Ryoko didn 't cry. She didn 't yell. She didn 't break stuff. She closed her eyes and breathed in. One of her dearest clan people was lost. No body was recovered. He was officially 'missing in action'.

She was sure that they didn 't look hard enough. Why would they when all the forces were focused on the war? Nobody cared about some Uchiha kid. Except her. She cared.

At this moment, Ryoko understood how irrelevant her powers were. Yes, she was quick and could use pretty difficult genjutsu. She mastered some ninjutsu too, but that was about it. What if another person gets hurt? She couldn 't heal them. What if someone else is lost? She wouldn 't have the skills to find them.

It was a frustrating realization, to say the least. Academy hadn 't thought anything even close to what she needed. Her father was so focused on her sharingan, that any other skills were neglected. Ryoko understood that if she wanted to be somebody, to go somewhere, she had to wake up from the secure bubble she was in and pay attention.

The answer was simple - she needed a teacher. Someone to guide her. Someone who could be open to new jutsu. Someone who would not coddle her and assess her with scientific accuracy. Someone who would not be afraid of Uchiha. Someone strong.

After graduation, Ryoko got a month off before the new genin would be assigned into teams and get their senseis. Closing in on her eighth birthday, she wasn 't an idiot ready to bid her time in anticipation. Ryoko did her research in the library. Genin team archives were open to other genin. To her.

Knowing the village by now, she saw a pattern. Same physical attributes were lumped together into proven combinations. How boring, she thought. Then the girl moved on to available jonin records.

A sensei had to be at least a jonin. There were a few on the list, but none stood out. Except for a very small handful. One Minato Namikaze looked smart and intelligent. But he already had a team. What a shame ' and '

Her hands shivered after noticing the names of the man 's genin team. Obito ' that was his sensei. She couldn 't continue with her research after that. It has been a few months since her cousin perished. The pain still felt fresh.

Ryoko wandered around the village until it started getting dark. She didn 't want to go back home just yet. There was a sense of frustration building up under her skin. Her father would be displeased by her missing dinner, but Ryoko didn 't care.

She ran with shinobi speed across the rooftops, jumping from one to the other with trained ease. It felt like flying. Like when you reach the highest point with a swing '

In practiced motions, her legs took the girl to the village wall. She jumped over it, just barely missing a couple of guards. Not like she hasn 't done this before.

Sometimes Ryoko would sneak out with Shisui and Itachi to train in the forest outside of Konoha. Away from prying eyes to train together with sharingan. They both helped her to maintain control. Once, Shisui said that her instability was due to the large amount of chakra she had.

Itachi was never happy with these excursions, but the need for training trumped his reservations. He knew that she would do it anyway, so might as well go together for extra protection.

For a while, Ryoko jumped on branches not really sure where she was going until something caught her senses. A chakra. Strong presence approaching Konoha. Despite how far away it was, Ryoko still felt the waves of power from it. It had to be strong.

Scrunching her face, the girl jumped down on the grass. She could go back and alert someone. But ' with the speed this target moved, she would be late and the target would get too close '

Confident in her abilities, Ryoko decided to meet this target head-on. Hell, this is exactly why she trained her eyes so much. No person could stand against sharingan. And Madara surely would not run away, so neither did Ryoko.

It took a while before a running figure emerged on the horizon. Ryoko 's eyes shined red with tomoe spinning quickly to take all that she could. It was a girl. A child or maybe a teen.

How could a child have such chakra inside of her?

she spared a thought, but then her mind went blank.

It was action time. Without much hesitation, Ryoko leaped forward and made eye contact with the girl. That is all she needed. The world around them blurred as the target was placed under a sleeping genjutsu.

Fugaku probably would not approve of torture ' yet. So Ryoko made the girl sleep. Eyes unblinking and red, she stepped closer to the limp body of the girl. She turned her around and noticed a Konoha headband.

'Interesting ' ' she muttered before her senses made Ryoko take out a kunai and defend from an attack. A boy with silver hair was next to her. A tanto blade aimed at her. He froze when he looked into her eyes.

'Uchiha? ' he whispered with what looked like a relieved sigh. Ryoko crossed her arms with a scowl, kunai already back in her pouch.

'Obviously. What 's the meaning of this? ' she demanded as her eyes noticed a Konoha headband on the boy's head as well.

'We were attacked. Rin ' we have to take her to Konoha quickly! ' he already bent down to scoop the unconscious girl into his arms, while Ryoko assessed the situation. Rin. So this was

that

Rin. Then, the silver-haired boy had to be '

'Bakashi? ' she curled her eyebrow in question.

'Tck. THERE 'S NO TIME! WE HAVE TO HURRY! ' the boy snapped at her. He was shaken up, so probably not thinking clearly.

'Stop! ' Ryoko took his wrist demanding attention. 'There is something wrong with

her

. I can tell and I will not allow her to endanger Konoha! '

The boy literally growled at her pulling his arm free. Then both of their attention was taken by new guests. Her trusty kunai made a second appearance as Ryoko braced for an attack.

'RUN! ' the boy shouted at her, but Ryoko stood tall and strong in front of the Rin girl preventing him from taking the girl or any attacks harming her.

'No! So move your ass and defend yourself

and

your friend! ' she snarled without much compassion. They were warriors, not children. And definitely not cowards. The boy cursed something behind his mask but turned around to face the enemy instead of Ryoko.

The girl recognized the enemy headband as those of the Village Hidden in the Mist. The question, however, was why would they target two children? This raised even more suspicion to Ryoko. She in all honesty could not ignore the fierce chakra coming off Rin. It felt ' foul.

Even more interesting was to see how all attacks were aimed at her and the boy and

not

Rin. Like they wanted the girl alive ' Well, that made it easier for the duo. Ryoko evaded and quickly slashed necks without hesitation.

This was her first kill in this world. It was exhilarating. The feeling of adrenaline mixed with her chakra was like a drug. She got hit only a couple of times. Once a man landed a kick to her stomach. The other time, she could not evade kunai mid-air.

Unacceptable. Ryoko was sure that Madara would never be hurt so easily. It really pissed her off. So she burned them. From inside out. Loud screams echoed over the forest as the whole clearing now smelled of burned flesh.

The boy wasn 't doing that bad either. With the corner of her eye, Ryoko noticed that his previously covered eye was now wide open and ' red! He had sharingan! That moment of distraction was what earned her a kunai injury to her arm.

Both of them panted hard as they landed beside Rin. Last enemies, incapacitated by flames or genjutsu, got their necks sliced and hearts pierced just in case. They were alone again.

'We...have ' to ' hurry, ' the boy started again catching his breath.

'No! There is ' something ' inside of her! I will not allow it in Konoha! ' Ryoko would not be swayed by some gray-haired child. She was an Uchiha, not a pushover.

'But ' '

She wasn 't listening anymore and kneeled next to the girl to examine her. Maybe it was something on her, giving off the weird chakra. Then she noticed strange ink marks on Rin 's skin.

'Fuinjutsu ' ' she muttered examining the symbols. The chakra was definitely inside the girl. Once again, Ryoko felt helpless. She had no knowledge of seals or how to counter them. But she knew how innocent writing could bring devastation from what she read about Uzushiogakure.

'Bakashi! '

'IT 'S Kakashi! '

'Whatever! Do you know of anyone in Konoha who is good with seals? '

'Yes ' my sensei, but he 's on a mission ' '

Ah, Minato. The bastard was indeed a smart sensei she would not mind having. But even the skilled man could not help them now.

'Anyone else? '

'Hmm.. maybe ' Kushina-san? Kushina Uzumaki, ' the boy named

Kakashi

finally calmed down enough to hold a conversation and start thinking. By the glint in his eyes, Ryoko could tell that he understood where she was going with this.

'Uzumaki, huh? ' she smirked. What a lucky thing to have an Uzumaki handy. She gave a decisive nod. 'Alright. Go get her and I will guard Rin here. '

'NO! You 're just a child! '

Ryoko 's deadpanned look should have explained everything. And if not that, then the blood on her uniform should. But he really thought of her as some weakling genin girl.

'Get your sorry butt back to Konoha and bring Kushina here! I am Ryoko Uchiha and you should know better than to doubt my clan 's skills. With my genjutsu, not even you will be able to find me, ' that was a bit of a stretch to be fair. Yes, she could hide herself, but Rin ' That chakra is like a single candle in the night. It was a beacon for trouble.

Yet Ryoko took it as a challenge. Kakashi looked back between two girls but eventually nodded. He leaped away towards Konoha when Ryoko was starting the first hand signs for her layers of genjutsu.

One. Two. Three. Four for the fun of it. Five for her paranoia. And finally six for the lucky number. Ryoko leaned closer to the unconscious girl. Looks like her genjutsu was still working just fine.

The wait was tense. Ryoko reacted to every little sound with a raised kunai. Sometimes a bone of a fallen enemy would splinter from all the heat that burned the flesh away. That sound was familiar and actually calmed her down.

Burning bodies always took long in her past life. But it was like a campfire for psychopaths like herself and her former father. She recalled distant memories with a fond smile. He would be proud of her. Her father, despite his killing sprees, never harmed a child, only protected them.

CRUNCH. She snapped her head to the sound in the distance. It was not coming from the Konoha direction. No, it was a broken branch maybe two hundred feet away. She scrunched her eyes focusing on the darkness, but there was nothing.

??????????

Fugaku sat by the table with his eyes closed and arms crossed. His fingers tapped impatiently on his arm.

'She missed dinner, ' Mikoto whispered, returning to the dining room and sitting by his side with a worried expression on her face.

'Hn. '

'And she

never

misses dinner. '

'

Hn

, ' that was true and didn 't make it easier on Fugaku. He didn 't recall Ryoko being upset the past couple of days or angry enough to run off in a tantrum. Yes, she was more closed off last few months after the news about Obito, but still. It was looking like she coped with the issue well enough.

'Honey, it 's her birthday tomorrow. '

'

Hn

, ' the present he prepared laid on the empty table.

'Fugaku, please. I am worried. '

'Itachi, ' the man called for his son, who did not pretend well enough to be reading a book in the next room. He could feel both Mikoto and Itachi worried. The boy appeared in the doorway almost instantly.

'Yes, father? '

'Find your sister. Take Shisui with you, ' he ordered as the line between being a father and a clan head blurred. He strictly pushed back the thoughts of someone possibly attacking his girl. It was not unheard of.

'Yes, ' Itachi bowed before leaving with a shunshin. Fugaku sighed.

'Don 't worry so much, Mikoto, you 'll get wrinkles, ' he said more gently to his wife. She hugged him in response. Of course, the woman was worried - she didn 't know about Ryoko 's skills. Fugaku could only hope that it was childish antics and nothing more.

??????????

Ryoko looked around. Her head snapped again to the other side. Two chakra signatures came into her sensory field. One was cold and staticky. Kakashi. The other was ' bright. Big as life itself. But it also had that same odd powerful and vile chakra coiled in the core.

Interesting.

Two figures appeared in the clearing and only then did Ryoko drop the genjutsu she had around herself and Rin. Next to the boy stood a tall redhead woman.

'For Kami 's sake! ' the woman rushed to their side, probably expecting to see an injury on Rin.

'Uzumaki-san, some kind of seals were placed on this girl, ' Ryoko reported back giving the redhead some room. The woman glanced at her making a double-take on Ryoko 's hair and red eyes.

'Ryoko-hime! What are you doing here? ' the girl blinked surprised from the first name basis.

'I ' was passing by. I noticed odd and dangerous chakra within this girl, ' Ryoko carefully explained. 'It actually feels similar to your chakra, Uzumaki-san. '

Alright, maybe Ryoko did manipulate those around her a little bit. She noticed how instantly the woman 's face paled and all other matters were forgotten. No more questions directed towards her. All attention fell on Rin. Good.

Ryoko stepped back to give them some space and instinctively started to look around for any possible enemies. She had this feeling ' on the back of her neck. Her former father once called it a reptile brain. A primal sense of danger. A sense of a predator nearby.

And this feeling appeared way before Kakashi returned with the seal mistress. Ryoko didn 't blink as she scanned the dark woods.

There!

In a distance she noticed something move. Without saying a word, the girl ran towards it. For normal people, all instinct would tell to turn around and run the opposite way. It 's good that she wasn 't normal. She liked the sense of danger. Another challenge to prove herself worthy of protecting her precious people and comrades.

The feeling of fight escaped her the moment she saw the bushy head of hair. Her legs stopped and she just stared in that one red eye.

Shit. She messed up. Ryoko felt foreign chakra simmering around her as a genjutsu took place around her senses. The sky was red with black clouds.

'Obi ' ' she whispered to the bandaged man in front of her. Suddenly a spear appeared from nowhere and pierced her into her abdomen. Ryoko coughed, but her mind knew that this all was fake. 'OBI! SNAP OUT OF IT! ' she grunted out ignoring the pain.

'Koko? ' the whisper reached her when the world got dark. When her eyes opened next, everything was back to the beginning. Red sky, black clouds, no injuries. Then another spear appeared and stabbed her to the back. She was so helpless.

'OBI! Are you going to play with me or help Rin instead? ' she pushed words over the pain. It was not real, but it felt real. The power of sharingan was something special. Her eyes wanted to shut again, but it would all repeat again, so she forced them open.

Her sharingan desperately worked to disperse this odd genjutsu. If only she could ' her eyes met again with his sole visible eye. Ryoko pushed the chakra she had into the act. The world around them started to shatter. Pieces of it fell like walls of a sandcastle and a calm garden revealed itself.

It was her home garden. There so many times the two had played before.

'Obi, play with me? ' she asked gently as her appearance took her younger self's form. It was a dirty tactic, to try and appeal to his buried memories. But she had no choice. Something forced Obito to act the way he did. Something was done to him, while he was missing.

'Ryoko? ' the man rasped as if seeing her for the first time.

'Yes! Obi, that 's me, come, ' she beckoned him to the shade under a tree. Slowly he followed her to the ground. She hugged him, weaving her tiny hands into his hair.

'You 're so tired, Obi. Take a nap, okay? ' she coed into his ear. The boy relaxed, but she didn 't disrupt the illusion until his eye fully closed.

Panting hard, Ryoko snapped back to reality. Her eyes hurt from overuse, but at least Obito was now knocked out on the ground. On shaky legs, she came closer and kneeled next to him.

'Obi ' what happened to you? ' she whispered, not daring to touch him yet. The moon was above them illuminating the ground with silver light. It was late. Very late. Probably over midnight by now.

'Happy birthday to me, ' she smiled. This was a present Ryoko would have never expected to get. Obito was back.

She found him!

'Koko? ' the girl heard a voice behind her. She didn 't have to turn around to know that it was her brother.

'Itachi ' I found him! ' she said. Her legs felt not as shaky anymore. Ryoko stood up and looked back. Itachi had a serious expression on his face, while her other cousin looked completely stunned.

'Obito?... well shit ' ' Shisui muttered.

What happened next felt like a blur. She recalled Itachi hugging her and asking many questions. About the cuts and bruises, she had. About the unconscious girl. About Kakashi. About Obito ' She spoke on autopilot feeling the downer from adrenalin finally show its toll.

'You 're hurt, ' Itachi whispered gently brushing blood from her cheek.

'Don 't you know any medical ninjutsu? ' she smirked despite her whole body wanting to faint.

'No ' '

'Hn. You should ' ' she trailed off, as her mouth no longer wanted to cooperate.

Shisui disappeared somewhere with unconscious Obito in a flicker. She didn 't even protest when Itachi took her into his arms. Ryoko felt tired, her eyes just closed by themselves from exhaustion. She was safe now. They all were safe.

??????????