I do not own Naruto as a game, Manga, Anime series or a character. All original characters are mine though :P
Hi no Ishi (The will of Fire) - Five Ninja Academy Students
It's been a week since the Ninja-tag games. Class is back in full swing. However, it seems that certain students are holding back some painful secrets. What are they hiding? And why?
All underlined terms are explained at the end of the chapter.
~Flashback Chapter~
~Narrator's POV~
~Round One~
The weather was gorgeous that day. Simply gorgeous. Not a cloud in the sky, not too hot, yet not too cold either; even with the mid-afternoon heat.
Yet there was a young blond rushing from rooftop to rooftop, clearly in a rush to get to where she was going. Her face, though obviously young -no more than ten years old- was an odd mixture of barely contained rage and unfathomable worry.
Not even an hour earlier, said blond was told to keep an eye on her little brother and -more specifically- a certain carefree redhead. A single, straightforward order that was to be adhered to no matter what...
'Tou-chan never says 'no matter what'! Something is wrong... very, very wrong!' Tatsuko thought. 'He should have brought back up if the situation was that bad! What kind of strategist goes into battle head first without thinking of his own safety!' Somehow, the irony of her owns thoughts didn't even occur to her.
She didn't exactly know where she was going. She just knew that her Tou-chan's chakra signature was straight ahead; and that's all she needed to know. So even after Konoha proper disappeared through the thick woodland, she didn't once think of turning back.
'I've already lost too much... I'm not losing you too.' What more needed saying? Or thinking? So she kept going. Tree after tree, jump after jump. She was not losing him. Not now... not ever!
Eventually, the Senju heiress made her way to a clearing. Had she been more aware, she would have recognized that she was in what was left of her ancestral home... but -as it was- she didn't even notice her own legs trembling... or her knees knocking together from the abuse she just put them through.
Still, she trudged on. She knew her father was just up ahead; and judging from the lack of other chakra signatures, he was alone. 'Did he make such a big deal of coming out here to train?' It wasn't entirely out of character... but the slight scent of blood in the air didn't calm her nerves any.
Slowly, ever so slowly, she approached that signal. 'Slow, steady, calm. Is he meditating? He must be focussing pretty hard for me to sense him ten miles off!' Which was true. She had felt him touch her on her shoulder. It was odd now that she thought about it... it was the same way he would pat her shoulder whenever he had explained her latest exercise right before he left her alone to practice.
That was why she was half panicked: the signs were all there, clear as crystal... and she hated what they were telling her. And the closer she got to her Tou-chan's chakra signature... the louder those signs were shouting.
'Something's not right here.' She stopped moving altogether, slowly trying to take in the whole scene around her. There was a little tickling sensation in the pit of her stomach, so she knew there were enemies nearby; and yet she couldn't sense any of them. So she made a dragon handseal, 'Hyouhiryugan!'
'One, two... three... four, five... None of them are Tou-chan.' She couldn't sense their chakra, but no one can hide their body heat entirely. Still, it meant that she wouldn't have any clue how strong they were. 'Best to act like I can't sense them then... and see what they want.' She continued over to her previous goal; but with every step she could feel the blood freeze in her veins.
'Tou-chan's not moving farther away, but his chakra signature is getting weaker. Kuso, I can't find him fast enough like this! I need to use my Nohkan...' With the flick of her wrist, a long, black transverse flute flew out her sleeve and into her hand.
With each note she played, with each fragment of information she retrieved from her doujutsu regarding her surroundings... with each heartbeat... she felt a forbidden emotion course through her veins.
/ "You need to control your anger, Tsu-chan." Tatsuhi explained his then eight year old daughter.
"I know that!" Her voice echoed menacingly. She somehow couldn't control its volume anymore... or how the deep, vibrating echo that seemed to change her tone into something else entirely.
"No, you don't know that. You think you know, but you don't have a clue." He told her, clearly expecting more than he was getting out of her. /
His words made no sense at the time to her. But now? Seeing him laying there... on his back... with two kunai piercing his liver... another up to the ring through his left left lung... with no heartbeat...
dum dum... dum dum...
Now... now she feels a burning just behind her navel. Now the pent up anger that she has been denying herself for the majority of her young life… has forced its way to the forefront of her mind. She can't even say for sure if her blood is past the boiling point... or under its freezing point.
dum dum... dum dum...
Her senses suddenly sharpen to the point that she actually hears five hearts skip a beat... and her's isn't one of them.
Dum Dum... Dum Dum...
Without even understanding what she's doing, her fingers fly through familiar keys on her traditional bamboo flute. "Shinseina Shoukai!"
A flood of information assaults her every sense. Within the course of a few seconds, her consciousness is bombarded with a lifetime of memories from not only Yukikami Tatsuhi... but from the now unmistakably identified Uchihas surrounding her. However... the most prominent memory... sticking out like cat at a dog kennel...
/ "You know, Fugaku..." Tatsuhi laughed through the pain. He knew he was dying, but he laughed anyway. "I almost feel bad for you and your clan."
"Empty words, Yukikami." The Uchiha patriarch shot back, pushing his kunai even deeper into Tatsuhi's lung.
"You really think so..." Tatsuhi coughed upsome blood, before continuing, "When Tsu-chan... finds out... what really happened here... nothing will stop her... from... rip-ping you apart... one... limb... at... a... time..."/
Suddenly the fuzziness from the visual part of the memory faded into an unending darkness. Tatsuhi's breathing shallowed... his heart slowed...
Then it all stopped.
DUM DUM! DUM DUM!
/ "Fugaku, you think we need to worry about the Senju brat?" Tekka asked, obviously worried. He didn't know anything about the girl... but a Senju survivor? That was something worth worrying about in his opinion! What if she ever found out the truth about her clan?
"Tekka, are you scared of a little girl?" Yashiro teased, focussing on healing his own injuries with ijutsu.
"Little girl or not! She's a Senju!" Tekka retorted indignantly.
"Relax you two. With her guard dog put to sleep, nothing is stopping us from using her to our advantage." Fugaku pointed out. "Now that everything is put in place, all we need to do is claim our prize."/
DUM DUM! DUM DUM!
"he promised..." She recalled. 'He was going to dance with me on my birthday. And THEY made him break that promise!' Suddenly her blood was boiling over with a power she never felt before.
Though she clearly remembers his heart beating its last; his diaphragm pulling his lungs open one last time... She just clustered that with all the other memories of death she had: some distant, vague idea of people that... left... three hundred years ago. Her mind simply refused to accept that he was never coming back.
No. To her, he was taking a long nap before an even longer mission. She was simply upset that they made him break his promise to dance with her on her birthday... in two weeks time.
"Who wants to dance with me first?" There was that vaguely familiar voice rumbling from within her chest. It was as harsh as the winds of a hurricane... and far less forgiving.
As hard as she had been taught to fight it, giving into the rage pent up within her was surprisingly easy. Somehow it felt as if she stopped trying to swim upstream, and could simply let the river take her where ever it pleased. She gazed as her body acted on its own; as her chakra spiked higher than it ever had.
Suddenly her weight was centred on her left leg, with her right leg crossed over it - her right big toe firmly gripping the ground and awaiting the instruction to begin the dance. Her arms were crossed and held loosely against her chest, both fans opened fully and held so that the only thing you could see was a thin slit of her face. This was a stance she had only recently learned, a dance she would later dedicate to her Okaa-sama's skill and her Tou-chan's incessant training: Shi no Buyo. The dance of death.
While completely hidden, her Hyouhiryugan blazed with an intensity she had never known before. She could sense everything going on for miles in every direction; sense every heartbeat, every breath taken, every move made.
The five Uchihas pretending to be neatly tucked out of her line of sight were communicating via standard Battle Signs known throughout Konoha, so it wasn't hard to see the simple plan they were hatching: all out attack, Shisui is on point with Fugaku staying behind to gather intel. Good plan; if the enemy didn't know all about it.
Tekka and Inabi were the first strike, with Shisui hanging slightly back. Yashiro -being the medic of the team- was bringing up the rear, ready to assist if anything went wrong. That was the exact strategy they had used against Konoha's Ice Dragon, so why wouldn't it work against his precious little girl? That was what they were thinking at least...
"Shi no mai - Shodai Furimawasu - Heishi no Fukou!" That thought promptly died when that little girl decidedly emitted a foul chakra in one long, green, elongated sliver. Unfortunately, Tekka and Inabi were too close to have any time to react, so the only choice left was to brace for impact.
/"I don't get it. What's the difference between 'Mai' and 'Buyo'?" Tatsuhi asked his daughter one afternoon after her dance class had let out. He was proud that his little princess had taken his advice and had taken up some of the more delicate Arts to be learned. Even more so, he was proud that she took to it with the same veracity she showed in everything else she does.
"Well that depends on who you ask. From a Classical Dance point of view any dance composition is referred to as 'buyo', so most compositions you learn from them will be named as such. Also in the Classical sense, 'mai' is a dance move. It simply refers to a twirling motion. So pirouetting, twirling, or simply two people dancing to a slow song could be seen as 'mai'... but that is just the Classical view."
Once again, he marvelled at the young lady he had been doing his damnedest to raise properly; the stark differences between her after dance class, or music... contrasted too greatly when compared to her after a day of training with him. 'She is so calm right now; so at peace. Perhaps this was the road she was meant to walk. Perhaps the life of a kunoichi was simply not meant for her.' As they strolled back to their home, he briefly compared this little girl to Senju Emi... 'What would your mother say if she saw how I raised you? Kami-sama... a shinobi is not equipped to raise a civilian daughter.'/
The jutsu flew right through its two victims' chests, and all the attackers paused for a long moment to gauge the damage. Tekka laughed loudly when he realized he was not hurt in the least. The others simply took the far off look in the young dragon's eyes to mean she had simply lost her focus.
The memories kept floating up in Tatsuko's mind. No matter how hard she tried to regain her composure... her balance was gone. Not that it mattered for the fight, somehow her body simply knew what to do, knew what to expect.
So when the Uchihas all (eventually) laughed at her failed jutsu -which a jutsu that flew straight through its target without killing or at least wounding them would definitely fall under- she didn't even flinch.
"What's the matter, hime? Too distracted to do anything right?" Inabi, the designated youngest of the group, decided to goad the young Senju on. That was the Uchiha group's second mistake that day.
"He who mocks," The young combatant began, closing the fan in her right hand and pointing it at the offender. Her voice was still booming, harsh and cold... but now there was an element of malice hovering just below the surface. Her skin was slowly turning green, her fingers and cuticles widening and becoming brutishly calloused. Then, with one word, she ended her own innocence: "...dies."
Four active pairs of Sharingan eyes watched as Inabi's chest exploded! The only sound to be heard was the man's gurgling attempts to breathe much needed air into his now severed lungs. Which was eventually followed by the thud of him hitting the ground.
Shisui looked at Yashiro for a long moment, a thousand questions running through his head. All the elder inin could do is look at his superior and offer one firm shake of his head; centre to right, right to left, then back to centre. Inabi had no chance of surviving, so Shisui did the only thing he could: he offered his clansman mercy, by ending his suffering.
"Now where is the fun of you ending my fun like that? Doesn't he deserve to die slowly and painfully?" Shisui glared harshly at the little girl, who had practically been bathed in his team mate's blood.
"No one deserves such a fate." He retorted, doing his best to not lose his cool.
"Strange," Tatsuko's right fan was slowly aiming for Tekka - the other victim of her jutsu, "because you and your clansmen took great pride is slaughtering many clans of Konoha... Two of which were my own." She wasn't shouting, but her almost demonic voice seemed to boom in everyone's ears, yet not even the Sharingan seemed to pick up any trace of a jutsu in what she was doing.
"You know nothing of the matter you speak of." Shisui accused, still not allowing himself to become angry.
"Of course you would think that. Yet, were you not the one that pierced Senju Arashi's heart?" A second passed, then another explosion... followed by that same horrid gargling sound. "The only thing I know nothing of, is which one of you was in fact controlling the Kyuubi no Youko when it swallowed my mother whole." The Senju heiress paused once again, before muttering the name of the next jutsu:
"Shi no mai: Saishuu Furimawasu - Teikoku no Shi."
Then, much to the horror of those present, the girl's stance changed slightly. Her right leg, once crossed over her left, was now well over to the right of her centre of gravity while still keeping her big toe firmly on the ground. Her fans were both held wide, at the extremes of her reach. She held that position for just under a half second... before exploding into movement, making the Hyuuga's prized Kaiten look like a child's toy.
From every slashing movement erupted another long sliver of the accursed green chakra. The pattern woven was almost beautiful, with a lotus petal design roughly three centimetres wide. There was no escape, no hope of survival. Everything within the jutsu's reach was doomed from the start.
Yashiro, being the only one present with any ijutsu training, wanted to compare it to his favoured jutsu style, but the feel of the chakra didn't match. Ijutsu was designed to heal, but could possibly be used to maim, if not kill its target. Though the colours were similar, the green chakra ripping through his body one slash at a time could only be used to slaughter.
And so, both he and Shisui decided to end this before the girl got the chance to repeat the show. They both shunshinned to the very centre of the vibrating and pulsating glob of pure evil that was spewing sliver after sliver of the substance neither shinobi wanted to touch them... and yet they had already been so saturated with it they knew no other way.
The closer the two got to the girl, the more they noticed her chest swelling... almost ballooning with muscle tone. The girl's skin was now a completely green -a sickly jade green by their estimation- and her hair now matched it perfectly. Yashiro, who was attacking from the front so Shisui could flank the target, saw her right eye swell shut. This girl was transforming into something, and none of them knew what.
Still, it wouldn't matter. Yashiro's Chakra blade, and Shisui's Raiton enhanced kodachi would make short work of her. By their calculations, Yahiro would purée her brains and Shisui would impale both lungs and her heart before the girl even had the chance to blink.
If Tatsuko hadn't headbutted Yahiro's hand, shattering his elbow, and Shisui's kodachi actually penetrated, they might have been right. When the next jutsu was named above a certain elder Uchiha's wailing and the cracking of a sword, they both knew it was time to put their head between their legs and kiss their ass goodbye,
"Senju Hijutsu - Sen Hotondo Bakudan."
If you were to count, you would hear the exact number of one thousand little explosions; each detonated successively, a mere fraction of a second after its predecessor.
Up in a tree, and remarkably unscathed, Fugaku was studiously observing the entire event. He wanted more than anything to copy those jutsu, but somehow he couldn't. His clan's prized doujutsu was failing to so much as pick up on the oddity that this jutsu represented, let alone copy it.
So all he could do was stare in slack jawed awe as his last two subordinates entrails and blood rained down on the little Senju. The only thing that even remained of the two, were their perfectly preserved bones. Though covered in blood, it was obvious that they suffered no damage what so ever.
Not willing to risk exposure to the fatal jutsu, Fugaku fled the scene. Silently he swore that he would make that treasure trove of jutsu his, and he had the perfect way of claiming her.
~The calm before the storm~
The next afternoon, after Fugaku had left Hiruzen's office. A lone figure, bathed in shadows gazed upon the stack of decidedly fraudulent documents meant to ensnare Senju Tatsuko and hijack her into the Uchiha clan. The motifs were blatant and bold faced, but the execution was so deviously cunning that it was impossible to prove false.
So after the three in Hiruzen's care left the room, the shadowy figure announced his presence. "You know this is a trap. Deny Uchiha's request."
The professor, Sandaime Hokage, Shinobi no Kami... all names were worthless now. In the ageing man's opinion, he had failed utterly to keep that little girl safe for the last time. No more.
"Kuroikage, listen and listen well. I want those responsible dead." Hiruzen announced.
"Too late. The Senju has already taken care of that." The now tagged visage nonplussed.
"Oh, has she really?" Hiruzen tapped the stack of paperwork Fugaku brought before him, fighting the urge to reduce it to its base atomic elements.
"You confuse the death of her father with the plot mounted against her." Kuroikage droned.
"Oh? And what would happen if the Senju Library was ever to fall in the hands of the Uchiha clan?" Though Hiruzen asked it innocently, lightheartedly and non-abrasively... the shadowy figure still cringed at the very thought of it.
Well over fourteen centuries of jutsu research, all the intimate secrets of Mokuton, Otouton, the Senju's advanced elemental training techniques, and who knows what else... in the Uchiha clan's claws? And that was without ever having confirmed if the Uzumaki Library had ever been annexed into the fold...
If Uchiha Fugaku ever gained access to that Library, nothing would stop him from whatever he was planning on doing with it! That forbidden knowledge was that dangerous!
Now all that stood in Fugaku's way... was a ten year old girl...
After being shown to her new room by the king of all pricks -in her opinion at least- Tatsuko decided to drop her things unceremoniously and get as far away from the hordes of vultures she was now living amongst. She didn't care where she was going to go, how she was going to get there, or even what she would do there. She just didn't want to be in that compound any longer than absolutely necessary.
"Whoa, where's the fire?" A tall -well every adult was tall compared to a ten year old- woman with long, well cared for hair and wearing a house dress asked playfully. Tatsuko almost did a double take when she saw the smile on the woman's face. This wasn't the tight, almost forced, smile she had grown accustomed to from every Uchiha she had the misfortune of meeting... this was warm, hearty... motherly.
"I have not had the opportunity to train as yet." Was all the young lady said.
A look crossed the Uchiha's face - well, Tatsuko assumed it was an Uchiha. "Though it is very important to train regularly, it is not very polite to run out of your new home without even introducing yourself."
"If you do not know who I am, then my introducing myself will only make things worse. Ask Fugaku or Itachi." Tatsuko's voice was sharp, but her anger was reserved for someone other than this obviously amiable woman.
"You could pass for Emi's twin," The simple words kicked the air from the Senju's lungs, "but the second you open your mouth I hear Tatsuhi talking." Before there was chance for a reaction -or more importantly, for Tatsuko to cry- there was a slight spray of water, and Uchiha Mikoto found herself alone in the living room of her home.
The rest of the day, Tatsuko continuously told herself that she was working on her stamina; which was a nice way of saying she wanted to run away as fast and as far as she could. It was a shame that after her seventeenth lap around Konoha she was starting to tire...
Mikoto's words -simple and warm, as they were intended- haunted the ten year old's thoughts.
What made it infinitely worse though, were the bubbles of memories that were assailing her. Painful, plentiful... and attached to incredibly powerful emotions.
'This is why I HATE this burden!' She mentally shouted, clutching her head to try force the memories out.
/ "What do you wanna do today, Mikoto-chan?" Senju Emi asked playfully as she swatted Uzumaki Kushina's hand from trying to ruffle her hair again.
"I'm not sure. Otou-sama wants me to train, but I feel like just hanging out with you two." Mikoto groused. Emi wasn't sure why, but she got the distinct impression that Mikoto disliked being with her family.
"How about this..." Kushina began, smiling from ear to ear.
"Oh no!" Mikoto paled at the implication presented to her. "Everytime you get that look you have a prank in mind and Otou-sama will punish me if he somehow catches wind of me getting involved in one of your pranks again!"
"Who said anyone's going to find out - dattebane!"/
When the memory subsided, Tatsuko found herself on her hands and knees gasping for air. That was happening more and more often since her Tou-chan died; and needless to say it worried her.
'Get a grip, Tatsuko! You know those memories are trigged when you are introduced to a familiar, or even similar, situation as the memory itself.' She explained herself as she tried to get her own breathing back under her control. 'Stop letting Okaa-sama's memories mess with your head, or you will never be able to use this kinjutsu to your advantage!'
How easy it was to tell herself that... but to actually put that into practice? For years she had simply analysed every situation to the point where nothing should be unexpected... and yet...
/ "Otouto-sama, you really shouldn't focus on too many things at once." Senju Hashirama warned warmly. Tobirama could only smile, not even lifting his eyes from the Ijutsu scroll he had been studying for the last several hours. "I'm serious, it is already dangerous enough that you bear the burden of being the Librarian for both the Senju and the Uzumaki clans."
"Oni-sama, being married to a jincukiri you should know that some burdens are easier to bare than others." Tobirama pointed out softly. He had total respect for his sister-in-law, but the burden he bore was worlds apart from hers and they both knew it.
"Does this help you to focus better then?" He asked curiously.
"It is not about focussing, it is about not focussing." The white haired boy soothed cryptically.
"If at the tender age twelve you are already making no sense, how can you be so optimistic about the future?"
"Because unless I learn to see the memories and not focus on them, I will be the easiest target in our clan."
"Memories? You mean you can see them?"
"I see little else. Do you have any idea how distracting it is to see the Rikudo Sennin singing love songs to his beloved?"
Hashirama was obviously having an odd though, judging by the look on his face. "I would assume this has more practical applications than learning a new song?"
"If used properly I can learn any lesson, so long as one of our ancestors learned. Social, economical, herbal, medicinal... the only price is that you don't get to pick when it comes up... or at least, not that I have yet discerned."/
Tatsuko smiled, despite her breathlessness. 'Leave it Nidaime-sama to show me the way, even a half century after his demise at the hands of the Kinkaku Butai, he is still the beacon that guides me through life. Why hadn't I asked myself that a long time ago?' She paused momentarily and tried to reassess the situation.
'And where the hell am I now?'
Somehow, during that last -and excruciatingly long- flashback, her feet decided to take her somewhere she didn't know. Dark hallways without so much as a candle to illuminate her surroundings and -oddly- not so much as a clue as to how she got in there in the first place.
'Okay, I know this is not a genjutsu, seeing that no one would take their time to make it this unbelievable... still...' She thought, silently activating her doujutsu. As information flooded her senses, a lone figure rose from the concrete floor like a wraith... or a zombie, depending on what you thought about the lifeless look on his face.
"Welcome, Librarian." Was all he said. Well, she assumed it was a 'he', seeing that the body heat signature matched that of an adult male. You can never be too careful though...
"Where am I?" She asked carefully, not reacting to that epithet in the least.
"You are somewhere secure. Though I wonder why you chose to come here so soon after your father's death." He didn't ask, but he didn't need to.
"Tou-chan... His last conscious thought was for me to take over his mission." She answered cryptically. Somehow the shadowy figure was familiar to her, but not from her own memories... "You are Kuroikage... the guardian of the two."
"And you are Tatsuko, daughter to Emi and Tatsuhi. A most curious mix... so tell me, little dragon... are you a guardian, or a treasure to guard?" That was a bit vague for her, so she dared not give a binding answer.
"I am myself. When the time is ripe I shall decide my own fate."
"How evasive. How, then, do you intend to fulfil your father's mission?"
"I don't-"
/ "Tatsuhi, have you heard? Minato and Kushina are pregnant!" Emi smiled brightly. She subconsciously rubbed her swollen belly, "Do you think that our children will grow up as close as we have?"
"I think it'll be impossible for them not to." Tatsuhi smiled sadly as he wrapped his arms around his love's waist. Slowly, methodically, he rubbed her belly, thinking about his lot in life.
"Why are you suddenly so serious?" Emi asked cautiously.
"Because I have no idea how to raise our child." Was all he said. Emi couldn't see the faraway look in his eyes, but she felt it. She knew he was completely clueless how to raise a child, having lost his father young - too young.
"With love and discipline, how else?" She smiled as she placed her hands over his. She always felt safest in his arms, knowing that he would never let anything happen to her. Sometimes she wished she knew how to return the feeling to him...
"That's not what I mean, hime." His voice was soft and thoughtful. She loved the way it rumbled from his chest, how his warm breath would always kiss her skin as he spoke. Kami-sama, she loves that man! "I just don't know if I should raise a Yukikami, or a Senju."
"She's both, so why choose?" Emi laughed feeling him tense slightly at her words. 'Men and wanting sons...'
"Did Tsunade already conf-"
"No need. A mother always knows." He became very quiet for a long time. Too quiet... For the first time in all the years she'd known the man, she wondered if she knew him entirely... 'Why is he hesitating? What is he holding back? Did I disappoint him? Would he really-' Question after question assaulted her peace of mind, slowly building up doubts that were never there before.
"Do you know the difference between a dragon and its treasure?" He finally asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.
"No, what is the difference?" This was all becoming some what more intense that she was hoping for. This was the first night off he had in forever, and she just wanted to cuddle in bed al night long, but this was not exactly a mood setter for that...
"Night and day. The dragon needs a treasure to guard, and the treasure needs a dragon to guard it..." He trailed off, rubbing their growing little girl gently.
"So what's the problem?"
"Dragons breed dragons, not treasure..."
Emi was quiet, slowly thinking about all the things he was not saying. "Do you regret being Minato's yojinbo?"
"Never." He answered evenly. "Never."/
Tatsuko took a few deep breaths, trying and failing miserably to calm her erratic heart. She felt warm and cold at the same time, like she was flying through the clouds and plummeting to the ground... she didn't know what to feel, what to think... what to become...
"Stalling your answer is an answer in itself." This 'Kuroikage' seemed to read her mind; or more troubling... he red her emotions.
"What would you have me say? Feel... do... I don't-"
"Knowing is one thing; understanding another." Tatsuko gasped for air, not fully understanding why the visions were coming at her so intensely… or so constantly.
"I… just…"
"Come, let me show you what the difference is."
She had no idea why she followed him. She knew better than to trust people; her life had taught her better. Something about that man just demanded she trust him. She didn't understand it, but she didn't question it either. All she knew at that point, was that Kuroikage was a close and trusted friend of her father… but was that enough? She wasn't sure.
"Though that door," The walking enigma announced, effectively ripping the young lady out of her own little world, "you will find what you need to decide. Take your time, but be silent. My treasure rests there."
Slowly, silently, Senju Tatsuko opened the door and peered into the dimly lit room. The room itself was small, and on the far side lay a single bed… a hospital bed. She could not yet see its occupant, but the equipment attached to the patient were well known to her…
'The same equipment that was Naruto was hooked up to while he was in a coma…'
The patient's heartbeat, brain activity, breathing, oxygen in the blood, chakra levels… everything was being meticulously monitored and registered to track the patient's health at all times. There were another two machines hook up to the patient, one was for nourishing, the other for hydrating.
Too many questions popped into her head at once, too many unanswerable questions. She carefully stepped closer to the figure hidden beneath the plain white sheet.
"That's…!"
Anger. That's all she felt; anger. The unquenchable, undeniable, highly appropriate sensation burning just below the surface… that unappeased itch that was just begging her to act, and soon. The face she had seen in that bed, knowing who that patient was… the one that Kuroikage had dedicated his entire life to guarding… knowing what was really going on behind that scenes. It just made her angry.
Suddenly it felt like her Saru-ji-chan had stopped caring about the people that mattered most in Konoha. Like he had turned his back on the principles her father raised her to hold above all things. Seeing the wrongs committed by the clan that claimed her father's life, and ruined so many others; and how Sarutobi Hiruzen failed to act time and time again…
Anger.
In the end Kuroikage had made her an offer to appease Tatsuhi's honour. An offer to be a sleeper agent, to gather all the needed information for an S-class mission to be commenced in six months time: the Uchiha Massacre.
Tatsuko didn't care if it was a legal mission. She didn't bother to ask anything other than what she could do to help. Her task was all she cared about. And even then, she was greatly disappointed in the limited involvement she would have in the actual mission.
/ "I have no time to coddle those who cannot handle themselves in battle. If you wish to do anything other than gather intelligence, then you must prove to me that you are capable." The dry, toneless voice of the shadow announced.
"How?" Her eyes were cold and steeled. He didn't answer. Instead he tossed a single scroll and simply disappeared./
'A training regimen, and four A-class jutsu… Kokuangyo no jutsu, Mikazuki no mai, Suriken Kage Bunshin no jutsu, Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu...' She thought about that for a long moment. 'He wants me to prove I can perform on Kage level in genjutsu, taijutsu, ninjutsu… and seal knowledge and speed.' She doubted she could do any of the four jutsu… let alone all four within six months…
'I'm going to pull it off! I don't care if I have to work myself to death in the process!'
As Tatsuko arrived at her temporary shelter, she thought about the odd introduction to Mikoto. Why had they acted so weird earlier? 'Well I was simply in a rush to leave, so I didn't really take my time to realise it was her until I was out of the house…'
Somehow it didn't occur to Tatsuko that Mikoto was simply a home maker these days, so she never thought to look past the 'lady of the house' for the ex-ANBU operative. And besides, Tatsuko had never once seen the woman in anything other than ANBU uniform - well, not personally at least. So the simple house dress and welcoming smile was the ultimate camouflage in her opinion.
Still, Mikoto should have easily known who Tatsuko was… So why point out her heritage, but not her name?
"Had a nice day?" Fugaku asked, almost causing Tatsuko to jump out of her own skin. The Senju took a moment to calm her heartbeat and breathing before gazing up at… it.
"Wonderful. And you?" Her tone hovered just above freezing, and was marginally socially acceptable. To those who knew her, that was the first sign that she was on the verge of gutting the man.
"Confusing, seeing that you simply disappeared most of the day when you were expected to train here."
"I shall train where and when I deem fit, so kindly fuck off." She intoned emotionlessly.
"Don't you da-"
"Uchiwa-san, I would advise you to remember that you are not talking to a mere child. You are talking to the head of the Yukikami and Senju clans." She reminded her temporary captor. "Not to mention the daughter of the man you killed." She walked past him, not even sparing him a glance.
"You will learn to respect me child, you have already seen what happens to the opposition."
"Fugaku, I respected no one before you came along. What did you expect would change?" As she flitted up the stairs, Tatsuko sensed an almost stifling killing intent wash over the room. She laughed it off, not giving it a second thought.
"Dearest husband, can I talk to you… privately." Mikoto asked in a far too sweet and gentle voice.
After that incident, time seemed to fly by for Tatsuko. She spent her every waking moment training. Starting every morning at four with taijutsu drills. When she got tired, she would switch to her ninjutsu training. When she was low on chakra, she would meditate and practice her genjutsu; mostly trying to imagine how new genjutsu could look – you need a very vivid imagination for any genjutsu to work properly. Then as after meditating she would start taijutsu again.
The only time she was ever in the Uchiha compound was when she slept, and even then it was behind a very securely locked door. She rarely spoke, she didn't go to check on her family –what was left of it– she simply worked herself into the ground day after day… after day.
"Though I admire your training regimen," Itachi announced one afternoon, without preamble, "I doubt it is healthy."
"Stalking me to steal anyyou see?" Came the venomous reply. Tatsuko never once pretended to so much as like any of the Uchiha –which was mutual– so why was the heir of their clan bothering her again?
"Would you like to rest for a bit?" His tone was emotionless as always - ever the picturesque shinobi.
"I'll rest when my clan's honour allows it." She ignored him, continuing her tiger's claw push-ups. If she lost count because of him, she would simply start back at one… seeing that she was fifty short of her thousand mark, she was not looking forward to it.
"I don't think they woul-"
"Say that after you've lost everything you love, Uchiha. You know everything I know, yet you are here trying to strum up a friendship. I'm sorry, but there is little I am willing to offer other than a kunai through your cursed eyes."
"I know." He said sadly. The one emotion he was willing to show, was his sadness at her anger, at her emptiness. "If things had been different, Senju-hime, if your clan had survived, would you have been so angry?"
"And which clan do you mean? The Senju, who were slaughtered either on the battlefield against the Kyuubi, or in their beds later that night as they slept… or the Yukikami, who treated me like a virus infecting their leader. Which clan should have survived, Uchiha? Which clan shouldn't have been slaughtered?"
"I am not here to-"
"Itachi, what do you want?" She finally gave up trying to keep count; she was too distracted right now. She sat with her back facing him, refusing to so much as look at him. 'Guess it's back at one after a five minute break.'
"Mother asked me to inform you that you will be going on a two week journey with her."
"I refuse. I am too busy to indulge anyone in pleasantries." Itachi just smiled at her sadly. He allowed his eyes to wander over the back of her form for a long moment. He had been watching her train for quite some time now -though mostly when Natsumi was busy- and he was quite impressed with her.
"Then we shall simply plot something else to keep you out of the village for two weeks." He nonplussed.
'Two weeks would be…' Her eyes widened in shock. How had she not realised that the six months were almost up? "Why would that be?" She knew he understood what was going to happen, but it made no sense to her. The math was undeniable evidence, but…
"Kuroikage's orders." Her entire being tensed for a fraction of a second. "You have done everything he asked and more, but you have not impressed him with the training yet."
"So the training was meant to keep me busy while bigger fish got into position." She chuckled humourlessly.
"No, it was to make you strong enough to give you a fighting chance. Six months was simply too short a time." Without warning, Itachi flickered out of view and knocked the little girl out with an open-palmed strike to the back of her neck.
"Rest now, Yukikami Tatsuko… when you return to Konoha, your clan shall be avenged, your family's honour shall be sated."
~Round 2~
"Itachi, have you done as I asked?" A tall, lanky figure asked. His flaming red hair and toneless, almost harshly whispered voice always sent shivers down the Uchia prodigy's spine.
"Tatsuko is leaving Konoha as we speak; Yuuna and Hikaru are being taken with her. Though I am curious as to why Naruto was to remain here."
"You have your orders, now carry then out."
"I have one request." Slowly, Itachi turned away from the man, walking towards the only door in the hospital room. "Take care of Natsumi, should anything happen to me." He didn't wait for a reply.
"And so, another shinobi offers himself up…" Blue mournful eyes stared at the spot the Itachi just vacated. "Peace bares a hefty price tag."
On the other side of Konoha a group of travellers were just reaching the gate. The lone adult –a female ANBU officer wearing a plain white mask– was showing the permit of passage granted by the Hokage himself. Kamizuki Izumo zealously read every word written and checked the seal for authenticity, while Hagane Kotetsu rolled his eyes and mumbled something.
"So, the eternal chuunins are back on guard duty?"
"Hai." Kotetsu looked towards the gate, obviously not feeling comfortable with the direction of the conversation.
"For your information, monitoring the vast number of people entering and leaving Konoha is a grave responsibility and vital to the safety of our village." Izumo pointed out indignantly.
"Don't make me sneeze on you, Tsuki-chan."
Staring in wide eyed shock, both chuunin instantly recognize the nickname. Sure, everyone knew about Izumo's mysophobia, but only one person alive ever called Izumo that! "Mikoto-sensei!"
"Shhh." One finger hovered over the ANBU's mouth –or where the two thought her mouth would be.
"What's with the mask, sensei?" both guards asked as one. They both knew their sensei quit ANBU years earlier, and even then her's was the 'eagle' mask.
A series of emotions played across the mother of two's eyes - a lifetime of promises made but never kept. "I owe it to my two best friends." Was all she said, signalling to her group to move out.
The lone female ANBU, a redhead and a white haired boy carrying an obviously unconscious blond moved at a civilian's pace to their destination. In their wake, two confused guards could only wonder at the odd parting words left with them.
~? POV~
Here I stand, on a small hill overlooking Konoha. Before me I see only darkness, but I find it to my liking. I know that in that darkness, the Uchiha found their death. One by one they fought – one by one they fell. They are free from the pain that plagues me. The same freedom I want.
Drop by drop, I feel my own blood dripping from the tips of my fingers... and with each drop I feel my heart sinking further. The pain from the wound subsided almost immediately, but the betrayal I felt still stings. That will fade – all pain fades in time.
Behind me, I can almost feel the three bodies strewn about. They won't even remember what happened, I won't let them.
And yet those eyes haunt me... Those eyes that always held love and admiration... the one in whose eyes I could do no wrong...
The betrayal in those eyes... I doubt I will ever forget that look. And yet, the cold, lifeless eyes of my clansmen... their eyes will haunt my dreams forever. Does the one annul the other? Does it matter?
Death is so final, but those that have gone before – they are free. It is those of us left behind that suffer in their steed.
So I will choose to suffer, but only for you... little brother. For you I will bare this fate. To save you from ever becoming someone like me. I will guard you, but at a distance. I know you won't understand, but I can no longer be the person you once knew... the person you once loved.
You may choose to hate me for it; that too I will bare. You may choose to see my actions today as betrayal; that too I will bare. Just don't hurt... don't you ever feel what I feel – or what I used to feel.
Grow up well. Fall in love. And never – ever – bury your heart, as I must do. If you do, Kaa-san will never forgive me.
I love you... otouto-chan... Never forget that.
A/N:
And so we finally have the injecting chapter about the Uchiha's fate. Not as gorey as I planned, but definitely as dark and depressing at the end. It was meant to be a lot longer, but I figure everyone would get tired of waiting so I decided to end it where I did.
As always lots of L.O.V.E. going out to Kiravu. I honestly wouldn't know what to do without my VERY PATIENT beta!
Any way, this is where I apologize for dropping off the map for... forever. Sorry, really. Between finding a new job, relationship troubles, and so much more, I simply didn't have it in me to work on this. And to show you, this was actually supposed to be released for Easter... I am that late, I know.
I hope you all like the latest instalment, and I will do all I can to avoid another delay like this one. Thank you for your patience with me thus far :D
Shinseina Shoukai- Divine Inquiry (introduced last chapter)
Shi no buyo - (traditional) Dance of death
Shi no mai - Shodai Furimawasu - Heishi no Fukou - (twirling) Dance of Death - First great twirl - Soldier's Misfortune
Hime - Princess
Inin - Medic Nin
Shi no mai: Saishuu Furimawasu - Teikoku no Shi - (twirling) Dance of Death - Final twirl - Death of an empire
Ijutsu - Medical technique.
Shunshin no jutsu - Body flicker technique. This is the technique that Shisui earned his nickname by, seeing that he was so fast with it that he never had to to hide his next destination. He would seem to disappear right in front your eyes when he used it.
Senju Hijutsu - Sen Hotondo Bakudan - Senju Hidden Technique - One thousand little explosions.
Tsuki-chan - Dear moon, it is a play on Izumo's name. Look it up, you'll see what I mean ;)
Mysiophobia - fear of germs.