MTLNOVEL Chapter 6: Chapter 6
The funeral was held three days later.
On that night, she had stood silently in the street, as Touko explained what had happened to the rest of the clan, while some men rushed to stop the fire and clean up the mess.
Madara and Izuna let out sharp cries and ran to the shop looking for their mother. She didn't follow them and neither did Tajima. She knew the man enough by now to know that, under his calm and detached demeanor, he was boiling with rage. She watched as he started barking orders at his men. He was going to get to the bottom of what happened that night; and then there was going to be hell to pay. Nobody will rest until the Uchiha get their revenge.
When all the orders were given he turned to her. After sighing loudly, he closed his eyes painfully and crouched next to her: "So young, and yet you already have a Sharingan." Noticing her pale face, that signaled she was running out of chakra and yet struggling to hold on, he directed her on how to deactivate her Sharingan, and she felt better once her eyes no longer felt like an oven that was burning her reserves of energy. Touko had gone to deal with the wounded soldiers and so he tried to find someone to take her home, but she stubbornly refused. She made her intent on participating in the Uchiha revenge quite clear. After all she had fought as valiantly as any other was not one to indulge his kids on a normal day, but he was clearly tired and the situation was anything but normal, and so he agreed to let her tag along with him.
Their first stop was the shop where Himiko was. Izuna and Madara were by her side and refused to let anyone come near her, even when the men ordered to take care of the body came to do their job. Their faces were bathed in tears, but no Sharingan she noted. They watched as their father also knelt next to his wife and looked at her silently. Haruka knelt between them and held their hands in hers, as a silent but comforting gesture. The only one she could think of. She was an orphan herself, somehow for a second time too, but she didn't know what to say or do. So she said nothing. Only time could heal this wound.
Madara was the first to come back to his senses. Eyes seething with anger and venom he said, "Father we cannot let this slide!" Izuna was never too far behind his brother and his eyes shone in the same way as he looked at his father. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she worried that the two kids weren't grieving their mother in a healthy way. But she had no right to judge, she whose first response to the loss was burning three young adults alive. Tajima gave them a look. "Patience. We will get our revenge. I swear to you that your mother will only lie in her grave when the ones responsible for her demise are all dealt with. No mercy and no compromise this time. The Uchiha have to make it clear that we always repay those who betray us tenfold. But first we have to get to the bottom of this. We can't send our men blindly. We have to make a plan. And trust me, our justice will be severe and anything but swift."
Haruka agreed with his reasoning and so did the others. After a minute of silence in Himiko's memory, they let the men do their jobs and left for Tajima's office. It was not her first time in the administration building, she had come to deliver some bentos and messages, but it was her first time seeing it in such a chaotic state. Usually this was one of the places where the strict military order was king. But today, everybody was rushing around in and out, from office to office. The Uchiha were on high alert.
The now family of four settled in the office, Tajima behind his desk, the kids at the big conference table. People kept coming in and out, bringing in reports and asking for directives. Izuna and Haruka stayed silent the whole time, while Madara sometimes went to his father's side and gave some input. It was her first time seeing him in shinobi mode and she had to give it to him: he was a born leader. The Uchiha valued strength the most, and even at age eight Madara had taken down his first adult Senju around a month and a half earlier. Chinoki Homura had even called him a small demon. His reputation was starting to grow, and even adult Uchiha gave him a great deal of respect. His father also seemed to value his opinion.
It took the intelligence department a few hours but by mid-day, they had the full story:
The Chinoki clan was greatly displeased with their subordinate role to the Uchiha, believing that they were an equal force (that earned a few snickers). They decided to attack the Uchiha and annihilate them to prove their superiority. But the first attack had failed miserably and half the clan was gone just like that.
Chinoki Homura was elected leader on the spot and had rushed to try and make amends with the Uchiha. But he was also a proud man and he knew that if they gave in to the Uchiha's demand their clan would go under very fast. So he decided to take a gamble and contacted the Senju Clan for an alliance, hoping that they would be more merciful.
If the Senju lacked anything, it wasn't allies. The Chinoki didn't have much to offer and they dragged behind them the reputation of a traitor clan, so the Senju weren't sold on the idea. However, Senju Butsuma, the sly fox, saw an opening. The Chinoki still had access to the Uchiha compound, and could help steal valuable Uchiha scrolls, burn some of their granaries and most importantly kidnap Uchiha Himiko, the clan leader's wife, someone who had access to the clans innermost secrets and could also serve as emotional blackmail if all else failed. And so he came up with a plan. The Senju would act as a distraction, causing the Uchiha to rush out to fight, while the Chinoki would discreetly kidnap Himiko and every high ranking clan member they could. Once they delivered them, the Senju would accept the alliance and take the weakened Chinoki under their wing.
But that was too much to ask of the Chinoki. The handful of shinobi left weren't that good, but for the sake of his clan Homura embarked with some of his best elements on this suicide mission. Once the signal was given, they rushed to kill the Uchiha coordination unit, effectively cutting out the clan's communication and causing the chaos that ensued. Seven mid-rank Uchiha shinobi were gone just like that. And while the clan was unguarded, they tried to take Himiko and her daughter. But that was not knowing her well, because she put one hell of a fight and she would have gotten away if she wasn't trying to protect her daughter.
The Chinoki leader, seeing the situation turn against them, decided that killing her was good too. It would deal a heavy blow to the Uchiha, and put the Senju in a tight spot. The Chinoki leader had just given his life to try and fulfill his contract with the Senju. Even if the mission wasn't complete, he had proven his clan's intentions and the honorable thing to do was to give a hand to what was left of his clan.
When Hikaku had gone to his squad leader with Haruka's suspicions, the man went to the coordination division's office and found their bodies. He immediately knew they had been played and sent Hikaku to call back Tajima, while he and the two other kids in his squad led the children and women to safety. He just didn't get to where Haruka was fast enough because at the end this was a large clan. When Tajima received the news he was fighting his rival Butsuma, and the other man just smirked and ordered a retreat. The Senju weren't serious about the fight; they were just stalling for time. Butsuma had even brought his kids along, as if they were going on a field trip. Madara didn't see any of them as he was otherwise engaged, but Izuna had fought some kid named Tobirama the whole time. They seemed to be on par, and that was the only reason he made it out of there alive. Haruka didn't want to think about what would have happened if he was met with a more experienced shinobi.
Anyway, when they retreated and rushed back to the compound it was already too late. Nine people were dead including a shinobi who had met the squad Haruka had killed before he could join his group.
Once the story was made clear, the Uchiha started gearing up. The enemies were the rest of the Chinoki clan. None of them were going to be spared this time. Not even the kids, women and elderly. It was cruel, but these were cruel times. The Chinoki clan needed to disappear both to serve as an example and to quell the Uchiha's anger. And most importantly, Tajima knew that his rival had probably already started moving towards the Chinoki territory to take it over, under the disguise of honoring his ally's sacrifice, and he wasn't going to let him have it his way. Never. Especially not after he had taken his beloved wife from him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that this was payback for him doing the exact same thing a couple of years ago, but it didn't matter. This was war.
It was decided that only Madara will be going with him. Izuna and Haruka would stay behind with three other squads to protect the compound in case of a raid.
After getting a complete recount of her actions of the previous night, the entire clan looked at her differently. Izuna and she were directly promoted to official shinobi. The matter of which squad they will belong to was left for later. Tajima gave them both a nod of approval, obviously proud. Madara was less enthusiastic and tried to refuse it arguing their lack of training, but no one would listen to him. The twins took him aside and reassured him that they wouldn't put themselves in harm's way if it was possible. Haruka was an old soul and Izuna had clearly matured overnight, his innocence forever gone. And so Madara reluctantly agreed. Frankly, they were more worried about him. The probability of a surprise raid was quite low, they were just being cautious, but he was going to the front where the real danger was. Haruka loathed not being able to keep him by her side but she had faith in him. Don't get her wrong, she had been taught that child soldiers were a bad thing, but her life experience was different than most. She was trained in the art of assassination ever since she could remember and had her first high profile mission at age twelve. She knew that even a child was capable of real damage with the proper training. She was one of these kinds of children. And so were Madara and Izuna.
While the men were packing up their gear, she hurried back home to prepare some dry foods and water for them. This usually was Himiko's job, but she tried not to think too much about that fact. When she handed all the carefully packed food she could whip out in such short notice to Madara and Tajima, there was a notable moment of silence. They all seemed to realize that Himiko was really gone and that from now on Haruka would be the lady of the house. Expressions heavy, they thanked her and departed at the head of the Uchiha army, as she watched them while discreetly holding Izuna's hand.