Disclaimer, I don't own anything in Naruto, except my OCs
Chapter 2 – Crimson flames
*One year later*
Tomoe and Sasuke had been training their chakra control, taijutsu, and shurikenjutsu for a year. The first three months they were switching between taijutsu and shuriken jutsu, before they began practicing both every day. Throughout the year they had had multiple clansmen oversee their training, but few went out of their way to actively teach them, most just corrected them if they did something incorrect. Their favourite teacher was by far when their brother had time to oversee their training. Unlike their other teachers, Itachi actually taught them something or demonstrated how it should be done. In some cases, at the twins' insistence, he would show off some of his own skills much to the twins' amusement and amazement. They were particularly fond of when he agreed to show off his skills with shuriken or kunai. While the twins knew Itachi's taijutsu was impressive, it was a lot more impressive to see Itachi hitting targets dead centre while having his back turned and being behind four trees, compared to seeing him just dodging every hit. As promised, Fugaku oversaw their training most Sundays in order to judge their progress and to see if they were ready for the next step in their training. This was the twins' daily life for about a year, before their father decided they were proficient enough with chakra control that they could attempt the next step in their training.
Early in the morning when Tomoe and Sasuke was about to begin their chakra exercises, their father stopped them. "You have advanced far enough in your chakra control to begin the next step in your training." Fugaku started.
At the prospect of furthering their training the twins were both ecstatic, until they remembered that they were in the presence of their clan head, not to mention father. Upon this realisation they both tried to contain their excitement and simply nod and respond with "Understood father."
"Very well then, follow me" said Fugaku as he started walking towards the lake in the centre of their compound, beckoning the twins to follow him.
When they arrived at the lake, they walked out to the edge of a bridge as Fugaku spoke, "Today I will show our clan's basic ninjutsu, the Great Fireball jutsu. After which you will then use it yourself."
At this Tomoe and Sasuke were unable to contain their excitement, they had both been looking forward to learning ninjutsu since they started training a year ago. Now that they were finally going to learn their clan's signature ninjutsu, they could not stop themselves from cheering, despite their father and clan head looking at them.
Waiting for the twins to calm down, Fugaku merely stood and observed his children, thinking about the made tremendous progress they had made in the past year, their progress was no less than prodigious. In the beginning their combat stance was shaky and most often needed correction before starting, now they could both slip in and out of the Uchiha style stance at a moment's notice with relative ease, with no need for correcting their stance. Same with their shurikenjutsu. In the beginning they always hit the edges of the target, if they even hit the target. Now they would both hit the centre repeatedly to the point where they would have to add additional hurdles to give them a challenge, either make the target moving, place them at angles, or place them behind objects.
While they had both prospered in taijutsu and shurikenjutsu, it was evident that it was Sasuke who was the better of the two regarding taijutsu. Not that Tomoe didn't train as hard, but Sasuke just took to the physical lessons more easily. He understood how to use the kata he was introduced to almost immediately, while Tomoe would have to spend time to understand how to use them properly. Tomoe's attacks had more power to them and she would hit more precisely, which early on resulted in her winning most of their spars with Sasuke winning once in a while. But as they kept training and sparring with each other, Sasuke began to win more and more often, now he lost one in five spars against his sister. Tomoe still had power in her punches, but her brother was just better at predicting her moves so she rarely got a significant hit in.
Their progress with shurikenjutsu was similar. Sasuke and Tomoe seemed to seemed to have trouble hitting anything but the centre of the targets. It was only the targets that were hidden behind objects where they would have to redirect their kunai or shuriken, with other kunai or shuriken and change their direction completely, where they had troubles hitting. They could hit the targets, but most of their attempts would hit the outer rings. It was because of reasons like this, that the twins were enamoured with Itachi and his skills, no matter what they struggled with Itachi would accomplish with ease. With what he had shown them, it was easier to see and understand the difference in their skill with shurikenjutsu compared to taijutsu.
With chakra control however, it seemed to be the polar opposite of taijutsu. Tomoe's control over her chakra was in comparison to her brother's, immaculate. While they both had a decent understanding of it, Tomoe's understanding of how to use and mould her chakra allowed her to use it much more precisely and efficiently. During the leaf exercise, when testing how well they could keep the leaf on their forehead, Sasuke's often came off quickly once their instructor grabbed the leaf. Tomoe's leaf however, seemed insistent on staying on her forehead. While not the entire leaf would stay, one of its edges would always cling to her forehead refusing to let go. The speed of which she manipulated her chakra had also increased. In the beginning it took her minutes to make the leaf stick, now it sticks seconds after placing it on her forehead, whereas Sasuke still needs a moment to really get it stick.
While they had not progressed as fast as their brother, having come so far that Fugaku would test them with the Great Fireball jutsu at only five years old was impressive. While Itachi did master the technique almost immediately, they had first introduced him to the technique at the age of seven.
When the kids had calmed down enough, Fugaku cleared his throat, getting their attention once more. "First, I will demonstrate the jutsu, then you will replicate." Fugaku turned towards the lake walked to the edge of the bridge, facing the centre of the lake. Seconds later, Fugaku blew a 10-meter-wide fireball from his mouth out over the lake.
Tomoe and Sasuke had to cover their eyes and face from the intense flame there was before them. When their father finished his jutsu, they just stood there and stared at the massive fireball their father had just produced in front of them.
Fugaku then turned to them and said "The signs for the jutsu are in order: snake, ram, monkey, boar, horse, tiger. To use the jutsu, you must draw your chakra into your chest, and hold it there. Then immediately blow it out, all at once. Sasuke, you go first."
"Yessir!" Sasuke exclaimed as he walked towards the edge of the bridge and prepared himself. Sasuke ran through the hand seals at a slow and steady pace, gathered his chakra and then released it all from his chest.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
While not as large as the one his father had produced, Sasuke still managed to create a fireball easily five-meters-wide. Surprised by his own accomplishment, Sasuke accidentally stopped focusing his released chakra and the fireball vanished into thin air almost immediately. Sasuke stood at the edge of the pier and just stared at the lake, not moving. Then what happened caught up to him and he turned around and looked at his father with the biggest smile on his face he had ever produced to anything training related, he had managed to create a decent fireball on his first try. If Sasuke didn't know better he'd swear he saw mirth in his father's eyes. "I did it! I did it! I did the Great Fireball jutsu on my first try."
"Mhm, you have produced a decent sized fireball on your first try, now you need to focus on keeping your flow of chakra steady so it does not disappear and increasing its size. Keep it up, and you may soon shamelessly wear the family crest on your back. For that, you need to produce a fireball at least the same size I showed you." Fugaku said to Sasuke, before he turned to Tomoe, "Tomoe, your turn."
"Yes father" Tomoe replied as she walked up to take Sasuke's spot at the end of the pier. As Tomoe ran through the seals and gathered the chakra in her chest, she could feel the chakra burning all the from her core to her chest. It felt as if the chakra was trying to burn her from the inside out. Barely able to keep the burning chakra in her chest, Tomoe brought the burning chakra through her throat and nearly spat it out of her mouth.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Tomoe produced little more than a small flicker of flame from her mouth and unable to endure the burning chakra, the fireball disappeared almost instantly, leaving only the burning feeling in her throat as the only evidence she ever attempted the jutsu. Tomoe looked in horror at the meagre attempt of the jutsu she just presented. Tomoe was stunned as she turned to look at her father, who just closed his eyes and started to walk away while talking.
"It seems it was still too early for you. An Uchiha is only seen as an adult when he can use this jutsu. The Uchiha family trait is the manipulation of fire, and the mind of an Uchiha. Until you can use that jutsu, you will remain a child. I will be unable to oversee your training next Sunday" Fugaku said, his voice filled with disappointment as he left his children on the pier.
Upon hearing this, Tomoe fell to her knees, barely registering Sasuke shaking her trying to talk to her.
"oe... moe... Tomoe"
"Huh, wha-. I'm sorry what did you say Sasuke" Tomoe said with her voice shaking.
"Are you ok?" Sasuke asked his sister, his eyes filled with worry.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fi-fine. Just a bit shaken you know. Never thought I'd fail our family jutsu that badly" Tomoe said as she swallowed a lump in her throat. Tomoe stood up, dusted herself off and turned to Sasuke with a pained smile "I'm a-ok, just a little setback. I'm, err, just gonna go hit the training dummies for a while" she said as she started walking away from the pier.
As she turned to walk away, Sasuke swore he saw tears in her eyes, but he didn't know what to say to his sister, he tried reach out to her but the words didn't come out. Sasuke stood with mixed feelings in his chest. He knew did better than his sister in their taijutsu spars, but not once had he outperformed his sister in their chakra control lessons. This meant that on one hand he was happy that he did so well in his first attempt at the family jutsu and that he had finally outdone his sister on a subject she was the better of the two. But on the other hand, he felt guilty over his joy, as he had never seen his sister that sad and devastated before. As soon as Tomoe had reached the opposite end of the pier, Sasuke saw Tomoe take off in a direction that was completely opposite of the training grounds and their house. Sasuke not know what else to do, just stood there for a moment. Then he decided to go look for Itachi or his mother. Maybe they had an idea of what to do.
Sasuke ran around the Uchiha compound for a while before he finally ran into someone he could use, "Shisui-niisan!" he called as he ran up to Shisui who was talking with the elderly Uchiha couple who ran the Uchiha senbei store.
Shisui turned around and was surprised to Sasuke running up to him seemingly out of breath, "Oh, hi Sasuke. What's going on, is everything alright?" he asked.
Sasuke stopped in front of him and took a few seconds to catch his breath. When was able to breathe properly he started "Have you seen Itachi-niisan or mother anywhere? I need to talk with one of them."
Shisui thought for a moment before answering, "Hmm, I don't know where your mother is, but I saw Itachi walking towards the forest near the training grounds not too long ago so he's probably in there training. What's going on?"
"Thanks, gotta run," Sasuke said as soon as he had heard Itachi where Itachi went, and took off towards the part of forest near the training grounds, apparently not hearing Shisui's question.
"Wonder what that was about? It's rare to see him so flustered," Shisui thought as he went back to his conversation with the elderly couple.
Itachi was currently training his shurikenjutsu in the forest near the Uchiha complex when Sasuke came running up to him calling his name.
"Itachi-niisan!"
Itachi turned around to his brother flustered and out of breath, his conditioning had gotten better over the past year, so it was rare to see him so exhausted. "What's wrong, Sasuke?" Itachi asked.
"It's Tomoe." Sasuke said between breaths, "Father had us try the Great Fireball jutsu today, so first father made huge fireball to demonstrate, and I went first to try and use the jutsu and made a ball half the size of the one father made, then Tomoe went and barely made a flame, then father left, and she said she would go to the training dummies, and I think she cried, but she went a completely different way from the dummies and our house, and I don't know what to do, or what to say, or where she went and-"
"Sasuke." Itachi said as Sasuke had started rambling.
"Huh"
"You're rambling. Relax and tell me what happened. One thing at a time." Itachi said.
"Right." Sasuke said, trying to calm down so he could explain what had happened, "So, father had us try to perform our clan jutsu, the Great Fireball jutsu. After father had explained how it worked and demonstrated the jutsu, and showed us how big it needed to be in order to be seen as adults and wear our clan symbol with pride. So, I went first and managed to create a fireball nearly half the size of father's."
At this Itachi's eyebrow rose, "Sasuke managed to create a fireball that big on his first try? Impressive." he thought as Sasuke continued explaining.
"Then it was Tomoe's turn to try the jutsu. You know how she usually does better than me in the chakra exercises, so I thought for sure she was going to do it in one try. But then she tried the jutsu and there was barely anything, just a small flame that disappeared almost immediately."
Itachi's eyebrow rose once more, "Tomoe failed the jutsu? But her chakra control and manipulation are astounding for one her age, she should have no issues performing the jutsu." Itachi thought before asking, "Are you sure she did the hand seals correctly?"
"Yes, I am completely sure. She made no mistake in the seals, she just... didn't do it." Sasuke said. There was a pause between them before Sasuke started speaking again, "After Tomoe failed to do the jutsu, father said it was too early for her and explained what it means to be able to use that jutsu and what it means to be an Uchiha, and then he just left. After he left Tomoe collapsed and she wouldn't respond to what I was saying. When she finally did respond, she said she would go train her taijutsu for a while, but she walked in a completely different direction from the training grounds, and I don't know where she went, or what to do, or-"
"Sasuke, you're rambling again." Itachi interrupted once more.
"Right. But yeah, after she failed, she just left the pier and I don't know where she went, what to do, or even what to say if I did find her." Sasuke said looking downwards.
"I see. Don't worry Sasuke, I'll figure something out. Why don't you go train while I talk to our sister?" Itachi said with a smile while ruffling his brother's hair.
"Yes, Itachi-niisan. Thank you." Sasuke said as Itachi started walking away.
"Oh, and before I forget," Itachi said turning his around to see his brother, "well done. For your first try, that is quite the fireball." he said as he continued walking away.
With that small compliment, Sasuke almost forgot how sad he was about his sister's predicament, and couldn't help but smile at his brother's approval.
*Later that evening*
Tomoe was sitting at tree in the forest near their compound. She couldn't remember how she got there or when she did. She just knew she had been there for quite a few hours sitting with her head in her arms, when Itachi had shown up.
"Tomoe," he said quietly.
"Oh, hey Ichi-nii. What are you doing here?" she asked, not looking up from where she had been sitting at for the last few hours.
"Looking for you" he said as he moved closer.
"You found me. You can go now" she said, looking down at the ground.
"I'm not going anywhere, until we talked a bit. May I sit down?" he asked, gesturing to a spot next to her.
"Not my tree."
Itachi sat down next to her and leaned up against the tree. After sitting for a while, he asked "Do you want to talk about it?"
"What is there to talk about?", Itachi was beginning to hear the crying in her voice. "Supposedly I have good chakra control, but the second I need to use it I fail. That's all there is to it."
"So, it would seem." Itachi agreed.
"But I guess you wouldn't know about that." Tomoe said sullenly. "You do everything perfectly the first time you try."
"I guess there's truth to that." he agreed once more.
"If you're just going to agree with everything I say, can you just leave already? I'd rather be alone."
"Want to tell me what happened when you tried to use the jutsu?" Itachi asked in calm voice.
"I don't know what happened!" Tomoe almost shouted with tears in her eyes. Tomoe finally looked up from her arms and looked at Itachi "One second I'm preparing to do the jutsu, the next it feels like my throat is burning!"
"So that's what happened. Your throat felt like it was burning and it was difficult to control and maintain?" Itachi asked.
"Yes. Was it like that when you did it the first time?" Tomoe asked still looking at her brother.
"No, no it wasn't. I'd wager it wasn't like that for Sasuke either." Itachi answered.
"So, I'm just useless at our clan jutsu, perfect. I'll never be an Uchiha." Tomoe said as she went back to cry into her arms.
"Give it a few days, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. Despite the results of today, you're quite talented with chakra control, almost better than I was at that age." Itachi said, giving her a small smile.
"Really?" she asked, sniffling.
"Tomoe, you know I don't lie to make people feel better."
"Hey, Ichi-nii, mind if sit here a while? I don't really feel like going home yet." Tomoe asked.
"I guess I can sit a while longer." Itachi replied.
"Thanks, Ichi-nii" Tomoe said as she leant up against her big brother's arm, until she eventually fell asleep.
*The next morning*
Tomoe awoke next morning feeling in a slightly better mood than yesterday, having cried out on her brother's shoulder had helped her mood improve slightly. She was still down in the dumps about her failure to perform the Great Fireball jutsu, but she was determined to master it. As Tomoe went down to eat breakfast with her family, she dreaded having to face her father on top of yesterday's failure. When she reached the living room however, her father was nowhere to be seen, with just her mother and Itachi sitting at the table waiting for her.
"Where's father and Sasuke?" she asked as she walked into the living room.
"Your father had an early shift at the police station, and Shisui came and started Sasuke's training for the day," Mikoto answered.
"Oh, guess I better start as well," Tomoe said, as she started to turn and walk to the clan's training grounds.
"Wait a second before you go Tomoe," Mikoto stopped her.
"Yes mother?" Tomoe asked nervously, wondering why her mother would stop her.
"Itachi told me about what happened yesterday," Mikoto stated matter-of-factly.
"Oh."
"Yes. He told me something very interesting, about how you felt as though your throat was burning while moulding the chakra," Mikoto continued.
"I- I promise to do better. I won't stop until I am able to use the jutsu no prob-" Tomoe started nervously, until her mother held up a hand to stop her.
"Tomoe, you're not in trouble." Mikoto said in order to calm her down. At this Tomoe visually breathed a sigh of relief and her mother continued, "Not everyone can do the Great Fireball jutsu on their first try. But the fact that your chakra felt like burning you did sound very familiar"
"Familiar?" Tomoe asked confused.
"Yes, it sounds just like the issue I had when I first tried to perform the jutsu when I was seven." Mikoto said with a compassionate smile on her face.
"You had the same problem?" Tomoe asked in astonishment. While Itachi and father were the two most often credited in their family for their talent, her mother was no slouch either having more than deserved her jounin rank before she retired.
"Yes, I did. It was quite a horrible few first weeks when I started learning fire jutsu. Every time I tried to perform a fire jutsu, my chakra felt like it was burning me from the inside out. It wasn't until I became a genin I found out why I had so many issues trying to use fire jutsu." Mikoto explained.
"What was the reason?" Tomoe asked, eager to know what was causing her issues with their clan's jutsu.
"My nature," Mikoto simply stated.
"Your nature?" Tomoe asked confused.
"My elemental nature to be exact. Do you know about them?" Mikoto asked.
"No, we haven't gone through in our lessons."
"Then allow me to explain," Mikoto started, pulling out a piece of paper and a pen and started writing as she talked, "There are five different base elemental chakra natures: fire, water, earth, lightning, and wind. Each of the elements have their own weaknesses and strengths, and is stronger against a certain element and weaker against another. Fire is strong against wind as wind makes the fire more powerful, wind is strong against lightning as wind encapsules the lightning and stops it from moving, lightning is strong against earth as lightning pierces the earth, earth is strong against water as it stops it from flowing, and water is strong against fire as it puts out the fire. Now this doesn't mean that a fire jutsu can't beat a water jutsu., If the fire jutsu is superior to the water jutsu, the water will simply evaporate and the fire will break through. Are you with me so far?" Mikoto asked her daughter
"I think so." Tomoe answered
"Good, just ask if you have any questions."
"I do have one question though. How is this related to me feeling the chakra is burning my insides?" Tomoe asked
"I'm getting to that now dear," Mikoto answered, a kind smile on her face. "How this affects us and our use and learning of jutsus all come down to our elemental affinity. We are all born with an elemental affinity that fits one of these five elements. There are exceptions, but those are not important for now. These elemental affinities affect how easily we can learn different jutsus. If you have a water affinity, you will have an easier time learning water jutsus, but a more difficult time learning jutsus of any other element. We Uchiha are known for our fire jutsus, as we have a natural affinity towards fire jutsu and thus perform them more easily."
"Then why couldn't I perform the jutsu yesterday?"
"I'm getting there now. However, not all Uchiha are born with a fire affinity, just most of us. Still, while we are not all born with the affinity, our blood and heritage still allow most of us to learn fire jutsu more easily even if we don't have a fire type affinity. The reason why it felt to me like my chakra was burning, and the same reason I suspect it felt like burning to you, is because I was born with a lightning affinity." Mikoto explained.
"I don't have a fire nature?" Tomoe asked.
"That is the most probable explanation for the events that transpired yesterday," Mikoto answered.
"Is that why you said it didn't burn for you, and why you didn't suspect it burned for Sasuke?" Tomoe said looking at Itachi, "Because you're both fire natured?"
"I don't know his nature, but considering his performance I did assume he a fire nature like me and father." Itachi said while drinking some tea.
"So, am I lightning natured like you?" Tomoe asked while looking at her mother.
"I do not know," Mikoto answered.
"But you sai-" Tomoe began before she was interrupted by her mother.
"I said why I suspect it didn't work out for you. Not that I knew, but we can easily find out." Mikoto replied smiling a kind smile to her daughter.
"We can?" Tomoe asked.
"We can indeed," Mikoto replied while gesturing to Itachi, who took out some pieces of paper from his bag. Itachi put them on the table keeping one, while his mother took a piece of paper of her own and continued speaking. "This is Chakra Induction Paper. By pouring your chakra into this paper, it shows your chakra nature. It reacts to even the smallest amount of chakra. If your nature is wind, it will split in two. If nature is water, the paper will become wet or damp. If your nature is earth, it will turn to dirt and crumble. If it is fire it will ignite and turn to ash." As Mikoto said this, the paper Itachi was holding ignited in his hand, "And should it be lighting, the paper will wrinkle." Like with Itachi's paper, when Mikoto finished the sentence, the paper in her hand wrinkled.
"So, by picking up this paper," Tomoe said gesturing to the paper in front of her, "and pouring in my chakra, it will reveal my nature. And if it isn't fire, then we know why the chakra felt like was burning me?"
"That is correct. It is simple and easy, even easier than the leaf exercise that you're so proficient at" Mikoto said smiling.
"But what if it is fire, what then?" Tomoe asked nervously.
"Then we'll figure out what to do then." Mikoto said, grabbing her daughter's hand and giving her a reassuring smile.
"Ok." Tomoe said, reaching out for a piece of chakra paper, "Here goes," she said once she had a piece of paper in her hand and closed her eyes as she poured her chakra into the paper. When she didn't feel any heat in her hand, she opened one eye and squinted at the now wrinkled piece of paper she held in her hand.
"Your elemental affinity is lighting, just like mine" Mikoto said, giving her daughter a heart-warming smile.
"Yeah, it is," Tomoe said, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She wasn't a failure at her clan's jutsu, she was just at disadvantage. "What now?" she asked.
"Well," Mikoto said clapping her hands, "first you need to eat some breakfast, then you and I are going to go through some training in order for you to be able to use our clan's fire jutsu, and fire jutsu in general."
"Will I encounter problems like this every time I try to use a non-lightning jutsu?" Tomoe asked while looking at her mother.
"I wouldn't count on it. Maybe if you tried to use a water jutsu like the Water Bullet jutsu, I've heard that it can feel like you're drowning. Although, this is just until you unlock your Sharingan. When copying jutsu with the Sharingan, our bodies immediately get used to the chakra and replicates the jutsu." Mikoto said.
"So, this is just an issue, until I unlock my Sharingan?" Tomoe said, looking at the paper in her hand.
"There might be issues should you try to learn the jutsus by yourself, but we don't have that weakness," Mikoto said, putting a reassuring hand on her daughter's shoulder. "After all, we Uchiha are the strongest in the leaf, and we always overcome opposition."
At this Tomoe smiled at her mother, who returned it and walked to the kitchen. Her mother had yet to oversee any of their lessons, so getting a lesson directly from her made Tomoe extremely happy. As Mikoto disappeared into kitchen, Tomoe turned to Itachi and almost leapt at him across the table and said, "Thank you, for helping me with this. Thank you so much Ichi-nii," while hugging her big brother.
"No problem Tomoe" Itachi simply said as he patted her head.
None of them realising Sasuke had returned a while ago to get some water and had overheard most of their conversation. As he headed back out to the training grounds, he couldn't help but thinking "So that's why I beat her, because I had a natural advantage and she was at a disadvantage."
*A week later*
A week had passed since Tomoe had discovered her lightning affinity and the reason why she had issues using the Great Fireball jutsu. In that week, on top of her usual training, she now spent several hours each day with her mother training how to use fire jutsu chakra without feeling like the chakra was burning you from the inside out. They had yet to practice her use of the Great Fireball jutsu, as they had been focusing on just manipulating and adjusting to the fire chakra. It was primarily about getting used to the fire chakra so it didn't feel like burning, but it was also about manipulating the chakra in your body so that it didn't fill your body completely. Manipulating the chakra to not fill your body did have the drawback that since you could fill up what you needed to maximise the power of the jutsu. Essentially, since the Great Fireball jutsu required Tomoe to store and hold chakra in her chest, she had to store less than her full capacity, otherwise it would burn. This did mean that the power of the jutsu would be weaker, but it was mostly meant as a stopgap until Tomoe got used to fire chakra so it didn't feel like burning.
In the same week, Sasuke had added fireball training to his training schedule, working his hardest to make it the required size it needed to be for him to be able shamelessly wear their clan's symbol. While he couldn't fault his mother for helping his sister overcome her disadvantage, he couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy when he saw how much time they spent together.
Sasuke had spent hours at the lake every day breathing fireball after fireball when he had finally reached the point where he was certain it would be big enough to impress his father. When he finally reached it, he was about to go get his father so he could show him his progress, but he was so exhausted that as soon as he got home, he decided that he would show his father tomorrow and fell asleep the second his head hit his pillow.
Sasuke arose the next morning filled with excitement over the fact that he would finally show his father the results of his training with the Great Fireball jutsu. As he got down to the living room table, he found only his brother and father at the table eating breakfast. "Where's mother and Tomoe?" Sasuke asked.
"They had something to try out this morning, so they left early" Itachi said while eating his breakfast, never looking up from his rice bowl.
"I see." Sasuke said before turning to his father, "Father, please come with me to the pier." Sasuke requested.
"Sasuke, I said I would teach on Sundays and that I would be unable to make it last week, but I have work today, I do not have time to oversee your training before Sunday" Fugaku stated.
"No not that, the jutsu, I figured it out," Sasuke stated his eyes filled with determination and certainty.
Fugaku looked his son in the eyes for a moment before rising from the table, "One attempt, then I will have to go."
"Thank you, father, that is all I need." Sasuke determination clear in his voice. Sasuke turned to Itachi and said "Itachi-niisan, please join us if you have time".
"Seems like it could be worth watching, " Itachi said as he put his rice bowl down, and rose from the table. "Shall we?" he asked gesturing towards the backdoor leading to the lake.
As Sasuke, Itachi, and Fugaku neared the lake, they saw two figures at the end of the pier. As they got closer to the pier and as the two figures came into view, they saw it was Tomoe and Mikoto seemingly meditating.
As the trio walked out on the pier Fugaku spoke, "What are you two doing here so early in the morning?"
"Same reason as you I presume, training and observing our children progress with our clan's jutsu," Mikoto said, standing up while dusting herself off.
"A week is not enough time to make substantial progress considering the base, even with personal training." Fugaku stated matter-of-factly, looking at his daughter.
As Tomoe felt his gaze upon, she suddenly found a lump in her throat and had trouble speaking. Mikoto seeing this, decided to speak up for her daughter, "Under normal circumstances I would agree with you, but this case is rather unusual compared to most Uchiha children."
"And why is that, if I may ask?" Fugaku asked his wife
"Because, we have discovered that our darling daughter's ineptitude with the jutsu is not as much a question of ninjutsu prowess, but more a question of nature." Mikoto answered her husband.
"A question of nature? What do you mean?" Fugaku asked, slightly confused at his wife's antics.
"Simple," Mikoto said with a smile on her face, "it turns out, of all the things our daughter inherited from you, her chakra nature was not one of them, she gets that from me instead. In other words, she has a lightning affinity instead of a fire affinity."
"I see, that does explain her... unfortunate attempt at our clan's jutsu, and why you decided to train her personally. If she has the same nature as you, then the issue of our clan's jutsu will soon be fixed." Fugaku said, nodding.
If Sasuke didn't know better, he would have sworn that his father almost seemed relieved at the revelation that his daughter just had a different nature, rather than being bad at ninjutsu.
"We're about to find out actually. We have been spending the past week training to use fire chakra, but we have yet to actually attempt the Great Fireball yet. Oh, but look at me rambling, you have a job to get to. I presume you will oversee one attempt each?" Mikoto asked her husband.
"Indeed. Sasuke, since I came here at your request, you may go first." Fugaku said to his youngest.
"Yes father" Sasuke said, walking to the end of the pier, his eyes filled with determination. As he got to the end of the pier, Sasuke took his stance and prepared to show his father his progress. As Sasuke ran through the seals and moulded chakra in his chest, his father could see how much had improved since he last saw his youngest son's attempt. His process was much cleaner and more refined compared to the first time he tried to use the jutsu.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Then Sasuke pushed out the chakra and spat out a massive 11-meter-wide fireball, surpassing the one his father had demonstrated a week earlier in size. Expecting the jutsu to succeed this time, Sasuke didn't cut it short accidentally either, the jutsu continued until he had used all the chakra he had stored in his chest. When he was done, he turned around to his father to see his reaction.
"Well done, Sasuke, that was truly a Great Fireball jutsu worthy of the Uchiha clan. You can wear that crest on your back shamelessly and with pride now." His father said nodding at his son's performance. He then turned his head to Tomoe, "Tomoe, your turn."
"Yes," Tomoe said nervously. Last time her father had watched she had absolutely bombed the jutsu, and she wasn't sure it would work this time. While she might have gotten somewhat used to the fire chakra, she was uncertain she could do it and would have liked a test run before her entire family came to watch. She nervously walked to the edge of the pier looking out over the lake and breathed.
"Remember Tomoe, just like we practised" Mikoto's voice came behind her.
Hearing her mother's voice, Tomoe calmed down a bit and steeled herself in preparation of the jutsu. As Tomoe ran through the hand seals for the jutsu and gathered the chakra in her chest, she didn't feel any burning this time, and decided to keep filling her chest with chakra until she was certain she had stored enough. Once she was certain she had stored enough, she ran through the rest of the seals pushed out the chakra through mouth.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
This time it was not a small flicker flame that came through Tomoe's mouth like last time, but rather an enormous fireball, easily 15-meter-wide beating her brother's attempt in both size and intensity, evident by how her brother had to cover his face from the heat. Tomoe almost cut the jutsu short in surprise, but managed to keep it going until she had used all her stored chakra. When she was finished, she almost fell to her knees, having expended way more chakra than she had expected.
She was so exhausted, that she didn't have the energy to smile as wide as she had wanted, when she turned to face her family, she settled for a tired grin. Her mother stood there smiling at her, Sasuke was slack jawed, Itachi smirked, and Fugaku merely stared. Unlike how he normally stared, his eyes were wide open with bewilderment.
"I did it." a tired looking Tomoe said.
"That you did." Mikoto said, a proud smile on her face.
"Indeed," said Fugaku nodding, "what you accomplished today is no mean feat Tomoe, especially not considering where you were one week ago. Like Sasuke, you may now wear our clan's crest shamelessly and with pride. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go to work." Fugaku said as he turned his back and walked towards the Uchiha Police Force HQ.
"I have to be going as well, I have to get ready for a mission with my team later," Itachi said as he followed his father away from the pier.
"I have some errands to run, so I will leave you two to it. Considering the occasion, I think you can take the day off and go have fun. Just don't fill up before dinner, we'll be having quite a feast to celebrate this." Mikoto said with a smile, as she as well walked from the pier.
Now Sasuke and Tomoe were the only two left standing on the pier. Tomoe's legs finally gave out from her nerves and she fell on her back looking towards the sky, with the largest grin on her face. "You know Sasuke, ninjutsu is awesome." she said as she lay on the pier staring into the blue skies.
"Yeah, it is..." Sasuke said, sounding almost bitter as he walked towards the training grounds. Even if Tomoe heard his tone, she was far too excited to think about it.
AN: I know I changed Sasuke's nature, but this is for reasons to come later on. Also, him having a lightning nature is an anime only thing
AN2: Points to who can guess how Fugaku shows his excitement.