Disclaimer: I own the OCs in this fic, the rest is Masashi Kishomoto's. Sorry for any spelling mistakes or any OCCness.
Character age:
Akane, Itachi: 20
Naruto, Sasuke: 14-15
Shisui: 23
Kakashi: 28
Sen'i was actually buzzing with activity. It was crowded with people wearing a different style of clothing, more colorful and...actually reminding me a bit of Boruto's style, and people clothed in a style I was more used to. There were not any big buildings, just a lot of warehouses and a small town. People's chatter was covered by the sounds of the many boats there were in the harbor.
"Let's find our ride!" I told Sasuke loud enough for him to hear me.
"No need, I found it!" he replied in the same tone, pointing at the figurehead of a boat. A winged-horse, the symbol of the Eastern Continent.
"Alright, good job!"
We went behind boxes in an alley and I gave Sasuke a chakra concealing seal, that he activated immediately, like me. We both put our hoods on and made our way between people. Sasuke always had some on my marked kunai on him, as he was better than me at throwing them.
As they were loading the ship with goods, Sasuke and I sneaked inside. It seemed like there was no shinobi on the boat as it left the harbor with us not even hiding in the hold.
Overall, the entire journey was...too easy. Well, there had been some guards to get to the loading place, but with Sasuke's sharingan it was easily dealt with.
"It was too easy, wasn't it?" Sasuke asked me and I nodded.
"If they do not want shinobi there but this is the only security there is concerning the ship. I'm afraid that when we get off the ship, it will be harder."
Against all odds, their ship was faster and more modern than anything in the Elemental Nations. It reminded me more of the ship we took to go to Kiri for the twins' Chuunin Exams.
A day and half after leaving Sen'i, we heard sailors screaming that land was in sight. I leaned on the side to catch a glimpse of the harbor and widened my eyes.
It was well developed. At the extremity of each dock, there was a statue of a Cholloma. The closer we were getting to the land, the more obvious it was their culture was different than ours. The buildings in themselves were...completely different than in the Land of Fire, but the Land of Water? I could see some common influences, especially in the use of the same gray stone than in Kiri.
"We should jump," Sasuke told me, which broke me out of my thoughts.
"We swim," I added after a second. As the sailors were yelling they could have a drink now they were home, we jumped silently and dived in the sea. We made our way to a deserted part of the harbor and climbed on the dock. "You put your hitai-ate away?"
"Along with my armband." We ran in a dark alley between two warehouses and put away all of our wet clothes.
"So," I started, in my tank top and shorts suit, "waterproof clothes, useful huh?" He was dressed like me now, and was already putting another pair or pants on. I sighed at the lack of answer and put on other clothes too, hiding my weapons in a scroll, like Sasuke. We were now, at least Sasuke more than me, in civilians clothes.
We stayed close to each other and mixed ourselves with the crowd. The chatters were loud and fast, professional talks covered by the laughter of a group of children who, from the young woman in front of them, was probably here on a school trip.
It was...so strange. I was no stranger to traveling abroad, but this topped everything else.
"We should get in that pub, maybe we can get some information about that place."
"Bad idea," Sasuke refused, which made me look at him. "I don't think we use the same currency, it would give us away." I growled quietly. He had a point here. "The transaction office on Sen'i was too guarded for us to try anyway without it being suspicious. Let's explore this town."
"Hopefully we know how to live in the wilderness," I mumbled as he was walking in front of me.
We walked away from the harbor and more in the lively heart of the town. We looked around, the foreign food, the different clothes and even the foreign language on the signs, right under ours, made me feel like a real tourist. I stole a newspaper and sat down with Sasuke on the edge of a fountain, some kids playing with a ball in front of us.
"'The war causes two more cities to fall.'? War?"
"It's not in this country, it seems like this one is at peace with the others but...if this picture shows the reality of things, it's awful," I told him, staring at the picture of a building on fire and panicked people running out of it. I clenched my fingers on the paper when I saw a father carrying the corpse of what must have been his child, anguish having taking over his entire body. "Fuck, where did we land?"
"From what the file given to us by the Mizukage said, this country is the only one they made contact with but they don't want shinobi here. However, there are some similitude in the folklore of the Land of Water and the one around here. It could have been only one country long ago. The technology is also very different as there are no shinobi, their weapons are more 'evolved' than ours if we don't count ninjutsu." Sasuke had read the file carefully.
"Precisely," a feminine voice said in front of us. We both raised our head and jumped on our feet, ready to defend ourselves against the…
Little girl? She was wearing a dark brown cloak, like the guy from Ryoushi, and the hood completely hid her face, long and curly light brown locks pooling from the hood around her face. However, from the height, figure and voice, it was a young girl, younger than Sasuke, or someone very short like Yagura was.
"I will ask you to go back to where you are from on your own foreigners," she continued, an obvious accent in her voice.
"Or else?" Sasuke asked her arrogantly.
"Or I'll make you," she stated, raising her head enough for us to see two glowing red eyes.
I froze, like Sasuke, at the two tomoe spinning in her eyes.
What the actual fuck?
"You," the Uchiha next to me started in a low and dangerous voice, his own eyes turning red, "who are you?" The girl started, enough for her hood to fall back. Her hair was long and curly, as I said before, but her face...she was an Uchiha, that was sure, even if her face was rounder than the typical Uchiha.
"What...how...you're an Uchiha!" Sasuke kept glaring at her, but I raised my arm in front of him. I shot him a look from the corner of my eyes.
"Calm down, it looks like we're not in such a foreign place apparently."
"She's right, calm down too Min," a male voice said, walking nonchalantly next to the girl. I frowned at him, in particular at his red hair tied up in a short ponytail, his spiky bangs not covering his dark blue eyes. What was bothering me the most was the whirlpool on his shoulder.
"You know something Hyo?" The guy, Hyo, took his chin between two fingers and mused over this.
"Do I? Who knows, I know a lot of things. But did the old man and Wataru-nim told me something? Maybe." Ignoring the youngest glaring at him, as he looked around my age, Hyo walked over to us. Sasuke slid a foot in front of me in a way to say not to attack me and Hyo smirked, before kneeling. I blinked in confusion. "It is an honor to meet you, Yurei-sama. We have heard many stories about your people from Okuni-sama."
"Why is he calling you like that?" Sasuke asked me. He frowned deeply at my expression.
Yurei-sama? How...he was an Uzumaki, that much was obvious, but how could he know I was a Yurei? Sasuke wouldn't let that slide, especially with the shock and panic on my face and my entire body. I was screwed, so screwed.
Hyo noticed my panic and got up immediately, as if he was a child who got caught knowing too much after eavesdropping. He said something to Min, that I didn't understand as it was in a foreign language. She replied and seemed to scold him.
"I'm sorry, I forgot for a second you were from the Elemental Nations and well...that the clans were not that close over there." I blinked at Hyo in confusion, like Sasuke. "We'll take you to Wataru-nim and Okuni-sama, they'll explain better than us." He grinned to make himself look more trustworthy and Min's eyes went back to their charcoal color.
"You will also explain your presence here." Sasuke stared back at Min, her heavy gaze not affecting him one bit.
Uzumaki Okuni, an old man whose long hair red hair had finally lost its vibrant red color, dressed in a dark orange kimono, was on his knees in front of us, dark brown eyes staring at me. Next to him was Uchiha Wataru, his dark eyes gauging Sasuke and I. He was also on his knees, in a black kimono, his hair gray. Min and Hyo had left the room, and I couldn't help but wonder the signification of the Uzumaki's and Uchiha's symbols on the wall behind them.
We were in a particular part of the town now, and this place was the only traditional house that looked like something Sasuke and I were really used to.
"Yurei-sama," Okuni-san started with emotion, "it is an honor to meet you." I raised my hands in front of me with an embarrassed smile
"Please, don't call me that. It's not as if I had done it on purpose either."
"But you found the clan's secret room and have the Shinigami Claw, the rules of the clan say we shall treat the Yurei with the most utter respect, that they are above us."
"Why are Uchihas and Uzumakis here?" Sasuke asked them coldly. Wataru-san shared a look with Okuni-san and cleared his throat.
"You, young Uchiha, you're not just an Uchiha, you're important too. I can see it by the way you're behaving. So, are you the heir?" Sasuke pursed his lips and glared, not liking how this man had so easily read him by his movements.
"His older brother is," I pipped up.
"I see. Then, you must know how Konoha came to be, by the association of the Senju and Uchiha clans?" We both nodded. "Then, I'm sorry to disappoint, but even if it did happen, there is something that the Uchiha clan you know and Konoha in general erased from History. Madara was our leader and was the one to accept Senju Hashirama's proposition, but not all of the clan agreed to follow Madara. Many feared his behavior and real ideas, and even if they were sick of the endless battles and losses, they did not believe it would be in their favor in the long term. They tried to talk about it with Madara, but he told them that if they did not agree, then they were free to leave but would no longer be a part of the clan."
"Madara exiled those who did not believe in him?" I asked in surprise. The Uchiha nodded as Sasuke was staring thoughtfully at the floor.
"Of course, these Uchihas were quickly dismissed from History. They traveled and, not finding a place to live in peace with the village system blooming, sailed away to land here and settled down. The inhabitants of this continent did not use chakra or fight as much as in what is now known as the Elemental Nations."
"But if that Madara was your leader," Sasuke rasped, "what made you think you would change his mind?"
"Because only an Uchiha can truly understand what the Curse of Hatred can drive you to do." Sasuke raised his brows and the other Uchiha sighed. "The Uchiha clan...feels love a lot stronger than anyone else. When we are in an emotional situation, there is a special chakra that spreads in your brain and eyes, it awakens the Sharingan. If you suffer a more severe trauma, like killing someone you love deeply, or just feel like their death is your fault and you did not do anything to help, then the Mangekyou Sharingan appears." I knew all that, I knew, and Sasuke too I think. "However, such an important flow of chakra going to your eyes causes irreparable damages. Using the Mangekyou is already painful, but the more you use it, the more you go blind. There is a way to counter this, and this is exactly what that Stone Tablet your clan have says. If you exchanged your eyes with the ones of someone closely related to you, who also has the Mangekyou, it will stop the blindness. Siblings are the ones who reject transplants the less."
"Why does the blindness stop actually?" Sasuke asked him. True, why would it make it stop?
"Because as they are powerful eyes and still have residues of the original owner's chakra, this chakra protects the eyes against your chakra flow and the two chakra slowly merged together. Madara had the Mangekyou, and got his younger brother's, Izuna, eyes transplanted. His Curse of Hatred was far greater than anyone else and a part of the clan left."
Izuna, Izuna...the guy Umiko sealed before dying the first time. The one who looked so heartbroken at her actions.
He was Madara's brother then.
"And you lived peacefully?" Sasuke did not look convinced, even if Wataru-san nodded.
"My father established rules that I keep applying today. When Okuni-san and the Uzumakis arrived, they helped blocking the Sharigan awakening." Sasuke frowned and glared at that.
"You're keeping them from reaching their own power?" The cold gaze he received did not faze him.
"As a shinobi, you may think it is horrible, but we are not shinobi. Except for Min who went through a traumatizing experience and hijacked the seal, everybody is far better without the Sharingan, and are more at ease knowing they won't have it." In a way...it reminded me of the Hyuuga clan a little.
"The Uzumaki clan then?" I inquired to Okuni-san. He smiled sadly at me.
"When Uzushio was destroyed...many fled, many died. A group of survivors, me included, sailed away and we found ourselves at the same place the Uchihas found themselves years before. As we were all from the same place and had a similar story, we settled down next to them and our clans promised to help each other as family. Yurei-sama," I cringed at the title and Sasuke's heavy gaze on me, "may I ask you your parents' names?"
"Akiko and Ushio." He sighed in relief.
"So they both left safely." But boy how did it change after. "And Kushina? Is she still well in Konoha?"
"I'm sorry sir, but Aun...Kushina passed away almost fifteen years ago, when her seal broke during labor."
"I see." There was a pregnant pause, where he was digesting the news. "And her child?"
"Ah, he's fine and with Jiraya-san right now." A soft smile appeared on his lips, even if they were hidden by his beard. "I'm sorry sir, but did you know them?"
"I was the one who sent Kushina to Konoha to replace Mito." I blinked and pointed at him with my finger.
"No...there is no way that you're...the Uzukage, right?"
"That I am." I gaped, like Sasuke, but he was more discreet than me."Have I not mentioned it? I was also the one, along with Umiko-sama, to forbid the use of the Death Reaper Seal and buried everything related to it."
"That you did, I did not know what would happen..." I muttered under my breath.
"And you succeeded in getting the Claw too."
"I needed it to break a genjutsu." I paled at Sasuke's wide eyes on me.
"What the hell did you do in that creepy room!?" he yelled, jumping on his feet. "You almost died! What's a Yurei anyway!? That's a title, not a name! What the fuck did you do exactly!?"
"Insanity, she's the personification of the Uzumaki clan's insanity," Wataru-san replied flatly. "Someone who made a pact with the Shinigami to fix their biggest regret." I glared darkly at him.
"Hey, it's not your place to tell!"
"He's not going to drop it and you can't say a word." I blushed in fury at that.
"Alright Wataru," Okuni-san interrupted us and knocked the top of his wooden staff lightly on the Uchiha's head, "enough of that." I bit my lip under Sasuke's eyes.
"Nee-san," I gulped, "how old are you?"
"I..." From the look in his eyes, he would not have anything but the truth. "I'm...forty-three, or forty-four. I was almost thirty-seven when I used the Death Reaper, thinking it would kill me but...I found myself in the forest, in front of Shisui, who kidnapped me from my mission to free me from Kiri. It...I..." My eyes started to water when I thought at what could have happened and how surreal it seemed to me now. "Danzou would have stolen one of his eyes and he would have killed himself in front of your brother after giving him his remained eye and...and..."
"Nii-san would have killed everyone," he finished quietly, his arms limp on his sides. "You lived a life where nii-san did kill the entire clan but me." I nodded weakly.
"So the clan would have been annihilated?" Wataru-san asked me. I nodded once again.
"Madara's reputation...never really left them and at some point, after the Kyuubi, they just started hating back to the point of no return." He sighed.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" I blinked at Sasuke.
"You're...there was no reason for you to know about it, it's my condition."
"Why did you even use that jutsu, huh!? Almost thirty-seven? Didn't you have people or family!? Why would you do that!?" I blinked in shock. It...was Sasuke the first person to actually ask me the reason of my action? "Wasn't there anybody else with you!?"
"There was," I admitted quietly, "but he was too brutal for the unstable seal next to us. He...he went along with it, unwillingly, but he did and probably hates me for it today."
"What kind of asshole would let you do that!?" He took a deep breath to calm down. "It sounds like you cared about him, and him about you, so what?"
"I didn't give you any choice."
"Th...what did you say?" I smiled sadly at him.
"I didn't give Sasuke any choice and died in his arm, he witnessed another family member dying but he couldn't take any risk with my son behind us and wounded." Sasuke blinked in shock and took a step back.
"I..." I stood up and stretched out my hand to grab his shoulder, but he slapped my hand away with eyes wide open, horror slowly filling them.
"Sasuke." He ran away, pushing a man who was about to knock. "SASUKE!"
"Let him be," Wataru-san said and I glared once again at him.
"That's your fault!"
"I'm not the one hiding such a big secret."
"You..."
"It has been a long day, I will take you to your room Yurei-sama," the Uzukage told me as he got up on shaky legs.
"We still don't know why they're here." I threw the knife at Wataru-san with a snarl.
"In Ryoushi, someone was spying on Sasuke and it ended up in a fight. They left that and it led us here." The two men looked at the knife for a second and the Uzumaki smiled at me.
"Please, we will talk more tomorrow, you must be tired from your trip. We will bring Sasuke-kun to your room later."
I did not pay a lot of attention to the new man in the room, or where they were taking me, but I ended up in a fancy room. I dropped my stuff on the floor and fell face first on the bed. Fuck, I wasn't planning on telling Sasuke, and especially not in these conditions.
In a way though, if my feeling about the mysterious guy was true, then maybe it was for the best after all. It was just...Sasuke was still young. I knew he wasn't a kid and I didn't treat him as such, but he was still young. I mean, until Kiri he had always been sheltered by his family and Konoha. This...my past life was too much for…
"Explanations, now, from the beginning." I pulled my head out of the pillow and looked at him. "No, first nii-san, how...how did he..."
"He died from his disease just a few weeks before he turned twenty-two, in his fight against you."
"You knew him, didn't you?"
"What makes you think that?"
"You couldn't stand being near him when we were younger. Don't lie to me." I sighed and sat up.
"It doesn't really matter if I knew him, in the end I wasn't enough." Sasuke widened his eyes at what I was implying. "In the end, he died and I didn't."
"Tell me everything." I averted my eyes and barely reacted when he grabbed me by the shoulders, one knee on the bed. "Akane, I was there in Uzushio, if anything, you owe me the truth now."
I looked in his eyes. He wouldn't drop it, he would get to the bottom of this. He...he looked so much like old Sasuke right now, the one I would rest upon when I couldn't deal with things anymore.
Maybe...maybe he could handle it.
"Okay." He blinked in surprise and sat next to me.
"And promise me you won't die in front of me." I looked down and he clicked his tongue. He stretched out his pinky, which made me smile a little. "Don't comment, just promise." I sighed softly and crossed my pinky with his.
"I promise I'll try my best not to die in front of you, okay?" He pursed his lips and ended up nodding. "You know, old Sasuke was someone I relied a lot on, for fifteen years. It's...if I tell you, I'm afraid I might do the same."
"Then do." I blinked at the assurance on his face. "I'm clearly your favorite Uchiha, so rely on me, you can't keep carrying that burden on your shoulders only." His eyes got darker. "Especially with how it messes up with your mind, knowing so much information."
"That...is absolutely correct."
After placing many seals around the room to keep any eavesdroppers away, I talked.
I told him everything, concerning the coup, the Akatsuki, the war, his brother and I, the twins, Naruto and him, how he could have walked a very much different path. He listened closely, not showing anything.
I told him the context in which I died. I saw the flash of understanding in his eyes when I mentioned the opponent and his abilities, what we thought it was. I told him how my seal worked, the good and bad things it did. What happened in Uzushio, my watching soul, oji-chan, just everything.
Once I was done, feeling much better now someone else knew everything, absolutely everything, I looked at Sasuke to check his reaction. He was frowning.
"It explains why you've always been so adamant on making sure I was okay even if I was in Itachi's shadow, and how you've always acted with me."
"Is it bad?"
"No, if anything I'm thankful. I'm not planing on trying to conquer the world." I smirked at his sarcasm. "Okay, so nii-san has to celebrate his twenty-second birthday, I'll make sure of it." I tilted my head. "You have been dealing with a lot on your own side, and even if you'll be in Konoha for a while, Kiri still matters. Konoha is the center of everything, my clan is too, I'll help on my side." I smiled in gratitude, my arms going around his neck.
"I'm proud of the man you're becoming Sasuke, sorry for dragging you into this." He patted my forearm under his chin.
"Don't nee-san, I would have known one day anyway. Naruto and I...we have an important part to play in a couple of years. The time would have come where you would have talked to us." I mused over that.
"I can't tell Naruto now though, it's too soon." He snickered quietly.
"Agree." There was a silence and I tried to move away, but Sasuke's hand tightened around my arm. "Thank you, for my parents. And my brother. Thank you for loving him even when everybody thought he was a nothing more than a psychopath murderer. It meant the world to him."
"How would you know that?"
"I spent more time with my brother than the first Sasuke you knew, I know him more. If Itachi kept coming back to...he definitely was in love with you, especially knowing his mission and the Akatsuki was around."
"Oh," I said in a murmur, not expecting Sasuke to talk about that topic. I sometimes doubted his feelings for me, but...but Sasuke, and old Sasuke, were both convinced old Itachi loved me.
I should trust them then.
Hey! Thanks for reading and leave a review to tell me what you thought about this chapter! Thanks to NguyetMieu and kankananime123 for the reviews!
For the Eastern Continent, I've tried, key word being 'tried', to have more of a Korean influence in the culture, so the foreign language Akane doesn't understand is Korean, but I don't speak so I didn't try to write it. There is also a mix with the Western culture. The honorific '-nim' is the closest thing I found to the '-sama' in Japanese, and the different honorifics come from the fact the Uzumaki is from the Elemental Nations, with the Japanese culture, and the Uchiha was born on the Estern Continent, so it's a Korean honorific.
'-nim': used towards someone who is revered and admired for having a significant amount of skill, intellect, knowledge, etc...and is used for people who are of a higher rank than oneself.
Bye!