Title: My Triumph lasted till the Drums
Chapter 4: Of Cathedral Tunes —
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
AN: Where do you see this fic going? Should I continue? I have a lot of good thoughts and ideas.
It had been a while since Nanami's birthday. Her parents had said a sullen goodbye when they returned to fight, as did Tsunade, her master that promised to return safe and teach Nanami as she did her mother. Nanami was a bit saddened by the promise because she wanted to start as quickly as possible. When she told Tsunade her feelings on the matter, she laughed loudly in Nanami's face and explained that she had a lot to learn before she could become her student. Thus, Nanami created a list of things to do before Tsunade returned.
1) Access her chakra
2) Learn chakra control
3) Develop some semblance of fitness
4) Work with and develop her kekki genkai
Nanami wanted to be the best, and to possibly have access to pieces of both the Sharingan and the Byakugan, would greatly further her abilities in fighting and in the medical field. She assumed that in her past life she had been some kind of doctor, she had retained medical terminology among other skills, too specific to have only learned about medicine generally. While that may help her, it doesn't get her out of studying. Anatomy and Physiology were the same in her new world, but he old one didn't have chakra to consider, the worry of poisons and fatal injury in everyday medical practice. The tools here were more archaic, but the development and use of chakra in healing had more than made up for the gap in technology.
In the year and a half since her parents and Tsunade left, she had seen her parents twice, separately, only for a few days while they delivered their intel and rested. During that time, she had been passed back and forth between the Uchiha and Hyuuga, training in both the Uchiha style and Gentle Fist for taijutsu. She wasn't one to complain about the constant transition, nor about the nasty looks the Hyuuga Clan gave her whenever she arrived. She thought that the Hyuuga must not trust the her with their bloodline, and because there was no evidence of Hyuuga lineage, she would not be subjected to their curse mark, nor their clan laws. Needless to say, Nanami preferred spending time and training with the Uchiha.
At the tender age of two and a half she much preferred spending time with Itachi, in fact she began to crave it. They were so far advanced over the other children in the clan that she and Itachi were forced to socialize with. They spoke of subjects kids couldn't understand, and adults avoided. There was no social boundary, neither cared for each other's feelings because they knew that there was nothing that would divide the sacred bond the two shared.
It was conversation like these, that Itachi held dear to his heart. When his mother taught him to read and write, he began to write down the things she said or the meanings she explained in her own perfect words. He didn't write them so he could remember them, he knew he would remember her words forever, but to have something physical, a relic of her to hold onto drove his scribe like tendencies.
Today, Itachi knew he would be recording the conversation they shared as he walked her to the Hyuuga compound. They walked through the streets of Konoha in the cold autumn weather. Rain threatened to fall from the gray sky as the two walked side by side.
"Do you believe in God Nanami?" Itachi asked her.
Nanami, a bit startled by the question looked up at her friend, then back to the path in front of them as they continued walking. "Why do you ask?" she said.
"I've been thinking about it a lot lately," Itachi said. A few days ago he had travelled outside of Konoha with his father, witnessing the casualties and tragedies of the war raging outside of the village walls. He had never understood how truly cruel war was, and now he couldn't stop thinking about it. He hadn't been getting good sleep, and after his brief conversation with the Sannin Orochimaru, Itachi had been questioning what he believed lately.
"What kind of god are you thinking about?" Nanami asked after a bit of deliberation on the subject.
Her response surprised Itachi, "What do you mean?" he asked.
"Well, gods can be different, right? You can believe in one, or many. Are they jealous, human, powerful, generous, forgiving? Is there a requirement for the afterlife, is the afterlife a good place?" she asked him.
Her questions had caused a halt in their progression toward the Hyuuga compound. He looked at her briefly and then closed his eyes in concentration. He hadn't considered this perspective before. What did he think of god?
"I like to believe, I think. I think god is good," Nanami said filling the silence as she stopped walking.
"What do you base that belief on Nanami?" he asked her.
"Well, it's what I believed, before I mean. But I ended up here, not heaven," she said. Though they hadn't talked about it extensively, Itachi was aware that Nanami thought she had retained knowledge from a past life. And, with no evidence to suggest otherwise, Itachi fully believed her, and thought maybe he had as well, though he was not as self-aware as Nanami had been.
"I don't know what I believe," Itachi finally said, "If god is real and good, why is there a war? Why are their people dying?"
Nanami had looked at him and smiled gently, "Maybe he isn't, maybe he is," she said looking away from him, "But, I don't think we should concern ourselves with that Itachi."
"Why do you say that?" he asked.
"From what I remember, religion was the cause of thousands of deaths, several wars, and mass oppression of different subgroups. I think people were very divided when I was alive, like now, but there were more loops to go through. Here there are differences, there is war. Peace and war are fickle. I suggest believing what you want and focus on what you want to change. If religion is why that's fine, but it's not the action you want to focus on right?" she said kindly. "I think that if you believe in god, then you should seek the experience of god, not religion."
Itachi took in what she said. Was that his answer? The 'why' he was looking for to explain what he had experience on the battlefield. No, it wasn't. But Nanami explained religion and god in way that he no longer needed to focus on the why, but on the how, how he would act.
"I get it," he said.
"So, what is more important to you. The village or the individuals in the village?" she asked him as the continued their walk toward the Hyuuga compound.
"The village," he said.
"Why?"
"The village has potential for peace. Without the village then war would be constant, it gives people a reason," he said.
"I guess I am a bit more selfish than you Itachi-chan," she said.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"The individuals are more important to me. If certain people weren't here, I'd leave and follow them," she explained.
"Certain people?"
"Kaa-san, and Itachi-chan of course," she said, looking over at him with that signature, gentle smile on her face.
"I think I'd follow you too Nanami-chan," he said look at her smiling face.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because I'll always protect you."