"Pain—so much pain." Soraza woke up, shaking from a horrific nightmare. She couldn't remember what the dream was about, but the mere ghost of memory made her want to break down and sob until she couldn't scream anymore. Trying to open her eyes, she realized that something was very wrong. She wasn't in her bed in her shaggy little apartment in San Francisco. She couldn't figure out where she was. Everything was dark, warm, and suffocating. Oh God, she was suffocating! She struggled to get a breath, panicking and fighting against her weak body.
She needed to get out of here to escape this suffocating, warm prison. Suddenly, she felt tremendous pressure, and then light enveloped her entire being.
Soraza's eyes fluttered open to her being held by a man much larger than her. Confused and disoriented, she frantically looked around, trying to make sense of her surroundings. The room was dimly lit, and she could barely make out the stone walls and slatted wooden ceiling above them. As Soraza's eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, she could see that the room had more to it than just stone walls and a wooden ceiling. In one corner of the room, there was a small table and chairs, likely for meetings or meals. Nearby, a rack of weapons caught her attention, filled with shuriken, kunai, and other deadly tools.
Behind her, Soraza noticed a large bed, where a woman lay sleeping soundly. She seemed peaceful, and Soraza couldn't help but wonder who she was and what her relationship was with the man holding her. Next to the bed was a small cot, likely for a child, but from her angle, she couldn’t see into it.
As Soraza took in her surroundings, she couldn't shake off the feeling that something was not quite right. She didn't belong here, and she had no idea how she had ended up in this room with these people. Then the man holding her spoke, his tone authoritative but kind—a voice that carried, that invited no arguments, full of the weight of great responsibility.
"Itachi, this is unexpected, but it looks like the clan has gained not one but two additions to our numbers today. Meet your little sister, Noramori."
Soraza's eyes widened as she looked up at the man holding her. Little sister? Noramori? Was that her? She could only catch bits and pieces of what the man was saying. None of it made sense.
Soraza's eyes turned to the unassuming young man behind this giant and gazed into his emotionless eyes. His appearance confused her. He seemed like a normal young boy, excited for the future and all that it would bring. But overlaid on his face was a countenance not much older than the boy who stood before her. He had eyes that told the story of endless detachment. He possessed a steely gaze filled with an overwhelming determination, an absolute resolve that said, "I will do anything to get what I want." But something was wrong. His eyes were also full of trauma but lacked something—the spark of caring, of empathy. His eyes scared her. They made her feel like she was being stalked by the most dangerous of predators.
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She didn't know that she was getting a glimpse of Itachi's future self. The killing intent of one of the greatest ANBU ever—a future ROOT operative—would change her life and the future of Konoha forever. Driven by her terror, Soraza took a deep breath and made the first sounds she would ever make in this world.
She screamed.
Her scream filled the air around them like thunder crashing against stone walls and rebounding off the low ceiling, announcing her fear and her birth to the entire clan through a cacophony of cascading sound waves. The man holding her didn't see the terror in her eyes; he didn't hear her cries for anything but the expected confusion of a newborn child. He smiled, big and warm, and moved to the cot beside the bed, placing her on a downy cushion away from the terrifying eyes of the young man. He
"I'm going to die," she thought. She wanted to run. She wanted to fight. But she could barely move, flailing her body from side to side. She continued screaming and screaming, not caring for any of the room's occupants' ears, only terrified for her safety.
"Why me? Why am I here? Why did they call me Noramori? Who were that scary boy and the giant man?"
She rolled her body to her side and saw a second human lying next to her, his eyes closed peacefully, sleeping even through her frightful fits of terror. Her screams were instantly cut off by the sight of the sleeping baby lying next to her.
"He looks so calm, so safe, so happy."
Soraza reached out with a hand much too small to be her own and grasped the other baby's hand. She couldn't help but feel instantly safe. She didn’t question why she appeared to be the same size as him or even why she felt so connected to him. She didn't know who he was or even who she was, but she knew one thing. She would do everything in her power to keep him safe.
She didn't have a reason, nor could she puzzle out why he elicited such a strong reaction from her. He looked so weak and vulnerable, and his aura hinted at great struggles in his future. When she looked at their clasped hands, she could see a thin string wrapping around their hands and running through their veins, pumping energy throughout their entire body. I felt like their souls were a singular system. It wasn't romantic. It wasn't sexual. It just was. Like an absolute truth of the universe, spurring on the wheels of time and grinding away at oblivion.
He was her anchor and she was his. It felt like they could conquer the entire universe. Together, they could crush any obstacle, and nothing, short of death, would make that untrue.
"I promise to keep you safe."
So, with this sacred vow, Soraza turned Noramori Uchiha and fell asleep holding her twin, Sasuke's hand, and on this day, the Uchiha clan gained two of the strongest individuals the ninja world had ever seen since the days of Indra.