Uchiha Mana

CHAPTER 20

Mana have never been so furious with her brother until now. That morning when she woke, she learned from Zetsu that Sasuke have left her and went to the Kage Summit with Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo. She was pissed that her brother left her, and worse of all, was, she was left under Zetsu’s guidance. Days have passed, and Mana was on the edge. She needed to get to Sasuke, if only Zetsu has not threatened her to trap her in a cage…

"From the looks of it, your brother is using his MANGEKYO SHARINGAN to its limit. What will you do?" Zetsu said.

"I'm going to Konoha." Mana said.

"I'm not sure that Sasuke would be happy seeing you there."

"I know."

Mana used her MANGEKYO SHARINGAN and teleported herself to Konoha. It's been three years now, and Konoha has changed just like she did. Mana was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard the voice Naruto, talking to Sasuke.

"Naruto-kun!" Mana ran from the bridge to where Naruto and the others were. But before she could even land on the water, she saw Naruto creating his RANSENGAN while her brother, crouching down and held out his hand and created a CHIDORI in his hand.

But before the two would clash, Kakashi went between them, stopping the two of them. That gave Mana the opportunity to get to her brother.

"ONII-SAN!" Mana called.

Mana got in front of Sasuke and got her in to fighting stance.

"MANA?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Sasuke asked, and from the looks of it he wasn't happy seeing his sister.

"You need to go back to the hideout, now. You won't last long here." Mana said.

"NO, YOU NEED TO GO BACK TO THE HIDEOUT!" Sasuke said.

"Sasuke!"

Behind them, Uchiha Madara appeared. Mana turned to the masked Uchiha with relief.

"Mana's right, you won't last long. Your eyes." Madara pointed out.

"Crap." Sasuke cursed, he had his hand on his eye and turns to Madara.

Madara nodded. Sasuke and Mana went to Madara's side and was teleported back to the entrance of the hideout.

"I'll be back to destroy Konoha. And I'll be needing Itachi's eyes." Sasuke said.

Mana stopped on her tracks and just stared at her brother, with disbelief.

"Finally going to use Itachi's eyes I see. I'll get what we need then. Mana, do you need anything?" Madara asked.

"N-No, nothing. I'll just go back to the room." Mana said and brushes pass Sasuke.

Sasuke watched at Mana walk away, he only saw her back and her straight body, but when you're looking in front of her, you'll see her crying face...

"Onii-san..." she muttered.

Crying that she's losing her Onii-san to the darkness....

~*~

Naruto walked around the village. He just came from Ichiraku Ramen where he ate with Konohamaru. It was the hardest dinner he had with the boy, how could he even speak to Konohamaru like it was a normal day with that thought in his mind. And for some reason, he couldn’t tell the boy about it. That Mana have completely turned, and was following Sasuke into darkness? He would always remember Mana to be this sweet girl who followed Sasuke around. Either it was at the store, the streets, the training grounds, Mana would always be at Sasuke’s side. He remembered what Sakura said, “Mana-chan is the only one who could make Sasuke-kun smile” and she was right, he never once saw Sasuke smile when it was just the four of them in missions, but when Mana would appear, he would always smile.

“Naruto, Mana… she’s waiting… I can’t, leave her…” He remembered Sasuke’s words when they were trapped in Haku’s mirror jutsu back in their mission in Kirigakure.

“Damn you, Sasuke!” Naruto kicked a rock, it hit a tree and a couple of birds flew out of it. But they didn’t fly away from tree, instead they circled around the tree, which caught Naruto’s attention. “What the hell?”

The birds started to squawk, and their circular motion started to solidify and formed a person with Sharingan – no, Mangekyou Sharingan eyes. Too late to act, Naruto was pulled to a Genjutsu, and found himself in a different place. Naruto was sitting on the wooden floor of a traditional home, his feet dangled above the garden’s grass, and unlike earlier, it was day.

“You don’t have a fever, are you sure you’re alright?”

A woman’s voice caught Naruto’s attention, he turned and saw a mother attend the girl that sat on a tatami with her back facing him.

What is this?

“Mana, if you don’t feel well, you should stay home, don’t push yourself.” A man entered the room.

“Mana-chan?!” Naruto gasped.

The girl whose back faced at him turned to the man, and finally he saw her face. He was totally lost. He looked around the place, the house, and then he saw it, the banners that hung by the walls had a crest. The Uchiha crest.

“I’m at Mana-chan’s –”

“Don’t worry, Oka-san.”

Naruto was appalled by the sound of the person’s voice, he knew that voice anywhere.

“Sas… ke?” Naruto gasped.

“I’m sure she’s just nervous with the Chunin Exams coming.” Sasuke came and sat on the tatami across Mana.

What’s Sasuke doing here?

“Imouto, you left this in my room, you don’t want to forget that, don’t you?”

Naruto was even more confused when he saw Itachi come in to the room. He watched as Itachi settle beside Mana, and everyone acted as a family – a happy family.

“I always wondered.” A voice spoke. Naruto turned and found the last person he expected to see alive. “How life would be if they never died… if Onii-san and I never left Konoha.”

“Mana-chan?” Naruto said.

Mana smiled at Naruto, she went to his side and sat on the floor, the very spot she would sit with her brothers. Naruto sat beside her and stared at the girl as she continues to watch the family – her family – go on with their conversation.

“Sometimes I’m jealous.” Mana said. “A month ago, I had a dream. This was my dream… Oto-san, Oka-san and Itachi-niisan were alive, and everything was just how they were before Itachi-niisan became an ANBU… we were happy -- It’s silly, I know… me getting jealous of myself.”

“Where are you, Mana-chan?”

“I’m right here.” Mana smiled.

They heard Mikoto chastice Sasuke about what he said. The two of them turned and saw Sasuke smiling teasingly at his mother and Mana, while Fugaku simply smiled at his children’s antics, and Itachi just brushed his sister’s hair with his fingers.

“Mana-chan… why did you leave with Sasuke?” Naruto asked, his eyes longing at the family.

Mana smiled sadly.

“Because of this.” She pulled her hair to her shoulder and showed Naruto the mark on her nape. “It’s a Seal, given to me by someone from the Natsukasa clan.”

“Natsukasa?” Naruto asked in confusion.

“It’s a clan from the Land of Snow.” Mana explained. “The Seal has a parasitical power that eats chakra, if I couldn’t control it then there was a possibility that I could die… Onii-san had no other choice but to bring me along when he left Konoha since Natsukasa was sent by Orochimaru.”

All Naruto could do was nod with the information he heard from her. Behind them, the Sasuke was teasing Mana about a Sarutobi boy who was following her around Konoha.

“Why are you showing me this, Mana?” Naruto asked.

“Sasuke-niisan, he’s gone.” Mana muttered. “He’s not himself, he’s darker and colder… ever since we found out about Itachi-niisan… he just lost it – I understand him, I understand that he was angry, I am too… but what he’s doing is destroying everything that Itachi-niisan died protecting: Konoha, the clan, the two of us…” A tear rolled down Mana’s cheek.

“Mana-chan –”

“Naruto-kun, I know I’m asking too much – and I know that you’ve been carrying the burden of saving my Onii-san, but please. Please, stop him… stop Onii-san, he’s out of control, he’s completely blinded by his revenge!” Mana looked up to Naruto. “I miss him, I miss that…”

Walking pass them were Itachi, Sasuke and Mana, the three of them were talking and laughing as they made their way to their own missions.

“I miss my home… I miss Konoha… I miss Hikaru-neesan… I miss my family…”

Naruto brought the girl into a side hug.

“Arigatou, Naruto-kun.” Mana said.

Naruto smiled.

“You shouldn’t cry, Mana-chan.” Naruto wiped away her tears. “There, all better.”

Mana smiled. “You told me that years ago.”

“I did?”

Mana nodded. “It was the first time I met you, Naruto-kun… you helped me when a bully pushed me off the swing… and told me not to cry.”

A sudden realization came to Naruto.

So that’s why she was so familiar, Naruto thought. For years, when the Uchiha siblings were still at Konoha, he always wondered why the girl that Sasuke was with was so familiar. And as it turns out, she was the girl he helped when he was still a kid.

“That was you?” Naruto asked.

Mana nodded. “And ever since then, I always looked forward on seeing you whenever Oka-san and I would go to the market…”

The surroundings suddenly started to fade. The sun have turned to the moon, and the sight of the three Uchiha siblings started to disappear at the distance.

“Mana-chan –”

“Arigatou, Naruto-kun.”

Naruto found himself once again in the middle of the training grounds at the same spot where he was earlier. In Mana’s Genjutsu, it felt like hours, but he realized that he was only in that Genjutsu for a few minutes.

“Mana-chan?!” Naruto looked around to look for the girl, but sadly, she was gone.

Damn it!

A feather fell on top of Naruto’s head. Noticing the feather, he took it from his head and held it for him to see. He smiled at the realization.

“See you around, Mana-chan.”

~*~

A kunai hit the inner circle of the painted aim of the tree trunk. It was soon followed by another, this time it hit just a few inches from the center. Disappointed with his work, Konohamaru went to retrieve his kunai from the tree. He couldn’t help but curse himself for not being able to do a simple shuriken jutsu. He remembered how flawless Mana was with shuriken and kunai jutsus, she never missed hitting the center, even if it involved bending the shuriken to an angle of ninety-degrees.

A flash passed by Konohamaru’s face, and the sound of a thump was followed. Turning to the tree, Konohamaru found a kunai dangling as it was being stabbed by another kunai, which hit the center of the aim. Appalled by what he was seeing, Konohamaru looked around to see who it was.

It can’t be Ebisu-sensei, he couldn’t even bend a shuriken!

Then realization hit him. Looking back at the two kunai, Konohamaru remembered the jutsu. It was about three and a half years ago when he saw that trick, and she was the one who did it.

A smile crept on Konohamaru’s lips, he went to the tree, pulled the kunai and caught the other one dangling.

“Show off.” Konohamaru said, smiling. “I guess I’m still a bit behind, huh, Mana?”

Hidden in the shadows of the trees, Mana smiled as Konohamaru returned back to his place and started to train again, trying to perfect his shuriken jutsu.

I guess I still got a long way, huh, Mana? She smiled at his words.

“Iie…” Mana said in a whisper. “You never were.”

~*~

Naruto knocked on the door of the small home. He stood and waited for the person to answer, not long, a woman came out of the door, in her night clothes.

“Naruto, what brings you here?”

“I have something to tell you, Hikaru-chan.” Naruto said.

“What is it?”

“Mana-chan visited last night.”

Hikaru’s eyes widened, she grabbed Naruto’s hand with a tight grip.

“Where is she?”

“She’s gone… she left just as she came to me.” Naruto said.

Hikaru’s hold on him loosened, and Naruto saw the young woman crumble down as she cried. He brought Hikaru to his arms and lets her cry.

“How is she? How much as changed?” Hikaru asked.

“She misses you, Hikaru-chan.” Naruto said.

“And Sasuke?”

Naruto said nothing, and Hikaru knew what he meant. He was the top news of the whole Shinobi world, a criminal – an S-Ranked Criminal, who will be sentenced to death if he were captured.

“Hikaru-chan, I will do everything to bring them back – I’ll save Sasuke’s life!” Naruto said. “I promise… but right now, we need everyone’s help.”