"Yes. Mikoto. You?"
"Girl this time."
"Kushina. We have no time for this."
"Right. Later, Mikoto."
That was Biwako Sarutobi. The Third's wife. What kind of emergency is going on that when Kushina is so obviously ready to give birth... Mikoto frowned. Ninja life was full of secrets, but that WAS one of her few friends. Maybe I ought to check back with her. Just in case.
"Akitsuki? Autumn Moon? Why that?"
"Do you remember, Fugaku? That night in October when the moon was full and orange in the sky? When we-"
"Oh. That. Uhm. No need for further details."
"I thought you might remember."
"Naming a child after that?"
"Actually there was my Aunt Aki. You might remember her. 'Aki Of A Thousand Faces'?"
"Oh yes. Her. She was always spying on us when we first started going out."
"She was an excellent shinobi and one of my early clan trainers. Her taijutsu and mastery of the 'Chastisement Jutsu' were far above average."
"Oh how I remember that knee to the face."
Akitsuki's birth on 7/23, the Kyubi Attack on 10/1, unchanged. The only thing that was different this time was that it was noted that even in the face of that awful chakra, so potent and filled with rage that even the most insensitive civilian felt it, little Akitsuki just glared in the direction of the interruption of her feeding as if it were a personal insult.
Upon hearing of that, many of the clan thought the child was either going to turn out incredibly stupid or insanely fearless. Fugaku and Mikoto, however, figured she just had priorities.
Toltiir watched, fast forwarding his viewing lens through much of the stuff he considered boring or incomprehensible.
Being a creature spawned in a branespace outside of what humans would consider normal space/time - there was much about human activity he still felt made little or no sense.
It was odd how the female version of Sasuke Uchiha was relatively tiny compared to original. Tiny, compact, dainty - whatever tag you wanted to put on it. At six she was frequently mistaken for a four year old.
The frustration and anger at being taken for a baby (relative to her actual age) caused her to pour those feelings into training, a process helped along by her mother. Instead of the father dominating Sasuke's training and mostly ignoring him, Mikoto saw her daughter as a legacy of her own - and was eager to take the drive she saw and channel it. Instead of big brother Itachi showing Sasuke the occasional technique and mostly going his own route - Akitsuki was a little sister and someone to protect.
Which infuriated Akitsuki even as the little sister/big brother dynamic wildly fluctuated.
This Toltiir saw and had to actively keep himself from altering things to encourage this.
"Oh yeah," said the seven year old. "Watch this! Fire Release! Great Fireball!"
A streamer of fire shot out, hit the water, bounced off the surface, and exploded like a firework.
Itachi was quiet for a moment. "You know. If you had actually intended to that - that would have been fairly impressive."
"Eeeeeeeeeeee," managed Akitsuki.
"You burned your lips didn't you?" asked Itachi without looking.
"Eeeeeeeee," managed Akitsuki again.
"Come on," said Itachi with what was becoming his perfected "Long Suffering Big Brother Sigh" and turned towards the house. "There's burn salve in the medicine cabinet."
"Eeeeeee," agreed Akitsuki, tears welled up in her eyes.
Itachi ruffled her hair as they walked, knowing full well it annoyed her.
"You are the clan heir of the Hyuga. WHY are you watching that pathetic worm?"
She noticed a lot of things, including things a typical eight year old wouldn't. One of the things she was praised on, and therefore considered a strength of hers, was her ability to distance herself from a problem and then work it out.
When she'd seen Itachi do that trick with altering a kunai's flight by throwing a second kunai faster, she hadn't launched herself immediately into trying to duplicate it. She'd considered the trick, figured out how often it would actually be useful, and then deconstructed each move that Itachi had done to pull the manuever off. She'd ultimately decided that it would require a lot of practice, was flashy but impractical, and to ask her big brother if she could learn shunshin from his friend instead.
So she tried to not only see what was going on around her - she wanted to UNDERSTAND the things around her. Some made very little sense, even when she'd worked out the details. She was thinking that this bit with the Hyuga heir was part of that.
At least this Hinata girl was not one of those who proclaimed her "so cool" or "aloof" and such. Idle schoolgirl gossip seemed to be one of those things she was destined to not make much sense of.
Hinata tried to explain. With many nervous gestures, some blushing, stuttering, and trying to shrink back inside her own clothing. She hesitated, grew extremely self-conscious, and twiddled her fingers. All of which tried Akitsuki's patience enormously but eventually she got the gist of it.
Naruto Uzumaki was absolutely not impressive. He was loud, abrasive, egotistical (which was fine if you could back it up), talentless, clumsy, and had the fine chakra control of a pregnant yak. An albatross with wing sprain had more grace and elegance. In some ways he reminded her of one of those little dogs that some of the higher-caste women kept around. Lapdogs who basically served a purpose (companionship, and various vermin were drawn from the environment to the heat of the dog where they could be more easily found and eliminated) but were loud barkers with no bite and generally annoying.
Well, excepting Aunt Miko's little mongrel dog Boromaru. Who was apparently very skilled at finding and eliminating pests that tried to infest the grain warehouses. A bit of an idiot dog but genius was not required to find and kill mice.
The thought of Boromaru caused Akitsuki to reconsider. A bit of an idiot, but useful in his way. Give him a bit of encouragement and he'd be your friend in a heartbeat. Annoying little yapper but would fearlessly face opponents much bigger than himself. Boromaru had been sick once for over a week from a snakebite but had protected his home and eventually recovered. Uzumaki-san had not been sick that she was aware of, but he did have that kind of endurance when running the track behind the school. There were similarities, weren't there?
So perhaps it was a similar relationship. Auntie Miko truly loved that dog, and the dog had demonstrated a singular devotion to Aunt Miko. When he was sent to go patrol the warehouses owned by Aunt Miko and Aunt Atsuko - he held himself as doing his duties with considerable pride for a 10kg dog.
Well, that certainly put things into a different light.
"Very well then," said Akitsuki. "I shall say nothing further. Just remember your clan has a 'we see everything' attitude. Most likely they would not approve of you getting too close to your pet."
"What?" asked Hinata, genuinely confused.
"At least you are not as annoying as Ino and Sakura," said Akitsuki, considering. Finally she nodded. "Come."
Hinata found Akitsuki had a VERY good grip and strength despite being shorter than her. And that once she'd decided on something, she had a peculiar focus and drive towards that goal.
"You," said Akitsuki as she dragged Hinata towards where the boy was doing sit-ups. "You are doing those wrong."
"Eh? Who asked you?" grumped Naruto.
"This is how you do it," said Akitsuki, sitting down next to him and demonstrating. "You're working your legs more than the core muscles."
"Eh?" asked Naruto, staring. The shorter-than-him but wouldn't even look at him "princess of the class" was actually talking directly to him?! What was going on? And why was Hinata standing there, looking nervous as anything?
"The core," said Akitsuki, slapping her stomach area, "is the foundation of strength and also where the chakra coils are. A strong core is necessary for anyone who wants to be a ninja."
"Choji doesn't have a strong core," pointed out Naruto.
"Choji Akimichi has a very strong core, he simply looks -" Akitsuki had noticed that Choji was very particular about how his girth should be referenced, "- hefty." Even if he wasn't present, 'one should be respectful of the other clans unless they were being chowderheads' was one of her mother's rules of conduct.
"Uhm, I mean," began Hinata.
"Hinata wants to train with you, in addition to the training she gets with her clan," said Akitsuki. "Better. You CAN listen to instruction after all."
"You have been helping Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga train," said Mikoto. "Hinata I can understand - she's the clan heir of the Hyuga, though I've heard that might not be completely accurate, and having a more friendly relationship between our clans would be of occasional benefit."
"Auntie Miko," began Akitsuki.
"You are entirely too young to start trying to develop a relationship like your Aunt Miko," said Mikoto. "Not to mention that could actually sour the relations between clans further."
Akitsuki tried again. "Naruto Uzumaki reminds me of Boromaru."
"Boro... Huh." Mikoto Uchiha was silent for a few seconds. "You know, there ARE some similarities."
Akitsuki nodded.
"Well, there's something about Naruto Uzumaki you don't know and that I'm forbidden to say. Just keep an eye out and if his eyes ever turn red - run and get some adults fast."
Akitsuki nodded, face impassive. Red eyes sounded like the Sharingan, but the reactions he got? Perhaps a clan member had a relationship outside the clan and produced a child? Wasn't there a story about someone who was born of similar circumstances who then grew to adulthood and avenged the dishonor and hatred heaped upon him by the clan that had disowned his father? It seemed a likely thing considering ninja society.
Akitsuki continued to think as she dried dishes next to her mother. The logical thing to do was remain slightly distant but also to not antagonize the problem child - thereby defusing any personal animosity. Yes. A plan.
She was nine years old and she was going to die.
Mother and Father were killed while sitting in the seiza position. Eyes that had long memorized and analyzed details picked up little clues and began assembling them.
The trail of destruction might have caused her to become terrified or distraught, but she'd always had that cool logical side to her - a habit taught and encouraged by her mother. Retreating behind that coldness allowed her to not be overcome by the events around her.
"So 'little sister'," began Itachi's voice.
She drew her wakizashi and leapt back. "Caution, big brother. The intruder must be formidable. Perhaps if we -"
"No," said Itachi. "I did all this. It was to measure my strength."
Akitsuki took in the various details and fitted them together. He COULD be telling the truth. It happened sometimes with ANBU members where they snapped. It was all hushed up but you heard about it happening anyway. Father had been complaining about Itachi not doing something or supporting something and not being available for some time now.
Akitsuki startled as she realized Itachi had just moved behind her and she was struck to the ground. "Foolish little sister."
Itachi had an entire prepared script for when his little sister showed up. He nearly lost it when he saw her blood spatter. A thin slice across her forehead and the resulting bloodflow had half-blinded her and completely wrecked her combat abilities in the near-dark of the house.
He hesitated though. Originally he was going to trap his little sister in a genjutsu where she would relive the finding of the dead bodies and the trail leading to their parents over and over again. To break her enough that she would focus entirely on becoming strong enough to kill him - because that might be strong enough to defend herself against the one called Madara. This would also allow his death to atone somewhat for the horror he'd done today.
On the other hand, this WAS his little sister. Not a little brother he could tease. If she ever married, she would likely join THEIR clan and not bring someone else into HER clan. That wasn't particularly fair, but it was traditional and ninja DID like their traditions.
Itachi decided as he willed his Sharingan to the Mangekyo stage in order to use Tsukuyomi on Akitsuki. He decided:
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(Posted Sat, 28 Feb 2015 16:53)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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