up with the treatment. So they began to plan a way to take over the village. I had only learned that the plans were confirmed when I got back from my last mission from father himself."
"Y-you're lying! Why would father want to betray the leaf!" Sasuke yelled.
"Sasuke!" Mikoto told him.
Sasuke looked at his mother. She had an angry look on her face with tears flowing out of her eyes. "You don't know this but I had my own suspicions of your father and the others within the last several months. I had noticed how much your father was starting to change. He was home a lot less than before. Also more cold than before. It was easy to tell that our clan's arrogance was getting the best of him. So I did my best to focus on you so you wouldn't pick up on his attitude. He was already failing you as a father as it is. I had told Fugaku to apologize to you for saying you were a disappointment to him and our clan. I scared him so bad he almost pissed himself. But in the end he never apologized. So we weren't on the best of terms ever since then. Hell even before then I could tell our marriage was falling apart." Mikoto explained.
Sasuke was stunned by his mother's explanation. He didn't realize that she was protecting him this whole time.
"I see you believe me. However do not blame the hokage for this. He did try to fix things before they got out of hand. But father wouldn't have a meeting with him. Danzo Shimura was the one who gave me a choice. To either side with our clan and risk Sasuke dying. Or side with Konoha and keep Sasuke alive." Itachi said.
Before any of them could respond Itachi showed them a genjutsu that replayed the exact events he told them. From the clan meetings to Danzo's order and the Hokage's regret in agreeing. From the outside world, only 5 seconds had passed.
When it was over, Mikoto had looked at Itachi with more tears falling out of her eyes. "Itachi why did you take this on alone? Why didn't you come to me for help?"
"Because I couldn't let you tarnish your reputation. It would be a huge blow to Konoha politically. Considering how you were the one who was originally supposed to run our clan. But I am glad you all know the truth. Just know this, I was not alone in this massacre. Someone else helped me. He will be a threat in the future, so make sure you all are prepared. From this day forward, I will be marked as a missing nin. Sasuke, you and your friends need to get strong enough to make sure I atone for my crimes. As well make sure Danzo pays for crimes against our clan. And mother I'm sorry but I hope you survive." Itachi moved at high speeds.
Because Mikoto was caught off guard. She only had enough time to step in front of her kids and take the blow head on. She didn't even have enough time to use kawarimi.
Itachi had cut his mother right down the chest. She fell on the ground not moving.
"SENSEI/KAA-SAN!" Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke yelled.
All three of them glared angrily at Itachi. To Itachi's surprise all of their eyes were different. Sasuke had awakened his sharingan. Naruto had red eyes with slits as pupils. Meaning he was using Kurama's chakra. Sakura's eyes were glowing. Making her emerald eyes much brighter than usual. Itachi didn't know it. But she had activated her bloodline partial in her anger.
"Get strong enough to kill me and our other enemies you three. I'm counting on you." Itachi disappeared into a flock of crows.
"Go to hell Itachi! I swear I'm kicking your ass the next time we meet!" Sasuke roared feeling his anger intensifying along with the dread feeling of his mother possibly dying. The amount of trauma he was in caused his chakra to spike. He felt his eyes swirling. From his friends perspective, Sasuke eyes had gained 3 full tomoes in both eyes then morphed into three intersecting ellipses. Sasuke's eyes widened as he felt a rush of chakra invade his body.
"Woah Sasuke your eyes went from a normal sharingan to a similar one sensei has!" Naruto yelled.
"Mangekyo sharingan? Fuck it we don't have that kind of time to focus on it right now!" Sasuke yelled back.
"Naruto! Sasuke! Help me carrying sensei now! We have to get her to a hospital!" Sakura ordered her friends.
The young three children were roof hopping as fast as they could. Thankfully Mikoto had only started bleeding out halfway there. The cut was really deep. It only took them 5 minutes to arrive at the hospital.
When they ran in, Naruto yelled for a doctor. Immediately people brought her a stretcher to lay her down on. The doctors immediately rushed her back to a vacant room to begin emergency surgery.
Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura were all scared of the possibility of losing Mikoto. They felt so helpless that all they could do was watch Itachi strike her down. And not only that, they had no way to help heal her. Deep down inside it lit a fire under them. Their drive to become stronger increased. None of them wanting anything like this to ever happen again. Sasuke and Sakura swore to themselves internally that they were going to become the best medics Konoha has ever produced. Naruto swore he would become a master of fuinjutsu so he could different ways to protect his friend and sensei.
Hiruzen had showed up 30 minutes later. "Naruto-kun, I'm sorry for what has happened. I'm sure Mikoto will make it out fine." The old man tried to comfort Naruto.
The blond heard Kurama growling inside of him. "I swear if that old man doesn't leave. As if he didn't sign off on the order." Kurama said to him.
Naruto himself really didn't feel like being by the old man. He really didn't know how to feel about him at the moment. While he did know the truth. It still stung knowing at the end of the day he signed off on the mission. The Uchiha clan were the clan who treated him the nicest after all. It's no way all of them could've been plotting against the village in his mind.
Kurama was feeling the same anger Naruto was for Mikoto getting hurt. While he wasn't fond of humans. The only ones he swore to himself to protect was Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Mikoto. As far as he was concerned. While Kushina was Naruto's birth mother. Mikoto was his actual mother. She is the one who looks out for him and tries to take care of him.
"Thanks jiji." Naruto whispered.
After saying a few words to Sasuke and Sakura. Hiruzen left. Nobody said any words for awhile. It wasn't until an hour and a half later that Sakura spoke up.
"Naruto, Sasuke is it wrong for me to think of sensei as my mother?" She asked.
Sasuke and Naruto were shocked by her question. It was Sasuke who spoke up after. "Honestly I don't mind it. I would have to be an idiot to not see how you guys adore my mom. She adores you just as much if not more. Whenever you guys don't stay the night. While I do feel lonely and a little sad. It really hits my mom hard. I mean we both still get by with just us two. But it doesn't feel complete until you guys come around. She worries about both of you a lot. The only reason she doesn't worry about me as much is because I'm normally at home with her. She treats us all as if she gave birth to all of us. I've never felt as close to Itachi as I do with you two."
"It's..been a few times where I had to stop myself from calling sensei 'mom.' Ever since she's told me that she was my godmother. She's been the mother I've never had. I never knew what any form of love felt like until I met sensei." Naruto admitted.
"Sounds like we are going to be a family. I'll be the older sister while you two are my younger brothers." Sakura smiled.
"Making Naruto the youngest out of us all." Sasuke smirked.
"Heh that just means I'll be sensei's favorite. The youngest always get favorited." Naruto grinned.
"Dream on Naruto, you know sensei doesn't play favorites with any of us." Sakura smirked.
"That true but Sasuke may be her favorite with him being the biggest momma's boy in history." Naruto teased his best friend.
"Oh shut up Naruto." Sasuke grumbled with a small blush on his face.
They talked for another two hours before a doctor finally walked out towards them.
"I see you three are very eager for the news. Well she'll definitely survive. The cut wasn't as bad as it looked. Knowing the type of kunoichi she is. Once she wakes up all she will need is a full days of rest and she can go back home. I'm sure she will be sore in that area for a couple of days." The doctor explained.
All 3 kids let out a sigh of relief. "Can we go see her?" Sasuke asked.
The doctor nodded. "Of course, we just put her in a room. I don't know exactly when she will wake up. It may be in an hour, a day or several days. But just know she will be fine."
Not a second later, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura rushed off to her room.
(Three Days Later)
Mikoto felt herself waking up. Her vision was blurry and her hearing was working properly. When her vision cleared up she saw flowers on a table. Seemingly gifted to her along with tomatoes, instant ramen and container of umeboshi. All of her kids favorite foods.
Speaking of them, when her hearing cleared up. She heard their voices in the room. Slowly she sat up, feeling minor pain. Her kids were all having a conversation about something. Mikoto was very happy that none of them seemed hurt. A part of her feared that Itachi may have tried to harm them as well.
'Looks like I got lucky.' Mikoto noted to herself.
Paying closer attention to her kids. She heard Sasuke saying.
"For the last time Naruto, we are not having ramen to celebrate when kaa-san wakes up." Sasuke grunted.
"Aww but why? Ramen is the food of the gods!" Naruto tried to convince him.
Sakura sighed. "Because baka how do you know she will want ramen? It's rude for us to choose where she might want to celebrate her recovery."
Naruto didn't have an answer for that. Sakura and Mikoto both beat into his head on what's rude and not rude. "Ok you got me there Sakura-chan. I don't wanna be rude to Mikoto-sensei after everything she's done for me."
Mikoto felt her heart swell at his words.
"Good plus it's not like she won't end up spoiling you anyways. You'll end up at Ichiraku's within the next couple days no doubt." Sakura laughed.
'Damn that girl knows me too well. They all do.' Mikoto thought to herself.
"I'm surprised the doctors haven't tried to kick us out even when we stay hours passed visiting hours. We've probably spent hours total outside of here within the last 3 days." Sasuke chuckled.
Mikoto was stunned to hear that. It warmth her chest immensely knowing how much they cared about her.
"Knowing sensei she wouldn't have spent no more than an hour away from here if it was any of us in her position." Naruto grinned.
"Damn right I wouldn't." Mikoto spoke up finally.
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura all turned their heads to see Mikokto sitting up on the edge of her bed. She was smiling at them.
It took a full five seconds before all three of them ran up to her yelling. "Sensei/kaa-san!"
Mikoto wrapped all of them in a tight group hug. She was a bit sore where she was cut. But she could deal with the pain. This is what she really needed right now. Hearing all three of her children crying for her brought even more tears out of her eyes.
She didn't let go of them until five minutes had passed by. The kids gave her some space.
"Wow I'm so glad you three are ok. I was afraid that Itachi might have harmed you." Mikoto sighed.
"Nah he only told us to make sure we kill him and the others he told us about before he left. We rushed you here right after." Sasuke answered.
"Good, I got really lucky that I survived. Next time I won't be caught like that again. I know you all probably want to talk about what Itachi told us. But it's not safe to talk about it in a public area like this. We'll talk about it later after I'm able to go home. By the way who brought the flowers?" Mikoto asked.
"It was us actually. We bought them from the Yamanaka shop." Sakura answered.
"You three are just the sweetest things." Mikoto cooed.
They talked for a bit. Basically catching Mikoto up on what they've been up to the last 3 days. Sasuke had spoken up again.
"Hey kaa-san, I have something to show you." He said.
"What is it?"
Sasuke closed his eyes and opened them again. He showed her his mangekyo sharingan. Mikoto was stunned beyond belief.
"I-Is that?" She asked.
Sasuke nodded. "Yep it's my mangekyo sharingan. When I saw Itachi strike you down. My sharingan awakened right after that. But when he left, I was feeling really depressed. My eyes then changed into this. I felt a huge surge of chakra when it happened." He shrugged.
Mikoto just stared at him for a bit before shaking her head. "I swear you three are never going to stop surprising me. Awakening your mangekyo is hard enough as it is since not all Uchiha can even unlock their sharingan. That just goes to show how rare it is for one to awaken their mangekyo at all. I don't think there's ever been a child who is not even 9 years old yet has ever awakened their mangekyo. Sasuke-chan you sure are a rarity just like your mother here. You don't know this but your grandfather also had the mangekyo. Before he died, he told me he wanted me to have his eyes so I would never suffer from going blind from overusing my eyes. Your father also had the mangekyo but I never told him I had the eternal mangekyo. I don't think you saw Itachi's eyes but he also has the mangekyo. Now that you do, I'm going to have to train you so you can control your sharingan completely. When you graduate from the academy. We can transplant your father's eyes into yours so you won't have to worry about going blind from overusing the mangekyo sharingan. I would do it sooner but I'd rather wait until your body develops more."
Sasuke nodded. He was a bit intrigued by the fact that his whole family had the advanced stage of the sharingan. He didn't like the fact that he had to get his father's eyes transplanted into his own though.
After awhile, Sasuke decided to go to the bathroom and find a doctor to let them know his mother woke up.
That left Sakura and Naruto with Mikoto who were both a bit nervous as to what was on their minds.
Being their sensei for almost 6 months, Mikoto could instantly tell something was bothering them. "Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan what's wrong?"
"Umm sensei can we tell you something?" Naruto asked.
"Sure you know you two can always talk to me about anything."
"Well me and Naruto for the last few months have been getting really attached to you. As far as I can remember, I never really had a good relationship with my mom. I barely know about my dad since he died when I was really young. You already know how things turned out in the end with my family. But with you it's different. I never really felt this close to my mom like I do with you. Every time I think of the word 'mom' you pop into my head instead of my birth mother." Sakura said.
Naruto continued from there. "Yeah I never knew my parents until a few months ago. While I did learn a lot about them from you and Kurama. I still really don't know them. So it's kinda hard to think of them as my parents. Maybe things will be different when I finally meet them inside of my mindscape. I may form some type of bond with them. Same could be said for my other godmother and my godfather. But sensei it's different when I think about you. You're like the mother I've never had. It's kinda hard for me to stop myself from calling you mom sometimes ya know? Even Kurama said he thinks of you as my real mother."
Mikoto was choked up. She was crying again. Wondering just more was they about to say.
"So sensei we talked about it with Sasuke and we were wondering if you wouldn't mind adopting us?" Sakura asked.
Mikoto pulled them both into a tight hug and sobbed. "Of course I'll adopt you two. I've always felt like you two were my own children."
Naruto and Sakura cried into her shoulders. They spent some time like that. Sasuke did show up until 20 minutes later.
(2 weeks later)
"Come on you three, we're almost there." Mikoto said.
It's been two weeks since the Uchiha Massacre. Word has been spread all throughout the continent about what took place. Mikoto had went to talk to Hiruzen about the incident. Hiruzen apologized to her for what had happened. She waved it off not really caring for his apology. She heard enough of them at the time. They talked about it for awhile and Mikoto let him know that Danzo will be dealt with in the future by her kids. It was nothing Hiruzen could do to change their minds about it. Hiruzen didn't have too many problems with it since it may be better off if Danzo was taken down. He was having his doubts that Danzo got rid of his root organization like Hiruzen told him to. Mikoto did let him know that Sasuke awoken just sharingan but kept his mangekyo to herself. She also said that the CRA was out of the question for both her and Sasuke. Hiruzen agreed considering he knew he owed Mikoto a great deal after this massacre. After all of that Mikoto had taken the adoption papers Hiruzen had gotten for her. Along with a scroll that had Naruto's inheritance inside of it. Sakura was already given the rest of her parents savings a couple months ago. She brought the papers back filled out the next day. Officially becoming the adopted mother of Naruto and Sakura.
They celebrated a lot that night. It was also the night Sakura and Naruto moved in with her and Sasuke officially. Ever since then the kids have taken their training up to the next level. So Mikoto decided to spoil them and be a little lenient about the weapons.
Since they started the academy in two weeks. She figured she could go take them to buy their weapons. They earned it after how hard they've been working.
"And we are here. This is the best weapons shop in all of Konoha. The owner actually is from the land of iron. He's good friends with the Mifune. He sells many top notched material weapons here." She told her kids while they were walking in.
"What's his name again?" Sasuke asked.
Before she could speak up, an older male voice answered Sasuke.
"Well young man my name is Izuru Mashiro. I'm an old man who been around far too long." Old Izuru chuckled.
Mikoto greeted him with a smile. "It's good to see you again Izuru-san."
"Ah little Mikoto-chan, I see you haven't aged a bit ever since you were a kid still to this day. What brings you here?" Izuru asked.
"You still too kind Izuru. But I'm here so my kids can pick out a weapon they want to use. I've been training them for quite some time now. They are about to start the academy soon." She answered.
"Oh? These young whippersnappers look like the academy will be child's play for them. Judging by their aura, you did a good job training them little Mikoto-chan." Izuru complimented.
"Thank you, alright you guys, go look around to see what catches your attention. Remember what I said about some weapons. They can pick you rather you picking them." Mikoto said.
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura scattered across the store. Izuru and Mikoto was talking during that time. Mikoto had told him what they were training in. Izuru decided to help her out and went into his back room. When he came back, he had two big books. Apparently during his travels, he picked up a few things along the way. One was a book full of Uzumaki fuinjutsu notes that he had no chance in understanding. The other one was a book about medical ninjutsu that Tsunade wrote a long time ago. It was the only book Tsunade has ever wrote about medical ninjutsu. The reason why Izuru has kept them for so long is because he didn't know what to do with them since he didn't want to sell them. Now he had the perfect idea of what to do with them.
Naruto ended up picking an adjustable katana. Sakura had a white metal bo staff. Sasuke had the most unique weapon. He had gauntlet blades that had a hidden compartment that lets you shoot small metal arrows from it. With Naruto and Sakura's weapons you can change the length and weight of the weapons by channeling chakra through a certain seal on it. All of their weapons were made from a high grade chakra metal. So they could use chakra to enhance the durability and make their weapon stronger. Mikoto was glad that Naruto's katana was adjustable since she felt that he wasn't big enough to properly handle a full weight and length katana just yet. Soon but not yet.
When the kids learned about their books. They thanked Izuru profusely. The old man even gave them a discount off of everything so it was fairly cheap to pay for.
For the first week of the two weeks. Mikoto helped them break in their new weapons. If they weren't doing that. Then it was taijutsu spars and ninjutsu practice. Naruto felt that pretty soon he was going to be done with the intermediate level of fuinjutsu. He felt like he was going to start making him own basic seals eventually.
The second week was still more weapons training. But Mikoto also focused on training Sasuke's sharingan. They were taking a step at a time with that. Also spent a lot of time doing speed and physical training that week.
By the time it was ready for them to start the academy. Mikoto was damn satisfied with how far her students came. She almost felt bad about how much they outclass every other academy student. Keyword is almost.