Sylencia – I'm sorry I made you cry, here is a tissue! As for her brothers, we'll see how that goes, ne? You already know her love interest, let's keep this one a secret. ;) Really, your English is good, use it more than your French and you'll be an awesome English (wo)man. :D
SilverIcy – That's right, smartie! J It will be a slow progress but in the end she'll be strong. Well, that's the point of training. :p Oooh, guess people would be pretty shocked to see a woman with a Sharingan, ohhh, can't wait for that chapter tho! :D
So here are the ages for the ones that are confused, for this chapter only:
Uchiha Madara=8 years to 9 years old
Uchiha Daisuke (OC)=7 years to 8 years old
Uchiha Izuna=6 years to 5 years old
Uchiha Tetsu (OC)=4 years to 5 years old
Uchiha Shisui=3 years to 4 years old
Era of the Warring States
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By Angelbloodlover
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~ I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.
Unknown
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Chapter 3: Difficulties
"Stupid birds, chirping happily…" Shisui grumbled in annoyance, getting up slowly. Ever since Tajima had forbidden her to train, she had started upping her chakra control by walking on tree, on water, leaf exercise, etc. She was getting there much faster with her chakra than she was in her old body. And the way her chakra was growing was exceptional. It felt as if the chakra from her old body was merging with the chakra she had in this body.
Utilizing as less chakra as possible, she made a clone that looked perfectly like her while she left the tent from behind. Screw Tajima, she was going to train anyway. And since her clone was weaving and sewing she would get those memories too.
Like killing two birds with one stone.
Ever since that incident Tetsu was being trained by Tajima, along with Madara, Daisuke and Izuna. She missed him very much, all of her brothers. The only time she would see them was at night and then they were too tired to stay up, though they tried. Tiredness won over their stubbornness.
Sighing softly, she moved to the clearing she came a year ago, it was her sanctuary, the place where she knew every single root and animal. Though she hoped they wouldn't travel from this spot soon, she wanted to enjoy it and train her jutsu arsenal and her chakra control, together with her physical strength.
"Breath in and out, Shisui. You can do it." She encouraged herself, moving her fingers in perfect precision, "Kawarimi no Jutsu."
Poof.
She switched her body with the many logs that were the forest was full of it. Grinning, she continued to do this jutsu until she could do with closed eyes. Her first priorities are the E-rank and D-rank jutsu's. Once she perfected them all, even with closed eyes, she would switch to C-rank and then B-rank and so on… It was perfect and together with that. Her eyes moved to her clones, ten to be precisely, she didn't want to force too much information in her brain, who were practicing the art of writing and reading with her new fingers. Other clones of her were practicing chakra control and the others were utilizing her favourite jutsu.
Her lips twitched upwards, "Shunshin no-" "Shisui." Shisui interjected her clones who were practicing the body flicker technique. It was her signature jutsu and she would not, under any circumstances, leave it behind. It was a memo to her old life and how proud she was to be that woman. She would never bury her past, she would never forget it because that past used to be her. She couldn't erase her entire personality, no that was not possible. She wouldn't do it.
All the people she had met and learn to care for; her parents, Itachi-kun, Sasuke-kun, Mikoto-san, grumpy Fugaku, Obito-kun, Kakashi-kun, Rin-chan, Minato-san, Sandaime and many more. She could still picture them, all wearing gentle and caring smiles- except for Fugaku, he always wore that same frown on his face. She looked up, smiling, "I hope you're all healthy and well wherever you all are."
Her heart felt at ease, her mind was feeling better and better as time goes by. She was finally learning to live with herself. "I promise to you all," She vowed softly, fist in the air, "Your (future) lives will be in good hands." Giggling like an idiot, she switched to running in laps around the clearing till she was tired. That small speech to herself motivated her to no end- though she sounded like an insane girl. It was a good thing no one could hear her.
She blinked her eyes and looked at the clones who were writing and reading. You may wonder how Shisui was able to get a hold on pen and paper. She never got them. They are all clones, transformed into the necessary object since being educated wasn't taught to girls. Heck, she didn't even know if boys were being educated properly. Still, that didn't mean that she was educating her brothers when they had free time. They still didn't know how she could know all these things when no one bothered to teach her to which she had winked and said, "Secret!"
That day she had to run away from her brothers or she would have been killed by her nosy siblings.
"Three laps, a lot more to go!" She jumped on a tree and flipped forward, feeling as free as a bird; the wind playing with your hair, eyes closed, arms stretched out, absolutely ecstatic. It felt like she was back in the Leaf, hopping from tree to tree. Of course, this was still routine for her, an everyday routine. Her body needed to get used to these tiring things: jumping, running, sprinting, flips, hand stand, anything she could remember and this time she could correct herself without the help of anyone.
Right there, that fact, made her all giddy at the prospect of being older. When she would be even stronger than her old self. She used to be able to defeat Itachi, a highly intelligent prodigy. Of course, she was labelled as a prodigy too but Itachi was way better than her, she just had the experience while he had not. Even when he was little, he used to do everything with utmost perfection, no mistakes, nothing. He could memorize a book in two hours, he could memorize a jutsu in a day, he could defeat a high-Chunin when he was seven years old, friggin' seven years old! That's just unreal and yet all the proof was in front of her. At first she used to be jealous of him, hating him for the fact that he took all her attention away from her but gradually on, she started to view his other side, his lonely side. And after the death of her parents she had shut down everyone until Itachi had wormed inside her life. He was the only one who didn't view her with pity in his eyes, he had rescued her from the loneliness.
She was forever in his debt, really, he truly was her best friend, her comrade, her lover, her saviour. She didn't know what she would have become if it weren't for him.
Jealous eyes peered at Shisui and she had to wonder why those girls were looking at her. It was weird, she felt as if she was going to be robbed from life at any moment. Swallowing softly, she looked at Madara and wondered if it had anything to do with him. Looking at him through her eye lashes, she concluded that he was a very handsome boy, even at this young age.
"Aniki, do you have fangirls?" She asked at him. Today was one of the free days that Tajima had granted him.
He frowned in annoyance and scanned his surroundings. The moment he locked eyes with the group of stalking girls his face turned a deadly white. "I don't want them. They keep sneaking from their duties to watch me train. I don't like their ogling." He crossed his arms and glared at them, hoping to scare them away unfortunately it didn't work.
Shisui giggled softly, bumping her arm against his, "Aniki, don't worry, when you'll grow up, you'll be the one running after them."
His eye brows twitched violently and he stopped walking. Without another word, he grabbed her by the shoulders and looked straight in her eyes, "You are forbidden to make contact with boys till you're forty, you brothers excluded, am I understood?" He growled out, eye brows still twitching.
She saluted, "Loud and clear, sir!"
He sighed in relief and nodded, "That's good 'cause I don't feel like killing my own kinsmen because of that."
She burst into a fit of laughter and followed her brother who was still sending glares at the girls. "It's as if they don't have anything better to do…," He averted his attention back on me, "Don't you have training?" He knew about her secret, all her brothers knew, it was their well-kept secret, not even Sachiko knew about it. It wouldn't end pretty if even one Uchiha would know.
"My clones are doing the job." That's right, she had experimented with her clones and since she received everything they received she could use them to increase her training, well, only the training she did mentally such as chakra control, reading, writing, kata's and jutsu's.
He brushed his bangs away, "Make sure you don't get a headache, dispel them one by one." She had tried to dispel them all at ones and the memory rush she had received wasn't pretty. She felt weird for two days, something that had annoyed her brother, especially Madara to no end. He was too over-protective of her, she didn't want to picture him when he was older.
"Never again," She answered him, shaking her head, "That was the most awful feeling."
He chuckled, ruffling her hair affectionately. "Good to know." His face broke into a smile when Daisuke and the rest joined them. The only time Madara would ever laugh was when he saw one of his siblings, and with a smile, she meant a real smile. She felt overjoyed to be his sister, she could feel the love he had for us a mile away. That love was unbreakable and she would make sure no one would ever separate them. Ever.
But what was bothering her more was the fact that Uchiha Madara only had one brother at the time of Konoha's founding, namely Uchiha Izuna. The question that was irking her was the fact of her other brothers whereabouts. What happened to Daisuke and Tetsu, did they …die? A shiver ran up her spine and she glanced at them, keeping her breath steady. No, they wouldn't die, she was teaching them, albeit slowly, the art of healing. She was already changing things with her appearance, she was changing them. Damnit! They will not die!
She started summing up the fact during the Era of the Warring States, maybe she could find something, a small hint, anything about them…?
If she remembered correctly… during the Era of the Warring States the world was thrust into a dark age for all shinobi. The casualties were larger than any of the previous wars or future wars she knew about. Due to the unrelenting violence, the average life-span for a shinobi was a mere thirty years, though the single biggest reason for the continuing fall in life expectancy was because children were used to fight and in the battlefield they were slaughtered. The conflicts perpetually arose between the various nations as each crusaded for more rights and land so the daimyo began to hire shinobi clans to fight against one another as they fought for control of the new uprising countries. During this period, two of these clans came to the forefront; her clan, the Uchiha's and the Senju clan. The clans became so prominent that, should one leader hire the Senju, the other would hire the Uchiha, which was why the Uchiha's and the Senju began to hate each other. They were each other's arch nemesis.
But nothing in that described something about her brothers. What could she do to keep them safe? She was doing her best, teaching them, lecturing them, anything she could think of. But she couldn't be with them every single second, every single minute. She would if she could but that was practically impossible. How could she slip away from them? Even with the aid of her clones, there was the possibility that the clone would pop out.
Grabbing her hair, she pulled her black strands. "Kami, what can I do…?" She breathed out and looked at the sky, "What can I do?"
Her only answer was the dripping of the rain until a storm appeared. She still didn't run to her tent. She kept training and training, hoping she would be strong enough to protect her siblings. She didn't view them as her big brothers, no, she viewed them as her little brothers since she was technically the oldest one.
It was her duty to keep them safe.
Ba-dum.
Badum. Badum.
Ba-dum! Ba-dum! Ba-dum!
Shisui looked with wide horrified eyes as Madara and Daisuke were preparing for war against the Senju. Her lips trembled and she tried to push the tears away, she tried but they came rolling down. It was if they had their own will. She took a hesitant step and another one and another one until she hugged her brothers tightly, her cries muffled by their armour. "Please…come back s-safely." When she stared into their eyes, she could see how much they were troubled by this but there was no way Tajima was going to let them stay in the camp. Normally, they send children around the five but Sachiko had refused to let them go that young. Even Tajima had accepted that. He didn't want to lose his sons because they were too weak to survive.
She grabbed their hands and ignored her salty tears, "Madara-nii, Daisuke-nii, p-please, b-be saf-fe…" She choked out, kissing their hands, "P-please…"
Madara swallowed and looked at Daisuke, "I'll make sure Dai-baka doesn't die." He tried to humour her but her eyes- Kami, why was she looking as if they were going to die..? He knew she feared this day but he didn't know she was this scared.
Daisuke growled and pushed his brother away, "Imouto, I'll keep a watchful eye on him. He can be so temperamental at times.." He shook his head, smirking slyly at Madara's obvious anger.
She nodded and took out something from her pocket, "This scroll is my transformed clone. If you are too w-wounded, smear your blood on it and the clone will appear. Then the clone will use medical Ninjutsu, just make sure Tajima doesn't see it." She explained carefully, looking them deep in the eyes.
"Arigatou, imouto." Madara spoke softly, ruffling her hair.
Daisuke smirked and stuffed the scroll in his pouch, "You sure are something, Shi-chan."
Suddenly Madara punched her head none too gently. "Hey!" Shisui cried out, rubbing her head, glaring at her brother, "Why did you do that for?"
"In case you are one of the transformed clones but it seems I was wrong." Her glare turned murderously. "My bad." He apologized, rubbing the small bump on her head.
Her breathing shuddered and she looked at them both, taking a step backwards. It was time her other brother got to say something. She watched the heart-breaking moment where Izuna took shaky steps forwards until he jumped his brothers and hugged them. He didn't cry, he didn't sob, he didn't sniff. He just hugged the tight. When Tetsu was next, he walked up to them and placed his hands on both their shoulders and forehead against Madara and then Daisuke, "I know you two will return safely."
No words were spoken as the siblings hugged each other, waiting painstakingly for the moment when they had to leave.
Shisui's breathing didn't improve, her mind wasn't helping either as many gruesome images popped up her head. But she couldn't push them away, no, she was worrying too mu- "Let's go."
She was sure her heart stopped beating at the voice of Tajima. Looking at him with her blurry eyes, she noticed that he wore a standard black attire, with a high collar and the traditional armour of the war-torn time along with foot wraps, sandals and a tanto strapped horizontally to his back. His dark-coloured eyes scanned his two sons' armour and nodded in approval. Shisui didn't like his face, he was uncomfortable to watch, his dark-coloured hair framed his gaunt-looking face, which was further accentuated by his mouth that was naturally curled upwards. His eyes flickered momentarily towards his other three children but he didn't say anything. Turning around, he walked out the tent with pride, his footsteps not leaving behind any sound.
Her brothers started following him but they did glance backwards, watching their siblings wait there until they would safely return.
Shisui tossed from left to right, curling up against Tetsu until she had enough of it. She stood up and walked outside, gazing at the sky that was filled with shining stars. Her mind kept re-playing when Madara and Daisuke walked away from her, from them. Shivering, she walked further, she needed to do something to get this undesired stress out of her system.
"Madara-nii, Daisuke-nii, be safe." She pleaded to the sky, hoping Kami would grant her that lone wish. She didn't want fame, she didn't want success, she didn't want strength nor power, she just wanted them back. Healthy. Just that. "I've always been a selfless person, even sacrificing my own life for the greater good but this time, only this time, return them to healthy and well."
Her training was going smoothly, she even had succeed to learn Madara the mystical palm technique. Sure, he couldn't utilize it like she could but it was enough so to stabilize a mortal wounded person until he got further treatment. Daisuke had slight problems with chakra control but she had advised him to do the tree-walking, water-walking, leaf exercise or a mix of chakra control exercises. Izuna was good but he, too, had slight problems with chakra control. Tetsu, on the other hand, was showing some serious gifted chakra control, he was a prowess in Genjutsu and medical Ninjutsu. That meant two down, two more brothers to go.
She practiced her chakra control, her Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Kenjutsu, together with her ten-man squad of clones, each doing their own (mental) training. In her previous life, Uchiha Kagami, was a tremendous Kenjutsu user, his swordmanship was one to be feared of. Of course, he had passed that down on his daughter, which was why she was so good at it, even if she used a stick, she could still remember the weak stop of a human. She could remember her father's stern but proud expression, correcting her wrong stance with tenderness.
A shudder escaped her lips and she wiped off the lone tear that rolled down. Her father never doubted her skills, he was always proud of her, even her mother spoke fondly of her. She touched her neck, feeling the empty place where her ruby necklace used to be.
She could still remember the words that were engraved on the backside of the pendant. She could still remember the smooth feeling of the expensive gem. She could still remember the beautiful colour of the ruby under the bright sunlight. She could still remember the day she got her necklace, it was one of her most precious moments in her life…
When she came back she had a small box in her hands, more precisely a jewellery box.
"This is an early birthday present for all the hard work you've put in your training." Noriko explained as she opened the velvety box, revealing a sparkling silver-chained ruby necklace.
Shisui was stunned. Such a beautiful, shiny necklace for her…?
Upon seeing her daughter's facial expression, Noriko giggled again, "Shi-chan, this is real and for you." With gentle, delicate hands, she took the necklace out of the velvety safeness and placed it around her daughter's soft neck. "If you look at the back of the ruby, you'll see something engraved on it."
'For my lovely ruby, Uchiha Shisui. Love, your Mother'
That was one of her most precious moments in life.
She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard soft footsteps, familiar footsteps. Rubbing her eyes, she waited for them to appear, a tired smile etched on her face, "Izuna-nii, Tetsu-nii…you guys can't sleep either?"
Two shakes.
Tetsu looked grim, spiky hair ruffled and Izuna didn't look better, "Can we join your training?" Izuna asked quietly.
Shisui nodded softly, "Hai. Let's work on your medical Ninjutsu, both of you."
They groaned but complied with her wish anyway. And the three of them practiced their jutsu's, correcting each other. By the end of it they were laughing and joking, their fear and stress forgotten. If only for a small moment.
And all the while was Sachiko's gentle eyes, watching her children comfort each other, imprinting that image in her head.
"Two more laps to go!" Shisui cried out, sticking her tongue out at her brothers who were far behind. Sure, they had more strength than her but she was faster, much faster than any of them. Besides, if she used Tsunade's enhanced strength, she'll be as strong, if not, even stronger than them. She couldn't wait till she had perfected her chakra. In her previous life, she had devoted her entire time in her Genjutsu arsenal and Kenjutsu but this time she would up her Taijutsu and Ninjutsu. She had never copied jutsu's from her friends, only from her enemies. That was something she would stick to- even now, in this time line.
She could hear Izuna's puffing and Tetsu was lagging behind, much behind. "Come on slowpokes!" She provoked them, "You'll get beaten by a girl!"
Pushing her hair away from her face, she sped up, ignoring Izuna's enraged shout and Tetsu's weak, "I can't!"
And then she saw Sachiko was together with the other Uchiha women with her, talking and giggling. A bright smile appeared on her face and she waved at her, "Kaa-san!" Sachiko was gentle, caring mother, she deserved that title. No, she will never replace Noriko, her real mother but Sachiko was special, along with her brothers. She loved them. Deeply.
"Kaa-san!" She cried again, stopping in front of her. Opening her arms, she hugged Sachiko who giggled at her ruffled appearance, "Shi-chan, were you running again?"
Shisui nodded, pointing behind her, "Izuna-nii and Tetsu-nii are so sloooooow."
Another amused giggle, "They just don't like running." She offered weakly, smiling at her other sons as they stopped next to Shisui, arms on their knees as they tried to steady their breathing.
"Kaa-san…i-mou-to is cra-zy…" Tetsu spoke between intakes of his breath.
Izuna only nodded, dropping on the ground, face red as a cherry, "I ca-n't bre-athe…"
Sachiko and Shisui giggled while the other women shook their heads at the daily occurrences between Shisui and her brothers. They were getting used to her tomboyish behaviour.
That night when they were training again, Shisui gasped in shock, dropping on the ground as tears rolled down her face. Her brothers ceased the sparring and ran straight to her, "Imouto! What happened? Why are you crying?" Izuna cried out in distress.
"D-Daisuke -nii…got w-wounded." She bawled her eyes out, crying and hugging her brothers as they tried to give her comfort.
Tetsu hiccupped, eyes shimmering under the starry night, "I-Imouto…w-will he su-urvive…?"
Shisui's breathing was getting louder, "I-I don't kno-ow…"
For the rest of the night they didn't train, they didn't sleep. Restless and tired they waited for the return of their dear brothers, hoping everything would be alright. Because hope was all they had right now…
