67. Awaken

A while later Nozomi opened her eyes. She felt comfy as her head was laid on a very soft pillow. Her groggy mind refused to reboot properly as she felt a soothing sensation on her scalp. However, as her mind finally began working properly she saw Tomoka’s face with a warm smile. The pillow her head was laid on were Tomoka’s thighs, and the sensation on her scalp was the soft cares of Tomoka’s fingers slowly combing through her hair. 

Nozomi wanted to close her eyes again and enjoy the sensation but the memories of their previous conversation prevented her from doing so. She wanted, nay, she needed to know the truth, all of it. Sitting up, Nozomi stared at Tomoka with a steely gaze. 

She began thinking about Tomoka’s words. She soon realized why Tomoka hadn’t told lord Hokage. If her clan indeed was planning for a coup then even more blood would be spilled should they survive. However, that didn’t remove the grief from her heart. 

“Why?” That was all she could manage as her throat closed up. 

“The coup had been long coming. After the second Hokage shunned your clan to the outer edges of the village tensions had risen. Danzo, that rat bastard, saw the Uchiha as a danger and did all he could to increase the gap between them and the village. To put it simply, the coup had been planned by Danzo so he could use it as an excuse to exterminate them.” 

Tomoka decided to blame everything on Danzo and hide the fact that the third had agreed, albeit reluctantly, to the massacre. If Nozomi found out later she could just feign ignorance of the fact. 

Nozomi for her part closed her eyes as they began to itch. Her entire body trembled with uncontrollable hatred. Danzo, the name felt like a vile poison on her tongue as she said it under her breath. She would make him pay with blood. As the Uchiha girl continued to drown in her hatred she felt soft and warm arms coil around her. Opening her eyes she realized Tomoka was hugging her.        

“Don’t let hatred cloud your mind. Use it instead, hate those that wronged you and fuel your conviction to become better with the hatred born from their actions. Control your hate, don’t let it control you.” Having said that, Tomoka released the girl from her hug as she wiped away her tears with her hands. 

“We will grow stronger together, and we will make that bastard pay” With a kind smile Tomoka stood up offering her right arm to Nozomi. 

“You have already taken your first step towards that objective, see” As she said that she took a polish kunai to use as a mirror. 

As Nozomi gazed at her reflection she saw a pair of blood red eyes with one tomoe circling around her pupil. She had finally awakened her sharingan. She should have felt happy for her progress, instead she felt hollow. These eyes were born from tragedy and she would use them for her revenge. No, not only for that, she would also use them to protect what she has left. 

A while later the two had infiltrated back into konoha as Tomoka explained a few more things to Nozomi. For starters, she explained about the sharingans progression. As she explained the method to acquire the mangekyo and its eternal version Nozomi became light headed. 

“I would rather gouge these cursed eyes than kill you!” She screamed as her hands snaked towards her eyes intent on doing as she had said.  

“Calm down! There is no need for that. The advance through a special chakra that gets produced when the wearer goes through immense grief. That is why it is believed to be necessary to kill or witness the death of one’s most loved one. However, we might find a way to produce that chakra through other means so calm down” 

After hearing Tomoka’s words, Nozomi calmed her nerves. Though she hadn’t abandoned the idea of gouging her eyes if it did come to that. She swore in her heart that she would rather kill the entire village’s population before harming one of Tomoka’s hairs. 

They continued talking while walking as Tomoka also told her that she wasn’t the only survivor amongst other things. Finally, the two stood in front of Konoha’s bureaucratic building where the Hokage’s office lay. After all, they needed to report Nozomi’s survival.