1,169Brother and Sister
The earth shook as the claw of the colossal beast struck the ground, effortlessly crushing an entire building under its weight. Screams were heard as dust and debris shot through the streets, paired with cries for help.
"Hold out!" someone shouted. "We just need to buy time until Lord Fourth arrives!"
But the red fox made no attempt to give them time, as the next attack followed suit. Frozen in fear, Iruka stared at the incoming flood of wreckage that was too big for him to dodge. He crossed his arms in front of his face, but while he felt the shockwaves from the impacts on the ground, miraculously, nothing seemed to hit him. Surprised, he opened his eyes and saw the face of his mother. Blood was running down the corners of her mouth, and the boy realized with horror that she must've used her body to shield him from the blast.
"I… Iruka," she slowly said, coughing up more blood while trying to maintain her smile. "Are… are you alright?" was all she managed to ask before collapsing.
"Dad!" Iruka cried out to the figure standing a few feet away. "Mom's…"
"Go home!" the man's hoarse voice commanded. "I'll take care of your mother, so hurry up and get out of here!"
"No!" the boy protested. "I'll protect Mom!"
The ground shook from another claw swipe which thankfully was farther away from them this time.
"Iruka, listen! You need to go home and get your sister! We're trying to restrict this thing's movement, but a stray shot might hit our house! You must get your sister to safety!"
"But…"
"It's the parent's duty to protect their children! And it's the older siblings' duty to protect their younger siblings! Now go!"
Iruka hesitated for a moment before nodding. His father was right. His sister was just a baby, if some flying debris hit their house she would be done for. Steeling his resolve, he turned his back to his parents and ran deeper into the village. Behind him, he could hear and feel more attacks slamming into the ground, but he forced himself to keep running and not look back.
While he ran, he could see a small group of people passing him in the opposite direction. Was that the third Hokage? That was good news, if he would partake in the battle casualties could be reduced greatly.
Finally reaching the Umino estate, Iruka ran up the stairs are tore open the door to the bedroom. Approaching the crib, he could see a small infant, her messy, golden hair reflecting the moonlight coming in through the window. However, despite her eyes being closed, she didn't appear to be sleeping. Instead, she was sitting cross-legged and upright, her tiny hands forming the "ram" hand seal as if she was releasing chakra. Iruka of course knew that no one-year-old could do such a thing. Sure, there were rare geniuses that graduated as shinobi at a ridiculously young age. But even then, there was a difference between a child and a baby. No, she was probably just copying what she had seen.
As he entered the room, the infant's eyes opened. But other than acknowledging his presence, no reaction could be seen from her.
"Aww, are you imitating Mommy and Daddy?" he asked in a soft voice, placing his hands on the crib's grating. The girl dropped the pose, her big blue eyes looking up at her brother. However, the moment of serenity was cut short as the Ninetails' thundering roar echoed through the village.
"We gotta go," he whispered, doing his best to appear calm so as not to startle her. He reached into the crib, picked her up, and hurriedly left, jumping from rooftop to rooftop to put as much distance as possible between them and the monster. Unfortunately, he could only spare one hand to hold his sister, needing the other to keep his balance. He, therefore, had to drape her over his shoulder, which meant that as long as he was running away from the massive beast his sister was forced to stare right at it.
He could feel the infant's body tense. She didn't scream, but that didn't surprise him. Compared to other babies he had seen, his sister was stoicism incarnate. She never screamed, making their parents for a while think she was mute, never threw a fit, and was seemingly impossible to disconcert. And yet, even she tensed up at the sight of the nine-tailed fox. But this also showed how sharp his sister was for her age. This wasn't the reaction of a baby getting scared by something she didn't know or understand; she, at least partially, comprehended the threat the beast posed.
"Don't worry", he assured her. "Lord Third is there, too. I'm sure they will make it." He wasn't really sure, but as his father said, it was his duty to protect his younger sister. "Once Lord Fourth arrives, it'll all be good."
The earth shook as a giant with a long, red mane grappled the fox. Looking over his shoulder, Iruka could see the head of the Akimichi clan mustering all his strength to throw the beast onto the ground, but it got up again immediately. Countless ninjutsu were hurled at the creature, but that seemed to only make it angrier. It opened its maw, gathering immense amounts of chakra.
Iruka's heart almost stopped as he realized that the attack was aimed at the general direction he was in. There was no way he would be able to dodge an attack of that scale.
"I'm sorry," he said with tears in his eyes as he hugged his sister. "I couldn't protect you."
"NOT SO FAST, YOU MORON!"
Out of nowhere, a ginormous toad dropped onto the beast and slammed it into the ground, preventing the attack. Just a moment later the fox disappeared. A massive explosion could be seen in the mountains, far away from the village. Then, everything went quiet. Iruka just stood there with a blank stare, hearing nothing but the blow of a slight breeze. There was only one person who could've made such a colossal monster simply vanish.
"Lord Fourth arrived," Iruka concluded, holding his sister in his outstretched arms and looking her in the eyes. "It's over. We are safe."
He spent a few moments like this before draping her over his shoulder again.
"Come on, Tanya. Let's go see Mommy and Daddy!"
Twelve years later
"Mizuki seriously betrayed the village?" The girl next to him said with distaste oozing from her voice. Iruka nodded.
"What an Idiot. As an academy instructor, he had a more stable job than most shinobi. And it's not like he was at a level where he could actually hope to learn any of the jutsu written on the scroll. The only thing he could've done with it would've been selling it to someone who would've probably killed him afterward."
Iruka couldn't help but smirk at the cold pragmatism his sister was known for. The now thirteen-year-old was standing next to his hospital bed, wearing what had to be the smallest version of the classic hidden leaf flak jacket, her perfectly polished headband reflecting the light of the lamps above them.
"I knew the Uzumaki-brat would sooner or later pull off something more serious than his pranks. I guess the silver lining is that he only learned the most harmless technique on the scroll. Well, as long as we ignore that any other Genin could've died trying to use it."
He chuckled at the snarky remark of his sister.
"Brat? You're barely a year older than him."
"Age and maturity are two different things. I'd have no trouble calling someone ten years older than me a brat if they are one. Besides, whatever point you were trying to make there, it falls flat either way. Either you take me as a standard, which then just shows that some maturity can be expected at this age, or you don't because you admit I'm an outlier, in which case there is no point in bringing up my age in the first place."
He couldn't argue with that, Tanya definitely was an outlier. Graduating the academy at the age of 5, becoming a Chūnin the same year, a Jōnin at the age of 12, and just about a month ago, was offered a position among the Anbu. Iruka mentally shook his head remembering it. His sister was truly a prodigy. When he had found out that their parents hadn't survived the Ninetails' rampage, he had vowed to protect her. Putting all his effort into it, Iruka had managed to graduate one year earlier than normal, and after becoming a Chūnin, he applied to become an academy instructor to ensure he had both a stable income and time for his sister. Only for said sister to surpass him at an age when others barely learned how to write.
While cases like hers weren't unheard of, they were few and far between. The most recent examples being the widely-known Kakashi Hatake and the infamous Missing-nin Itachi Uchiha. Unlike the previous two, however, Tanya had declined the offer to join the Anbu and instead, to everyone's surprise, applied to become a Jōnin-sensei. She even gave a small speech in the Hokage's office, short but quite touching, especially for someone who was also referred to as the stone-cold tactician.
"Still, cut him some slack. He had to grow up without his parents."
"So did we, in case you forgot."
"We had each other, Tanya. And we weren't shunned by almost everyone."
"We also didn't get all our expenses covered by the Hokage. But in case it sounded like that, I'm not accusing him."
That caught him by surprise.
"You aren't? Aren't you always berating me that I'm too soft on him, especially when he pulls one of his pranks?"
"I am, and I still stand by that. He's a childish, ill-mannered idiot who needs to learn that actions have consequences. But I'm well aware that he was tricked by someone he trusted. One might argue that he shouldn't have fallen for such an obvious trap – because that is also true – but judging from what you told me, Mizuki caught him at a low point and used his emotional state to manipulate him. No, what I meant when I said I saw it coming was…"
With her hands behind her back, she walked over to the window. From there the playground could be seen – empty for now, of course, it was still night after all.
"Have you ever heard the phrase 'a child not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth'?"
Iruka blinked.
"Um, no. Can't say I have. But I get where you coming from. The adults shun him because they fear the Ninetails sealed within him, and the kids shun him because the adults do it, without even knowing why. Yet he still loves the Hidden Leaf."
Tanya nodded.
"And I won't deny the role you played in that," she said before turning to him scowling. "That being said, he is still an absolute problem child and there was no reason to dump him on me. There were literally eight others to choose from."
"Hey, you wanted to become a sensei, difficult students are part of that. Besides, I think you will be perfect for him," he retorted. He knew she didn't really mean what she said. She often complained about things when it was just the two of them, but in the end, she would always prove to be a model shinobi.
"If your plan is to either let me beat some sense into him or break him, maybe. If he survives me, that is," she added, her wide grin almost slicing her face in half.
Iruka was slightly taken aback by his sister's change in demeanor but gave off a smile nonetheless. He knew of Tanya's feats, he knew how cruel she could be if the situation called for it – even though he never witnessed it himself. But he also knew that his sister had a soft side as well, as much as she was trying to hide it.
"So the Hidden Leaf's Pixie will take him under her wing?" he chuckled, causing her to glare daggers at him.
"You know I hate that nickname. Now get some sleep. You have teams to assign tomorrow."
He nodded and laid back down, wincing as his injury ached. It was mostly healed by now, thanks to medical jutsu, but it still hurt.
"Maybe next time," his sister called from the doorframe, "try and catch a shuriken of that size with your kunai rather than with your back."
"Actually, there is one more thing you might want to know," he said, stopping her from leaving. "As the last of his year, Naruto will be paired with the first. So you will also have Sasuke Uchiha on your team."
A moment of silence followed.
"So not only do I get the idiot, I also get the traumatized loner. Isn't that great, giving me the most difficult team in ages for my first try?"
"T-that's not what I was going for," Iruka assured her.
"Yes, I am aware of what you were going for. But just so you know, him sharing a last name with Izumi has exactly zero relevance to me."
A/N: I hope you enjoyed the start of my first fanfiction. I'm not a native speaker, so I apologize for any mistakes I made.
I am fairly busy, so I don't know how often I will be able to upload. I'll try to not make too big pauses between chapters, but just in case nothing happens for a longer time, it won't mean I abandoned the story.