Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto/Naruto Shippuden. (Which is probably a good thing.)

Chapter 6:

Secrets Revealed: The Past Part 3

Tonbo had escaped through her window before dawn. She knew what day it was, and she hated everything about it. She didn't want to be anywhere near anyone who might possibly know what the day's date represented.

So she had walked around in the forest near the Uchiha district for hours. She did feel a tinge of guilt for leaving without a word. She knew that she would probably cause her family to worry about her. Especially mother, she was always worried about her for some reason or another.

Maybe she should go back. She hadn't eaten anything, and it for sure must have been past ten in the morning by now. But she didn't want things to be like they had been in the past.

She knew that things were different now that she was living with the Uchihas, but she was so afraid of feeling the way she did when she was living with her biological parents. Today, at least used to be, the worst day of the year for her.

Every year she was always told about how hated she was, and that her existence was a curse. Being so young, it was hard for her to imagine things ever changing. For her, life seemed to have always repeated itself, day in and day out.

But ever since father, mother, Itachi, Sasuke, and Hinashou were brought into her life, things have been different. In a way, that scared her. The uncertainty of everything, the fear that things will go back to the way they once were, and the overwhelming desire to keep things the way they are now, are all but foreign to her now.

Being so young, and having so much change and instability in her life was frightening. But she supposed, she had to face it eventually. So she began her short journey back out from the forest and towards the house she considered her home.

She slowly walked up to the front door and paused on the wooden porch. She began to take off her shoes when the door opened in front of her.

Her face was instantly covered as someone wrapped their arms around her head and held her tightly against their chest.

A shuddering release of breath was followed by the unsteady voice of Mikoto, "I'm so glad you're safe! I was so worried. Where did you go? Something could have happened to you! Are you hurt in any way?" She paused to push Tonbo back away from her, holding her out by the shoulders so that she could make eye-contact. "Please, don't you ever run off like that again," she spoke sternly.

But her hard look soon soften again and she pulled Tonbo into another tight embrace. "Oh, I'm glad you're okay!"

Tonbo wasn't sure what to say. She hadn't been expecting this "overly emotional" reaction.

Tonbo looked downward, "I'm sorry mother."

It was then that Mikoto realized that Tonbo's parents had never cared much about where she went or when she was gone. In fact, they were glad whenever she was gone or had disappeared unexpectedly.

This time Mikoto let Tonbo go, "Oh, Tonbo, I'm sorry. Please, you don't have to feel bad. As your mother, I just want you to be safe. And even more than just that, I want to know that you're safe. As long as I know, then that will be enough. So please promise me that you'll always tell me where you're going?"

"Okay, I promise," Tonbo figured that was the only thing she could say.

Mikoto gave her a soft and sweet smile. "Alright, come inside, I made you breakfast and you weren't here to eat it."

Mikoto ushered her child in the house and sat her down at the table. The smell of her home cooking wafted throughout the brisk autumn air. Mikoto had prepared a more elaborate meal than usual in order to celebrate the occasion.

Mikoto knelt down beside Tonbo and looked her in the eye. "From now on I want you to always remember that you are my daughter, and for that reason, I will always look after you."

Mikoto stood and left the room, off to the kitchen to prepare a plate for Tonbo, leaving the girl to stare at the empty place Mikoto had oh so recently occupied, taking in all that was said.

Tonbo had never been spoken to in such a manner before. But it made her feel loved and cared for.

"The boys are all out looking for you, so I don't expect them to be back until they get hungry enough to come for lunch," Mikoto called from the kitchen.

"Mother?" Tonbo was still staring at the same spot, void of any presence. "If I'm your daughter, and Sasuke and Itachi are your sons... then they're my brothers, right?"

Mikoto was a bit intrigued at the fact that she would ask something such as this. "Yes, I suppose they are."

Mikoto brought a plate full of food and a pair of chopsticks to the table, and placed them in front of Tonbo.

"You all act like siblings already anyway," Mikoto continued.

"We do?"

Mikoto nodded and gave Tonbo a pleasant smile.

"Then if they are my brothers, so is Hinashou," Tonbo concluded.

"Oh, is that so? Why do you say that?" Mikoto found this all very endearing.

"Well I'm almost never with Sasuke without him, and I act the same way with him as I do with Sasuke. So if me and Sasuke act like siblings, so do me and Hinashou."

"Well then I guess that does make you siblings," Mikoto didn't see any harm in going along with that, Tonbo was hard to waver.

"We're a family, aren't we?"

In some ways, Mikoto felt bad for taking Tonbo away from her real family. But at this point, she knew that this was better for the girl. She needed to feel like she could be accepted by someone.

"Yes, we are indeed."

After Tonbo ate, she went back outside to see if she could find Sasuke and Hinashou. They still weren't back yet from looking for her. She went up and down the streets a couple times before she decided to check the training grounds that they always snuck off to.

Sure enough, they were just leaving as she came up. When the boys saw her, they both immediately put their hands behind their backs.

"Tonbo!" Hinashou called before he ran up to her.

Sasuke, of course, casually walked over. "Hn, you weren't easy to find," Sasuke wasn't trying to be rude, it was just that Tonbo disappearing like that was annoying.

"Hey," Tonbo gave them a bit of an awkward smile. She now regretted making them look for her like that. How could she have been so stupid to think that her new family could even think of treating her like other people had.

"Well... since it's your birthday..." Hinashou had a hard time not being embarrassed when he gave people things. But he held out the gift in his hand, wrapped in cloth. "Here."

Tonbo just stared at it for a moment. She had never received a gift before in her life, but she knew she was supposed to take it from him, so she did.

"Thank you," she said still just awkwardly staring at the cloth in her hands.

"Well, open it," Hinashou instructed.

She looked up at him and then back down at the cloth. She then, slowly unwrapped it, revealing a necklace made out of twine, with a little blue dragonfly hanging from it.

"A dragonfly?" she asked.

"Yeah, because you're Tonbo. It was actually Itachi's idea," Hinashou began to rub the back of his neck.

"Wow, it's beautiful," Tonbo put it around her neck.

Hinashou smiled, "It's made out of wood. I carved it and Sasuke painted it."

"You two made this?" Tonbo was impressed.

"Well, Itachi helped a little," he admitted.

More like did most of it. Sasuke was enjoying how awkward and uncomfortable his best friend was looking. He couldn't remember a single time before when he seemed so uneasy.

"Thank you so much," she smiled widely.

Sasuke got Tonbo's attention by removing his hand from behind his back. He held out a white ribbon.

"I got you this because whenever we're training, your hair always gets in your face. So I thought, maybe you could use it to tied your hair back." Sasuke was far more at easy, but there was still the slightest sign of discomfort.

Tonbo smiled and took the ribbon from Sasuke. She was laughing on the inside at the fact that Sasuke was always so practical.

"Thank you Sasuke."

The two boys both smiled at her. That's when they were both stunned by her sudden lurch forward to hug them.

"You two are the best brothers ever!" she chimed.

"B-brothers?" they both echoed behind her shoulders.

Age 4

Fugaku knocked loudly on the door. He was ready to yell. He had too much anger built up for the occupants of this household.

He had a stack of papers tucked under his arm and a pen in his hand. He was here on business, so he knew he would have to restrain himself from doing or saying anything careless.

An all too familiar man opened the door with blonde hair and blue eyes; Tonbo's biological father.

"I've seen you before," the man stated trying to remember when and where.

Fugaku grabbed the papers from under his arm and shoved them at the man he detested. "If you sign these papers now, you won't have to show up in court."

The man eyed Fugaku in a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. "What is this all about?" he grabbed the papers and turned them so the writing was facing him.

"I want custody over Tonbo," he was blunt and straight forward.

Tonbo's father snapped his he back up. "Tonbo? Custody? ...It was you who took her then?!"

"I didn't take her, she walked all the way to my house in the middle of the night after you had beaten her so badly, she had a broken arm, several cracked ribs and bruises all over her body!" By this time, Fugaku was fuming with anger.

"You had no right to keep her! She is my daughter and you can't take her away from me!" he yelled back.

Fugaku took a small step back and gave himself a moment to fall back into his usual expressionless demeanor. "I have photos and x-rays of Tonbo from the night you beat her. If you refuse to sign this, granting me custody over her, I'll go to court with my evidence. Then everyone will know what you did to your own daughter. I'll force you to give her up," Fugaku was stone cold and monotoned.

Tonbo's father stood there and stared blankly at Fugaku for a while. Then he reached out his hand. It took a second for Fugaku to realize what he was doing, but once he did, he handed the pen in his hand over to the man.

He skimmed through the cumulation and then signed his name on the line. He reluctantly turned over the pages to Fugaku, and they parted ways without another word.

Age 5

"Hey boys! Time for dinner!" Mikoto called out the back door to Sasuke and Hinashou who had been sparing with each other.

"Coming!" Sasuke called back. They raced each other to the door and just about slammed into each other in the doorway.

Tonbo, who was setting the table, jumped at the sound of them. This was not unnoticed by Sasuke and Hinashou, which became clearly evident when Hinashou began laughing and Sasuke grew a smirk.

"Hn. How do you expect to become a great ninja if you get scared every time come in the house?" Sasuke knew this would irritate her.

But instead of showing it, she smirked. "Hn. How do you two expect to become great ninja, if you can't stop yourselves from almost crashing into each other all the time? Control is key in becoming a shinobi."

Hinashou stopped laughing and Sasuke's smirk faded. They all stared at each other for several seconds before Tonbo broke the silence with her own laughter.

Hinashou and Sasuke looked at each other, and then smiled. They all knew that they would one day become great ninja together. That's the way they had planned it from the beginning.

"Alright, sit down to eat," Mikoto said carrying in the dishes with dinner and setting them down in the center of the table.

They each sat down and pressed their hands together to say "Thank you for the food," before eating together.

It was only the four of them that night. Fugaku was at a meeting with the rest of Konoha's council. Being the head of the Uchiha clan meant that he was required to attend. Itachi was out on a mission... again. Being a jounin at this point, meant that he was gone a lot.

They were all fairly used to it, but in a way, they were each still a little lonely.

But they all still smiled and talked as they ate their meal. After dinner, the kids excused themselves from the table and went to Sasuke's room to play.

Mikoto sighed, but didn't protest. They're still good kids. Mikoto smiled, I hope they always stay this close. In the shinobi world, it's good to have family, although, sometimes it can be a burden.

She continued to think on the futures of her children as she cleared the dishes off the table and carried them to the kitchen sink.

She turned the faucet on and began washing a plate. The water was loud enough that she wasn't sure whether she had really heard the back door open or not.

She paused from scrubbing to look up and listen closer to see if she could hear anything else. After a minute of silence, she was satisfied, brushed it off and went back to her task.

No more than seconds later, she heard movement inside the house, she was sure of it. She shut the water off, and walked until the back door was in her sights. It was left wide open.

Her first thought was to get to the kids. She swiftly tiptoed to the hall with the door to Sasuke's room closed. She hoped that they were still in his room, and that the intruder was not.

She had to keep them safe, so she started to walk down the hall when she felt a shadowy presence shift behind her. She turned to see a man with his faced covered and a kunai in hand.

Her eyes widened when she realized he was a leaf shinobi. He has a leaf shinobi forehead protector on. So why did he sneak into my house?

"Where's the child? Where are you keeping it?" his voice was scratchy and his words were thick.

It? Mikoto decided that if she spoke and the children heard her, they might know to keep quite and hide. At least she hoped so. "I don't know who you mean, so get out of here! You shouldn't be here!"

The man disappeared and reappeared in front of her, grabbing her by the collar and holding the kunai to her throat, so fast she didn't have any time to react.

"Come on woman, I need this child for my plans. I know you know who I'm talking about... but I can understand why you would want to protect such a powerful weapon," he whispered in her ear.

A chill went up Mikoto's spine. "A... weapon?" she reiterated.

"Yes," he spoke with a revoltingly silky tone. "I'm sure you know the one. To think, a child has the ability to kill without lifting a finger, without using a jutsu and without moving a muscle. No one would want to just give up that kind of power, right?"

Mikoto was frozen. She wasn't sure if such power existed, but the thought of it was frightening. "I-I don't know a child like that," Mikoto said in a small voice.

"Oh, I'm sure you don't." Mikoto noticed the man's eyes shift to somewhere behind her.

A penetrating fear struck Mikoto worse than anything before. There could only be one thing that caught the man's undivided attention.

"Mother!" Sasuke screamed. Mikoto could turn her head just enough to see all three of her five-year-olds get into fighting stances.

"Kids, no! Go and hide, now! Run!" Mikoto desperately screamed.

"Shut up!" the man smacked Mikoto across the face.

"Mother!" both Sasuke and Tonbo cried out. Acting on instinct, Tonbo brought one of her hands, into a hand seal in front of her chest.

Mikoto knew that Tonbo's charka had been sealed away, so she didn't expect anything to happen. But inside of nothing, symbols appeared all over Tonbo's body, glowing a pale green.

Everyone drew in a sharp breath as they began to feel strangely. For the first time ever, Tonbo looked furious. Her eyes were full of hatred and she gave the man a sinisterly, hard look.

Mikoto had never been more afraid of anything before in her life. She suddenly found herself wondering if Tonbo would remember that she was her mother, and that Sasuke and Hinashou were her brothers. She began to fear, that she might kill all of them.

Please... don't... kill...Sasuke... was all that was on her mind. Otherwise, it was completely blank, void of anything else but her fear.

Tonbo's subconscious could hear Mikoto's thoughts, but for now, that was far from her mind.

Sasuke and Hinashou couldn't take the intense feeling, and the smothering hatred, and passed out, cold on the floor next to Tonbo. Mikoto's eyes began to tear, as she watched Sasuke and Hinashou fall to the floor, not sure of their conditions.

The man found that he couldn't move at all. He was also afraid. The woman he still had gripped by the collar, went limp, and he knew she had passed out like the two boys had.

He then involuntarily let go of the woman, and she fell and hit the floor hard like a slab of meat. He was then force to throw the kunai down at his side.

His eyes then began to blur and he could feel himself falling forward. He kept his eyes on the girl until they went black. His last, fleeting thought was, What... power.

Once Tonbo's eyes had followed the intruder all the way to the ground, she exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding. The intensity left the air, and the symbols on her body disappeared. She felt pain in her chest and doubled over coughing.

As she coughed into her hands, they felt wet. So when her coughing stopped, she looked down at her hands to see blood everywhere. She felt nauseous and gagged, only to have more blood come up.

As she straightened herself, she felt dizzy and lightheaded. The world started to spin around her, until it stopped sideways and she closed her eyes, unconscious.

A/N: And things are beginning to unfold... Please Read and Review!