"Ninja, huh? First word?"
"Yes."
"After she grabbed a katana?" the redhead chuckled imagining the scene.
"Yes," Mikoto sighed remembering all the blood.
"Well, I know what I'm getting her for her birthday."
"Kushina! NO!"
"Yeah, you're right. Katana is too big for her now. Maybe a nice dagger? I know this guy who makes all of Minato's knives..."
"No!" Mikoto was horrified by that thought and didn't hide it.
Both women glanced at the toddler napping in a shade of a tree. She looked adorable. Especially with some Nara kid that joined in on her nap.
"Soooo, are you sure she's not a Nara secretly?"
"KUSHINA!"
It wasn't Uzumaki's fault for assuming, to be fair. Neither Mikoto nor Fugaku rushed to share the news of their child having an abnormal IQ. Call them paranoid, but they just wanted to keep their little girl as a child for as long as possible.
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Ryoko was practically dozing off in her father's lap, while everyone around them was hustling and preparing the table. It was her big day. One year since she was born. Despite the war breaking out again, her family gathered together.
"Honey, Ryoko, happy birthday!" Mikoto chirped as she placed a cake in front of her with a single lit candle.
"You have to make a wish and then blow out the candle," Fugaku explained sternly, but after a while, he figured that his little girl appreciated normal talk more than baby-talk some parents used.
The girl winked away the last bits of sleep from her eyes and leaned closer to the table. As much as Fugaku's iron hold allowed. She closed her eyes and it almost looked like she was going back to the land of dreams.
Until her eyes opened again with a determined glint in them. A wish was secured and set. The man felt her tiny chest expand as she inhaled deeply.
Ryoko blew air successfully, but the candle burst into high flames instead of being put out. Ryoko looked surprised and turned her wide eyes at Fugaku. The man smirked.
"Don't worry. We Uchiha have a thing for fire. This happens. Your chakra is inclined to fire from birth," he explained patiently.
"Oh yes, darling. Once you get older, I'll tell you a story of how your big brother almost burned down the whole table on his birthday," Mikoto chuckled. Itachi clapped his hands excitedly at the simmering flame.
"Chakra?" the girl mumbled in question.
"Ah yes, are you up for a story, Ryoko?" Fugaku asked. The girl smiled brightly with a nod of excitement. Nothing cheered her more than books. The Uchiha clan head yet again felt blessed to have such intelligent children.
"Fugaku, it's her birthday! Honey, we have a present for you," Mikoto said instead, grabbing the girl's attention.
"Ninja?" that was her favorite word of them all. Parents only smiled.
"No, not yet," Fugaku said sincerely hoping that his own daughter would miss the war and would get to attend the academy in the time of peace.
"Mmmm, library?" that was her next guess, surprising the adults. Half of the time they didn't even know where she learned some of the words. But it didn't look like she was confused by the meaning of the word itself. Ryoko seriously wanted a library full of books as a present.
"Haha, no. But we do have a library. I will show it to you next time," Fugaku promised.
"Uuu! KATANA!" Ryoko yelped with childish excitement announcing her next guess.
"NO!" Mikoto wanted to scream too. Why did it have to be a sword that her princess wanted? Why couldn't it be a nice dress or well anything else? Ryoko pouted.
"Now now, you'll get that too. One day," Fugaku said ignoring the daggers Mikoto sent his way.
Finally, they presented the girl with a box tied with a bright red bow. Inside was a traditional Uchiha fan passed from generation to generation. Both parents expected to hear a tantrum or see her cry, but the girl only examined the item with care. Her eyes darted to the Uchiha banner on one of the walls.
"Uchiha?" she tilted her head slightly.
"Yes, darling. This is a traditional fan from our crest. Always remember who you are."
That statement was very familiar to Ryoko. She smiled widely.
"Ryoko is Uchiha!" she declared waving the fan around. The motion made the fire on top of the cake shine brighter.
"Oookey, maybe we'll try it later. When there are fewer flames around," Mikoto quickly took the fan away and instead gave Fugaku a book to read for his daughter.
Just your normal shinobi family trying to keep their kids from making lasting damage or burning the house completely with their wild chakra.
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After a story or two, the kids were let outside to play with their cousins. Ryoko quickly took a liking to two particular raven heads.
"OBI!" she yelped pummelling into an embrace with one of them. Obito Uchiha. The boy actually smiled unlike most of the Uchiha she observed.
"Koko-hime! What about me?" a boy next to him pouted. She had to giggle at the expression of the two-year-old toddler in their garden. Her fourth favorite person. Shisui Uchiha. The first place was still Madara Uchiha. Followed closely by Itachi. Then Obito.
"SHI!" she enthusiastically tackled the boy to the ground. He also smiled. That's why she liked them so much. Not to mention, the fact that Shisui and Itachi were best of friends. Making him her friend too.
"Ninja! Ninja!" she eagerly stomped her foot demanding to play.
"As you wish, mi'lady," Obito laughed. That was their favorite game since she started walking. It involved running around and reenacting death scenes. Basically, it was a game of tag. With death. They loved it.
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Over the next year Ryoko's parents learned that she learned how to read. The girl wouldn't just aimlessly flip through the books her little hands got hold of. They noticed her eyes moving as she followed the text in silence.
She tried hard to show off her skills slowly, but books were the only thing her parents really allowed her to do. So books it is. She inhaled the knowledge and all the weird tales they held. Chakra. Jutsu. Shinobi. Kunoichi.
It was like reading fiction novels, but way better, because it was all real.
Quickly, she got convinced that Madara was her new idol. The man was amazing! His power was something of legends. She wanted to be just like him.
Clans and their hierarchy were also something of interest. She wasn't naive to think that books were always saying the truth. There had to be embellishments and things misconstrued, but still. Uchiha were badass.
The mystery behind red eyes was explained only after her second birthday. She finally was allowed to the Uchiha library and had her fill about the sharingan.
Genjutsu? That sounded right up her alley. Her former father used chemicals, manipulation, and brainwashing to set the illusions in the minds of his victims. Once, he made a woman think that another person kidnapped her and she killed the innocent man. Ahh, good old days.
A genjutsu was basically the same, but way cooler. Ryoko would stare in the mirror for hours trying her hardest to squint and make her eyes red with no luck. All the books she read said that the power is unlocked by witnessing a big trauma.
There was only one problem. By now Ryoko had seen many things and remembered them clear as day. So she wondered what it would have to be to trigger her…
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The answer came to the girl in two more years. She was now of the ripe age of four. Her parents tried their hardest to keep her in their sights, but she was even better at sneaking now with all her limbs responding quicker and quicker.
After reading almost every book available about her Uchiha ancestors and Madara specifically, she realized that physical power was something important in this world of shinobi. The girl had a pretty good idea of how to train and build muscle so that is what she did.
Ryoko would run around, do pushups and other exercises. Of course, she had to start slow, by simply pushing herself off the wall. Then she moved down to push from window stills and tables she could reach. Until Ryoko could now do proper pushup from the ground.
Slow and steady was her mantra.
The same went for chakra. At first, the concept sounded like a delusional fairy tale from some magician. But it did explain the weird buzzing she felt from other people. It took a lot to grasp the idea of chakra, but after that roadblock, the world seemed full of possibilities.
Today Ryoko was sitting outside watching her father fight her brother. That was… weird. From what she gathered, Itachi was about to go to someplace called 'Academy'. She gathered that it was a school of sorts, but still. Seeing Itachi evade kunai and flames weren't pleasant.
She tried to ask her father to fight her instead, but he only brushed her off. Leaving the girl sulk and watching from a distance.
Both men went at it today exceptionally hard. She could barely keep track of their moving figures, but her eyes adjusted each time. Sometimes, she restrained blinking just to keep up with the two.
Fugaku sent a big ball of fire towards Itachi. Her eyes widened at its size. Itachi evaded with elegance no five-year-old should possess. The second his head was turned away in a spin, was the moment her eyes bled.
Fugaku leaped into the spot where Itachi was supposed to land. His hand held a kunai aimed at his son's heart. Ryoko didn't understand why he was doing this.
He's going to kill Itachi! her mind reeled. Before Ryoko could even make sense of it or have another thought, her body was already moving.
She appeared right in front of Itachi with her hand held up in a blocking motion. Her head was splitting in two from the pain, but the world around her never seemed clearer.
Her eyes could see every single movement and the trajectory they were going. A bird ten meters away in a tree. An ant colony five meters away. And her father's shocked expression as he could not stop the momentum of his strike.
The kunai pierced her hand stopping just in time before skewering the flesh completely. It felt like tears were rolling down her cheeks, but she didn't feel pain.
"Ryoko…" Fugaku's voice was stern but trembling.
"You were going to kill Itachi!" she accused, scrunching her eyes.
"No no, honey, it's a spar," Fugaku quickly regained his composure and took the kunai out in one fluid motion. "I would never! You really thought… your eyes…" the man wasn't making much sense to her, so she stepped back when he crouched in front of her.
"Ko!" Itachi hugged her, but his eyes were full of surprise when he pulled away.
"Sharingan…" the boy whispered.
"Shari…?" she wanted to ask them again, but suddenly as the pain appeared it went away. Together with the light and her consciousness.
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"Uchiha-sama! Really? She is only four years old!" a young medic chastised him as she bandaged the little hand of his daughter. Thankfully, her sharingan had faded away, so he explained it only as a training accident.
He was royally embarrassed to have to go to the hospital. Only the thought of Mikoto finding out about his mistake scared him more than the medics' accusations.
"Hn. Yes, she is," he muttered wondering if anything will ever be the same after today. The expression Ryoko gave him… it broke his heart. For her to seriously think that he could hurt Itachi?
He would never! The clan head was already prepared to stop his attack before Ryoko intervened. Fugaku was gathering his thoughts now and preparing to explain what spars are to his young daughter.
The only thing that calmed him, was the way Ryoko loved Itachi. Their bond was strong and he could not ask for more. At least her sharingan awakened in the compound and not in the middle of a battle.
Now he will have to teach her how to use it without fainting. In secret from Mikoto. He sighed collecting his unconscious daughter. The medic assured that there will be no scar left, thankfully.
They grow up so fast… he thought, patting Ryoko's raven hair. It was wild and puffy, just like his. While Itachi looked more like Mikoto with his straight silky locks.
He sighed again. In a year, he will have to let her join the academy. Way too soon for his liking, but the war demanded recruits. He had to show an example. Sometimes he really cursed his fate as a clan head.