Hello all you lovely people! Did you read the manga this week? Best chapter all year, by far.
Enjoy the next chappy!
Chapter 48: Uchiha Versus Uchiha
They had one week to train before their matches and now, Yuki couldn't spar with Saki, since they were slated to fight each other in the second round. Yuki made sure Saki had lessons with her father, while she herself disappeared for the entire week. When asked, Sasuke murmured something about how Yuki needed to go into the Forest of Death to play flute music for the next week.
"What kind of training is that?" Aiji demanded of Sasuke. Sasuke merely shook his head and went back to instructing Saki.
The week wound to a close and soon, Konoha became the epicenter of the Five Shinobi nations. All kinds of strange characters and powerful lords came into the village, until the usual inhabitants were feeling extremely claustrophobic.
On the day of the chunin finals, Yuki was nowhere to be found. The stadium was packed full of people, and as Yuki and Tadashi's names were called, Tadashi's lips curled into a superior smile. Yuki wasn't going to show, and he was going to win by default.
Just as he was about to proclaim himself the winner, Yuki appeared in a dark swirl in the middle of the field. "Hope I'm not late," she muttered, looking a bit haggard. Tadashi shot her a glare while the referee called for the match to begin.
Tadashi came at her with everything he had, his gentle fist style as vicious as the snarl on his face. Yuki, her expression placid, didn't even bother dodging. Instead she dissolved, or truly, transported, her body where he hit her.
"Come at me, Uchiha Yuki!" he growled.
The crowd was going wild over Yuki's teleport jutsu, a jutsu not seen since Madara's appearance—and reappearance...and re-reapperance—in the world.
Yuki leapt back from Tadashi and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Why do you want to win so badly, Tadashi-san?" she asked. There was no ire, no mocking behind her tone. She hadn't seen the boy in what felt like years, was genuinely curious. To her, the title of chunin meant little. She had only joined this contest at the behest of the Hokage. She knew that she was more powerful than most chunin and some jonin, even at her young age, yet the thought brought her little joy.
Tadashi paused, somewhat taken aback at her question. Panting, he replied, "If I defeat you, it will mean that I'm the strongest ninja in the village. I will defeat you, Uchiha Yuki. I will!"
Yuki sighed. Why was Tadashi always be so overdramatic? She activated her sharingan, but it didn't take her doujutsu to see Tadashi hadn't changed at all since the time she had beat him at the training grounds.
At that moment, Yuki realized this was all there was to being a ninja: who was stronger than who, the unending test of wills. She felt like the earth under her had just shifted, and her head spun, though nothing outwardly had changed. All her life, she aspired to be strong, mostly to please her father, but also because she had thought she must. Now that she was one of the most formidable ninja in the village, she realized with a sinking feeling that it wasn't really what she wanted. She was lonely. Unfulfilled. She had become the subject of rumor, hatred, and the desire to kill.
To Tadashi, she had become a milestone, a hurdle—not a person.
"Tell me, Tadashi-san," Yuki asked slowly, the words seeming strange in her mouth, "why are you a ninja?"
"Because Uchiha," he spat, her surname sounding like a curse, "in this world, only the strong survive." He zoomed towards her again, his fists glowing with the power to stop a heart, sever limbs, break bones. This time, Yuki did not dematerialize her body, but matched him blow for blow.
The crowd went hysterical, many cheering for Yuki and just as many shouting for Tadashi. An idle part of Yuki's mind registered what the crowd was saying, how they were screaming for blood. She wondered how many had placed bets on this event.
It made her sick.
But what made her most nauseous of all was the sick glint in Tadashi's eyes. It was madness that she has seen in Madara's eyes, the glint of bloodlust, of wanting power above all else.
"Tadashi-san," she said, her voice soft and sad, "I am truly sorry what happened—our fight before I left the village. Please forgive me."
"Tch. Uchiha, I'll forgive you when I've decked you on the stadium floor."
Her skin crawled and in that moment, she loathed everything about the exam. With a fluid motion, she teleported herself rapidly around her opponent, a black blur encircling the Hyuga.
Tadashi employed revolving palms of heaven, thwarting her attacks from all angles. But while he was engaged defending himself, using his enhanced vision to fend off attacks, he could not avoid her sharingan whirling from all sides.
He wavered, collapsing on the ground in a boneless heap, defeated by genjutsu.
"Winner! Uchiha-Yuki!"
The crowd roared with approval, throwing confetti and blood red roses. She glared at the flowers, deactivated her jutsu, and walked away in disgust.
Yuki watched the rest of the matches, ensconced in the dark winner's area. She was glad her parents couldn't enter the restricted zone to congratulate her, because she didn't feel like any congratulations were in order. She felt like a fraud.
Next up were a few ninja she didn't know, one from Stone and one from Mist. She didn't bother to watch the outcome and instead was lost in her thoughts. Her head snapped up when it was Hoshiko's turn to face some monster of a man from Mist: the ninja had dark purple skin and gills of all things. Yuki felt a shiver run down her spine. But Hoshiko, after gulping audibly, steadied herself and went after the brute, and in the end, she won. Yuki smiled wryly. She felt truly proud of the young genin, and for a moment, forgot her own melancholy.
As the next group was called up to duel, Yuki's breath caught in her throat: it was Uchiha Saki verses a wiry looking ninja from Lightning. Though he was lean, Yuki could see the muscles rippling under his mesh uniform. For some reason entirely unknown to Yuki, she felt anxious. Leaning forward on the bench, she gripped her seat with white-knuckled fingers. Hoshiko entered the winner's area, a pale grin on her wan face; apparently, the last duel had taken a lot out of her, as the young girl practically swayed until she managed to sit down.
Damn, Yuki thought, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. Can Saki really win against this guy?
But she need not have worried. Saki had the ninja unconscious in five minutes flat. The crowd boomed with applause as the Saki jogged around the field, giving epic victory waves to her fans. But when she entered the winner's dugout and saw Yuki, her smile faded. She knew she would have to fight her sister soon. Yuki mumbled a congratulations to her sister, concealing the cold dread settling in her stomach.
She watched the next matches with only a fraction of her attention. Inside, she was a maelstrom of thoughts. It seemed almost too perfect that Yuki would be fighting Saki. Too perfect—and wrong. After so much violence within the Uchiha clan, not to mention the battle against Madara that had taken place only last month, Yuki thought it was highly inappropriate to be facing off with her sister.
Doubts clouded her thoughts. Perhaps someone had set the two Uchiha children up to spar against each other? For a bet, or some other petty motive? Her blood began to boil, but quickly calmed herself down. Anger would get her nowhere. She needed information. Closing her eyes, she traveled with her mind, looking for answers. When she found them, her eyes snapped open, already red and whirling with the sharingan. She knew what she had to do.
The rest of the tournaments went by in a blur: Yuki noted with surprise that both Cho and Hayato also won their matches, and mused that the competition from the other villages was weak. Or perhaps, after their harrowing fights with hordes of zombies about a month prior, the chunin exam was a piece of cake. Aiji won his match too, but that was no surprise; Yuki mused that her teammate had probably been born with a kunai in his hand.
Suddenly, she snapped to attention at the sound of her resounding through the stadium: "Uchiha Yuki versus Uchiha Saki!"
This time the crowd roared like animals. Yuki forced her countenance to remain smooth. Beside her, she sensed that Saki had stiffened, but the girl's face was twisted into grim resolve. She stifled the urge to escape and instead strode into the arena to the cheering of the rabid fans. She didn't need a sharingan to pick out her parents in the stand. It wasn't difficult to spot her mother's pink hair after all.
Yuki's pulse quickened when she saw her parents' stricken, stupefied expressions.
Don't worry, mom and dad, Yuki thought, guilt twisting her insides, I'll take care of this.
Saki clenched her jaw and faced her opponent. "Go!" the announcer shouted.
Saki activated her sharingan while Yuki closed her eyes, deactivated her own doujutsu, and raised her hand. "I forfeit the match," she bellowed in a clear, cold voice. "Uchiha Saki is the winner."
"WHAT!?" Saki shrieked. "You—you can't do that!"
Sorrow clouded Yuki's vision as she looked at her. "I just did. You win. Congratulations, younger sister."
"No!" Saki roared, "Come at me!" And with that, she struck the earth. The ground groaned like a wounded animal as it crumbled beneath their feet. Cursing, Yuki leapt back to safety. When the dust cleared, her eyebrows rose: Saki had destroyed half the arena's ground in one fell swoop.
The announcer tried to get Saki to stop—after all, she had just won the match—but the pink-headed girl would have none of it.
Yuki just smiled that sad, sad smile, which further enraged the younger Uchiha. Saki channeled chakra into her fists and activated the sharingan. "Yuki!" Saki screeched, the sound reminding Yuki enraged hawks, "You will fight me with everything you have!"
But Yuki just smiled, the lines of her mouth drawn with sorrow, and merely dodged Saki's attacks. But before long, Yuki was forced to activate her sharingan as well, just to stay abreast of her sister.
"Saki," Yuki murmured, pitching her voice for Saki's ears alone, "Please stop. I don't want to fight you." Brief flashes of ancient memories flashed across her mind: Itachi, flitting like the shadow of Death himself, his blade taking the life from every Uchiha. Madara, his form outlined in moonlight, like the silhouette of the reaper. And her own blood, pooling like wine, mingling with Ryuu's—no, not Ryuu; he was Kaito then—the sounds of their death drowned out by the roar of the wind.
Saki continued to press forward, shooting fire from her lips and disrupting the earth with her fists. And when Yuki's smile turned even more melancholic, when Saki could see the lines of her mouth twisted at some inside joke, the younger girl fought even harder. It was only when a six pointed star spun in Yuki's eyes that the battle stilled.
The crowd was deathly silent, watching the quiet battle of mind that only the two Uchiha below were privy to.
And within the confines of their minds, Yuki spoke softly to her sister.
"Saki? Can you just listen for a minute?" Her tone was curt but not unkind, but Saki flinched when she was met with her sister's depressing smile once more.
The world around them was pitch black, like a dark night with no moon or stars. "Did you just whip out Tsukiyomi?" Saki spat.
"It's not exactly...it's more like an in-between world, but in a different dimension then where we have been training. Just—" She exhaled hotly. "Just listen, okay? The feudal lords rigged the matches so that we would end up fighting each other."
"So?" Saki shrugged. "I'm still going to kick your ass."
Yuki sighed wearily. "No. I'm going to forfeit—"
Saki stamped her foot. "You can't—"
"No. Listen to me, Saki. The feudal lord of the land of Fire has a lot of money riding on me. It's ridiculous. I'm not going to fight you just because some rich asshole wants to show off. It's sick."
Saki blinked. At this point, she knew about the Uchiha massacre, just not in such visceral detail as her elder sister. She had yet to go through the trials of the mind Yuki had underwent to achieve her mangekyo.
"I…" Saki shook her head and started again. "Why can't we just spar like normal and see who wins?"
"I'm not going to do that in an arena filled with people calling for blood." Yuki took a step forward, and her tone became pleading. "Please, Saki. Please! The title of chunin means nothing to me. You mean everything."
When the genjutsu finally broke, and the two children of the Uchiha were looking up at each other in normal reality, Saki bit her lip, then nodded, frowning heavily.
Yuki raised her hand. "I forfeit the match," she called, the sound booming throughout the stadium, "Uchiha Saki wins!"
The crowd booed and threw garbage down into the arena, but Yuki ignored them, stepped forward, and embraced her sister tightly. "I meant what I said," Yuki whispered. "You mean more to me than anything."
When Yuki pulled away, there were tears in Saki's eyes. "Okay," was all she said, but the reds of her irises communicated so much more.
#
Afterwards, Yuki achieved the rank of chunin while her younger sister did not. But instead of Saki's iconic huff, the younger Uchiha merely smiled. "I'm not ready for all the chunin responsibility," she waved evasively at her friend Hoshiko, who wore the chunin vest proudly. "I'm too impulsive."
Hoshiko looked at Saki with her mouth agape. Since when did her friend have any self-awareness of her anger management problem?
On the other hand, Yuki was perturbed by her elevation to chunin, and told Naruto so the next day in his office. The morning sky was bright blue with light streaks of pink, and the air was crisp. The perfect late-autumn day.
"Hokage-sama," Yuki asked, "why did I make chunin? Clearly, my sister Saki won our match." She looked at the Hokage expectingly.
Naruto smiled, and pushing away a huge pile of papers, rose and threw an arm around her shoulders. "Sometimes, Yuki-chan, knowing when to fight and when to forfeit is the most important thing."
Yuki looked at him askance, but he continued. "I don't know how you found out about it, but after the match, the feudal lord told me about the large bet he had riding on you. He said that he just knew that somehow, you had found out."
Yuki merely shrugged. She was not about to give away any of her secrets. "If the feudal lord lost a lot of money on me, then all the more reason I should be punished."
Naruto barked with laughter. "Actually, the feudal lord was so impressed with you, he's requested that you become part of his personal guard for the next five years!"
Yuki didn't believe it, but it was true. There had been too many intrigues around the palace as of late, and the feudal lord wanted someone to find the traitors within his midst. Uchiha Yuki, the feudal lord reasoned, would be perfect for the job: she had a cool, steady head, she excelled in genjutsu, and with her sharingan, she could easily enter the minds of others to find out their secrets.
"No," Yuki answered flatly, crossing her arms.
Naruto smiled. "Don't give your answer yet. Take a few days to think about it." And just as she turned to leave, he casually mentioned, "Oh. And Aiji has already agreed."
"Agreed to what?" Yuki asked over her shoulder, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"Agreed to become part of the feudal lord's guard."
Yuki blinked. She had been so worried about her match with Saki, that she had overlooked Aiji's match entirely.
"The answer is still no, Hokage-sama," Yuki replied levelly as she exited.
"I'll ask you for your answer in a few days!" Naruto called, blithely ignoring her response.
But as Yuki chewed over his proposal over the next few days, she warmed up to the idea. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to leave Konoha, where the sun seemed to lack all luster, where she felt like she didn't have a place to be.
However, the real clincher came when Yuki was training in the dream world with Aya. She was being instructed on divination techniques, and scrying in particular. She filled up a silver bowl with water and gazed at its contents for a long time.
"Aya-sensei, I don't see anything," Yuki ventured.
Aya simply smiled. "Keep looking, but this time, keep your chakra steady..."
With a sigh, Yuki continued to gaze until a scene materialized in the glinting bowl.
She saw the soul of Uchiha Madara, drinking tea with Lady Death in her opulent parlor. She imagined that she could even hear the clink of the tea cups as they discussed Madara's future, even though Yuki could not hear anything. But what she saw next took her breath away.
Madara's soul shimmered before becoming a lime green light descending back down to earth. It streamed through the Konoha forest like mist and then, after swirling around the village as if uncertain, it entered into a body. It was a one month old fetus, barely more than a fat bunch of cells. Suddenly, the view changed, zooming outwards almost as if she was looking through a camera lens, and Yuki was staring at the face of her own mother.
But she had no time to contemplate the nightmare, for she saw the First Hokage's form speaking with Lady Death. His soul followed suit, a brilliant blue light traveling down through the highway of stars, circling over Konoha, and incarnating once more—in the womb of Uzumaki Hinata.
When Yuki came out of the trance, stupefied by what she had just seen, Aya told her to keep whatever information she had just seen to herself.
"But Aya," Yuki protested, "This is serious! I need to tell—"
Aya shook her head no. "Yuki, whatever was shown to you in the bowl was for your own benefit, and no one else's. It would bring catastrophe to tell anyone of your visions."
Yuki blanched in the dream world, then bowed her head, lost in thought.
When she woke in the morning, she had already made her decision: she would leave the village and work for the Feudal lord.
Only two more chapters to go! Thanks for reading, and please, review:)