A strange new life

It was strange to walk into a walled village and see many people who shared similar looks. Black hair, tear troughs, and black eyes. Almost everyone was dressed in the familiar Uchiha blue.

They weren’t rare to spot in daily village life, them being the police and all. I had my fair share of run-ins with the police when I started using explosions in my training until they learned to ignore the mute girl in training field three.

If it wasn't for the others, I might have wandered off exploring the Uchiha village. It was my first time here, after all. My inherent dislike for Sasuke pushed me to keep him at arm’s length most of the time. I wasn’t as familiar with him as with Naruto, but the clan intrigued me, a lot. I wanted to know why Shisui and Itachi managed to break free from the Curse of Hatred.

Most of the people we passed by cast wary glances our way. Undisguised stares followed us until we crossed exterior walls stamped with the Uchiha’s symbol into a house yard. It didn’t diminish my want to explore the place, sharp glares thrown my way or not.

A small path led to a house of traditional architecture and sliding paper doors. Warm light spilled from inside, and a woman I recognized as Mikoto waited for us at the entrance.

She bowed when we got closer.

“Thank you for coming,” she said, then gestured for us to enter.

The house was spacious and mostly wooden. The floor was covered with tatami mats, with just a few elegant furnishings. She led us inside, and through a set of doors. Inside was an altar of some sort, with flowers and incense burning.  

Our destination was past the reception room, to a living room with an ample low table and several comfy-looking cushions for us to sit on.

Itachi was already here. He wore a dark blue kimono that looked elegant on him. When we entered, he got up and bowed to us. I was torn between being happy and afraid. Vague memories from before coming here told me that Itachi was an absolute madman, capable of atrocities. And that was because he was a kind person at heart.

The other part was just straight-up fangirl-sama. She wanted to cheer, maybe ask for his autograph. That would be weird, wouldn’t it?

“Welcome, and thank you for coming,” he said.

I held in a shudder or trembling. Wasn’t sure which.

“Thanks!” Naruto hollered, then walked to the low table and plopped his butt on one of the cushions. Sasuke sat near Naruto, and they started chatting.

I took out my offerings: an expensive sake bottle and baked pastries. Unsure about the protocols, I offered them to Itachi, who took them with a smile.

“Are these the famous cupcakes Sasuke keeps telling us about?”

Behind me, Kakashi and Mikoto had started a conversation. To my side, Naruto and Sasuke’s talk was getting animated.

“I don’t know about famous,” I deflected.

There was this moment of awkward silence when I wasn’t sure what to say. It didn’t last. Hollering soon interrupted all other conversations.

“…better than that Chidori of yours!” Naruto bragged. He got up, and by his side, a clone appeared. Chakra started to build in his hand.

Oh, no. I covered my ears.

In a puff of smoke, Kakashi-sensei was behind Naruto. He held the brat’s hand. “Not inside the house, Naruto-kun.”

Naruto was unperturbed by this turn of events.

“Outside, Sasuke, I’ll show you!”

It was Mikoto who walked closer now. “How about you show it after dinner, Naruto-kun?”

We sat around the table. Naruto was by my side. On the opposite side sat sensei and Mikoto. Itachi was at the head of the table, while Sasuke was on the other end.

I don’t know what I had expected. Maybe a parade of servants bringing food. Nothing of the sort happened. After we sat down, Mikoto served us tea, and while we drank, Itachi and Sasuke served dinner.

Seeing both in such… homely scenes brought a smile to my face. I always thought Itachi’s role in the story was one of the most tragic, even if I never understood why he did what he did. Were things so dire that he saw no other way than to kill his whole family?

Anger flared at the thought, anger directed at Danzo and all these old codgers that for all their wisdom, were incapable of looking past their own boots and self interest.

Dinner was a mix of veggies — boiled, sauteed, fresh — rice, and grilled fish.

“No broth…?” I heard Naruto’s disbelieving whisper.

He looked at the dinner like he couldn’t understand why it wasn’t ramen. Or why would someone go into trouble cooking something like this when buying ramen was much easier and faster?

The conversation had turned into sharing stories, somehow. Naruto had shared about his favorite ramen and cupcakes, to no one's surprise, and about beating the crap out of Mizuki and graduating. It was interesting to listen things from his perspective.

From the head of the low table, Itachi pointed his chopsticks in my direction.

“Five years ago, we had a surge of reports about someone trying to attack the village.”

Why was he pointing at me?

“When we investigated, it turned out that Hinata-chan had just learned how to create explosive tags and was… practicing.” He coughed, looked away. “With a little too much zeal. We had to post an extra notice at the department to ignore the explosions from training field three.”

I scowled. It wasn’t that bad. Maybe a few dozen explosions a day. What did they expect me to do? Not train?

“It was just training,” I muttered.

“Hinata-chan has some really good training ideas,” Naruto bragged. “Like using the shadow clones, and tree walking and the coin trick.”

“Coin trick?” Mikoto asked.

“Yeah! She keeps these coins stuck to her stomach all day, even while training other stuff.”

Naruto babbled out things he shouldn’t. I cringed. Not that I minded the knowledge spreading, but the image of me with coins stuck to my skin wasn’t how I wanted to be remembered.

“Naruto-kun,” Kakashi-sensei said from the other side of the table. “You shouldn’t tell others secret training from your friends.”

Naruto tilted his head. Scratched his blond hair. “But Hinata-chan also told Sasuke.”

Mikoto smiled, and Itachi shook his head. Sasuke got up from his cushion, grabbed Naruto by a headlock, and noogied the shit out of the Sunshine Brat.

“Don’t spill secrets,” Sasuke said.

After that, it didn’t take long to finish the meal. After dinner, dessert was the pastries I had prepared, which Mikoto served with bitter tea. While we nibbled the sweets, conversation somehow turned to training, from there to the academy curriculum, Itachi’s early graduation, and Kakashi-sensei’s time as a student.

“Eh, Kakashi-sensei on a team?” Naruto asked, like the idea that Kakashi was a genin once never crossed his mind.

Silent and brooding, Kakashi nodded.

Oh, damn. I got it now. Kakashi’s mood was because being here reminded him of Obito and Rin, right? I hadn’t even considered that when I suggested to Sasuke that we should invite him.

“He was a student of the Fourth Hokage,” Mikoto said.

Naruto’s eyes shone like stars. He looked between Mikoto and Kakashi. I don’t know why he was surprised. That was common knowledge, wasn’t it? Maybe Naruto had forgotten? Or maybe my memories were playing tricks on me.

“Sensei!” Naruto hollered. “Tell us about the Fourth Hokage!”

I held my breath. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. I had no idea how Kakashi would react.

“Oh, my,” Kakashi-sensei said in the most tired voice I had ever heard from him. “Look at the time; I have a report to submit.” He got up, bowed to our hosts. “Thank you for the dinner.”

Then he flickered away, disappeared.

“Eeh? Working at this hour?” Naruto complained, oblivious to the whole situation.

That also signified the end of small talk. I caught a quick exchange of glances between Itachi and Mikoto before Itachi spoke.

“Naruto-kun, weren’t you going to show us your new jutsu? Let’s go outside,” he said, getting up from his place at the head of the table.

“You betcha! Come Sasuke, Hinata-chan, let me show you my amazing new jutsu!”

“You boys go ahead,” Mikoto said without getting up. “I need to talk with Hinata-chan.”

“What about?” Naruto asked.

Mikoto gave Naruto a gentle smile, then a wink. “Girl’s talk.”

My face twitched. I wanted to go outside and see the inevitable mess Naruto would cause, and see how Itachi would react to it all. But that wasn’t the reason I was here. I was here to gather allies. See if the Uchiha clan would support me.

“Come, Naruto.”

Sasuke pulled Naruto to the courtyard, and once Itachi had also left, pulled the paper door close, leaving me alone with Mikoto.

I was nervous about this whole thing. To stave off embarrassment, I popped out more pastries and tea.

“Thank you,” Mikoto said after nibbling one of the cupcakes.

“You’re welcome,” I said back. I fidgeted, looked toward the door, the plates and stuff that were still on the table. I got up and started picking things up to take them to the kitchen. We could work and talk, right?

“Let me help, Hinata-chan,” Mikoto said, doing the same.

We worked in silence for a few moments before the woman broached the reason for the dinner.

“Shisui told us about what you did, and I can’t thank you enough.”

I glanced at her from my place in the sink, washing dishes. She still had that same gentle smile on her face.

I shrugged. I wouldn’t break the first mission I ever received and confirm or deny anything. I hope that didn’t come off as rude or something.

“We’ll help you as much as we can,” she said, picking a plate and letting water fall over it.

“Thank you,” I said, feeling like my weight seals had been disabled, and I was back at my base self again.

“What do you think of Sasuke?” Mikoto asked.

I tilted my head. That question had come out of nowhere. I guess the vital talk was done, and it was time to learn Sasuke’s embarrassing children's stories. I grinned. I didn’t mind acquiring blackmail material.

“He’s… somewhat too intense,” I said. I hoped that didn’t sound bad. I think I was Sasuke’s friend, but I still couldn’t put away the preconceived ideas from the show.

Mikoto chuckled. “That he is.”

I picked up another plate, dunked it into soapy water.

“What do you think about marrying him?”

The world came to a screeching halt. My grip tightened, and the plate shattered, just like my brain at that moment. Pieces of porcelain cut into my palm. It stung.

I looked wide-eyed at Mikoto, who was still smiling at me. What the hell was that?