Hinako Sensei

After she could no longer sense life from her mother, Natsume broke down in tears. The grief overwhelmed her. Sahiro gave a nonverbal command to Hinako and disappeared. Hinako stood to the side and allowed Natsume to grieve. After a while, the side effects of activating the sharingan for the first time kicked in, and she passed out due to chakra exhaustion. Hinako grabbed Natsume and carried her to her room.

Meanwhile in the clan leader's home.

"Tajima-dono, Sahiro-san has requested to speak with you." Tajima nodded to the Uchiha guard. He was aware of the issues revolving around Sahiro's family. Due to an unfortunate incident regarding his eldest son, Tajima intended to spare the rest of his children. However, the aptitude that his daughter showed was too high to ignore. Especially after reading the latest report on her growth in taijutsu, kenjutsu, and shurikenjutsu. Such a foundation would lead to a high-ranking warrior once she reached maturity.

"Send him in." Tajima put away the scroll he was reading as Sahiro stepped in. The man always had a calm expression, but this time there seemed to be something strange in his eyes. Tajima gestured to the mat in front of him, to which Sahiro kneeled and gave a bow. "What brings you here, Sahiro-kun."

"Natsume has awakened her sharingan…" Sahiro took a pause and waited for Tajima's reaction. When he heard this, Tajima had the urge to stand in shock. He knew very well how Natsume's progress was going and planned to help stimulate her during the next battle. However, if she already had her sharingan…

"Good daughter! Sahiro, I underestimated you and Shino. I only hope Kono and I could have a child like yours." Tajima's excited mood instantly plummeted when Sahiro finished his report.

"Shino has killed herself."

Tajima sighed and spoke in a low voice, "Our clan is truly cursed..."

…

Natsume had a strange dream that night. She did not remember it at all, but she would wake up in a cold sweat like this. Hanako once told her that she would speak nonsense in her sleep and move around often. She attributed it to rapid development of yin chakra. Natsume sat up and looked around. She walked over to the wooden bowl filled with water and washed her face.

When she looked at her face in the reflection of the bowl, the memories of the day before suddenly emerged. Suddenly, her eyes turned red—the sharingan!

"Just as I wished… was it worth it?" Natsume mused. She couldn't help but blame herself for her mother's death. 'I'd rather you still be alive than have these eyes…' She thought.

"It must be. In order not to waste Shino-sama's life, you must become stronger. Protect the clan so that no more lives must be lost." Natsume turned and saw Hanako standing behind her. Although Hanako was always cold and detached, with her sharingan she could see the micro expressions that conveyed sadness. Those words combined with her subtle emotion caused Natsume to resolve herself. Although she was only a child, sadness and anger turned to determination.

"Hanako-sensei, please teach me!" Natsume bowed to her to pay respects. Hanako was taken aback for the first time. Natsume had never recognized her as a teacher before. She felt touched. It was impossible for Hanako to not grow attached to Natsume after raising her for eight years. She naturally was willing to teach such a talented shinobi.

"Come to the usual training ground. You will need to relearn everything."

"Yes!" Natsume changed into her training uniform. Black pants, grey top, with a grey ankle-length robe with a high collar. This was the standard uniform of Uchiha warriors. Pride welled up in Natsume when she spotted the iconic red fan clan symbol on the back of the robe. Now that she awakened the sharingan, her strength would increase exponentially.

On the way to the training grounds, Natsume observed the whole clan complex with her sharingan to memorize the layout. The ability to instantly perceive and memorize information with the sharingan was a remarkable thing. She deactivated it to conserve chakra and continued traveling. Just from this ability alone, Natsume understood why Hanako said she would have to relearn everything. The difference in comprehension was like night and day.

As soon as she arrived, her instincts warned her of danger. Her sharingan activated and she blocked a series of kunai coming from four different directions. Realizing the intent, Natsume jumped down from the tree and took cover. She was able to read the attack pattern perfectly and deduce where the origin came from. She unleashed a rain of shurikens that fanned out and impaled a bush. Hanako's 'body' disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Realizing her disadvantage in the shadows, Natsume immediately ran out to the center of the open field. The distance from the tree line to the center of the clearing would give her a better chance to react. However, it seemed that her thought process was too predictable. As soon as she arrived at the center of the clearing, she did a backflip to avoid the pitfall trap. Once the ground gave way, a series of explosions could be heard from within the trap.

Natsume's reaction was apparently also within Hanako's calculations, as she tumbled backward, a hand reached out of the ground with a blade point straight toward Natsume. This time, she knew she couldn't retreat. Therefore, she drew her sword and directly clashed with Hanako. The angle of attack was a tricky one and being mid-air didn't leave her much room for maneuverability. However, the same could be said for Hanako coming from underground.

Using the advantage of her small size, Natsume used the force of the initial clash to skew the angle of descent so that she avoided the incoming blade. In this instance, the difference in force was just perfect for her. Once her foot was firmly planted on the ground, she rotated her body and launched a series of kicks toward the half-exposed Hanako. However, Natsume's timing and speed were not up to par for the three tomoe sharingan staring at her.

Hanako grabbed Natsume's foot, twisted her sideways, and pressed the swords blunt edge down on her neck.

"Dead." She said coldly.