There are places in this world where memories linger long after the people who created them are gone. The Hidden Leaf was one of those places.
Some say the trees of Konoha remember. If you walk deep enough into the woods, which cradle the village like a protective hand, you might hear voices from the past. You may catch whispers of forgotten names, the soft cry of a boy burdened by fate, or the laughter of someone who never made it home.
It was there, beneath those same trees, that the story of Naomi Yakushiha quietly began.
Not with battle. Not with legacy. But with a snake.
The first time Naomi arrived in Konoha she was just six years old.
Her mother, a well-known medical kunoichi from the Yakushiha clan, had been called to a high-level medical summit organized by the Hidden Leaf's top medics. While the adults focused on scrolls and strategies, Naomi had slipped away from the scene and played with the other children at the Academy.
She was a cheerful girl back then, bright-eyed and curious, always chasing butterflies and singing birds. But that day felt different. Her life was about to take a turn from where she couldn't return.
Among the children's laughter and the sound of clashing wooden kunai, Naomi noticed a boy standing at the edge of the training field. He wasn't playing. He didn't even seem to watch the games. He just stood there, quietly observing, his expression unreadable. Something about his eyes made her stop. He didn't have eyes like the others, There was a sense of heaviness which usually doesn't flicker through the eyes of a child.
Then, without a word, he turned and walked into the woods beyond the field.
Naomi, too young to hesitate, followed him.
She found him in a clearing, training with real kunai. He was her age, maybe younger, but he moved with surprising precision—calm, deliberate, and sharp. She peeked from behind a tree, captivated by the skill she never thought a child could have. Until then, her world had been about healing salves and peaceful herbs. But this boy didn't seem to belong from the same world as her.
Suddenly, a snake slid down from a branch above and landed across her shoulders.
Her scream erupted before she could even think. Tears streamed down her face as panic took over. The boy stopped. Without a second thought, he moved toward her and calmly removed the snake, letting it slip through his fingers into the underbrush.
"You shouldn't be here if you're afraid of snakes," he said, his voice low and steady. "There could be other wild animals."
Naomi looked up at him with flushed cheeks and teary eyes,both in awe and fear.
He took her small hand, and together they walked out of the forest. That was it.
But Naomi never forgot it.
Not those eyes. Not the warmth of his hand.
"When are we going back to Konoha?"
From that day on, she relentlessly asked her parents, She didn't know his name, only remembered how he moved and how he looked at her like someone much older than her age.
In the years that followed, Naomi returned to Konoha often, always pretending to join the medical troops from the hidden grass or attend diplomatic training. But the truth was, she wanted to catch a glimpse of him. Sometimes she saw him training alone, Sometimes walking beside a younger boy — his little brother, she assumed.
By the time Naomi was nine, she had made a few friends in the village.
The Yakushiha clan sent a medical aid to assist Konoha during an outbreak of chakra fever among civilians. Her mother was among the lead medics, and Naomi a medic trainee was permitted to shadow her.
That was when she met Shisui Uchiha.
He was older than her by a few years, and far more lively than the boy she had met before. He found her sketching a complex healing diagram near the riverbank.
"You're not from here." He leaned over her shoulder just a little to get a peek of her sketch.
"Are those healing diagrams?" He was genuinely curious by the new face by the riverbank.
" I'm with the medical team from Kusakagure. These diagrams are a part of my training." She answered quietly
"..You've got skilled hands for your age." He said a with a grin. "I'm Shisui."
"Shisui" She repeated in her mind. The smile this boy offered was gentle and came with an odd familiarity.
"..Got a name or something?" He asked bringing her back from her thoughts.
"…Naomi.." She finally returned his smile
"Naomi Yakushiha"
They quickly became friends. Shisui had always admired her abilities, her kindness and firm determination Through Shisui, she learned the name of the boy she had never forgotten—Itachi. Itachi Uchiha.
Shisui noticed her subtle glances towards Itachi. He would laugh softly and tease her.
"Are you sure you came to the Uchiha district to see me?"
She would grin, cheeks flushed. "Of course! You're my only friend here!"
He never pushed further. But he knew.
At thirteen, Naomi returned once more-with a lot of untold chatters she has been saving all this time, But as soon as she faced Shisui the air had changed already. Something was off.
Shisui still smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. His shoulders appeared more tensed. There was a shift between his way of talking too.
"Is something wrong?" she asked quietly, concerned. "You don't seem like yourself."
He ruffled her hair gently. "It's just some internal affairs of the clan. Nothing
you need to worry about."
"But I want to help," she insisted. "If I can... I want to help you."
He smiled, hiding the weight of the world behind his lips. "You worry too much. I've got this. Everything will be fine."
She wanted to believe him. But she couldn't. His eyes revealed the truth which his lips failed to deliver.
She saw Itachi that day too. He stood in the distance, stoic, quiet, but his eyes carried the same weight. She wanted to walk up to him, to ask him what was going on but she didn't.
She returned quietly never imagining it would be the last time she'd see either of them.
Then came the news.
The Uchiha clan was gone.
Massacred in one night.
And the one behind it? Itachi Uchiha.
Naomi's world turned upside down. The boy she had admired since she was six. The same boy who once held her hand and led her out of the forest had now soaked his hands in blood.
"No..." she whispered.
"That can't be right. He wouldn't—he couldn't... not for power... not him."
But the evidence was clear. The entire Uchiha district reduced to silence. Only one survivor remained. Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi's younger brother.
"…Shisui…" Her voice broke on his name. A whisper. A plea.
His smile flashed across her mind like a dying flame bright, warm, and gone too soon.The way he used to ruffle her hair, the way he believed in her with quiet admiration,the way he used to wait when she visited, arms crossed,grin tilted,as if he had nothing better to do but tease her for being late.
"…His body hasn't been found…" she murmured, "Shisui Uchiha just disappeared like he never existed…" she suppressed a sob.
And that shattered her more than anything. She couldn't mourn him, couldn't send him off with a final goodbye. There was no grave to visit, no farewell to whisper.
After that,Naomi never visited Konoha again.
Years passed. Naomi had just turned sixteen,her world shattered once again.
The Hidden Grass, her home, was threatened by the Hidden Sand, who wanted to claim a part of their land. Kusagakure, a smaller, less equipped village, considered surrendering to avoid bloodshed. But the Yakushiha clan stood tall and resolute. With the help of their superior medical ninjutsu and promised backup from Konoha, they argued, the village could hold its ground. Naomi's parents still the leaders of the clan passionately advocated for war, confident in their ability to keep troops alive through unmatched healing.
At first, the strategy worked. Grass shinobi were being instantly healed, chakra replenished and physical strength boosted. But Sunagakure's strategy soon turned the tide. They ambushed the medical unit, decimating the healers. Half of the medical troops were slaughtered. Without them, the Kusagakure forces collapsed, and the village was forced to surrender and give up the land anyway.
The blame fell entirely on the Yakushiha clan, whose confidence had led them into disaster. Naomi's parents, once respected and looked up to were now seen as reckless,arrogant traitors responsible for the village's loss and countless deaths for their utter ignorance and absurd pride. Overwhelmed by guilt and grief, both of her parents took their own lives, leaving Naomi alone.
After losing her parents, Naomi became the target of the village's resentment. She was despied for not dying along her parents. Her friends abandoned her. The streets grew quiet when she walked through them and sometimes she heard loud whispers only meant for her to hear.
And then one day suddenly she didn't want to be a part of that anymore. She left, became a rogue wandered the world, healing strangers in the shadows, surviving on scraps of kindness and memories. Her techniques a legacy of her clan remained unmatched. Her chakra control was precise, her regeneration skills miraculous.
One rainy night, while crouched beside an injured traveler, he found her.
Pain. The leader of the Akatsuki.
He had been watching her. He saw her potential, her skills, her loss. He offered her a place in the Akatsuki. A purpose. A cause.
She hesitated. She had no reason to trust him But no reason to refuse too. In the end, with nowhere else to go and no one left to grieve, she accepted.
Within the Akatsuki's shadows, she saw him again. Itachi Uchiha.
The same boy from the forest. Now a man, draped in red and black, with eyes hollowed by the weight of too many sins. He didn't recognize her. Or if he did, he said nothing.
Naomi's heart ached. After all this time, she thought she'd never see him again. She wanted to ask
"Why?"
"Why kill your own people.."
"Why abandon your own home.."
"Why betray everyone.."
But she couldn't. She had no right to.She had watched him from a distance. Admired him. Grieved him.But he didn't even know her name.
And maybe that was better. Because that way she could continue to observe him. This time more throughly and closely. She seeked answers, and swore to unravel the truth. The mystery of the fallen Uchiha.
|To be continued|