Author's Note : Hi everyone. Hum, this is pretty much my first Naruto fic, but I seem to be under numerous and repetitive attacks of Naruto plot bunnies that won't leave me alone. So there it is.
As you might notice it, English is not my native language (might be obvious if you look at the other fics I posted here...). I hope my level is high enough to avoid glaring errors or incomprehensible and contradictory passages. But for those who are interested I think I need a Beta – someone who really knows his grammar and language in general. It would especially be helpful for me not to mix American and British English too much. As a bonus, you will have the right to pester me till I actually finish writing all the fics invading my brain.
And now, on with the fic. I hope you'll enjov reading it and have a good time.
Disclaimer : I certainly don't own Naruto and leave all the merits of its creation to Masashi Kishimoto. If Naruto were mine, things would certainly not happen like they happen in the manga, which is without doubt for the best.
Names of the Past
The boy had blond hair which, in itself, was a rarity.
It drew stares in his direction, if his lively and loud personality hadn't been able to do it beforehand. He was a bundle of youth and laugh and taunts, impossible to ignore.
Sasuke, used-to-calm and barely-patient Sasuke, could of course only be annoyed. Unfortunately, he couldn't help but be fascinated too. Which annoyed him all the more.
Still. Strangely, it didn't prevent them from finding themselves together more often than not - be it because a teacher had put them together on an exercise or because no one else dared to pair up with them in self-defence class or because they both liked to climb the fence during lunch break in order to eat on the grassy hills and watch the clouds. They didn't care it was supposed to be forbidden - they always stayed in sighting range and no one had ever scolded them for taking a breath.
And there they would talk, without ever really knowing why they had started it and how it came that they were friend.
Yes, friends.
Naruto would always begin these conversations with a strange inane question about his comrade's family.
Which one of his parents did he look like more?
(Let him come back in ten years and Sasuke would be able to answer him, moron. And no, he wasn't avoiding the question because at the moment he mostly looked like his mother and hoped he would grow to be a bit more like his father.)
How was it to have a brother? - because the Uchiha, the mighty and privileged Uchiha, could get everything they wanted and if it was a second child, it wasn't physical improbability or costly medical treatment or even luck that would prevent them from having it.
(Between his being at the Academy and his brother already gone to his own special formation, Sasuke never saw him enough to feel like there was a difference between his situation and being an only child - even if this was a lie, he knew that almost no one on Earth could have this feeling he always got when thinking of his brother, of a bond that was so rare and couldn't be broken, of someone that had walked the world before him and would always look out for him even if they barely knew each other.)
"Where does you name come from?" Naruto asked one day. Then, seeing the look Sasuke threw at him and the raised eyebrow, he added : "What? It's not a common one. I've never heard it before."
"Yours is not that frequent either," Sasuke simply said.
Naruto smiled his content, feral smile, like the cat that had gotten the canary. "Oh, there is a story behind it. But I asked first."
Now Sasuke's curiosity was picked. Damn it.
He sighed a long suffering sigh showing his exasperation (which was purely for the sake of appearances, he knew it and he knew Naruto knew it too) and tried to be as brief as possible - which didn't work.
"It was the name..." No, not like that. Naruto wouldn't really understand. Sasuke started again. "You've heard of the Uchiha - as in, it's a clan and all."
He glanced at Naruto to see him nod. A light breeze was ruffling his hair and the sun was giving red highlights to the strands its rays fell upon. With the green of the grass, as artificial as the blades might have been, it was still a beautiful, blinding sight.
"Heard anyone marrying an Uchiha had to change names - men and women alike," Naruto mumbled. Anyone not knowing him would think it was out of timidity. Sasuke knew it was his way of talking about people he found either downright strange or completely stupid. Sometimes both.
He didn't stop to think which one it was this time.
"Yes," he replied. "Because you're either only an Uchiha or you aren't one at all. It's... complicated to explain it to someone who doesn't live in this."
Sasuke threaded a hand through his hair - his dark straight hair he shared with his brother and father and mother and pretty much every Uchiha child. Nothing exceptional here. Nothing like blond that looked like gold.
"Blood is very important. We keep track of anyone with a drop of Uchiha blood in their veins. They belong to us."
"Aaaand what has it to do with your name?" Naruto asked in a bored, taunting voice. Trust the idiot not to understand - or care - about the seriousness of what was being said.
"I'm getting to it, moron!" Sasuke hissed, annoyed at being interrupted. He was trying to explain something. "So. Like I said, the bloodline is very, very important and... And if you cut it, the whole clan dies, you know? There can't be anything like adoption or..."
His own voice stopped and he was a little dumbfounded at the sheer force of the feeling that filled him when he thought of the simple possibility - the clan, disappeared. It wasn't fear, it wasn't sadness, it was just... a gut-wrenching sensation that was telling him it could not happen.
Huh. Looked like they knew how to raise an Uchiha even if he spent the whole school year away.
"Aaaaaaaand?" Naruto prodded, clearly not seeing that his comrade was having an epiphany.
"And. Well. There was this time," he shuddered just by thinking of it and rushed to add : "But it's just a legend, you know, like some story that gets told to the kids so that they understand what it is..."
Naruto's pointed look just told him to get on with it and answer the question already. Sasuke glared but went on anyway.
"The story says that once, a long time ago - two or three centuries at least - there was a... an accident, a quarrel, something political and- Well. The clan almost disappeared."
He had to gulp down to try and swallow the stupid lump that was building in his throat. He was not a kid anymore, damn it!
"They got almost all killed except... except for one. And he... he avenged the clan - it was really messy, apparently, and he had to sacrifice many things to do it but he did and. And then he revived it. Recreated it from scratch. He got... five kids with his first wife and three with the second one after the first one died in childbirth."
He glanced at Naruto who was strangely silent to find him staring at him incredulously. He raised an eyebrow.
"You're kidding me," Naruto whispered, and this was the first sign that he was seriously surprised. A loud Naruto was a Naruto that knew what was coming at him. "Five then... Eight kids? He got eight kids?"
"Plus four with his last wife," Sasuke confirmed, letting a smirk lift the corner of his mouth. Seeing Naruto gape like a fish was so worth it.
"No wonder you got to have a brother, you're like fucking rabbits in your family!" he exclaimed without thinking - that much was obvious. It was widely known that Naruto rarely thought before opening his big mouth. If he ever thought at all.
"Hey!" Sasuke glared at him.
"Is that even possible?" Naruto went on as if he hadn't protested.
"Apparently if we're all here today," Sasuke mumbled, not knowing why his cheeks were suddenly burning. Damn the Uchiha's pale complexion. "But like I said. It's a story told in my family. I'm not even sure if it's true. And - back to the topic at hand. This man - the one who recreated the clan or gave it a new beginning or whatever. His name was Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke. So that's where my name comes from."
He crossed his arms and glared at Naruto, daring him to comment and make fun of it. The blond boy blinked and seemed at a loss of what to say.
"Huh. Pretty cool, I guess," he said, scratching the bridge of his nose where, for once, there wasn't any bandaid. "That's all the story says?"
Ha. Sasuke knew he would catch the attention of the other boy with it. He shrugged nonchalantly before putting his hand behind his head and looking up at the sky - blue. Like Naruto's eyes.
Scratch that. That was certainly a stupid thought.
Do not go there.
"Pretty much," he said, nothing on his face or in his voice betraying his inner almost-turmoil. "There is also a bunch of things that don't exist - which is why I think it's more of a legend than anything else. Something about special eye-abilities that would get passed down the Uchiha bloodline and be the reason why it must not disappear. And some crazy stuff about summoning giant animals or about special superhuman skills..."
Naruto had tilted his head to the side and was watching him curiously.
"What?" Sasuke asked, feeling unnerved.
"Summoning animals... Like... frogs?"
Sasuke was momentarily torn between being furious at Naruto for unexpectedly making fun of his family's story and bursting out laughing at the sheer absurdity of the question - frogs, seriously - before noticing that the other boy was utterly serious.
"No. Snakes. Why?" he answered, furrowing his brow.
Naruto's hand went back to his nose, a nervous gesture that didn't include him trying to mellow the person before him, not like when he scratched the back of his head.
"And superhuman skills... Like ninja skills or...?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes into slits. He hadn't uttered a word about ninjas - he had thought that that would make Naruto burst out laughing - but the blond boy seemed simply bewildered.
"Yes," he answered slowly, his expression indicating that Naruto'd better rapidly explain how...
This once, he did scratch the back of his head. "Well," he said uncomfortably with a too large smile, "remember I told you there was a little story behind my name too?"
Sasuke nodded, his eyes not leaving the other boy for a second.
"Well, there are ninjas and summoned frogs in it somewhere."
There was a silence. Then:
"Explain."
Sasuke wondered how he had acquired the firm not-open-to-discussion you'd-better-obey-and-quick tone his father used sometimes without even having seen the man since his tenth birthday.
Naruto, nervous idiot that he was, launched into his story :
"Well, it might be a bit complicated and difficult to say but... My mom had this crazy great-great uncle when she was little who apparently spent all his time telling this kind of stories about ninjas and fights and incredible powers that would be super cool to have, like, creating yourself a clone. Can you imagine? You make him do all the work and take exams while you nap in the sun or..."
He caught Sasuke's look and understood that he was leaving the subject at hand.
"And. Yeah. What's not really believable, and that's why everybody thought he was kind of totally nuts, was that he kept on saying that he got all these stories from only one person and that this person was his great-great-great-great grandfather himself who, according to him, had lived impossibly long, like, almost two hundred years."
Naruto raised his own eyebrows at what he was saying and blinked, like hearing it made it appear all the more strange. He shook his head.
"Yeah. Like I said. Totally crazy. My mom always says that he seemed to believe that this guy - the great-great-great-great grandfather of my great-great-great uncle, or something - well, that he had really lived all the tales he was telling. Like, as the main character. And that he even explained how it was that he got so old without dying and my mom says that it was a bit more complicated each time her great-great uncle explained it - something with a demon-fox, like a super-powerful demon that my great-great-great... Hum, that That Guy had gotten as an ally - it's a bit complicated, like he ate it or something, and it made that the fox was inside of him and that he got a lot of power through it and that - yeah, since the demon-fox was inside him, it was doomed to die with him, you know? And, well, it wasn't really happy with it and after trying to get free for years and not succeeding - because apparently my great-great... The Guy was kind of totally awesome - it just decided to try and make live my... The Guy as long as possible. And. Well, it would be why he lived so long and was able to meet his great-great-great-great grandson and to tell him all these stories that the grandson later told my mom because apparently she was the only one willing to listen to him and. Yeah."
Naruto had always possessed the useless but impressing ability to speak for five minutes nonstop without breathing even once. He really should try for a career in archeological diving. Sasuke had heard of some recent very interesting finds in the Suna Sea - buildings' remains allegedly hinting that the place might have been a desert not so long ago (certainly, the scientist leading the project had lost some marbles in the middle, when he had gotten bitten by a radioactive shark).
There was a silence. Naruto fidgeted. Sasuke blinked. He had the feeling that his head had just been opened, filled with an incredibly incoherent jumble, then closed again, leaving him alone to deal with the mess. He tried to find an ounce of logic in this and realised...
"Wait. Why did you tell me all this?"
It was Naruto's turn to blink.
"Huuuh... I don't know?" he answered hesitantly, scratching his head. "We were talking about ninjas and names and... Yeah ! My name. This guy - the guy with the fox inside him that was the great-great-great..."
He was cut short by Sasuke's glare who did not need another rambling about great-great-something.
"Hum. The story tells he was called Naruto," he solemnly declared.
"And why one would choose the name of a crazy man in a long line of crazy men is a bit beyond me," Sasuke bit sarcastically. His unless craziness is your family tradition remained unsaid.
Naruto frowned and lowered his eyes before explaining sullenly:
"You know, my mom kind of lost two kids before she had me," not like they would know what it's like in your family, he seemed to accuse. 'Cause the Uchiha just have to be different from everyone else.
Sasuke didn't comment, nor did he let the implicit accusation get to him. He knew his family was indecently lucky and privileged - they had, after all, two sons.
It was almost unbelievable, really, to learn at school that there had been a time when families could easily have two, three children. Sometimes more (that was what they learned in history class, not something they heard in some unrealistic familial legend that was highly doubtful to begin with). Or that they had sometimes used a process - what was the word already ? Abortion ? - in order to get rid of a kid if they chose to.
Now having a kid was almost a miracle that so few got to see happening for them - proof was that the Academy of Konoha was the only institution gathering and teaching (and doting on) the kids from five small cities of a half to three millions inhabitants and that they never had had any problem with overfilled classes.
"And, well..." Naruto went on. "She kind of decided to give me that name the day she discovered she was pregnant again. Didn't care if I was a boy or a girl. She just wanted... You know, to try and give me some of these long-life-bestowing superpowers of fox-demon."
Sasuke snorted. Naruto harrumphed. "Hey, it worked, didn't it?"
His comrade didn't answer but smirked. Naruto huffed.
They lapsed into silence, gazing at the sky - the fluffy white clouds passing by on a bright blue immensity were almost the only thing that was more or less natural around them - well, they were artificially generated by the country's Meteorological Control Centre that regulated humidity and such. But they were what clouds had always been - nothing but droplets of water condensing because of the cold till it looked like it was solid somehow. Not like the solar captors artfully disguised as grass and trees around them.
Sasuke wondered how it might have been, lying on a hill that had not been raised for aesthetic or technical purposes and hearing the songs of birds flying above his head.
Yes, he really wondered what a bird sounded like.$
"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto said beside him. Sasuke glanced at him, noticed his profile that curiously enhanced how large his eyes were. His jaw had become squarer in the last year.
"Yeah?" he softly asked, not turning his gaze away from his friend.
Yes, that was it. Friend.
"Do you think..." Naruto was still looking straight at the sky, like he knew he wouldn't be able to continue if he saw the expression his comrade had on his face. He chuckled. "I know it'll probably sound as crazy as the great-great-great-great granddad but... You said your story was a long time ago - two or three centuries. And. And if we count a bit and ignore it's totally impossible, well- The great-great-something would have lived around the same time as your great-great-something, the one you got your name from. If we imagine it was real..."
Naruto turned his head and smiled at him. His eyes were shining with the ideas running through his head. Sasuke swallowed in spite of himself.
"D'you think perhaps they knew each other? Eh? What if?"
What if it was real and in spite of centuries and worldwide changes our families seemed meant to meet over and over again... Sasuke didn't know what to respond.
Naruto's smile turned timid, a hint of pink brushed his cheeks. "D'you think they were friends like us?"
Friends.
Sasuke remembered stories - remembered mentions of a brother, of a best friend, of a family almost wiped out. Of too many enemies, too many sacrifices, too much blood. The Uchiha legend his mother had told him was not a happy one, certainly not peaceful nor right. She had explained it was a teaching - a tale of past errors that had to be remembered by so that no one would ever commit them again. That, more than anything else, more than the life of the Uchiha clan itself, was the inestimable legacy of the man whose name he had inherited.
He looked at Naruto, open and smiling beside him.
No, not like us, because I will never betray you like he had to, he wanted to say.
No, not like us, because he had all these children with other women for the sake of our clan and I can't bear the thought-
He stopped his trail of thoughts and smirked: "Don't care about sounding crazy, since we now know it's genetic and all."
Just as he had known it would, his small jab made Naruto's nose scrunch up and he pouted like the little boy he wasn't supposed to be anymore. Sasuke had never seen someone whose face could look so young and so mature almost at the same time. Before his blond companion could begin one of his rants, he smiled and softly added:
"But yeah. Friends. Just like us."
End.
Reviews are loved :)
As last remark I just want to say I have absolutely nothing against abortion. What might be suggested on this subject is only linked to the mentality that I think would be expected in the kind of society I have created in my fic and hinted at. I won't start a debate about it and only hope you understand what I mean.