Uchiha Mana

CHAPTER 3

A kunai hit the outer circle of the painted aim on the tree trunk, it was soon followed by another, hitting a few inches away from the first one. Huffing in disappointment, eight-year-old Uchiha Mana went to the tree to grab her kunai. She got on her toes to reach for the kunai; the first one she managed to pull out of the tree easily, but the second one was a bit higher and was really in deep. She tried jumping to reach the kunai, but when she grabbed the handle she was just left hanging, so she had to let go. Just as she was to try and get the kunai once again, a hand came and took it from the tree.

Blushing red of embarrassment, Mana turned to her brother, who stood behind her with an amused smirk on his face.

“Problem, Imouto?” Sasuke asked.

You could’ve helped me earlier, Onii-san.

“I’m too short.” Mana said.

“No your not.”

“Yes, I am! Even Moegi is taller than me…”

Chuckling, Sasuke knelt down to his sister’s height and sighed. It was true, Mana was short for her age. He remembered bringing her to the playground a year ago and saw her play with kids her age and notice the lacking inches she had with the others. He always found it to be cute, especially whenever Mana tried to get something from the shelf and would need a chair to stand on just to reach it, and it was an excuse for him to carry her around when he wanted to.

“Don’t worry, Mana, you’ll get there when you’re older.”

“Why do I have to be so small?” Mana grumbled.

“Some day, you’ll grow as tall as me, but right now, just stick to being Mana.”

“Hai, Onii-san.” Mana smiled.

Hiding the kunai in his pouch, Sasuke held out his hand for Mana to take.

~*~

KATON GOUKAKYUU NO JUTSU!

After walking her brother to the Academy, Mana went to the training grounds to practice the new jutsu that her brother taught her. And just like her first attempt, Mana’s fireball was just a small flame that disappeared just as she blew it out of her mouth.

“Eh?!”

She created the hand seals once again and took a deep breath.

KATON GOUKAKYUU NO JUTSU!

Nothing…

“Why can’t I get this right?!”

After a couple of tries, Mana had to stop with her training when she felt herself growing weak. She didn’t want to faint because of her recklessness of not knowing her limit, and she didn’t want another scolding from Sasuke like the last time she over did her training.

~*~

Entering her and her brother’s apartment, Mana took off her shoes while calling out ‘I’m home’, hoping that her brother wouldn’t respond since she didn’t go back to their home the moment he left for the Academy. Unfortunatley, Sasuke answered to her call,

“Mana.”

Standing with crossed arms over his chest, Sasuke waited for an explanation from Mana, even though he knew why she wasn’t home when he came.

“Ohayo, Onii-san.” Mana said, sheepishly.

“Where were you?” Sasuke asked.

“I was training…” Mana said. “How was your day, Onii-san?”

However, Sasuke did not reply. His eyes focuse on Mana, especially her slightly raw cheeks. Sighing, he went to his sister, took her hand and dragged her to the couch.

“Stay here.” He said.

And went to get something from one of their cabinets. Mana waited patiently for her brother, wondering what he was looking for, and her wondering mind was soon answered when Sasuke came back with their little medical kit in hand. Sasuke sat down beside Mana and got out a cream and two patches. He placed a small ammount of cream on Mana’s cheeks before placing the patches.

“What did I say about training Ninjutsu alone?” Sasuke asked.

“I can handle myself, Onii-san.” Mana said. “Besides, you do it all the time!”

“That’s different, Mana –”

“It’s really not…” she grumbled as she fidgeted at the edge of her dress.

Sighing, Sasuke playfully tugged on Mana’s hair and smiled.

“Next time, don’t over do it.” Sasuke said.

“Hai, Onii-san!”

With Sasuke’s little time before he meets his new sensei, along with his new teammates: Naruto and Sakura, he and Mana ate the Onigiri he prepared earlier. And just to fill the silence, he answered Mana’s earlier question about his day. He told her everything – aside from the incident that Naruto and him had when the blonde was pushed – he received mixed reactions from Mana when he told her about his new teammates. The mention of Sakura had her annoyed, knowing that whenever the pink haired girl would find them, she would always pester Sasuke and would always have him in a bad mood after; and when Sasuke mentioned Naruto, Mana’s reaction was very different, she was slightly blushing and was trying to hide her smile, especially when he told her how annoyed he was about being teamed up with the blonde. His sister’s reaction caught Sasuke’s attention, and he remembered Mana’s story of the Yellow Cat that saved her from a bully. It didn’t dawned on Sasuke that it was Naruto who she was refering to years ago until he finally got to know the blonde. And the sight of the three birthmark whiskers gate it away when all the puzzling descriptions add up.

Yellow, Naruto’s blonde hair; Three cat whiskers, the three whisker-like birthmarks on Naruto’s face.

“Well, good luck with your teammates, Onii-san.” Mana chuckled.

After their lunch, Mana left to fix their plates, she have placed them at the sink, planning on washing them just as Sasuke leaves. Just as she was about to go back, she heard the grunt and the sound of someone wrestling at the livingroom. Alarmed, Mana ran back to where her brother was, only to find him all tied up.

“Onii-san?” Mana said.

She reached to her brother and removed the cloth that was tied to cover his mouth, and just as she were to remove the ties, Sasuke used an Escape Jutsu to get out.

“What happened?” Mana asked.

“Naruto happened.” Sasuke said. “Mana, I’m heading out, I’ll be back before dinner.”

“H-Hai! Bye, Onii-san!”

And just as Sasuke left, Mana did her chores and left to the lake and train, ignoring her brother’s words of not over doing her training.

~*~

“Onii-san, where are we going to eat?”

“What do you want?”

Looking around, Mana read every foodplace there was at the street, and of all of the possible places, her a small sign caught her attention and had her tugging her brother towards the small stall.

“Onii-san, ramen?”

Sasuke let his sister drag him to Ichiraku Ramen, he chuckled lightly when he would purposely not move his spot and have her pull him harder towards the ramen place. When she finally was able to get her brother inside the shop, Mana stopped on her tracks, a a tint of pink came to her cheeks and she started fidgeting at the edge of her dress.

“Mana, what’s wrong?” Sasuke asked. Following his sister’s gaze, Sasuke’s good mood dropped at the sight of the orange wearing ‘Yellow Cat’. “Do you want to eat somewhere else?”

Mana shook her head, still blushing at her spot.

“I like their Miso Ramen.” Mana said.

Sighing, Sasuke lead Mana to one of the seats a few seats away from Naruto.

“Oi, Sasuke, what are you doing here?” Naruto questioned, his eyes glaring at the Uchiha.

“None of your business, Usuratonkachi.” Sasuke said.

A slight tug at Sasuke’s shirt broke his glare from Naruto. He turned to his sister, who seemed to be embarrassed to what she was about to ask him to do.

“Onii-san…” Mana held out her arms for Sasuke. “Could you help me to my seat?”

“H-Hai.” Sasuke said. He reached to pick her up and placed her on her seat.

“Who’s this, Sasuke?” Naruto asked.

Sasuke ignored Naruto’s question, he had his full attention on Mana, asking her what she wanted to eat, after deciding, he ordered two Miso Ramen for the both of them and waited in silence. Still ignoring his teammate.

Naruto was even more intruiged about the little girl when Sasuke reach out to get her her chopsticks and helped her with reaching some napkins. He’s seen this girl in the village from time to time, especially when he would run after getting into trouble. And for some odd reason, he was sure that he even spoke to her before, he just couldn’t remember.

“Hey, kid.” Naruto began, “What are you to Sasuke?”

Still blushing, Mana answered with a shy voice, “He’s my Onii-san…”

“Eh?! You two are – ” Naruto’s eyes shifted from the little girl to Sasuke multiple times.

It was only then did it dawned to him; the similar eyes, the hair, the similar features, and how could he have missed the large Uchiha symbol at the back of her clothes!

At least the kid isn’t a total ass like Sasuke. Naruto thought.

“What’s your name?” Naruto asked.

“Mana…”

“Mana, huh? I’m Uzumaki Naruto!”

Just before Mana could say something, Sasuke grabbed her attention when he placed Mana’s ramen before her.

“Eat up, Mana.” Sasuke said.

“Itadakimasu!”

While eating, Naruto asked a bunch of questions to Mana, which she simply answered with a simple nod for ‘yes’, and a shook of the head for ‘no’.

“Do you mind, she’s eating.” Sasuke told Naruto.

“I’m just asking a question, teme.” Naruto said.

It wasn’t long before another came to Ichiraku Ramen. It was a girl with pink hair.

“Sakura-chan!” Naruto greeted.

At the mere sound of Sakura’s name, Mana’s mood changed, her enthusiasm to answer Naruto’s questions earlier went down.

“Sasuke-kun!” Sakura greeted. “May I sit here?”

Sasuke ignored the pink hair’s question.

“Sakura-chan, look, it’s Sasuke’s Imouto!” Naruto pointed at the girl.

Sakura smiled at the sight of the little girl, who was now quiet and focused on eating her ramen as quickly as possible.

Of course she would know who Sasuke’s sister was. There was a little thing she would hear from her other classmates about the Uchiha siblings, “If there’s one Uchiha, there’s bound to be another one near by”. Sasuke and Mana were close, and she knew that Sasuke would always bring her sister wherever he goes.

“Ohayo, Mana-chan!” Sakura greeted.

Unlike earlier with Naruto, who she was kind and engaged a conversation, Mana ignored her and continued to eat her ramen.

“Onii-san, can we visit Tsubasa-san?” Mana said after finishing her meal.

“Sure.” Sasuke said.

Tsubasa-san or Tsubasa Ayumu was the woman who helped Mikoto in her child birth to Mana. After the Uchiha clan m******e, the Tsubasa family helped Sasuke and Mana by looking after the two, giving them cooked meals, and babysitting Mana in occations where Sasuke couldn’t. Tsubasa Ayumu had a daughter, who was the same age as Sasuke, and very different in terms of personality, and was one of the reasons why Mana wanted to visit Ayumu, since she have befriended the Tsubasa girl.

“You two are leaving already?” Sakura asked.

“Well, by Mana-chan!” Naruto said.

“Bye, Naruto-kun!” Mana said.

“Bye, Sasuke-kun, bye Mana-chan.” Sakura said.

Mana jumped off her seat, ignoring Sakura’s wave, and waited for her brother. After paying the two Uchihas left the ramen shop.

“Thank you for the food!” Mana said to the shop owner and left.

Now I see, she really is Sasuke’s little sister… Naruto thought upon seeing the sudden modd change.