Chapter 9: A father's retrospective.

 

Being a father was difficult. Being a single father even more so. Even harder was being a father to an actual telepath.

It was times like these when he'd miss his wife, she'd have known what to do. Even his own mother would've done better than Inoichi had. But he did his utmost, all things considered.

He'd do right by his daughter, she was all he had left.

He wasn't ashamed to say he doted on his daughter, even when she was… sub-optimal with her decisions. Befriending a civilian? No problem, he was all for it. Supported it, even. He picked up baking so they'd have treats when she'd come over. He'd subtly pulled some strings to… make life easier on her parents. They were merchants, and he had a lot of pull.

When she went into a cold war with said civilian over the Uchiha brat? Well, he found it both suspicious and unwise on so many counts. She'd never really shown interest in any boys, but it wasn't like girls—aspiring kunoichi or not— would share such things with their father.

So he shut his mouth. That wasn't a winning battle.

When she started worrying about her figure? He knew she was perfect in every way, and told her that every time he could. Every. Time. She insisted on dieting all the same. Sakura was doing it, and Sakura looked "great". He wondered if it really was the Uchiha brat that his daughter had a tiny obsession with.

Either way, she'd grow out of it. He just had to protect her until she did.

But when his precious flower came home on that fateful day, bleeding from the nose of all things, he'd almost snapped. He just knew that Uchiha brat did something. But then something spectacular happened.

She'd pulled that thought directly from his mind.

Now, teenage girls often did silly things. The handbook he'd acquired said that they rarely ever made sense. He was prepared. He was ready for anything.

Inoichi was not ready for a telepath, of all things..

The Yamanaka were always capable of the things she'd described. The things she'd displayed. But it always took effort. Practice. Blood, sweat and tears.

They were innate to her.

It felt a little like a mockery. She was apparently capable of things that the Yamanaka needed sophisticated tools for, and time. Things that he'd never taught her. Things that only the Yamanaka that worked in T&I ever learned how to do. Things she had no way of knowing existed.

And yet… they were hers.

Unfortunately, his daughter was very evidently not mad.

It was unfortunate because what she'd awoken to was something that he'd never wish on someone who didn't already have the training to cope.

She'd receive all the errant thoughts of her peers. All the thoughts of the villagers. Unfiltered. Unfettered.

All the nastiness of the world that a parent shielded their children from would pour right into her.

She struggled—and it pained him so much to see it— with the empathic aspect of her abilities. She felt as those in her surroundings felt. Her mood would swing seemingly at random, she'd experienced highs and lows that one her age could ever imagine.

All at once.

He could only throw her into the pit, so to speak, and hope she came out the victor. There wasn't much he could do, unless he wanted to move her out into the forest for the rest of her life. And even if he did… the village would never allow that.

Fortunately, she won. She quickly learned to differentiate between the foreign and those of her own. His daughter was a genius, he was sure.

He was so proud of his flower.

The next big surprise was when she came home the following day, her vision wasn't working right, apparently. She could see—but not see— the future, or something.

His initial guess was that it was formed from aspects of all of her known abilities working in tandem. Her mind put cause and effect together subconsciously, which resulted in some form of precognition based around intent.

It was unthinkable. It was impossible.

She demonstrated that it was very much neither. She had no way to see Chouza coming. He could move faster than any Academy student could comprehend. Any Jounin could. Yet, she did. She saw it clearly before he'd even moved. She evaded as best she could have, given the circumstances.

Such a thing wasn't infallible, of course. He'd have to train her to be resilient to counter-action if her abilities ever came to light.

However, there were no Chakra fluctuations with her ability. No tell. That was the only thing that made him think it wasn't a Kekkei Genkai. Sensory warfare had adapted to be at least resistant to the existence of the Hyuuga. There were Chakra fluctuations. Nothing came without cost. Sensory focused shinobi made sure of that.

But whatever this was, was ingrained in her. Unique to her. Maybe it'd breed true, maybe future Yamanaka would have such abilities. And if it did… well, the future was bright for the Yamanaka.

Only time would tell.

The parents huddled excitedly after her demonstration, and they rapidly discussed what it meant going forward.

"Can you imagine it? An Ino-Shika-Cho with young Ino at the helm?" Chouza brimmed with energy as he spoke, "She could control the environment from the front, with Shikamaru supporting from behind."

"At a certain level of skill, she'd basically be immune to both Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu," Shikaku stated after a beat had passed, "Formidable."

"This would allow Chouji to be more freeform in his actions; He could be a battering ram, a wall, whatever the team needs," Inoichi stated calmly, imagining the prospect.

"I'll modify his training, the boy is going to need to think for himself more if that's the path we're going down."

Shikaku nodded seriously, "My brat's going to have to get serious. It's going to be a real bother lighting a fire under his ass."

Convincing his daughter to give up that asinine diet was surprisingly easier than expected. Her reasoning was flimsy in the first place. He'd expected a fight, as his daughter was a fighter. She wasn't one to capitulate. But yet… she did. Something in what he said must have been tantalizing enough. He struck gold without even meaning to.

She grew rapidly in the following weeks, and as her emotional state became more healthy, her sensory abilities rose in tandem.

His daughter always had a temper. He'd know, her mother was much the same. But she'd been growing more irritable.

He could never figure out why, and asking would only result in a snippy response, stating that she was fine. Even when she was obviously not.

So he waited.

He regretted waiting so much, when he woke up the night, completely drenched in sweat. In winter. Raw blistering rage clashed with bone deep disgust as they coursed through his veins.

His breath was cold as he exhaled, his body ran extremely hot in contrast.

He knew they were not his own emotions. How could they have been? He'd been asleep. He didn't even remember what dream had been flitting through his subconscious mind.

Hot tears not his own streaked down his face as he burst into his daughter's room, only to find her almost catatonic. She screamed a silent scream, bed sheets ripped and charred from exertion.

The room felt like a sauna.

He was afraid to ask what happened, but he did anyway. He had to.

He immediately knew once she turned to him. Once he saw the same emotions that he felt, mirrored on his daughter's beautiful face.

She was searing hot to the touch that night, and he didn't even think anything of it as he pulled her into a hug. When the pain kicked in, he almost regretted it, but one look at the relief on her face dispelled that notion.

He still had burn scars that marred his back, where she ripped through his outerwear and gripped his raw skin.

The healers surprisingly could do nothing, he'd just have to live with his daughters hand-prints seared into his back. Occasionally, when the nights were cold, the still tender flesh on his back would ache, but he was skilled at ignoring such things.

The only thing that stopped him from committing wanton murder that night, was the knowledge that everyone involved was innocent. His daughter didn't ask for these abilities. The couple had no business knowing about them as well. They just did as couples did.

He was still tempted to make them disappear, though.

He did his part, and extricated Ino from the situation rapidly. Sequestering her in the Nara forest wasn't a big deal, she'd only spend nights there.

A darker part of Inoichi whispered that she'd grow stronger from the ordeal. He crushed that part resolutely.

He went over all the clan records that night. For anything even remotely similar to what had happened to his daughter. He knew he'd find nothing, but he was still disappointed when he didn't.

He did find records of combat mind reading, but that was always known to him. Advanced Yamanaka techniques, and needed decades of training to be viable. Also, they used Chakra. It was out.

Inoichi meditated a lot, from them on. He had to rapidly improve his mental capabilities. At a certain point, he started feeling her press upon his very mind with her passive scanning.

The way she impressed her very imprint on the world around her was beautiful. Mesmerizing. It impressed him as much as it terrified him.

She grew stronger with every passing day.

He wondered where her limit was, if there even was one.

So he trained his own defences, he had to keep up with her, to not let her own growth become stagnant; Even if she didn't know it.

As much as he resisted her unintentional probing, she grew stronger to match him. One day he'd falter, but he hoped that she'd grow unhindered without him once that day came.

Inoichi, Shikaku and Chouza had many meetings in the following nights, and one day Chouza proposed that one of them had to be nominated as the Jounin Sensei of this generation's Ino-Shika-Cho.

It generally wasn't done, as the village would become suspicious. It was easier on all fronts if they'd just let a state sponsored Jounin take over.

This generation was different, though. His daughter wasn't yet ready for the spotlight. They had to protect her until she was ready.

Needless to say, the Sandaime Hokage was shocked. He didn't let it show though, he was too masterful for that; But Inoichi had decades of experience reading people. He was good at it. He made a career out of it.

He was a master at it.

The Hokage agreed nonetheless, but Inoichi knew there would be repercussions. Scrutiny.

Trust was lost. But it would be worth it, it had to be.

 

<('.' <) (^ '.' ^) (> '.')> <('.' <) (> '.')> \\(^ >.< ^)// <('.' <) (> '.')> <('.' <) (^ '.' ^) (> '.')>

 

One thing concerned Inoichi though. One thing he didn't know how to broach with his daughter.

I am Inevitable.

Rarely, he'd wake up to her staring at him in his bed. He couldn't look directly into her eyes, they were like two suns—searing bright orbs in her head— and the temperature of the room would always be scalding hot.

I am Fire.

She'd whisper things that made no sense to him.

We are One.

There were no records he could find that even came close to it.

We are Life.

The pressure she exuded in those moments was phenomenal. It was ominous, and a little bit terrifying, but nothing came of it. His daughter never remembered a thing.

We are The Dawn.

So he kept his silence.

The Rapture Approaches.

He worried he may have pushed her too hard, but after the initial hurdles… she took to training quite well. Too well, even. He was glad she found joy in it, but he was saddened to see his daughter spreading her wings a bit.

The woes of a father would never end, it seemed.

Even with a daughter as strange as his.

He loved her all the same.

We are… Phoenix.

Nice, you made it past my somewhat lackluster first arc. That was the introduction, pretty much. Things will slow down (I kinda rushed the first arc because I didn't want to just invent non-plot related things to bog the narrative down with.)

If you like what you read, please rate it. If you dislike what you read... I mean, I'm surprised you got this far, but by all means, let me know. Critique and praise fuel my desire to put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard, lol.)

I'll start uploading arc2 once every other day or something until I'm all caught up (I'm only a few chapters deep anyway, if you're really that impatient just check ao3 i guess lol)