Then the girl spoke and Izumo felt his breath leave his body.
"Akari Uchiha, Chunin, 9591418" She said, clearly trying to keep her voice strong in spite of her condition. "I would like to report a failed mission, numerous casualties."
The clearing was silent for a moment, before several ANBU dropped down from wherever they had been hiding to surround the Uchiha. "Akari Uchiha," the leader spoke, a monkey mask obscuring his features, "You will come with us for questioning about your involvement in the Uchiha massacre."
Akari's eyes widened and she went to speak, but before she could get a word out her eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted into the arms of the anbu member that darted forward to catch her. They then disappeared, taking the Uchiha with them.
Izumo stared at where they had been for a moment before he spoke, "Shit."
"Yeah," Kotetsu agreed, "Shit."
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Hiruzen studied the files infront of him with a critical eye. The loss of the entire Uchiha clan would cause untold damage to Konoha's infrastructure. While the shinobi force itself wouldn't be too impacted, the police force was made up of almost entirely Uchiha. The clans destruction would most likely mean it would have to be disbanded which would cause a large amount of unrest with the civilian population, leading to further disorder in the village.
That wasn't even mentioning what the other villages would do once they heard that one of Konoha's most dangerous clans was now gone for all intents and purposes. Hiruzen knew Iwa as practically chomping at their borders, just hoping to sense a moment of weakness that they could exploit. The less mentioned of Kumo and their relationship with Konoha the better.
"What a mess." He sighed, putting his head in his hands.
"What I want to know is how a clan of almost two hundred individuals was slaughtered in the dead of night without ever raising the alarms." Shikaku, his jonin commander spoke from beside him. Hiruzen had called him in to assist in getting an accurate read on the damage the event had caused.
"The Uchiha were always on alert in that compound of theirs. There's no way none of them knew what was happening. They had several elite jonin and even a few anbu! Not to mention Her." Shikaku shuddered before rubbing the back of his head in consternation, "This whole thing stinks."
Hiruzen was inclined to agree. While he knew better than most how effective surprise attacks were, Itachi was still just one individual against hundreds. While it was true not all of them were shinobi, a significant portion were, a little over half if he had to guess. Not to mention the anbu stationed around the compound on Hiruzen's orders. One of them should have been able to alert the village at large.
Instead not a single alarm was raised. Not a single jutsu lit up the sky. Nothing. Just a quiet night and an entire clan slaughtered down to the last man, not a woman or child spared. It didn't make sense.
He was interrupted from these thoughts by the door to his office slamming open to reveal a dark haired jonin. "Hokage-sama! Urgent news form T&I!" he panted.
"Report!" Hiruzen barked, extremely unhappy to be interrupted in such a manner. He thought his jonin would have a little more decorum, he'd have to send this one's file in for review.
"Akari Uchiha has been captured and is currently being held. Interrogation is awaiting the your approval and oversight sir!"
Hiruzen froze and could see Shikaku do so as well out of the corner of his eye. Another Uchiha was alive, could she have something to do with the massacre? There was only one way to find out.
"Shikaku, go get Inoichi and have him meet me at T&I immediately! And you!" he pointed at the jonin standing in the doorway, "Do not speak a word of this to anyone! This information is classified as an S class secret until further notice! Am I clear?!"
The jonin saluted, "Crystal sir!"
Hiruzen stood and opened the window to his right, a rush of wind smacking him in the face and tossing the papers on his desk to the floor. He panted his sandals on the windowsill and leapt off with a burst of chakra, distantly feeling his anbu bodyguards do the same behind him.
Leaping from building to building, Hiruzen didn't waste any time in getting to T&I. There was another Uchiha alive and not currently in a coma. This wasn't an opportunity he could waste.
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Akari came to her senses slowly and painfully. She groaned pitifully, her entire body ached from her head to her toes. Her brow furrowed, what had happened, why was she in so much pain? And why couldn't she feel her arm…
Akari's eyes snapped open and her entire body jolted, mind whirling in a frenzy as she recalled all that had happened, her team's death, the damage to her arm, running for her life for what must have been days, and worst of all being arrested by anbu when she thought she was finally safe. The elite masked shinobi had been the last thing she had seen before she suddenly found herself waking up in this place.
Suddenly remembering the question that had brought about all these revelations, Akari slowly turned her gaze to the place her arm was supposed to be, dreading what she would find. She was met with nothing, the space on her body once holding flesh and bone was now occupied by nothing but empty air. Her arm was gone.
She took a deep shuddering breath and held herself together with all of her will. She had no time to break down now, not when she still didn't know where she was. Tearing her gaze away from the place her arm once inhabited, Akari turned her attention to her surroundings in an attempt to place her location.
It only took a few seconds of analyzing the area she now occupied for Akari to figure out exactly where she was. After all, every Konoha shinobi who graduated the academy visited the Torture and Interrogation headquarters at least once. The screams and sobs of the prisoners proved to be a very effective deterrent to potential missing nin.
"Why am I here?" Akari asked aloud, voice echoing along the drab grey walls of her new cell. There was no answer, not that she really expected there to be. Isolation was one of the most common torture techniques employed by the workers of T&I. Apparently the human mind doesn't do too well without any stimuli for extended periods of time, making it an extremely popular way to soften up prisoners for questioning.
"I haven't done anything wrong!" Akari yelled at the ceiling in the small chance that anyone was listening, "I'm a loyal shinobi of Konoha, I would never betray the village!" She could feel the beginnings of a panic attack beginning to set in her already frayed mind, her breath was coming in short pants and her vision was tunnling.
She slumped down against the wall, slowly sinking to her knees as despair began to overwhelm her. She stared blankly ahead of her, "Please," she begged softly, tears beginning to make their way down her face, "I just wanna see my family…"
Along the face of the wall across from her, seals brightly lit up the room in a sharp blue glow. The wall rumbled softly before slowly sliding open to reveal a wizened old man in white and red robes flanked by a stern faced blonde and a sighing man with dark spikey hair.
"I'm afraid that's impossible young Akari." The man she recognized as her Hokage spoke, "As of one week ago, the Uchiha Clan in it's entirety was slain by the now rouge Itachi Uchiha. Only you and two other Uchiha remain."
Akari froze as his words registered in her mind. Her family was gone. She would never see her Kaa-san again, never hug her Tou-san as he came home from work. Even her cousins that she rarely interacted with anymore were gone. She was alone.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
The Hokage continued after a giving her a moment to process his words, "To ensure you truly had nothing to do with this tragic event, Inoichi will preform a Mind-walk on you." He nodded to the dark haired man on his left. "Shikaku, hold her still."
The man sighed before snapping his hands in a seal Akari knew to be unique to the Nara clan.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Akari was suddenly locked in place, her sharingan activating in response to the foreign chakra now invading her body. With her kekkei genkai, she was able to see the threads of chakra leading from her body to Shikaku's by his elongated shadow.
"Please do not resist Akari," Inoichi spoke as he placed his hands in a seal Akari had never seen before, before placing a palm on her head, "this is a very delicate procedure. It wouldn't do to harm yourself unnecessarily."
"Mind Transmission Jutsu!"
Akari felt Shikaku's chakra leave her body before being quickly replaced by Inoichi's. The Yamanaka's chakra latched on to hers in a way even Skikaku's had failed to, seemingly weaving itself into her very being. Akari knew any attempt to forcefully expell the foreign chakra would result in her own coils becoming irreparably damaged. She could do nothing but sit there as her memories were dragged to the forefront of her mind.
Begin Flashback
Akari was excited, this would be her very first time leading a mission outside the village, Iwabi-sensei had even said he would step back and let her take the lead completely! Sure, it was only a C-rank but still! She was practically skipping as she made her way outside.
"Bye Kaa-san! Bye Tou-san!" she shouted back into the house as she went to step out the door.
"Hold it right there young lady!" the young chunin froze as the voice of her mother reached her ear. She turned around reluctantly to find the raven haired woman standing in the doorway to the kitchen with her arms crossed. "Now I know I didn't raise you like that, come in here and give your Tou-san and I a proper goodbye."
"But Kaa-san!" Akari began, before she was stopped by a single raised eyebrow from the woman in the doorway. She groaned, "Okaaaaay." She slowly made her way back inside the house, pouting as she did so.
Her mother smiled softly, "That's better." She gave Akari a small pat on the head as she passed her, "Don't pout sweetie. We've got a surprise for you."
Akari perked up immediately, "A surprise? What is it?!"
"Well it's more like two surprises really." Came the voice of her father as they made their way into the kitchen, "Altough I imagine one will be much more useful on your mission haha." His booming laughter met their ears as they approached the doorway.
Coming into the kitchen, Akari and her mother were met with the mountain of a man that was her father. Standing nearly six foot seven with a physique to match, it was a mystery how Akari was the only active shinobi, although Ikojii Uchiha was not a man to be trifled with, shinobi or no.
"Come now honey," her mom scolded lightly, "don't spoil the surprise. You've been doing so good kepping it secret too."
Akari's mom was no slouch either. A single look at her father and one could tell it took a special kind of woman to keep him tamed, and special she was. Being one of the few shinobi in the leaf to achieve S-class in the bingo book, Hiyori Uchiha or 'The Stone Fist of the Leaf' was know far and wide for her legendary earth release that could put even the most dangerous of Iwa shinobi to shame. She was know to completely rearrange whatever battleground she arrived in to suit her needs. Her earth affinity was so high it was actually stronger than her fire affinity which all Uchiha were known for, it was actually where Akari herself got her incredibly high earth affinity from.
"Haha!" her father boomed with laughter, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, "I'm sorry love, you know I have trouble keeping secrets, especially ones as incredible as these!"
Hiyori shook her head fondly, "I know honey. To be honest I'm surprised you lasted this long." She giggled.
Akari was nearly shaking with expectation, "Well? What's the surprise?! C'mon don't keep me here all day, I got a team waiting for me you know!"
Her mother laughed before looking slyly at her husband, "Well first thing's first, congratulate your father. It seems he's not yet infertile despite his old age."
Ikojii's face went red in embarrassment, "Hyori!" he sputtered, "There were better ways to break that too her!"
Hiyori cackled loudly, "Oh but that way was so much more fun! I mean look at your faces."
Indeed Akari's face was as red as her fathers as she processed her mothers statement. It took several minutes for their faces to return to the normal pale that all Uchiha were known for but when they did, Akari asked the question that had been bugging her. "Is it a boy or a girl?"
Her mother shook her head, "I'm not far enough along for them to be able to tell the gender yet. I just went and had the diagnostic test done yesterday."
Akari pouted, that sucked. She perked up immediately as she remembered she had a second gift waiting for her.
"Well what's my other gift? Tou-san said it would help me on my mission. Which I have to get to soon so come on make with the gift giving already!" She was practically bouncing in anticipation.
Her parents shared a look between them before bursting out in laughter. "We know sweetie," her mother began, " We'll make this quick don't worry." She looked towards her husband, "Honey, if you would?"
Her father walked to the kitchen counter, opening a cabinet he pulled out a sealing scroll and Akari felt a rush of chakra as he opened it with a large puff of smoke.
Akari waited with bated breath for the smoke to clear and reveal her gift and when it did, she was not dissapointed. A length of silver chain sat coiled on the kitchen table. Intricate seals seemed woven into the silvery length, so woven in fact that it was hard to differentiate them between the natural curves in the chain links. Two large spiked balls, inscribed with even more seals, sat on either end connected by the clearly chakra conductive metal between them. Akari knew exactly what type of weapon this was, she had been training with it for nearly as long as she could walk after all.
She slowly, reverently, grabbed the chain of the newly unveiled meteor hammer and held it in her hand. She gasped softly as she felt the chakra conductive metal sing to her beneath her fingertips. She twirled it lightly, marveling at the slight whistle it made as it sliced through the air.
"Channel chakra through it." Akari looked over to see her parents watching her with soft smiles on their faces. Doing as instructed, Akari was amazed to see the metal seemingly liquify and become a large cloud of silvery drops, before finally convening in her hand in a completely different form. She now held a large silver and black naginata.
"This is…" Akari was at a loss for words. She had never seen a weapon as incredible as this one before, much less owned one. She looked towards her parents, still watching her with those same loving smiles, "What is this? How did you get something like this?"
"Your mother called in a favor from when she still ran missions." Her father explained, "The smith was all too happy to make the weapon for the woman who saved his and his family's lives." He smiled down at Hiyori.
Her mother rolled her eyes, "You're forgetting the part where he made me scour the damn country looking for materials." She shivered in remembrance, "The Land of Iron is freezing even in it's summer months, I'll stay right here in the Land of Fire thank you very much."
Akari laughed with her father as she stowed the weapon in the seal on her wrist. She vaguely recalled her mother being gone for a while about a month or so ago but simply chalked it up to her visiting family in another country.
"So what will you name it?" Her father asked as he finished laughing.
Akari lightly stroked the seal on her wrist it thought before it came to her, "Rumi," she spoke softly, "Flowing Beauty."
She paused as a thought occured to her. "But wait, even a smith from the Land of Iron wouldn't be able to make a weapon this complex." she gestured at the seal which held Rumi, "The seals alone on this thing would require a level ten seal master at least, and these ones are woven in the metal so how…"
Hiyori leaned against her husband, "Weeeelll," she smirked slightly, "I may have forgot to mention he was a descendant of Byakuren."
Akari felt her jaw come lose, "Wait wait wait… when you say Byakuren do you mean That Byakuren?!" Her mother's smirk grew even wider and Akari gazed at her wrist in amazement, she was half tempted to pull Rumi out again as if his very soul would appear before her.
When it came to weapon smiths, there was none more famous than Byakuren, the first Mizukage. He was accredited with making all of the legendary Swords of the Mist and, welding all seven unique weapons, united the warring clans in the Land of Water under one banner all by his lonesome creating Kirigakure. In some ways, he was as famous as the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
Akari suddenly hugged her parents as the significance of the gift was made apparent to her. "Thank you both so much." She said wetly into her father's shoulder, vision blurred by tears of happiness and love.
She was embraced just as tightly,"Of course sweetie," her mother spoke softly, "We would do anything to help you on your path to greatness. Just promise us one thing."
Akari sniffled, "Anything."
"Promise to always come back to us. No matter how hard it gets, please see it through and return to us safely."
"I promise."
Flashback End
Akari's mind was sluggish as she came back into her body. Feeling tears rolling down her face, Akari wondered if this crushing feeling in her chest was a biproduct of the memories, or a result of being forced back into the cruel reality she had awoken to.
"I went back too far." she heard Inoichi say distantly. He placed his hand back upon her scalp, "Let's try this again."
Before she was able to protest, Akari was once again dragged back into the web of memories.
She had a feeling this one wouldn't be nearly as pleasant.