Hello~~~ I've been writing as usual and tada! New chapter. This one is probably the longest...ever. There's a lot of background stuff I'm filling in, some local lore and fun facts. :D I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. However, there's less plot movement because I'm planning for what happens next!
They've decided to hold my coming-of-age ceremony right on my birthday.
It's a few weeks from now, and preparations are going…not so well. While it's a pretty common practice to do such a thing on the child's birthday (gives the relatives extra reason to give bigger presents) it's not exactly mandatory. And with the date my birthday is on…
Well, there have been some problems…
For one, it's right smack in the season that is the antithesis of Uchiha-ism.
If you hadn't noticed, these things are kind of important.
I was born on the second month, in deep winter. February, as it would have been called in my old life, but is now called Kisaragi or Kinusaragi. It's the last month of winter, but not the turn of the season. It's the last month of winter, but truthfully, it's the coldest month.
I was born on the coldest month of the year, in one of the coldest winters in the century.
It wasn't that unique—babies are born all the time. And people had been predicting a bad winter the last few years. It just turned out a little colder than they expected.
And that technically shouldn't mean anything, since technically I was conceived in May of the previous year.
That's summer, by the way.
The beginning of summer, to be precise. A pretty popular time for people to get frisky. It's not that hot yet—the last of the cool but sunny days of spring—but as days progress, we turn into the sticky, humid climate that gives Fire Country its name despite its vast greenery.
And then the people will start clamoring for ice instead of sex. Oh well.
So I caught the tail-end of the 'mating season' and ended up one of the few children who were born in winter…
As well as one of only two Uchiha born on that winter. (Yes, yes we do actually have a schedule sort-of for these things)
And the only one who survived.
The other kid didn't have a name.
Why? Because he'd been born weak, as Uchiha born in winter tend to be. And his parents had decided not to name him until he'd lasted a month so as to prevent any unnecessary attachment. There's so much risk of heartbreak in our lives that we do what we can to avoid it.
It's cruel I guess, but death is such a common thing around here that people have developed ways to cope.
Why was I different then? I was named the moment I was born, wasn't I?
That's because I was born healthy. It's a pretty simple reason, but it's why I'd been named and accepted into the Uchiha family the moment my mother laid eyes on me. I was a winter-born Uchiha, in danger of having the flame in me snuffed out even before I could see, but instead of flickering, my chakra had been strong.
My mother told me that she had been worried, but the moment she saw me, all such thoughts ceased. I was born strong, a healthy weight in her arms, and my grip on her finger had been stubborn.
I'm not sure if it was my spiritual chakra from my matured mind or the exceptionally healthy body I'd inherited or a combination of both. Either way, I was very obviously going to survive the winter (as long as they didn't do anything stupid like leave me out in the cold) and so I was given a name.
Midori.
Green.
Because I'd been born in a winter where everything had been covered in white, when green was the colour my mother longed for, and because I'd been born in a place where green was what kept us safe. Green for the forest, green for the Leaf, and green for life so that I would continue to live healthy and strong.
Why isn't the medical sector advanced enough to take care of all these things? You'd think that they'd have enough development that things like being born in winter or weak bodies or basically all the common diseases that'd been cured in my past life would have been taken care of, right?
No.
We're a shinobi village. What the hospital specializes in is wounds, injuries, and basically any battlefield-related harm. And poisons too, because that's almost a standard weapon to us—as widely used as kunai.
Diseases? Bacteria and viruses?
Hah.
In truth, the people here almost never get sick. They hardly catch anything, unless they have really weak bodies or there's a chakra imbalance. Even then, it's usually chakra-sickness which is something of a rarity in and of itself.
The dangers of diseases only really affect civilians. And in Konoha, where 'civilians' have at least Academy student-level chakra…well…let's just say that dying of an illness is something almost unheard of.
(Venereal diseases were a different kettle of fish. But everyone knew you were asking for it when you slept around like that. Karma existed everywhere in every universe.)
So the only threat is to newly born babies who have unstable chakra and need their parents to protect them from harm. Or are born 'out of season'.
You'd think we're animals or something.
It's actually a thing that the big clans are more prone to. Especially ones that have a certain elemental affinity.
The Uchiha is a fire clan, no two ways about it. We're, all of us, primary fire affinity holders. There's no 'outlier' to that—every single child born of at least one Uchiha is aligned with fire. You'd have to wait—at least—seven generations of non-Uchiha marriage before you get a non-fire-primary. Sure, we could have secondary affinities or even an opposite affinity, but we are all Children of Fire.
So what happens when we're born in winter?
Either we're stillborn or we die a few days after or we grow up really, really weak.
OR we survive and bloom because we're really, really strong.
At least, that's how the saying goes.
The ones who survive usually have a minor water affinity or something to balance things. But it hardly happens and bodies with opposite affinities without involving a kekkai are usually chakra-imbalanced, which are in themselves full of problems. It's really important, the five elements. Four main, because lightning doesn't have an opposite and is actually a very widespread kekkai that isn't really a limit anymore.
So I was born in deep winter, and am the only Uchiha who'd survived that hurdle (that year, I mean). It's something of a pain, because mom likes to brag about it a lot. Strength and power is a very big thing in our clan. And of course, it's one of the favourite topics to discuss.
Mom gets the chance to brag about it a lot.
'Incidentally', my dad specializes in wind release, so she thinks that I might have that as a secondary and 'incidentally', our clan's symbol is a fan, so I'm the living definition of their 'fan the flame' motto, making me even more Uchiha than other Uchiha.
Or something.
Bah. Like she hadn't chosen my dad on purpose.
On another (somewhat related) note, even though I thought we follow the traditional Japanese culture in my world, we also have, to my horror, horoscopes.
It's also a pretty common topic.
Yes, yes. Unbelievable. Astronomy is a sub-group of the all-encompassing Fuinjutsu sect, so of course we have a study of it. Yeesh. There's even a kind of 'magazine' that does readings. Although it's on scrolls and you have to buy the weekly issue of it from the same store that sells jutsu scrolls. There are the strangest parallels in my two worlds.
So I'm a Pisces. You know, the twin fish?
If you're wondering why we have the same horoscopes as we do in my old world, well, I have no clue. This world is a mish-mash of different cultures, although the foremost one is still good ol' Japanese, and I've given up assuming things.
Anyway, I'm a Pisces. And Itachi is a Gemini. So we're both 'twin' stars and because of that we're a good match.
Or something.
There's also a whole lot of stuff about me being a water sign and he being an air sign and we being mutable signs and flexible and…stuff.
Itachi, flexible? Pfft…
A whole bunch of bull if you ask me, but my female cousins are all over it. And my aunts. And my grandaunts. And my grandmother. And my great-grandmother and aunts, who surprisingly haven't conked off yet.
Unlike my great-grandfather, but apparently the general concept that women live longer lives than men is true here too.
If you ask the elders, depending on their gender, they'd give different reasons. The male elders say that an Uchiha man is like a forest fire. He has great ambition and ability and thus, he will burn brightly and go out in a blaze of glory. The women, on the other hand, are like the hearth, warm and stable, and burning steadily.
('Cept during that time of the month…)
The female elders just say that the men are short-lived because they're stupid.
(In every world, in every universe, in every time period…some things never change)
So…where was I?
Oh yeah, so there's some controversy about having my coming-of-age ceremony during winter. Not least of all because it's just plain inconvenient. We have to put up lanterns, and with the weather as cold and windy as it is, they'd probably be snuffed out. And my Goukakyu showing would be affected. And all of us would be wearing puffy winter-wear.
Or not, because it'd have to be traditional wear because it's a ceremony, but I'd take the 'modern' version over it any day because…
Well. One word to describe it:
Heavy.
It's basically layers and layers of kimono. Layers made of thick silk. Layers made of thick embroidered silk.
So of course the girls love it. It's a chance to display their wealth (and buy pretty kimono). Unlike summer fashion in my old world, it's winter fashion that shines here.
But…
I have to perform Goukakyu in a kimono. In a winter kimono. In an heirloom winter kimono. In an heirloom winter furisode kimono.
If I so much as singe the long, swinging sleeves that go below my knees, my mom will kill me.
And I have to stand around in the stupid heavy thing, and walk about in stupidly high zori (because I'm still too short for the freaking thing).
Ugh…
At least it isn't pink. It's white. Silver really. With real silver thread. And the designs are plum blossoms with cranes, with a dash of powdery blue. I've got a maru obi to go with it, and it's patterned with bamboo and pines on a deep navy background.
Silver and light blue and navy. Really pretty, but not exactly for the typical five-year-old. Still, winter colours.
But no red, the elders argued. Which is the real Uchiha colour. (Why are they involved in my attire, anyway?)
Bah. How would I wear a bright red with all these cool colours?
I have no clue. I'd probably look like a rainbow. And such a garish colour in winter of all seasons?
The argument gave me a headache, but essentially, it was ruled that the kimono is proper because the colours are in season and no amount of pressure from the elders could change mom's mind on me wearing it.
(Mostly because it really is a beautiful kimono, and the heritage of it lends greater weight. As the focus of the party, you could say that I have to be the belle of the ball, and adding red would dash any chance. Forget it, nobody can make colour clashes like that fashionable.)
The only good thing is that I don't have to wear make-up. Phew. Thank god for my age.
Ughh…So much trouble, all for me to blow a fire ball in public.
Really, they're making a whole festival out of it. The Uchiha shops have already prepared to open stalls in the district center, and everyone is fussing about what to wear, what to buy, and who to go with.
Since when did one five-year-old girl's coming-of-age ceremony turn into a clan-wide party?
Gahh…
Of course, I'm pretty young to come of age, and yes, I'm the Fourth Branch Head's daughter as well as the Clan Heir's fiancée, but still…
So I went and griped to my mom and my aunts and my cousins and Yuri-obaachan who finally took pity on me, pulled me aside and told me that the clan was just looking for a reason to party.
Really? Sigh…
The sneaky elders apparently wanted to host a festival so as to encourage the single Uchiha youths to mingle and basically fall in love. Sure, we've got lots of arranged marriages, but unless it's a political one, it's usually something like the guy likes the girl, so he asks his father to speak to her father and they haggle over the bride price.
Don't worry, it's usually not that steep as long as it's another Uchiha. Funny enough, the Uchiha are pretty tough on outsiders, but within the clan, it's basically like having a bunch of really nosy aunts and uncles. All of whom have watched you grow up and have been planning your wedding since you were born.
And even if the match-up isn't what they expected…well…
Here's a secret:
The Uchiha are all doting parents.
You might not see it from how I describe my mom, but I'm basically her baby. Er…figuratively. On top of the literal one, of course. And if you ask anyone about how Mikoto-sama reacts when someone insults her boys…er…well, we don't talk about that. Nobody's tried since…er…we don't talk about him either.
And that's just the women. Not that we women don't have our brand of scary, but it's still a male-dominated society here, even if kunoichi don't get as much crap as I thought.
Fugaku-sama isn't quite as removed from his emotions as he thinks he is. And I re-emphasize the he, because the only person he's fooling is himself. Everyone knows that you cross his family and you will be praying that Mikoto-sama pounds you into the ground satisfactorily enough that Fugaku-sama will decide not to get involved. But that's a slim hope, and the reach of the Uchiha clan head is long and bladed with the edges of fuuma-shuriken.
We all know that Fugaku-sama is basically responsibility brought to life. He's all about the clan, all about the growth of the clan, all about the prosperity of the Uchiha.
But then Itachi was born.
Truthfully, when Itachi was discovered to be a genius, all the elders were overjoyed. They wanted to train him so that he would be able to utilize his full potential ASAP. And the schedule they proposed…was nothing short of insane.
If I thought that mom pushed me, well…that's nothing compared to what the elders intended for Itachi. The plans they'd written up…
And then Fugaku-sama, who was all about the good of the clan, put his foot down and stomped all over it. Stomped it flat. Stomped it dead.
Deader than dead. The elders may be a bunch of old coots going senile but they are never going to 'forget' and bring it up again.
His son was not going to be brought up as a soldier, his son was not going to be turned into a weapon. Itachi would grow up and be trained as befitting a genius, yes, but he would be allowed at least some measure of freedom.
What ideals Itachi was able to form, the Peace—Heiwa—that he talked about so much, was thanks to Fugaku-sama. If the elders had had their way, those ideals would have been crushed before they could even begin.
Sometimes I think the clan has issues (No…really?). Normally, everyone is like your average relative who dotes and teases on you. But somehow, when certain things happen, they transform into power-hungry, grabby people who don't bother to stop and think of the consequences and the cost on the victim. It's a little like bipolarism, but somehow passed through the blood.
Take my own position in the clan.
I was conceived for the sole reason of taking over Fourth Branch Headship from my mother. And so, I am trained appropriately. Which means daily and at least eight hours with only three five minute breaks in between. With no such thing as weekend off. But mom is also the same person who indulges my dango-binges, who fusses over my clothes wishing that I wore more feminine colours, and also shuts down all talk of specialization training for me.
She's the reason why I can choose what to learn and what to train in. If I think about it, it's a really huge thing. The elders were all for pushing me into focusing on combat-related subjects, when I was still flitting through stealth-training and taijutsu training and asking questions about our clan history. They wanted me to learn all the flashy techniques, and while I did learn some, I also got to learn little bits of fuinjutsu, some different versions of bunshin, and the taijutsu style of my choice.
If the elders had their way, I'd be learning the main Uchiha taijutsu style, which is pretty focused on power and force and offense. It's surprisingly well-suited for the lithe Uchiha men, but for me, it's still too heavy. I'm a child, so naturally I don't have the strength or weight for a power-style, but it's also obvious that my body is just not suited for it. Women usually aren't.
But the elders had tried to insist on it. A genius of the clan should fight with the clan's signature style so as to showcase its might in a fight, never mind that this is my life they're talking about and the risk of using a style one is not suitable with in battle is steep. Apparently, female genii were so few and far between that it had never been a question.
But there are variants of the main style. Unlike the Hyuuga, who are pretty stagnant in development, having focused on refining over and over their famed Jyuuken that hinges solely on the abilities of their Byakugan, the Uchiha are a clan built on change. We copy jutsu from all over and bring it home, and that, above all else, is why the Uchiha are so feared. But because of that, we know that there's no such thing as one-fits-all for jutsu, and we don't have to conform due to resource constraints.
(But that something in our blood overruled the common sense in the elders' brains and I really, really hope that my experience will offset it enough to prevent its manifestation in me.)
So I'm learning the taijutsu style that was created through a cooperation of the first, third and fourth branch. It's a style of intense control but also a style of great flexibility. I fulfill the requirements because I have the fourth branch's vaunted chakra control, but also a big enough pool of chakra not to burn out halfway.
Chakra involved in taijutsu? Of course chakra is involved in taijutsu! You think the Hyuuga are the only people who use chakra in their strikes? Puh-lease.
We are shinobi. We use chakra in everything.
The master who's teaching me is from, oddly enough, the eleventh branch, which specializes in interrogation genjutsu.
It's also known as the branch of sadistic bastards, but Kagatsu-sensei is actually a really nice guy. He always pushes me to my limits, but lets me rest when I'm tired. He's also pretty creative in coming up with new training ideas.
Hm? The style Itachi is learning? Obviously, it's the main one. He's the clan heir after all, he has to know the clan's 'official' style. In a stroke of genetic luck, it suits his body enough not to hinder him. His is a slender body, as all typical Uchiha men have, but it belies the strength of superior breeding as well as years of intensive training.
But he also knows a couple other variants, although he still doesn't have enough control for the fourth branch one or the one I'm learning. It's pretty much the only part I'm winning in. Ugh.
Stupid genius Uchiha with stupid genius brain and stupid genius Sharingan.
He's the youngest Uchiha to have a fully matured Sharingan, by the way. Quite a few of my older cousins are still only on second tomoe.
Oh right, here's something interesting. You know how sometimes the tomoe on each Sharingan can be uneven? Well it's actually a pretty big problem when that happens.
Imagine looking through one fully matured eye and reading the jutsu your opponent is performing, complete with chakra paths and handseals and whatnot. And then the other eye, that can only pick out general chakra, and some of the handseals and still can't see through the A-rank genjutsu that's been used on you.
It's worse than fighting with one eye and dealing with the depth perception problem. It's worse than needing glasses and having one eye that's worse than the other.
It's like fighting cross-eyed.
…Yeah, yeah, yeah Sasuke is a genius for fighting against Haku like that. Of course, he was dealing with another bloodline limit, so the jutsu copying was moot, but when one eye could catch Haku's movements faster than the other…
Eh. I can't even imagine what it looks like.
…Hm?
AHA! I KNEW YOU'D ASK THAT!
HAHAHAHA!
You want to know if I have the Sharingan, don't you? Hehehehe…
The elders have been puzzling over whether or not I've awakened my Sharingan way, way before they sent Shinsui to spy on me. I'm not sure why they think that I'd have awakened it, but it has something to do with the kyuubi incident.
What happened to me during the kyuubi attack?
Ah. Well…
The truth is…
I slept through it.
Don't look at me like that! Basically, I was a year and a few months old when the biju attacked and the only thing I noticed was the sudden saturation of chakra in the air. I think I got a nightmare from the killing intent, but I don't really remember…
So…yeah.
As for the answer to your previous question? Hehehe.
Yes. I have the Sharingan.
What? Stop looking at me with those eyes!
I probably activated my Sharingan when the kyuubi attacked, but I was asleep with my eyes closed so the only thing it memorized was probably the back of my eyelids. It probably turned off sometime after the perceived threat was neutralized.
Yeah, yeah. I'm probably the only Uchiha who has activated their bloodline limit in their sleep.
Chakra drain? It's actually pretty negligible. I think a normal baby might have problems, but I had an abundance of spiritual chakra as well as the capacity I'd inherited from dad so…Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely sure that it happened like that! But when I tried pushing chakra into my eyes like I overheard the Sharingan instructor tell my cousins, I had them.
So yeah.
I have the Sharingan! Hehehe.
Yes, it's fully matured. I actually started out worse than Sasuke, with just one tomoe in each eye, but I think it was better because I didn't have to deal with the uneven tomoe problem. And starting with single tomoe is like starting at the basic level, which means that I had to examine the ins and outs of the first tomoe and as I practiced, the second, and finally the third. It gave me a lot of insight into how the Sharingan worked. And lucky me, they always progressed in pairs.
Poor cousin Yoko…she's been stuck with two and three for a month now.
As to why I haven't told the clan yet…
Honestly?
I just don't want to create a commotion. I've seen the weight Itachi has to bear and it's really no easy feat. I've been able to hold off the elders' expectations with my tantrums as well as my mom's support, but once my Sharingan comes out, the latter would dissolve. I'd become the new Itachi, the third Shisui, and even worse—the first Midori. Because I would be beating their records, just as Itachi had beaten Shisui, and the standards of genius would be ramped up again.
Sharingan is the stage where all training turns into: Look at this and repeat it.
It's simple for the trainer, simple for the trainee, and overall the easier way. But when that happens, they usually skip the explanation part a lot. You don't learn why this jutsu needs to use Hare instead of Snake, you don't need to visualize this and that. Your body does it for you. And you just do it because…because.
After all, you need to learn the chakra shapes to mold when you don't have the Sharingan, but with it, you'll create a perfect emulation every time. So they just need to demonstrate it once correctly, and voila! You learnt a jutsu. Skill +1. Level up.
Basically: You don't need to know how it's done as long as your body knows.
Of course, that's not true for higher ranked jutsu, but for most C-rank and a couple B-ranks?
…Yep. That's probably how Itachi's been blasting through jutsu after jutsu, though I'm sure the little nerd that he is will go back to the library to read up on it later.
That's why I only use it when I'm absolutely sure there's no one around. AKA in bed when it's time to sleep.
…It's fine. I nap pretty often and get away with it because—barely graduated from toddler, here. I'm still dead tired but at least I don't have Itachi or Gaara eyebags.
God, did I mention Itachi's eyebags? They've gotten worse. The kid needs some serious naptime if he ever wants them to go away. I don't think it's in Uchiha genes to get panda-eyes like Gaara has, but he's got sunken and bruised eyes and his skin is awfully dry. I wonder if they've got moisturizer for that—he sure looks like he needs some.
I guess things haven't been going well lately. I'm a little surprised that tension is increasing so early, but Hinata just got kidnapped and saved and Neji's father is probably on his way to Kumo in a casket. Some of the clan members acted real smug that the Hyuuga messed up and the elders are being brutally cold about it all. They're debating all the political ramifications of the Hyuuga Head's own twin brother being sacrificed as well as news of Neji's prodigious talent as competition for the genius title. It's almost come to the stage where they're discussing 'accidents' happening!
I'm not sure how Hinata's doing in all of this, but her mother's still alive so I'm guessing it's not too bad yet. It's none of my business though, seeing as she turns out just fine in the future. Of course, this is with only a branch member threatening her position, and not a younger, more talented member of the main family.
I'm still not sure how Hanabi remained a main family member, seeing as Hizashi was given the Caged Bird Seal, but hey, politics are weird. Clan politics even worse, especially when you're basically quarrelling with your family and the closer they are, the harder they hit.
In any case, the whole thing with the kidnapping sparked some outrage at the way Konoha handled things. On a purely logical basis, Konoha isn't exactly in the position to pick a fight with Kumo, what with it still on the road to recovery from the war, the kyuubi incident, and the still ongoing skirmishes with Iwa. They'd just managed to secure a ceasefire with Kumo, after all. Picking up the fight on that front while still having to deal with Iwa would be just what Kumo would want.
But logic isn't exactly the ruling mindset in every person's minds. There's a lot of pride attached to the Konoha name, and the Uchiha played a crucial part in the founding. The Hyuuga were there in the early stages too, so they've got almost as much of a stake in the village as we do. And even if they didn't, the loss of face from having to deliver one of their own on a silver platter to the kekkai-hungry Kumo was galling enough. Hyuuga Hizashi was branch, but he'd been one of their jounin members as well as their head's brother—in some ways, he was almost a main family member.
So far, the shinobi clans of Konoha have managed to keep their kekkai or clan jutsu safe—no mean feat in this world of subterfuge. Part of it was due to basic genetics—it wasn't until recently that iryojutsu had progressed enough to allow transplants. Another part was luck. And yet another part was certain countermeasures like the Cage Bird Seal.
Strangely, the clan has not had a problem of bloodline-theft despite the lack of seals or other measures. The Sharingan is the kekkai genkai, being the only limit that copies another's techniques. Kumo salivating over the Byakugan was nothing compared to what they'd do to secure the Sharingan. Again, some of the younger clan members were a little offended that they'd tried to target the Hyuuga instead of us.
If you ask me, it was just convenience.
One of the reasons why our clan is just a tad resentful of Konoha's Senju is because of the segregation. Sure, we're a clan and we live together, but if you compare the relative distance between the Hokage tower and say, the Ino-Shika-Chou compounds, it'd be obvious that we're much, much further away. For the Kumo-nin to get to our district, he'd have to sneak past quite a few guards as well as figure out how to escape without having to run through the whole village.
Another interesting point: The Hyuuga compound is pretty close to the official village exit.
I guess it's more convenient for those who take a lot of missions outside the village, which the Hyuuga usually do. Most of them make up search and destroy teams, or retrieval teams, or even tracking teams. Many a hunter-nin squad has at least one Hyuuga scout. Of course, almost every squad also has an Inuzuka. The Inuzuka compound is surprisingly close to the Hyuuga estate despite their extreme differences in attitudes, and their relations are also rather cordial. No Hyuuga would ever marry an Inuzuka and vice versa, but they got along much better than would be suspected.
Other inter-clan relations are also pretty interesting. The Aburame do not actually get along with the Inuzuka or Hyuuga, so team 8 was probably a pretty controversial sorting. To the Inuzuka, the constant buzzing of the Aburame bugs are irritating and some of the species they use are almost anathema to them. There is a certain blind beetle that the Aburame use for cave explorations that emits a very high pitched cricking that is the exact pitch of a dog whistle. There have been many mix-ups due to it, and a few incidences where the Inuzuka dogs have actually attacked the bug-user which is the usual response to the combination of familiar sound, unfamiliar scent. There was some serious talk about demanding proper reparations then, but luckily the fourth Hokage managed to intercede on their behalf and the Aburame compound was moved far, far away from the Inuzuka compound.
The Hyuuga? Ah.
Did you know that some of the Aburame specialists are actually blind? This is because the bugs they have decided to house actually live in the chakra veins that funnel to the eye. They are truly blind, and no, they cannot see out of the bugs' eyes. To make up for that, they 'inherit' the extreme chakra sensitivity that is the bugs' natural defense, and thus are some of the most respected Aburame trackers in Konoha.
Of course, to the clans who prize their doujutsu…it's a little hard to accept someone who willingly gives up their sight. However, this is where the Hyuuga and the Uchiha differ. It is actually thanks to the Mangekyo Sharingan that we are more accepting of blindness than the Hyuuga, because we have developed ways to make up for the deficit whenever someone reaches the end of their Mangekyo. True, not a lot of us make the choice to continue on the path, but enough have done so that we see it as an honourable sacrifice than a waste. There are some abilities that are worth losing one's senses for, though plenty of us are still split about what constitutes the 'right' choice. But we know enough to respect the choice when it is made.
So…I guess in some ways we are less blind than the Hyuuga, even if we can't see 360 degrees and through walls.
But back to the previous topic, the elders are becoming increasingly discontent with the way Konoha continues to segregate us. The Niidaime Hokage was very much biased against us, and thus formed the Konoha Police Force in order to keep us behind walls. But he honestly didn't think that we didn't realize that, did he? We merely went along with it because we were just as sincere in our wish to form a Hidden Village.
Konoha is actually a very young Hidden Village, what with so many of the founding generation or people who know them alive. The other Villages may officially be young, but their roots are old and can be traced back to when the only 'villages' were clans of blood-only relations. Mist, for example, started out as several small villages of traditional shinobi families who had adapted to the perpetually wet terrain and swamps. Then came a terrific tsunami that threatened to upend the lot of them, and the heads of each family came together and decided to work together to keep all of them safe. Eventually, intermarriages began to happen on top of the official treaty, and all of them gradually dissolved into one big, bloodthirsty, happy family.
Forget the missing-nin. The truly formidable Mist-nin are the ones who stuck it out in that place and flourished. The abundance of water-related Kekkai is also one of the scariest things about Mist. When you live in a place that's out to kill you, you either adapt…or die. Zabuza was an exception, seeing as he left due to a failed coup, but the Mist-nin we typically see are the dregs. And forget the ones in the chuunin exam—the bloody Mist doesn't trust other villages enough to send their strongest genin. Those were probably fodder.
Either that or the Mist village in Naruto's time has been severely weakened by the purging of bloodlines.
Something to look forward to in the future, I suppose. Unlike the current storm brewing in our midst.
So...we learn some things that Naruto probably slept through during class! Or maybe not...information is a pretty controlled thing even in 'nice' Konoha...I didn't go over this chapter with as fine-toothed a comb, so if you spot any discrepancies or confusing phrases or just plain grammar mistakes (*gasp* surely not!) please do let me know. :D
Yurgh...this is what happens when I write after not reading Naruto for so long! All Rain village and Rain-nin mistakes have been converted to Mist! Thank you very much to the 5 people who immediately notified me! LOL.
A few people wonder what will happen with Midori if/when she survives the Uchiha Massacre. :D Some people kinda want her to survive just so she has to deal with the crap she's been avoiding all this time as well as the Decisions with capital D she has to make. XDD Eh well. Most of the massacre itself has been written, I'll give you that. Just some more fine-tuning of the bits leading up to it, and putting Midori where she'll cause the most destruction/run around cackling madly.
Memory25