Author’s Note: Hello, dear reader! I’m glad you chose to read this chapter. Please refer to the comments section of every paragraph for the glossary (explanation of the Japanese terms written in italics and my notes). I’m also adding pictures at the end of the chapter to make things clearer. Your opinions and constructive criticism are much appreciated. Enjoy!

Twenty-six years before the Founding of the Hidden Village of the Leaf [Konoha]

1.

Land of Fire—Uchiha Clan Domain

Staring in the mirror, Hanako plaited her ebony hair into a braid. Even in the darkness of her room, dimly lit by lanterns, the dark circles under her eyes screamed insomnia. She tied a leather belt, on the inner side of which many shurikens hung, around the obi of her black yukata, embroidered with white-plum blossoms.

She took a deep breath and clasped her hands into a prayer. At nineteen, she had already completed several missions as a kunoichi. Yet, the anxiety before each mission still haunted her. Was it the fear of death or the unknown? Or the memory of the flesh? She couldn’t tell…

What Hanako feared most was failure. Her father’s reaction to her failure. “Mistakes shall not be allowed! You’re the daughter of the chief. The future of our clan depends on your success,” he often reminded her.

As she left the house, remorse over the hours she spent tossing and turning in her futon gripped her. What if it weakened her performance? Worse than fear of failure was for her the feeling of being a burden.

Outside, a light rain was falling. Under a red wagasa, she strode through the alleys of the Uchiha domain. The pink glow of dawn appeared on the horizon, illuminating the white and red uchiwa fans that adorned the main facades of the wooden houses. That symbol had always fascinated her…

The day he taught her the Great Fireball technique, her father told her that their clan was the most important in the Land of Fire. The Uchiha were like the fan that increased the power of flames. She wasn’t sure she understood. Her father’s words always seemed ambiguous. But they made her proud to belong to this powerful clan.

Where the houses ended, the road opened up into a vast green plain lined with gigantic pine trees. A crash caught her attention as she crossed that training field to the forest. She turned her head towards the source of the noise. A man about her age, with silky black hair pulled back in a bun, stood there. He held an enormous sword as broken wooden pillars surrounded him. The young woman’s lips curled into a smile. She closed her umbrella and ran towards him.

“Araya!” she called, waving at him.

“Hanako… Are you on your way to a mission?” he said, sticking his sword in the grass.

“Yes,” she nodded, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “It’s supposed to be a secret mission, though. How did you know?”

“You’re lazy,” he said in an almost unemotional tone. “I’d be surprised to see you training or wandering at such an hour.”

“Ah, you and your honesty,” she sighed. “Isn’t that a new sword you’ve got here?”

“Yeah,” he said, displaying his weapon. “I’m trying to get used to it before the battle… it’s a little hard to control when the target is moving.”

“I see. It doesn’t look practical, plus it’s ugly.” She lifted the handle of her wagasa, revealing a sharp blade that reflected the dim light of early morning.

Araya chuckled. “It’s only a tool, just like beauty. The Senju wouldn’t be as terrified to see your sword as they will when they’d see mine. But they wouldn’t expect an angelic-looking woman to be hiding something like that.”

Hanako shrugged. He was right. Just like her sword, her appearance was nothing but a tool. The kunoichi, unlike soldiers and nurses, were chosen based on that criterion: their beauty, and were assigned missions of espionage and assassination. They used in order to infiltrate enemy territories, their talent as actresses, and their seduction skills. “This might be true. But ugly things stay ugly, although useful,” she mumbled.

“In that case, I must be grateful. You would never have paid attention to me if I weren’t handsome!” he said with a mixture of earnest and jest, enough to replace Hanako’s smile with a sullen face.

Her father had brought the orphaned Araya home when he was twelve years old. And since then, he had accompanied her on many missions. His role on the team was that of a shield. “Araya has killed many promising fighters from our clan. He’s supposed to be executed! But your father is a wise man. He thinks of the clan’s interest first. So instead of wasting more soldiers, I gave him a chance to atone for his sins by being useful. He’s the weapon and the armour of the clan. A predator that we must tame!” the chief had told her.

Hanako couldn’t see Araya that way. She wanted to consider him as one of her brothers. Yet when she asked if he had killed those clan members, he didn’t deny it.

She stared at him with a taste of bitterness. Freckles dotted his milky skin, straight nose and prominent reddish cheekbones, probably because of the cold. A few strands of hair fell across his broad forehead and mingled with his thick, curled eyelashes. As gorgeous as they were, his black almond-shaped eyes, slightly tilted down, seemed empty. She couldn’t tell what he would look like if his full lips and square jaw stretched into a radiant smile. But deep down, she thought he was breathtakingly beautiful, almost disturbing. So much so that she wondered if she would see him as her father did, if he wasn’t so good-looking. “I’ve got to go. I might be late.”

“Okay. Good luck!”

She nodded and ran into the forest. Under a giant pine tree, three people—two men and a young woman—were waiting.

The tallest, a man with a crow haircut, was her older brother. His crossed arms, the corners of his thin lips pulled down and his frowned narrow eyes, confirmed his displeasure. Tajima was strict and punctual. What an idea to waste two precious minutes to say “Hello” to Araya! When she reached him, Hanako bowed her head and stammered some apologies.

“You owe Hideaki an apology. For this mission, he’ll be the captain.” Tajima said.

“Really?” she mumbled, turning her face to Hideaki.

The captain smiled at her. He was a man in his early twenties, tall and muscular, with short wavy hair and droopy eyes. Besides being Tajima’s best friend, he was their cousin.

Hanako noticed that unlike the other two shinobi who had an armour, Tajima was wearing his usual clothes—a dark blue haori with the fan emblem on the back and black trousers. “So does this mean you won’t be coming with us, ani-sama?” she asked.

Tajima handed Hideaki a scroll and gave his sister a sharp look. “No, the chief chose you… Obey Hideaki’s orders. I’m talking to you specifically, Nobara.”

The young woman puffed out her cheeks and rolled her eyes. Hanako bit her lip, resisting the urge to laugh, while Hideaki remained calm in front of his little sister’s attitude. The bow and quiver she carried could be half her size. Except for her doe eyes and fleshy cheeks, everything about her was small; her nose, her mouth, her fingers. At sixteen years old, Nobara had exceptional fighting skills. Hanako never saw her return from the battlefield with a serious injury. The chief himself had recognized her prowess, making Hanako—at one point—jealous. But her obstinacy and recklessness were unwelcome in a clan where social and behavioural laws were set in stone.

“If everything goes as planned, Katana will be waiting for you at the place marked on the map,” said Tajima. “And now, disperse!”

At the elder’s signal, the three shinobi sprinted through the forest from one tree branch to another. Hideaki in the front, Hanako to his right and Nobara to his left.

“I can’t wait to work with you, nee-chan!” Nobara said, her black eyes sparkling with excitement. “I’m on fire!”

Hanako laughed, watching her cousin jump with acrobatic movements. “So am I. There’s no room for boredom with you!”

Indeed, she was happy. It was hard for her not to like Nobara. Growing up, she’d realized the absurdity of envying her when they were both carrying their hearts under their swords. They endured.

All girls in the clan should learn taijutsu, basic ninjutsu and shurikenjutsu, and to keep in good shape; because of a belief among the Uchiha that strong parents produced strong children. But girls, unlike boys, weren’t obliged to join the army. But rather encouraged to marry young, and to raise and educate sturdy children capable of fighting for the clan.

In these times of war, the strength of an army was what defined the value of a clan. The conscription system of the Uchiha clan was unarguable: every male who reached seven years old had to join the army, where he would undergo intensive training. Whether he was chosen to fight in battle depended on his skills and the assessment of the commanders. The most appreciated soldiers were more likely to get important positions, while others could become decoys. Sacrifices deemed necessary.

Parents who didn’t send their kids to the army received sanctions. Instead, they received financial compensation for each child they sent, and rewards for their children’s achievements. So, child soldiers competed for the opportunity to be noticed. Even if that meant to be constantly facing death.

Families who had no sons, or who wanted to improve their income, sent their daughters as well. But because the commanders didn’t expect much from them against enemies such as the Senju, most of them received a training to care for the wounded. Sayuri, Hideaki and Nobara’s mother, and head of the medical unit, selected them and supervised their learning.

The most talented in combat were called fighters. Some of them took part in battles: they were soldiers. Just like Nobara. Others became kunoichi. In other words: spies. And that was the case with Hanako.

Despite their importance, the kunoichi suffered from a bad reputation: a woman gifted at deceit and seduction was far from being an “ideal wife” by society’s norms. It was not uncommon for Hanako to be misjudged by women whose destiny was different from hers; condemning her to failure in the fulfilment of what they believed was the—one and only—mission of women in this world: marriage and procreation. Far from hurting her, this fed her sympathy for the women who shared her fate. And Nobara was no exception.

Glossary

Wagasa

Uchiwa

Haori

Yukata

Futon