Title: Sasuke
Note: T - Adventure/Friendship - Sasuke, Naruto, Team Seven
Summary: This could be the story of Uzumaki Naruto, the village pariah who became its hero, the paragon of peace and acceptance. But this is really the story of Uchiha Sasuke, a boy who is a ninja before he discovers he can be something more. A single spoken word and a smile marks the start of Sasuke's journey. Ninja-verse AU.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (Shippuden) or any of its characters or plot.
Warnings: Character death(s). Major character death(s). Decent load of profanity. Gratuitous author's notes about the hell that was the prewriting process for this fic. Oh, and a very dark beginning. Remember, this is rated T, maybe borderline to M, like T+. Also, keep in mind that this is labelled as an AU, so certain parts will be unexplainably different from canon. (Who wants to reread canon in a fanfiction anyway?)
There are some elements in this story that will be dark, maybe humorish, crack-ish, angsty, boring, intense, bromance-ish, fun...I'm covering all of the bases, except for romance. I can't write that properly. If you don't enjoy this story, that's fine. The internet has a whole variety of stories that may better suit your tastes.
Many thanks to Miranda, who helped with ideas and the like. Really, this story is like 38.2% hers. It's a combination of things we wanted to see happen in the Naruto world. (Like, what even is this story.) (It's two years in the making, that's what it is.)
Prologue
He wished he had already obtained his Sharingan.
It would have been a great aid to his trek through the village at such a late hour; the streets were enveloped by the shadows of the taller buildings, cast by the light of the full moon. He took his time walking home to avoid any embarrassing stumbles, regardless of the lack of villagers outside. There was no need to rush since his parents had recently begun to expect his late arrival home most days of the week. They always assumed he stayed out to train.
It was mostly true.
When the glow of the lanterns from the entrance of the clan compound came into view, he sprinted the rest of the way, hoping he could make it home in time to greet his parents before they readied themselves for bed. The taps of his sandals echoed around him, unhindered by the lack of other sounds. As soon as he passed the gate, he was blinded once again by the dark—the moon was covered by a thick layer of clouds.
As soon as his eyes were diverted by the darkened sky, his foot hooked on something and he was sent stumbling onto the unforgiving ground. A sharp pain shot up from where his ankle hit the offending object, and new cuts scraped his exposed arms and legs. Muttering words much too vile for any child to know—ninja child or not—he examined his leg, noticing a gash running from his ankle to his heel. Even moving his foot closer to examine the cut in the barely visible lighting made it sting. Grimacing, he pulled down his sleeve and dabbed away the excess blood, and glanced back at the silhouette of what had tripped him.
Luckily—or perhaps not—the clouds cleared just a bit and the moon lit up the road enough to make the shuriken embedded in the dirt glint.
He immediately shot up, Academy training kicking in and taking over. He crouched into a fighting stance, hands ready and legs tensed, ready to spring at any moment. His ears strained to hear any sound as he inched his way through the Uchiha compound, eyes trying to will the Sharingan into use as he scanned the area for whoever had the gall to attack the Uchiha clan.
It was in that moment, senses trying desperately to do more than they were meant to, that he noticed no streetlights illuminated his path home. Not a single sound drifted from the area that was supposed to be filled with the vitality of Konoha's greatest clan. And the shuriken…
Throwing caution to hell, he stumbled his way into a run towards his home, feeling an increasingly suffocating dread as he noticed shuriken and kunai littering the streets of the compound.
He threw himself around a corner, immediately screaming when his feet slipped from underneath him—the earlier injury stinging anew—and he slammed onto his back in a haze of pain and frantic fear. Glancing to his side, he screamed again.
His cousin Inabi stared back at him, face contorted in a choked, fearful expression. His nose was broken and his skull had collapsed in on itself in multiple places; he couldn't even find his eyes. Traces of blood painted across his face—a handmark, where someone had grabbed his head and smashed it into the ground repeatedly. Blood and hair pooled in a mess under Inabi's head. He came to a horrified realization that it was the cause of his fall.
He staggered away from the body until his back hit against a useless lamppost, panting heavily and eyes fixated on what should've been his cousin. His hand reached back and hit another shuriken that was stuck in the ground, making him flinch away. He cradled the new cut close to his chest, trying to suppress the wracking shudders running through his body as each breath felt like swallowing down thumbtacks.
He pried his eyes away from the corpse to glance in the direction of home, only for the dread to intensify into a panic as he saw dark red liquid paint the streets and the silhouettes of things (people?) he couldn't begin to even think about.
Instead, he mentally mapped out the cleanest route home and sprinted there, eyes fixed on his toes and desperately ignoring the splatters that marked the edges of the unimaginable. A limp hand—missing a few fingers—entered and exited his periphery. A brand-new golden ring nestled on slim, pale fingers with a light blue polish decorating her nails—Kanade-nee-chan. He only saw the bakery in the corner of his eye, but he clearly noticed the large figure crushed against the splintered remains of the display. Sako-oba-san. A head lolled out of a doorway, visage shaped into what may have been a disturbed sleep, had there not been bruises decorating the slim neck, undoubtedly crushing the windpipe. Short spiked hair, and a series of piercings on the left ear—Hanako-nee-san.
He nearly tripped himself as he stumbled to a halt near his home, desperately ignoring the body—Akio-ojii-san—that he had to leap over to get to the porch. As soon as he entered through his front door, he paused.
No blood, no weapons, no signs of damage on the walls.
He knew he shouldn't have, but he breathed a short sigh of relief. Though he didn't dare call out. Whoever—whatever—was the cause of the devastation outside could very possibly have been hiding in one of the houses.
Taking care not to make a sound, he shifted his feet across the floorboards and approached the first door along the hallway. Minutes after checking most of the rooms and finding them empty, he gripped the handle to the door of the last room. He wanted to steel his resolve to simply open the door, even as he desperately tried to believed that he would find nothing in the room.
He pushed the wooden door open, looked up from his initial gaze on the cold smooth floor…
And froze at the sight he was greeted with and took it all in before he could handle no more.
He collapsed to his knees and vomited out everything his body could give, but then he kept on retching, hoping he could expel all the horror he felt from deep within his chest.
The figures of his loved ones lay atop one another in the middle of the room. Long gashes tore through their bodies and ripped flesh from limb, the red pooling around and beneath their bodies, interrupted only by the white of bone as the moon illuminated the gruesome scene. The grotesque angles of their limbs and necks made the sight more terrifying, but the worst was yet to be seen, he realized, as his eyes drifted upwards.
Blood trailed from two spots on each of their faces, leading to dark black holes that promised to suck in his soul and give him a similar fate as their eyes where are their eyes who took their eyes—!
Clutching his face and trying to shield his sight from this horror, he shakily stood back up and tripped out the door he was so hesitant to walk through before (never should have walked through).
As he fled from his home, from this nightmare, and towards the Hokage Tower, his eyes did what they previously couldn't and sought out the little filters of moonlight to guide him through the streets.
Sasuke finally awakened the first stage of his Sharingan.
Chapter One: Uchiha Sasuke, No Family, Half a Childhood, and All the Memories
"No one left but him. I don't know if that's lucky or…"
"Shh. The boy is right there." The whispers became softer, but he could still hear the words clearly. "Don't say anything, but I feel it's a curse. I mean, nobody's even sure how it happened. There's rumors that Hokage-sama knows, though." A short but noticeable silence followed in which he opened his eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling. Every speck of dirt and each little stain burned in sharp clarity in his mind.
He hadn't yet worked out how to turn these annoying eyes off. He simply closed them when the women began to speak again.
"He's like that boy, now. Nothing good can come from this."
"You might be right. I—"
"Hey! Hokage-sama is walking this way. Get back to work." They seemed to shuffle away before lighter footsteps approached and the door to his room clicked shut. He heard the footsteps stop beside his bed.
"Sasuke-kun, I wish to speak with you." The Hokage's voice was solemn and officious, though Sasuke didn't miss the grave tone that underscored his words. In turn, the boy gave the slightest rigid nod of his head to show that he was listening, but nothing else.
The old man cleared his throat. "Though you deserve no less than for me to look you in the eyes as I do so."
The Hokage paused for a moment, as if expecting an answer. Sasuke had nothing to say.
"Sasuke-kun? Are you alright?" Sasuke flinched violently at the sudden touch on his shoulder. "What's wrong, boy? Why do you not open your eyes?"
"I can't," the boy gritted out. "I can't."
The touch returned, this time feather-light, as if afraid Sasuke would run away (as he was almost tempted to do). But it felt like neither the relentless grip that he imagined choking out every last breath of his family members (that haunted his dreams, reaching for his neck had he arrived a mere moment earlier to catch them in the act), nor did it feel like the reassuring touch of the strongest man of the Land of Fire who fearlessly carried the entire village. It felt like the touch of an old man who had seen or felt too much, like someone whose back bore a permanent cripple from carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"It's alright." The Sandaime's voice echoed the calm, quiet exhaustion that haunted the edges of his touch. "You are safe."
With his eyes still firmly shut, Sasuke felt everything from last night hit him—pain, confusion, anger, tired tired tired—as if a plateau of shock had given way and a dam had broken, and he started crying with muffled and bitten-back sobs wracking his whole body. The hand on his shoulder did not wrap around him, as if aware of his fear, but strengthened comfortingly.
It took a few moments before Sasuke took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes. Despairing obsidian orbs met the Hokage's steady gaze.
Naruto readjusted his goggles over his hair, grimacing when he brushed across a bruise from when some old fuck "accidentally" shoved him into the fountain earlier in the week. The strap had snapped from the impact, and the rubber bands he tied together to replace it always left the goggles at an awkward angle on his forehead. Still, he stared defiantly at his reflection in the mirror—hair mussed and a little greasy, clothes sporting stains and marks from god-knows-what, and a bruise or two from the fountain. But that's what being a ninja was like anyway, so it didn't matter…
And darn right he wanted to look like the full-fledged ninja he totally was. It was a Thursday, and that meant they'd be sparring.
He gave a large grin, full of a childish vitality and arrogance, and snatched his signature jacket from its spot on the floor and dashed full-speed to the Academy.
As expected, he was barely on time, but it was enough to avoid any irritated looks from Iruka that morning. Mizuki gave a small laugh under his breath but shot Naruto a conspiratorial wink, a promise not to point out the moment's tardiness. Naruto gave a sheepish grin and shot him a subtle thumbs-up in response.
The long-winded lectures about shinobi history and practical forms of ninjutsu went over Naruto's head due to his giddiness for the upcoming spars. Finally, finally, finally, finally! Something other than this bull about kachra and the Land of Sand.
He narrowed his eyes around the room—sizing up potential opponents, since a ninja must always be prepared—like a hawk picking out his next victim.
Kiba. A loud, dog-obsessed jerk with his foot constantly in his mouth, so Naruto could probably trip the remaining foot, and he would win, hands down.
Hinata. Hm… Tricky, but she tended to use a lot of hiding techniques, so he'd just have to break all the boxes so she can't hide.
Chouji. All Naruto had to do was toss a bag of chips out of the ring and the match was his. (He sent a prayer up to the dead Kages that he wouldn't have to. His Ninjaritos were too good, but he'll sacrifice them if he must.)
Yamada. He's just fodder. Naruto could beat that nobody anyday!
Sakura-chan. Uhhhhhh…
Iruka—
Shit.
"NARUUUUTOOOOOOOOOOO!"
...
Alright. So he got detention for not paying attention, but screw it, he had a fight to attend!
...
"Aaaaaalright! Let's get this party started!" Kiba yelled into the sharp end of a kunai. "I, Inuzuka Kiba, am your dashing host for this evening, as we enter into action, adventure, and dangers untold. First up, from one of Konoha's strongest families, holding a bloodline trait whose very gaze makes all tremble in their socks and sandals, everyone give it up for…HYUUGA HINATA!"
Poor Hinata looked redder than a brick in the sun. Luckily for her, Iruka quickly snatched the kunai out of Kiba's hand with a growl. "KIBA! I haven't announced anything yet, so you certainly won't! Now, get back and join the rest of the class."
Both Kiba and Akamaru shot glares at Iruka before retreating back into the crowd of students. Giving a huff of annoyance, Iruka turned back to the horribly embarrassed Hinata and gave her a gentle pat on the back. "It's alright, Hinata. We'll have you go first since you're already up here." Her head jerked up to look at him, still frantic, but she gave a hesitant nod and shuffled her way into the makeshift ring, marked by a circle on the ground.
"And," Iruka continued, "let's have...Ino come up, too." (Naruto gave a snort of laughter when Kiba leaned towards him and whispered, "Freaking sexist.")
Ino rushed into the circle with an excited whoop, with Sakura simultaneously hurling encouragements and insults at her friend from her place in the crowd.
"The challenger enters from stage right: the blonde-haired beauty, the bouncy babe, the bodacious broad, the breath-taking bitch, YAMANAKA INO!" Kiba said, before giving a loud yelp as a sandal connected with his left eye. Ino, now as red as a Hinata in the sun, stalked the remaining way into the circle with a single sandal on.
Iruka just shook his head in exasperation, as if saying, "Ugh. Kids. Ninja kids."
"You two will begin when I signal. First, perform the Seal of Confrontation. At the end of the fight, you will also perform the Seal of Reconciliation." Iruka resumed a professional demeanor as he took his place right outside the circle, watching Hinata and Ino raise their right hands in the correct sign. "Good. Ready… Begin!"
"AAAAAAAND Ino blazes in, fists flying! Hinata takes a quick sidestep, oooh, but it's a second too late! Her foot remains out, and Ino trips! Ha! What a klutz. Hinata quickly readjusts herself; what's she gonna do next? Oooh, she didn't move quickly enough! Ino is up and running again, throwing a roundhouse kick and—HIEEH!" Kiba screeched, now hit in the right eye with Ino's other sandal. Akamaru whimpered in sympathy, giving his owner's face a few licks and barking at Ino, who had gone back to dodging Hinata's reluctant palm attacks.
Ino was much more abrasive, but her attacks went flying everywhere—glancing off Hinata's hair, off her jacket, off the air slightly to the right of her left elbow…
"Laaaaame!" Naruto shouted at her. "Your aim is worse than your dad's was on your parents' wedding night!"
A chorus of "OOOOOOOOH"s, a bunch of "Huh?"s, and even a "What does that mean?" resounded behind Naruto as Ino turned to him, now redder than Hinata (though not by very much).
...
"THE WINNER IS…HYUUUGA HINAAAATAAA! As Yamanaka Ino steps out of the ring and is now strangling Uzumaki Naruto!" Kiba yelled, adjusting his ice pack from his left to his right eye.
It took Iruka a good five minutes to break up the fight, though he'd be lying if he said he wasn't sniggering a few times here and there. And that he didn't let Ino strangle Naruto for just a minute longer than he should've.
...
"Alright," Iruka said, calling his small class of hellions back to order, "Next up… Let's have Naruto—"
"WOOHOO!" Naruto yelled, shoving Yamada and Sabo aside to make his way into the ring like a triumphant hero, ready to receive a trophy for a fight he hadn't won yet.
Iruka just gave an exasperated sigh and continued. "And Sasuke."
"OOOH, and do we have a line-up for you now, ladies and gentleladies! In one corner—"
"What corner?! That's a circle, you dummy!"
"Fuck off, I'm commentating, Yamadumbass. Anyway, as I was saying… IN ONE CORNER, the challenger and extra ordinary underdog with a brain too small to know when to quit, iiiiit's… UZUMAKI NARUTO!" he yelled, ignoring the dirty glare from Naruto.
"Aaand—" he continued, before faltering.
With his attention focused entirely on the Uchiha, Naruto didn't notice when Ino gave Kiba a harsh nudge with her elbow, or the pitying looks that Shikamaru and Hinata shot Sasuke, how Sakura seemed terribly worried, or how even Iruka seemed to regret his decision immediately afterwards.
All he saw was Sasuke glaring at him, eyes narrowed in a look that displayed only disgust, like…
Like the old man who pushed him into the fountain. Like the shop-owners who followed him around with their eyes the moment he was within arm's reach of their merchandise. Like every drunk villager that's yelled at him to go die.
"And Uchiha Sasuke," Kiba finished lamely.
"Now," Iruka continued, "please perform the Seal of Confrontation. No, Naruto, your other hand—it's always your dominant hand. Ready… Begin!"
Kicking off with his right leg, Naruto kept low and kicked his foot out to sweep Sasuke's feet—
Next thing he knew, he was face first in the dirt, his arm twisted painfully behind him and a knee pressed down on his back, undoubtedly going to leave bruises there the next day.
"And Sasuke wins," he heard Kiba say in a rather hushed tone, with a hint of awe and trepidation.
Naruto felt the weight move off of him, but he was too shocked to move for a few seconds. (That defeat was just as quick as, but felt a bit harsher, than normal.) Once he got his bearings though, he immediately shot up from the ground, lifting his stiff arm and pointing a finger at the angry boy, whose back faced him as he began to walk away.
"I don't accept it! I want a rematch!" Naruto shouted heatedly. A hand cuffed him over the head.
"Naruto! Sasuke won fairly, so the honorable thing to do now is to take your loss for what it is and make the Seal of Reconciliation with him!" Iruka turned to the other boy, his expression becoming wary and his tone sounding awkward. "You too, Sasuke. Naruto can't make the seal on his own."
There was a tense silence throughout the yard when Sasuke froze in his steps, but everyone breathed a quiet sigh of relief when he smoothly turned around and approached Naruto again, a deep frown still present on his eight-year-old face. Iruka just smiled nervously as he gestured for the boys to continue.
Slowly, they reached out with their hands in the appropriate seal. Just before Naruto met Sasuke's fingers with his own, he made the mistake of looking up.
That fucking look.
Instead of hooking his fingers with Sasuke's in the correct seal, he went straight for the bastard's collar, pulling him close. Sasuke reciprocated in kind, grabbing Naruto's collar as well and continuing to glare right at him, dark eyes—
No. Red eyes, just like—
"You're just a loser who has never amounted to anything." The fist on Naruto's collar tightened. "How he ever saw—how I ever thought you were something more…"
Naruto's mind was caught on Sasuke's first sentence, the insult repeating itself over and over. "What was that, you asshole?!"
Before Sasuke could reply, two strong arms pried the boys away from each other.
"Enough! Naruto, Sasuke! The two of you will be serving detention together if you don't calm yourselves this instant!"
"Tch."
Sasuke jerked away from Iruka and seconds later he was gone from the yard.
"Man, I feel sorry for him."
"Just leave him be."
"What a jerk. Sasuke-kun's already going through all that, and Naruto just cares about winning."
Naruto still stood in his spot in the sparring ring, staring at the ground as some other students whispered about the tragedy that occurred the week before.
That's right. Sasuke's all alone now. Just like...me.
That explained why Sasuke glared so intensely at him earlier.
He seems to hate the whole world now, but why was he always angry at me?
"IIIIIITAAAAACHIIIII-NIIIII-SAAAAAN!"
Itachi cringed slightly as a Sasuke-shaped ball of enthusiasm tackled him happily. Sasuke took no notice, as he proceeded to rub his chubby childish face into his older brother's chuunin vest. Itachi's mildly pained tolerance seemed to have completely missed the slightly smug and vindictive air from his younger brother, as the small child got to embarrass one of the strongest ninjas in the village.
"Sasuke," Itachi greeted once he'd regained his composure. He then smiled warmly. "Is there something you need?"
"You're going to the market, right? Take me with you!"
Itachi's slightly exasperated sigh of, "Sasuke," was met with determined eyes staring right back at him, lower lip jutted out like a petulant blowfish. Relenting, the elder Uchiha simply waved his hand in a vaguely affirmative motion as he grabbed his satchel. Sasuke gave a shout of victory and scrambled to slip his sandals on and run after his brother at the same time.
"The Academy was lame," Sasuke scoffed coolly, once he caught up. "The kids are so stupid! Most of them didn't even know what chakra was. And there were a couple of simpletons who wanted to look cool, but they kept calling it 'kachra'! Kachra!"
Itachi hummed agreeably, seemingly too absorbed in picking out the perfect Fuji apples to muster up a full response.
(Since he hadn't turned around, he did not see the disappointed look the boy held. If he had, he may have dismissed it as a mistake, as the look was quickly replaced by one of determination.)
"And the chuunin instructors," Sasuke continued, "didn't really seem to know what they were doing, either. Some guy—Miyuki-sensei, I think—wouldn't be able to get the class quiet if he had duct tape and an eternal supply of chakra."
This time, Itachi laughed agreeably. "Mizuki-sensei? He's teaching now?"
"Yup!" Sasuke said, preening just the slightest bit at the attention. "He's probably the worst teacher there, which is saying something."
"Mm." Itachi absentmindedly placed a handful of coins onto the counter, waving goodbye to the shopkeeper without even a glance back.
The Uchiha brothers made their way through the marketplace, Itachi gliding through crowds and errands with a fluidity and gracefulness that came with being a practiced ninja, and Sasuke following along like an overeager ankle-biter. Sasuke's overenthusiastic stories were answered with just enough interest on Itachi's part that encouraged Sasuke to continue talking.
Villagers drifted around the Uchiha brothers, creating a nearly biblical image; waves of people parted in deference to the Uchihas, wary eyes staring in awe at the members of Konoha's prodigious clan.
Even Sasuke began to notice, when a toddler stumbled into their path. The child's mother pulled her away, apologizing profusely to the brothers.
"Nii-san, check it out! All these people are practically bowing to us," Sasuke snickered. "It's 'cause we're Uchiha—we're the best in Konoha!"
Itachi looked at his brother with amusement, holding his little hand as they walked down the street through the marketplace. "There's a whole world outside of Konoha, silly little brother. It's enough space for all kinds of people."
The younger boy's eyebrows drew close together, his eyes narrowed, and his lips pursed, all in skepticism. "Hmm, I don't think anyone can be stronger than Uchihas like us, Nii-san."
"Oh? And what about Hokage-sama?"
"Hmph! I bet people think he's powerful because he's super old!"
Before Itachi could muster a proper response to Sasuke's silly notion, his attention was caught by a commotion in the market center. A boy with blindingly blond hair and odd marks on his cheeks was glaring defiantly at an old shopkeeper.
"You got that, kid?" the old man growled. "Touch anything here again and I'll chop your finger off, you little thief!"
"Yeah, yeah, you old geezer," the kid spat back. "You don't believe me now, but one day I'll become Hokage and you'll never doubt me again!" Then he stomped away in a huff.
The "old geezer" merely scoffed before going back inside his shop.
Sasuke shook his head and was about to continue walking when a single soft-spoken word stopped him in his tracks.
"Fascinating."
The hustle and bustle of the marketplace resuming its general busyness almost buried the word in a sea of sound, but Sasuke still heard it, like—
Like the insignificant boy who should've been lost in the ocean of people, but instead stood out like a buoy, with his head held high in defiance.
Sasuke's eyes shot back to his brother—one of thestrongest ninjas in all of Konohagakure, of the Land of Fire, of the whole ninja world—who was still staring at a delinquent with a shoplifting problem…with a smile on his face. Since when did Uchihas smile?! (Oh wait, Sasuke always did. He needed to work on that.) It was a rare occurrence coming from Itachi, and it was such a warm look, too.
But it wasn't directed at Sasuke. That was a problem.
"Nii-san?"
"Hn." Itachi didn't give Sasuke so much as a glance, continuing to flow through the market as if the interruption never happened. Sasuke jogged alongside him, face downturned into the famous Uchiha scowl.
"Nii-san, who was that kid?" demanded the boy.
Itachi took Sasuke's hand again as they approached the bakery, the older boy giving a low hum as he browsed the selection of bread, contemplating his response. "That boy," he murmured, "is Uzumaki Naruto. This is the first time I've seen him."
"Shouldn't someone discipline him for that?" Sasuke said disapprovingly. "He's making a lot of trouble!"
"He is an orphan, Sasuke. There is no one at home to discipline him."
"O-oh." Sasuke clamped his mouth shut for a moment. "W-well, who takes care of him?" he amended.
There was no immediate answer to his question as Itachi selected some loaves of bread and purchased them. They exited the bakery and a few villagers greeted them as they passed by, some commenting on how much the boys had grown since they last saw them. Those people annoyed Sasuke sometimes, especially the rare individuals that would try to pinch his cheeks. Thankfully, he always managed to turn his face away, and Itachi or even another villager would stop the culprit from reaching out anymore. There seemed to be an unspoken rule that those outside the clan would not act so familiarly with the Uchihas.
Sasuke never thought about it. As long as no one pulled at his face, it wasn't really interesting enough to notice.
When the brothers successfully escaped the marketplace and turned down the quiet path that led to the Uchiha compound, Itachi finally spoke. It took Sasuke a few seconds to remember the topic.
"It's not well-known who raised him from a baby until now, and I won't waste time talking about rumors. Now, however…"
Oh! Itachi was talking about that Naruto kid. Sasuke didn't understand why Itachi was still even thinking about that brat. He looked up into his brother's face and was surprised by what he saw.
"Nii-san?"
"Sasuke, I...I don't know if anyone takes care of him now." Itachi looked troubled—a downward quirk of his lips, a crease in his eyebrows. No villager took notice, only shooting the Uchihas nervous smiles, but Sasuke was focused only on his brother.
"What? Why? How? He looks my age!"
"I honestly have no idea, Sasuke." Itachi abruptly changed the topic. "I believe Uzumaki-kun started the Academy this year in your class, so perhaps you can become his friend and learn a little more about him." There almost seemed to be an encouraging tone in his voice.
"No way!" Sasuke huffed. For some reason, he found himself annoyed with the blond since seeing him at the market. It didn't make things better when he remembered Itachi's reaction. He'd called him fascinating. "That idiot will just distract me from my training, and he'll bother me if he keeps saying he'll become Hokage! That's just silly! Not just anyone can become Hokage. He's not even old!"
The small sigh Itachi gave was light, amusement having chased away the earlier agitation. His face relaxed the tiniest amount and his mouth quirked up on one side.
"Like I always say, you're the silly one, Sasuke. You don't have to be old to be Hokage. You need strength to protect, intelligence to rule, and people's favor to maintain peace. You may not think so now, but I believe...Uzumaki Naruto has a chance to reach that goal one day."
The brothers had finally reached their clan compound, and Itachi deemed it fine to walk on ahead as his little brother remained rooted to his spot at the compound entrance, shock on his face at the praise given to the orphan boy.
He let the words sink in, as such an occurrence would be unlikely to happen ever again. Uchiha Itachi acknowledged some random boy over his own brother?
Well, if that kid was so special, Sasuke would just have to be better!
"—and the loser only hit three targets! Three! I'm telling you, Kaa-san, it was all by luck! Luck!" the indignant Sasuke finished, throwing his hands irritatedly in the air and huffing in annoyance. His mother laughed indulgently as she washed a head of lettuce and some cherry tomatoes (Sasuke couldn't eat salad without tomatoes) in the kitchen sink. Sasuke stood beside her on a wooden step stool, the top of his spiky hair barely reaching her shoulders.
"And when we got our tests back from Iruka-sensei, there was a big fat zero on his! How do you even get a zero? And then he goes on bragging about how he didn't even need tests, and how he'll still be Hokage! Hokage! I wonder if he can even read that grade on his paper." Sasuke paused for a moment from his rant to gratefully accept the cherry tomato his mom held out for him.
"And what makes you so upset about it?" his mom asked.
"I haven't even gotten to that part yet, Kaa-san!" he sighed. "We had our first sparring session today, and he challenged me! To a spar! Mamoru-sensei had already split us into pairs, and he has the…the ahh…the…oh! The audacity to challenge me! Me!"
His mother just laughed along. "And how'd that go?"
Sasuke scoffed. "I won easily."
"Oh? So Mamoru-sensei let you two spar after all."
The pause was long enough for Mikoto to turn around to her son with a raised eyebrow.
"Sasuke?"
He sheepishly stared at his toes.
"Sasuke!" she scolded, though the effect was lost by her own giggling.
"He called me out! I couldn't just let it slide!"
"Sounds like you and he are bitter rivals," Itachi drawled from the doorway.
"Nii-san! You're home!" the little Uchiha chirped, jumping off the stool and rushing to his brother.
"I'm home, Okaa-san, Sasuke," Itachi said, giving Sasuke an affectionate poke on the forehead.
"Welcome home, Itachi," his mother greeted warmly. "Maybe you can talk your brother out of alley fights with a neighborhood delinquent."
"It was not in an alley!" Sasuke said defensively. "It was in the sparring ring, fair and square."
"But isn't the ring a circle?" Itachi joked at Sasuke.
"Whatever! I beat him after classes."
Itachi took a seat at the table, causing Sasuke to scramble for a seat near his brother. "I heard from someone that you were sparring with Uzumaki Naruto," Itachi sought to confirm in mild curiosity.
"Yup," Sasuke said, smirking. "And I won!"
"Against another student and without supervision!" Mikoto reminded him. "And Uzumaki Naruto? You didn't tell me that."
"Against a ninja, and as a ninja," Sasuke argued back, huffing as he slumped down in his seat. He was too embarrassed to admit that he was so worked up that he forgot to mention the other boy's name.
"Ah," Itachi quickly retaliated, "but you aren't ninja just yet." He paused for a moment as Sasuke continued to sulk indignantly. "You know, Sasuke… Maybe you don't even need to be a ninja."
Sasuke shot up in alarm while Mikoto gave Itachi a shocked look.
"What are you saying, Itachi?"
"Yes, what nonsense are you speaking, son?"
Sasuke bolted upright, spine snapping into proper posture as the intimidating form of Uchiha Fugaku approached from the doorway.
"Tou-san, welcome ho—"
"Sasuke, head up to your room," Mikoto interrupted him.
The boy's mouth clamped shut automatically, as he glanced between his family. Mikoto shot him an apologetic glance before focusing on Itachi, while his father had not even looked at him. Itachi's mouth was set in a thin line as he stared his father in the eyes.
Sasuke gave one last look at his family before turning and running to his room, wondering why his beloved brother would practically disregard his dream.
...
The raised voices hadn't lasted long, no more than five minutes, but half an hour later Sasuke still didn't dare head back downstairs.
Why'd Itachi even say that? Why'd he even think that?
The Uchiha were a clan of pride and power. Every Uchiha fought their way to greatness and prominence, becoming part of Konohagakure's force of protectors. They were in the village's Anbu, main forces, and police.
And Itachi just implied that Sasuke shouldn't be any of those things.
The young boy felt the familiar hint of loathing for his older brother that appeared a few times throughout the past year. Did he believe Sasuke didn't have what it took to become a ninja? Was Sasuke just incompetent compared not only to Itachi, but that joke of a student as well?
Every shuriken he threw hit its target. Every test he took came back with full points. Every chakra exercise he performed was regarded as flawless.
"Keep this up and you'll be a fine shinobi, like your brother."
"Fascinating."
"Perhaps you can become his friend and learn a little more from him."
He nearly jumped out of his skin when the door suddenly opened. He hopped to his feet just as his father entered.
"Tou-san!"
"Sasuke," the man said. "Have a seat, son."
Sasuke settled back on his bed while his father hovered a meter away.
"I hear you had an altercation with the Uzumaki child."
That idiot again. 'Cause he's more important than your kid starting the Academy. "He challenged me," Sasuke said sullenly. "He keeps mocking me, so I was just showing him what an Uchiha can do." The look he gave his father held the slightest bit of defiance and pride, somewhere in between being an obstinate Uchiha and denouncing the godforsaken name altogether.
Fugaku's reply, then, came as a surprise. "That is good."—Sasuke blinked owlishly, as if clearing his eyes could also clear his ears—"Wear the clan symbol with pride, son. However, you should consider further associating yourself with that boy. He's a special one and it would do you good to surround yourself with those who are strong, as long as you are stronger."
His father placed a hand on his shoulder, nudging him off the bed. "Come. Your mother has prepared dinner."
When Fugaku left, he didn't look and see the little boy rooted to his spot, staring at his back with an odd look of betrayal and conflict.
Not a single damn kunai hit its target.
Sasuke was somewhere near screaming or crying (or both) from exhaustion and frustration and just being so done with all of this. If he knew any, he would have used a fire technique to burn the surrounding trees and all the targets to ashes, screw the consequences. With his current skill set however, all he would manage to do was make deep gouges in tree trunks and snap branches in half.
Instead, the boy dragged himself back onto his feet—muscles stretched sore and bruises dotting skin like a disease—and trudged around slowly to pick up every kunai he threw (every failure).
A deep breath.
Small (weak) legs shot up, kicking off of trees until he was upside down in midair, meters above the ground.
He threw the kunai, motions fluid, as if the weapons were still controlled by him even as they flew across the small clearing. Three kunai redirected other kunai before hitting their own targets as well.
The next kunai slipped.
(Another failure.)
Another overshot the target by a meter.
(And another.)
The next dug out just the barest mark on its target before falling unceremoniously.
(And another.)
Sasuke landed on his feet, a kunai following soon after and embedding itself in the exposed roots of a nearby tree, the target it was supposed to hit staring down at him with condescension.
Five failures.
Four missed targets and Sasuke himself, staring pathetically at all his persistent mistakes.
He didn't even try to contain the frustrated scream this time, punching the tree. The target kept its look of mocking patronization.
When he drew himself up this time, Sasuke didn't bother to collect the kunai, instead throwing his hands into his pockets and trudging away from the irksome target area.
What was he doing wrong? Not only with target practice, but with so many other aspects of ninja training.
His dad, his teachers, and most of the villagers only talked about Itachi. Itachi hit all the targets. Itachi was top of his class. Itachi just entered into Anbu. He was the pride of the clan, the village, the nation. Leave it to Itachi to make every mission successful. Work hard like Itachi. Become a fine shinobi like Itachi. Be like Itachi.
Sure, he could attempt to do that, if Itachi was actually around long enough these days for Sasuke to know what his own brother was even like anymore.
Sasuke scowled as he left the Uchiha Clan boundaries of the forest and moved to the public training areas, all the while thinking of Itachi's most recent routines.
It was not uncommon for Itachi to be away from home for extended periods of time, his excuse being missions assigned by the Hokage himself. Sasuke believed that the world mocked him whenever he would ask his older brother to train with him, since it just so happened that Itachi would need to leave right away.
If Itachi didn't want to train with him, that suited Sasuke just fine. He didn't have to say, "Maybe later, Sasuke," as if he was just tired or busy at the moment. Sasuke had attended the Academy for a few years now and he had been training himself to "look underneath the underneath," as he heard some passing jounin once say. It wasn't as if Sasuke was some incompetent, naive civilian child.
Whatever.
Sasuke had other important things to do anyway. He could scout out the abilities of his rival. Ugh. Sasuke felt the title was too grand for that blond menace, but his vocabulary was still a bit limited at his age. He also wasn't very adept at insulting people, but he felt proud of coming up with the word "usuratonkachi" for the idiot when they were forced to do a teamwork exercise and he totally got in Sasuke's way.
The downside was that the dobe always responded with "Teme!" and Sasuke had no idea what it meant, and he wasn't about to ask Itachi, his mother, or—God forbid—his father about it. All he needed to understand was that it was absolutely rude.
But regardless of the words they threw around, the two boys knew their abilities as ninja-in-training mattered the most.
And so Sasuke maneuvered his way through the dense forest with a particular destination in mind, a place he began to frequent when his own training became more of a waste of time than actual progress.
As the trees grew less dense and allowed more sunlight to filter through, Sasuke could hear a small voice calling out, followed by a thump each time. He slowed his pace down, taking measured steps. When he saw a speck of bright yellow in the distance, he stopped altogether, squatting low to the ground until he couldn't see the blond tuft of hair anymore. After a few minutes of slowly and quietly waddling over, he readjusted himself to crawling on all fours, and then finally ended up shuffling on his stomach, ignoring the branches poking at him. When he was safely past the "danger zone," he snuck behind the trunk of a nearby tree and pushed himself up as the idiotic cries of "HIII-YAAAA!" resounded from nearby.
Of course Naruto would shout like that.
Sasuke peeked from behind his leafy fortress in disdain, watching the blond menace hit the training post again. "HIII-YAAAA!"
For the sake of Six Paths, even his basic taijutsu was appalling.
Sasuke gave a sigh of exasperated annoyance, but quickly ducked as the blond snapped around abruptly at the sound.
...
Naruto was absolutely sure he heard someone breathing loudly from the forest. Even before he heard that, he felt a stirring in the pit of his gut and an inclination towards…something that caught his attention, like spiderwebs caught in the edges of his mind and pulling him back towards the source whenever he turned around.
As seconds ticked by, the feeling settled heavier and heavier, like a glaring pressure.
He whipped his head around, but all he saw was the fores—
Hey, wait a second, moss wasn't black and spiky like a duck's behind!
"OI! TEME! I see you 'hiding' there!"
The little black blob jostled a little before, surely enough, Uchiha Sasuke emerged, scowl firmly in place.
"Usuratonkachi," he greeted flippantly, as if he hadn't just been spying on Naruto a minute ago.
"The hell are you doing here, teme?" Naruto huffed, annoyed. "Come to see how a true ninja trains? Or have you come crawling back for a rematch?!"
Sasuke bristled. "Shouldn't it be the other way around?" Sasuke asked haughtily. "If I recall correctly, I was the one who beat you."
"Only because you cheated!"
"I didn't cheat!"
"You did so!"
"Nuh uh!"
"Yeah huh!"
With each subsequent accusation, the boys took a step closer towards each other until they were right in each other's breathing spaces, gripping the front of the other's shirt and ready to punch the living daylights out of him.
"You want a rematch then?" Sasuke gritted out. "You're on, dobe!"
"Bring it, teme!" Naruto said, grinning.
...
The match took a grand total of seventeen seconds.
It wasn't until late evening that Iruka happened to pass by the training area and untie the loudly-cursing Naruto from the training post, while reprimanding him that "every ninja should know how to untie ropes."
...
Sasuke would never admit it, and even tried his best to hide it at the time, but he was grinning the entire way home.
...
Naruto vehemently denied that he was anything but outraged from losing to Sasuke again.
(But really, he knew he would give up ramen for a few hours if he could challenge the teme like that again.)
When Naruto made his way home, he may have dragged his feet.
(Not as if anyone was waiting for him back at that place, anyway.)
After the fight at the Academy and Sasuke's quick disappearance, Iruka-sensei lectured him for an hour about honor and respect. For once, Naruto kept silent, though he hadn't quite been listening. Iruka had realized that and dismissed him with a sigh and an offer of ramen, but Naruto declined, insisting that he needed to train for a little before it got dark outside, given the shorter days as autumn was fading into winter.
But when he reached the practice area, he couldn't bring himself to throw a single kunai. He was distracted by annoyance and guilt. After three half hearted punches and an attempt at practicing Bunshin to no avail, Naruto just threw his arms up and made his way out of the forest.
When Naruto demanded a rematch with Sasuke earlier, he completely forgot about the massacre of the Uchiha Clan. Other than Iruka about his bad habit of skipping, he hadn't talked to anyone since the incident. And at the time (like it always was), Sasuke was just Sasuke. His rival. His goal. His fr—
No, they weren't friends. But sometimes…Naruto wished…
(But what good is wishing—he of all people should know this.)
Ever since they met, Sasuke would glare at Naruto, not with disgust, but with something akin to suspicion, maybe even skepticism judging by the way the Uchiha's face pinched together when he squinted. It was never the same spiteful look that people like that old jerk at the fountain gave him. It confused Naruto, making him wonder if he really hated Sasuke, and if Sasuke hated him back. Either way, no matter what Sasuke thought of Naruto, the blond knew he wanted to prove the other wrong. That determination didn't change, especially now that Naruto could understand Sasuke the slightest bit more.
Naruto felt a nagging pull at that moment, the feeling tugging at him harder the closer he got to the lake near the edge of the village.
He slowed down as he reached the crest of the grassy hill that bordered the lake, and strolled along the dirt path. He spotted from afar a tiny figure sitting at the end of the lone dock, and as he got closer he realized who it was.
So this is where he went…
Once he reached the crest of the hill above the dock, Naruto stopped walking to stare at Sasuke's back. The Uchiha Clan symbol glowed red and white amidst the dark fabric of the shirt. Naruto grit his teeth as he debated whether or not to move forward, wanting to approach the Uchiha and finally rid himself of his guilt, but also wanting to turn away in a huff and never look back.
But then the red crescent of that fan kept him a bit mesmerized, pulling forth memories of red eyes.
"Take good care…"
Naruto scrutinized the boy on the dock.
Is Sasuke…the one that…?
He made to take a step—away or towards the Uchiha, he wasn't quite sure—when the boy by the pier whipped around suddenly, as if startled by the sudden awareness of Naruto's presence.
The sudden movement, in turn, had Naruto slamming his foot down to reorient himself on the ground—wait shit, he missed—shit—wait—
Naruto wasn't quite sure what was going on, but he did notice that he was somersaulting straight into the goddamn Uchiha.
Both boys gave a shout of surprise. Sasuke's elbow connected with Naruto's spleen, Naruto kicked Sasuke in the back of the head, and they both fell in a sprawling heap of limbs and combined misery as they went tumbling into the water.
...
Sasuke idly wondered whether this really would be the end of him. Maybe his death was coming late? Was it the idea of death or the delay that bothered him? He wondered if he was bothered at all.
His whole family was dead and the unknown killer—killers?—was yet to be found. Every shadow made him jump and every silence felt suffocating, as if a hand would reach out of the quiet and grip him by the throat, like what happened to so many Uchiha. He couldn't go a minute without thinking about their deaths…or his own.
Whenever his Sharingan activated, he could see and he could also remember. But it never happened by his choice. On off on off on...off on...off...on…
(Bright lights bright sky bright leaves and the stained ceilings and stiff doctors and floating dust mites but he could see it all before it happened and why couldn't he stop it)
And now he was drowning. His Sharingan had activated once again—every current pushing left, right, down… His eyes made everything so damn clear, but his mind was muddled and his body lethargic.
His arms drifted feebly through the water and his feet gave half-hearted kicks—possibly just out of instinct or habit at this point—but he inevitably and slowly began to sink. His eyelids started to shut, but he hadn't let go of his breath just yet.
Sasuke was used to falling every time he thought he made it a little farther. But who was left to see him get to the top now? What would he even find if he eventually succeeded?
(Not as if anyone was waiting for him back at that place, anyway.)
Suddenly, yellow and orange streaked through his muddled vision.
Habit—life—fear—something compelled him to haul himself up. When he felt himself slipping, he yanked at the collar of the blond idiot and dragged him along the way as well. Luckily, his hand caught onto one of the dock legs, which he used to heave himself up until the two boys were both floundering at the water's surface and coughing up slightly polluted lake water. By the time either of them had more air in their lungs than water, the sun had taken the opportunity to run away like a complete coward, leaving the two idiots splashing around in the dark in a deserted corner of Konohagakure.
A bright head of yellow hair moved in the corner of his eye, the idiot attempting to float on his own, if the petulant "Hmph!" he made when he tore out of Sasuke's grip was any indication—that dobe—
Naruto made a wild grab at the dock leg, but only managed to snag Sasuke's shirt, which sent the two boys tumbling back into the water together.
Sasuke heaved an angry sigh bef—shit shit bad idea underwater—
He kicked his legs around a little wildly. Shit—what kind of ninja doesn't know how to swim?!
Well, he was doubly disadvantaged, as his legs were currently stuck on a freaking idiot who was flailing like a fish out of water (while very clearly in the water). And to top it all off, he was pretty sure some actual fish just swam into his shirt oh gross—
When both boys finally managed to bob back up for air, Sasuke was tempted to dunk the idiot's head back down. Would have served him right, the moron.
"Nice going, dobe," Sasuke gritted out.
"I meant to do that, but you got in the way of my graceful somersaults!"
"Your somersaults got in the way of my musing!"
"Well you weren't just moose-ing, whatever weird shit that is. You just gave up!"
Sasuke's eyes widened. Did Naruto know what had gone through his mind earlier?
"You ran away before we could have a rematch, so I was using my sneaky ninja abilities to ambush you." Naruto tilted his head up with a smug look.
When he was met with silence, he glanced back at Sasuke to see him already at the bank of the lake and slowly dragging himself from the water and up the hill.
"OI! Teme! I'm talking to you!"
"Talk to my ass, dobe!"
"You think you can reach the top before me? Well, I'll just beat you to it!"
Naruto scrambled a bit, tumbling back into the water a few times until he managed to waddle himself over to the hillside, right beside Sasuke, who merely scoffed and continued his laborious climb back onto dry land.
If Sasuke turned around, he might've seen the devious grin on Naruto's face before the boy grabbed onto the hem of the Uchiha's shirt and sent both of them tumbling back underwater.
Sasuke took some very bitter, angry satisfaction at seeing the idiot choke as he tried to laugh underwater. But the corner of his lips maybe twitched upwards a little as well.
Neither boy knew how much time had passed as they continued to tussle and throw each other into the lake in their attempts to race for an imaginary finish line. For just that hour, they forgot the world where other people existed only a mile away, and nothing was left to stop them from later collapsing to the ground in exhaustion and laughter.
...
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he stood at Sasuke's front door. He handed to the glowering sick boy the lecture notes Iruka made him deliver as punishment for deliberately trying to skip class that morning.
"Hey, at least now you know it's not a good idea to sleep in wet clothes."
The little Uchiha's glare got darker. Staring at the perfectly healthy boy, he decided Naruto was a freak of nature.
"You better not fall behind because of some sniffles, teme. When you get back, be ready for that rematch!" The blond grinned widely before turning around and strolling away, waving goodbye over his shoulder.
Learn more from him, huh?
End of Chapter.
A/N: Rejected words for Itachi (as replacement for "fascinating"): crackerjack, a-okay, hunky dory, rad, wicked, cool, wicked cool, tolerable, cat's pajamas, super-duper, solid, super, angelic, pulchritudinous, sexy, believable, mediocre, meh.
According to Google, "Usuratonkachi is Japanese for 'thin hammer.'" Calling someone by that name implies they are useless like a thin hammer would be. I always wondered about that word, so now I know.
For anyone still confused, the "single spoken word" mentioned in the summary is indeed Itachi's "fascinating," as stupid as it sounds. I thought it was just subtle enough to be the start of the chain reaction that founds this story.
Note from Miranda: The "single spoken word" is, in my eyes, "about" from Itachi's quote, "...perhaps you can become his friend and learn a little more about him." Sasuke misremembers this as "learn a little more from him." That's it.
Reader interpretation, then?