Chapter 3

Life was good.

It had been three weeks since the night "Two" first cooked for the Uchiha family, and she kind of fell into a blissful routine.

Ever since the morning right after, she would wake up at dawn, wash herself and go help Himiko in the kitchen. The boys would join them in the living room soon after for breakfast, and leave in a rush after, each to their occupation, but not without a bento made by herself. The family clearly enjoyed her cooking and she was more than happy to oblige. Then came the chores. She had insisted on daily maintenance, and after some resistance, Himiko chose to behave like an adult and came to help her. "Two" had come to understand that aside from cooking and the occasional dish washing, most of the chores were done by a widow of the clan that came to help once a week. Himiko, as the clan head's wife, was really busy with the internal stifles of the clan, raising three kids and the training sessions she gave to the girls of the clan. But with "Two"'s help things went much faster and, as the two of them chatted while working, they came to bond quite a bit.

The response to "Haruka's" new personality had been different for everyone.

Tajima didn't seem to notice. He was not a really involved father, unless it had something to do with training his kids, and preferred to leave everything that concerned the run of the household to Himiko. And he also seemed to favor the boys over her. It probably had something to do with the original's personality, as "Two" came to understand she was quite introverted and had little to no interest in fighting.

Madara was not as oblivious, but he didn't seem to care. He was also somewhat of a mother hen. Himiko told her that he blamed himself for their sibling's deaths. As such he trained a lot to become stronger in order to protect the clan, and especially Izuna and her. He also trained with his younger siblings at night in order to help them get stronger. He had been pleasantly surprised when she demonstrated an eagerness to learn more, something the previous Haruka lacked. "Two" enjoyed his loud personality and liked to tease him a little since he had one hell of a temper. Although his anger always vanished as fast as it came, and he reverted to being the kind hearted kid he didn't like admitting he was.

The ones who seemed to notice the change more were Izuna and Himiko. Her new twin brother seemed a little bit confused for the first few days and kept firing questions at her and correcting her, whenever her behavior didn't stick to what he expected. But he was still only five, even in an era where kids were a lot more mature, and she was able to distract him easily most of the time. After a while he just dropped the subject and seemed to accept the new her. Sometimes, they would stay up at night, talking and laughing alone in their room, and they had developed a good relationship in the past few weeks. So far, he was her favorite.

The hardest to deal with was Himiko. As the youngest and only daughter, Haruka had a really deep relationship with her mother. They were always together and Himiko seemed to like spoiling and sheltering her, probably causing her introverted personality. This, however, clashed with "Two's" extroverted and independent personality. She knew that Himiko had guessed something was wrong with her daughter, although she probably wouldn't go as far as thinking about reincarnation. "Two" had checked and the belief in spirits and possession wasn't a thing in this world.

Nonetheless, she kept feeling Himiko's gaze sometimes on her, and catching some of her sad smiles and frowns. She didn't exactly feel guilty, as this situation wasn't her choice, but she also felt bad for the mother. She had already lost three children, and the one she was the closest to was kind of gone, probably forever. So she tried her best to be a good daughter and replace Uchiha Haruka. It wasn't easy for her because, even if she already had experience in dealing with detached father figures and kind-of-sortta-siblings she wasn't really related to, motherly love was something new for her. She was trying to disengage from her former training as a killing machine, and to use this new chance at life to be a genuinely good person who did good deeds, but it was hard. And yet she was trying.

Despite not having worked out the mother daughter angle yet, "Two" liked Himiko as a person. She took her position seriously and worked really hard at trying to make everybody's lives easier. She was also a good mother who loved her kids a lot and proved it to them with her small intentions, like cooking their favorite dishes once a week, slipping them some money to buy candy on their way back from training, or just the simple encouragements she gave the boys when they came home depressed over not mastering a jutsu. She was also an outstanding kunoichi. That term designated the female counterpart of the shinobi, the proper term used to describe this world's soldiers.

Himiko had kept her promise, and started teaching her taijutsu every morning. The first sessions went smoothly as "Two" came to understand that the Uchiha's fighting style was a mix of the ones she already knew. She started focusing more on building up her strength, speed and flexibility, and Himiko started to leave her to practice alone on the garden's porch after showing her a new sequence, while she received the seemingly endless stream of guests in the living room. At the beginning of the last week, she started sparring with Himiko, to assess her progress. She wasn't ashamed of her performance, even if she only managed to lend two or three kicks most of the time, and Himiko gave her plenty of praise.

She also deemed it was time to add target practice to the mix, for one or two hours after lunch. "Two" was introduced to this world's weapons of choice: kunai, shuriken and senbon. Getting used to the shape and weight was a challenge for the first two sessions, but she was getting there, and it had become clear that senbon was her specialty when she mastered how to use them after only one session. Even Tajima's eyes glowed with approval when she gave the others her once a week demonstration of her progress.

She trained alone for the time being, but she was due back in the clan's makeshift school in a week, so Himiko decided they would add ninjutsu training to the schedule so that she wouldn't be too far behind the others. That's why she was particularly excited that morning. She was given a theory class about chakra, ninjutsu and genjutsu, and she couldn't wait to try them out. Especially since Izuna claimed to have already mastered some of the clan's techniques, and that she kind of entered a friendly competition with him. She couldn't wait to master it faster than he did just to rub it in his face. She also couldn't believe that she was competing with a five year old, but then again she was supposed to be his twin.

She had been practicing chakra production for the past week and could feel the energy coursing through her. Especially in her eyes. She had already noticed oddities with her vision, such as being able to see extremely tiny details or very far ahead, more than a human eye should, so she asked the family about it. After another round of grieving her lost memory, Tajima this time provided the explanation. Some clans in this world had genetic attributes called Kekkei Genkai. They were evolutions of parts of their bodies or of their chakra manipulation abilities that were specific to the clan and transmitted from generation to generation. They also were relatively rare, and offered advantages during a fight which made them both highly sought after and highly guarded. The Uchiha clan had one of the most effective ones. An evolution of the eyes called the Sharingan. When activated, the wielder had access to the ability to copy any jutsu, an eidetic memory as well as greatly enhanced vision that could distinguish even chakra. All the Uchiha had the potential to activate the Sharingan and thus had good eyesight since birth. When he showed her his, the mother and brothers had a good laugh as she brazenly stuck her face a few inches from his and scrutinized his red pupils and the three black coma-shaped patterns in them. None of the siblings had awakened theirs, but according to Himiko it was a bit early.

"Two" and Himiko stood side by side on the porch facing the garden, and she watched with fascination as Himiko did a series of hand signs (she had learned what each one meant), inhaled a bit of air, announced, "Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu," and proceeded to exhale a steady stream of fire that started taking the form of a large ball the further it went. Himiko then turned to her smiling and said, "That was our clan's signature jutsu. Every one of our shinobi is expected to master it before entering the battlefield for the first time. Now you give it a try."

"Two" gulped. But she was never one to back down from a challenge, so she proceeded to gather some chakra into her mouth and do the hand signs. Keeping her hands in the form of the last hand sign, she exhaled heavily and a stream of fire came out of her lips.

However it kept going in a straight line and never formed the big ball. She was a bit disappointed and she raised her head to look at Himiko who was staring at her pensively. The older woman put her hands on her hips and said, "How strange. I never saw that happen." Noticing "Two's" slumped shoulders and sad expression she hurried to say, "It wasn't exactly bad. Just different from what I'm used to. Usually, kids have problems with range and not shape. Their jutsu can barely reach one meter in front of them for the first few weeks. But yours reached as far as mine, it just didn't take shape. Or rather it didn't take the right one. Did you notice that it was perfectly cylindrical all the way to its extremities?" Two had noticed. In fact she was the one who kept mentally picturing a straight line so that she wouldn't burn her face accidently. But she also wanted it to take the shape of a ball at the end and that didn't happen. Where did she go wrong?

She did the hand signs again and this time kept a mental image of every shape she wanted. The two women stared ahead as the fire took form, and even "Two" could tell that this wasn't supposed to happen. This time it looked like a fire stick with a large fire ball attached to it, but unlike Himiko's, her fireball looked perfectly smooth with not a single flame out of place. Like if it had something defining its perimeter. She stopped after a while and looked at Himiko who looked as confused as she was. Then she looked like she remembered something. She turned excitedly towards her and said, "Tell me something, when you executed the jutsu now, did you keep picturing these exact shapes in your mind?" 

"Two" gave a small nod waiting for a tip on how to rectify her mistake. But it never came. Instead Himiko said, "I understand now. This is unexpected but a good thing. Great even. You did not fail, you just used your chakra differently than how most Uchiha do. Most of us keep mental pictures of our jutsus in our heads when we learn how to use them, but they always come out a bit different in reality. Chakra doesn't usually take precise shapes and is a bit wild. That's why my fireball looked like it did. However, the smooth surface of yours means that you have a near perfect control over your chakra. It's rare in our clan, but not unheard of. I believe that one of our healers had this ability too. We will have to ask about this. Maybe you could become a healer too. We are in dire need of them…"

Himiko's rambling came to a stop when "Two" fell to her knees, beads of sweat running down her face. She came to help the little girl up and took her inside while saying, "But you don't seem to have large chakra reserves. Usually a beginner can do three fireballs in a row and still have some chakra left. You are out after only two." They sat at the dining table and Himiko gave her a cup of water which she gulped in one go. The mother gave her a mocking smile and said, "If Izuna came to know about this he will never let you live it down. He's already up to five fireballs after less than a month of practice."

"Two" stuck out her tongue which earned her a chuckle, but then asked seriously, "What were you saying about me becoming a healer?" That had perked up her interest because she was starting to think about her future options. She liked training, but she had little interest in a career as a shinobi. She didn't see why she should involve herself in a conflict that had nothing to do with her. As a woman she had the option of becoming a housewife later. She liked the idea, because playing house with the Uchiha family had opened her eyes to a new world she used to force herself not to see. She could also become a seamstress, or run a shop. And now becoming a healer seemed like an option too. She liked her work in her last life as a surgeon and didn't mind putting her knowledge to use again.

Himiko became serious too. "You already know that we only have three healers of our own and two midwives. But, for a clan this big, it doesn't cut it and we always have to rely on outside help when the shinobi come back from battle. I wish we had more healers like the bastards of the Senju clan do. It will save many lives. But we don't have the knowledge and our chakra nature doesn't sit well with medical ninjutsu. So there aren't many willing to become healers in our clan." She gave a big sigh. "Two" was even more intrigued. "And you think that because I seem to have good chakra control, I can become a healer?" 

Himiko answered. "It seems to be one of the factors to look for. A few years back we only had one healer left and no volunteers. So your father forced all the shinobi to take a test designed by the old Touko and only two had a good enough control over their chakra to be selected as apprentices. If you want we can swing by Touko's infirmary this afternoon and ask her."

"Two" thought about it for a little while and then nodded. Every day when she went to the market with Himiko, visited friends and relatives, or simply played in the street with the brothers and their little friends; she was met with warm smiles and everybody's concern. As the clan's head daughter, she knew that some of it was hypocrisy, but she also knew that the people of the clan cared greatly about each other. And she was starting to feel like a member of their community. So if she could be useful in a way or another she would try.

The conversation drifted to their afternoon schedule. After target practice, they would go to visit some of the clan's widows and recovering soldiers to make sure they didn't lack anything. They also had to swing by the market to buy some of the stuff they had run out of. Also, Himiko had put some money aside as she wanted to make a new yukata for her daughter. She had a few but they were quite old, and some of them were used during practice and had become unpresentable. So they also had an appointment with one of the seamstresses of the clan. And let's not forget about the visit to old Touko.

When they set out that afternoon the sun was still high in the sky, although the days were starting to get shorter as autumn settled in. It will probably be dark before they come back home, but they weren't in a rush. Today's family dinner was canceled because the new leader of the Chinoki clan had brought a delegation with him to visit the Uchiha, along with the agreed upon compensation.

The Uchiha had settled on asking for quite a bit of money and supplies in exchange for keeping the alliance. It sure would put the Chinoki in a difficult financial situation, but this was a punishment. And the Uchiha needed as much money as they could get. "Two" had spent some time analyzing the clan and had come to a few realizations. The clan wasn't exactly poor, but they had problems. She was not skilled in politics or economics, and leadership was always a concept that evaded her, but with her previous life experience she could see that the Uchiha suffered greatly from mismanagement.

The Uchiha clan was a warrior clan in its essence. As such, their lives revolved around fighting and the business of war. Boys grew up to be shinobi and girls grew up to be kunoichi or to birth more shinobi. And they were great at what they did. Missions kept coming in, and they were in high demand. She also learned that the fight between Senju and Uchiha, besides being based on ideology and revenge, was in its core a fight to determine once and for all which was the strongest clan, since they both had long since surpassed every other clan of the Land of Fire. But all of this led to a great lack of diversity in the clan's economy. Every penny they could spare was spent on weaponry and on the shinobi's training, which left the investment in other areas lacking. Poor health care and complete reliance on others for the production of necessities like food, clothing material and medical salves were some of the things they suffered from.

And to make matters worse, the Uchiha seemed to disdain members of the clan who weren't full time shinobi, and so there weren't enough people willing to do the support work that could alleviate the financial burden of the clan. Even the Uchiha's most lucrative source of income after the missions, blacksmithing, was lacking workers. "Two" wondered how they survived when missions became scarce, like she expected them to be during winter.

All in all, the Chinoki's money couldn't be more welcome. At least Tajima had decided to leave them some face, and host a small dinner for them at one of the clan's restaurants that evening. He also dragged his heir and spare with him to teach them how to deal with such delegations. Secretly, "Two" hoped they wouldn't learn much from such a poor politician.