EPILOGUE
The air was cool and crisp, a reprieve from the scorching summer Konoha had faced earlier in the year. November was fast approaching and with it the promise of a cold winter.
The hospital was quiet with only a few sick children and elderly waiting patiently in the emergency room. The staff wandered around, talking quietly amongst themselves and running to assist when patients made occasional requests.
Black hair gleamed in the soft glow of the lamp perched on the nightstand. In his hands he held a book, eyes black as a moonless night crept back and forth across the lines. Sun tanned skin and a tall full frame, he was as handsome as everyone believed he'd be, even in his late 40's he was still turning women years younger than he's heads.
Beside him she rested in bed her chest slowly rising and falling with each labored breath. Breaking the silence she rolled onto her side and coughed, the effort rocking her entire body.
"Are you okay, mom?" He asked eyebrows knitted together as he watched her struggle for breath.
She held a shaky hand out as she continued to cough.
Grabbing a cup of water from her bedside table he placed it in her waiting grasp. He waited until she took a few sips before taking it back and setting it down.
"Thank you." She said giving her son a wrinkled smile.
He nodded and stood over her as she repositioned herself in bed.
"Do you need anything else?" He asked standing over her and fluffing her pillow.
"No, I'm alright. Thank you, Katsu." She said reaching up and taking hold of his hand. "You're always so thoughtful."
He smiled softly at her and grasped her withered hand In his own, "I have to go here in a bit, Yuzuki will stay with you in the meantime."
Nodding the old woman closed her eyes and fell back into her slumber, her body exhausted from the exertion the fit had caused her.
A few minutes later a soft knock at the door sounded just before a young girl stepped in. Short black hair framed a fairy like face. Eyes tilted up at the sides were all she'd inherited from her mother before her; everything else was the spitting image of her grandfather.
"Hey dad, how's grama doing?" She asked wiping sweat off her brow. Collapsing into a chair across the large room she let out a gust of air.
"Tired?" He asked as he stood and stretched.
"Yeah, I was training, trying to fully awaken my Sharingan still." She pouted.
"You'll get it, you're almost there, Yuzuki." He said tucking his book into one of the many pockets lined on his pants. "She's been coughing a lot so make sure to remind her to take some medicine next time she wakes up and keep her water glass filled."
"Alright dad." She answered tucking her knees into her chest and staring at the floor.
Walking over to the girl, Katsu smiled and placed his hand on her head, "You're close, Yuzuki, I can feel it. Keep training, I didn't awaken my Sharingan until I was 13."
"But I've been able to control Byakugan since I was like 6! Why is the Sharingan so hard?" She mused staring up at him.
"I can't answer that, Yu." He said shrugging, "I had to learn everything from scratch, myself. When the Uchiha compound burned it took all the training scrolls with it. It's just something you need to learn on your own as I have."
Sighing angrily Yuzuki turned away, pushing her dads hand off her head.
Shaking his head Katsu opened the door, before leaving he told her her mother would come relieve her as soon as she could.
The room was once again quiet.
'Hurry up mom.' Yuzuki silently pled. Shifting in her seat she tried but couldn't sit still. Giving up, she stood and begun gazing around the room.
Standing in front her grandmothers mirror she took in her image, turning side to side she grimaced, 'I don't see what all the fuss is about.' She thought thinking of the villagers who starred and the boys who frequently sent her love notes. "Idiots." She said immediately slapping her hand over her mouth and turning to the bed where her grandmother slept.
Shifting in bed, she opened her eyes and took a deep breath. Sitting up she searched for the disturbance only to find her granddaughter starring sheepishly at her.
"Hello grandma Hinata."
"Hello, Yuzuki." She said with a weak smile. "Come here and let me touch that beautiful face of yours." Hinata said reaching out.
Walking over, Yuzuki sat in the chair her father had previously occupied and leaned forward pressing her cheek into her grandmother's palm.
Smiling, Hinata rubbed her thumb across her granddaughters cheek and let go. "Such a beauty."
"I'd trade all my so called 'beauty' if I could open my Sharingan just once!" She huffed sitting back in the chair.
"You have strong kekkei genkai running through your veins, Yuzuki, it will come."
"Grandma?" Yuzuki asked tentatively.
"What is it, dear?"
"Can you tell me about my grandfather?" She asked her voice almost a whisper.
The question hung in the air for what felt like an eternity, each second adding to Yuzuki's anxiety.
"You've read about him, haven't you?"
"A little…I know he was a big reason why we won the fourth shinobi war but that's it…" Yuzuki said, surprised that Hinata hadn't brushed it off. Her grandmother had never spoke of her grandfather before and she knew it was a touchy subject growing up. She'd overheard her parents discussing him before but when she asked they said it was something she was too young to know about.
With a soft smile Hinata nodded, "Yes, but I didn't know him back then. We met long after the war was over."
"Can… Can you tell me about how you met?" Yuzuki asked.
Laying back in bed Hinata closed her eyes. "He was handsome, the most handsome man this village has ever had. All the women loved him, he used to have flocks of them following after him around town." She laughed. "The last of his clan, he was very angry as a child, I remember him growing up, he used to make me so nervous in school."
Yuzuki listened with her full attention, engrossed in her grandmothers memories.
"It was a mission I was assigned to when I was in the Anbu force." She said eyes still closed as she relived the moments. "I was sent…" She stopped, her voice breaking a bit.
"Grama?"
"The objective was to kill him and bring his body back to the village so that we could maintain peace with Kumogakure." Hinata recalled, "The Hokage at the time, it nearly killed him to give the order. When he found out it was me who was appointed with the task, I'd heard he tried to call off the mission but I had already left."
Opening her eyes, Hinata sat up and reached for the cup of water.
Yuzuki jumped up, grabbing the glass for her and setting it back after she finished. She waited impatiently for her grandmother to settle back into bed and continue.
"It took me months just to find him. I had to hide my chakra levels from him and pushed myself to the brink of death so that he'd know I was not a threat." She reminisced. "I must've looked like death." She said with a feeble laugh. "I was nothing but bones, we were days away from called the mission when in an odd twist, he found me."
She called on every memory she had of those few months, told her granddaughter how he'd taken her with him to her surprise, how she watched him day after day trying to learn the type of man he was and how she carried out her mission, slowly learning his weaknesses and sending the gained information back to the leaf.
The entire time Yuzuki sat, enthralled in her grandparents history and saddened by it as well. 'Poor Grandpa…' She thought with a sharp pain in her heart.
"You must think I'm a monster, little one." Hinata said reading her granddaughters silence. "But that is the way of the shinobi. You do whatever you can to protect those of the village, no matter the cost. I was given an order and in order to prevent war, I accepted."
"I know… but it still just doesn't seem right." The girl murmured unable to look at Hinata.
"Do you want me to stop?"
Shaking her head Yuzuki quieted so that she could continue.
"He left me when we finally reached Suna and again the mission was almost called off…" She said as she described her brief stay in the land of sand. "He came back for me though. I never expected that… I couldn't believe it even as I looked at him. The only thought in my mind was that he was there for me… Me." She said incredulously.
She looked up at Yuzuki with a gleam in her eyes the girl had never seen before and said, "I knew then that he loved me. Me, a girl who was so far off his map he could scarcely remember who she was when we first met. Me…when there were thousands of women vying for his attention… he chose me."
"Grandma!" Yuzuki giggled, "You're blushing!"
Yuzuki listened on as Hinata proceeded, she described a monstrous snake Sasuke controlled who took them far from Suna, the clearing they had chosen to settle in, the small house they'd built and how she lived as simply as a person could with him. Taking only what they needed from the land, going into town for a few hours at a time, how she'd feel Sasuke's eyes on her. How it felt to know that there was someone who was willing, without a second thought, to lay down their life for you, all for love.
She described how she'd get notes to the Anbu force, how slowly a plan fell into place and she was given the order only to realize that she was carrying his child. "That complicated things…" Hinata laughed thinking fondly of her son. "Carrying our father was a horror, I was constantly sick and my energy was always so low. All I wanted to do was sleep and eat but he kicked so hard I'd lay awake for hours and when I tried holding down anything but broth I just couldn't."
"What did they say when you told them you were pregnant?"
"The plans were dropped and they spent months reorganizing." Hinata answered reaching out and holding Yuzuki's hand. "The Uchiha clan were an incredible force to the reckoned with back in their prime. The elders wanted me to abort the child but thankfully Naruto-Sama overruled them. He said a child carrying the Uchiha bloodline could only be an asset to the village."
"And he has! Dad's one of the strongest shinobi this village has ever seen!" Yuzuki said squeezing her grandmothers hand.
"Yes, I was so relieved when they told me." She said, "You know when I was a child I was promised to marry either Sasuke or his elder brother, Itachi. It seems that fate wanted to unite the bloodlines one way or another, though."
"So dad was like, meant to be, huh?"
"It would seem so." Hinata laughed, "Anyway, we lived for a time in that small home just us two. He was a quiet man, stoic, rough around the edges all those words used to describe great men could be used for him as well. People thought he was heartless but I knew better."
"What was he then? I've heard that he killed innocent people and worked for the Sanin Orochimaru…That he wanted to destroy Konoha…"
Waving her hand, Hinata hushed her, "At one point in time, Sasuke was very lost." She explained, "He wanted to avenge his family, you see? It was love for those lost. Orochimaru saw this and used it to his advantage when he sought out Sasuke."
"Poor grandpa…" Yuzuki murmured tears filling her eyes. "Did he ever get revenge?"
"No, dear." Hinata said, "He found that instead of killing those innocent in the leaf that he wanted to change the system, make it better for future shinobi so that history would never repeat itself."
"If that's all he wanted, then why was he killed?" Yuzuki demanded.
"He killed many people, Yuzuki. Maybe when you're older you will understand." Hinata said tiredly.
"I understand now, grama. It was wrong."
Smiling softly at the girl Hinata sighed, "There are things that don't seem right to us as Shinobi that we must fulfill for the greater good, Yuzuki."
Regarding her grandmother with a sour expression she shook her head, "I couldn't do that…"
"Do you want to be a great kunoichi?"
"I know I will be! As soon as I awaken my sharingan…" Yuzuki huffed. "Just like you, grandma! I've read about the history of the Hyuga Clan! You're one of the greats!"
"And now I'm old." She said sheepishly smoothing out her blankets.
Once again growing still and silent, Yuzuki looked at Hinata, "How did he die?"
Returning the girls stare Hinata smiled sadly, "I struck his chest with my chakra."
Breaking eye contact, Yuzuki starred down at her lap for a few moments. When she looked back up tears were gathered in her eyes, dripping down her long lashes. "That's it?"
Sighing Hinata sat up in bed and with some effort scooted over. Pulling back the blankets she patted the bed beckoning Yuzuki.
Complying, Yuzuki stood and slipped into her grandmothers bed and embrace. As Hinata wrapped her arm around Yuzukis' small frame the girl took her hand and clutched it tight.
"It was a trap. I was the bait, I was bound and gagged and as Sasuke approached I lured him in by screaming. There were many top ranking shinobi there and in minutes he cut all but a few down. The Leafs top Anbu forces hit him all at once."
For a split second, Hinata's voice trembled, the reverberation so light, Yuzuki would have missed it had she not been listening so intently.
"He was going to summon Aoda, the giant snake. Had he succeeded in calling the serpent the mission would be a failure. I had a clear shot from where I hid…I took it."
Tears fell freely from Yuzuki's eyes now, dripping down they begun to form a puddle. "Then?" She asked, her voice cracking.
"I returned home and I had your father days after." She finished.
Grandmother and granddaughter lay in silence together for what felt like hours to Yuzuki. Her heart broke for her grandfather, 'Betrayed by the person you love…' The thought swept through her mind, dejected and disillusioned she released her grandmothers hand and rose.
"Does dad know?" She asked looking over her shoulder at Hinata.
"Yes." She said, "He was granted access to the reports when he became a jonin."
"And he's okay with it?"
"He was angry at first but he was older than you are now and he understood." Hinata said a coughing fit cutting off the last of the sentence.
"Do you need medicine grandma? I forgot to ask earlier, dad told me to!" Yuzuki said jumping up and running to the counter a few feet away where the bottle sat along with some drops.
Grabbing them she returned to Hinata's bedside and held them out.
Taking a small measuring cup she filled it and handed the bottle back to Yuzuki, "I'll keep the cough drops on my nightstand." She said holding onto the bag and drinking the syrup. "Thank you, love." She said.
Walking back to the bedside chair Yuzuki nodded and was about to sit back down when the door to the room opened and her mother walked in.
"Sorry I was so late, Miss Hyuga!" The woman said blushing, "I stopped to get a few things at the market that we needed at home and well time just slipped by!"
"It's no problem, Emiko, I enjoyed keeping Yuzuki prisoner." Hinata said smiling broadly at her granddaughter. "I know it must be a burden on you three, trying to be here with me 24/7. I told Katsu that it wasn't necessary, I'll be out in a few days and it's just a small virus."
"Yes but we worry and we miss you being home so this is the closest we can get to it until you're released." Emiko said sticking her tongue out at Hinata. Tall and willowy, Emiko was a beautiful woman. Fair with blonde hair streaked with different hues from gold to brown and striking blue eyes it was no surprise when she caught Katsu's eye. Witty and sweet she and Katsu fell in love quickly and married within a year.
"Hello, Yuzuki!" Emiko said giving her daughter a raised brow, "Thank you for greeting me!"
"Oh, hey mom." Yuzuki said with feigned enthusiasm.
"It's late, baby." Walking over to her daughter, Emiko pulled her into a light embrace and placed a kiss on her forehead, "You can head home now."
Allowing her mother to love on her, Yuzuki nodded and went to her grandmother. Bending down she kissed Hinata's cheek and gave her a hug. "Goodbye grandma, I'll be back tomorrow!"
"Okay, see you then." Hinata said waiving.
Yuzuki begun to walk out of the door and into the hallway when she suddenly turned back and asked her grandmother, "Did you love him?"
Hinata had been saying something to Emiko and stopped midsentence as Yuzuki waited. Looking at Yuzuki she didn't answer but continued to stare at the girl with a far away look in her eyes.
After a few seconds passed Yuzuki gave up and slowly closed the door. Turning she walked down the hall, stairs and finally out of the hospital.
That night she lay in her own bed unable to sleep as she contemplated her grandparents story.
Thinking of her grandfather and the tragedy his life was she couldn't help but wonder what he'd been like.
Pushing the blankets away, Yuzuki got up and walked across her room to her small bookcase. Fingering through the titles she stopped and pulled out a thick history book, the glossy cover shined in the moonlight.
Laying it on her nightstand she turned on the small yellow lamp she used when she studied. Peering at the index she found the chapter and flipped through the pages coming to a stop at a photo taken decades before.
A man was pictured, his dark hair flowing in the wind, Katana in hand he stood beside the Hokage an imposing figure. 'Sasuke Uchiha (left) and Hokage Uzumaki (right)' The caption read.
Running her fingers over the image, Yuzuki stared intently at her grandfathers face.
Outside the wind blew strong sending in a gust of cool autumn wind.
"Grandfather…" With a sigh she closed the book and turned off the light. Without bothering to put it up she climbed back into bed and closed her eyes for a few moments before opening them back up and looking out her window to the full moon.
"She loved you." She whispered.
SUENA: I loved writing this story, it was a plot thats been on my mind for years and its been a true pleasure getting it all out and finally published. Thank you for your support Fanfiction. Please R&R, I dont own Naruto.
