Chapter Text
Pre-Series
It was humid and sunny, something that while wasn’t uncommon for the Land of Fire, was unusually early, as it was only the early beginnings of spring instead of the smack dab middle of summer. Winter had only just ended a few weeks before and as she sat on the floor, in her eldest brothers bedroom, propped up against his bed, reading one of the many books he had on genjutsu— the ones he put on the highest self of his bookcase in what he liked to believe was out of hers and Sasuke’s reach —the Uchiha Clanheads youngest, five year old Uchiha Toshiko, couldn’t help but shift as sweat ran from the nape of her neck down her back.
The purple bear Shisui— her brothers best friend and pseudo-eldest brother which how he practically lived with Toshiko and her family —had brought home for her from his last mission sat next to her, leaning up against her side, as she read each line slowly, over and over, absorbing each and every instruction written before her.
In several years time when she had her sharingan— because she would have it; it was expected of any Uchiha who donned the Leaf village headband —Toshiko knew she would be able to zoom through any book, absorbing all the information as easily as she breathed; but that was years away. So, she did as Shisui had taught her. When she was done with the page she was on for a second time she read it a third to make sure she understood what was written before her, fully understanding it as she took it. Only then was she allowed to turn the page.
Whereas Sasuke, Toshiko’s older brother, the middle child between Uchiha’s Toshiko and Itachi was always so obsessed with learning some form of bukijutsu whether it be another shuriken-jutsu or another archery trick, Toshiko— at only five —was enthralled with ninjutsu and everything that fell under it.
They both were determined though to be just as good as Itachi and Shisui; it was why, while she was squirreled away in her brother's room, reading and studying, Sasuke, in spite of the sweltering heat, was training away in one of the many training grounds that littered the Hidden Leaf village.
“Toshiko-chan?” The young girl heard her mother call out mid-page, “Toshi!” She snapped the book shut, not marking the page she was on as her eyes widened.
While technically Toshiko wasn’t supposed to be touching either of her brother's things, she knew her mother would get upset— which was just a polite way of saying, Toshiko knew her mother would get mad if she was found out in her eldest brother's room —and no one ever wanted to see Uchiha Mikoto upset.
Itachi, though eleven, wasn’t a kid. He was an elite jounin of the Hidden Leaf village. He was to be the next Clan Head; he was the clan's shining star.
Which was why, before her mother could call out her name a third time— and probably final time, because even if Toshiko did respond to that call, her mother would come looking for her is she wasn’t in front of her —Toshiko threw the book under her brother's bed and grabbed her bear, Junko.
She would put the book back before her brother came home because Toshiko knew that if Itachi found out that she and Sasuke could reach them then he would start hiding the books on them and if she ruined this for her and Sasuke, Sasuke would start hiding her shoes on her again so that she wouldn’t be able to bother him, just because she was bored.
“I’m coming mama!” Toshiko shouted as she ran down the hall of her family’s second floor, past Sasuke’s room and her fathers office, and down the stairs to where she found her mother waiting.
Mikoto had her arms crossed over her chest and apron; her lips were pressed together suspiciously. Toshiko squeezed Junko against her front and blinked up at her mother as innocently as she could.
It was a look that always seemed to work on her father and Itachi whenever they caught her doing something she wasn’t supposed to, which was probably a lot more than any of them would ever admit to Mikoto.
“Yes mama?”
“Where were you just now?” Uchiha Mikoto asked. Blood rushed to Toshiko’s cheeks.
“I was reading,” Toshiko stated, not at all answering her mother’s question on where she was.
“I assumed so,” Mikoto said, her arms moved and her hands were on her hips, “But where were you reading?”
Toshiko wasn’t sure if the sweat that rolled down her back was because of her nerves or the heat or if the sweat slipping down the back of her shirt was from a combination of both.
Lying was bad, or at least that was what Toshiko had been taught. Ninja’s lied for a living but when you were home and off the clock, nothing but the truth was expected. Which was why Toshiko didn’t answer her mother and instead tried to smile up at the clan's matriarch the same way she had seen Shisui do whenever he wanted to avoid one of her mothers probing questions about a mission he’d been on.
Afterall, it always worked for him; and seemingly so— because all her mothers eyes did was narrow as she let out a sigh —it worked for her. Her mother ran a hand through her hair as her shoulder bent forward; “Come on.”
Toshiko followed her mother into the kitchen where she handed the young girl a bento box.
“Itachi forgot his bento this morning and your father ended up taking the one I made for your brother. Now it's almost lunch down at the station and while I would go down there myself the elders have called some kind of meeting which your father can't attend because he's working—" Toshiko watched her mother's eyes irritatedly roll as they so often did whenever the elders were brought up, "—So I need you to bring this to your father and your brothers bento to the mission’s office at the main building.”
“All alone?” Toshiko asked, to which her grimacing mother nodded. “Really!”
Toshiko beamed; she never got to run errands like her brothers, she was always accompanied by one person or another, whether it be Shisui or Izumi or someone else from her clan, she was always with someone. And while it wasn’t like Toshiko hated people— she loved people and loved making friends —excitement bloomed in her chest at the prospect of the errand being given to her.
“Yes. To the precinct and then right to the mission desk, I mean it Toshiko, no wandering off,” Mikoto instructed. “Your father, the mission desk and then right home," she listed off on her fingers. "Am I understood?”
“One hundred-thousand percent mama!” Toshiko rocked forward on the balls of her feet. There was no way she would blow this, not when it meant— if she did blow it —no one would trust alone until the academy and that was over two and half years away. Closer to three than two; practically an eternity. "I'll give Papa his bento and then Tachi-nii-san his at the mission desk and then I'll come right home! I promise!"
"That's my sweet girl," Mikoto hummed, brushing the pads of her fingers through Toshiko's hair. Like her brothers Toshiko took more after her mother than her father, though she did have her father's nose and his mother's eyes.
Toshiko handed her mother Junko in exchange for the beautifully made bento before she spun on the balls of her feet and took off towards the front door of her family home.
Toshiko's heart fluttered excitedly in her chest as she set down the bent so that she could slip her sandals onto her feet.
After what had nearly happened to the Hyuga heiress six years ago, and what would have happened to her shortly after her first birthday had Shisui not been around to catch the rogue-ninja’s in the act, neither of Toshiko's parents had ever let her roam about the village without some kind of escort and while Toshiko knew she wouldn't be roaming— but rather carrying out a task; completing a mission —the young girl, as she stepped outside of her family's home, couldn't help but feel far more invigorated than ever before.
If her mother could trust her to bring her father his lunch, and then Itachi his, Toshiko was sure that had to mean her mother saw her as a big, capable girl and not the baby of the family any longer.
"Hime!" Toshiko, who'd only managed to get several feet from her home, spun. She saw Uchiha Yuki; both Uchiha’s Yuki, and her husband Lee owned the bakery that lay within the confines of the Uchiha district. There was no other place— In the world, Toshiko would boldly state —that served better melonpan.
"Yuki-san!" Toshiko beamed, "Hi!"
"Hello Toshi-chan, what are you doing out here all alone?" Yuki looked somewhat like Toshiko's mother, enough at least that when she raised her brow and crossed her arms over her chest Toshiko could practically see her mother peering down at her.
"I'm taking this bento to Papa! Mama has important work to do so she said I can do this!"
"All by yourself?" Toshiko, with a vigorous nod, hummed.
“That’s right!” Uchiha Yuki’s brow fell and her face softened. “Mama trusts me to bring this to papa!”
“As she should, my sweet girl,” Uchiha Yuki said with a nod. The older woman fixed the basket on her hip so that she could pinch at Toshiko’s cheek and though the action somewhat hurt Toshiko didn’t flinch. Not because ninja’s showed no emotion— but also because of that —but because it would have been rude and if there was one thing Uchiha Fugaku drilled into his children, it was manners. They were after all, the Clan Leaders children, the face of the clan’s future.
Uchiha Yuki patted Toshiko’s cheek when she was done manhandling it, leaving Toshiko to close her eyes and smile up at the older woman.
“I have to go,” Toshiko said, “Mama said it was almost lunch time at the station and I have to get papa his bento as quickly as I can.”
“Oh, of course,” Uchiha Yuki nodded. Her pink lips pressed together and her chest swelled with a deep breath, “Be safe.”
“I will!” Toshiko beamed.
“And tell your father I said hello.”
“I’ll do that too!” Toshiko smiled wider at the baker's wife before— after bowing her head in goodbye —taking off, towards the center of the Uchiha district where Toshiko knew the Konohagakure Military Police station stood.
The Police Station wasn’t as old as the village; the Uchiha’s, though one of the village's two founding clans, hadn’t even been in charge of the police at the village's conception. There had been no police force when the village had been founded; back then the villagers worked on policing themselves. But after the death of the first Hokage, Senju Hashirama, the second Hokage— the Nidaime Hokage; Hahirama’s younger brother, Tobirama —formed the Konohagakure Military Police Force and to show how much he trusted the Uchiha he bestowed the clan full judicial control of the villages police force.
That was why only Uchiha’s ever became Police; and why it was only ever the Uchiha’s Clans’ Head ever that ever became Chief of Police and though Toshiko was the youngest of her siblings— meaning she would never inherit like her brothers; like Itachi —she still wanted to be just like her father. Perhaps not Clan Leader— she could never imagine being Leader of the Uchiha; she could only ever imagine Itachi doing that, leading them all into the future —but, Police Chief.
Her father said that protecting the clan and the people was his duty. He had said he was proud to do so; that his work filled him with a sense of pride she would only ever understand once she was granted the rank of chunin and became an officer herself.
Toshiko couldn’t wait. If it were up to her she would enter the academy early, fly through the coursework and after swiftly becoming a genin, become a chunin before anyone knew it.
But it wasn’t; entering the academy came at a parents discretion and though Toshiko knew both her parents wanted strong shinobi for children neither of them pushed for either her or Sasuke to enter early. Which didn't make sense to either herself or her brother, Itachi had gone two years early; their father had pushed their older brother to take the entrance exams at six instead of eight. But Toshiko swallowed their fathers decisions a lot easier than Sasuke had.
Whereas Sasuke was petulant and somewhat resentful— so focused on just how far he was falling behind Itachi —Toshiko wasn’t. She knew her brother was the best and that there was no beating him so instead she focused on studying and getting better for when she could enter the academy.
Shisui had explained it to her the year before after the first time she’d been told no to entering early; since she had all these extra years before entering she could study and get better then either he or Itachi were at her age, and by doing that, the chance of her graduating early— like he and Itachi had done; in under a year —became greater.
“Hime!” Was called out and Toshiko’s heels clicked together as she straightened. Her head swiveled to the side and Toshiko saw two of her fathers men, the police vests clean and the Uchiha clan's crest proudly on display.
“Yashiro-san! Inabi-san!” Toshiko beamed. “Hi!”
Both Uchiha’s Inabi and Yashiro, along with Uchiha Tekka were three of her fathers closest confidants; never far from his side and always ready to jump at a moment's notice. Her father would call them proud. They were proud to be Uchiha’s. Proud to be officers.
“Hello Hime,” Yashiro smiled. He was a half-blood; his mother had been from outside of the clan. It was why unlike almost any other clan member, Yashiro had blonde hair.
“Hi sirs!” Toshiko gave a shallow bow, her grip tight on the bento.
“Hello little one,” Inabi said, “What are you doing here all by yourself?” Inabi asked. He smiled kindly at Toshiko as he knelt down so that he was eye level with her.
He and Tekka, unlike Yashiro, were full blooded Uchiha; if Toshiko could remember properly— and she could, both her and her brothers as part of the Main family had been made to memorize the clans bloodline all the way up Uchiha Madara’s father, Uchiha Tajaime —Inabi was her fathers fourth cousin while Tekka was his second.
“Mama has a meeting so I’m to bring Papa his bento.”
“Oh?” Yashiro chuckled, he bent at the waist. “Then what are you doing out here?”
Toshiko felt the apples of her cheeks burn. “Thinking,” she said, “I wanna be an officer.”
“Not a wife? Don’t you want to be like your mother?” Yashiro asked, “She stays home and keeps house.”
Toshiko’s gut twisted; Yashiro was a half-blood Uchiha. Toshiko’s studies of the clan's bloodline hadn’t included who his mother had been but in that moment he couldn’t look any more like an Uchiha. Even with his blond hair and gray eyes. He looked like Sasuke; whenever Toshiko’s brother was sure he had won something and got that same smug look in his eyes.
It was the Sasuke-esque look that immediately came to the forefront of Toshiko’s mind and why she stood a step forward, loudly proclaiming, “No!”
“I want to be like Papa!” She adds swiftly.
Her father was the pinnacle of the Uchiha clan, in Toshiko’s mind there was no one— not her brothers, not her mother nor even her cousin Shisui —who was greater than he was.
“And you will be,” Inabi said, he threw a sharp look over his shoulder at Yashiro, one Toshiko watched mollify the older man. Inabi pat Toshiko’s head before— in one foul motion, and without any warning —sweeping her up into his arms.
Toshiko wobbled in his arms as her soul focus was the bento in her hands, she made sure Inabi knew that as they headed towards the precinct. “Inabi-san be careful please! I can’t drop Papa’s lunch!”
“Don’t worry Hime, I’d never endanger the Chief's lunch, I know how he gets when he’s hungry.”
“He’s not as bad as nii-san,” Toshiko said defensively.
Out of her siblings she looked the most like her father— she had his mothers eyes and his nose —but Sasuke was the one who acted the most like him. Especially when he was hungry; whenever one of them got hungry they also got grumpy which was never a good combination as Sasuke was prone to lashing out— Itachi and their mother were always quick to break up any fights between herself and him least their father see —and her father was likely to lock himself away in his office until food was ready to be eaten as he didn’t want to snap and fight with any of them.
“Itachi-san?” Yashiro’s left brow raised as if he didn’t believe Toshiko. He moved in front of Inabi and Toshiko so that he could push open the precincts door.
“Sasu-nii,” Toshiko shook her head. Toshiko could hear her fathers raised voice.
“What the hell were you thinking Tekka! Never in—” Toshiko’s eyes widened.
“—Papa said a swear!—”
“—All my years have I ever—”
“—Chief!” Inabi shouted loudly across the station house. Uchiha Fugkaku’s head whipped around— away from Tekka and to Inabi —his nose was flared and his sharingan activated. Inabi held Toshiko out in front of him like a shield. For as terrifying as Uchiha Fugaku looked— “Look who I found outside!” Inabi said —he also, in Toshiko's opinion, looked cool. He looked like the kind of shinobi she was read stories about at bed; strong, powerful, noble.
“Papa!” Toshiko cheered, her tiny legs kicked the air Inabi was holding her up in. Fugaku twitched; his back straightened almost with a snap and his shoulders which had been hunched whilst yelling at Uchiha Tekka were pushed back.
“Toshiko,” Her father said evenly, the crease between his brows deepened as he peered past her, Inabi and Yashiro, “Where’s your mother?”
“A meeting—” Fugaku motioned for Inabi to put her down. Once she was on the floor Toshiko didn’t hesitate in scampering up to her father, “—She said you took nii-sans lunch so she gave me a mission to come get it!”
“Is that so?”
“Yessir!” Toshiko chirped, “I brought you yours!”
Her fathers lips tipped upwards as he accepted the bento from her with a bow; a collective snicker that rang out around the room.
Fugaku’s shoulders went up as his right brow twitched as he straightened his posture. It was the same brow that always twitched when she and Sasuke would fight and something had gone to far, causing him to end it. “Say thank you to officer Inabi for carrying you.”
“Okay Papa!” Toshiko spun on her heels, the hem of her dress hit her knees.
“Tekka?”
“Thank you officer Inabi-san for carrying me! It was very nice. Thank you.”
“Yes Fugaku-sama?”
Toshiko didn’t hear what her father said to Tekka as he had leaned over to whisper it into the man's ear, but as Inabi accepted her thanks with a chuckle, and Toshiko was left to see Uchiha Tekka’s face pale she could only imagine what her father had said to him.
Or perhaps she couldn’t. For as terrifying as Toshiko had only just seen her father— for as stern of a man she knew him to be —she couldn’t picture him being scary. She couldn’t imagine him being mean; she knew her father struck fear into men's hearts, she’d heard the war stories at various dinners and from Itachi and Shisui, but she couldn’t connect that version of him to the man in front of her, at least, not in her mind.
No, in her mind Wicked Eye Fugaku was a very different person from her papa, Uchiha Fugaku.
Uchiha Fugaku was her father, the man who would sneak her a sweet before dinner and another after, the one who would carry her on his shoulders after she showed him what she had learned from a book she wasn’t supposed to have been reading. He was her papa, her favorite person in the whole entirety of the world.
With the bento in one hand Fugaku flattened his vest out with the other before he held it out to Toshiko. Tekka carefully rushed past her— careful to avoid her and not to knock her over —and grabbed both Inabi and Yashiro by their arms, dragging the two half grumbling, half snickering men, back outside.
Toshiko took her fathers hand but dug her heels into the linoleum flooring before either of them could take a step towards his office. “I can’t stay, papa, mama said to get nii-san’s benito from you because you took it and to bring it to the mission desk for him. It’s my mission.”
“Oh?” He breathed, Toshiko nodded very seriously.
“It’s my duty. I can’t fail!” Not if she wanted to be just like him one day.
Her fathers face softened as Uchiha Daki, an investigator Toshiko had heard her father praise more than once— and who usually had candy hidden in his desk for her and her brothers —snickered loudly into the palm of his hand. Fugaku shut his eyes.
“That is very noble of you.” Toshiko’s head cocked to the side, confused; she hadn’t needed to voice that before her father clarified. “I’m proud of your conviction.”
Toshiko beamed, her heart fluttered in her chest and she wiggled happily where she stood, unable to contain herself. Daki’s forehead hit his desk; Toshiko and Fugkau’s heads snapped in his direction and before she could ask if the older Uchiha was okay, Fugaku— with a hand on her back —was leading Toshiko to his office as, “That’s where I have your brothers lunch.”
“Okay papa! Hey papa?”
“Yes, Toshi-chan?” Fugaku asked as he led her into the familiar office. Awards and bandages and weapons cluttered the walls; pictures though— of the family —didn’t. One singular picture— the family portrait both of Toshiko’s parents got updated every year —sat in the corner of Uchiha Fugkau’s desk. Shisui was in the one on the desk. He had been the last several; ever since he had saved Toshiko from an almost kidnapping sometime after her first birthday he had stopped being just the future Clanheads best friend and instead become part of the main Uchiha branch's family.
“Do you think that if I deliver nii-san’s lunch to the mission desk quick enough I can come back and eat with you?” Toshiko asked sweetly, blinking up at her father with an innocent look and kind smile Toshiko watched as her father actively bite back a smile whilst he looked up at the ceiling of his office. He looked over his shoulder before placing the bento onto his desk and picking up the one that was already there.
“I don’t see why not. But—” Toshiko’s father said to her as she accepted her brother's bento from him, “Only if you’re quick about your mission.” Her father smirked, “That means no trouble, just the mission desk then back here.”
“You got it papa!” Fugaku let out a chuckle as Toshiko rocked forward on the balls of her feet and then backwards onto her heels.
“You remember where the mission desk is, right?” Toshiko’s father asked her with his arms crossed over his chest and his hip against his desk.
“Yessir!” She’d hadn’t been there more than once but just like the clans ancestral lines and history and their kata’s Toshiko’s parents had made sure she and her brothers knew not just the entrances and exits for the villages tunnel system— should anything happen, such as an attack on the village, and Toshiko or her brothers found themselves alone their parents had wanted them to make sure how to get to safety as quickly as possible —but where all the important village landmarks laid in case there was some kind of emergency and they, for some reason, couldn’t find Mikoto and Fugaku at the station or Naika shrine.
“That’s my girl,” Toshiko’s father said swiping his palm across the top of her head, “Now Remember,” Fugaku added as he moved to go around his desk, “That while you're outside of the district you represent not just this family but the entirety of the Uchiha clan. This means you walk with your chin up and with pride in every step. Remember your manners and Toshiko?”
“Yes papa?” Her father gripped at her chin once more so that he could look her in the eyes.
“Be good.”
“I’ll be just like you papa!” Toshiko swore with her brother's bento between her hands. “I’ll be better than good, I swear!”
And without waiting for her fathers reply— which was a simple throaty chuckle as he sat down in his chair behind his desk —Toshiko took off. Out of the Konoha Military Police Station and with a skip in her steps down the streets only to pause at the gates of the Uchiha district because for as excited about the mission she was, and for all she knew about the village— where certain buildings lay and where tunnels laid —she had never actually been outside the district.
At least, not on her own.
But ninja’s— good strong shinobi; Uchiha’s worthy of their crest —didn’t give into fear. A good shinobi looked fear in the face and laughed. And Toshiko, she had just promised her father not only to be quick about the mission her mother had given her but to be good.
To represent the clan in a way it should be represented and allowing fear to stop her— to impede her mission —wasn’t something a good Uchiha would let happen.
So sucking in a deep breath of air Toshiko jolted forward, pushing herself past the gates of the Uchiha district and towards the faces in the mountain side, where at the base of the carvings of the past and current village Kage’s laid the mission desk.
Toshiko walked down the dirt road that led from the Uchiha district; Toshiko paused in front of an old clan house. It'd been long forgotten about and half of the roof had caved in onto the home's second floor. ivy grew along the high gate surrounding the house.
Toshiko marveled at the house for a moment. It was beautiful in an almost ethereal sort of way that almost made Toshiko sad.
Toshiko wasn't sure which clan had once lived in the grandiose house. The chipped ocean blue paint of the home wasn't associated with any clan Toshiko could think of; the Uchiha often wore a dark, almost black sort of blue and they were the only clan in the village that used any sort of blue, and aside from the carved Konohagakure symbol that poked out from the ivy growing on the homes gate there were no other symbols.
No Uchiwa fans or Vajra-like symbols; just the Konohagakure swirl.
Toshiko blinked at the gates of the house and turned; the home felt familiar. She felt as if she walked under the ivy and past the gate she would be able to navigate the halls of the home with her eyes closed just as she could at her own house.
The farther she walked from the home— the closer to the bustling village —the lighter the back of her head felt and the further she walked into the village's center the quicker she forgot about the ivy covered home; Toshiko marveled at everything around her.
She'd been into the village before, but only ever with someone and only ever when running an errand which never left any time for Toshiko to gape at the bakery windows or the sweet shop displays like she could on her own.
"Fat-so!" A boy's voice called out. "This is why we don't want you on our team, you suck and we lose!"
"Yeah!" Two more boys' voices chorused.
Toshiko was at the mouth of a long alleyway that was sandwiched between a dim sum spot and the fabric store her mother would shop from at times; she saw four boys crowded together at the other end of the alleyway.
"I'm sorry!" A fourth boy— the one being yelled at —cried back; he was a tall, heavy set boy with wild auburn hair and whirlpool-like markings on his cheeks. "I didn't mean to make us lose!"
"You mean you!" The first boy snapped, he had dark hair and gray eyes, "Cause there is no us fat-so!" The heavy boy sniffled at the mean name.
Toshiko watched as the three boys moved to enclose the fourth against the furthest alleyway wall. She thought of how her father had told her to be good, how, ever since she was little he told her being part of the Military Police Force meant helping people and how the heavy set boy's face looked absolutely crushed.
Toshiko knew her father would never let an injustice stand, especially not when it was happening right in front of him even if, like her, he already had a mission at hand. Because that was the kind of man he was; good and just and honorable. So she did what he— what any Uchiha worth their crest —would do.
Toshiko set her brother's bento on top of one of the overturned boxes at the mouth of the alleyway, took a deep breath and raised her fists the same way her brother and cousin had shown her.
"Hey!" Toshiko called out, the three boys half turned to look at her over their shoulders, "Leave him alone!"
"What?" The first boy— the group's ring leader —had asked in response.
"I said," Toshiko taking two steps into the alleyway, "Leave him alone! You're being jerks!"
The dark haired boy's face twisted at Toshiko's declaration. "Go away! This isn't any of your business!"
But it was. It was the Niadame who had entrusted the Uchiha with the village's safety when he had given her clan governance over the villages police force and Toshiko wasn't just a Uchiha, she was the Clan Heads daughter, one of the faces of the Uchiha.
"Yes it is!" Toshiko snapped back, she felt her lungs swell as she shifted her weight and planted her feet more firmly in the ground. "He is under my protection! Now I'm serious, leave him alone or else!"
The dark haired boy turned fully; his friends pivoted half way as well and the heavyweight boy gaped at Toshiko, mouth opened.
"Or else what?" The boy snapped, "You're a baby!"
Toshiko's cheeked, red hot, puffed out. She was not a baby! She was nearly six!
Toshiko clasped her hands together; ram-serpent-tiger.
A clone image of herself— not a solid shadow clone like Itachi or Shisui could make —appeared next to her. It had taken her weeks to get the jutsu down and unlike Itachi, who by her age could produce solid shadow clones of himself, Toshiko was still weeks off of being able to do that. But none of the boys in front of her knew that.
They reacted as if she had created a solid shadow clone of herself; the dark haired boy took half a step back before forcing his left foot forward.
"Okay so what, you can create a clone! So what, that just means there's three babies now instead of two!" Toshiko felt her lips pursed together.
She wasn't good at fighting; at least not the way her brother's and Shisui were but she couldn't just walk away. Uchiha's didn't just walk away.
So Toshiko sucked in a deep breath and raised her hands in front of her the way she had been shown. Her image reflection of herself copied her movement and the dark haired boy ran at her.
Her image went right while Toshiko's back foot swept left and she dodged the boy's fist, batting it away with her hand. The boy spun.
"Don't dodge me, coward!" The boy spat. Toshiko's eyes narrowed; she was an Uchiha and Uchiha's were not cowards. She raised her hands in front of herself again and this time when the boy went to hit Toshiko, the smaller girl let her foot come up and the point of her sandal hit him in the shin.
The boy's leg popped up as he howled in pain. Toshiko sucked in a deep breath as the boy held onto his ankle so that he could stand on his other foot.
“That’s it!” The boy declared, “I’m done messing around.” Instead of swinging at her though the boy lunged. Toshiko’s eyes went wide, unsure of how to block his upcoming hit without dodging and besmirching the Uchiha name, only for the dark haired boy to freeze.
Panic quickly overtook the boy's face. “What? What’s happening!”
“I am,” a low sounding voice said from the mouth of the alleyway. It was another dark haired boy; this one in a ponytail and his hands in front of him, in the sign of the rat. “I have you trapped in my shadow possession jutsu.” The boy didn’t move from the mouth of the alleyway and Toshiko watched as the shadow that connected her hero to the boy who’d tried to hit her began to resemble waves.
“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to hit a girl? It's not manly.” The first dark haired boy’s lip quivered, he looked at Toshiko and then his friends.
“Get them and help me!” He instructed and like dominoes that had been knocked over, the two other boys seemed to fall over each other as they rushed forward. One of the boys was quick to grab Toshiko by the scruff of her neck while the second dark haired boy was forced to break his shadow possession jutsu in order to avoid the flying punch that had come his way.
The heavyset boy who’d originally been being picked on ran forward to intercept the dark haired boy who was set on teaching Toshiko a lesson.
Toshiko’s bony elbow flew back and into the ribs of the boy who had grabbed her; he let out a wheeze before practically throwing Toshiko forward and causing her to fly head first into the side of the box that her brothers food had been set upon, knocking not just the food over, but her to the ground.
Though Toshiko felt her bottom lip quiver and her head throb she got back on her feet. The mirror image of herself had disappeared at some point during the scuffle and as Toshiko, with teary eyes, ran back at the boy to continue their fight both a seventh and eighth figure enraged at the alleyway.
"What the hell is going on here?" A familiar voice questioned as Toshiko tackled the boy who had thrown her. Her knees dug into the ground.
"Hime?" Toshiko turned in surprise only to— when she caught sight of Uchiha's Tekka and Inabi —be bucked off and thrown to the ground.
The boy Toshiko had started to brawl was quick to grab two handfuls of dirt to dump onto her face.
"Hey!" Inabi snapped, "That is enough! Tek get the boys-you get off her!"
Before Toshiko really knew what was happening Uchiha Inabi had her on her feet and was brushing dirt off her face.
"Hime," Inabi said softly, "Are you alright?" Toshiko nodded as Inabi brushed dirt from her hair. "Alright, that's good to hear. Now, what are you doing young lady? Fighting?"
Inabi spoke sharply enough that Toshiko's eyes were cast downwards and the tears that had been building in the corners of her eyes began to spill over.
"I'm sorry Inabi-san, I just wanted to be like papa," Toshiko said wetly. Inabi gave Toshiko a look, using her to go on as he fished a handkerchief out of his pocket. "The boys—" Toshiko pointed the three out, "—Were bullying him—" Toshiko pointed at the largest of the boys, "—And Uchiha's protect the village, right? Papa says it-it's our duty. So I told them to stop!"
"And what, they fought you over that?" Inabi asked, he shot an icy glare over his shoulder at the boys, one that while was nowhere close to the kind of look Toshiko knew her father could give was scary enough to make every single one of the boys pale.
Toshiko nodded; she then pointed at the boy with the ponytail. "He saved me Inabi-san. Or well, tried to."
"Did he now?" Toshiko nodded solemnly and Inabi turned to Tekka who had pinned the boys up in front of him. "Ponytail and big kid, over here."
Neither boy moved right away, Tekka had needed to tap them both on the shoulder but when they had gotten close Inabi smiled at them.
"I hear you two fought alongside our little Hime here." Both boys nodded; the one with the ponytail stuck his hands deep into his front pants pockets.
"You're a princess?" Toshiko felt the wet apples of her cheeks heat up.
"Not really." It was just a title people called her; she was the only daughter of the main family. She didn't have any claim to power though, not like real princesses did. "My name is Uchiha Toshiko."
Both boys took in her differently; whereas the boy with the ponytail mouthed her name after she had said it, like he was trying it out the larger boys' brows knitted together like he was trying to figure something out.
"I'm Nara Shikamaru, this is my friend Akimichi Choji."
"Shikaku-sama and Chōza's boys?" Inabi's thin brows shot up at both boys' affirmative nods. He then looked at the splattered food before looking back to Toshiko, who, at the sight of her failed mission, began to once more look weepy.
"You know, Toshiko's father is the head of our clan and the Chief of Police," Inabi said, "Tekka-san here should probably escort you all back to her house so the Chief can thank you both personally for helping out our Hime."
The boy— Shikamaru's eyes narrowed —at Inabi. Like he was trying to see through the officer only to, a moment later, shrug. Inabi flashed them all a smile before he turned to Tekka.
"I'll take those three to the station with me."
"You're arresting us?" The dark haired boy who had originally tried to hit Toshiko cried.
"No, you look far too young to be chargeable but your parents will all have to stop what they're doing to come pick you up from the station lest you sleep there for the night."
"Sleep in the police station?" The boy who had thrown dirt into Toshiko's face asked with wide eyes and a panic-stricken face. Inabi nodded.
"If you're too young to be arrested but you're still breaking the laws then you're much too young to be left without any supervision so unless your parents or guardian comes to collect you, you'll be sleeping in a cell until they do."
Toshiko watched the corners of Nara Shikamaru's mouth tip upwards at the sight of tears collecting in the boy's eyes.
Inabi passed Tekka and began to coral the other boys out of the alleyway while Tekka knelt down in the spot Inabi had been crouched in.
"I think you did a wonderful job Hime," Tekka said, "You saw someone in trouble and acted. Maybe we will make a Chief out of you yet."
Toshiko's chest swelled with pride.
"Yeah?" Tekka ran his hand over the top of Toshiko's hair.
"Of course, now come on. I'm sure your mother will be done with the elders by the time we get you three home."
Toshiko paused midstep as she thought of her mother with blazing eyes and no smile; the matriarch would be more than just upset when she found out that Itachi not didn't get his food but the food she had worked so hard on was just on some alleyways ground.
"What's wrong?" Choji— speaking for the first time since Nara Shikamaru had introduced him —asked.
"My mama's gonna be so angry."
"Your mom’s a drag too?"
"Scary,” Toshiko corrected. Toshiko loved her mother and while she always preferred spending time with her father the time spent with Uchiha Mikoto wasn’t a drag as Toshiko always learned something new either it be gardening, sewing or the basic fundamentals of fuinjutsu that her mother had picked up from her time as an active shinobi.
Nara Shikamaru made a noncommittal hum in agreement to Toshiko's whispered words. He let his elbow knock against Toshiko in a comforting way only two small children could ever really understand.
Which simply caused Toshiko to beam as they walked down the Konohagakure street behind Tekka because while she hadn't completed her mission— and definitely would not be allowed out again least without someone watching her like a hawk —Toshiko was sure, she had made not just one friend but, as Choji flashed her a smile, rather two.