Hello, readers. This is a rewrite of another YYHxNaruto fic I wrote called Little Things, but it can be read as a stand alone. Don't worry about the numbered chapters above each sections. They only serve to separate the sections and for any reader that wish to cross reference this fic with the original Little Things.
Warnings: This is a one-shot and there is going to be character death.
If you would like to read more, you can always try reading the original Little Things, but you're going to find out that although this is a rewrite, the two stories are actually quite different (this version's characters are more IC, but the other version has more development). With that said, enjoy! Feel free to message me or leave a review if you have any comment or any question.
Chapter 2 – Nice to meet you
Or in which Yusuke enters Konoha and bumps into Naruto
"Leave," came a very harsh sounding voice. "I don't sell stuff to your kind."
Curiosity got the best of him, and Yusuke found himself heading towards the voice, wondering what all that commotion was about. Slipping up front to the semi-circle that surrounded the voice, Yusuke peered towards the center. His eyes slowly widened as he registered the yellow-haired kid standing in front of another man that was spitting abuse at him.
At the sight before him, Yusuke – despite knowing it was probably a bit no good – couldn't help but start laughing.
"Ahahahahaha," Yusuke cracked up gleefully, pointing a mirth-choked finger at the kid. The entire population around him gapped, but it was the growl of a very familiar energy that made him laugh harder. "Wait until I tell Hiei about this. Kid again."
There was a pregnant silence which Yusuke was still laughing, until the other guy decided to resume his action previously and threw the coins he held in Kurama's host's face.
Suddenly, the silence that finally descended upon them was deafening.
"Ow, why did you do that for? If you're not gonna sell to me, I'll just go to 'nother place," an oblivious voice broke up as its owner began picking up the scattered coins. All eyes, however, were on the foreigner as he slowly stepped forward. As a small hand reached for one of the coins, another larger hand touched it. "Ay, that's mine, mister!"
"I'm not that old, kid," Yusuke said, ignoring the splutters as he took the coin into his hand, feeling its texture against his palm. "Lend it to me for a moment."
Yusuke stepped forward again and perhaps Kurama's tact was finally bleeding through, the kid fell silent, eyes darting from Yusuke to the nervous crowd. Yusuke's gaze, however, was completely fixed on the man who threw the coin, who was sweating bullets by then.
"You dropped something," Yusuke intoned, extending the coin to the other man.
The man breathing quickened nervously and his eyes darted to the crowd around him, and, somehow bolstered by their presence, he pushed out his chest and said proudly, "I don't sell stuff to his kind."
"You do," Yusuke reassured him, coin still caught between the tips of his forefinger and his thumb, extended in an offer. His other hand reached out slowly and took the other's man's hand so it was facing palm up. He dropped the coin into the man's open palm.
"This is my shop and I won't," the man said, voice proud but gaze darting.
Yusuke caught his gaze and held. "You will," he said and before the man could utter another refusal, he pressed.
The shop owner screamed and when Yusuke pulled away, a coin was grisly embedded into the other man's palm with sheer force, blood seeping out and the meat of the surrounding bursting. The surrounding people gasped with horror and already several of the hidden ninja were bursting into sight to do damage control, but it was the subtle wave of satisfaction, tinted with red and green like bloody fucking Christmas, that made Yusuke smile.
Satisfied with revenge paid for now, because no one messed with Yusuke's friends, especially not one who was currently trapped and helpless in a child's body, he called, "Kid, go grab the stuff you want."
The yellowed-hair kid's head jerked, eyes wide and caught between two choices. The shinobi was shouting something at him, but Yusuke ignored him and waited for the kid's reply. When the kid's head finally jerked forward in acquiescence, relief didn't fill Yusuke's chest because the kid was Kurama's host, after all, and because Yusuke wasn't above kidnapping, only it would be more pleasant to do without.
"One minute," Yusuke called as he dodged a kunai that headed for him. He didn't wait for the kid's reply, before turning around, mentally counting how many opponents he had. A smirk filled his face as he reached a grand total of six, excluding all the off-duty ninja on the street that now eyeing at him with flinging-happy fingers next to their chosen weapon. "How much you wanna bet I can finish you guys off in half that time?" His eyes drifted to the voice that was still screaming bloody murder, landing on the bloodied hand with the coin still in it. His smirk widened. "How about… five hundred yen?"
Chapter 3 – Negotiation
Yusuke was taken in to see the Hokage
"Excuse me, but I must ask you to come with us," Eagle said stepping forward, except even before he was finish speaking, the foreigner was facing him with a wide beaming smile.
"Great! I was wondering when you'll come get me. Lead the way," the man said cheerily, smile not reaching his eyes as he finished, "I need to speak with your leader."
Xxx
"Hey Hokage-sama," Yusuke greeted, tone making the quotations around the sama part more than palpable. He forged right on ahead, not bothering to let the Hokage voice his own greeting to throw the other man off and continued, "Did you guys receive a visit from a fox?"
The Hokage, thrown off by Yusuke suddenly casting off his devil-may-care attitude, couldn't help but let his eyes widened minutely. After all, no matter how seasoned the old Kage was, he never considered having to be on complete guards within his own military-based village, and Yusuke honed in on that mistake like a shark on blood.
"Bingo," Yusuke voiced, smile widening as he stood. The Hokage's eyes narrowed at him, but Yusuke shrugged it off as he stepped forward – closed in, the Kage's mind whispered. "Mind telling me more about him?"
Chapter 4 – You are now a proud
Hokage introduced Yusuke to Naruto
"You!" Naruto exclaimed as his eyes landed on Yusuke. A puzzled look flashed across his face as a sense of déjà vu suddenly hit him. "…Do I know you?"
A smile crossed Yusuke's face – happy, sad, knowing, relieved – and crushed the other gently against his chest. "No," he said, voice full of raw emotions as his eyes fluttered close in a moment of complete openness. "But I know you."
Chapter 5 – After School
Yusuke went to pick Naruto from school
Yusuke balanced precariously on the branch of the tree outside of the Academy for a few second, before looking towards the tower clock some distant away. Damn. He was two minutes too early.
Yusuke sat down on the branch and listlessly swung his legs in the air for a moment, staring at the Academy in full force as though if he stared hard enough, the Academy front door would burst open and its students would stream out. When that didn't happen after a beat, Yusuke sighed.
Bored! What should he do?
As a minute ticked away, leaving only one minute of wait remaining, an idea popped into his mind. Well, it wasn't like a minute really mattered, right?
With that in mind, Yusuke cupped his hands around his mouth for dramatic effect and inhaled deeply. "NARUTO, YOU'RE IT!"
With that done, Yusuke jumped from the tree and a few moments later, an energetic Naruto burst out of the Academy doors, a flustered teacher and a sea of curious kids behind him. "Ah! I see you, Yusuke-nii!"
"Good," Yusuke said, even as he sensed from Kurama's wave of energy that he was scowling him. There, however, was also amusement, so Yusuke guessed he was off the hook. A mischievous grin that would have made all playful kitsune proud spread across his face as he replied, "Now catch me."
Chapter 6 & 7– Sadist & Forest of Death
"So I just needa bring this sword to the other end," Yusuke summarized, glancing at the Hokage and Anko with amusement. "You guys really underestimate me, don't cha?"
"And another all muscles and no brain," Anko said, clapping in delight with mock surprise. "It's called Forest of Death, boy. Underestimate it and that's the last thing you'll do."
Yusuke grinned at her, before lifting a pointer finger and pointed towards the forest.
Anko scoffed. "What are you going to do, shoot out a beam –?"
"Spirit Gun."
A loud boom followed as the whole continent shook and when the dust cleared, a huge strip spanning a meter wide of the Forest of the Death was missing.
"Bingo," Yusuke said with a wink, before jogging through the path that he cleared. "Don't forget to start the timer!"
Everyone glanced incredulously at Yusuke's retreating back.
"Bloody hell," someone whispered.
Chapter 11 – Graduation
Naruto failed to Graduation from the Academy
"You failed," Yusuke stated blankly, looking down at the kid before him. Naruto ducked his head, not wanting to see his guardian's reaction, until he heard of stifled noise.
Naruto's head shot up and any tears that previously threatened to build up behind his eyes evaporated at the force of his annoyance. "Ah! Yusuke-ni's laughing at me again! I tried so hard too!"
"S-sorry," Yusuke apologized, trying to control his chortle. "It's just… pfft. Kurama, I never thought you and fail would ever go hand to hand."
A murderous energy suddenly flooded the room, which Naruto ignored since he was way used to weird stuff like that happening already, and Yusuke managed to stifle his laughter for another two seconds, before, with a grin still on his face, Yusuke leaned forward towards Naruto and said, "Wanna learn something that'll make your teachers want you to graduate?"
Naruto's eyes gleamed with interest, before diminishing as he recalled the reason he failed. "But I can't make a bunshin."
Yusuke waved it away. "They won't give a damn the moment they realize what you mastered, because they can't afford not to put you out onto the field then."
"Really?" Naruto asked, enthused by the idea. "What is it?"
Yusuke lifted one finger, pointing it at Naruto's face, and then dropped it down, down and down. "This," Yusuke said with a smile, pointing directly at Naruto's stomach, his hidden unknown seal and the reason Yusuke was in Konoha.
Beneath Naruto's skin, Kurama's energy sang at last.
Chapter 12 – Reunion
Hiei joins Kurama and Yusuke at Konoha
"Finally," Yusuke breathed, rolling his shoulders with a grin when he sensed it, "Took you long enough. So you did it?"
"Hm. Of course," Hiei said from behind him. In a flash, he was in front of the sleeping Naruto, hands on his forehead. "You're too soft. We should just take him with us."
Wisp of green and red curled up from Naruto, and then a familiar voice flooded into their mind. "There's no point. My extraction wouldn't be ready until all the others have been captured."
"Exactly," Yusuke piped in. "At least this way, Naruto will have a place to return to after."
"Do as you wish," Hiei said, dismissing the conversation as he stood. "I'll leave now. Pein would be eager to extract the Second Tail."
Chapter 19 – Of madness
People tried to attack Naruto on his birthday
"Yusuke, please keep an eye out for Naruto today," Kurama's voice sounded in Yusuke's mind. Yusuke's eyes darted to the now twelve years old boy, running around the house energetically about being on step closer to being a Hokage and since he was older now, he would be able to beat Sasuke-teme.
"Don't I always?" Yusuke mentally replied. "What's so special about today?"
"Today is also the day Kyuubi attacked Konoha, which resulted in many deaths," Kurama explained. "Some people who lost loved ones see Naruto responsible, as the current host."
Yusuke's jaws clenched. "Are you telling me that people attack Naruto on his birthday, for something that he has no control over?"
"…yes," Kurama answered.
Yusuke was silent for a long moment, long enough that even Naruto himself realized something was wrong, before Yusuke whirled around and grabbed Naruto by the scuff of his shirt.
"Nii-san?" Naruto asked, staring up at Yusuke in puzzlement.
"Let's go out, Naruto," Yusuke said and before Naruto's eyes could even finish widening in shock, they were out the door.
Within Naruto's mental world, in a cage, a fox smirked.
Xxx
"Nii-san, maybe we should just stay at home today," Naruto said nervously, tugging at Yusuke's hand. It only served to make Yusuke more angry, to see a boy usually so fearless now so full of fear.
Yusuke slowly squat down to Naruto's level and whispered, "Don't worry, Naruto. I won't let any one of them hurt you, alright?"
As Naruto's eyes slowly widened in surprise, Yusuke casually caught the kunai heading their way and flung it back to its owner with twice the force. Blood sprayed as the weapon went through the shinobi's forearm.
"Be more careful now, would you?" Yusuke called out, knowing everyone in the vicinity was watching and that the warning would spread throughout the village by the end of the day. His eyes gleamed, and a dangerous smirk made its way across his face as he finished, "I would hate for someone to get hurt."
The rest of the day passed without a hitch.
Chapter 21- And the rest is history
The end of their (utterly too realistic and therefore, wretched) story
The shinobi world was in an uproar by the time the fifth jinchuuriki was captured. By then, even the most ignorant civilian knew of the name Akatsuki, which had destroyed three countries in its quest to capture all jinchuriki.
"I won't stay long," Hiei said, his black cloak with red clouds fluttering around him. "Just know that I'm on the way to capture the Sixth Tail, so be prepared."
"Be prepared for what?" Yusuke asked sharply. "You haven't even found a way to extract Kurama without killing Naruto." Hiei gave him a blank look. "Oh, this is great. You didn't even try!"
"We have no time for this, Yusuke," Hiei said, infuriatingly calm. "Stop your sentiments."
"Stop your bullshit, Hiei," Yusuke snarled. "You knew I would get attached, and you sent me in anyway because I was the more trustworthy looking one. And now you're telling me to betray that trust."
"It was never a choice, Yusuke," Hiei said. "Would you have chosen the boy or the village over Kurama if you knew?"
"You lied to me. I should have never had to choose," Yusuke said with deadly softness.
"You're mixing us with the Fool." Hiei's eyes met Yusuke's. "Kuwabara would have never made you choose, but we're demons. Deception is what we do." Hiei's voice almost softened. "And loyalty is what you do."
Yusuke laughed, but it was not a nice laugh. "You guys banked on my loyalty."
"We banked on you choosing us," Hiei corrected harshly, patience finally running out. With those last words, he jumped out the window and vanished from sight.
"Just like how you did many times before," Kurama's voice echoed in his head, with a reminder of lifetimes of friendships between the three of them.
In the end, there wasn't really a choice, after all. It was just a very bitter pill to swallow.
Xxx
Oh, I'm dying, Naruto thought after what seemed like hours of screaming as chunks of red charka – Kyuubi – was extracted from him. Jii-chan said he was targeted, but Naruto never thought that he could be snatched when he was traveling with Yusuke-nii and Ero-senin in order to avoid the people from Akatsuki.
If they succeed, Naruto recalled Jii-chan saying, then the world will be over.
Naruto didn't want to cause the end of the world. If only he was stronger…!
Naruto suddenly found himself in a sewer. He gapped at the huge fox in front of him and even without looking at the nine tails swinging behind it, he knew that it was Kyuubi.
"Naruto, you have to pull off the seal of the cage," the big fox said, in a voice that was much smaller and girlier than Naruto had imagined. Despite the situation, he had to stifle a giggle.
"You're different from what I imagined," Naruto said, looking over the fox. It looked menacing, but its aura was actually rather calm. It actually felt pretty familiar. "Hey, that green charka! Is it –?"
"Yes, it is the aura you've been learning to use to control plants, but now is not the time to talk about this, Naruto," Kyuubi said. "If you don't do anything, you're going to die within ten minutes and then Akatsuki will end the world with the gathered Tailed Beasts."
"I know!" Naruto exclaimed. His head lowered the next second as he said, "But there's nothing I can do now. I'm going to die either way and I won't become the Hokage."
"Naruto, why do you want to become the Hokage?" Kyuubi questioned.
"Because it's cool and I –!" Naruto swallowed harshly. "And I want to protect my precious people."
He thought about Jii-chan and Teuchi-san and Iruka-sensei and Yusuke-nii and even Ero-senin. He didn't want them to die.
"I can't help you become the Hokage, Naruto, I'm sorry," Kyuubi said, "but I can help you save your precious people. Just pull off the seal."
Naruto's head whipped up, hope caught in his throat. "How?!" A second later, that expression froze as suspicion made way. "I can't let you out. You're dangerous."
"Yes, Naruto, I'm dangerous, but there's no one in the vicinity other than the Akatsuki, the very people that's going to destroy your home. I can stop that, Naruto, if you just unseal me." There was a moment of silence, before Kyuubi said in a lower, softer voice, "At least this way, you'll be known as a hero."
Naruto's ears perked. "A hero?" He thought of the Fourth Hokage, whom everyone always whispered was a kind man who died as a hero protecting Konoha. Can he be that as well?
"Yes," Kyuubi said, its voice soothing. "Instead of being known as the last jinchuuriki captured that led to the destruction of the world, you are going to be remembered as a hero who sacrificed his life to save the world. Isn't that what being a Hokage is all about?"
Naruto's heart beat loudly against his chest as he gazed at the seal – a scrappy piece of paper, really- that was stuck on the cage. Protect the world. All he had to do was rip that paper off, and he would forever be remembered as a hero. What did he have to lose at this point anyway?
His fingers caught the edge of the seal.
Xxx
The last thing the Akatsuki saw was the red charka they were extracting suddenly going out of control, before their world burned.
Xxx
On that day, Uzamaki Naruto and the Akatsuki became no more, and Urameshi Yusuke vanished without a trace. There was not enough remain of the Akatsuki members for anyone to realize that a member named Hiei was not among those who were burnt to ash alive.
From that day, just as Kurama said it would happen, the majority of the world treated Naruto as a hero for ridding Akatsuki just as it was about to destroy the world. Countries that were heavily damaged by Akatsuki, having had clashed with just two of the Akatsuki members and yet still sustained heavy loses, were especially thankful for not having to face Akatsuki at full force. Ironically, it was the number one place the young hero wished to gain acknowledgement from that was derisive of his sacrifice.
Xxx
"Finally, we're rid of him," someone whispered.
"Akatsuki wasn't so fearsome, after all."
"Exactly," another said. "I bet our Hokage could have took them on."
"He deserved his end, that demon."
A loud thud suddenly sounded when a pair of chopsticks embedded itself through the feet of the last speaker. A shriek swept throughout the vicinity, but it was coincidentally blocked by the sound of three cloaked figures standing up, two of which was short like children and the last tall like a young adult.
Killer intent abruptly flooded the small establishment near the exit gate of Konoha.
"Don't make a scene," one of them said and strangely, it seemed to have come from one of the children.
There was a gritting sound, before a voice that had to have come from the young adult said, "Then they should learn to keep their mouth shut."
"Let's go," the last child said reasonably and it was his voice that everyone froze at. That familiar voice… Small tan hands slipped out of their cloak and dropped a few coins on the table, before making the move to leave. "We apologize for breaking the chairs."
No one commented on how he didn't apologize for the killer intent or the chopsticks through the feet, too stunned as they were as the owner of the familiar voice turned, and everyone paled as though they had seen a ghost.
The blond haired boy followed as the adult of the group swept out of the establishment and as he passed by the group of trash-talkers, familiar blue eyes that were once warm but now utterly cold brushed by them. Amusement and mischief shone within them just as always, but instead of prank-elicited, boyish amusement, this was the kind of cool amusement that would have shone brightest as someone drowned in their own blood, begging for a mercy that would have never been delivered.
"My companion was right. You really shouldn't be talking about the dead like that, you know," the boy said, tilting up a face that could have been called handsome in another three years and fluttering his eyelashes at them with a disquieting, manipulative ease. "After all," he said, lowering his voice. A smirk cross his face, bloodied like a demon's as he whispered conspiring in a child's sing-song voice, "You never know who's listening~"
Behind them, Konoha's forest waved.