Dreams Unbroken Dreams Unbroken
Chapter Two
"Hey, lady! That's my mother's fighting style! Did you meet her on the road somewhere? She's got brown hair and green eyes that look exactly like mine! Please, if you've seen her tell me!" Niji begged. The woman suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind her.
"Never let your guard down. Even for a moment. Or things like this may happen." The woman whispered, her warm breath tickling Niji's ear. Suddenly, the woman spun around and gained enough momentum to kick Niji in the back and send her crashing to the ground, skidding in the dust. Niji then spit out a mouthful of dirt and gave a fierce glare to her opponent. The raven-haired girl leapt to her feet but the hooded woman was already moving her fans into an all-too-familiar position. Niji's eyes widened in horror.
"Secrets of the dragon's wings." The woman whispered softly. Powerful hurricane-force winds blew around the large main road that the two females were fighting on and sent Niji flying backwards into a tree. The raven-haired girl spat out blood and glared at the woman again. The woman put her fans down and sighed, looking bored.
"This is the strength of the Uchiha Clan, then? It's pretty pitiful if you ask an experienced traveler like me. Maybe all those rumors I heard were true and the strength of the Uchihas died with the other members." Something in Niji snapped and she charged forward in the blink of an eye. The traveler fought off all of Niji's attacks but it soon became clear that the woman wasn't going to be able to fight much longer. The woman was tiring too quickly and Niji finally saw a gap in her defenses and exploited it, sending the woman crashing to the ground heavily. The young girl held a kunai dangerously close to the woman's throat.
"It's over. This is the end." Niji panted. The woman was obviously out of breath as well, but she shook her head, laughing. Niji nearly cried out in frustration; the laugh was familiar too! Was everything this woman did going to set off the familiar alert in Niji's brain?
"This may be the end of this story, Niji, but for life, it's just a new beginning." Niji froze in complete shock.
Every story may have it's end, but in life, every end is just a new beginning. Her mother's voice drifted around her head. The woman gently pushed Niji's kunai away from her throat and shakily got to her feet.
"I'm so proud of you, Niji-chan." The woman put her hands on the hood covering her face. "You have grown into such a fine young woman."" She pulled the hood down. She had naturally pale skin and brown hair that blew over one eye. Her bright green eyes were filled with tears of happiness and she smiled softly. "But I'm so sorry that it took me so long to come home." Niji let out a happy sob and rushed forward, hugging the woman around the waist tightly.
"Mommy! You're home! You've finally come home!" Niji looked over at the two guards. "Bokura! Nekura! She's home! She finally came back!" Both Bokura and Nekura openly stared, jaws dropped. Eneko laughed softly and looked at Niji.
"Niji, I need to talk to Tsunade and tell her that I've returned. Do you want to come with me to the hokage's office?" Niji grinned at her and she looked at her daughter, confused.
"You've been gone for far too long, Mom. Tsunade-baa-chan isn't the hokage anymore. Look up at the mountain." She pointed. The sky was getting light in the early morning hours as Eneko looked up at the familiar mountain. She let out a delighted gasp, her hands going to her face as she smiled.
"Naruto! Naruto-kun finally fulfilled his dream!" She yelled, overjoyed. Niji laughed and started walking with her mother to the new hokage's office. Eneko was looking around at everything with a sad expression on her face.
"You alright mom?" Niji asked, concerned. Eneko looked over and smiled at her before pulling her hood back up so that only her eyes couldn't be seen.
"I'm fine, Niji-chan. I've just missed so much… What's been going on while I've been away? I'd like to hear everything at once…" Niji smiled and hugged her mother.
"Naruto became the hokage after he married Hinata. They have two children, an older boy, Koro, and a younger girl Tami. Uncle Sasuke married Aunt Sakura and became the head of the police force. They have four children, their oldest is a boy named Shura, twin girls Tsuki and Mikazuki, and a younger boy named Tai. Grandpa and Grandma are doing really well and Grandpa's still on the police force, but this time, he's under one of his children, which he was very proud of Uncle Sasuke for it." Eneko smiled softly before her face lit up in excitement.
"That brings the Uchiha count to, what, eleven?" She grinned. "We're well on our way to restoring the Clan! We'll bring it back to it's glory…" She smiled. Niji grinned at her and nodded.
"Yeah, oh, and a little while after you left Deidara's old flame came to Konoha from Iwa and he found out that he was a daddy. He has a son that's three years older than me named Misuto. Aria and he are happy, though." Eneko sighed.
"So much has happened in these ten years…" She murmured. Suddenly, her face froze into nervousness and she looked straight at Niji. "Your father… What happened with your father?" She nearly whispered.
"He became a different man after you left, Mommy. He became distant and lost without you to guide him. He doesn't talk much and he won't look me in the eyes because it reminds him too much of you. But that'll all get better now that you're home, won't it Mommy?" She looked up hopefully at Eneko who smiled and brushed the hair out of her daughter's eyes.
"I hope so, Niji-chan, I really do." They slowly made their way up the stairs surrounding the hokage building. Niji looked over at Eneko, who let out a grunt and stopped climbing. "I don't think that I'm going to be able to make it all the way…I've just gotten so weak from countless battles along the way and…" She sighed, not wanting to go into details. Niji grinned.
"I'll help you Mommy. You saved my life twice when I was little, so the least that I could do is help you up a few stairs." Niji grabbed Eneko's arm and slung it over her shoulder, helping her the rest of the way up the stairs. They soon got to the hokage's office and found the door open. Eneko sat down in Naruto's chair, giggling as she thought of his expression when he realized she was alive.
"You want me to go get him for you, Mommy? I bet that I know where he is…" She sighed softly and rubbed the back of her head. Eneko grinned at her.
"Ichiraku ramen. That's where he probably is. I have a strong feeling that his appetite for ramen hasn't lessened since I've been gone. He always did love his ramen, especially when you were watching him and trying to copy his eating style, Niji-chan." Niji grinned and shook her head.
"Nope. Your strong feeling is right. Naruto loves his ramen. I love ramen, but…" She shook her head. Eneko laughed, knowing exactly what she meant. "So you want to wait for him?" About that time, the door was pushed open the rest of the way and an older, much more handsome Naruto came in. Eneko smiled, even though she could tell he didn't recognize her by only half her face. His hair had grown out a little more and he was wearing a cloak similar to his father's only it was black with orange flames instead of white with red.
"Uhm…may I help you?" He asked. Eneko grinned and tossed her old headband at him. He caught it easily and looked at it, seeing the Uchiha symbol engraved in the corner. His eyes widened and he looked at Niji. "How did you get this, Niji?" Niji just grinned at him.
"I didn't get it anywhere, Naruto-sama. She did and she got it from the third hokage." She responded. Naruto's eyes widened even further, and he stared down at the headband again. Then he glared fiercely over at Niji, then at the woman he couldn't recognize.
"This is a sick joke, making fun of the dead like this. Tell me where you got this and I'll think about not killing you, woman." Eneko scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. This just made the Kyuubi-Hokage even more angry and he growled.
"I don't think that you could kill me, Naruto-kun. You never came close to it in training, searching for Itachi all those years ago. How many years…thirteen…fourteen? Darn…I've been gone too long. I feel old." She put her hand on her head and Niji giggled quietly. Naruto growled deeply.
"Stop this foolish game and show me your face, wench." Eneko glared and yanked her hood off, leaping across his desk and holding a kunai to his throat.
"Want to try again with the names you call me, Naruto-kun?" She asked, her voice dangerously low. Naruto looked as if he was about to wet himself and Niji was staring open-mouthed. He got over his shock extremely quickly and laughed nervously, holding his hands in front of him in surrender.
"S-Sorry, Eneko-chan…. I-I didn't realize that was you…" She smiled and then broke into laughter, Niji following suit quickly. Naruto just stared at her and then grinned, giving her a tight hug.
"I'm glad to see you too, Naruto-kun! You have to let me meet your kids sometime, okay? Koro and Tami, right?" She asked, her green eyes alight with excitement. Naruto chuckled before getting serious.
"I need to reinstate you as a Konoha ninja but to do that you've got to take some sort of test." Eneko looked at her fingernails and then grinned up at him.
"What about buying the oh-so great Hokage some ramen, ne, Naruto-kun?" Naruto grinned and nodded.
"I think I can let that work. When?" He asked. "I have a feeling that you need to go see everyone else. Sasuke's got today off as of now, as does Sakura…and Hinata…and…Itachi…and Fugaku…and…aw, screw it. Everyone that you want to talk to has suddenly been called to an important meeting in the hokage's office…. now." He waved his hand around and grinned, writing down a list quickly. "Konohamaru! Can you tell all the people on this list to come here immediately? Tell them it's important and accept no excuses!" He told him. Konohamaru came in the room and grinned.
"Yes sir, boss! I'll be back in a few minutes!" He took the piece of paper and teleported himself out of the room. Eneko laughed.
"Naruto, you've made a great hokage. I'm so proud of you." She smiled. He smiled back.
"Just wait until you see Sasuke. He's the head of the police force." He explained. She smiled softly.
"I know…and I'm proud of him too…do we just wait now?" She asked. He nodded and looked over at Niji as well.
"We all should just wait…they'll be here soon."