A/N: Hey guys! Just a few notes on Akako's personality. I wanted to create someone who was mature and quiet, confident yet self-aware. I know SasuSaku is canon (and don't get me wrong, I like the pairing), but by the time Naruto ends, she's still so emotionally stunted compared to Sasuke that I gave her up as a bad job. May SasuSaku live on in fanfiction forever XD
Rebirth
Part Two: Growing Up
Chapter 7: Finding Answers
A few days after I passed the chuunin exams, I went to Kakashi to take personal leave. Sasuke, Sango, and Hanemaru were the only others to pass the exam, to no one's surprise. Sango and Hanemaru deserved a break, and I wanted to take the opportunity to scour Earth Country for answers about my family.
"Permission granted," Kakashi said, after he'd listened to me for a few minutes.
Sasuke had come far enough in his physical therapy that I was comfortable leaving him to his own devices. He frowned a little when I told him I was going to leave, but I knew he would not stop me. He understood my motivations.
I guess Kakashi thought thirteen was old enough to leave the village, but not old enough to leave alone, because I had a jounin as my tail. I never saw him, though his chakra was a pleasant shade of brown, like autumn leaves.
It took me a few days to reach Earth Country. As I'd told myself to do long ago, I started at the old hut where I was born. It had been long-abandoned, but the village was still there. I learned from questioning the locals that my mother was originally passing through to visit a friend, presumably to share news of her pregnancy with him. She went into early labor, and Ame was her midwife.
"She had such a striking face," the old man I was speaking to said. "It's not one you could easily forget, and she passed it on to you."
"Thank you, Ojiisan," I said.
I was willing to bet money that he'd been talking about my nose and eyebrows when he'd called my mother's face "striking." My nose is curved sharply at the tip, like a blade that's been bent. Hanemaru had joked one day that my eyebrows looked like fuzzy caterpillars and ended up with his face in the dirt. Sango had begun training with Rock Lee by then and said nothing.
My mother had not left any details about her friend, except that he lived in Iwagakure. I had lived there for ten years and knew that my knowledge of the village was incomplete. Still, I suspected that my mother's friend had been a ninja, as well, so it narrowed down the list of places I had to search somewhat.
Luck was with me. Only a few days into my search, a young boy ran up to me and took me to his uncle, who wished to see me.
"I am glad that you are still alive, Akako-chan," he rasped. "I was distraught when I heard news of your mother's death. She was an old friend of mine."
I learned that Tadao had come from the same village as my mother, Jishin Ishiko, and that they had grown up together. His stories of her had made her come alive. She had been a very loving woman who was as stubborn as the mountains.
"Why didn't the villagers like her, Tadao-ojisan?" I asked.
At this, he sighed.
"Your mother became pregnant with you while on a mission in Konoha. Her family estranged her when she refused to name the father or give you up. You were the most important thing to her, next to being a ninja."
"Who was my father? Why wouldn't she let me become a ninja? Was she good at doton, too? Do I have mednin in my family?" I asked, the questions coming in a rush.
He chucked, a raspy sound, before answering my questions.
I was disappointed to learn that I was the product of a one-night stand, but I was even more disappointed that my mother had not entrusted the name of my father to him. It was likely she had taken the knowledge with her to the grave.
"I believe your mother didn't want you to suffer the same way she had, Akako-chan. Being a part of the Third Shinobi War is a legacy no parent wants to leave with their child. Your mother and I lost countless friends to the conflict, and she only wanted a life of peace for you."
I found it hypocritical that my mother had loved being a ninja so much, yet she had denied me the same choice. And I'd been involved in a war, anyways. My mother's family was skilled in doton but had few healers and no kekkei genkai. After some deliberation, I decided not to visit them. I was an Uchiha now.
Tadao had retired after only a few years as a chuunin, due to a severe bout of illness that would leave him crippled for the rest of his life. I was able to alleviate a bit of his pain, but his lungs were beyond saving.
Before I left, he gave me a photo of him and my mother when they were children, urging me to keep it since he probably didn't have long to live, anyways. I was her spitting image, except for my eyes. They were shaped a bit differently than hers, presumably like my father's.
-paragraph break-
I had been gone a little less than three weeks, which was a shorter amount of time than I'd anticipated. As I continued to travel towards Konoha, I sensed something strange about one of the chakra signatures ahead of me. It was multi-colored, something I'd never seen before, and it was not pulsing in a normal manner.
Stopping, I called out for the first time, "Jounin-san."
At this, my tail appeared in a puff of smoke.
"At your service, Uchiha-san."
I pointed in the direction of the chakra signature.
"Do you sense that?"
"Yes, Uchiha-san."
"Something's not right about that chakra signature," I said, frowning. "Please stay with me, jounin-san."
"Yes, Uchiha-san."
I slowed down to a walk and chatted with him. I learned that my escort's name was Kisuke. He was a nice man in his mid-twenties.
Suddenly, the strange chakra changed direction and started coming towards us at a blinding speed.
"Stay back, Uchiha-san!" Kisuke shouted.
I activated my Sharingan and hid myself underground in seconds. Seconds later, I heard the unknown ninja clash with Kisuke. Up close, the assailant's chakra signature was even more frightening. It was various shades of red, black, and green, and it bubbled and spiked sickly. It took over twenty minutes for Kisuke to kill the attacker, and I could hear snippets of their conversation from my hiding place.
"The girl," the ninja gasped. "She was here. You were with her."
"I'm not telling you anything," Kisuke shot back.
"My master has need of her," the ninja said. He began to giggle, and I felt his chakra flare in response.
"I'll kill you before that happens!"
Eventually, I felt the attacker's chakra die out and re-emerged. I'm not squeamish, but the sight of the ninja's body almost caused me to vomit. Kisuke had literally hacked the guy to pieces. His eyes were ghastly. They were a muddy reddish color with yellow sclera.
"Do you have a scroll we can seal this man into, Kisuke-san?"
"Yes, Uchiha-san."
"I think Sakura-sensei will be interested to know what this guy's made of."
-paragraph break-
We made good time and were able to return to Konoha by nightfall. Sasuke met us at the gates and accompanied us to Hokage Tower. I didn't want him to be present when I gave my report because I knew he'd be worried by the attack on Kisuke and me, but Kakashi let him stay in the room.
"What?"
"We were attacked on the way back to Konoha, Hokage-sama," Kisuke said, repeating my sentence.
"He carried no distinguishing marks, but Kisuke-san killed him and we would like to deliver his body to Sakura-sensei."
"Granted."
After dropping the body off with Sakura, I went to get dinner. Sasuke accompanied me to my favorite okonomiyaki shop, glaring at anyone who looked twice at us.
"Sasuke-nii," I said, sitting down, "why are you so nice to me? You didn't have to come."
He raised an eyebrow as we were handed menus. He handed his back and ordered tea.
When I first met Sasuke, I thought the way he treated me was the way he treated everyone else. As I got to know him better, I saw that he cared very little for other people, barring the other members of Cell Seven and a few others, but he'd known them since childhood.
I had tried rationalizing his behavior towards me several times but found that I could not. He'd let me coddle him for a few days after he'd gotten out of the hospital, but he could hardly stand Sakura's concern. He let me bully him into sleeping in my bed while I took the couch, but Naruto couldn't even get him to try another flavor of ramen. He argued with Kakashi all the time but politely listened to me.
Several minutes passed, and it seemed he was not going to answer me. I felt my ears burn at the impertinence of my question. I decided to ask him about what he'd been doing while I was gone, instead. He gave me one-word responses, and frustrated, I gave up talking to him and instead started shoveling food into my mouth in a way that would have made Naruto proud. He'd passed the jounin exams recently and was one step closer to being Hokage.
As I ate, I studied Sasuke's body language more closely. I took in the tense line of his shoulders and the slight dent between his eyebrows. His head was slightly bowed as he looked at his teacup, and it seemed almost like he was avoiding eye contact with me. In a flash, I understood why Sasuke was not talking to me.
He was embarrassed and uncomfortable.
"What's wrong, Sasuke-nii?" I asked.
"Stop calling me that," he snapped.
"But—"
"You're old enough now, Akako."
"O-okay, Sasuke-san," I responded, feeling confused and honored by his sudden vehemence. For some reason, he was starting to treat me like an adult. Like an equal.
-end of chapter-
A/N: The plot thickens! And so ends the last chapter of Part Two. We're a little over halfway done, folks. In case any of you are wondering just how much younger Akako is compared to Sasuke, that will be revealed in the next chapter.