Previously in Her Name Was Noriko
Naruto had learned patience from numerous waiting missions, but not that much. So when the Sandaime and the goons from hell and stupid Kakashi came to visit, he had spewed a bunch of stupid information to see how they would react. It was fun and stupid and few answers hit too close to home and he promised himself to be more careful and to act crazy is better than going really crazy and wondered if he even knew the difference anymore.
And so the story continues. Lots of love from KT!
The Container was smiling at him.
Uchiha Itachi is familiar with all kinds of smiles. The proud paternal kind bestowed by his father and other older clansmen. The charming, simpering kind girls tend to give to geniuses. The worried motherly wobble that showed when Mikoto saw him back, alive after a mission, the sweet adoring gaze of his brother, the envious grimace of his peers in age. After all, he had no real peers save perhaps Hatake Kakashi who is now close to his twenties.
He understood the reason for having a guard on the Container, after the… incident at the Academy. People will be more reassured to know there's a twenty-four hour guard on the monster. That he is also there to ensure the safety of Uzumaki Noriko went without saying. No, really, he could have done without the detailed description from Kakashi-sempai on what would happen to him and his family jewels if he were to lapse on his job.
They are at the Hatake residence, and he was now seeing the Container face to face for the first time. Thick black lines scored her cheeks where the thin whisker marks had been. The child was about Sasuke's age, maybe a little younger. It skipped up to Itachi's anbu form and grinned.
"Hi, Itachi!"
Itachi did not quite glare at his sempai. Though Kakashi did looked a little awkward in his jounin garb as he waved his hand at them, "Now, now, Noriko, we've talked about this. No names when an anbu is on duty,"
Noriko points at Itachi's mask, "Itachi,"
For a moment, both men sweat-dropped at the obvious weasel mask. Kakashi then stood up, "Wait here," he told them both and took off.
Noriko blinked her one blue eye at Itachi who stared warily at the patch covering her left eye. He had heard rumours about what is behind that patch and while he is an anbu, and a kickass one at that, he had no intention of provoking a replay of the Incident. Although, he is a little curious about how that fire would measure up against Amateresu…
"Hah! Found it," Kakashi entered the living room with something in his hand. It was an anbu mask. It was Kakashi's Hound mask.
With an inward sigh, Itachi reached for the mask, he supposed it's for the best. Faster than the eye could see, Itachi switched masks in the time it took for Noriko to blink. For a moment, Noriko pouted. Then, grinning unrepentantly, she points at Itachi's new mask.
"Doggy!"
"…"
Who knows what the next moment would bring if Kakashi had not chosen that time to look up suddenly. Itachi, glad of an excuse to ignore the 'Doggy' remark stood at attention. He is an Uchiha and a genius, but this is still the Hatake compound and his former captain is bound to have numerous wards surrounding the place.
"Kakashi-san?"
"Hold up," Kakashi's alert posture slumped back to its slack form, "we have a visitor," and proceeded to walk away from the room leaving Itachi with the… Thing.
"So… what incredible jutsu do you know?" the Thing asked with a grin.
Kami-sama, Sasuke was never this forward, and certainly never towards an anbu member. Perhaps, if he were to raise his killing intent a little, just a little bit…
Small pattering of sounds, loud in a shinobi compound, thundered in. Itachi noticed the smile on the Thing's face became a bit fixed.
"NORIKO-CHAN!" a screech roared through Kakashi's living room. Presently a Pink Thing emerged, with Kakashi at its heels.
Itachi watched with half detachment as Noriko stiffened for a moment before slacking her face into a cheerful grin and turned to greet the Pink Thing.
"Hiya, Sakura-chan,"
"Noriko!" the Pink Thing, presumably 'Sakura-chan' took a flying leap and grabbed Noriko by the neck.
Now, Itachi is all about being professional. Not Uchiha professional, mind you, but good ninja professional. What's the difference you ask? Well, for one thing, a good ninja always listens to his hokage and trust him to make the best decision for the benefit of Konoha. An Uchiha professional would do his best to ensure that EVERYONE knows that he could complete the same job faster, more efficiently and look cool while doing it.
Really, Itachi wondered when the Uchiha clan had degenerated to make 'cool' one of its criteria in mission completion. Keeping to the shadows, he watched the two little girls interact. The pink one, Sakura, had kept her grip on Noriko for a long while, making little sniffling noises and rubbing her head under Noriko's chin. Noriko looked a little uncomfortable, but was obligingly patting Sakura's back, trying to be comforting.
A ninja should not show emotions.
It is disconcerting, to see the heavily marked face contorted in sympathy for the small civilian before it. When Fugaku, the Clan Head had heard about his present duty, the man had thrown a small fit about 'demotions', 'demons' and 'Uchiha'. Then, the idea of swaying the demon to the side of the Uchiha took root, and he was suddenly pleased by the prospect. Enough to praise Itachi for 'obtaining' this mission for the good of the clan, never mind that the Hokage was the one who had given him the duty just yesterday evening. A proper protection detail for the Container would be difficult to form due to various prejudices and the difficulty in policing other people's real thoughts and intentions. So Sarutobi had sent his most trusted and controversial anbu member as a personal body guard for Noriko. While an Anbu's identity is supposed to be a secret, there aren't that many that stood just past four foot tall, not many made anbu at thirteen after all.
Officially, his presence is to deter the Container from causing havoc among the general populace. His actual duty is to observe one Uzumaki Noriko, record any and all unusual statements made by her, and to discourage any and all attempts at intimidating her. The final task was actually for the benefit of the general public. Since, as demonstrated, Noriko is more than well equipped to protect herself and kill when the need arises.
Sakura's sobbing had decreased enough to pull back, and gasped at Noriko's face. Belatedly, Itachi recalled that Noriko had been walking around with her face covered, much like Kakashi. As he watched, Noriko laughed, awkwardly scrubbing the back of her head. For a moment, Sakura wrung her hands in anxiousness, keeping her eyes on her feet.
"I-I'm sorry!" she suddenly burst out, still looking at the floor, "I-I shouldn't have look, I'm sorry!" she seemed near to tears again. Her voice watery and thick.
"Maa, Sakura-chan," Surprisingly, it was Kakashi who intervened, "It's fine," he placed a hand on her head and turned it up, only to frown at Sakura's stubbornly scrunched up eyes, "You can look, you know, it's just a face."
Slowly, carefully, Sakura opened her eyes. There, smiling in front of her with only a quarter of their face hidden (the left eye) were Kakashi-san and Noriko-chan. Tenderly, wobbly, she smiled back.
"You're right. It's just a face,"
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Much to Kakashi's surprise, Noriko was allowed to return to the Academy. He had been quite apprehensive about letting Noriko walk out in the open, let alone getting into a place where she had committed the then murder. It seemed that they did manage to find evidence that pointed towards Touji Mizuki's double dealings with Iwa and Orochimaru. One of Noriko's sing-song statements during their Two-Truths-One-Lie games had led the hokage towards the right direction. Kakashi couldn't quite read Noriko's face when informed that she would be joining Sakura in Suzume-sensei's class, her quiet steps beside him suggested apprehension.
Awkwardly, Kakashi patted the short fuzz, her head barely reached his weapons pouch. "It will be alright, Noriko-chan," he smiled down at her upturn face, this time it was hidden behind a cherry blossom scarf, "Iruka-sensei will be there,"
If anything, her little frown grew.
"I've spoken to him," Kakashi tried to reassure her, "He's worried about you,"
The soft steps stopped abruptly. Kakashi paused as well and looked down. The shadow following them went still. Slowly, carefully, Noriko looked left, then right. Kakashi looked as well. He had not sensed anything amiss, but then, he was not the one with the super precognition mind. Sandaime and Utatane had raided the Konoha library carefully, looking up anything that remotely resembled Noriko's apparent power. Danzo had his own sources of course, and so did Mitokado.
Whenever Kakashi thought of the first time she played that riddle 'game' with them, chills ran down his back. Only the worst type of shinobi would turn against one of their own. Loyalty is bred into their bones, and unless something drastic happen, that loyalty will be held until death. For a society that trades in deceit, half-truths and death, that loyalty is the only stable thing in their world. Even Danzo is loyal to Konoha and would gladly destroy any traitors to her.
Together, they all agreed that it is some kind of predictive power, a potentially useful and deadly weapon against their enemies. There are some arguments about how she may have acquired this 'talent' and how best to weld it to Konoha's best advantage, but there is no doubt that it is a power that must be kept secret from the general populace.
Which is why Kakashi and Itachi, as the elites of Konoha, are now responsible for watching over her and taking note of her behaviour. Not even Itachi knew about the special incentive that had induced the protection detail. How could he when both the details of her parentage as well as her jinchuuriki status were big enough reasons in of themselves to keep a keen eye on her?
Therefore, when Noriko pause her steps in the middle of the road, Kakashi cast a wary eye around them. Is Noriko going to point out another 'traitor'?
"Kakashi-san,"
"Yes, Noriko-chan?" Kakashi crouched before the small person. He had never been accused of being a traitor in his life, not to his face at least. Not even when his father commit seppuku had the hint of betrayal stained his existence. That Noriko so casually questioned his loyalty in a game had rattled him beyond all else, if Sandaime hadn't guessed correctly what was going on…
"Do you like me?" the blue eye was solemn. There was no hint of the overly cheerful persona they had encountered in the dark cells.
Kakashi frowned inwardly, is this another test? When Noriko was at the cell, she had a habit of blurting out the oddest questions at the weirdest time. Whenever they gave a 'wrong' answer, she would immediately clam up and refused to speak until the next day.
"Aa," Kakashi scratched his head awkwardly, how to answer this? "Of course I like you, Noriko-chan," his eyes scrunched up defensively, almost afraid of her reply.
She continued to stare gravely at him.
Kakashi resisted the urge to fidget.
"Do you like me better then Sakura-chan?"
"Of course I like you better," that one was easy, taking a chance he crouched down and ruffled her hair, "You're my Precious Peaches, remember?"
Noriko ducked and squinted her eye, only peering up when Kakashi stop manhandling her short hair.
"Will you always like me better than the Traitor?" she was not looking at him. Instead her eye was tracking the movements of something behind him.
Assuming a casual stance, Kakashi tilted his head just so. The inflexion in her voice was unmistakable, this had to be the 'traitor' she refuses to name. The one she claimed 'Kakashi-sensei' had favoured.
A small hand touched his chin, halting his attempt to look at this 'traitor'. Noriko gazed at him directly, "Will you carry me to school, Kakashi-san?"
"Ah?" that question came out of nowhere, "Eh, what?"
In response, Noriko merely step closer and put her arms around his neck, pressing her cheek against his clothed face. For a while, Kakashi twitched his fingers, not quite sure where to put them. Fortunately his genius mind saved him by providing visuals of how regular civilian parents sometimes held their children. Feeling a little awkward, Kakashi placed one palm against Noriko's bottom, lift her up and braced the other hand against her back. For a moment, Kakashi contemplate the awkwardness of the position, how it exposes his back and kept his hands full, unable to put up a proper defence in case of an attack.
It was a very impractical hold, the piggy back would actually serve better, leaving his hands free for jutsu and hand to hand combat. Kakashi did not swallow. With Noriko so near to his jugular, she would feel it if his adam's apple move. Breathing evenly, Kakashi made his way to the Academy, ignoring the eyes on his back. Perhaps, he thought, this is a test of trust.
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Sandaime hokage watched the retreating back of the Copy-nin through his viewing crystal carefully. Specifically, he was watching the small face that looked just a little bit haunted, and a little bit more shadowed than before. Unnerved, Sarutobi had traced the trajectory of her gaze and was shocked, but yet not shocked to find little Sasuke to be the target of her not-glare.
Noriko had spoken a few times about a 'Traitor' favoured by 'Kakashi-sensei' in a voice that was both vehement and jealous. Sarutobi is sure that she had not intended to reveal that bit of information. However, the child is young and, despite her precognitive ability, not omnipotent. Both brands of jealousy and vehemence were no stranger to him, he had been a teacher once before, and had seen it in spades in Jiraiya when he was young, in hundreds of genin, pre-genin and some chuunin.
Ninjas are human as well. Though many tried to forget it, their true nature eventually get out, for better or worse. And favouritism is but one of the few human traits that reared its head every now and then, giving rise to jealousy and the need to prove oneself and become the 'favourite' of the person in authority.
Thus, Sandaime had concluded (correctly) that Noriko had both been jealous and resentful of the Uchiha child at some point and perhaps against Kakashi as well. He deduced (not so correctly) that Noriko's vision of the future is so realistic that it must have felt like she had actually lived through it and developed all kinds of mental blocks and scarring from it. His first clue was how Noriko's callous statement on Kakashi in her first 'game' with them. Even as a joke, ninjas do not mess around with claims of betrayal. It had been inconsistent with how Noriko had been treating Kakashi, with a cheerful tenderness that defies even Minami's crustiness.
So, either her newly acquired visions had soured her disposition towards the people around her, or that the meeting with Mizuki had triggered her insecurities enough to lash out at those who would harm the village. Her scope of knowledge is also incredibly extensive, going deep into the structures of the village and a little beyond, making Sarutobi believe that her ability to perceive the future goes beyond flashes of visions and closer to actual experience. Her decision to befriend certain people and spurn others also supported this theory. Previous records showed that Noriko had no more contact with Sakura and Iruka then others within the Academy, her decision to warm up to these two persons were also inconsistent with her rather introvert and cautious treatment of other people. Dr. Minami not included.
As he leaned back against his chair, Sarutobi thought about this anomaly and wondered what made the little girl made such an exception with the grumpy doctor. The man was a mean creature and was liked by nobody at all. Yet, Noriko had taken to him of all people. The old hokage took an extra drag from his pipe and leaned back to ponder upon the possible reasons for this behaviour. Noriko is a valuable commodity to Konoha as a weapon and a well spring of information. Thus, it is important for them monitor her behaviour and social interaction as much as they could.
This includes looking into the way she behaves around people and take active measures around people she's uneasy with.
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Their class teacher is Suzume-sensei, a sharp-eyed woman with a strong voice. Naruto recognised her expression, but not her face. His child's memory had lumped all men and women who had ever cursed his existence with the same expression, a writhing mass of people with the same faces. He had recurring nightmares for many years about running away from these people. Where the Uchiha had a face to his nightmares, Naruto had bodies, many bodies seething with resentment, silence and intent. It was this intent that he feared then. The reason why he could jump head first into all kinds of troubling situations was because no matter how much danger was involved, how many enemies. Naruto could count on them being on a grand scheme of things that features mostly themselves and that they are there to kill you because it was a goddamned job that puts ramen on the table that you are the enemy only because you are in the way.
Of course, for people like the Yellow Flash, the Copy Nin and the Sannin, there are people who actually hated them, wanted them dead because. At age five Naruto was too young, psychologically too vulnerable to be hated that way but it happened anyway and he was already damaged when Team 7 was formed and the only undamaged person in the team went out of her way to destroy him further. Only he was too damaged already. It was like taking a spritz bottle to a person already wading in a pool of hatred. Too wet, too long and too cold to know any better.
Naruto knew he is not quite sane anymore. Not really, not when reality comes in and attacked him in an army of Uchiha clones. Clones of sons and daughters of bitches spawned by Kabuto's stolen semen specimen. The Uchiha was no longer human in his mind. Rabid animals with one intent only.
The mask hid his thoughts, but even so he felt Sakura touch Noriko's book and was mildly surprised to see the edge of the paper smouldering a little from his intense thought processes. Naruto blinked once and was gratified to see the fire put itself out. He touched the blackened bit of the paper and thought how ironic it is for him to have the control of fire now when he had envied That Traitor for it those many years. A natural wind affinity from his parents, fire from the tailed beast, with metal and doton element that could be acquired with training as they are naturally available to those born of flesh and blood. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and all that kind of crap.
A smirk edged Noriko's lips.
Who's special now?
It is a good thing the Traitor was not in the classroom. Otherwise Naruto might be tempted to try out his new found element on that bird nest hair.
Class is boring, more so than usual since he actually knew all these information already, he had no idea how really basic, the basics taught at the academy. He never gave much thought about that before, he had struggled so much in class, had always been ten steps behind everyone, or so it had seemed. Always slow always inadequate. School had never given him much in ways of good memories. He had always been struggling, in some ways or other, trying to learn how to control chakra, trying to master elemental chakra, the nature's energy, learning the politics of the village and other powers around them (thank goodness for Gaara), research ways to counter the Sharingan, develop better tracking systems, learn how to send ninja to their deaths with a 'good luck' and 'do your best for the fucking village' in their kami be damned faces.
Then one day, he had just... stopped.
It was his fortieth year as the hokage and one day he just looked around and wondered just who the hell were these people around him and just... walked out. He didn't want to struggle anymore. He felt no hate, no happiness, no amusement. He had no wife no children, no legacy. There had been nothing of himself in Konoha but a bloody big stone face that didn't looked like him anyway. He had been 'The Rokudaime', Naruto was gone. There were no friends to remember him, no enemies to remember the incompetent brat he was before he became something to be feared.
Drinking was a pretty expensive hobby, considering the amount it takes to make him even slightly tipsy, so he had walked instead. Roaming from village to wilderness to towns and to the occasional cities, only stopping to rest when he wanted to, or when the odd Uchiha attacked him. Curiously enough, those red eyed freaks stopped targeting Konoha and started coming after him instead. Perhaps he should have left long ago. There were spats of fights among mercenary ninjas who wish to earn their fortune by coming after the 'Rokudaime'. Even the other kage called him that. The Rokudaime. As if he had sprung out from a rock fully formed as a kage and never made the painful process of growing up, learning, struggling and seeing all his friends dead and gone.
Now he is Noriko, at least that's a name. And the kage of the village is still Sarutobi, the Uchiha clan still exist in konoha and not some incubator system somewhere set up by Orochi-Kabuto-Sakura clone thing. If Itachi ever gets around wiping out the damned clan, he'd make sure it is a real massacre with no loose ends.
Author's Notes
Let me anticipate the questions:
Why did Kakashi let Sakura see his face so easily?
Eh, well, Kakashi wants Noriko to have a relatively normal life. He realized that Sakura felt awkward about Noriko's face and maybe about his face and really, I believed the real reason why Kakashi never lets anyone sees his face in canon is because he enjoys messing with their heads. Here, there is more than his pride and love of poking fun happening around, plus he wanted Noriko's trust. Since Noriko seems to value Sakura, Kakashi decides to imitate her by lowering his mask as well.
Why did Naruto/Noriko dislike 'Kakashi-sensei'?
(SPOILER ALERT!)
I'm working from canon where Kakashi had just been revived by Pein. After overhearing Naruto talking about having met the fourth, Kakashi commented that fathers often had something to say to their sons and that was when Naruto realizes that Kakashi knew who his father was. Naruto had this really stunned and hesitant look on his face that had never appeared before and I chose to interpret this look as betrayal. The catalyst of 'He lied to me! Bastard! How could he-' sort of thinking that would forever change their relationship.
This is an earlier question, but I thought I'd address it here anyway.
How come your female Uchiha have so many different names? Was it a typo mistake?
The female Uchiha all came with different names because Naruto couldn't keep them straight and had been plagued by many, many Uchiha over the years. The names all started with M because, somehow the names with M got stuck in his head. It was a foreshadowing of what Naruto's mental health was like. He couldn't keep anything straight in his head (hence the changing names), but somehow a degree of sanity still remains (which was why despite all the different names, they all started with M). So, it's like he's mostly insane, but still mentally capable of pretending to appear sane.