"I don't." Naruko replied, honestly meaning it. Weird things happened, so whatever.
"Now, if you hand me the shamisen I will bring the case for it to the counter," Mr Nakamura said as she handed him what was soon to be her first musical instrument, "You can pay for it when your friend is helped."
"Okay." Naruko nodded, watching the man turn and leave to go to the back of his store.
Now that she had been taken care of, Naruko walked to the center of the store to look for Sasuke, before spotting him a few seconds later near where she assumed was the erhus. She walked briskly over to him, looking at him curiously as he didn't respond to her presence.
The few seconds of silence unnerved her enough, so she broke it. "Sasuke." She said, tapping his elbow.
The faint twitch the contact elicited was enough to let her know that he was responsive, but he still looked a little out of it as he stared at the two-string instruments.
"I hate replacing it, but it's… gone." He mumbled, swallowing almost audibly.
Naruko didn't exactly know what to say because she didn't know what Sasuke was talking about, so she kept quiet while Sasuke's eyes trailed over each and every one, before his eyes stopped suddenly.
Something in the atmosphere seemed to change, Naruko could feel it. Sasuke's eyes widened impossibly large, his breath catching and sounding like he was choking.
"Sasuke?" Naruko said his name, frightened by the abrupt reaction. "Sasuke, you okay?"
"It's… I…" Barely anything made sense as the already pale complexion of her friend paled further, his dark eyes shimmering until they turned the crimson of his clan's dojutsu.
Without elaborating on what he said or being granted permission, Sasuke opened the vertical glass case's door and looked closer at the erhus, a mask of cold emptiness appearing on his face.
It wasn't until Sasuke shakily grabbed at one with a faint silver trim around the base of it that she realized why he reacted that way.
The red and white fan shape that she saw Sasuke wear on his clothes was stamped into the side of it.
It's… whose erhu did that belong to?
Sasuke lifted it out of the case with a tenderness that she had never seen him practice before, and his face was obscured from sight as he was shaking from head to toe.
"Sas-" She started to say, but she gasped and backed away a step when her friend's head jerked up to look at her.
He was openly crying and he had the erhu clutched to his chest, tears beginning to run down his face as the single tomoe in each of his eyes were spinning so quickly that it looked like a ring of black had developed in the center of the red.
Uzumaki Naruko had known Sasuke for about four years now, two of those as a friend, but she had never seen him like this in all of that time. He looked fragile, afraid even. He was clutching ahold of the erhu like it was going to disappear any second.
The sound of footsteps behind her alerted her that the carry case or whatever it was called for her shamisen was found.
"Ms Uzumaki, I have the ca-" Whatever else was going to be said died on the man's lips as his eyes widened as he looked at what Sasuke was holding. "No, that isn't for sale. Put it back!" The man started to reach for it, and Naruko watched as what looked like a shadow passed over Sasuke's face.
"No!" He snarled, jerking away and taking a step back. His face was twisted into a frightening expression and his eyes blazed with a fire that made her shiver involuntarily, but he was still shaking like he was terrified and holding the erhu tightly.
She'd never seen that look in his eyes. It just looked wrong in every way, like it wasn't even her friend at all.
"That isn't yours, boy. It was supposed to be picked up by…" Mr Nakamura paused as he peered at Sasuke, specifically his eyes; the older man's own widened in realization of something. "You're... the Uchiha boy."
Sasuke didn't respond to the statement. He was still clutching what Naruko now knew for certain belonged to a relative of his defensively, looking ready to run from the store with the erhu in tow.
But Sasuke's silence didn't change the obviousness of who he was. Only one person in all of Konoha had Sharingan eyes, and that was her friend.
"Where… did you…" Sasuke was struggling to speak, wiping at his eyes furiously. "Why is this here?" He eventually managed to say weakly, his face the most expressive Naruko had ever seen.
With noted gentleness, the old store owner replied to the question immediately. "Your mother brought it in to have some minor repairs and for the strings to be assessed. She said she was gifting it to someone, but she," A faint sigh left the man, but he carried on, "She didn't come back to retrieve it, so it was left in the back. Evidently, one of my employees didn't realize what it was and put it out with the rest."
It's been here for two years?! Naruko thought frantically, not even knowing what to do as she watched her friend look completely vulnerable. She wanted to let Sasuke know that she was here for him, but she didn't think he would appreciate being hugged or anything like that when around a stranger.
"Did s-she," Sasuke cleared his throat with a cough and wiped his eyes again, his eyes flickering back to their normal colour as he started to calm down slightly, "Have a case for it?"
"Yes." Nakamura nodded, "I'll bring it to the counter, meet me at the front."
With that, the man turned and walked back to the counter, turned left to squeeze through the small cutout in the counter to get to the other end, and disappeared from sight.
Naruko, once she realized Sasuke wasn't going to move unless prompted, gently hooked her arm around his, like he himself had done when helping her back home after she had been attacked so many months ago, and slowly walked with him up to the counter.
Once they reached their destination, the blonde looked at the case for her shamisen and smiled slightly, before looking at her quiet friend.
"Sasuke…"
"I don't want to talk right now." He said hoarsely, his grip on the erhu having not changed at all. "I thought I'd never see this again, and now I have it again. I just, I don't know. I need a minute to think."
The uncertainty in his tone, and overall nervousness that she could see from his expression, was a far cry from the seemingly unflappable boy. He was almost always leveled and completely in control, but right now was the furthest from either of those.
A faint clunk and the sound of footsteps preceded the arrival of the man they were purchasing from, who was carrying a worn leather case with the symbol of the Uchiha clan stamped into it. The leather was brown, with a few scuffs in it, but otherwise looked nice.
"The bow is inside, already in good condition." The veteran Shinobi said, flipping the clasps open and lifting the lid of the case. "Go ahead and set it in there while I ring up the shamisen."
"I'll be paying for the shamisen." Sasuke said quietly, setting his mother's erhu in the case gingerly, before closing it himself. "It's her birthday, so I'm getting her it as a present."
"Oh," He looked pleasantly surprised, a faint smile on his face, "Well I wish you a happy birthday then, young lady."
Naruko blushed a bit at the attention, but still smiled politely and thanked him.
"I can remove the sales tax, especially since it's a present." He offered.
"That… would be appreciated." Sasuke said slowly, nodding in thanks. He then reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded stack of ryo, more than a few being large bills. He counted out the number that was rung up on the register and then handed it to the man.
Sasuke looked like he was about to say something as he grabbed his case, which Naruko mirrored and grabbed her own, but he made no noise as he appeared to be struggling with coming up with something, anything, to say.
"I know," The scarred man said, holding up a calloused hand like he was sparing him, "It belongs to you, so you don't need to thank me for returning it to you, even if it was under coincidental circumstances."
The youngest Uchiha looked like he'd just avoided something frightening, and he visibly relaxed. Without saying anything else, Sasuke turned and, the now 10 year old girl hurrying along to catch up.
/(SCENE BREAK)/
'Your grandmother was adamant that I learn the samisen, but I wanted to play the erhu like my great aunty did. She gave me this when she was ready to pass.' My mother's voice was echoing in my head as I walked down the main street that ran through the center of Konoha; the road was jam-packed with people, and I was filled with an unhealthy paranoia that some entity in black was going to take the priceless object in my arms away from me.
The soft and melodic tones of the erhu matched with my mother's voice as she sang an old song that she had told me originated over 100 years ago from an ancestor of mine, and my father had told her the lyrics so she could pass it down to Itachi and me.
My fingers almost subconsciously gripped the leather case tighter, my throat growing tighter as my vision started to get misty once more.
I didn't believe in the god that the memories rattling in my head did, not that I had been particularly faithful to any religion here in the elemental nations either. Many Shinobi clans, the Uchiha especially, believed that our ancestors lived on through us in some fashion, and we would eventually join that cadre when our descendants replaced us, as ever present guides from the wisdom we obtained through suffering and triumphs…
The Edo Tensei being created by a Senju ended up causing more than a few issues throughout all of society. It proved the existence and persistence of the soul after death, yes, even though most Shinobi already believed it from the techniques we were capable of, and was immediately considered universally sacrilegious to the point that the times Senju Tobirama had used it could be counted on one hand from how much of a backlash there was to it.
But none of that mattered in the grand scheme of things. Faith or no faith in an entity watching out for me, the manner in which I got this back frightened me because I couldn't figure the odds. I had almost not wanted to go out because of the amount of people milling around, instead letting Naruko go buy herself a present with some money I would have given her.
But the memory of her sobbing in an alleyway, with all of her money gone, was permanently burnt into my mind like a stain left by a patch of indelible ink. I would not let that happen again.
So I did as any good little boy would do, and ended up with a priceless heirloom that was now mine as it should be.
I decided to pull myself from my thoughts, after what had likely been several minutes, so I could assess my current situation, particularly in regards to Naruko.
She mentioned how the Hokage said she shouldn't go out during the celebration of another year that Konoha survived and lived on after the Kyuubi had ransacked the village, with this being a special one because it was the tenth.
Undoubtedly, we were being tailed by half a dozen ANBU that were monitoring anybody that thought they could do something to my friend.
"Their glaring is getting tiresome." I eventually said, my voice no longer shaking with emotion. My eyes were still aching and I knew they were bloodshot, but I had managed to pull myself into a semi functional emotional state. So long as I didn't get sideswiped by anything else as taxing, I should be able to make it through Naruko's tiny birthday party I'd planned out for this evening.
Sure, it was the same as last year's, with me leaving a clone to bake a cake for her, but that had been enough to have her hugging me with all her might and thanking me profusely. I need a bit of consistency right now.
Naruko gave me a side eye glance, still focusing on the multitude of civilians walking around us with a wide berth and some glaring at her. But at least the majority weren't giving hate filled looks, like what Naruko had described them as before I had started interacting with her.
"I don't care about them, I got my friend with me and I've got my samisen right here." She patted her case affectionately, practically radiating joy now that I didn't look like I was going to start crying again.
It was a little embarrassing for me, but it had caught me so heavily off guard that I was actually impressed with myself that I hadn't fallen to my knees and bawled.
"And that is why you're my friend." I said, feeling that cold coil of caginess that had been building ever since I had raged at Itachi for the most recent time start to unravel in real time.
A smug smile was all Naruko replied with, the trip to her apartment being a silent one from then on.
/(SCENE BREAK)/
"Sandaime-sama." I said confusedly, hoping the reaction was realistic enough since it was supposed to be a bit of a surprise that he was going to show up.
After Naruko and I had gotten to her apartment, we had dropped off the instruments, with me leaving a clone behind to protect my erhu, and had then walked around the village outskirts, just enjoying the still somewhat warm and breezy October weather.
That had basically been what we had done for a couple of hours, with periodic ventures into the festival on my part to grab something to snack on and bring back to Naruko.
All in all, it was a fantastic day that was going to be topped off by the homemade cake being eaten and her testing out her new present.
But the Sandaime showing up put a wrinkle in my otherwise positive day. The erhu had left me still sensitive to memories of my family, and Sarutobi Hiruzen was only eclipsed by Danzo, Obito, and my own brother in being the object of my personal hatred, not an abstract kind like my hatred for nameless, faceless monsters that did things like rape and heinous acts of such sorts. Either complicit in killing my family, or too incompetent to keep his subordinates in line, I didn't care; Sarutobi deserved my hatred.
All I needed to do was pretend his presence wasn't bothersome.
"Sasuke." Sarutobi looked down at me, giving me a polite nod. "I see you are spending time with Naruko on her birthday."
"Hi, Jiji!" Naruko called out from the living room, still trying to figure out how to get the bachi to pluck the strings properly on the shamisen in her hands.
It was simultaneously a positive and negative thing that Naruko had basically patched things up with Hokage over the last few months. It made me feel less bad about me nearly severing a near familial connection, but it also meant the Hokage still held sway over her, and by extension me…
"She's my friend." I said casually, almost like I was commenting about the weather. "And I'll ask you something, in her own words." I cleared my throat and looked up at the old man with an expression I hoped looked like a petulant kid. "You bring any presents, old man?!"
Naruko squawked at what I practically shouted, her bachi missing a beat and making a comically weird noise that had me almost snickering.
Sarutobi outright chuckled, looking almost relieved about something.
"You can bring the message back to Her Excellency that I do indeed have a gift for her, something that I had discovered when going through a few things from my mentors."
"I can hear you." Naruko deadpanned, having hopped off the couch and was now standing right behind me. "But thanks for saying I'm a princess."
With a snap decision, I decided to do something that normally would have been ill-advised to do, especially when the target was a nearly 70 year old veteran of several wars and was arguably one of the most dangerous killers in history, but I really was itching to do it.
"There's no King in Konoha, Naruko, only a Kage." I said, adopting a more dry tone like Iruka did sometimes and glancing at Sarutobi. "You'd have to be the daughter of a Hokage to be a 'princess'."
There it is. A faint twitch of the old man's face was all I needed.
Naruko huffed in exasperation at what I said, folding her arms together.
"With your pretty hair, you're the princess."
I scowled at Naruko, but I caught something from the brief glance I got of the old man's face when I heard him cough slightly. It was far more noticeable than when I made the princess comment, something Naruko said actually affected him.
"Children, as sweet as it is to see the two of you interacting as your mothers did," Sarutobi said clearly, "Do you not think now would be a good time to receive your present?"
Naruko's eyes widened to the point that they almost looked like saucers, the blue being even more pronounced.
" Yes!" She replied quickly, looking up at him expectantly.
Suspecting that something had bothered him and he was diverting the subject to a different one, I rolled with it to spare him any more minor inconveniences.
"The cake just finished, if you're wanting a slice, sir." I offered with as much cordiality as I could, and made it more than a little stilted like I was uncomfortable.
I wasn't pretending to be uncomfortable, just the uncertainty part.
"That would be much welcome, Sasuke." He nodded, walking past me in the hallway to head towards the living room.
Naruko followed Sarutobi while I veered over to the kitchen and went about slicing apart the cake and getting three plates to put the same amount of portions on them.
With that done, I grabbed proper silverware and made my way back to the living room. The first thing I saw and heard was Naruko excitedly explaining to the Sandaime what her instrument was and how she was going to be the best samesin player in all of Konoha.
I didn't say anything as I handed Sarutobi one of the plates, before I sat down in one of the folding chairs I left out when I figured the old man would come over.
Naruko stopped talking once I sat down, and she walked over to me with an expectant look.
"Cake." She said simply, eying the plate in my right hand hungrily.
I just smiled slightly and extended out my arm with the plate in hand. She quickly snatched it from my grasp and started tearing into the cake almost ravenously, somehow not making a mess while doing it.
Sarutobi, as befitting of his age and station, took a small and measured bite of the cake. Aside from a minute softening of his features, he showed no other outward reaction.
"Hmmm." The man furrowed his brow as his eyes flicked over towards the couch where I had placed the leather case with my mom's erhu in it. "Did you happen to purchase an instrument for yourself, Sasuke?"
Naruko instantly stopped eating, her eyes darting towards mine nervously.
Giving her a reassuring look to let her know that there wasn't an issue from what was brought up, I calmly turned to the Hokage and addressed his query.
"That is my mother's, it was in storage at a store." I said robotically, watching as Sarutobi paled slightly. "I thought it had been stolen by…" I trailed off as I remembered just how vicious of a mood I'd been in after thinking Itachi took it. It honestly was, not quite distressing, but bad enough that it didn't bode well for me if someone could press my buttons properly.
Something had to be done about it.
I had no idea what expression was on my face as I thought of that, but the Sandaime Hokage noticed it, though what I said undoubtedly took greater precedence in his mind because he looked deeply unsettled by it. A young boy thought something priceless was taken from him, only to have it back again.
I genuinely hope that I reminded him of what he took from me.
"Um, Jiji," Naruko said awkwardly, breaking the slowly developing awkward silence, "Did you say you had a present for me?"
"Oh, yes." Sarutobi straightened up, looking more than a little relieved as he reached into the left pocket of his robes to pull out a storage scroll. With a twitch of his fingers, he pulsed some chakra into the paper and pulled out…
A Hitai-ate.
"This was a Hitai-ate that belonged to someone very dear to your mother." He said, leaning forward and handing the headband to her. Naruko took the offered item, peering at it closely.
All it took was her tilting it slightly for me to see the familiar symbol etched into the metal.
A whirlpool swirl, exactly the same kind as shown on the flak jackets of Konohagakure.
Very dear to her mother. Uzu… Uzumaki Mito.
"That is a headband for Uzushiogakure, the village your mother was from." Sarutobi explained, "It belonged to Uzumaki Mito. She was the Shodai's wife, and was your mother's great aunt."
My mind hyper focused on what was just said. The headband was being given to Naruko, not Tsunade. Either Tsunade hadn't cared for it, or simply didn't know about it and Sarutobi deduced that it would mean more to Naruko that she had it over that drunkard.
Naruko stilled as she stared at it, her eyes blinking rapidly.
Without warning, the blonde jumped up from where she was seated and rushed towards the old man, practically leaping into his arms as she hugged him with all her might.
"Thank you, Jiji." She mumbled into his chest, still clinging to him and not letting go.
… Hiruzen smiled tenderly, returning the embrace. After a few moments of what was by all accounts a touching scene, the sagely leader of the village let go and placed an aged hand on her shoulder, smiling sadly now.
"I wish I had found it sooner, Naruko. It was just collecting dust when it could have been with who it rightfully belongs to."
"Better late than never!" Naruko didn't seem to care at all, untying the cloth band and pushing her bangs back out of her face and setting the Hitai-ate on her forehead, ending the act with her rushing to the bathroom to probably look in the mirror.
Once Naruko disappeared for a moment to admire herself, Sarutobi turned to look at me appraisingly.
"I gather that you have a present of your own for her." He said, not saying it as a question, but as a statement.
I nodded my affirmative. "I'd be a terrible friend if I didn't, sir. It also happens to be something related to what you just gave her."
Sarutobi raised a brow in question, but didn't ask me for any more clarification as Naruko came racing back out of the bathroom and into the living room again.
Honestly, Naruko looked absolutely adorable with the headband on and a positively radiant smile on her face. The cloth band was meant for an adult's head, and it ended up dangling past her shoulder blades, and the metal portion was just a little too large on her forehead.
It almost reminded me of when I tried to wear my dad's Jonin flak jacket, much to my mom and… Itachi's amusement.
"Make way for Konoha's most fearsome kunoichi." I snickered under my breath.
Naruko rolled her eyes and pushed her head up high. "You're just jealous."
"Sure, let's go with that." I said amusedly, just feeling relieved that I was undoubtedly going to get a far more positive reaction from her with my choice in a gift that wasn't just an instrument. "But I've got one last gift for you." I added, standing up from my chair and reaching into my pocket.
Naruko's eyes traced along my face, then down towards my hand when I pulled a protective case not much longer or wider than my hand from my fingertips to my wrist out of my pocket.
"I sifted through a few things in my closet and found something," I said, walking up to her and shifting so I was shoulder to shoulder with her, and I slowly opened up the case, "Say hello to Uzumaki Kushina, Naruko."
The picture was one of 5 I found that would be a good option as a present for Naruko. There were more since my mom was very close with her, judging by the dozen or so additional pictures with them together, but far less with just Kushina.
It was during that time that I realized just how much Naruko looked like her mom. Cover up the marks on her face and dye her hair red, and you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.
The one I had decided on gifting her was one where she looked at least 16 or so and was busy tearing into an extra large bowl of ramen, and she was smiling embarrassedly with her mouth full when my mom probably snapped a quick picture.
Not a sound was made for several seconds, and what broke the silence was a shaky inhale and exhale of breath from the girl I had just given something that could not be quantified in value to.
"I…" Naruko started shaking, her eyes already starting to shine with unshed tears.
Without warning, she turned to face me and hugged me with all her might, her frame wracked by silent sobs.
"Thank you," She mumbled wetly, sniffling quietly, "Thank you."
I just silently stood there and let her hug me. A rare and almost vulnerable expression was on Sarutobi's face as he watched us, his eyes blinking rather quickly.
"Y-you didn't have to give me one of your pictures." She eventually said after remaining silent while having her arms wrapped around my chest just under my arms.
As if I had any claim to a picture of her mother that clearly showed that she loves ramen just as much as her daughter.
Naruko slowly pulled her arms back after letting me go, still holding the picture with an unmatched gentleness.
It was only then that I realized I forgot something. "Do you have a picture frame?" I asked suddenly, drawing her attention away from the photograph.
"I, uh, no." She said after thinking for a moment. "Could you, um…" Gone was the silent joy, now replaced by some embarrassment.
"Yeah, I'll get one for you tomorrow."
"Thanks." The blonde said, her attention returning back to the picture.
The rest of the small celebration of her birthday went without much fanfare after that. The leftover cake was put in Naruko's refrigerator, and Sarutobi had told Naruko a few stories about her mom and mine getting up to the same shenanigans typical of young genin at that age.
Anything to do with Minato was left out for blatantly obvious reasons.
It was around 9:00 when I decided to leave, and when I did, I didn't quite force myself, but I took a step out of my usual reservations and told Naruko goodbye and wrapped my arms around her.
I can tell it both surprised her and made her happy, but that didn't really matter all that much. Maybe I had been manipulating her for almost 2 years, but that hadn't been on my mind as the primary motivation for my actions in a long time.
Simply put, she was my friend now and I cared about her.
A clearing of Sarutobi's throat drew me from the brief tranquil state I was relaxing in and I turned to look at him.
"It would be best that I leave as well, for it is late now. Would you mind having company on the way back to your home, Sasuke? You never know what's out at night, and I wish to speak with you."
I just stared at him blankly, not showing any particular emotion. Without breaking eye contact, I let my arms fall to my side and I stepped away from Naruko.
"About?"
"Oh, just a few minor curiosities, nothing too important."
I couldn't just tell him no, even if that's what I wanted to do. It would sound far too suspicious and paint me in a less than inconspicuous light.
"Yeah, that's fine." I eventually settled on saying. With that, I walked over to where the leather case for what was my erhu now and braced it against my shoulder. With a quiet goodbye to Naruko, I turned and walked out of the apartment, Sarutobi following after he gave his own goodbye to the girl that meant a great deal to both of us, just in different ways.
/(SCENE BREAK)
I was currently in my living room, trying to figure out what parts of the string made particular notes. But to be honest, I was just half-assing after getting back home after a surprisingly good conversation with Sarutobi.
Basically, he had just been curious about how I was doing and what my thoughts were about my progress.
I could tell he was fishing for information, but only because I had been on guard about it in a way that I otherwise wouldn't have been had I not had some other worldly added context. I wouldn't have thought anything of it, save for that alone.
So I kept it simple; happy about my progress in Iryo-ninjutsu, on amicable terms with Yugao, Kakashi, and Hayate, and was happily interacting with Naruko and the other students.
The very last part might have been a partial lie, but only just so.
He'd also asked rather bluntly whether I had been experimenting with strength enhancement. I have been and I was honest and said yes, but I had stressed just how careful I was being so as to not fracture any of my bones, rupture ligaments or tendons, or cause nerve damage.
He seemed to be pleased at my response.
Another loud, hair raising noise came from the erhu as I tried my best to get the bow to slide along the string, but failed horribly.
I fought the urge to swear, opting to just scowl instead.
"It took me over a year to be able to play my favorite song, Sasuke." I muttered to myself, repeating exactly what my mom had told me. "Learning it is like watering a plant; you must be patient and wait for it to bloom."
One small problem, Mom… I'm more impatient than I ever was, because there was now a song that I knew existed, just not in this world, that I wanted to desperately hear.
The fact that 'I' had heard it multiple times didn't matter, it was that I had only heard it played on an erhu by one person, and was enthralled by it.
And now I had my own way to play it.
Another off note sound came from the string and I growled under my breath in frustration, glancing at the books neatly stacked on my coffee table. Each and every one of those was stacked to the brim with the proper hand seals for dozens of different Ninjutsu techniques, advice on the best forms of Genjutsu to hit prepared or unprepared targets with, and a host of other things for a prospective Uchiha with a drive to be the greatest his clan ever produced.
I could belt right through it in a couple hours though, no more than six if I reread it a second time with my Sharingan to have it burnt into my mind with my Dojutsu on two separate readings.
And it all felt pointless. I'd done that for the last several months non-stop and knew over 150 assorted Jutsu and a dozen ideas for Genjutsu.
As if I needed to say that all that did nothing to close the gap with Kakashi, let alone my own brother or the threats on the horizon.
But I couldn't keep this up. I did nothing but sleep, eat, and train for the past two years now, and I still wasn't able to find peace with that. Most dangerous prepubescent kid in all of Konoha, but I was still frightened of everything.
I wasn't truly alive, I was just living at this point.
Right now, this piece of wood and string was the only thing other than spending time with Naruko that actually made me feel like I was doing something other than being a purely reactionary force to Itachi…
And that made me reflect some more, now that my temper had stilled somewhat. I wasn't really enjoying that many things when I was manipulating Naruko for selfish reasons early on, but now I actually did enjoy being around her.
Training was monotonous when I did nothing but that, and my mind always felt a pathological urge to fill in a boring lull to my thoughts with anything and everything, including memories that left me in a caustic mood.
So if I knew copying and memorizing the books, which I could do tomorrow before I do my typical physical training with the bunshin at the academy, did nothing for me to relax, I'll play this to hopefully give me an outlet other than beating a tree to death.
Srryyykkk!
Once I figured out how to make it sound like something other than a cat being skinned alive, that is.
/(END CHAPTER)
Like I put in the above A/N, all the stuff that has Sasuke currently reacting and acting in a very negative fashion happened within a few days. It was bound to come to a head until something gave, and it was his restraint. But he's more visibly aware of it, and starting to take steps.
Other than that, yay for Naruko getting a picture of her mom and something else to have of her.
And that's about it, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.
Raging. Like ReplyReport Reactions:MikeXM25, Dacraun, HastyCafe and 581 othersRagingSmurfOO7Feb 17, 2023NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Chapter 12: Showtime New View contentRagingSmurfOO7Not too sore, are you?Mar 27, 2023Add bookmark#385New chapter out and there isn't much else to say. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
As usual, this was released a week earlier on my Discord server. For earlier chapters and be kept up to date on what my next stories will be, feel free to join the server.
This is the link, just remove the space: discord /2XN2rzuFpM
/LINE BREAK/
"You're wanting what from me?" Kakashi asked, sounding legitimately shocked for once.
"I need a favour from you, which involves you masquerading as mine and Naruko's guardian or something so we can go to listen to the music at the show coming up in a couple days." I repeated myself, relishing in how disarming it must be for him that this came completely out of nowhere.
This was kind of a weird situation to ask him, but there was no other time that I could actually talk with Kakashi that wasn't training. A crisp October day at the outskirts of the training grounds was about as good as it would get.
Something told me that Kakashi's perception of how this little training session was supposed to go didn't involve this though. It was supposed to be him sitting still and letting me hit him with as many types of Genjutsu I could do, then break them casually and lecture me about where I could improve upon them, not be asked to be daddy for a day.
Although Kakashi would be absolutely perfect as a cover for a dysfunctional little creature like me, I doubt he would appreciate it if I openly said that. A lot of people were uncomfortable when I spoke sometimes, so best not reveal the madness within.
Kakashi didn't respond immediately, all he did was look at me. It almost felt like it was shaping up to be a typical training session, where he'd stare at me silently until I got uncomfortable and was drawn out to ask a question.
It was only after about a solid minute of silent staring that I realized what he was waiting for. If it was anybody else he was doing it too, I would have found it amusing. But as it was, all it did was make me mildly annoyed.
"Please." I said, not liking the forced performative gesture on my part.
Kakashi put his hand up to his chin, striking a pose of ponderment.
"Hmmm, it could be explained as a supplement to your training, infiltration into unfamiliar environments and whatnot. I could also probably mention that it was to help treat your systemic discombobulation after you exhausted yourself."
I had absolutely no idea where he was getting the idea to speak like that from. Either it was an Icha Icha reference, or he thought that being super clinical would, I don't know, annoy me maybe?
"Sure, let's go with that." I shrugged, more than willing to put up with whatever strange eccentricity was unique to Kakashi for Naruko's sake.
I could care less about listening to music at whatever establishment fancied hosting a band personally, but Naruko had wanted to ever since her birthday a couple weeks ago. And with me having nothing to do in my spare time other than walk the tightrope on extra training that was definitely not good for my long-term psychological stability, spending time talking with Naruko, and trying to hold a proper note on my erhu, I might as well sort of mix the last two together into something else to do.
Kakashi had evidently been cooking up the comments when I got quiet and started thinking. "Maa, you really are getting good at the dismissive shrug. Is that something your clan tutors you on, or is it genetic?"
I just rolled my eyes.
"It's genetic, so expect it to show up either in a few years, or in your kids, because of the bleeding effect in your eye."
That ended up drawing out the trademarked eye smile of the Copycat Nin.
"I think we've done enough Genjutsu training for today. Good progress so far, so why don't you go say hi to your future wife and take her out for some ramen?"
I prided myself on being able to, for the most part, contain my emotions and conceal them. Obviously, there are extenuating circumstances surrounding ones connected to some of the more spicy memories I had, but most other ones I had a decent handle on.
That didn't stop me from feeling my face heat up in embarrassment.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear anything." I said, my hands already racing up from my waist to form the proper hand seals to Shunshin away.
Kakashi just kept smiling. "There's times where I need repayment for good deeds, and money doesn't interest me. Reminding you that you're a little kid is good enough for this small favor."
I just scowled at him, before disappearing from the training. I wasn't willing to give him the satisfaction of hearing me laugh at what he said.
(SCENE BREAK)
"Just let me wear the shirt and pants, Sasuke!" Naruko shouted petulantly, crossing her arms and stamping her foot against the floor. "You're being annoying, -ttebeyo!"
The employee at the store had long fled from the two of us after initially offering to help two young kids. I looked and sounded like a complete misanthrope when I wanted to, mostly for some measure of mean-spirited amusement, and Naruko was, well, Naruko.
We were currently having a very animated conversation about how her hair clashed horribly with the dressier clothes she wanted. The music show was tomorrow, and I wanted to be there with something better than the cheap clothes I used for training or my day clothes. Thing was, I had plenty of well-made clothes to choose from, but Naruko did not.
So, we were at a nice little shop on the southwest side of the village, attracting a small audience of onlookers listening in on us talk from behind a few aisles of clothes
"Those don't go well with your hair," I repeated myself, holding up what I had grabbed from the clothes rack to my left a minute ago, "This will go well wi-"
"I'm not wearing a kimono, Sasuke!" She said loudly, puffing out her cheeks in frustration. "It's not a funeral or a wedding, so no fancy schmancy stuff."
I could hear hushed whispers and snickering from several feet away, including at least two distinctly feminine voices giggling between themselves about how adorable of a couple we would make in a few years.
Maybe Shikamaru was right about something that made him sound like an idiot at first glance, with his dad trying to educate him to the contrary.
Women really are troublesome.
"Then wear a burlap sack for all I care!" I threw up my arms in irritation and ran my fingers through my hair, groaning audibly at my sole friend making things complicated.
"Just find something that doesn't look like I'm getting crowned as a princess, then we can get out of here and eat!"
I really wanted to be a pedantic asshole and tell her princesses didn't get crowned like how queens were, at least here in Hi no Kuni, but I didn't want to have her get legitimately mad at me.
Without taking too much time, I ran through a couple of ideas as I walked about the back part of the store, successfully resisting the urge to stomp like a child and look at different girls and unisex clothes.
After coming up with nothing, again, I decided to go with something that was a tried and tested Shinobi tradition.
Blackmail.
"Okay, Naruko, you win." I shrugged, making sure to pay attention to her facial expressions.
Unsurprisingly, she was more than a little surprised that I gave in.
"Uh, really?" She said confusedly, whatever prepared argument she had against me petering out in real time.
"Yep, you can wear those clothes you want and I'll wear the kimono." I then broke eye contact with the blonde nightmare and scooped up both kimono and the ghastly coloured clothes Naruko selected and marched across the store and to the checkout, with my thoroughly horrified friend practically shouting at me to stop.
"Wait! Waitwaitwaitwaitwait! Sasuke! Please don't joke about it. You're joking, right?! Tell me you're joking!" Naruko was speaking a mile a minute and I could hear more vocal chuckles from multiple adults as I finally, after hours of a horrible and spiritually taxing battle with my enemy, triumphed in the end.
Burning my inheritance on frivolous clothes was worth it. I could have 50 kids and I could still pay for all of them with the money I had, so buying crap I'd only wear once was worth it, especially if it put Naruko in a frenzy.
(SCENE BREAK)
"I did not sign up to help you dress up as a girl, Sasuke." Kakashi already felt the stirrings of a headache build up at the sight of his sort of apprentice and the object of his continued, not quite apprehension, but unease.
Sasuke was wearing a kimono that was made almost certainly for a girl, not caring in the slightest by how relaxed his posture was and the slight smirk on his face. Naruko was even easier to read. She was fidgeting, looked embarrassed by being seen in public with Sasuke, and was shooting him death glare that were almost identical to her mother's when Jiraiya-sama had said something aggressively rakish.
Naruko wasn't all that much better, because she was wearing… a green and orange pair of pants and shirt. Whoever designed it should be executed, it was that ugly. And whoever sold it to her, a blonde, should be banished.
If he had cared about appearance at all, the silver haired ANBU would have likely felt uncomfortable at the multitude of stares aimed at them as they were but a short walking distance away from the club, and a great deal of civilians were walking the streets to get there. And as it was, decent clothes weren't exactly necessary, just something clean and not bad looking.
He counted no less than 37 adults currently looking at them with varying levels of confusion and concern, which he could understand.
The concern might have also been because on top of the village Jinchuriki and a crossdressing bundle of nerves, he still had his mask on and his Jonin jacket.
Sasuke just snorted. "I didn't expect you'd wear a mask to something so important either. Like Sensei like student, such disappointments."
Naruko just crossed her arms and huffed, her face scrunched up in annoyance.
"I don't get why you're upset, Naruko," Sasuke's normally cold or completely flat gaze was now bright and as close to normal for a 10 year old as Kakashi had ever seen in the boy, "I got us a chaperone."
The look Naruko gave to Kakashi would have been amusing to him if it was on the face of anybody else. But Kushina with Sensei's hair and eyes was what was hitting him with it, and it wasn't a pleasant experience.
"You found the only adult who's weirder than you." She said flatly, her arms still crossed as she practically pouted.
"Maa, I can hear you even if I'm only looking at you with one eye."
Naruko just groaned to herself, before shooting Sasuke a glare.
"You know what, I'm going to just ignore you both and have fun listening to the music, -ttebeyo." The little princess turned up her nose at Sasuke, walking on ahead of them to get to the theater. "Annoying duck butt." She mumbled the last part just loud enough for them to hear, which was probably on purpose.
Kakashi just stared at Naruko's back for a moment, genuinely startled by how much she acted like her mother when Minato-sensei had done something legitimately idiotic. Monitoring her and watching her act around Sasuke and the other students her age was different from being on the receiving end of it and viewing it up close.
Shaking himself from his momentary stupor, Kakashi glanced at the totally at ease Sasuke.
"So, ready?"
"As ever."
(SCENE BREAK)
Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly because Kakashi was obviously a Shinobi, there was no hassle at all for us to pay and get in. Aside from the odd stares, which honestly amused me quite a bit because of how adorable Naruko looked as she glared at me, we made our way to the room where the show was going to start and found some seats at the front.
Now, this wasn't the big and proper theater where things like Kabuki or Noh were done. This was at the outer edge of Konoha where most of the average everyday civilian came, a place that also took a secondary role as a bar. But don't ask me about the normality of it or not. I'm in a world where I can reattach limbs, so regular stuff like keeping 10 year olds away from where alcohol is served is just non-existent.
Think of it as a more upscale version of karaoke night.
It was mostly adults here and we stood out even more than what I was expecting. Hell, I'm pretty sure the next youngest here other than us were in their late teens.
Whatever, kids our age must've had shit taste then.
Once we actually got seated and the lights dimmed some, any annoyance or negativity Naruko had towards me calling her challenge melted away like the snow in spring and I got a glimpse of joy on her face that I had grown to love seeing.
It was a small thing, and I doubt Naruko would notice, but I activated my Sharingan for a fraction of a second and burned the image of the beginnings of a smile on her face as the curtains opened and I saw the performers get on the small stage. I recognized a few of the instruments, including the shamisens that Naruko was visibly shaking in her seat excitedly at.
Kakashi was just reading his Icha Icha book, not caring at all about the show.
The performing group introduced themselves, then got started on playing a song. It initially was slow and melodic, with much of the music coming from the shamisens taking forefront. It wasn't until a couple minutes in that the tone shifted and it was exclusively the two erhus playing.
As I let the music roll over my mind like an invisible wave, my entire body relaxed and I leaned my head back into the chair. This was a good idea to do.
I twitched slightly when Naruko, as discreetly as she could, set her hand on mine, all the while she stared at the stage and moved her head in sync with the music. And I just stared at her the entire time.
Yeah, this was definitely a good idea.
(SCENE BREAK)
Gai took a step back from my chakra enhanced strike aimed at his face and frowned for a moment, his fingers clenching into his palm for a moment after stopping it. But quick as a flash, the strange reaction disappeared and he rushed to re-engage Naruko and me, the three of us clashing once more with today's taijutsu lessons.
Gai's fist sailed towards my head, but I traced the trajectory of it with my Sharingan and I deftly redirected it, lashing out with a kick at his stomach. The hit was blocked, and Gai shoved my leg into the path of Naruko's lunge at his side, forcing her to back away.
Even with the two of us, Gai wasn't particularly bothered. It was kind of annoying after a while, and I really wanted to land a clean hit.
"My lead." I said to my friend, darting forward and making a single hand seal to make Gai think I was going to use a Jutsu.
It evidently worked, sort of, because he shot forward and aimed a kick at my hands. The bait worked enough for me to use what level of consistent chakra enhanced ability I had in an open fight and my fingers wrapped around his sandal.
At that moment, Naruko got to us after her intentional staggered pace and she flipped over Gai, driving a kick towards his head.
Gai wasn't the taijutsu master of Konoha for no reason, and the trap that would have forced any other opponent to either get kicked in the head or their foot crushed by a chakra enhanced grip was completely broken out when Gai dropped all the weight from his supporting leg and leaned back as he fell to drop his head under Naruko's kick. His right hand was flung backwards as his free leg swept to the right and slammed into my forearm, pulling his foot free with a chunk of his sandal clenched in my left hand.
Then, with the balance and strength of a professional gymnast on steroids, Gai flipped backwards and onto his feet with just his one arm, and he looked happy.
"Well done, you two." Gai grinned, hopping on his feet as Naruko and I both circled him. I say circling him, but we were anything but the predators in this situation. We were basically two mentally challenged mice playing with an incredibly bored cat, and I was painfully aware of that fact.
Knowing I had no other trick I could pull out that Gai wouldn't expect, I decided to do something a little foolhardy that could possibly work.
"At least target me this time, please." I requested, glancing at Naruko for a moment. "I'm tired of being the last one standing each time."
Gai just raised a brow, before shrugging and actually agreeing based on him flying right at me with the same speed I could manage with a Shunshin.
Naruko thankfully had already been moving, so I wouldn't be speed blitzed too horribly.
Gai's leg nearly blurred as he spun and sent a flawless scissor kick at me, the speed boosted momentum being enough where I knew I'd be genuinely injured if I met it head on.
My dojutsu read and predicted the speed and location of where it would hit me, so I course corrected my balance and drove my fist forward, enhancing my arm all the way up to my elbow and punched Gai's leg.
Now, the way strength enhancement with chakra worked was twofold. One, its efficiency was based on chakra control, but the second part was that it magnified your baseline physical ability. It meant that technically, Naruko could surpass my strength with the technique if she miraculously developed the same level of chakra control as me, but fat chance of that.
So, all the power in a 10 year old's arm, mixed with efficient chakra enhancement from reserves on a similar size as some Jonin, was just enough for me to knock Gai's kick away from me and force his balance to sway.
With the opening, I leaped up and kicked at his head, while Naruko slid under his punch and lunged at Gai as I braced myself and wrapped my leg around his head by sticking my other foot to his head with chakra and his arm got trapped that went up to protect his face. The momentum sent us both to the ground, where Gai immediately broke the grip I had around his head and reversed our position, before bodily grabbing me and flinging me at a slightly shocked Naruko.
Just by dumb luck, my forehead glanced off her temple instead of dead on as I smashed straight into her and all the wind was driven from my lungs.
And that concluded close to the 100th defeat at the hands of Mario Gai.
"Are you two alright?" Gai asked as he walked up to us, helping up Naruko first since she was splayed on top of me and groaning in pain.
I didn't immediately respond, more so from my difficulty breathing. I just stayed on the ground until I could start breathing properly. It was a gross calculation on my part on how hard that Gai would throw. He might have actually fractured something.
Naruko recovered quickly enough after being helped up and growled under her breath, stood up, and tried to get the dirt out of her hair.
"Why can't we beat you?!" She demanded, frowning as she walked up to me and helped me up. "We keep on fighting, but we can't do anything to beat you, -ttebeyo!"
After a few shaky attempts, I was able to draw a steady breath and I shut my eyes to help me deactivate my Sharingan.
"Uh, you're bleeding." Naruko's aggravation at losing completely flipped as she lifted her hand up against my temple, blue eyes wide with concern.
"You should heal that, Sasuke." Gai said, ignoring Naruko for the moment. "Preferably now."
I complied with the request and backed away from Naruko before I made the proper hand seals and healed the already sensitive part of my head, still looking at the man.
A faint breeze had started to gather and I shivered involuntarily when the cold air brushed against my sweat covered face. Training in October outside was yet another reminder that I was still not accustomed to cold climates. Whatever the hell Gai was doing where he had a visible halo of steam around him and looked indifferent to the temperature made me jealous.
But I was more focused on the resident Jonin giving the brief rundown that he always gave after we'd finished with a spar.
"To both of you, especially Naruko," Gai's voice adopted a more educational tone that was more in line with what Hayate or Yugao would use when educating me about something, "You are making phenomenal progress. As you two are now, you would undoubtedly be able to defeat many conventional Jonin in taijutsu working together. Had I not insisted that you don't use Ninjutsu, we would still be sparring. So do not let unyouthful thoughts plague you, both of you are a joy to see flourish under my tutelage."
The reassurance that we weren't just turning our wheels seemed to work well for Naruko's mood. I could tell the tenseness in her shoulders was from frustration, and now it was gone.
"Oh," She said quietly, looking down at her feet for a moment, "That… makes sense. Thanks, bushy brows!"
Gai's exuberant grin flickered for a moment and his face twitched, which amused me more than it should have. But then it went back to normal.
Damn, I love my eyes.
"But that is all for today, my youthful students!" Gai proclaimed, striking a pose. "I must continue my eternal rivalry with Kakashi and you two must have a nourishing meal, so flee my students!"
The magnanimous training freak then disappeared in a flash of green, leaving a sizzling track in the grass.
"Could you see him move at full speed if you used your eyes?" Naruko asked simply, eyeing the ground warily.
"Naruko, I don't think there's a single person in the world that has survived seeing Gai go at full speed."
…
"Are we going to get food now? I'm hungry."
I just laughed and nodded my head. "Yeah, food sounds like an awesome idea."
(LINE BREAK)
"Why are you outside my house?" I asked flatly, staring at an extremely bored looking Kakashi.
Naruko and I had just finished eating at the steakhouse, courtesy of my money once again, and we had walked back to my house so I could help her out with what her plans were in giving some more pointers for our classmates.
And enter, Kakashi.
"Who even is this guy?" Naruko said out loud, squinting at the masked man as she shifted into a defensive stance as discreetly as she could. "Is he stalking you or something? Hey, you a weirdo or something, old man?!"
Of course she thinks antagonizing him is a good idea.
Kakashi sighed tiredly, looking at me lazily. "My hair is naturally silver, and is she always this loud? I suspected that the show you dragged me to was her being well-behaved, but this just confirms it."
"Hey!"
"I've been around animals, smart ones at that, and you're not one of those."
Please don't understand. Please don't understand. Please don't understand.
"I'm gonna punch you so hard, I'll knock that stupid mask off your face, -ttebeyo!"
Shit.
I really wasn't in the mood for Kakashi being evasive and riling up Naruko, so I elected to burst his balloon.
"Naruko, please don't let him annoy you. That's just how he is. This is Hatake Kakashi, A-rank Shinobi." I explained to Naruko, who was still flushed red almost and glaring at Kakashi.
"And why should I care who he is?!" She still looked pissed, which made me want to punch Kakashi myself because an angry Naruko was an insufferable Naruko. And I was the one who she was around all the time.
"Because next to Gai, Kakashi is probably the most dangerous Shinobi other than the Hokage in the village."
Naruko's posture stilled, her eyes widening slightly. But instead of getting quiet and understanding that maybe elite Shinobi were weird at times, she still didn't let go of the insult thrown at her.
"Well he looks stupid." She pouted, crossing her arms just like she did when she couldn't think of anything else to do.
Kakashi kept up a bored expression throughout the entire exchange, looking totally unbothered by being the recipient of a death glare from a pint sized girl with the equivalent of an emotionally triggered super weapon sealed inside her.
"She really needs house training."
"I'm gonn-"
"Why are you here?" I interrupted Naruko and stared at the nuisance, pointedly ignoring what I now was sure was Kakashi genuinely aggravating Naruko to screw with me.
Kakashi just reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a few sheets of paper, handing them to me. I took them and glanced down, frowning slightly.
"What are these?"
"You're aware of the electives at the beginning of the next curriculum year, right?" Kakashi asked.
I in fact did know. Basically, something here that wasn't exactly stated in the series was elective classes for the final two years of the academy. They ranged from the basics of Genjutsu, tracking, infiltration, Fuinjutsu, Kenjutsu, and the most basic of Iryo-ninjutsu. Pretty much anything that your Jonin sensei would teach you in the first year or so of tutelage was available for those who grasped the regular curriculum fairly well, or things that would round out clan related expertise early on. An example would be Kiba taking the tracking elective, or Shikamaru taking one to do with strategy.
"Yes, I am." I nodded my confirmation. Naruko was sort of aware, but only tertiarily.
"Those notes you're holding are the basic curriculum for the next year, and I wrote down the recommended ones for the two of you."
What?
"Really?" I looked at the papers closer, then back at him. I was… ' surprised' would be too weak of a word to describe how I felt. "Couldn't you have just talked to me about it?"
Kakashi shook his head. "I'll be out of town for a little while, so this was also me saying goodbye for the next two weeks. I also thought I might as well write down some advice for your girlfriend on picking her electives."
Naruko growled under her breath, looking disturbingly like a tea kettle ready to explode.
I just kept ignoring him, not exactly enjoying the more sarcastic Kakashi. Maybe he was getting sentimental about me and might, just might, have started to enjoy being around me and would miss me.
"So, is that it?" I asked slowly, not thinking of anything I'd want to say to Kakashi before he left on what I suspected was an ANBU related mission.
"Yeah, nothing else. So I'll just go now." With that, Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
Well, that just happened.
"I hate him." Naruko muttered, stomping into my house and pushing the door open. "I hate him so much."
I didn't offer up a rebuttal, I just kept silent and followed her into my house so we could discuss some things.
The next couple of hours involved me reading over the details of the elective subjects and I slowly drew up a lesson plan that Naruko and I both would benefit from. She would be 100% taking the basic Fuinjutsu elective, as was expected of a hyperactive Uzumaki. The other classes she'd take would be tracking and strategy, because she definitely needed help with thinking on a grander scale than just 'Me and Sasuke against a dozen baddies.'
For me though, Iryo-ninjutsu was completely useless. Kakashi explicitly put that in bold print of the papers he gave me, in red ink. I knew more than what the two years worth of classes offered, so that was a bust.
Genjutsu would probably be useful, because I still didn't exactly know the basics and fundamentals of it. Don't get me wrong, Kakashi was dangerous with Genjutsu, but that was mostly from ocular Genjutsu with his Sharingan. And I needed that basic foundation if I wanted to develop my own variations and ones not tied to my eyes.
So Genjutsu, tracking, and infiltration were the guaranteed ones for me so far, while Fuinjutsu, tracking, and strategy were the ones shortlisted for Naruko. And it wasn't like we couldn't copy and share notes with one other. Heaven knows I'm going to be advising her on sneaking around and evading detection in the same way I've been teaching her as best as I could how to break illusions.
We were at this for hours, all the way till near midnight when we finished our plans for the next two years of our future. But it was worth it in every way. My only thought as I demanded, not requested, that I walk Naruko home was that, no matter what, I was going to get through all this alive.
No… We.
(SCENE BREAK)
Keep it together. I thought to myself steadily, managing to keep a consistent note on the erhu for several seconds no-
Skkrrrrrrk!
"Bastard."
I mumbled a few more choice words and set the erhu down gently, cracking my knuckles on my left hand with my thumb. My talents most definitely did not lay in playing an instrument, and my progress was slow going. Realistically, I could see myself being pretty decent at it by the time I graduate, but that was a long way away.
Best to just be patient.
I stood up from my preferred chair in my living room and made my way outside, everything for today's training session already prepared.
Making a cross seal, I spawned two clones and had them get started, while I made a third for another purpose.
"Okay, you two already know your orders, so get to it." I instructed, walking over to the small table I had buried a foot into the ground to hold in place. A storage scroll was set on it and I popped it open, casually pulling out two bokken and a weighted lead plate.
One bokken was tossed to the third clone and I picked up the other in my left hand, while the plate was stuck to my off hand with chakra.
While the two clones went about using chakra enhanced strength to sink their fingers into and rip chunks out from a pile of pre prepared logs, the other clone was to be my sparring partner since neither Yugao or Hayate were available. The first was likely on the same mission Kakashi went on last week, and Hayate didn't do well in cold weather and was held up in the hospital with an ancient looking nebulizer mask around his face…
At least it was ancient by my standards, that is. I'm pretty sure I distinctly remember two or three different tech progressions with that stuff from the early 2000s up until 15 years later, but this wasn't exactly America was it?
My sparring clone and I got to the center of my backyard and without saying a word, the chakra construct darted forward and thrust the bokken at my chest.
I tapped it aside almost casually with a loud clack, keeping my footing correct as I blocked a second from hitting my face and redirecting another cut aimed at my side into the ground.
The goal of this training was for me to improve my multitasking when it came to defending myself from attacks while manipulating my chakra, hence the lead plate currently stuck to my off hand.
Another quick series of flowing strikes struck against my bokken and I weathered it without too much issue. The last one was sidestepped by me and I knocked it away further with a strike that opened the clone up to a chakra enhanced kick from me.
The clone exploded into smoke and the bokken clattered to the ground.
Still without speaking, I made another clone and started it up again.
Once my Kenjutsu training for today was finished, I cracked open a small package Kakashi left for me with a painfully generic comment about how he forgot to mention a good way to learn how to sense chakra around me, like I had been interested in.
Honestly, if I didn't know Kakashi better than I had any right to, I would have given up on trying to buddy up to him. Months. MONTHS, he had forgotten to mention that the basics of the chakra draining technique could speed up the Katon based sensing technique he recommended to me months ago. But as it was, a painfully incompetent teacher that was an A-rank was better than a decent teacher that was a lesser rank.
So, with the sun in the sky and my clones still ripping logs apart, I cracked open the book and started reading.
Five minutes later.
"Bullshit!" I slammed the booklet shut and chucked it at my backdoor, not caring at all that I might damage it. I then started pacing angrily around the yard, ignoring the clones glancing at me curiously.
Of course Kakashi didn't mention that I would need a partner to drain their chakra from their tenketsu in order to learn it, that doing it on animals wouldn't quite help as much, and that you needed to redirect it out of yourself or you'd get sick from foreign chakra floating in your system.
The only plus side I saw to this was that I could potentially absorb some of Naruko's chakra and force my own to act more like Indra's, so there's definitely an upside at least.
With that part of the day shot to hell, I packed up my stuff and took it back inside, ordering my clones to keep at it until they popped from lack of chakra.
(SCENE BREAK)
"You're actually taking more classes? That sounds like a drag." Shikamaru sighed as he sat his head back down on the desk, looking just as tired as usual.
Naruko fought the urge to scowl, halfheartedly trying to adjust her bangs so they weren't hanging past her eyes. She had gotten used to her hair being short for about a year, but now it was almost back to what it was before that… jerk poured glue on her.
"You do know that you have to take at least one class, right?" Naruko asked pointedly, noticing that Sasuke wasn't bothering to be the one to give Shikamaru grief over his laziness.
Since that Kakashi guy had been gone for almost two weeks now, she'd noticed Sasuke was more distracted, less focused on one particular subject, and was attempting things she hadn't seen him do before. He'd been obsessed with the chakra sticking exercise and had been sitting absolutely still and silent on multiple occasions, even getting angry when he'd be jarred from whatever he was doing.
Sure, she knew it wasn't exactly her business to know all of what Sasuke was doing, but it was really, really weird for him to do that.
Shikamaru groaned at her question and looked at her without lifting his head.
"Tell me a class you or Sasuke aren't in and I'll pick that one." He said, closing his eyes.
Naruko bared her teeth, glaring at the boy and concocting an evil plan to punish the boy for making fun of her. Iruka was still droning on about some Konoha history that was part of the basic near end of the year recap and Naruko gave a silent apology for what she was about to do.
With Iruka speaking, Sasuke looking lost to the world, and Shikamaru falling back asleep, Naruko slammed her fist into a space just a few inches from Shikamaru's head and jarred the entire desk and made a very loud noise that echoed throughout the entire room.
Shikamaru predictably shot up and nearly fell out of his seat with a shocked look on his face, and everyone abruptly turned to look at her.
"Naruko?" Iruka looked at her, a crease running along his brow as he looked at her strangely.
"Uh, there was a fly, Iruka-sensei." She said with a mock sheepishness, pretending like she didn't mean to make it that loud.
Iruka evidently bought it, because he simply told her not to be loud and went back to the history lecture.
Shikamaru was now fully awake and annoyed, while Sasuke was looking straight at her. He wasn't fooled in the slightest, and she huffed internally at that. She can never get one over him and it was so annoying. He was the one she wanted to fool at least once, but those stupid eyes of his could see everything.
Naruko just slumped in her chair and waited for the lecture to be over so she could have lunch.
(SCENE BREAK)
Hiruzen scowled at the incident report that was fast tracked and delivered straight from the field by the ANBU, Kame. The turtle masked ANBU looked to be scuffed up and fatigued, but otherwise uninjured on his trek back to the village.
"Will you be fit for a debriefing?" Hiruzen inquired, cracking open the security seal by pulsing three different elemental affinities - Fire, Lightning, Earth- in that order to deactivate the primed explosive to prevent its opening by an enemy agent.
"Yes, sir." The ANBU replied, but Hiruzen noticed that it didn't sound as certain as his subordinate might have hoped for.
"Clean yourself up and grab something quick to eat." Hiruzen instructed, pulling the surprisingly large collection of papers out to read. "You can debrief me after I have read through this."
The ANBU nodded and left the room, straight to the mess hall reserved for the illustrious special forces of Konoha.
The Sandaime looked through the report with a practiced eye from decades of such incidents and his frown progressively deepened as he looked at the particular scrawl of Kakashi.
The assassination went wrong almost immediately. The regional governor had evidently contracted out a group of ronin who had been experienced in sniffing out assassins and fighting Shinobi, but the ANBU still succeeded in their mission without any losses.
Thankfully, their secondary objective went flawlessly. She was, according to Kakashi, shaken and scared, but otherwise not terribly injured.
But the escape from the city was chaotic, to put it mildly. Ambushed by ANBU trained Shinobi, no tactics discernable to tell whether it was Iwa, Kumo, or even Kiri agents, and the local police forces joined in the hunt. It was a complete mess and a testament to Kakashi's skill that no one had been captured or killed as of yet.
Hiruzen had finished the report by the time the ANBU returned, looking refreshed after the short reprieve.
"Now, tell me what has transpired." Hiruzen ordered, stacking the papers neatly and sealing them into a scroll that was promptly tied shut and put into his desk for later.
The masked Shinobi's recounting of events lined up fairly well with Kakashi's written one, minus a couple of details.
After he was finished, Hiruzen dismissed the man and told him he would expect him back at 6:00 sharp tomorrow to speak with him. As of now, more ANBU would be needed to reinforce them to facilitate a safe withdrawal back to Konoha.
Once the room was back to just himself, not counting his concealed guards, Hiruzen signaled for them to vacate the room and that he'd be gone for a short period.
The faintest trace of sound was heard as his guards left from their perches and he promptly exited the room, going down the hall and forming two clones to go to the houses of Homura and Koharu while he himself was heading to where Danzo was undoubtedly residing in that wasn't his official address.
…
Knock knock!
"Who is it?" A voice asked from behind the steel door. "If you're that transportation guy here to pick shit up, it's not supposed to be until next wee-"
"Enough with the lie," Hiruzen demanded impatiently, "Danzo is here and I need to speak with him."
Of all times for him to not galavant around in his robes. Out of them, he looked like all the other elders of the village, but shorter.
"I uh, don't know who that is."
Scowling under his breath, Hiruzen set his palm on the door and folded his chakra several times in the span of a second, then twisted it into the element of earth and pulsed it through the door.
The door crumbled without any resistance into hundreds of chunks with a loud clattering noise, revealing an extremely shocked ROOT agent.
Decades behind the Ninjutsu innovations of today and pushing 70 years old, and he still outperformed 9/10ths of all S-ranks in the Elemental nations.
"Your tone of voice still maintains a minute stilting to it." He said flatly, walking briskly past the on edge ROOT agent. "Do try and work on that."
Hiruzen sensed over a dozen different flavours of chakra sizzling through his tenketsu as he used a thinly controlled stream of Fire chakra dancing through his tenketsu to feel the traces of them throughout the room and kept on walking through the base, already knowing where Danzo was.
A quick disabling of a trap matrix in the next room with a lightning coated kunai ripping through the structural weakness of the explosive fuse brought an end to any perceivable threats and Hiruzen, having not slowed down or sped up his stride, pushed the nondescript door open to the most secure room in the entire underground base.
Inside the room was the leader of ROOT, who was holding a set of papers and a pair of reading glasses were perched on his face.
"You could always just send a message, Hiruzen." Danzo said neutrally, his office was even more laconic than most Shinobis' with just the desk, chair, and lamp on the left hand side of said desk. "Was the door trick really necessary?"
"I would recommend that you either find a new doorman or train the current one better. Most ANBU would notice the tone discrepancy." Hiruzen didn't answer Danzo's question and instead mentioned that. Call it petty, but Hiruzen was not forgiving of Danzo after just two years. "Now come, I must speak with you about matters I'm certain you've tried and failed to figure out for yourself."
Danzo sighed and set the set of mission reports back on his desk. He then stood up with some effort and grabbed his cane. "The ANBU mission to assassinate Miyazaki?"
"The very same."
"I assume that Koharu and Homura will also be present?"
"I see age hasn't taken your deductive reasoning away just yet."
"Oh spare me your juvenile wit." Danzo made his way around the table and leaned on the cane to keep his balance. "Let's get this over with."
The two old men exited the base and returned to the Hokage tower within a few short minutes without any fanfare, where they were met by their two surviving teammates.
"What was necessary to have us called here at nearly 11 at night?" Koharu asked tiredly, giving both men a look of undisguised aggravation as the sole kunoichi was currently wearing a visibly out of date Shinobi uniform that looked haphazardly put on.
Homura at least kept the illusion of sophistication in the face of being a withered old prune that was always a nearly idiosyncratic behavior of his, with an almost up to date flak jacket thrown over his night clothes.
For the sake of their decades-long friendship and his own occasional lack of decorum when not absolutely necessary, Hiruzen pointedly ignored their state of dress.
Making his way to his desk, the aged Hokage sat down and gave the basic rundown of the ANBU mission currently going wrong.
After it was finished, his eyes traced across the two seated.
"I expect you two to assist Danzo in coordinating a corridor being opened with his agents." Hiruzen stated at the end, knowing that the two retired nin he had just spoken to were the most well equipped to work with Danzo because of decades of past experience with him.
"Do you expect that much of a response?" Homura asked, looking perturbed by the implication. "It can't be as desperate as one would think if you requested us getting the old team back together again. The last time we were all together for battle plans was the Third War."
"Our ANBU and conventional Shinobi forces are stretched thin as is." Hiruzen responded to the more intellectual and clinically inclined of the four of them. "Danzo's ROOT teams are all that are available in bulk for immediate reinforcements. Regulars would reveal our role in the mission, and the Fire Daimyo will not take kindly to an unsanctioned operation in his personal fiefdom."
One of the stipulations in the feudal contract drawn up between Konoha and Hi no Kuni was that targeting civilians of a particular social rank or higher required a confirmation from the Daimyo to execute. The ANBU team's target actually counted as minor nobility and a distant cousin of the Daimyo.
But the target had been caught trying to traffic a captured Inuzuka genin and her ninken to gods knows which rival village.
"Has your student given any hints of what could have been a possible customer for the girl?" Danzo asked, tapping his index against the handle of his cane. "The ANBU trained unit did not just coalesce out of the Aether. Hatake's team was targeted."
That was precisely how it sounded. This had happened before; ANBU team is sent to pull off a rescue or kill mission to prevent an asset from being acquired by the enemy, and multiple enemy agents are placed to successfully kill a trained team.
ANBU died or were crippled, not semi-regularly, but the turnout rate was noticeably higher than that of the typical Shinobi branches. But a team of ANBU being destroyed wasn't quickly replaceable. One or two members needing to be replaced? Much easier. But losing Kakashi specifically was inconceivable, and his record of near suicidal attempts at protecting his subordinates and comrades made it a very real possibility.
"Jiraiya has not." Hiruzen eventually answered after a brief pause. "His priorities are currently monitoring the civil war in Kiri and the mercenary company calling itself the Akatsuki."
Danzo snorted derisively at the mentioning of the Akatsuki.
"A group of traitorous nin bearing the hollowed out corpse of a bygone organization as a trophy. Loyal to nothing but paper bearing the face of whatever Daimyo reigns. At least the previous carriers of that name had pride and love for their village."
And you helped Hanzo kill them. Hiruzen thought of that, but it wasn't like it was a particularly black mark on the man's record. It resulted in a nonaggression pact being made with Hanzo, and ended the battlefront on the Ame border and relieved untold strain on Konoha's forces.
"It is of little importance in the grand scheme." Danzo continued, beginning to walk in a short pattern to stretch his leg. "We can extrapolate that a rival village found sufficient bait in the form of an Inuzuka, wiggled it in front of us, and clamped a steel trap around our ANBU squad in the hopes of killing them. With time, I don't doubt Hatake will get most if not all his team back alive. The question is how we can help him do that, without compromising the security of the village by diverting too many ANBU."
It wasn't until nearly 3:00 in the morning where a fully fleshed out plan was set up. Danzo would be deploying much of his ROOT units in a broad screening maneuver to act as cover and a protective net to cover the ANBU's backs as they retreated, while another ANBU team that was in reserve would be sent as a direct relieving force.
It left the guard patrols dangerously undermanned, but it was the best they could do in the present situation.
Hiruzen finally dismissed them and rubbed his eyes after they had departed, groaning as he felt his head throb with his pulse.
He was too old for pulling all nighters, and he wasn't certain he wanted to walk back home tonight.
Hiruzen made the decision and went with it. He went over to the corner of the office, pulsed chakra into a seal in the wall, and watched as the puff of smoke appeared and a cot was deposited out.
"Oh how I wish I had never seen you again." He muttered, practically collapsing on the cot with his clothes still on and not even bothering to get under the blanket.
(END CHAPTER)
Things are shifting in the background, and Sasuke continues to train and deepen his friendship with Naruko.
I'm going with the premise that certain Shinobi arts can be taken as basic electives in the academy, and Sasuke and Naruko are taking particular ones.
And I'm not going to just ignore Danzo and ROOT like I did for the most part in Invictus. I'm shaping this fic up to be a fairly unique one and I'm going to enjoy it.
As always, comments of all shapes and sizes are welcome and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Later!