False World: The Dreamers
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Authors Note: This story is an AU and is a one-shot. Rated T for language. It's more just some dribble that I've been morphing into sentences. I've decided to attempt a 100 Theme Challenge in order to jump start some creative juices for a much larger project I have brewing in my head. This one's theme is 'Dreamer' and was originally intended to be a chapter in a different story but as I wrote it changed direction. I hope you enjoy it, please read and review, tell me what you think would happen next, please point out grammatical and spelling errors as I think these sort of errors can really take away from a story. I am by no means a writer and I do not have a beta.
Plot: "Sasuke there is no time to explain. They will know I am here…they probably already do. Do you trust me little brother?" Itachi's face was stoic. The daily battle of hating his beloved brother disappeared with the one look. He knew he would follow his brother to straight to hell if it meant having his brother back. "Yes." Sasuke took another step forward.
The first time Naruto and Sasuke meet Sai a long pause hung in the small room making the air feel stiff in Sai's throat. Naruto and Sasuke shared a glance amongst each other that clearly read their apprehension towards their new roommate. The glance cut sharp through Sai's gut. Sai had no desire to be accepted by these boys. He didn't want their presence or their friendship. He had no desire to be around anyone at all. What he wanted most at that moment was to be back on the park bench, his park bench, being left alone with just his sketchbook and his brother. He would never get that sweet delusion of freedom ever again. This he knew as fact. The amount of judgement he was feeling from these boys replaced all the oxygen in the room, filled his lungs, and took up residences in his heart. His brother never judged like that.
It wasn't that Sai had never felt a glare like this before. Being stared at in this manner was common for a homeless child. He had grown up on the streets, panhandling and building fires in the forest. His brother had shown him how to do that. Shin could do just about anything. His natural survival skills had saved the boys more than once. The fact that it didn't help at the moment Sai lost his brother sat heavily on him.
The social worker held the door open into the room. There were three bunk beds each pushed against one of the walls, a small desk was built under the bunks and each had a chest of drawers next to the bed. The walls were painted off-white with years of fingerprint smudges on the surface. The two boys in the room were sitting together on top of one of the bunks, a deck of cards spread out between them. The game had been abandoned to stare at the newcomer in the doorway.
"Naruto, Sasuke," The social worker addressed the two boys on the bed. "Meet your new roommate, Sai. I trust you will show him the house. Sai, you unpack your belonging and get situated in your new space. Dinner is served at 6:30pm promptly. Kitchen closes for the night at 7:30pm. If you're late you go hungry. Lights out at 9pm. No funny business." Her voice was stern and cold
'At least there will be no coddling here' Sai thought.
The social worker walked away. The boys listened as her shoes clip-clopped down the hallway. Once they couldn't hear her anymore Naruto and Sasuke's glare turned back to the boy in the doorway. Naruto's face started to glow with mischief but Sasuke's stayed blank, almost like staring through Sai, not quite acknowledging his presence.
Sai was a pale boy of average height for a young kid of 8 with jet black hair that laid straight down his head. His body shape was androgynous. His face was round and smooth with high cheek bones. His eyes were large, empty, dark orbs and his mouth was pursed thin. Sai looked as though he had never taken a shower in his life, the clothes on his back were originally black but years of sleeping in the dirt or on a park bench had faded the color and turned it brown. The silence stretched on in the room. It was audible.
Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other and shared another moment of roommate telepathy. Naruto was the youngest in the room at the age of 7. He was a tiny boy for his age with scars that looked like whiskers on his face and a mess of spiky blonde hair on his head. His eyes were a sharp blue color and when he looked at his friend Sasuke knew exactly what Naruto's eyes were saying. 'Get a load of this guy.'
Sasuke was also 7 but he had a few months on Naruto and never let Naruto forget it. Sasuke had cold dark eyes, spiky black hair, and wore a sinister, disinterested smirk on his face. Sasuke responded to Naruto's eyes with a glance of his own as if to say 'This'll be a fun one.'
The two boys shifted their stare back over to the newcomer as he finally shuffled over to the empty bunk bed. In one hand he carried a plastic grocery bag which held one shirt, one pair of pants, one pair of underwear, one pair of socks, and a cheap pair of shoes. In his other hand was a tattered book which looked as though it had been dropped in the mud one too many times. Naruto and Sasuke knew what that plastic bag meant. It was given to the orphans who came into the home with only the clothes on their back.
Even in a children's home there was a hierarchy of orphans and what you brought in with you was as good as any indicator for where you fell in that hierarchy. Naruto was what they called a Lifer. He had no knowledge of who his family was or how long he had been at the children's house. Ever since he could remember he had lived there. The staff, if they did know his story, didn't share the details. Nobody messed with the Lifers. Lifers had nothing to gain and nothing to lose. Most of them would age out of the system and go straight to the streets, typically never to be seen again. Even at the tender age of 7 Naruto rejected this fate and because of that he stood out like a sore thumb among the other Lifers who were rebellious and hellions by natural selection. Sasuke on the other hand was what they called a Leftover. Leftovers were the kids who survived horrible tragedies when their family did not. Ask a question to a Leftover about their family usually meant getting punched in the face or jumped in the showers. It was unspoken law amongst the kids. You don't ask about a Leftover's dead parents. Leftovers always came with their own bag of memories, clothes that fit properly, friends that were not orphans, and pictures of people they would never see again. Sasuke fit this definition to a T. He originally showed up at the children's home with his older brother and wasn't afraid to fight anyone who mentioned his family. He brother had ran away shortly after they had arrived and since then Sasuke had made a name for himself as the kid who wouldn't take shit from anyone. Sai on the other hand didn't fit into either of those categories. Sai was what they called a Roach. These were the kids that had avoided the system and lived homeless on the streets for as long as they could before the system caught them and caged them with the rest of the orphans. They kept their skin tough on the outside and often would run away after being brought in to the home, but they always showed back up again, looking for food and shelter. Just like a roach. They always came with the plastic grocery bag their first time in. Roaches usually didn't have the same anger as the Leftovers or the same loneliness as the Lifers, in fact they usually didn't feel anything at all. One glance at Sai and Naruto and Sasuke knew immediately, this kid was a Roach.
But Sai knew all this already. This wasn't his first rodeo although this was the first time in his life that he had truly given up. Sai knew there was more out there to this world than hugging on a park bench. He knew because Shin had told him so. And Shin never was wrong. So Sai had gotten caught by the authorities on purpose, allowed the judge to make him a ward of the state, and humbly accepted his bunk.
Without breaking the silence Sai approached the spare bed. While Sai had his back to the two boys on the bunk Naruto took the opportunity to jump down and start his interrogation. This was after all his room first.
"Hey you! What 'cha got in that book? You gonna read us a bed time story?" Naruto teased, he looked back at Sasuke to gauge his reaction. Sasuke's lip curled in slight mirth. Naruto grinned wider, feeling gleeful with approval from his best friend, turned back to the new kid again and continued.
"Uh hell-o! Rude! Lemme see that book!" He attempted to snatch it out of Sai's hand. Sai, who has been ignoring the obnoxious blondie reacted at lightening speed. As Naruto's hand came up to grab the book from Sai, Sai grab his wrist and twisted, forcing Naruto around and his arm awkwardly up his back.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Fuck! Uncle! Uncle! Mercy!" The boy wailed. At this Sasuke couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into a fit of laughter.
"Looks like another person who won't be taking your annoying shit Naruto." Sasuke said coolly from his place on his bunk.
Sai gave Naruto a little push as he released his arm from the twist. Naruto stumbled forward a few steps before he found his footing.
"What's the big idea ya' jerk!" Naruto swung around, his fist in the air. Sai had already returned to his belongings. He slowly unpacked the articles of clothing he had been provided, climbed onto the bunk with his book, and promptly laid down with his back to his two roommates. He said nothing to either of the boy.
"Fuckin' weirdo." Naruto mumbled, loud enough to know that Sai could hear him. Sasuke chuckled at Naruto's foul language.
"Hey fox face," Sasuke called down to his only friend "get back up here so I can finish whooping your ass at poker."
"Whadda'ya mean whoopin'!? It's you who is gonna be buying the snacks this week, you know!" Naruto bantered back, already forgetting about the sulking dirt covered kid in the bunk across the room. He jumped back up on Sasuke's bed and they finished playing poker where Naruto lost for the 4th week in a row.
You could often find Naruto and Sasuke playing poker in their room. It was the only card game they knew how to play. Sasuke's older brother had taught him how to play when they still lived at home, Sasuke had been 5 and Itachi 10. Sasuke still didn't know where Itachi learned how to play poker. Itachi always told his younger brother that if their parents found out that Sasuke would be grounded for weeks. The threat was enough to keep Sasuke's lips sealed. After their parents passed away in the fire Sasuke and Itachi would play it together at the children's home. Itachi had taught Naruto how to play it as well and would take turns beating their hands and taking away their allowance they had earned doing chores in the orphanage.
Chores were divided among the children of the house each with an small allowance allocated after completion. The younger children were given simpler task and as they grew older they were expected to do more, clean better, and work harder for the same amount of pennies each week. Once a month a caretaker, Iruka, would take the kids down to the thrift store to buy clothes. The children's home provided three meals a day, toiletries, and shelter. Everything else was up to the kids to work for. Sometimes Sasuke or Naruto would play poker with one of the other kids, betting their allowance for the chance of gaining a little more without having to scrub the toilets again. Sasuke, who always lost to his brother, had no issue beating the other kids at poker. Most kids caught on to this quickly and wouldn't play him in a game. Naruto on the other hand had just as big of a chance of losing as he did winning. Having control of their allowance and gambling gave the two boys a sense of security that they didn't have in any other part of their lives. Neither wanted to admit to the pennies they kept from each other and the futile attempt to save. Nobody discusses their future in an orphanage.
But Itachi was gone now. Sasuke didn't need the reminder. When the social worker brought in Sai he had felt a strange sense of relief. As if having Itachi's space filled by another human being would replace his memory of his older brother. He hoped in vain to forget his face for good. Sasuke has no use for someone who abandoned him.
Under Sasuke's bunk a handmade alarm sounded 6:20pm. The gadget looked like a mess of wires and gears, it had no digital face because Sasuke had rigged an old wrist watch and AM radio together to create the alarm clock. He was good at creating machines and enjoyed passing his time rummaging through trash cans around town to find things to break apart and put back together. When the alarm went off both boys stopped their game and climbed down from Sasuke's bunk. The boys had lived there long enough to know that getting warm food meant arriving at the dining hall early.
"Time to eat! Time to eat!" Naruto chanted and rushed out the door, Sasuke slowly following. He looked over his shoulder before leaving the room to the other boy in the bed. He hadn't moved an inch since he had laid down there earlier.
'I ain't no babysitter' Sasuke told himself and left the room, following his obnoxious roommate down the hall. Sasuke struggled with showing empathy to other people. Even though he could remember a time before the orphanage this did not make him a soft person. His father had ruled the house as an authoritarian which often made him come off as distant and cold. Sasuke embodied the way he was raised and tended to treat people with an air of disinterest. Naruto and Sasuke were drastically different in this manner. Naruto had an unparalleled sense of loyalty and although abrasive in his conduct he yearned to be friends with everyone he met. Because of this Naruto knew everyone in the orphanage, most of the kids found him clumsy and annoying but that didn't stop Naruto from hollering at each and everyone as he passed the different room.
"Yes! Imma eat three plates! Watch out world Naruto Uzumaki is coming for you!" He exclaimed with the grace of a bowling ball as he pushed past kids, knocking a few off their feet. He didn't hear all the "fuck yous" and "watch where your going fox face!"
Sasuke gave his head a slight shake as he watched the energetic boy in front of him. His face was expressionless but the other kids knew not to mess with him or his roommate. They had gained a reputation for fighting. Naruto usually started it, but Sasuke felt the need to defend his buddy and always jumped in. The kids their age and younger were scared and the older kids thought they were crazy. Itachi had probably had something to do with that. He had always defended his brother. Even now the kids remembered Itachi's chilling stare. Sasuke was beginning to perfect his as well.
They got in line and was served a meal of rice, fish, and pickled vegetables. Naruto, not happy with the meal, yelled at the woman handing out the plates. "Hey lady! Yeah you! Where's the noodles!? I told Iruka I wanted ramen!"
The woman raised her eyebrows at Naruto and gave him a clear I Don't Care stare. "Use your allowance if you want something fancy. Now keep moving."
She handed Sasuke his plates and Naruto cursed and grumbled down the line. "Man Iruka lies all the time! He said we'd get ramen! Man fuck this place. What is wrong with these people."
Sasuke ignored his friend as they took a seat and started eating. Regardless of how much Naruto complained about the food he ate it like he was scared it would jump off the plate and run away. He complained every meal about the bland selection, the lack of noodles, and just about anything else he could think to complain about. Sasuke didn't humor Naruto, but when Sasuke decided he was done with his meal he gave his left over rice to him.
"Wow! You're a real pal!" Naruto exclaimed and inhaled the rice in one breath. Sasuke didn't feel like a real pal, but these days he didn't know what actually felt real anymore. He knew he was real though, every time he got in a tussle with another kid and they meet fist to fist he was reassured of that fact. He was still 'real', whatever 'real' was.
The boys stuck around in the dining hall after they had finished their meal to help clean plates and tables. Sasuke did this to earn the allowance that would be given to the kids who did chores but Naruto's main goal was to eat the left over food on the plates. The allowance was just extra. Naruto liked having money to buy snacks and even was fairly good at hiding his spare change from the other kids. He figured by the time he aged out of the home he might have enough to afford his own apartment. Maybe. If not he would spend it all on instant ramen. Sometimes he thought that was a more reasonable dream. Sasuke on the other hand was very frugal with his allowance. He spent it wisely only on clothes he needed, made sure to keep he belongings in good keep, and had even purchased a sowing kit to mend rips and buttons. Whenever he lost to Naruto in poker he would buy the boy a snack, but he rarely lost.
The boys returned to their room a little before 8pm. Sai had never shown up in the dining hall and when they arrived it appeared he hadn't moved an inch from his spot in his bed, laying on his side facing the wall, his sketchbook tucked in his arms.
"Man, this guy is gonna end up trying to off us in our sleep Sasuke!" Naruto's rude remark, which Sasuke knew was an attempt to get under the new guy's skin, fell on deaf ears.
"Hnh! Maybe for you bird brain, but no one messes with an Uchiha." Sasuke replied, as if stating a fact that everyone knew. "I'm going to take a shower before lights out."
As Sasuke grabbed his towel Naruto rushed over to grab his as well and chased him down the hall hollering "Wait up!"
Sai opened his eye to stare back at the dirty walls once the two boys had left the room again. He hadn't been sleeping but he hadn't wanted to be bothered either. He knew the minute the judge had told him he was going to the orphanage that something like this was going to happen. It's not that Sai didn't like people, it was just that since his brother died he couldn't find the right words to say. Nothing mattered anymore. His words were pointless. Befriending his two roommates was pointless. His life was pointless. He resigned himself to being like paper in the wind and told himself maybe one day someone would pick up that piece of paper and turn it into a work of art. He opened his sketchbook and turned to the page where he had attempted to draw his brothers face. He traced his charcoal marks with his finger. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't get the shape of Shin's face right. He allowed his depression to engulf his being, closed his sketchbook, and told himself for the millionth time, 'you are pointless.'
Months went by and the orphans stayed the same. Naruto would pick fights with classmates and fellow orphans, Sasuke would jump in and they would both end up getting spanked with a switch by one of the caretakers. It had taken two weeks before Sai put anything in his mouth other than water. Sai struggled in school since he had never attended before. They had placed him in the special needs class due to that and because he refused to talk. The other orphans started calling him Retard but no one, not even Naruto, could get a reaction out of him. Sometimes Naruto would hover over Sai while the mute boy sat at his desk and drew in his sketchbook. Naruto would badger him about this and that while Sai drew owls, hawks, and eagle, all in different vividly colored backgrounds with prey in various stages of death grasped in their talons. Eventually Naruto got bored with picking on Sai and changed tactics to asking him probing questions. What is your favorite thing to draw? Why don't you stand up for yourself? Who taught you how to paint? Do you remember the last thing you said aloud? Sai would occasionally look at the boy after a considerably insensitive or stupid question. Sometimes Naruto could swear that Sai was about to respond.
At night while Naruto noisily snored in his bunk his two roommates struggled to find sleep. Neither would admit to the other that they both laid awake staring at the same ugly walls, thinking about brothers they once had. Sasuke would dream of the fire periodically. He would wake up gasping for air like he was reliving the night that the flames almost took his life. Sai was usually awake or toeing that line between the real and the lucid when Sasuke's gasping breath would bring him back to the present. He never let the other boy know he knew about his nightmares. In an unspoken mutual agreement the same could be said for Sasuke. He would be awake staring at the ceiling when he would start hearing Sai violently thrashing in his bunk. Sometimes it even sounded like the older boy was chanting no, no, no! Sasuke never attempted to wake Sai from his nightmares and he definitely never told Naruto about them. The three boys accepted that no one wanted to address their demons and all were happy to oblige.
The roommates continued on this way until one day Naruto walked into the bathroom to find a fellow orphan kicking Sai on the ground while he curled into a ball protecting his head and ribs. Despite his annoyingly aggressive personality Naruto had a solid sense of camaraderie and since Sai was his roommate that immediately meant the only person who could hit Sai and get away with it was himself or Sasuke. Without much thinking Naruto jumped on Sai's attacker back.
"Why you jerk! Get off my roommate!" Naruto shouted as the boy yelled and hit the floor. Naruto quickly jumped up and started kicking the boy while he was down. "How do you like that, huh? Don't like your own medicine now do you punk!"
By the time Naruto was done beating up the other orphan, a crowd had gathered at the bathroom door. Naruto grabbed Sai's hand who was staring at his roommate wide eyed and pulled him up. "Quick, we gotta get out of here before one of the adults find us!"
Sai stumbled to his feet and allowed Naruto to drag him out of the bathroom. They pushed their way through the crowd and left the other boy passed out on the floor.
"Hey man you should really defend yourself, you know." Naruto turned to Sai when they got into their room and closed the door behind them. Sasuke was sitting at his desk tinkering with what looked like the insides of an old computer. He turned and looked at the two boys. "I knew that was you causing all that noise down the hall fox face."
"You! I was just helping out, you know!"
Naruto turned back to the slightly bruised boy. One of his eyes was already turning black around the bottom and Naruto would bet a cup of instant ramen that it hurt for the boy to breath. Sai stared at Naruto like it was the first time he had ever seen his face before. He would of never guessed that his obnoxious roommate would step in and stop someone from beating him up. It wasn't even that Sai couldn't fight for himself just that he had lost his will to do so. It didn't make much sense at all. He had made no attempt to talk to this boy and always ignored him when Naruto was fighting with the other kids. He never took sides, defended, or even considered his roommates. He avoided them as much as he could, spending his free time wondering the familiar forest the surrounded their town. What did he do to deserve a savior? Was this Shin's way of caring for him in the afterlife? Sai liked to entertain the idea that Shin watched over him. It was one of the few reassuring thoughts the boy still harbored. Something clicked in Sai's head as Naruto continued to barrage him with question after question. For a minute the concern in Naruto's face looked like Shin.
"Why did that guy wanna fight you? Why didn't you hit back? You should of asked Sasuke and I for help, we would of scared him off!" Naruto clasped Sai's shoulder with his hand and gave him a toothy grin. Sai's vision went fisheye. Sai wouldn't of been able to tell you what changed but in that moment he knew that Naruto was more than just a tiresome roommate. In every dramatic gesture, every movement of his mouth, Sai morphed the features of his blonde hair roommate and turned it into his brother's face.
The word slipped out of his mouth before he realized it was in his throat. "Yeah." He simply said as he cast his eyes down to his feet. He felt the force of gravity as the two froze and allowed their jaws to drop to the floor.
"So he can talk." Sasuke stated in disbelief. "Naruto surprised you didn't he?"
Sasuke got up from the desk and walked to the two other boys. Sai and Sasuke made real eye contact for probably the first time since Sai had moved into the orphanage. They were both kids of little words and extremely similar in their disposition. To Sasuke there were things in life that were factual and that could be no other way than so. He tried to not lie to himself preferring the depressive habit of brutal honesty. He felt as though this was the only way to be strong and strength was the only thing that was going to take him somewhere. The children's home was a jail sentence to him and even now he was counting down the days when he could leave. Sasuke, being a Leftover, had something that was extremely rare for a orphan. The Uchiha brothers had an inheritance. His family had been strict in more ways than just one having come from a long lineage of highly skilled military personnel. Sasuke saw the end of his youth as the beginning of his life, all he had to do was patiently prepare for the day he aged out of the orphanage. He knew his goal would be easier to reach with a bit of help and with Itachi leaving him he found himself relying more on Naruto for that brotherly connection. Sasuke knew why Naruto did what he did, it's something the two boy had discussed multiple times since they had met. Naruto shared the same goal, he wanted to succeed outside of this house. Naruto put his arm around Sasuke's shoulder and gave Sai a big toothy grin. "Don't be surprised! We're roommates and roommates have to stick up for each other!"
Sai felt like he was having an out of body experience, watching the group like a fly on the wall, watching himself looking at Sasuke, seeing Naruto chuckling to himself, observing the dumbfounded expression on his childish face. Sasuke had crossed his arms and wore his signature sarcastic grin. Since Sai's arrival he had tried his best not to make eye contact with anyone. He had purposefully isolated himself and at this moment he knew he was truly seeing these boys for the first time.
'Shin would of liked this guys.' He heard the voice in the back of his head tell him. He looked down and shuffled his feet.
Naruto let out an exaggerated huff. "You could at least thank me you know!"
"Th-thanks." Sai said, so quiet that they almost didn't him.
"Atta-boy!" Naruto laughed again and patted his friends dramatically on their shoulders.
Naruto dragged the spray can through the air in one long arch. He was almost done defacing a poster of the Hokage that had been oatmeal pasted on the side of the building. Down the alley a few feet Sai worked diligently spray-painting mice running away with pieces of cheese held above their heads. Sasuke was leaning against the adjacent wall, nonchalantly keeping a look out as his two friends enjoyed their favorite pastime they jokingly dubbed Painting the City Red. Naruto took a step back to admire their work as Sai finished by adding a sloping caption, "WE'LL ALL GET A PIECE OF THE CHEESEHEAD", across the top of his street art.
"Haha! You're such a weirdo Sai!" Naruto teased.
The boys were a trio of havoc. It had been 3 years since Naruto had stuck up for Sai and he had started tagging along with the two best friends while they would eat their meals, go to school, and get into trouble together. Sai had quickly been moved back into the normal classes once he started talking, stunning the faculty with his perceptive observations and quick ability to absorb knowledge. He started accompanying his roommates when they would go dumpster diving for different machines that Sasuke could tinker with or when Naruto wanted to let off some steam by ruining public property. Spray-painting the city was one activity Sai and Naruto both enjoyed. One of their other guilty pleasures though was to sit outside of the karate dojo and watch the kids train.
"I can do that!" Naruto would say.
"I can do it better." Sasuke would retort.
They would both turn to Sai, who would cock his head to the side, and give them a creepy smile. "Is that a challenge?"
Provoked to prove their masculinity to eachother resulted in random spars outside the dojo. Something compelled them to wrangle against one another, each feeling the competitive need to prove who was the better fighter. Naruto's attack were full of power but lacked forethought and while Sasuke could easily outmaneuver both boys he also found himself getting beat occasionally for underestimating his friends. Sai was the cold calculating type and often would win the upper hand by trickery.
They were constantly getting into trouble but other than that they were good kids. Naruto struggled the hardest in school, he had a hard time focusing in class and never wanted to do his homework but with the help of Sai and Sasuke he was making it through. The other two boys were excelling in the classroom. Sai, like Sasuke, spent very little of his allowance, choosing simple clothes when critical and ink for his art. Sai had proven to be a book worm, when he wasn't with his two roommates he could be found at the park drawing or at the library reading. He still enjoyed wondering the forest around town but was often accompanied on his trip with one or both of his roommates. Sasuke was a math wizard and was getting better and better at taking things apart to create new things. With the influence of Sai his own tinkering became more measured and refined. He started considering more about the designs of the different gadgets he made as well as their functionality.
It was the summer before they went into middle school and the three boys were bored. They avoided being at the children's home as much as possible. Sasuke had found a manual lawnmower in the dumpster and had repaired the broken axis. With that they had walked around the city, knocking on doors and taking turns pushing the mower across the yards for money. Despite their disheveled appearance most people were happy to see a group of boys trying to make money at their age. After a few days of that Naruto had demanded a day off to relax. They spilt what they had made evenly and Naruto, being the least frugal of the three, had made the boys go shopping with him where he purchased snacks and spray paint. It was then that Naruto had declared it was a perfect day to paint the town red. With the stealth that only kids who knew that they were invisible to the town folks could manage they found every Hokage poster and drew a variety of vulgar and politically satiric doodles. Well Naruto usually drew dicks and boobs on the hated head of the city while Sai took his time to use the natural cracks and crevices to form witty commentary. The results always filled the boys with satisfaction.
When they could no longer find a poster of Lord Danzō without a dick in his mouth or a knife in his head the boys decided to go to the rock quarry next and made their way towards the outskirts of the city. As they walked to the outer retaining wall the spaces between the buildings grew. The children's home was near the center of the city, the home itself had probably been a warehouse or something of equal mass before being purchased and repurposed as the town orphanage. The boys often took refuge in the heavily wooded areas just past the massive walls that encircled the town. Konoha was the largest city in the Land of Fire and provided a variety of things to do for the children. The city was just large enough that it was hard to recognize ever face on a crowded street but small enough that you could always run into someone you know.
Naruto and Sasuke competed with each other to see who could climb higher up the slick sides of the rock quarry and Sai perched up high to draw the scenic vantage. Konoha's forest was lush and went on for many miles, farther than his eyes could see. The summers were always dry, never muggy. The sky was an endless sea of blue and the friendly bantering of his friends consumed his heart. It both captured and inspired him. He was lost in ethereal feeling of the day during the moment that something happened that the boys eyes had never witnessed before. Sai was the first to notice the murder of crows. They appeared to come from nowhere, the sheer number in such a rapid growth caused Sai to call the attention of his two friends.
"Holy hell!" Naruto exclaimed, his face a mixture of shock and awe. The boys gathered and watched as the crows swirled faster together, their bodies seemed to merge into a mass and when the shape refined itself both Naruto and Sasuke cursed. From the murder of crows formed Itachi. Both boys recognized him although he looked different than he did when he was an eleven year old boy. He was taller, his hair was longer, but the one thing that struck them all as the oddest was that his eyes were red. Instead of a regular iris there was a ring around the black center, three tomoes sat on the ring that swirled in a manner that could only be described as sinister. Naruto and Sai shifted away from the new arrival, both thinking that they had inhaled to much spray paint. Sasuke took a step forward.
"Brother…"
"Sasuke." The reply caused the other two boys to jump. Their eyes shifted from each other to the back of Sasuke's head and then over to Itachi. Words and reasons escaped them. Sasuke clinched his fists. The last time he had seen his brother Itachi told him he was going to look at something in the forest and had never returned. The brothers had been painfully close and the betrayal of his disappearance had hurt like hell. They had been talking about running away from the orphanage together, Itachi had told him he had a plan, but he had never returned and the realization that he had been left behind had been a bitter pill to Sasuke.
"What…where…how…I…." Each word out of Sasuke's mouth became more and more angry but he was clearly having a hard time grasping what was happening before his eyes.
"Sasuke there is no time to explain. They will know I am here…they probably already do. Do you trust me little brother?" Itachi's face was stoic. The Uchiha brothers had been raised to keep their emotions in check but the brothers had always been able to communicate with looks. The angry that had consumed Sasuke when Itachi's face formed from the murder of crows immediately died when he saw the look in his older brothers eyes. It had been four years since he had seen his brother. The daily battle of hating his beloved brother evaporated with the one look. He knew he would follow his brother to straight to hell if it meant having his brother back.
"Yes." Sasuke took another step forward.
"What the fuck is going on!" Naruto's voice held a hint of panic. He still couldn't believe his eyes. He told himself the only reasonable explanation was that he was high or that he must of fallen from the rock quarry and was currently dying from a concussion at the bottom. Itachi turned to the freaked out boy and addressed him next.
"What if I told you Naruto that your father was still alive?"
Naruto was obviously floored, his eyes widened and he shook his head slowly in disbelief. Words escaped the boisterous boy. Naruto felt like he could feel the world's slow rotation below his feet. He could hear the blood rushing from his heart to his brain. To live almost eleven years as an orphan only to find out he wasn't one was too much to process. Itachi allowed the boy to digest the question and he turned to the last boy in the group. The next sentence out of his mouth caused the most confusion out of all.
"Sai, tell me, when you watched Shin died can you explain what happened to his body?"
"Wha-?"
"How do you know about that?" Sai barked defensively, interrupting the confused sputtering of his friends. He knew not to talk about how Shin died. No one believed it. It had rocked his world to lose his brother and the foundation he had finally been rebuilding was being yanked out from under him by someone he had never meet.
"Tell Naruto and Sasuke what happened to your brother's body when he died." Came the cold reply. The ring in Itachi eyed swirled faster, morphing into a different shape. "You need to hurry Sai if you want the chance to save him."
For the first time ever Sai looked liked he was going to cry. Save him? The emotion tugged on his chest and he finally shared the one thing he had refused to allow himself to think about. "Shin didn't die. He disappeared. We were running from a shop owner after stealing a loaf of bread and the next thing I knew Shin disappeared in a gust of leaves."
Sai sunk his head into his hands trying to control the shakes that were racking through his body. The feeling of loss was all consuming.
"This world we are in is not our own." Itachi told the boys.
The three boys looked at each other in utter confusion. How could this not be their world? They lived it every day. Suffered the loneliness together. Went to school and ate dinner together. They bleed and sweat and laughed here. Being told that what they were experiencing wasn't real was like being told to walk out a door only to find out it was a window. The information was jarring. There was no time to process the declaration because at that moment shouting could be heard all around them, making what Itachi said real. Itachi knew he was officially out of time.
"If you want to return home take my hand, quickly now."
Sasuke and Sai immediately stepped forward. Seeing his two friends act Naruto did the same. The group dematerialized into crows and disappeared from the false world.
"I can't believe you were able to bring all three back at the same time. You're going to strain yourself if you keep acting this way."
Sai was the first to wake. His head throbbed. He could tell he was laying on something hard and the room smelled slightly dank. He moaned in pain, his hand coming to his temple to massage it. The voices in the room hushed at the sound of his movements and when he attempted to opened his eyes he watched his life flash across his lids. Memories flooded his senses and his body shook with the overload.
Sai knew he was an ANBU Leaf shinobi. He knew he was seventeen, not eleven. He remembered being raised in ROOT. He remembered the real Konohagakure. He remembered meeting the Fourth Hokage's son. He remember the rebellion. He had been acting as a double agent when his cover was blown. He remembered losing his brother to ROOT at the command of the leader, Danzō Shimura, and he had pledged his alliances to the Lord Fourth in order to exact revenge. They had thought they had taken down Danzō when the curse mark on his tongue has disappeared. They had been wrong. They had been ambushed while searching for the missing ninjas that were thought to have been taken by Danzō and had found out he had only been a pawn to the bigger fish. His last memory was looking at the sun as it turned into a Sharingan.
"Sai!" A female voice called him back to the present. The voice sounded so familiar but he couldn't quite place it. He realized he has been staring at his hands and his body was trembling. He couldn't focus on anything other than his hands, everything beyond was slightly hazy. He had never been one to be emotional, had specifically been trained to not have any, but he clearly remembered the daily life as a civilian orphan and he was struggling to differentiate his true identity from the one he had been living.
"What the—" Sai recognized the sound of his teammate Sasuke. Teammate not roommate. Not orphans. Sasuke was the younger brother of the Uchiha heir. Itachi. Itachi who had saved them from the false world. Sai hadn't recognized Itachi in the other world but the truth was he knew Itachi extremely well. They had both been a part of the group of ANBU that had been used as double agents.
Still in a daze he hardly registered the female who was poking his body and checking his vitals. He only picked up snippets of what she was saying. "…so glad we found you…still unconscious...take back Konohagakure…" His ears felt like they were full of white noise. His eyes were having a hard time adjusting to the dark room. He could tell they were underground. He felt the woman leave his side and could hear her checking on Sasuke next to him.
Naruto came too last, violently, in a loud gasp. The blonde hair boy shot straight up from his laying position causing Sai to jump and look over to him. As his face came into focus Sai could see the memories come back to the Hokage's son. The moment of instant clarity was painted across his face.
"Sai…Sasuke…" Naruto eyes scanned the room. "Sakura! Kakashi!" His eyes got wider and wider as he recognized the faces. Sai followed his teammates glances and took in the room for the first time since waking. Sasuke was being examined by Sakura. Neji, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Itachi and Yamato stood around the room looking grave. Naruto attempted to stand but was quickly pushed back down by Sakura when she noticed.
"Don't move too quickly Naruto, you've been in a coma for 2 years."
The sound of footsteps brought Minato into the room. The grave faces around the room snapped to attention, each one falling to a kneeling position to show respect as the Hokage stepped inside.
"Lord Fourth." They all chimed together.
"At ease." Minato addressed the tense ninjas. He knew they were tired. When the Infinite Tsukuyomi has been unleashed the only saving grace was that they knew it was coming. They had only a few moments to get to the underground base, most didn't make it. Minato had since been working tirelessly whenever night fell to find the bodies of his fellow shinobi and bring them underground. When Itachi had released himself from the grips of the Tsukuyomi by casting his own on himself they had formulated a way to pull the rest out of false world.
"I'm so relieved we finally found you boys." Minato said. He turned and smiled at Naruto. "It's so good to see you awake son."
"Dad!" Minato gave his son a small smile then turned to the newly awaken Uchiha.
"Sasuke, we need you to help your brother and Shisui pull the rest of them out of the Infinite Tsukuyomi. The only thing that can counteract the Tsukuyomi is itself."
Without missing a beat Sasuke responded in the affirmative.
"Sai," Minato addressed the boy in the middle. "I want you to help formulate a plan with Shikamaru and Kakashi to help them retrieve more shinobi."
The response came so natural from his lips, as if he hadn't spent the last two years of his life dreaming he was in a orphanage, living life in a civilian world were ninjas did not exist. "Yes, Lord Fourth."
Minato turned to leave but was interrupted by his son.
"Wait! What about me?" Minato looked back to his son, another smile on his lips.
"I need you to rest son, soon we will be taking back Konohagakure and we will need Kurama's help."