Uchiha Hana

Omake #3

Hiro Uzumaki was lost.

Maybe not lost in the physically lost, but lost as in not knowing what to do. He had always told the Uchiha princess that he wanted to be the best medical nin in the world, but perhaps, only because she had looked....looked like that. It was hard to explain but whenever she had that steely glint in her eyes or the pounce in her feet, he had that strange urge inside of him to match that vivacity, to prove himself. As unmotivated and lazy as he was, he wanted to prove himself to someone who would forget him as easily as her last morning meal. 

But she didn't forget. 

And there thus was the problem. 

Their first encounter was when she had beat him to the ground in less than two minutes without having broken a sweat. Hiro Uzumaki wasn't embarrassed or shamed by the fact that he was beaten by a girl, but he had felt something when the girl pulled him back to his feet. He decided to quit being a shinobi. His parents were skeptical but agreed to support him when he turned to medical ninjutsu--no, that was a lie. His father had yelled at him, screamed at him about the failure that he was to be so unmotivated, to give up so easily. His mother had just stood, silently in the corner. 

Hiro Uzumaki later went to his aunt, Mito, to request to be her disciple. He had arrived at the house with a bleeding lip, but with a glow of victory inside of him when she readily accepted. 

His next encounter with the Uchiha princess was when she looked considerably downhearted, her arm injured and a nasty bruise on one eye. He could not deny the feeling of bubbling irritation in his chest when she seemed to have given up on all of those dreams, all of those dreams that made her who she was; formed the essence of her very being. Hiro Uzumaki wanted to scream at her, to shout at her to never give up, to oppose all those who wanted to beat her down for wanting to become something that was not accepted by society. 

To do what he could not. 

She had a chance, she had more of an opportunity than him to succeed. She had the talent, she had the influence, she had her powerful uncle....but Hiro did not scream any of this. He was quiet and reassuring. 

A docile doll, formed by his own failures. 

And yet, she always wanted to light a spark inside of him, to force him to become something he was not. He was not her. He could never be her. 

But he did. He wanted, more than anything, to be strong like her. And instead, he was toiling with bandages and herbs, with cryptic books and dying patients. What made him think that he should enter into the Chunin Exams? 

He was the one who first approached Tobirama when Hana and Hiruzen had a shortage in their team. He supposed he did it to prove himself. And that he did. 

He became a Chunin. 

His father pretended to know who he was that day and that day was as fake as he was. 

Hiro poured over his studies, trying to appreciate what was written in the pages. It was not before Hana called him a genius with her bright smile and sparkling coal black eyes did he begin to seriously contemplate what he wanted to be. 

A medical nin? 

What kind? 

He supposed he wasn't bad at medical ninjutsu but he still had much to learn should he even reach Aunt Mito's level. He still lacked in so many things....

Hiro sighed as he looked outside, the afternoon sun basking the shinobi and civilians. They were so peaceful, so happy. Yet everyone held a demon inside, it was just a matter of how well they hid it. 

He shut his book, placing it neatly in its designated spot in the bookcase. 

"My dream...." he thought, "is to prove that I am not the failure that everyone thinks I am." 

Hiro Uzumaki wanted to achieve his dream. 

And so, he picked another book and began reading once more.