Her Face
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 6
Several hours later, Sasuke pants. He got the impression that his father was bending a few rules to test him in all these areas at once. This theory was further reinforced by the fact that his mother was giving Fugaku a rather dirty look.
"Mikoto, don't give me that look." Fugaku says as he marks down Sasuke's score on the final test.
"What look?" She demands as crosses her arms.
Fugaku shakes his head. He knew that it wasn't fighting fair, but the elder Uchiha knew that time was his friend. Daisuke's story was lining up just enough that he couldn't say that the other man was lying, but there were a few things that weren't adding up.
"Oh I believe that you know very well which look I am referring to." The elder Uchiha replies in amusement.
Daisuke was a Chunin. All his test results were at least Jonin level though. It wouldn't have been a stretch to place him at ANBU level either. His results were exceptional for his rank, but not exceptional enough to raise TOO much suspicion. It was all just a little too convenient.
"Perhaps, I do. Perhaps, I do not. I'm afraid that you'll have to clarify." Mikoto retorts.
The Uchiha Patriarch couldn't help but suspect that Daisuke was intentionally altering his performance. He had a hunch that the young Uchiha wasn't displaying the full extent of his capabilities and that thought disturbed him. If that was indeed the case, Fugaku had to find out why.
"The one that implies you wish to have Tsuki use me as her scratching post." He states.
"The thought may have crossed my mind, particularly as it applies to your southern region." She informs him cheerfully.
Sasuke and Fugaku both wince simultaneously. Luckily, Sasuke was pretty sure that Mikoto would assume it was just the natural reaction for any man to have to such a threat. In reality, "Daisuke" was more than a little concerned for the safety of his father's southern region for some very selfish reasons. (He and Itachi needed Fugaku in one fully functional piece for them to be conceived!)
"You're just as vicious as you are beautiful. Let that be a lesson to you, Daisuke. Never incur the wrath of an Uchiha woman." He says with a sigh.
"Yeah. Got it. So how did I do?" Sasuke asks.
He probably shouldn't have shown off as much as he did. Fugaku might be even more suspicious of him now. Sasuke had compromised between "Chunin Strength" and his real strength.
The young Uchiha hadn't shown his father everything that he could do, but he had shown him enough. He had purposely tried to perform on par with the Uchiha Patriarch or ideally, just slightly lower. The last thing that he needed was for his own father to feel threatened by his abilities.
"I'm going to have to speak to the Hokage. I can't in good conscience not recommend you for a promotion. You are clearly well beyond Chunin Level. At a minimum, you deserve the title of Jonin." Fugaku admits.
Mikoto shakes her head at Fugaku's reaction. He should be proud to have another powerful Uchiha on the Military Police Force. Instead of that though, he was sulking? Well he was sulking as much as Fugaku Uchiha was capable of doing so, anyway.
"Thank you." Sasuke says with a smile.
"Don't thank me. I wouldn't be doing my job as a Leaf Ninja, if I didn't make the recommendation." Fugaku states.
Sasuke rubs the back of his head sheepishly. His mother might think his father was a teddy bear, but he wasn't so sure. If this is how he treated allies, God help anyone that Fugaku considered an opponent.
"That's his way of congratulating you on a job well done." Mikoto assures Sasuke with a sweet smile.
"Good to know." He says with a smirk and Mikoto tilts her head.
That was odd. That was the same look that Fugaku gave whenever he was feeling particularly pleased with himself. She mentally shakes her head and decides she was being silly.
It was only natural that they would share at least some physical traits. They were both Uchihas. Honestly, she was going to go home and enjoy a nice bubble bath and then try to get a few hours of sleep. Clearly, she must be working too hard because she was overanalyzing trivial things.
"Come Mikoto, I'll walk you home." Fugaku says.
"Alright. Good night, Daisuke." Mikoto says as she walks off with his future father.
Sasuke sighs in relief. Well his parents weren't quite together yet. As long as he kept Tsuki away from his father though, there was still an excellent chance that everything was on schedule as far as Itachi's conception went.
He still had a lot of work to do though. Sasuke had to find a way to prevent the Massacre. With that in mind, he quickly heads off towards the Hokage's office.
"I need to speak to the Hokage, immediately." Sasuke says to Shikaku.
"You're that kid that he sent us to retrieve before. What a drag. This had better be important." He says with a yawn as he goes to inform Sarutobi of Daisuke's arrival.
A few minutes later, the lazy ninja returns and escorts Sasuke into the Third's Office. Sarutobi smiles and politely dismisses the Jonin, before getting up and locking the door. He knew one thing, whatever he and Daisuke discussed was not something that should be overheard.
"Welcome back. Are you going to tell me the real reason why you are here now?" He asks pleasantly.
"I'm afraid that I can't do that. I was going to make a request though." Sasuke says.
Sarutobi raises an eyebrow. Daisuke was asking a lot of him already. The man was asking him to accept the fact that he had traveled back in time and meant no ill will towards the Leaf Village. In addition to all that, Daisuke now wanted ask him for a favor? The boy certainly had guts, Sarutobi muses to himself.
"I'll admit that you have aroused my curiosity. I may or may not grant your request. It depends on the nature of the favor that you seek." The Hokage replies diplomatically.
"That's fair. I think that it would be best to organize some sort of celebration. A celebration open to everyone in the village. Whether or not they are Uchihas. I think that my Clan's isolation is what causes the bulk of the tension between us and the rest of the village." He states.
Hmm. Sarutobi wasn't entirely certain what he had expected, but that wasn't it. Daisuke wanted a party. He wanted to encourage the Uchihas to mix and mingle with those outside of their Clan.
It seemed like a reasonable request on the surface. There was some logic to what he was saying. He had had similar concerns in the past. Sarutobi sometimes wondered if the District that Tobirama established for the Uchihas did more harm than good.
"I'll consider your request. We would need an occasion though." He states.
"I'm certain that if you searched the Record Scrolls, you could find an anniversary of some battle the Leaf Village won during one of the Great Ninja Wars or something." Sasuke offers.
Sarutobi chuckles. That was true. If one searched far back enough, almost any day could be considered historically significant. Daisuke was correct about that much.
"I suppose that it can't hurt. It's difficult for me to see how a day of levity will harm the village. Do not make me regret this though." He says sternly.
"I won't." Sasuke promises with a smile.
This was the first step towards reintegrating his Clan back into the rest of the village. He wouldn't mess this up. Sasuke was going to make this work. He just didn't know how yet.
"Good. I shall get started on organizing the party." The Third assures him.
"Thank you." Sasuke whispers as he heads off.
Back in the present, Naruto was with Kakashi, Sakura, and even Hinata. The four of them were trying desperately to decipher the Uchiha Stone Tablets. Kakashi had a Sharingan, so he could read them slightly. Unfortunately, Byakugan apparently couldn't read anything on the tablets. Sakura was there because Naruto knew that she'd go crazy waiting, otherwise.
"The details are vague. I can make out that there is a Forbidden Jutsu that can only be used by someone with the Rinnegan, but not much else beyond that. I guess we now know what that Forbidden Jutsu was." Kakashi says.
"I can't believe that he would be this stupid! There's a million ways that this could go wrong. He's been gone for a long time now though and I haven't noticed any changes. Maybe, it didn't work? Do you think he got stuck?" Sakura asks.
Naruto rubs his temples as he tries to fight back a migraine. A thousand possibilities were swirling around in his mind and it was giving him a headache. Damn him! Damn Sasuke for being such a sneaky bastard!
"I don't think he got stuck. Sasuke's really smart. If anyone can make this Jutsu work, it's him." The blonde protests.
Kakashi frowns as he considers that. Sasuke was a genius and he had a lot of chakra. He didn't know much about the Time Traveling Jutsu, but the CopyCat Ninja assumed that it required quite a bit of chakra to pull off. He wanted to believe that somehow Sasuke had survived the attempt.
"Maybe the time line wouldn't change until it catches up with the moment that he left." Hinata suggests.
Naruto blinks as he considers that. Hinata might be right. Sasuke had been gone awhile and so far nothing had changed.
"That's a good point, but how would we know when the time lines catch up?" The blonde inquires.
Kakashi sighs. There really was no way to tell. He couldn't read enough of the Uchiha Tablets to decipher that part. They would need a Rinnegan for that.
"Unfortunately, I don't think that we have any choice. We'll have to wait and hope for the best." The silver haired ninja says with a sigh.
Back in the past, Sasuke was pleased to see that Sarutobi had kept his word. Two weeks had passed and now a grand festival was being held in honor of some mostly forgotten victory by the Leaf Village during the First Great Ninja War. Everyone was dressed in their finest and celebrating in the middle of the streets or in various nearby shops.
"I have to give the old man credit, he's good." Sasuke whispers to himself.
"The Third Hokage is known as a God Amongst Ninjas for many reasons." Fugaku informs Sasuke as he walks over to him.
Sasuke rubs the back of his head sheepishly. Great. His father had caught him talking to himself. That was one Hell of a way to earn his trust. The man probably thought that he was half insane now.
Despite that, it was hard to be in a bad mood. Music, laughter, and the scent of delicious food filled the air. There were thousands of colorful lanterns and beautiful flowers hung up everywhere. The Full Moon and starry sky were working together to provide a beautiful backdrop for their festivities. Everything was perfect.
"Yeah. I guess that's true. Where is Mikoto?" Sasuke asks.
"Oh. She's likely with Kushina. The two of them are practically inseparable. Well whenever Kushina isn't joined at the hip with Minato." He notes in amusement.
"Ah makes sense." Sasuke says and he smiles as he saw more and more Uchihas make their way onto the various streets of the Leaf Village and into the different shops.
It was a bit sad to see how wary they all looked. Sasuke chooses not to focus on that for the moment though. The fact that they had come to a voluntary celebration spoke volumes.
His family wanted to be part of the village again. They just didn't really know how to articulate that desire. That was okay. Sasuke would find a way to articulate it for them.
"Women always travel in packs, when given a choice." Fugaku says knowledgeably and Sasuke laughs.
Sasuke tries to mingle with the crowd as he keeps a subtle eye on his father. His father was the leader of their Clan. It was important that he be seen socializing and having a good time. He couldn't lie though. It felt awkward to be "spying" on his own father.
"Hinata?" He asks in a stunned voice when he sees three women walk side by side along the street.
The women in question looked almost identical to Hinata, but it couldn't be her. She was walking next to his mother and Kushina. This couldn't be the shy girl that he vaguely remembered from the Academy. This is had to be her mother.
The three women presented quite the impressive visual. It was like watching the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars saunter along the street. Sasuke didn't think that he had ever seen three women who were more different and yet, somehow they seemed to form a cohesive unit.
"Hinata? Who are you talking about? That's Emiko. Lord Hiashi's wife." Fugaku says as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Kushina was like the Sun in her golden kimono and with her energetic strut. His mother was like the Moon with her gorgeous midnight blue kimono and elegant saunter. Finally, "Emiko" was like the stars. Her lavender kimono and shy, graceful walk were very much like the stars. Beautiful, but content to stay in the background.
"My mistake. She just reminded me of someone that I used to know." Sasuke says and Fugaku nods.
"I swear that they wore those kimonos to tease us." Minato mutters.
"I'm certain that Kushina did. I highly doubt that Emiko Hyuga is the type to flaunt her beauty intentionally though. As for Mikoto, well she's Mikoto." Fugaku says as if it was obvious.
That's when Sasuke hears an amused chuckle and looks around to find Kenji. Uh oh. He loved his father and grandfather dearly, but t here was no denying that the two men were nothing alike. Sometimes that could prove amusing and sometimes, it could prove disastrous.
"What he means to say is that he thinks Mikoto would look good in a potato sack, but he's too proud to admit that so openly." Kenji says with a wink at Sasuke.
Sasuke wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that he was witnessing his grandfather try to set his parents up in real time. It would be one thing to hear an accounting of such an occurrence. Seeing it in person though, it was a bit surreal to say the least.
SMACK! Apparently, his father did know how he felt about it though. Fugaku Uchiha was very annoyed by his father's meddling, it seemed.
"Mikoto is absolutely right. You're impossible." He mutters in disgust.
"Pft! Just go ask her to dance. Man up! Are you a Jonin or an Academy Student? Oh and that goes for you as well, Daisuke!" Kenji says cheerfully, completely ignoring the fact that his son had smacked him.
Sasuke blinks. He really didn't know how he had gotten roped into this. He was almost afraid to ask, but he was going to anyway. After all, his grandfather was probably going to elaborate. It wouldn't make much sense, if the old man didn't.
"What goes for me as well?" He asks.
"You're a young, attractive man. Unless you already have a sweetheart, you should find a pretty girl and ask her to dance. This IS a celebration! So go celebrate properly!" The elderly Uchiha states cheerfully.
Sasuke sighs. Damn it. That's when he noticed that Minato and Fugaku were giving him sympathetic looks. Apparently, this kind of behavior was not unusual in the slightest for Kenji Uchiha.
"Alright. I guess it couldn't hurt to ask someone to dance." He concedes.
It wasn't as if Sasuke was stupid enough to fall in love in this timeline. One dance to humor his grandfather was highly unlikely to significantly alter the timeline. He could get through this.
All he had to do was pick out a "pretty girl" that didn't look too psychotic. That shouldn't be too hard. Sasuke mentally slaps himself for thinking such a thing. This was the Leaf Village. It was a rare woman here who wasn't psychotic.
"Ah there is my beautiful wife." Sasuke hears someone say and he smiles as he watches Hiashi greet Emiko.
It was a shame really. Sasuke wasn't really sure how the woman died, but it had been sometime after the birth of her second child. It was the strangest sensation to watch a very much in love Hiashi, greet his wife.
"You flatter me." Emiko says with a sweet smile as she kisses his cheek.
"I speak only the truth. I hope your companions won't mind, if I borrow you for the rest of the evening." He says.
"Oh we don't mind at all." Kushina says vigorously and Mikoto nods her head inn agreement with a knowing smile.
Hiashi thanks them and leads his wife off. Minato seems to take that as his cue to approach his own "sweetheart" as Kenji would say. The blonde offers her his hand and the two of them head off to dance the night away.
"You really should ask her to dance. She's the only one without a partner at the moment." Sasuke mouths to his father.
Luckily, Fugaku was apparently well versed in lip reading or at least body language. Either way, it didn't take the Uchiha terribly long to approach his future wife. Sasuke couldn't hear exactly what was said, but Mikoto smiles and allows Fugaku to lead her off. (He decides to take that as a good sign.)
"Right. So now I just to find a woman who isn't from the Uchiha Clan to dance with. Preferably, one who isn't insane." He says to himself.
That's when he saw Tsume Inuzuka. Sasuke recognizes her as the woman who would become Kiba's mother. Fortunately, she was about the same age as him in this era.
She was attractive in a feral way. He also knew that there was no way that an Inuzuka was seriously going to pursue an Uchiha. His Clan was too closely associated with Ninja Cats for that to happen.
The Inuzukas were a canine loving family. That meant it was highly unlikely that romance would blossom between an Uchiha and an Inuzuka. In other words, she was perfect.
"Hello." He says with a smile as he walks over to her.
He really wasn't used to making the first move or any move, really. Sasuke tended to avoid the affections of the opposite sex (or any sex) because he had more important things on his mind. Tonight was different though.
"Hello. I don't think I've seen you around before. You must be an Uchiha though. I see that uniform." Tsume observes.
She was reasonably attractive, unlikely to want a real relationship with him, and sufficiently intelligent enough not to bore him to tears. Those were all good signs. Sasuke just had to hope that she'd accept his offer.
"Yeah. I am. I'm Daisuke Uchiha. I was wondering if you wanted to dance. I know that your Clan favors dogs and mine favors cats, but we're all Leaf Ninjas. There's no reason why we can't be on good terms." He says.
Maybe she'd go for the logical line more than the romantic one. He highly doubted the she-wolf cared much about romance. She might be a human, but she reminded him more of a wolf than anything else.
"Good point. Well let's see if you can keep up, pretty boy!" She says joyfully as she drags him off to dance.
A few minutes later, Sasuke had decides just to let Tsume lead. It was easier that way. As they were dancing, he noticed a young Obito trying to dance with a girl about his age. He could only assume that she was Rin.
At that moment, Sasuke was struck by epiphany. Maybe he didn't need to stay in the past until he was conceived. If he could prevent Obito's "death" then the man would never plot against the village. The Fourth Hokage and Kushina would live and the village wouldn't blame the Uchihas for the Nine Tail's attack.
"The trigger would never happen." He whispers to himself.
Things had been tense before the Nine Tails attacked the village, but it had been the final straw. Once people began to suspect that the Uchiha Clan was behind the attack, their Clan's fate had been sealed. If Sasuke could prevent Obito's disappearance, maybe he could go home a few years earlier than he had previously thought.
Maybe Obito really did hold the key to preventing the very Massacre that he would help to commit one day. It would certainly be a rather ironic twist of fate. The very thought caused a smirk to form on Sasuke's face.
"What trigger would never happen?" Tsume asks in confusion.
"Oh nothing. I'm sorry. I was just thinking out loud about a mission that I recently completed. Forgive me." Sasuke says.
"Well I can't really hold you're taking your job seriously against you. Yeah. No problem." The Inuzuka woman says as she spins around with him faster and faster.
Sasuke was beginning to get more than a little dizzy to tell the truth. It didn't matter though. He had a plan. The feisty ninja could spin him around as much as she wanted because he might have just have figured out how to save hundreds of lives! Nothing could truly phase him now that he had a plan!
"Have you ever heard of victory that we are celebrating?" Fugaku inquires as he spins the beautiful woman in his arms around.
"I think I have. A long time ago. It might have been covered briefly in one of our Academy Lessons. I think it's a bit odd that suddenly the event is getting its own celebration, but who are we to argue with a night of festivities?" She replies with a smile.
"I suppose that's true. I just think that it's strange that the Hokage decided to get this fanciful idea into his head, after Daisuke returned." He states.
Mikoto sighs and shakes her head. Honestly, Fugaku was being ridiculous. Daisuke had been nothing, but a model Uchiha since his return. What more did the man want?
"Perhaps I should offer you a shoulder rub. They seem to work miracles on your father." The raven haired woman says.
"I would have to be very foolish indeed to turn down such a kind offer, but you really aren't concerned?" He inquires as he caresses her cheek.
"Mmm perhaps a little. He's done no wrong though." Mikoto points out as she allows Fugaku to guide her along the winding streets of the village.
"Yet." He says simply as he watches her spin underneath him.
The way that her hair would flow and the moon illuminated her ivory skkin was nothing short of ethereal really. As much as he was loathed to admit it, his father was right. Mikoto Uchiha would look good in a potato sack.
"You worry far too much." She informs him as she playfully rolls her eyes.
"Well I suppose that it's fortunate that I have you to take my mind off of my troubles and to make me those cupcakes." He muses and Mikoto nods in agreement.
She was five years his junior. While most people wouldn't consider that an extreme age gap, in the ninja world it was. Five years was as lifetime for a ninja.
That was the main reason why he had not tried to court her before. Mikoto was a sassy and playful thing, when she wanted to be. She was also innocent compared to him.
There was a lot less blood on her hands. Quite honestly, he felt dirty in comparison. Fugaku couldn't entirely shake the feeling that he would corrupt Mikoto by sheer proximity.
"That's true, but I can do a lot more for you than just make you cupcakes." She says with a sly smile.
That was why he hadn't acted on his attraction to her before, but he was only human. Who could possibly resist the invitation in her smile or in her words? That and he could always blame the moonlight and the way that damn kimono clung to her feminine curves, later.
"That does open up a world of intriguing possibilities." He says as he leans down and captures her lips with his own.
Unbeknownst to the future lovers, Sasuke had seen that. He breathes out a sigh of relief. It looked like Itachi's conception would happen right on schedule. That was one problem down. A million more to go.