The tale of two brothers by Chie Matsuo
Plot: Imagine if Naruto had taken the chance to get to know sasuke from a early age and despite certain differences they became the best of friends, the hokage decides to place them in the same living apartments, as close as brothers, they both enter the academy, go through ninja training together and great battles, but can anyone ignore the hatreds and rivalries in the past, passed down by blood?
Chapter 1: Sasuke and Naruto
It was sunset on the sea port of konoha, the orange sun was reflecting nicely off the small river at a bottom of a great green hill, Naruto Uzumaki was again playing in the playing fields with his close friends Shikamaru and Chouji when, suddenly there was a shout and Shikamaru immediately stopped playing with Naruto and jumped off the playing swings.
"Oh no it's my mom" Shikamaru cursed becoming suddenly anxious and a little scared.
"What is it Shikamaru? Continue playing she won't mind" Naruto cried staring at the pineapple haired boy.
"No Naruto, I really have to go" Shikamaru replied not giving naruto a chance to protest he sprinted over to greet his mother who was not looking a bit happy.
"I see my folks coming too Naruto, cya" Chouji said and jumped off the swing also, Naruto sighed but continued to swing back and forth on the swing he was occupying, but again he could hear the usual whisperings and scoldings of the parents further away chastising their sons for again playing with the kyuubi host.
The playground slowly cleared of every living thing and a gentle breeze went through the trees making the trees flutter gracefully.
Naruto walked slowly out of the playing area a few hours later when the sun was begining to set, his shadow becoming a long line in front of him, the streets were empty as families prepared their young for an early bedtime ready for school the next day, Naruto passed the gate of a old man with small tufts of grey hair at the side of his bald head, he had a round stern face with round glasses, he was currently brushing the gangway where a large pile of leaves had gathered, he stopped when he saw Naruto and gave him his most scornful of looks, Naruto who was used to the glares just walked continued to walk pass him, the man grunted in disdain and continued brushing his front porch.
Finally Naruto came to the sea port where there was a small platform where one could look out to the horizon, Naruto as usual could see the small silhouette of Uchiha Sasuke sitting on the platform just glaring at the sea, Naruto looked at him pityingly but decided to look away quickly when the boy turned his head to look up at him, he pretended to whistle and began walking until the boy looked back at the sea, then again he continue to stare again, he was tempted to go over and say hi, but again the Uchiha looked at him, this time catching his eyes and scowling, Naruto decided then, that he wasn't going to do it, not ever, the Uchiha was his rival after all so he continued on his way home, grabbed some ramen before bed and went to bed.
The next morning Naruto awoke quite suddenly, he didn't know what woke him up but he could soon hear the sounds of shouts and cries from outside, immediately he got up and went to stand on his apartment balcony to see what all the commotion was about. The streets were jam packed with people, people with petrified faces were darting to one another asking questions and all the stores had closed down. There was an eerie silence as well, medic ninjas were being hassled for information and some medics and ANBU black ops were dashing over buildings heading towards the Uchiha estate where the lights had been turned off and it looked like a ghost town.
Naruto immediately got ready and headed outside into the crowds, he went immediately to Teuchi the ramen shop owner.
"Oi grandpa what's going on?" Naruto asked
"Oh Naruto, I'm sorry kid but the ramen shop won't be opening this morning" Teuchi began.
"No! What's going on, what's this entire ruckus about?" asked Naruto.
"Well, err, how can I say this?" whispered Teuchi to himself, he took Naruto to one side where nobody could see them.
"It's the Uchiha clan naruto, there's been a massacre, and everyone is dead" Teuchi stated a little uneasily.
"Everyone! Even sasuke?" asked Naruto.
"No he's still alive, but his traumatized, his parents have both been killed so, his a little shaken" Teuchi replied.
"Poor sasuke, what's going to happen? Is there going to be ninja lessons today?" asked naruto.
"I guess not, the hokage has given everyone the day off until this is sorted, everyone is in shock so it's to be expected" Teuchi explained, Naruto nodded in understanding then decided to go back to his apartment to practice some ninjutsu. It was the only thing he could think of to do, he had no parents, there was no way he could understand what it felt like to loose a family like that, but still he did know about loneliness and he knew that is how the Uchiha felt now. Very much alone.
A few days had passed since the massacre and Naruto growing bored of staying indoors and the constant training decided to go to the playground for some fresh air, but of course there were still people there who ran for their life when they saw him approaching so Naruto decided against going. He decided to go to the port, as he was walking he had a sudden feeling that something was not quite right, his chakra was spiralling out of control, usually the only time he had felt like this was when he had been snuck up on by a couple of kids that had beaten him to a pulp for no reason, other than the fact that he had just asked to play with them in the playgrounds. He decided to go and sit on the port to look out at the sea. He checked himself when he saw sasuke standing on the port looking at the water. He placed his hands to his mouth, about to call out when the uchiha unexpectedly threw himself into in the water!
"SASUKEEEEEEEEE!" cried Naruto and immediately sprinted towards the dockside, his breath caught in his throat, his legs felt like lead, his head was thumping as for some reason he felt the need to save sasuke, to not make him die, he dived into the water, it splashed up to greet him, to envelop his body, using all his strength and willpower naruto took himself deeper into the water, his ears were popping but he ignored that, his only goal was to get to the uchiha heir, after a few strong strokes he saw the silhouette of the boy. He was bent over, limp, didn't look like he was breathing, but ignoring the growing need of oxygen his body was craving, Naruto magically appeared at the boy's side, grabbed him around the waist and strongly swam up. It was hard, the water became like a prison, dragging him down, he needed to breathe but determinately he managed to break free, fresh air was his reward and he was back to looking at the platform where he had dived in, immediately there appeared medic nins, Jounins and ANBU black ops on the scene, some dived in to help him out with dragging sasuke back to land, the medic nins immediately grabbed sasuke and began resuscitating him.
While that was happening the ANBU next to Naruto asked sternly,
"What happened?"
"Sasuke he!" coughed Naruto, he was coughing a lot trying to rid his lungs of the water and trying to breathe normally again.
"HE WHAT!" demanded the ANBU man fiercely.
"He tried to kill himself, that's what I think, he was looking at the water and then he dived in" explained Naruto.
"It must be because of Itachi" whispered his colleague "He needs to be put back in hospital if his having suicidal tendencies still".
"Itachi" Naruto thought to himself and without thanking Naruto, the ANBU leaving naruto on the port headed back to the hospital leaving naruto in complete confusion.
"Itachi, Itachi" Naruto thought to himself as he sat naked, with only a towel around himself in his apartment, his clothes had been soaked through so he had placed them on the radiator to dry, but Naruto had been sat in confusion and turmoil ever since he came back home, he knew what loneliness could do to the person, many times he had wanted to take his own life but had been too scared to do it, the fact that sasuke, a boy that had always kept his feelings under wraps was prepared to end his life, meant that something had caused him to become like that,
"I have to find out who this guy is" Naruto said and he opened his wardrobe to get out another pair of clothes and went out into the village. The guards were kept busy outside the hospital of the building; everything was in chaos so nobody would expect him to be breaking into the village library to get information. The librarian was outside talking to the guards so naruto had time to quickly go through archives and to find the scroll on the genealogy of the Uchiha clan and quickly get out without being discovered. Back at his apartment, he opened the scroll. There was a scroll with a family tree on it which took up the whole scroll, finally Naruto sighted Itachi's name, and it was sasuke's brother! So it was sasuke's brother that did this? Naruto thought and in that moment Naruto was both pitiful of the Uchiha. He had to do something, had to see him and talk to him, for once in his life he forgot about his stupid pride and was ready to help someone other than himself.
He knocked on the hokage's office.
"Come in!" cried the hokage, Naruto opened the door, he was taken aback by how many people were inside the office, the village elders were there, Jounins, Chuunins, medic nins and so on, even some of the clan leaders from the Nara clan and the Akimichi clan,
"Ah naruto, what are you doing up at this late hour?" asked the hokage
"Can I speak to you?" asked Naruto, he didn't leave any option for a negative reply,
"Is there something wrong? I'll talk to you in a bit, wait outside the office please" replied the hokage, Naruto nodded and left the office, but he was able to hear the whispered comments that were saidm
"Was it itachi?-" before the door was opened and a guard stood outside the door, from his demeanour naruto knew he had to immediately leave the tower or be forcibly dragged out.
Later on, the guard came out to tell naruto he could see the hokage, all the officials were walking out of the office, some were giving naruto suspicious looks especially an old man with a bandage around his eye but naruto ignored him and stepped into the hokage's office,
"I know what happened" Naruto stated, the hokage was able to greet him, and then closed his mouth looking taken aback and a bit suspicious,
"Who told you?" he asked,
"Somebody" replied naruto "What's going to happen to sasuke?"
"Well when he is well enough he will be given his own quarters and will be attended to well" the hokage explained,
"Can he live with me?" asked Naruto,
"I don't think he would want that Naruto, not on top of what has been going on" the hokage said,
"Then I'll ask him then" Naruto replied and without listening to the hokage's reply dashed off to the hospital to see the Uchiha. He bought some flowers and dumplings from the store (because he knew they were sasuke's favourites) and went to the hospital. He got to the receptionists' desk and asked for Sasuke Uchiha's room,
"I'm sorry I cannot allow you to go in, sasuke is not allowed visitors unless you have the hokage's permission" the nurse explained,
"Oh please I'm just here to give him some dumplings and a hello" begged naruto,
"I'm sorry I can't, why don't you come tomorrow anyway, sasuke is asleep at the moment" the nurse said soothingly,
"Asleep? At this time?" asked Naruto suspiciously,
"He goes between sleeping and not sleeping, his a symptom of his depression" the nurse explained a little gloomily,
"Okay I'll come back tomorrow then" Naruto said and he pretended to walk out of the hospital, he hid behind a wall and waited for the nurse to into the room behind the desk, finally after about what felt like an eternity she went to photocopy some papers and as quick as lightening Naruto dashed past the reception to the room where sasuke resided in. He checked there were no guards around and knocked on the door,
"Yo Uchiha!" Naruto cried opening the door but he stopped when he saw sasuke, the young Uchiha heir was sat up in bed with his back to the door facing the window, he had no emotion on his face but was just staring at the stars he could see in the night sky,
"Err sasuke; look I bought you some dangos, your favourites!" Naruto tried again jangling the bag to catch the boy's attention, after a while of not getting an answer naruto began to turn to leave, suddenly a small crock came from behind him,
"Are they sweets? Because I hate sweets" Naruto smiling turned back and saw that sasuke was looking at him and at the bag of dangos, Naruto jumped excitedly in the air and ran over and sat a little prudently on the hospital bed beside the Uchiha and opened the bag up for him to grab a dango, sasuke took one again his eyes were cold as ice but he placed one in his mouth and silently digested it,
"The hospital food here is crap so I might as well have some decent food" sasuke mumbled, Naruto handed over the whole bag and sat there for a while, while the Uchiha pigged out.
"I heard about what happened" Naruto whispered after a while, finally he had taken it upon himself to lie down on sasuke's bed while the Uchiha feasted on his dangos. Sasuke stopped eating his eyes beginning to water but no tears were falling, Naruto could tell he was trying not to cry because of pride,
"I understand",
"OH YEAH HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW WHAT I FEEL?" roared sasuke turning on naruto who saw a glint of red in the boy's eyes,
"I know what its like to feel suddenly alone, that's what I understand" Naruto interrupted, that stopped the uchiha, there was a pause then sasuke growled,
"Itachi… I'll kill him, I'll get stronger and he will pay for this, for killing mother and father and aunty and everyone!"
"Cool can I help you then?" asked naruto,
"Don't be stupid, you're so weak" sasuke hissed,
"I can get better, I know who he is sasuke, his your brother, but he isn't because he defiled that trust you had in him by killing his own kin, I will never forgive him so I vow to avenge your family's death whether I'm with you or not!" explained Naruto with determined eyes, sasuke's eyes widened but he was still confused, looking away from the blonde boy he asked,
"Why? Why do you even care?"
"Because nobody used to care about me and it was hard for me and I don't have parents, I've always wished for parents and looking at someone that has been robbed of them makes me angry" Naruto replied passionately "So? Is it a deal then, we will both work hard and find some way to kill Itachi" he outstretched his hand for sasuke to take, but sasuke didn't, instead he whispered,
"Leave me alone, I need to rest" Naruto disappointed nodded and left the room, he waited outside for a while but sasuke didn't ask him back in so he left.
"Alright sasuke – Kun your looking very healthy so I think your about ready to go home" the nurse said as she checked sasuke's vital points, sasuke didn't speak as usual but nodded,
"You will be staying in your family quarters since everything is cleared up now" the nurse explained as she helped sasuke get dressed and led him into the reception area where two guards from the ANBU squad were waiting for him,
"His all ready then sirs" the nurse said giving them the medical sheet confirming sasuke's good health,
"That's all well miss, come on sasuke let's get you settled at your apartments" the ANBU guy said and he gently ushered sasuke out of the hospital.
They reached the uchiha residence and sasuke was amazed that everything was speck and span, but as soon as he saw the cracked Uchiha clan crest flashbacks starting jumping in front of his eyes, the image of Itachi fighting with his cousins, of seeing Itachi's weird eye, of the massacre, sasuke gasped and became still,
"Oi are you ok?" asked one of the guards,
"Yeah, yes I'm fine" sasuke replied and he took three big breathes and carried on walking to the residence, he was going to live in one of the flats that once belonged to a Uchiha member, inside it was clean and comfortable with a big bed, a small kitchen and a sitting area sasuke looked around carefully then began unpacking this things,
"Guards will be stationed outside this building all night and all day so we'll hear if there is any trouble. There will of course be a second patrol in the evening when we go off our shift but don't worry you will be safe" the ANBU guard explained giving sasuke his home keys, sasuke took them and nodded at the guard. He left and sasuke was all alone.
After unpacking his things, sasuke sat down on his bed and tried to remember what Itachi had told him to do the night of the massacre, the answer came swiftly to his mind's eye and he saw again Itachi standing before him with his sharingan activated,
"You are one of the few people who can activate the mangekyou sharingan, go to the uchiha clan secret meeting room, look under the fourth tatami mat to find the place and you will see our clan's secret" Sasuke immediately opened the window because he knew there was a back door step ladder to take him down to the ground floor, to invade the guards sasuke took this way, he went to the secret meeting hall of the clan and counted the fourth tatami mat and pulled it one side, there was a trap door underneath it, sasuke pulled it up and it hit the ground with a loud thud, it was pitch dark inside, sasuke looked around and saw around the room he was currently in a candle stick with some matches inside a bowl that supported it, he stuck a match and lit the candle, very slowly he descended the ladder alongside the dark tunnel until he came to the bottom. There was a metal door that was locked shut, it had some kind of sealing diagram on it, putting the candle on the ground sasuke took his kunai and cut his finger a bit and touched the door with it, immediately the door opened slowly, inside the room it was very small, on the far wall there was large diagrams of people that looked like old uchiha clan members and a scroll open out on a stool, sasuke approached it.
Sasuke had spent the day studying the secret scrolls of the uchiha, he arrived back home through the window at night, it was dark inside the room and sasuke was just about to turn on the lights when a kunai came charging through the darkness, sasuke immediately dodged it and fell on the ground, there was someone in the room, he came out of the shadows and sasuke was shocked to see it was an ANBU guard that was supposed to be protecting him,
"Enjoyed your little walk did you? Finally I can destroy you uchihas for good!" the guard sneered and he walked over and picked sasuke off the ground by his neck, strangling him hard he watched as sasuke began to lose conscienceness, sasuke tried to kick, bite, do anything but he was too strong, as he neared death he could see his brother and parents suddenly someone cried,
"LET HIM GO!" and the guard bucked forward slightly as a glass vase shattered over his head, he dropped sasuke and fell nearly on top of sasuke who just managed to roll sideways quickly before the man fell on him, standing behind where the man stood was Naruto looking ticked off,
"Sasuke! Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you, then I noticed this dude acting funny so I waited outside to make sure things were okay" Naruto explained,
"Naruto" sasuke chocked coughing and spluttering,
"Listen idiot it's not safe here, I'm taking you to the old man" Naruto said determinedly and he told the uchiha to pack his things quickly, sasuke obeued because he was still in shock and followed naruto to the hokage's tower,
"Why did you save me? I was fine!" sasuke cried trying to sound calm but he was close to tears, he really thought he was going to die, naruto just shrugged. They reached the hokage's tower and naruto confidently knocked on the door, a tired old voice cried,
"Come in" and naruto stepped in, the hokage was sitting behind his desk with a small pile of papers beside him, the night sky and the buildings of konoha gleamed gracefully underneath the moonlight behind him,
"Naruto! What are you doing here at this time of night?" asked the hokage a little furious and exasperated,
"Sasuke was nearly attacked at his apartment" Naruto explained,
"Don't be stupid, there's ANBU guarding him" the hokage interrupted,
"Do you want to come see?" Naruto growled, the hokage looked at naruto's determined face for a few minutes, that's when the door knocked urgently, again the hokage asked whoever was outside to come in, three ANBU guards with masks on came in, apparently in a panic,
"Lord hokage the Uchiha boy-!" they began, then they cut off when they saw that sasuke was already in the room,
"He has been attacked" said the hokage "please explain to me how this could have happened? NOW!" the ANBU guards looked beside themselves in fear and confusion.
The ANBU guards went to see who had tried to assassinate sasuke while the hokage,naruto and sasuke stayed in the office, a few hours passed when suddenly they appeared out of thin air in the room,
"Apparently some rogue ninjas tried to assassinate the uchiha, I conclude that the apartment where the uchiha resides is not safe at the moment" The ANBU with the bird mask on stated bowing in front of the hokage "I beg for your forgiveness lord hokage and you as well sasuke",
"Where do you think he should stay for the time being?" asked the hokage,
"He can stay with me!" announced naruto, there was a silence and the hokage bowed his head in silence for a while,
"Lord hokage, surely we cannot" began another masked ANBU guard with the mask of a cat on,
"Its fine, he may stay with naruto just for the time being until the apartment has been properly manned" Hokage said, there was another knock at the door and in walked a old man with black spiky hair and a bandage over one eye, he stood in the doorway unsure whether he should enter, he saw sasuke and his eyes narrowed,
"What has happened sarutobi, I heard the uchiha boy was attacked" the man croaked,
"Where did you get that information?" asked the hokage,
"It doesn't matter" stated the man "I'll speak to you another time then" and with that he left the office slowly, the hokage looked suspiciously at the man then back at naruto,
"Come on then, get sasuke settled in naruto, it's very late now" naruto nodded and escorted sasuke out of the office.
"Home sweet home" cried naruto as he opened the door of his apartment, it was a little musty and dark but sasuke thought it was liveable,
"Well let's see, I guess there's only one bed" Naruto sighed scratching his head,
"I'm taking the bed" stated sasuke coldly; naruto looked disappointedly at his moth eaten couch,
"Oh well, I can always order a new bed tomorrow I guess hehe" sasuke sat on the hard bed and looked around,
"Do you want some ramen?" asked naruto excitedly "it can be served warm and it always help me to sleep",
"What is ramen?" asked sasuke,
"Hold on" said naruto and dashed into the kitchen, he opened the fridge and scrambled around looking for some cereal bowls then he opened the ramen and stabbed the cellophane lid and put it in the microwave, it was a while before he sensed a presence and saw sasuke standing beside him looking at what he was doing,
"Thank you naruto" he whispered, naruto's eyes widened, seriously he couldn't believe sasuke had said those words, usually he belittled naruto and called him names,
"It's cool" naruto replied and smiled widely, sasuke still hadn't smiled but naruto thought there was still time to work on that. The microwave beeped and naruto took out the ramen, he gave one bowl to sasuke (who panicked slightly when his hands nearly was burnt) and one for himself, he then literally jumped to the eating table, placed his hands together and cried,
"Time to chow down!" and began gobbling it down, sasuke took a little bite of it, then he stopped eating, naruto looked up to see if something was wrong, sasuke walked pass him over towards the bin then began spooning it into the bin,
"HEY THAT WAS EXPENSIVE YOU KNOW!" roared naruto his mouth half full of ramen, but he gulped when sasuke shot him a dark look,
"It tastes like shit!" naruto's eyes narrowed but he shrugged and just continued to eat, but inside he was smiling and so too was the uchiha.
Naruto next had to prepare sasuke's bed because the uchiha threatened to return to the uchiha residence happily welcoming death when he saw the state of naruto's bed sheets, so naruto had become a cleaning lady and was preparing the bed whilst sasuke decorated his bedroom,
"Do you seriously need this?" asked the uchiha picking up naruto's calendar which had a picture of a bikini clad woman,
"AGH! You leave that alone, it reminds me when I have my next graduation" cried naruto craning his head around to see what the boy was holding, sasuke thought he might need it too and left it, next he placed a picture of his family on the window sill, he stayed for a moment looking at it causing naruto to scuffle uncomfortably until he had found a few pillows and wished the uchiha goodnight,
"Goodnight" sasuke whispered but he was still standing when naruto turned off the lights.
