I don't own Naruto!
Prologue
When the baby was born, the mother took one look down between her legs and lurched to the side to vomit over the edge of the bed. The blood seeping into the birthing towels and clogging up the air pooled like dust over the shell of the swollen moon as it vanished beneath the sill of the window. Dawn crested when the infant did; and, by the time the birds had stirred in the trees, the baby scrunched up its fluid-stained face and cried.
"A girl," the nurse remarked, with the kind of grim neutrality to be expected of any plain village's medical team. "Her name?"
The mother, panting, wiped the back of her hand against the acid lingering on her lips. Her head lolled, focusing on the wall. Somewhere beyond it was her village. The road from here to there was no doubt plagued by shinobi, by war, by blood. She would have nothing to do with any of that anymore.
"Hanae," she decided. The sky began to warm as the sun threatened to show itself for the first time that morning. How ironic, to pick such a peaceful name for a child she wouldn't keep. She wrenched her eyes away from the wall and stared at the girl who sat in the corner, looking like she couldn't possibly take up less space if she tried. Grief sat heavy on her apprentice's features–no doubt, if the mother bothered to check her face in the mirror, she'd probably look more or less the same. She cleared her throat. "Shizune. Run an errand for me."
The girl perked up. "Yes, sensei?"
"This war…I'm sure many mothers have lost their kids. I'm sure the Hokage can find one to take Hanae in."
As she spoke, she watched the nurse holding her baby stiffen. It was easy, to focus on the way the woman's back straightened instead of what the crying infant must look like. It would be easier to keep herself detached this way.
Because Tsunade Senju was many things–
But a mother was not one of them.
A/N:
Hi there!
Some quick housekeeping things:
- I absolutely LOVE comments. Cookies for whoever leaves one 3
- I'll be fleshing out and revamping all the technical info affiliated with the fic, adding tags as I go, etc etc. All that good stuff.
- This is my first naruto fic, who cheered
- I'm using a posted timeline to keep track of where everything is oriented in the story. The timeline, if you want to check it out yourself, is here: post/170439568877/timeline-of-naruto-universe
- This is the map that I will be referencing for the world: media?url=https% .it%
- Thanks for reading so far! XX