Yusuke returned from the walk he had with his daughter. When he stood in front of the door of his home, Akira suddenly stormed out with a worried face, asking for Hanako.
"She wanted to stay a bit more in the woods, she'll be back soon," he said confidently, although deep inside me he must admit he had a bad feeling about it.
"Yeah, I hope so," said his wife coldly, clearly pissed for leaving Hanako without supervision. "We have visits," she added, walking back inside. Yusuke was surprised by it. No one would ever visit them. When he walked in, he saw him. Fugaku, his friend, was standing in his living room accompanied by his eldest son, Itachi.
"I'm glad you finally came, Yusuke," he greeted Yusuke standing up when he saw him inside, just as his son did. "Itachi, he's Yusuke, one of my best friends and a fellow comrade of mine in the Force."
"Pleasure, Itachi. Your father has spoken to me a lot about you." Yusuke smiled.
The boy only nodded his head. "The pleasure is mine, Yusuke-san," he muttered politely.
"He's pretty well-mannered. You raised him well, Fugaku," the man joked to the brown haired Jounin who just gave him a condescending smile.
"He must learn how to behave for when assumes his position as the clan leader," Fugaku assured.
"How old are you?" Yusuke asked the small raven haired boy.
"Six," Itachi answered.
"Oh! Just like Hanako." Yusuke chuckled. Fugaku nodded.
"We are just waiting to enroll him into the Academy," his father announced full of pride. "I'm sure he will become pretty strong, after all, he's the clan's future leader. Right, Itachi?"
"Yes, Father." Itachi smiled slightly at Yusuke and Akira, who stared at him with soft smiles.
"I'm glad." Yusuke had a fake smile. "And how's Sasuke?"
"Fine, he's at home with Mikoto right now," Fugaku replied with a nod.
"How old is he now?"
"He just turned two, and he turned out to be a really curious kid. Reminds me a bit of Hanako," the Clan Leader said with a soft smile. "Speaking of which, is either of your kids home?"
"No. Hikari is on a mission and Hanako was walking with me through the woods but she decided to stay a little bit longer." Yusuke sighed. Akira glared at him for being so careless and speaking about it in front of their leader.
"It's about to get dark, don't you think it would be better to bring her back?" Fugaku inquired frowning.
"She said she'd come back and I trust her. She's not a weakling that walks around unprotected." Akira let out an exasperated sigh after Yusuke's remark.
"She's six years old, Yusuke!" she snapped.
Fugaku sighed. "Yusuke, she's not a skilled ninja that knows how to defend herself. I don't even let Itachi wander around too much after certain hours. Go look for her." Yusuke avoided his look and crossed his arms over his chest.
"What brought you here anyway?" asked Yusuke with a frown.
Fugaku looked at Akira for a moment, then at Yusuke with a serious face. "I wanted to speak to your daughter, Yusuke, Akira. You must be aware that in six years the ANBU will take her away."
Akira covered her face with her hands and sobbed lightly. Her shoulders trembled restlessly. Yusuke wrapped an arm around her, bringing her close to him. "Just six more years, huh..."
"Have you started her training?" Fugaku asked. "You have to prepare her for the worst, the ANBU are ruthless, and they won't have any mercy."
"She can't even handle a kunai..." Yusuke muttered, tightening his hold on his wife. "She's not fit for this," he said, hiding his face on the crook of Akira's neck.
Fugaku let out a sigh. "Let me speak to her," he said. "I'll make sure to prepare her for the ANBU." Yusuke looked up at his friend. "But first, you have to enroll her in the Academy." Yusuke nodded, pressing his lips into a thin line.
"Let's get going Itachi," the leader said, starting to walk away followed by his son. "See you around, Yusuke, Akira." Yusuke observed them walk away until they disappeared in the horizon of the road.
"Fugaku's right," his wife commented, slowly pulling her hands away from her face. "It would be better to go look for her before something bad happens." Yusuke sighed and looked at her.
"I'll be back soon." And with that he went off, back into the woods.
* * *
Hanako watched the sky as it started to become dark, while she rested on the ground. In her mind was still fresh the conversation she had with Danzo just a few minutes earlier. The Uchiha breathed slowly, closing her eyes and inhaling the pure air of the woods. She then opened them to find a man with dark clothes and an orange mask on his face standing right in front of her. She stood quickly and backed away as much as she could.
"You seem scared." The man spoke with a deep voice. "I see you don't remember me."
"Who are you?" she asked confused.
"I couldn't help but listen to your conversation with Danzo." He completely ignored her as he continued speaking. "Forget everything he said, he knows nothing about the Uchiha." He started to move closer.
"And you do?" she inquired curiously, never letting her guard down.
"I can't say I don't." He stopped in his steps. "Correct me if I'm wrong but you want to be a ninja and your father doesn't want to train you."
"Danzo-san told me everything I had to do was show my father of what I'm capable of, so he would feel proud of me." Hanako let out a sigh. "But for that I have to let my power come to light, although I don't know what he meant by that..." That last thing she mumbled to herself.
"I do," said the masked man. "In the years I have lived, I've learnt that the Uchiha awaken their power when they found themselves in a life or death situation." He pulled out his kunai. "We only have to let that happen," he said and suddenly vanished.
Hanako felt a shiver run down her spine when she couldn't see him, and the darkness that engulfed the woods in that instant wasn't helping at all. The Uchiha girl felt something behind her, but when she turned around she saw nothing. Hanako looked up and noticed that some leaves were moving strangely. She took a stone and tossed it upwards, it changed its direction when it hit an object. "I found you," she thought in her head, with a small smirk. But then what? She couldn't do anything. She couldn't jump up and face him. She didn't know how to fight. She didn't even know how to properly handle knives.
"You're different," Hanako heard a deep voice like an echo from above her and the mysterious man emerged from the shadows. "Are you a sensor type, maybe?" He jumped to land just right in front of her. Hanako looked at him with terror as she backed away. "It could be." At that moment she felt an intense pain in her stomach and went flying through the air. She fell hardly on the ground and some tears fell from her eyes because of the strong impact. Hanako stood up still looking at the man. "You're just a kid, you'll never be strong. All those fantasies will never come true, you'll realize that when you really meet the world that you live in. Here there are no dreams, only realities."
"You know nothing, I'll be strong." Hanako looked at the man with courage and narrowed eyes, while cleaning a bit of blood that fell from her mouth. Her eyes stung so she closed them for a bit. When the pain ceased she opened them once again, only to find that her vision had become red.
"Oh...this is getting interesting," he said amused. "Not every day you see a kid awake the Sharingan at such a young age." Hanako could see the difference; she was able to see the chakra of the person in front of her. Was this the power of the Sharingan? Was this what her father hid from her every time she asked him about it? Now she understood, now she could finally see it.
The man threw a kunai at her but she could see it slowly moving towards her, so it was easy for her to move backwards and dodge it. The knife fell at her feet, but when she returned her eyes at him, the masked man had already disappeared again. Hanako took the weapon and got ready for another attack. She felt again his presence behind her. She turned around and saw his attack coming, though she didn't react in time. Instead, she closed her eyes, waiting for the impact. Hanako felt a strong pain in her chest and again she went flying backwards. This time she crashed against a tree trunk and for a moment she wasn't sure if the crack sound she heard was coming from the wood or her ribs. She looked up slowly at her opponent, deactivating her Sharingan after feeling too tired. She still didn't have the chakra or the stamina to withstand it for long periods of time. She had never trained for its usage in her six years of life, even though at the age of four they are supposed to start preparing their bodies so that they don't pass out when it awakens.
"If you say you'll be strong then..." The masked man came closer and leaned to murmur something next to her ear. "Prove it." And with that he disappeared with the breeze of the wind. Hanako started to close her eyes, barely able to see the silhouette of a person moving quickly towards her.
"Hanako!" She recognized that voice...
"Dad..." Hanako managed to mumble softly before she became surrounded by darkness.
* * *
Hanako started to open her eyes slowly. At first, everything was blurry, but after blinking a couple times she recognized her room. The girl heard the door open and then close. When she turned her head around, she found her mother with a bucket full of water and a couple of towels. She knelt down next to it and wetted one of the towels before putting it on her daughter's forehead. She then started to nag about what she did and how wrong she was.
"Your father earned a pretty good reprimand when he came back." Hanako's gaze was still lost and she was sure her mother had noticed it. "Who knows what else could've happened to you if your father hadn't been on time." After that, they remained silent for a while. Akira pulled away the towel from her forehead to wet it again before putting it back. She did it two times. "You really scared me." She murmured softly and the girl's eyes moved slowly to her mother's face. "You were out for almost two days. I thought you wouldn't make it..." She took the towel off Hanako's forehead. Hanako tried to sit up, although it took a lot of effort from her part. When she finally made it, she felt her head pounding and she moved her hand to hold it, trying in vain to make the pain stop. "I'm glad that you're okay..." Her mother said in a whisper as she hugged Hanako tightly, making it hard for her to breathe.
"Mom, I'm fine..." The girl mumbled, trying to calm her down. She felt something humid in her shoulder and that's when she realized...her mother was crying. She had never seen her mother cry. Hanako placed her hands on her shoulders and pushed her apart slow and softly with a smile on her lips. "I'm fine," she assured her.
At that second, her father entered the room and looked at her with regretful eyes. "I'm so sorry..." he said, to the girl's surprise.
"Why are you apologizing?" Hanako asked with a frown.
"Because I shouldn't have left you alone in the woods; if I had just agreed to stay with you, none of this would've happened."
"You don't have to apologize." Her gaze drifted down. "Thanks to that, I realized something important." Yusuke and Akira seemed to be surprised at this, since they looked at each other with worried eyes, but didn't say anything about it. Hanako looked at them, figuring they were expecting her to continue. "I met a man. He told me that the Uchiha were interested solely on power." Their eyes widened slightly. "He offered to train me, but if I accepted I would be forced to abandon you." Hanako looked up at her parents for a second before returning her gaze to the ground. "I didn't want to leave you and that's why I rejected his offer. But, since Dad wouldn't train me, I asked him how should I make him proud and be able to change his mind. He told me the only thing I had to do, was let my power come to light."
"Who was that man?" her father inquired angrily.
"He told me his name was Danzo," she replied coldly. Hanako interpreted her father's anger as if he didn't want her to know something the man told her, or maybe because he was lying? But she didn't know how wrong she was. Even her mother was surprised by her lack of emotion. She grabbed her arm, making Hanako look at her. The girl softened her gaze and finished saying what she was going to say. "But I do not think that it is so wrong."
"What do you mean?" her father asked.
"After talking to the man, I encountered a masked man and I fought against him. That's why you found me in that state... But, Dad, thanks to that meeting I realized what Danzo meant." Hanako looked at him fixedly. She closed her eyes and opened them again with the Sharingan activated, to their surprise. "I've awakened my Sharingan."
"Impossible..." Her father took a few steps back. According to the clan's elders, she wasn't a pure blood, so she wasn't supposed to awaken her Sharingan. And though she did, at the age of six. Were they wrong? Yusuke frowned. He didn't understand what the matter with his daughter was. If she awakened her Sharingan, it was because she was a full-developed Uchiha. She inherited the Uchiha abilities.
"Dad...Train me please. I'm ready for anything," Hanako pleaded. Her father was watching her intently with his eyes wide until, after a long pause in which they only shared glances between each other, he finally sighed resignedly.
"Fine... But you have to do everything I tell you to. We'll start tomorrow when you're recovered," he announced, starting to walk towards the exit of the room.
"Yusuke!" Akira called after him, standing up. Hanako's father stopped before the door and slid it open.
"It's okay, Akira. She's ready." Hanako smiled looking at her father. He returned her gaze with a smirk before turning back to the door. "You should know by now, what this means..."
Akira watched her husband as he closed the door behind him. "Mom," Hanako called, making the woman look at her. "Can I get a shuriken kit, now?"
The horrified look in her face was priceless.