Fated to Meet You
Author's Note:
There's so much to explore with the Sharingan and tailed beasts combined. But I'm not the kind of author to power up my OC like that without growth. Don't get me wrong - Uchiha Mai is a capable kunoichi. But Uchiha Madara and Obito were on a whole different level compared to Mai in terms of utilizing the Sharingan. It took them years of training. If I'm going to power up my OC like that, it's gonna take time. But don't worry, I won't let Mai down :)
I lost my streak on updating this weekly. I had to go through and re-read the story to get the timeline correct. Hence, why this update is so late because I hate re-reading. It takes me forever.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything, character or plot, from Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto.
Chapter Sixteen: Will of Fire
Tobirama casted his line into the river. After capturing two tailed beasts back to back, he was ready to just relax for the next few days. But he couldn't. Not with the fact that he was the Hokage's advisor. But he did deserve an hour of solitude at most. Not long after he casted his line, he felt someone come up beside him. It wasn't a shinobi. It wasn't an adult even. It was a child.
"What are you doing, mister?" The little boy asked and peered into the water.
Tobirama turned his head slightly to the side. An Uchiha child. He could feel the boy's chakra signature. "Fishing." He bobbed his line up and down. "What are you doing out of the Academy?"
"How did you know I was in the Academy?" The little boy asked.
The young boy had powerful chakra. Only those who have trained with chakra could have that kind of power. But no child was to study to be a shinobi without being enrolled into the Academy. Senju Tobirama made sure of that. He wasn't going to send children out to the battlefield like how he and his brothers were sent out. The Senju turned to face the little boy a few meters away. He was still peering into the river.
"I don't want to be a ninja anymore." The boy said solemnly and stared into the water. "I wanted to study under someone when I grow up but…" He let the sentence trail off.
Tobirama knew what he meant to say. He could hear it in the boy's tense. He could even hear it in the boy's voice. "You will never have just one teacher in your life. And you will never not learn from them even after they have passed away." He turned his head to face forward. "That is one thing I learned when my teacher died."
Sitting down, the little boy crossed his legs at the edge of the river bank. "Who was your teacher?" The little boy asked.
"My father." Tobirama answered and loosened the grip he had on his pole.
The little boy looked over to the white haired fisherman beside him. The little boy was smart enough to tie the two together. "My teacher was like my grandma."
"Is that so?" Tobirama clicked all the clues in his head. There was only one female shinobi in the Uchiha Clan that had passed.
"What made you want to become a ninja, mister?" The little boy asked.
Staring into the water, Tobirama answered. "To protect those I love."
"I want to protect my friends and family too." The little boy frowned. "But I failed."
Lifting his eyes off the water, Tobirama watched the Uchiha child. "And what about the friends and family that are alive right now?" Tobirama asked. "Did you fail them?" The white haired man let the little boy think for a while.
The little boy shook his head. His curly black hair bounced slightly on his head. "No."
"Do you still want to protect them?" Tobirama asked. His red eyes staring at the little child.
Lifting his chin, the boy said, "With everything I have."
Tobirama blinked his red eyes on where the little boy sat. The boy couldn't be any older than ten. He was probably younger than that. His curly black hair fell short. But his eyes. It was his eyes that caught Tobirama's attention. Onyx eyes full of truth and love. Only someone who grew up around love could love present itself through the eyes. Tobirama knew that much in all his years of seeing negativity. That was why he wrote the Academy requirements the way they were: One, Love the village and hope to help preserve peace and prosperity. Two, Have a mind that will not yield, able to endure hard training and work. Three, Be healthy in mind and body. "And do you still not want to be a ninja anymore?"
Senju Tobirama could see the boy's face relax into realization. He looked up to the sky. "I think if you go now, you might be able to sneak back into class."
The little boy shot up to his feet. He made a run for it back but stopped. Turning around, the little boy shouted, "Thank you, Mister!"
Tobirama turned.
"My name is Uchiha Kagami!" The curly headed boy yelled. "What's yours, mister?!"
The white haired Senju could feel the corners of his lips curve slightly before replying. "Senju Tobirama." He didn't need to yell back for the Uchiha boy to hear it.
Kagami's face dropped upon hearing the name of the white haired man. This man was a Senju. Not only just a Senju, this man was the feared Senju that his clan people spoke of. This man was the Hokage's advisor and brother. A smile broke onto the child's face before the little boy bowed ninety degrees. "Nice to meet you!"
Turning around, Uchiha Kagami ran back to the Academy. And Senju Tobirama watched as the Uchiha fan sewn into the back of the child's black shirt faded into the green leaves of Konoha.
"So that's the Will of Fire, brother." Senju Tobirama whispered. Even Uchiha's can have it too huh.
Mai walked into the Uchiha Clan headquarter building. Many Uchiha shinobi gathered here. It once was the place for Uchiha shinobi to obtain missions. But since missions were moved to the Hokage Building, it became a place to gather as shinobi - as well as a place for Uchiha's within the proximity to submit village documents.
She walked towards a meeting room within the headquarters. Lord Hikaku had called for a meeting with all Elder Apprentice's, whether their teacher's were deceased or not. She watched carefully as the image of a group of male Uchiha's came closer with her every step.
"Mai," Kosei nodded at her.
"Kosei-san," She nodded back.
A male Uchiha slid the door open from inside. He walked out and stepped to the side, gesturing the shinobi in. All the Elder Apprentice's followed into the meeting room. There was no designated place to sit on the floor. But there were cushions on the floor each for one Elder Apprentice.
Almost like their elders, each student sat where their elder's sat. And they sat around those students, whose elders were those they sat by.
Uchiha Hikaku looked amongst the group. He had known them for years. "I called you all here to talk about preventative measures we will take if the village is under attack again."
Mai flickered her eyes from the wooden floors to the clan leader.
"We are all very much capable shinobi." The Uchiha Clan Leader continued. "I want each of you to be a part of it." Uchiha Hikaku continued to speak about the Emergency protocols that were to be implemented in case of an attack. Phase one included eliminating the enemy units. Phase two is to evacuate all civilians to the nearest shelter that had been established after the most recent attack. And Phase three is to use all forces in the village to eliminate the enemy with full force using home field advantage.
"Lord Hikaku," Elder Hagetaka's apprentice, Uchiha Kazuki, began. "The rumors say that we can be attacked any minute. Shouldn't we be protecting the children?" Uchiha Kazuki was a tall man, but not as tall as Hikaku. And he certainly was not as tanned as Hikaku. But like all Uchiha men, he held the ebony hair and onyx eyes.
"And they are protected." The Uchiha Clan Leader answered.
"If I may give you a suggestion." Uchiha Kazuki continued.
Mai watched Elder Hagetaka's student carefully.
"The Uchiha Clan has survived for centuries with male shinobi. And women raising the children." Kazuki said. "This Academy that Senju Tobirama created, it is allowing our Uchiha girls to fight. Is that protecting our children?"
"Not all Uchiha girls are enrolling into the Academy." Mai stated before questioning. "And female Uchiha's learning to become kunoichi's is a problem, how?"
The male Uchiha turned to look at his female comrade. "It's always been what we've been doing. Uchiha males fight and Uchiha females take care of the future of the clan."
"Allowing women to train as kunoichi's has never been banned in our clan." Mai stated.
"The last thing I want is for little girls to die on the battlefield because they are not as strong as their male clan members. War is evident even if Senju's and Uchiha's are in cooperation together."
"Enough." The Uchiha Clan Leader interjected. This felt like another meeting with the elders. "Both male and female Uchiha shinobi are strong. And the Academy allows everyone and anyone."
Mai leaned back in her cushion pillow.
.
Mai threw her kunai knife into the trunk of the tree in front of her. Breathing loudly, she let her arms fall to her sides. She heard footsteps on the green grass behind her. Mai turned and when she found it to be her teacher, she bowed in front of her teacher.
Slightly, almost elegantly, the female elder gestured with her hands for her student to walk with her. And her student complied. "You may have noticed already how these Uchiha men look at you." The older female began with her student beside her.
Mai nodded. She had noticed. Many times. She had received a range of stares from glares to blatant disregard. And at first, she thought it was because she didn't wear the Uchiha Clan crest on her back. But she soon found that that wasn't entirely it.
"You see, they are not used to seeing a female kunoichi with their colors." Elder Mio looked at her student who was almost as tall as her. "And these Uchiha men don't like it. And it irks them to their core."
Mai listened carefully to her teacher.
"Not all. But most" Her teacher breathed out. "We don't live our life like the way the majority Uchiha women do. Anything against normalcy isn't easy to digest."
"Do they not respect you?" Mai asked.
"I've spent my entire life fighting with opponents and my very own clan." Elder Mio stated. "Both in two different ways and for two different things. But even in my position, there are some who do not think I should be where I am. Because to them, it should only be for men."
The two kunoichi's felt the wind blow past their necks.
"You will experience it too if you haven't already. The two kinds of battles you will have to fight. One with others and one alone." The female teacher said. "For the battle that you fight alone, I want you to look at them in their eyes and continue questioning their reasons."
.
The sun was beginning to set. Mai laid the flowers down beside the engraved stone. She straightened her back and stared into the Elder Mio's engraved name. When she heard a series of small footsteps behind her, Mai blinked the emotion out of her eyes. Turning, she knew she would find her friend with her two children. "Sumiko-san, I didn't know you three were coming."
The Uchiha mother smiled. "Kagami and Sakiko wanted to give Elder Mio flowers today." She let go of her children's hands. Each of them were holding flowers that didn't look like they were picked from the garden.
Mai smiled at the two children and stepped to the side. Sakiko was a few years younger than Kagami. But she could walk now. And she wobbled to Elder Mio's gravestone to set the flowers down.
The Uchiha mother was surprised her oldest child wanted to go visit Elder Mio. He wasn't the same since the funeral but today, when Sumiko went to go pick him up from the Academy, he ran to her with a smile that could cover half his face saying he wanted to go see Elder Mio.
Sumiko walked to stand beside her friend. "I miss her." The Uchiha mother stared softly at the gravestone.
Mai nodded softly. "I miss her too."
A/N (again)
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