Author's Note: The idea for this story was knocking around in my head for ages. Since classes are FINALLY over for the semester, I have more time to write (hooray!) So welcome, dearest readers, to "Bonds," my second fic for the Naruto fandom. The idea for this story was knocking around in my head for ages, but I haven't had time to actually write it down before now because of schoolwork.
This fic will have mature content, in the form of sexual relationships between two boys. There will also be some fighting and violence later on as well. Yes, I know that FF doesn't technically allow that sort of thing, but they're also pretty lax about actually taking down offending stories, so I'll take my chances. On the off-chance that this fic actually does get removed, I am also posting it up on my AO3 account. The link to that can be found in my profile.
DISCLAIMER: Naruto is the property of Viz Media and Kishimoto Masashi. This is a work of fanfiction, and I make no money off of writing it.
WARNINGS: There will be sex and violence later on, but this chapter is pretty tame. There are some references to past violent actions, and that's about it.
So if you enjoy tales of political intrigue, fantasy kingdoms, ninjutsu, and the passionate and volatile romance between Sasuke and Naruto, then this is the fic for you! Read on, and enjoy.
"Nii-san…?"
The soft, plaintive voice slipped through Itachi's ears like silk, gently rousing him from sleep. Yawning, Itachi cracked his eyes open to see his little brother standing at the side of his bed, the boy's large, dark eyes wide as he watched Itachi sit up.
"Sasuke, what are you doing up?" Itachi muttered, his voice thick with sleepiness. Glancing out the window just above his bed, he could see that the sky was still dark, with not even the faintest glow on the eastern horizon. "It's very late, you know. Are you sick? Is something wrong?" Itachi's muscles tensed automatically, ready to leap out of bed and grab a weapon at the slightest indication that something was amiss.
"Everything's OK, nii-san," Sasuke whispered. "I just couldn't fall asleep, 'cause I was so excited about starting my training with you tomorrow. Can I sleep in the bed with you? Please?" The boy blinked cutely up at his older brother with open adoration, and Itachi smiled at the way Sasuke's spiky black hair stuck up in the back even more than usual from tossing and turning.
"Alright, as long as you promise to lie still and be quiet. I need to sleep, you know."
Sasuke grinned up at his older brother, his smile gap-toothed from where he'd recently lost a few baby teeth. "I promise!"
Itachi lay back down and moved to the side in order to make room for his little brother, who immediately latched onto him like a monkey under the blanket. For a few blissful minutes Sasuke remained quiet. Itachi was just starting to think that he'd get back to sleep after all when once again he heard, quiet and deceptively innocent right next to his ear, "Itachi? Are you asleep yet?"
Itachi sighed in annoyance. "No. And Sasuke, if you don't stay quiet you'll have to go back to your own bed."
"Will you tell me a story?" Sasuke was looking up at him with those huge eyes of his again, showing once more how much he looked up to and loved his older brother. It was predictable, really, seeing as how Sasuke was only seven years old, and Itachi was all the family he had left. All that both of them had in this world was each other.
"A short one, then. And in return, you must promise me that you will apply yourself diligently in training tomorrow, and for all the days after that as well. Learning the fighting arts is difficult, and you need to practice often."
"I promise, Itachi," Sasuke said, looking very solemn at his brother's words.
"Good. I have faith that you will do well, otouto." Itachi ruffled his little brother's hair, causing Sasuke to giggle quietly, basking in Itachi's praise. "Now, what story would you like to hear?"
"Tell me the one about Danzou, and about how we have to avenge our family and redeem the Uchiha name?" Sasuke asked eagerly.
Itachi frowned. Sasuke did not often ask him for stories, as the ones Itachi made up were always terrible. On the rare occasion that Sasuke did ask for a story, however, he asked for this one. Sasuke probably liked hearing about Danzou so much because telling that story was one of the few times Itachi actually talked about their family. Sasuke had only been three when the rest of the Uchiha had been killed – or rather, massacred – with only himself and Itachi left alive. He didn't even remember their parents that well.
Itachi could tell that not remembering their parents bothered his little brother, since Sasuke asked him questions about them multiple times a day. "What was okaa-san's favorite color? What did otou-san like eating for dinner?" He would ask, with the sort of serious expression typically not seen on a seven year-old's face. Itachi would always brush the questions off, saying that he was too tired to answer, or too busy, or that he didn't know. It pained him to admit it, but Itachi simply found it too painful to talk about the Uchiha clan. Trying to felt like someone was twisting a knife deep inside his heart, a sharp and fierce pain that had not dulled at all with time.
Yet still, Itachi would tell Sasuke this story. It served to keep the anger inside of him burning brightly, to remind himself of their duty as the last remaining Uchiha, and to impart to Sasuke the urgency of that duty. And so, the oldest living Uchiha began the tale.
"Demons have ruled the various countries of our world as kings and queens, for as long as anyone can remember. They have served as stewards and guardians over humanity throughout the ages. They have worked to settle our disputes, and to protect and lead us so that we may live our lives in peace. In our country, Konoha, the greatest of these demon kings was- "
"Namikaze Minato!" Sasuke whispered happily.
"Yes, Namikaze Minato." Itachi gently tapped his brother's nose. "Now be quiet and let me tell you the story, alright Sasuke?"
"OK, nii-san. I won't interrupt anymore, I promise."
Itachi continued. "Namikaze Minato was perhaps the wisest and most powerful king the Land of Konoha has ever known. Under his rule, our cities flourished and our farms prospered. Any problems that arose, whether they were among humans or demons, were resolved promptly and fairly. Demons and humans mingled freely in the streets, as friends and as equals. And when Minato announced that his wife, the queen Uzumaki Kushina, was pregnant with a son, there was much rejoicing. Celebrations were held in the streets that lasted for days. Everyone rejoiced at the news of a royal heir, someone who would surely carry on in the kind and noble ways of his parents. The happiness and prosperity of the people would be ensured for another generation to come.
"Then, something terrible happened. You see, the Queen wasn't just an ordinary demon. She was a jinchuuriki, someone who had one of the Tailed Beasts imprisoned inside of her. The Tailed Beasts were huge and terrible monsters with many tails. Several centuries ago they ravaged this world, preying on humans and demons alike, and leaving only destruction in their wake. Then a group of nine extremely powerful demons, assisted by humans, managed to imprison all nine of the Tailed Beasts into their own bodies. In doing so, they became the first jinchuuriki. As the years went by and the jinchuuriki grew old, they transferred the Tailed Beasts into nine new demons. In this way, the beasts remained imprisoned for hundreds of years.
"On the night Kushina went into labor, however, something went terribly wrong. You see Sasuke, Kushina was the jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi, the Nine-Tailed Fox, who was the most powerful of all the Tailed Beasts. Giving birth to her son depleted all of Kushina's reserves of chakra, leaving her spent and exhausted. It was in that moment of weakness that the Kyuubi literally tore its way out of her body, killing Kushina in the process.
"Minato was devastated at the loss of his wife, whom he had loved greatly. Yet he knew that his duty to the people was more important than even his own feelings of loss and sorrow. So he used every bit of his own power to fight the Kyuubi. I am told that the battle raged fiercely for many hours, leaving most of the royal palace destroyed afterwards. Finally, just as dawn was breaking over the horizon, Minato managed to subdue the Kyuubi and imprison it inside of the nearest living, undamaged vessel – his own newborn son.
"Unfortunately Minato had sustained mortal injuries in his fight with the Kyuubi. He died barely an hour after making his son a jinchuuriki. Before he passed away, the King requested that his son be called Uzumaki Naruto, giving the boy his mother's family name in order to honor her memory.
"Since both the King and Queen had died without leaving an heir who could immediately take over the throne, their closest advisor, a woman named Tsunade, was appointed to rule until Naruto was old enough to become King. Tsunade proved to be an extremely intelligent and capable ruler. For three years after Minato and Kushina's death, she ran Konoha's affair smoothly. Then, when Prince Naruto was only three years old, Tsunade suddenly fell gravely ill. No doctors, whether human or demon, were able to help her. She died a few days later.
"The man who took Tsunade's place on the throne was the Royal Ambassador, Shimura Danzou. He was known for being a cold-hearted, paranoid man who was utterly dedicated to keeping Konoha safe from enemies. There are rumors that in the early years of his reign, Danzou had anyone who disapproved of his leadership imprisoned and tortured, or just killed outright. However, Danzou is also smart, and as slippery as a freshly caught fish. To this day, no one has enough proof to accuse him of any wrongdoing.
"Danzou also believes that humans and demons should be kept separate from each other, as he believes that demons are a superior race to humans. So he has walled off the area around the royal palace for several miles, forming a sort of miniature city, where only demons, along with a few subordinate human servants, are allowed to live. It is called Konohagakure, and no demon has passed through the walls of Konohagakure since Danzou took control. Only the human servants are allowed to come and go as they please, in order to bring in food and luxuries from the rest of Konoha.
"This, Sasuke, is a story that every citizen knows about how the government of Konoha came to be the way it is today. Shimura Danzou is officially supposed to step aside as ruler when Prince Naruto turns twenty-one, and by demonic law is old enough to rule as King in his own right."
"But that's not the whole story, is it, Itachi?" Sasuke asked drowsily, regarding his brother through eyes half-lidded with sleep.
"Are you sure you wish for me to continue, Sasuke? You're falling asleep…"
"Please finish, nii-san," Sasuke pleaded quietly, fisting his little hands into the fabric of Itachi's nightshirt. "I want to know…" The rest of whatever Sasuke said was swallowed up in the huge yawn that came out of his mouth a moment later.
"Fine, I'll humor you," Itachi said, though now he didn't know if he was telling the story for Sasuke's benefit or his own, in order to remind himself once more of the task at hand.
"Our clan, the Uchiha, has served the demon leaders of Konoha for as long as anyone can remember, with loyalty and faithfulness. None of the Uchiha have been demons for many generations now, and we were the only human clan to serve our country so closely. The Uchiha have worked as spies, as diplomats, as courtesans and as assassins. We were a very well kept secret. Besides the King and Queen, only a few select, high-ranking government officials knew of our existence, and what we did. Our loyalties lay with the Clan and with Konoha, and to no one and nothing else. The Uchiha Clan is – was – Konoha's hidden weapon, one wielded deftly by past demon monarchs in order to ensure this country's strength in the world.
"Shortly after Minato and Kushina died, our clan heads pledged their loyalty to Tsunade, since she had been favored by our late monarchs to rule in the young prince's stead. For three years, she utilized our clan's services and skills to their fullest potential, just as the King and Queen before her had. We fully believed that Prince Naruto would come to power in a few years with little trouble, and Konoha would remain a strong and proud nation.
"But the years of relative peace and prosperity in Konoha had made us lazy and complacent, unwilling to believe that anything could harm us. We were the Uchiha, after all, Konoha's finest and most elite agents. We were invincible, or so we thought.
"When the attack came, it took us completely by surprise. One night, mercenaries from other lands – cold, heartless warriors who took pleasure in killing - came flooding into our homes. Since the Uchiha Clan lived together in a secluded location outside of Konoha's capital city, no one was aware of what was going on. We all fought well and bravely, but it wasn't enough. There were simply too many enemies, and we were eventually overwhelmed.
"I was thirteen at the time, and training to be an assassin under our father, Uchiha Fugaku. The night we were attacked, I was woken up by our front door being smashed in by no less than four burly men, armed to the teeth and howling for blood. I hurried to get up and get my weapons, but our mother, Mikoto, shoved you into my arms and yelled for me to run, to get you to safety, while she and our father held the men off.
"You were only three years old at the time, Sasuke, so you probably don't remember any of this…"
"I do too," Sasuke mumbled sleepily into his older brother's side, earning an indulgent smile from Itachi.
"…You cried and wailed at the top of your lungs for our parents as I ran away. The screams, the blood, the bright tongues of flame as the mercenaries burned our homes…all of it frightened you badly. You had no idea what was going on, and neither did I." Itachi's voice remained calm and even, and his face showed no emotion as he spoke. The pain of remembering that night, however, was evident in the way his body lay, tense as a piano wire. The hand that wasn't holding his little brother was clenching his sheets in a tight, white-knuckled grip.
"I didn't stop running for at least two or three miles, until I was about ready to pass out from the breakneck pace I'd been keeping up. Then I climbed the tallest tree I could find and sat in it with you until morning. You fell asleep then, thank goodness, and I prayed to every single god and spirit I could think of that our parents were all right, and that the rest of the Uchiha Clan had managed to rout our attackers.
"When dawn broke over the horizon, I climbed down from the tree and ran back home. Thankfully, you were still asleep. I don't think I could have taken anymore of that wailing…
"I don't know what I thought I would find when I returned to the Uchiha Clan home, but it certainly wasn't the utter annihilation that greeted me. The mercenaries had burnt all of our houses to the ground, so that only ashes and a few skeletal, charred pieces of wood remained. The earth was scorched black from the intensity of the flames. They'd left the bodies of our kinsmen to burn as well. All that was left of them was a few charred pieces of bone lying about here and there.
"For then next few days, I camped out with you in a tree near our home. I buried the few Uchiha remains I could find. Most of our clan's tools and weapons, pieces of exquisite craftsmanship that had been passed down from parent to child for generations, had also perished in the fire. I was able to salvage only three kunai knives, which had somehow slipped underneath a rock and been protected from the worst of the flames.
"By the end of the week, I knew that there was nothing left for us. You and I left home for the last time, the only two surviving members of the once brave and proud Uchiha Clan.
"I have no official proof that Danzou was the man behind the Uchiha Clan's massacre. He is, after all, very careful not to get implicated in any wrongful or suspicious behavior. Yet, I strongly believe that he was the man who ordered our family killed. Shortly after the massacre, the news went out that Tsunade had died, and Danzou would rule in her stead until the prince came of age. The two events are quite probably connected. After all, the Uchiha would never have pledged loyalty to a man who took the throne by force. As a powerful clan family, our clan would have posed a serious threat to Danzou's rule. He probably preferred to take us out all at once, rather than risk an uprising later on.
"You and I had nowhere safe to go after leaving home. I knew that no one would believe me if I told them the truth, and anyone who might have been in a position to help now thought us dead. I managed to get us out of the capital city, however, and found an abandoned house several miles away from the nearest settlement, deep in the woods. And this is where we live to this day, surviving off of the land and our infrequent trips to town."
Sasuke hadn't tried to interrupt Itachi for several minutes now. The boy was curled up against his older brother's side, his eyes closed and his breathing deep and regular. Although Itachi knew that his brother was asleep, he continued to speak anyway, albeit in a softer voice.
"This, Sasuke, is why I must train you, in subterfuge, in strategy, and in fighting. You must grow strong enough to assist me in infiltrating Konohagakure and killing Shimura Danzou. Only by doing so can we avenge the Uchiha Clan, and bring an end to Danzou's corrupt reign. We fight for our Clan and for Konoha, the two things to which we owe the most loyalty. And we will be victorious.
"Danzou made a grave mistake in assuming that all of the Uchiha are dead. The fact that the two of us anonymous, that nobody knows who we are, is our greatest weapon. After all, our enemy cannot prepare against a threat that he does not see coming.
His story at an end, Itachi gently whispered, "good night Sasuke." He wrapped his arm a little tighter around his younger brother, and quickly followed him into sleep.
Author's Note: I just love writing kid!Sasuke and big brother!Itachi. I wish there were more sweet familial moments between the two of them in the actual manga. Their relationship is pretty messed-up and angsty. :(
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