#15: Young Leaves Mark
-Sunpies-
Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto, et al
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Sasuke was the first member of Team 7 to hear it, and maybe that's just as well. Sasuke probably needed it more than any of them and still does need it (but that's okay because they're eventually going to find him, drag him back, and shout it in his ear until he hears them).
Hyuuga Hiashi was the first one who told Sasuke. It was a temporary move after Uchiha Itachi's defection and... parricide. Sasuke only stayed for a period of two weeks while the remnants of the Uchiha clan were hosed from the wooden floors and thicker walls.
Hiashi's comment was one of only a few he has ever made to Uchiha Sasuke. "We are shinobi first and humans second, Uchiha-san." He said slowly, picturing the boy across from him as he might be when he was older -invincible with black tomoes forever whirling in the bloody red of the sharingan. He looks so much like his brother. "However, for humans, there is little good that can come from defining ourselves by our personal tragedies."
Between the hate and the fear there had been little left in the Uchiha for understanding.
So it is with a feeling of inevitability that Hyuuga Hiashi now watches the events surrounding the last of the Uchiha unfold. Because even so long ago he could see that the boy had fallen too far. The scar had been left and that was all the boy could see of himself as he grew into a monster.
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Iruka was the first person to tell Naruto. It was because he was his teacher, yes, but also because he knew how his village worked. He had watched the politics, the scandals, and the people. He knew the place in the village for an outcast and was hardly blind to the hate and fear people had for Naruto. So Iruka had told Naruto what no one else would.
"Sure you and I are shinobi, but ALL of us" he gestured to the villagers milling around outside the ramen stall, "are people. Remember not to let the things that some people do define you."
Naruto nodded happily for a second, "Oi! Iruka-sensei, what's that mean?" He asked with a curtain of noodles still hanging out of his mouth. So Iruka had explained it the best he could and wasn't entirely sure that Naruto got it (which was good, because Naruto wasn't entirely sure Naruto got it either) before walking him home.
Years and years later Naruto would become a monster for the villagers that had once hated him and they would learn to hide in his strength.
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Ever since Sasuke left, people have told Sakura not to let her childhood define her (never mind that she's a stronger kunoichi now than she ever was). It's good advice and she's heard it from everyone including, but not limited to: Tsunade, Shizune, Ino, Chouji, and Asuma (a kind man even if he's lazier than Shikamaru).
But she already knew all that.
Kakashi was the first person to teach her not to let her childhood define her. As with almost everything else, it's not anything he said or did to HER directly, rather just his behavior.
See, after she asked him about it (and she some times wishes she hadn't) she can't look at Kakashi without seeing a boy chained to the memorial stone by the dead limbs of the people he loved. She just can't live that life.
She thinks if she ever found herself chained up somewhere in life, who would look after her boys?
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#15: Young Leaves Mark
-Sunpies-