Something More
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I hope that you all enjoy the grand finale of Something More. If you're interested, please feel free to check out my other stories.
Chapter Notation: This is set twelve years in the future and will be told from Umiko's perspective.
Chapter 23
Umiko Uchiha smiles as she stands with her classmates for her graduation ceremony. She had finally done it. She had graduated the Mist's Ninja Academy. She was a real ninja now.
"Umiko Uchiha!" Jugo calls out her name and with that, the Uchiha girl proceeds to scurry over to her Uncle Jugo.
At some point, the gentle giant had become an Academy Instructor for the Mist Village. He had finally gotten his rages under control and it turned out that Jugo was very good with children. So becoming an Academy Instructor had been a perfect fit for him.
"I'm here!" The young ninja says with a fang-tastic smile.
"Yes, you are. Well you've earned this." The Taka Member says as he hands her a ninja headband with the Mist Symbol on it.
"Thank you." Umiko whispers as she puts it on.
Suddenly the room burst into applause. Umiko suspected that was because she was the last person to receive their headband. Everyone's name had been called out in alphabetical order and that meant that she had gone last.
That was fine with her though. As far as she was concerned, they were just saving the best for last. That and it meant she could head over to her parents and not wait for more of her classmates' names to be called.
"You're welcome. Why don't you go celebrate with your family?" He suggests.
"Alright!" Umiko agrees with her uncle and not a moment later, Umiko was back at her family's side.
It was a large family now. She was the eldest. Her brother Mangetsu was 10 and the oldest boy. After him, the twins had come. Kazumi and Amaya. They were both 8, but Kazumi had been born five minutes before Amaya. A fact that he never failed to lord over her.
"We're so proud of you." Suki says with a smile as she leans down to kiss her eldest daughter's cheek.
The next generation hadn't stopped there though. Uncle Itachi and Auntie Mei had two children of their own. Both girls. Miya and Mieko. They were both 11. Oh and not to mention there was also Taro.
Taro was Karin's and Naruto's son. He was a few months younger than Umiko, but had graduated with her. The red head greatly resembled his paternal grandfather, except for his hair and the fact he had inherited his father's whisker marks.
"Thanks mom! So does this mean that I get the Samehada now?" She asks hopefully.
"I should have seen that coming. Suigetsu?" The Uchiha Matriarch asks her husband.
Suigetsu smirks and that was when Umiko knew that her father was up to something. Something that was likely going to drive her mother crazy. Judging by the fact that all of the Uchihas were staring at him, it looked like everyone else in her family thought the same thing.
"Of course. She's a big girl now. Big girls need big girl swords." Suigetsu says as he hands Umiko the massive blade.
"There's no way that she's going to be able to hold that! It's way too big!" Taro says.
"I can too!" Umiko grumbles, not particularly caring for the fact that someone had just told her she wasn't capable of doing something.
Her long white hair cascaded around her as she bent over to pick up the massive sword. She grits her sharp teeth and picks it up. Well, she had to use her family's water jutsu to make one arm bigger than the other, but she did it.
"Ha! See?! I told you that I could do it." She says smugly.
"Whoa! That's pretty cool! Does it hurt to make your arm expand like that?" He asks curiously.
Umiko shakes her head. No. It felt fine. Though she knew that she wouldn't be able to do it indefinitely. She was gonna have to train a lot to get strong enough to lug this thing around without getting tired out fast.
"Is the Samehada sparkling?" Kisame asks in disbelief.
That's when Umiko blinks and looks closer. Yeah. It was sparkling. Oh dear God, no! Her father had covered it with pink glitter! She was going to die of embarrassment!
"I told you that our daughter wasn't going to use a pink sword!" Suki hisses at Suigetsu.
"It's not pink. Well not naturally anyway. I figured that it was a nice touch." Suigetsu says smugly as his wife and eldest daughter glower at him in outrage.
"That is such a technicality!" Amaya points out.
Amaya's name meant night rain and she lived up to it. Her hair was black as night and came all the way to her waist. Her eyes were violet like her own and the girl could use Water Jutsus at Chunin Level already. She was likely brushing up against Jonin Level actually.
While Umiko favored silk fighting kimonos, her younger sister favored high collared shirts and shorts. In that respect, she supposed that the sassy Uchiha girl was more of a tomboy than her. Sadly, she was barely proficient with swords. Though her sister could wield kunais better than almost anyone!
"Yes, it is. Since I technically didn't violate the rule, that means I don't get my Chamber Privileges revoked." He says smugly.
Umiko feels her face heat up in embarrassment. Her siblings might be too young to understand what their father meant, but she did. Though she suspected that her eleven year old cousins probably knew too, especially Miya.
Miya was her eldest cousin. Her name meant beauty and that was certainly accurate. The girl's shoulder length hair was the same exotic shade as her mother's and her eyes were smoky gray like her father's. That and much to her twin's chagrin, she loved wearing floral dresses.
"Auntie Suki is still going to be really mad though. So you might lose your Chamber Privileges anyway." Miya points out.
"I doubt that. Auntie Suki loves me too much for that." Suigetsu says as he places a kiss on the Uchiha woman's cheek.
Miya was very bright, but she was also a die hard romantic. The girl had taken to reading Jirayia's books and well she'd gotten a lot of funny ideas in her head about love. She definitely believed in the fairytale type of romance. The kind that included beautiful sunsets, white horses, and Prince Charmings. So yeah, she probably knew about Chamber Privileges.
"You did great!" Naruto tells his son proudly as Umiko was continuing her musings.
"Thanks! So do I get a really cool sword too?" He asks brightly.
'"I've never really used swords much. I could teach you how to summon toads though." Naruto offers.
If any twelve year old could learn how to summon the massive toads, it was probably Taro. Well at least that was Umiko's belief. After all, he had graduated towards the top of the class with her.
His name meant big boy or first son. Umiko had always scoffed at that fact. Auntie Karin and Uncle Naruto weren't the most creative people when it came to naming people, but she couldn't deny that it was an apt description.
"That would be awesome!" The red head exclaims cheerfully.
Taro easily towered over the other boys his age. He was really strong too. Apparently, he had been trained by someone that Naruto called Bushy Brows. Bushy Brows was some Leaf Villager that specialized in Taijutsu and loved spandex too much, according to her mother.
Against opponents who fought with Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, or some combination, the Uzumaki boy was almost unbeatable. Though he was absolutely hopeless against Genjutsu. Umiko figured that he was just naturally susceptible to it due to his trusting nature really.
"Let's go get some ramen!" Naruto suggests happily.
He was from the Leaf Village, but he had transferred to the Mist's Academy. The Leaf might never come out and say this directly, but he was probably going to be Hokage. His parents sent him to a different Academy every year until he graduated.
Umiko was pretty sure that was to make sure that he knew about the Five Great Nations. That he would understand about the different cultures, fighting styles, histories, and so forth. Whether or not the playful youth actually cared about such things, she wasn't sure though.
"I really don't get why you are so obsessed with cheap noodles, but sure. I could eat. Come on, guys." Sugietsu calls out.
That was all it took. The Uchiha and Uzumaki stampede towards the Ramen shop was a sight to behold to put it mildly. Umiko sighs and follows after them with her sword in tow. It was really too heavy to carry and be at the front of the pack at the moment.
"Cousin Umiko, maybe you should just let Uncle Suigetsu carry that thing for awhile." Mieko offers.
"No! I'm fine! I can do it! I got this!" She assures her.
Mieko was the youngest of Itachi's daughters. Her name meant beautiful or blessed child. Like her sister, she had Mei's hair and Itachi's eyes. Unlike her sister, she wore it in a high ponytail that still managed to come to her waist and favored cotton fighting kimonos. Generally, ones that came in darker colors.
"Don't worry about it. If you want, we can train together. Lee taught me lots of Taijutsu stuff. Some weight training will probably be helpful for carrying that thing around." Taro says as he hangs back for a moment until she catches up with him.
"I'd love to train with you!" Umiko says with a shy smile and a few feet ahead, she hears her father groan.
"Suki, did you hear that?" The white haired man demands.
"That he wants to train with her? Yeah. Sure. So?" Suki replies as she walks side by side with her husband.
"Yeah! So?! What's wrong with them training together?!" Naruto growls in outage.
Oh boy. She could tell this was going to get ugly. So could Mangetsu apparently. Her brother was slowly backing away from the impending fight. He wasn't stupid.
In fact, he was the opposite of stupid really. He was a freaking genius when it came to battle strategy and had a photographic memory. That had served him really well on tests. Sometimes she envied her brother's ability to memorize things so easily.
"You're such an idiot. I can't believe that I even have to explain that to you." Suigetsu growls back at him.
"Father, Uncle Naruto, should we really be fighting on Umito's and Taro's graduation day?" Kazumi asks.
Kazumi looked exactly like their father, but younger and with black hair. His name meant Beautiful Peace. Oddly enough, he was the peacemaker of the family. While he had inherited Sugietsu's looks, he certainly hadn't inherited his personality.
The eight year old took after their mother in abilities. His fireballs burned the hottest out of the six of them. Hotter than his brother's, sisters', and cousins. It was incredible. His Ninjutsu was outstanding, but he was a klutz with a sword. (This was much to their father's chagrin, but they had bonded over their shared love of seafood).
"That's right. You really shouldn't be bickering like children in front of the children." Mei chastises them.
"Whatever!" Naruto and Suigetsu both say at once.
As they got to the Ramen Shop, Umito smiles. It was Uncle Obito! He must have delivered the Kuro Twins earlier than expected!
"Ah there you are. Sorry that I missed the ceremony. The labor went on longer than expected. I had to perform a C-Section. By the time I was done, I figured the ceremony would be over. So I figured I'd wait for you all here." Obito explains.
"Ah cool! Are the twins okay? Wait. How'd you know that we'd all be here?" Taro asks in confusion.
"Because I know Naruto Uzumaki. The only thing that he loves almost as much as his family is ramen." Obito replies as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
To be fair, Umito had to agree with her uncle on that one. Naruto really did adore Ramen. That much was obvious.
"How are things going at the hospital?" Suki inquires.
"Well and oh to answer your question, Taro…the twins are fine. I don't know what it is about this village. It has an unusual number of twins. I suspect it might be something in the water." He says with a chuckle.
A long time ago, Uncle Obito and Uncle Itachi hadn't gotten along well at all. Uncle Obito had wanted to trap everyone in some crazy Genjutsu or something. Umiko didn't understand the details, but she supposed that it didn't matter.
Naruto had Talk No Jutsued him out of it. That's what Umiko called it when you were able to turn Bad Guys into Good Guys by talking to them. Talking to them a lot! She wasn't really sure how that worked, but apparently the blonde Hokage was really good at it!
"Yeah. I have kinda wondered about that myself." Kisame says with a smirk.
"Too bad that Jugo couldn't join us, but I guess he's gotta clean up after the ceremony." Naruto says with a laugh.
"Mhm. Most likely." Suki agrees as she orders the food.
Obito was now a medic at the hospital. No only that, he was the head medic. Naruto must have Talk No Jutsued him good because the man often said that he was happier patching people up than tearing into them on the battlefield.
"So Mini Princess, do you really think you can handle my old sword?" Kisame asks.
"I don't think that I can, I know that I can." Umiko retorts.
"Yeah! That's the spirit. You tell Fishface what you can do!" Taro says encouragingly.
Kisame grumbles under his breath about people being unoriginal with nicknames and Umiko just laughs. Poor guy. She supposed that he probably got called that a lot.
"He's a smart boy." Itachi comments to Naruto.
"Thanks! That's nice of you to say." The blonde says happily.
"He already knows the value of finding a woman who isn't afraid of handling a big sword. I'm sure that their children will be beautiful one day." Itachi finishes and Naruto sputters in outrage.
Umiko feels her face burn bright red at her uncle's implications and she notices that she wasn't the only one. Taro was blushing as red as his hair. Good. Well at least she wasn't the only one who was embarrassed.
"I can't believe that you actually said that!" Suigetsu and Naruto thunder at him.
"My husband was merely joking. The children are far too young to worry about such things." Mei says soothingly.
"Exactly. I give it at least another six years or so before they make the both of you grandfathers." Itachi adds.
Thankfully, the rest of their dinner went normally. No more embarrassing comments were heard. Umito figured that had something to do with their mothers' death glares than anything else, but she wasn't going to argue.
"Alright. Let's head home." Suigetsu calls out as they pay the bill and soon after that, they all head off.
A few hours later, Umito wakes up to get a midnight snack. She smiles when she sees her mother was also doing the same. She supposed that they shared that in common. They were both night owls.
"I'll pour another glass of milk and get out some more chocolate chip cookies, if you like." She says and Umito nods eagerly.
As she was watching her mother pour the milk, Umiko bites her lower lip. Well it was now or never, she supposed. It was a rare moment when you were alone with one other person in the Uchiha Household. That's just what happened when you had three brothers and sisters, two cousins, and lots of "aunts" and "uncles." So she should take advantage of it.
"M-Mother, how did you know that Father was the one you wanted to be with?" She manages to stammer out.
Umiko hated herself for stammering. Uchihas didn't stammer! They were supposed to be cooler than that!
"Mmm well it's a very long story." Suki replies in amusement.
"I've got time! It's not like I have class tomorrow!" She says proudly.
She sees her mother chuckle and frowns a bit. Was her mother laughing at her? Nah. Her mother wouldn't laugh at her. She was probably just laughing at a funny memory of her father.
"Mmm I suppose that's true. I told you about what happened to your grandparents and the rest of my side of the family. You know the truth behind the Massacre, but I didn't always. There was a long time when I thought that your uncle was the most evil man alive and I would have done anything to kill him. I was wrong, but I didn't know the truth back then." The dark beauty sighs.
"I know. It's okay, Mother. It's not like you knew. You can't blame yourself for that!" Umito says.
"Thank you, Baby. That's not entirely true though. I should have questioned it. I should have known that my beloved older brother wouldn't turn into a monster overnight, but I didn't question it. I'd like to blame that on my age, but it doesn't really matter. The fact of the matter is that I went off to the Sound to become stronger." Suki continues.
Umiko nods. She knew this part. Well she knew what she assumed was a sanitized version of it, anyway. Umiko suspected that her mother had done a lot of editing to make it "safe" for her and her siblings to listen to, but she digressed.
"I know this part. You said you'd be Orochimaru's Vessel, if he helped you get stronger. Where does Father come in though? I know that he was in the Sound for awhile." Umiko says.
"Yes, I did agree to become his Vessel. Orochimaru was a highly intelligent individual. A genius really, but he had tunnel vision. He actually thought that I was going to give him my body. It's as though he forgot my second goal." Suki observes.
The younger Uchiha woman nods. She knew that when her mother was her age, Suki Uchiha only had two goals. To kill Itachi and to restore her Clan. Thankfully, she had only accomplished one.
"Father says you rescued him from a tank." She adds helpfully.
"Mhm. That's right. I did. After I killed Orochimaru, I realized that I needed a team. I needed a team to take out Itachi. That's why I rescued your father. He was going to be a member of my team and he was for a time." Suki continues on.
Umiko nods encouragingly. This was all fascinating, but it wasn't anything that she didn't know so far. How was this supposed to help her realize, if she liked Taro as a friend or something else?
"What happened?" The white haired girl asks.
"Mmm well a lot of things. As you know, I also rescued Karin and Jugo. We traveled around many places, looking for Itachi. As we were searching for him, your father and I got closer. He was quite…lavish with his affections. At first, I tried to ignore it or told him to wait until Itachi was dead. Your father can be very persuasive though." Suki says with a fond smile.
She wondered, if she would ever smile like that. That was the smile of a woman who was very much in love. Maybe, someday.
"So Father was the one that pursued you? Is that normal? The boy chases the girl?" She asks.
If that was the case, she had nothing to worry about. If Taro liked her, he'd hit on her. She could just sit back and wait to see what she felt like when it happened.
"Mmm well I wouldn't want to stereotype that easily. I'd say that is the case more often than not, but there is nothing wrong with the woman making the first move. Many women do." Suki says with a shrug.
"Oh. Okay." Umiko mumbles, not sure how to feel about that development.
She was all for girls being able to do the same stuff boys did! Umiko could swing a sword better than any boy, really. It was just it would have been easier, if Taro had to make the first move.
"You sound a bit disappointed." Suki muses.
"Oh no! I'm not disappointed! Um you still didn't really say how you knew that father was the one for you." She says in a rush.
The last thing that she needed was for her mother to figure out why she was asking these questions. Her mother probably wouldn't embarrass her, but her father would. Suigetsu would probably terrify Taro!
She loved her dad, but he could be very dramatic sometimes. That and he loved to flash his sharp teeth around. Oh and his swords. He definitely loved waving his swords around. In short, her father could be extremely intimidating when he wanted to be.
"Mmm I'm not sure that there was a precise moment. At first, he was just a means to an end. He was going to help me kill Itachi and I was going to help him get Kisame's sword. Somewhere along the way though, it became something more. I can't imagine my life without him now." She tells her daughter as she kisses her cheek.
"Awe. That's sweet, Princess. I love you too." Suigetsu says and with that, he strides into the kitchen.
"How long have you been spying on our mother-daughter bonding time?" Suki demands as she raises an eyebrow.
To anyone else, Suki Uchiha would have sounded mildly annoyed. Umiko knew the truth though. Her parents were probably going to sneak off together soon.
"Mmm about five minutes. I think it's cute. Oh and since you love me so much, do you think you'll wear that gift I got for you awhile ago? Back before Umiko was born?" He asks slyly.
"That was over a decade ago. You didn't actually keep that thing, did you?" The Uchiha woman asks.
"Of course, I did. I bet that you'll look beautiful in it." He replies with a smirk.
Oh boy. Yeah. That was totally her cue to exit. She needed to make a tactful exit.
"Thanks, mom! Night, dad! I'm going to go get some sleep." She says a she grabs a cookie.
"Night, Baby." Suki and Suigetsu say in unison as they watch their dart prepare to make a tactical retreat.
Umikto nods and decides that was really her cue to leave. It would have been rude to just run off, but now she could. After all, she had said goodnight.
"It's fun embarrassing the kids. Isn't it?" Suigetsu asks as he shows Suki the tiny pink lingerie set.
"Yes, it is. You had better make it worth my while, if you expect me to actually wear that." Suki informs him as she snuggles into his arms.
"Oh trust me, Princess. I'll definitely make it worth your while!" He promises her.
The next day, Umiko heads off to find Taro. Mother had said that women sometimes made the first move. So she supposed that she should get on with it. They were ninjas. Ninjas didn't waste time!
"Hey, Umiko. So what did you want to talk about?" He asks in confusion.
"Well you know how we're friends?" She asks as she shyly fiddles with her sword.
"Yeah. I know. Is everything alright?" The red head inquires with an adorably baffled expression on his face.
That was such a cute expression. She'd never seen anything like it. It was like a confused puppy or something!
"Do you want to be something more than friends?" She asks as shyly brushes her lips against his.
She was new to this whole kissing thing. Though at least her first kiss had been on purpose. She knew that her mother hadn't been so lucky. (Actually, her father was still rather sore at Naruto for "stealing" Suki's first kiss, but she digressed).
His eyes widen and for a moment, Umiko wonders if she did something wrong. Maybe, he didn't like her that way. That or maybe she was a bad kisser. (That would be blasphemy because Uchihas weren't supposed to be bad kissers)!
That's when she feels him shyly kiss back and she mentally sighs in relief. Oh good. So he DID like her then!
"Yeah. I t-think that I'd like that." He says with a smile.
"Good! Me too! Though don't expect me to go easy on you in training." She warns him.
"Funny. I was about to say the same to you." Taro says as he lunges at her playfully.
Umito smiles and dodges. Well that was easier than expected. Her mom really did give the best advice!