Chapter 11: New family
Sasuke and Itachi's parents decided to adopt the girls under the promise they had made to Midori years ago. The Nanusake clan contributed to many of the successes of the Land of Fire during the Third Shinobi World War, serving alongside the Uchiha. In addition, Midori saved Fugaku's life, who later built a special fondness for her. After the war, the Nanusake were honourably decorated, with the promise that they would always be honoured guests in Konoha.
Midori had only one vision in her life, her medium skills were not as developed as her daughter's as her strong point was the craftsmanship of the sword. A vision came to her on the battlefield, heralding the birth of two daughters and the downfall of her clan. She was made to understand that if she wanted them to survive, she had to keep her vision secret from the rest of the family. She spent the rest of her life preparing for this time, realizing towards the end that after all, it was her and her decisions that contributed to the downfall of the clan. Before returning to the port, however, she met with Mikoto and Fugaku one last time to ask them for a promise - they will take her daughters in if something were to go wrong in the future. They both agreed to it, sealing this decision on paper.
The letter was preserved until the Moth Massacre, thus saving the girls' lives and guaranteeing their safety - especially since no one from Konoha had met them personally before to be able to guarantee their identification.
After dinner, Fugaku took Akira aside, where he decided to ask her about the details of the event. The letter merely described Midori's request and instructions, but what really happened could only be conveyed to him by the last surviving Nanusake.
They were sitting with Mikoto in front of Akira in the father's semi-dark office room. The children had already been put to bed, and the house was quiet. There were only a few candles burning inside, giving it a strange, somewhat unpleasant atmosphere. It reminded Akira of the Nanusake's ritual hall.
'So, tell me what really happened.' Fugaku had a serious face but, understandably, he was sceptical about the situation. He suspected that Midori might have committed mass murder, which, in the eyes of the law, made her a criminal. He could have used the Sharingan, but he decided to give the older sister a chance to honestly explain the situation first. Akira sat motionless with her head lowered. She was shivering slightly, but she was doing her best to stay calm despite the deep exhaustion and recurring stress. Mikoto squeezed her husband's hand, indicating that he should try to be gentle with the girl.
Itachi stood behind a thin wall eavesdropping on the whole conversation, trying not to make a single sound. He wanted to know everything about the situation that intrigued him so much. Who are these sisters? Why are they valued so highly? Why should their family adopt them?
'Nobody survived.' After a moment, she replied quietly and cleared her throat to improve her voice. 'Mom promised that we would be free, that we would run away with Izumi's dad far away, and we could live together as a family. No bloody rituals. Without restrictions and sacrifices, without loneliness…'
'Are you aware that your clan was supposed to be responsible for the seven-tails?' Fugake replied coldly. 'If only you two have survived, it puts you at great risk - other countries, when they find out that Izumi is no longer protected by anything, will want to lay their hands on her at all costs, the risk that we will be attacked will increase many times over.' Akira lowered her head even more and squeezed her eyes shut. The guilt weighed down on her more and more. 'I assume you are aware that Konoha already has the 9-Tails.'
'I'm terribly sorry!' She collapsed onto the floor, her voice faltering. 'I promise that I will do everything to protect Izumi and train her to control the demon - the clan taught me all the jinchuriki control techniques, so I'm prepared.'
'It's not enough, you're still children.' Replied Fugaku. But he was thinking more and more about the extremely restrictive and sect-like nature of the Nanusake clan, which, in recent times, had been famous for going as far as reaching for the darkest techniques and occult activities. People gossiped. All the more so in recent times, the family was withering, it was known, therefore, the members sought help in increasingly darker rituals. People from nearby villages disappeared under mysterious circumstances. First dogs, then cattle, then individuals... It was only a matter of time before history turned full circle and justice decided to strike again. Ordinary civilians with torches and pitchforks in their hands.
'We don't want to be a burden to you…'
'You won't be a burden, don't be silly!' This time Mikoto joined the conversation, but Fugaku stopped her.
'Everything went wrong after the sealing ritual of the 7-Tails was completed. Our previous jinchuriki was dying, so naturally, it was time to prepare Izumi.' Akira continued in a calmer tone 'Izumi was born with the luna moth chakra... she is our first and only reincarnation of Moth since anyone can remember… thanks to that she is also the only one who could become the next jinchuriki. We are the last children of Nanusake, for years no one else was born... Mom planned that she would set us free, that we would run away together, and that our father would already be waiting for us. We were so ready for it! The last rituals were so bloody… she said she'd rather die than let us grow up any longer in this… what she called… "cult". However, everything went wrong, it turned out that one of the elders was following our mother and set a trap. She fought our mother…'
Akira started crying again at the memory of the last nightmarish moments in the ritual hall of Nanusake. The girl's hands were shaking more and more, so she started digging her nails into her palms to control the convulsions and divert attention from unpleasant memories for a moment.
'The elder aunt killed my mother, but she also died when we ran out of the burning temple. Everything behind us started to burn... I don't remember, I was supposed to run and run and run until I can't hear anything behind me, that's what my mother told us to do... I had Izumi in my arms. There on the beach, in the dunes far away, my mother buried our things for the road, including this letter. We were supposed to run away with her and Izumi's dad, but he has already been killed…' her voice broke so she stopped.
Itachi behind the wall swallowed. So she too had seen a real war. Like him, she lost her childhood innocence and learned the nature of people and the world so early. With fewer shinobi in the world, the goal of attaining peace gets closer. Less fighting and unnecessary death... closer to achieving his dream. Itachi felt a strange bond with this girl, knowing her really only a few moments, but feeling inside something unnamed, but strangely familiar. A kind of blood brotherhood, at the same time sympathy... no, something else. He was curious about Akira and wanted to… befriend her? Why? The first person since he'd met Shisui who, in a kind of positive way, distracted him from his constant inner turmoil. Aware of these thoughts, he shook his head, acknowledging their absurdity, but not dismissing them. They were strangely pleasant.
'Akira. Look into my eyes,' Fugaku said suddenly, breaking the tense silence. The girl, hearing this command, sensed what was waiting for me. Despair replaced fear.
'Fugaku…' Mikoto whispered, but the man growled menacingly telling her not to interfere.
Akira obediently looked up at him. For the first time in her life, she saw something so amazing. Eyes bright and red as fresh blood, inside them a kaleidoscopic black mark. Mangekyo… Akira had only heard of those eyes from stories. Nanusake, naturally blessed with visual prowess, had a duty to learn and know what they could about the remaining doojutsu of the other Clans.
Moth was the symbol of the Shinengan, a unique visual gift that rivalled the three other major visual techniques - Sharingan, Rinnegan, and Byakugan. Shinengan - literally: abyss (Shin'en) - was characterized by black eyeballs that, when activated, absorbed in genjutsu anyone who made eye contact with the owner. This ability was inherited only in the Nanusake clan through women (because genetically Moth's heirs were not predisposed to give birth to boys). Shinengan's eyes resembled the eyes of a moth, which is why their owners were also associated with this insect.
Compared to the Sharingan, the Shinengan was activated in every Nanusake descendant as soon as she began to gain consciousness and shape the imagination in early childhood. Shinengan's genjutsu was the Abyss, which being chaos, could be freely shaped by the owner depending on the needs and her skills. The ability to control the Abyss was crucial to Nanusake, which is why self-discipline and meditation training was so important to them from their early years. Possession of a Shinengan could bring with it great strength and at the same time destruction, mainly to the owner, who, losing focus, could sink into the abyss without the chance of returning, losing her mind and contact with reality.
The Sharingan, however, as the sources said, was activated in the members of the Uchiha clan only in situations of great emotional loss, especially during the war times. Mangekyo, on the other hand, being a stronger variant of the basic Sharingan, only a few clan members managed to awaken. One of them was Fugaku Uchiha, also known as the 'Wicked Eye' Fugaku.
The man's intention was not to delude Akira and manipulate her. He just wanted to know the whole truth, seen through her eyes. He felt she was hiding something from him. He didn't believe that the trivial desire to pursue love was Midori's only reason to slaughter her 800-year-old bloodline. There were definitely other reasons behind it.
x
'Izumi… look at me, hey' Akira held her sister's shoulders. Izumi had a nervous face and looked around uncertainly 'everything will be fine. You remember what we practised, right? Remember - we must complete the ritual and seal Chomei within you so that everyone is safe.'
'But that's not true. Everyone won't be safe at all' muttered the girl, wrinkling her eyebrows and nose 'no one will be safe soon…' she added more quietly looking down.
'Hush... remember. Mom is doing it for us.'
The images changed rapidly, mixing with each other at times. Ritual music could be heard everywhere, emanating from the great circular hall. The girls seemed to be waiting in the back chambers. There were other sounds coming from the room as well, Fugaku couldn't make sense of them at first. Moans of women and men measured the breathing of many couples joined in loving embraces, squeals, laughter and cries of elation. The whole main room steamed with sexual energy. Akira held her hands to her sister's ears, even though they both were quite far away and separated from the rest, she still didn't want the girl to witness the things happening there. She herself looked terribly embarrassed.
Numerous naked bodies, intertwined in loving embraces, undulated on the floor covered with soft pillows and satin blankets like waves of a stormy sea. The older priestesses sat in the upper circles around the centre and played melodies while singing ritual songs. Single torches on the walls of the hall cast a faint light on the people in the middle. The young priestesses taking part in the ritual wore nothing but glittering jewellery, strings of pearls, diamonds and gold framing their naked and voluptuous bodies. On their heads are ritual masks and bonnets with goat horns or deer antlers. They moved seductively to the rhythm of the music, bending their long and shapely fingers, which cast terrifying shadows on the walls of the chamber.
So this was the ritual of conception in the Nanusake clan… Fugaku stifled the distraction and made the scenes change faster as he suddenly saw the priestesses slowly stand up one by one and reach for the long and sharp butcher knives that laid on the stone altar. The men, completely stunned and paralyzed by the genjutsu thrown at them after the end of the intercourse, were able to only follow the movements of the women with their eyes, who, one by one, returned to the centre of the room. The first of them, stood behind the man with whom she had indulged in pleasure a moment ago, and then, stretching out her hand holding the knife up, screamed an incomprehensible command, howled wildly and in one swift movement slit the man's throat. Blood splashed onto the floor. Every other woman began to do the same, more and more wild triumphant shouts merging into one noise. The oldest priestess descended from the platform and approached the altar to recite incantations to the goddess. The music grew louder, and the priestesses in a trance returned to the dance. Having dipped their hands in the blood of dying victims, they began to cover their bodies with bloody marks.
Fugaku looked up and saw that only a few women were excluded from the ritual apart from the oldest instrumentalists. In one of them, despite the mask covering her face, he felt Midori's chakra.
In the past, conception rituals were innocent, based only on the pleasure of both parties. Men would be sent back after an intoxicating night, while joyful women would become pregnant and give birth to healthy and strong girls. But that was slowly coming to an end. With fertility dying, the boundaries of the clan's morality were also beginning to blur… he could hear Midori's thoughts. First, animal sacrifices, then men began to disappear from the nearby villages... Izumi's father was the last man of the bloodless ritual... A cold rage began to grow in Fugaku, mixed with a twinge of understanding. A failing, desperate clan… how familiar it felt.
Enough.
The man deactivated the Sharingan, leaving Akira alone as well. He said nothing, but his gaze had more understanding and compassion.
'That's it, Akira. I'll talk to the village government tomorrow. We will make sure you stay with us.'
The girl still did not take her eyes off the floor from the moment when Fugaku released her from his gaze. She felt a sudden sense of relief though as if a burden she had carried day and night had suddenly been lifted from her heart. She got up from her knees and bowed as she left the room.
'Sleep well' Fugaku said with an unfamiliar warmth in his voice.
Technically, the girls had nothing to do with the massacre, other than being Midori's daughters. The woman responsible for the death of the clan has died, while her daughters had nowhere to go, their safety was at stake if the Uchiha did not take them under their roof. Their parents decided to take care of them - a stable life and police protection was something that could help them return to normality. The girls should not be harassed - after all, they were still children, and their heads and views could still be shaped, so there was a chance that they would grow up to be decent citizens. Now it's time to break the news to the Konoha council.
X
The next day, as dawn broke, Fugaku went to the Hokage's quarters to ask for an audience. He reported the situation. A rally was held to discuss the next steps and preventive measures for each scenario.
The girls were still young, but they were already able to control chakra and a lot of jutsu. Izumi, however, was a potential problem, being only 6 years old and in possession of a 7-Tailed Demon. At this point, Konoha became the only village in possession of two demons, throwing itself the potential to ignite both internal and external conflict.
Since the Sharingan and wood-style jutsu were the only powers that could control the demons, it was finally decided that Izumi would stay under Uchiha's care. Akira was to undergo training at the Academy and receive a mentor who would perfect her controlling jutsu so that she could continue to care for her younger jinchuriki sister.
The Council quite reluctantly made these decisions due to the mixed feelings resulting from the conflicts with the Uchiha clan, however, in order not to exacerbate further problems and show trust, Hiruzen decided that this would be the best solution.
Thus began a new chapter in the girls' lives, a new life in the Hidden Leaf Village.