Disclaimer: The original manga, Naruto, is the work of Kishimoto Masashi. Characters and settings have been adapted without authorization or approval, and I am making no profit from their use.
Problem Solved Forever
"What about Naruto?"
Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at Oshike, the chuunin giving his report, and bit down on his pipe. He'd set his calligraphy brush beside him on the floor as soon as the man had entered, since he'd seemed perplexed - confusion was hardly a desirable state in shinobi assigned to make sure Naruto didn't run wild or get into too much trouble. It was bad enough that he couldn't waste a jounin's time on it. The boy was only eight, and he could already evade half the chuunin in the village three days out of seven.
"Were you not able to find him?"
"Ah, well..." The man let out a breath and said, "We were. We found him in class today. The unusual part is that, before we found him, the graffiti had already been cleaned up. When we told the shopkeeper that he should have left it for Naruto to do himself, he said Naruto had done it."
"Without being told?"
"He, ah... that is, the shopkeeper said there was no one with him. Naruto had come back on his own, which matches the story we got from him at the school today."
Dealing with situations that defied explanations was part of being Hokage. Hiruzen had come to expect it, but by no means did he like it. He turned the matter over in his head as he drew on his pipe, but had no luck puzzling it out. Naruto had always acted out for the sake of attracting attention; cleaning up a mess before he'd even been caught didn't fit the pattern. If he had been developing a sense of responsibility, he'd done so very covertly. Without a doubt, there was something Hiruzen wasn't seeing.
"Hokage-sama?" Oshike prompted.
Clearing his throat, he picked up his brush again, dipping it in the inkwell and pretending he wasn't confused. "Well, if he's learned his lesson, I see no reason to punish him this time, but further incidents will be dealt with without any additional leniency. Keep on your toes."
"Yes, sir." With a bow, Oshike turned to leave the office. Hiruzen watched him depart, too concerned with his story to return to calligraphy in earnest. As he approached the door, the chuunin jumped. Well, twitched, but that was only because his ninja didn't jump in fear at something insignificant. Danzou, of course, whose presence Sarutobi had felt when he entered the hallway, often got that reaction. Commanding the ANBU could hardly be left to someone insignificant.
Hiruzen set his brush down again and waited for Danzou after the chuunin had disappeared. His friend's eyes tracked the departing shinobi down the hall, and he looked as confused as Hiruzen felt himself. "I couldn't help overhearing," Danzou said, and left it at that.
"Yes, well, I'm not taking Naruto Watch out of the mission books until he keeps it up for more than a day, Hiruzen replied. He liked the boy, but he'd raised a few brats of his own, and there was no good that could come of letting a child go without discipline. Any rambunctious boy would be difficult, but the fact that he was a jinchuuriki... Well. Finding capable ninja to assign who saw him as something other than Kyuubi was practically impossible. There was no question that if Naruto decided to behave, it would be convenient, but C-rank missions were rarely solved by happenstance.
Danzou thought the same, Hiruzen judged from his friend's continued silence.
"And, no, I have no idea why he did it," he said in answer to the unspoken question. "The ways of eight-year-olds are, unfortunately, mysterious to old men - as you well know. What's your concern with Naruto, anyway?"
His former rival sat down beside him and straightened Hiruzen's brush so that it was parallel to the edge of the stand. "The Fourth Hokage made a good decision, sealing the demon fox as he did. I'll give him that. If he'd chosen badly, Konoha could have been destroyed. At the very least, we would have lost countless more good men. Naruto has that potential inside him, and so far, even if he doesn't know, it's stayed contained." Danzou squinted at the half-finished calligraphy leaning against the office wall, lip twisting in distaste. "If there's a change in his behavior, knowing the reason is vital to the continued safety of this village."
Hiruzen frowned and took another draw on his pipe. His friend was a gloomy bastard, but he had a point. Too many lives depended on his protection as Hokage; lives that would end if the seal in Naruto weakened and the power of the demon fox was too strong for the child. The monster caged inside had to be watched, as much as he wanted to give the boy a normal youth. It was only a small comfort that Naruto meant to be a ninja. A ninja's path was to live as a human weapon, after all; that was his choice, and his responsibility. But Naruto had never had that choice - only the burden - since the day he was born. Still, you couldn't treat a boy like a monster and expect him to grow up into a man. Too many villages made that mistake.
Before either could speak another word, they sensed a presence at the window - ANBU. With enough experience, one could feel the difference in the air even without seeing the uniform. The masked figure appeared in the window half an instant after they turned around.
"Hokage-sama, Commander."
"Itachi," Danzou greeted him, since they were alone. No one called him by his surname after the insurrection a year ago. He still wore the Uchiha crest on his back when dressed casually, but it seemed like he bore it more as a penance than an honor. "The mission was a success, I take it."
"No difficulties, sir." He jumped down from the window and removed his mask. "My report is on your desk. Is there anything else you need before I go?"
"No, nothing further. Time to pick Sasuke up from school?"
Then Hiruzen saw something he'd never expected. The boy smiled. Nearly ten years he'd had Itachi as one of his most dependable men, and he'd never seen a smile like that. "That's right," he said. "We're training with Sasuke's new friend today."
Well, this was certainly a day for unexplained occurrences.
Naruto, the hellion who had to be watched at every turn, was cleaning up his own messes.
Itachi, who had been cold before killing his entire clan and frozen after, was smiling.
And Sasuke - lonely little Sasuke, whom Itachi had locked away underground during the Uchiha Rebellion, who had waited in the dark for his brother to come home, and who now lived with being the only remnant of 'Uchiha' to survive - had a friend?
That was three too many mysteries for one day. Mysteries didn't come in threes. Patterns did. "That friend wouldn't happen to be Naruto, would it?" he asked.
Itachi's face brightened again. "Yes, actually. We ran into Minato-san's little boy yesterday, and when I found out he and Sasuke were in the same class, I invited him to train with us. He'll make an excellent friend."
Well, then. Hiruzen bit down on the stem of his pipe, considering the prospect of using Konoha's Blond Terror to socialize the youngest Uchiha. As long as Itachi was there to make sure they didn't level the village, it would probably be safe. It might even be good for all three of them, if the short term effect on Naruto and Itachi was any way to judge. Whether or not Sasuke was actually interested in having a friend was more unclear than Hiruzen would have liked, but he'd save the talk on how you couldn't make a friend for someone until after Itachi's attempt had gone into effect.
The unlooked for smile faded into serious thought. "Speaking of Minato-san," the boy said, "Naruto asked me about his parents. How much am I allowed to tell him?"
He pulled the pipe out of his mouth and narrowed his eyes at the ninja. "How much did you tell him?"
"Not much."
Hiruzen had been too concerned with Kyuubi up to now to consider the matter. Naruto had never asked before. Caretakers assigned to the everyday nurture of war orphans had to pass those sorts of questions on to the main office to be handled by a professional. "I'll get back to you about that," he replied at last, rubbing his nose. Naruto is, as I'm sure you're aware, a matter of great concern in Konoha. He can be a handful, and I know most people in the village would think twice before involving themselves with a jinchuuriki."
"He seemed like a good kid," was all Itachi said.
"I trust you'll manage." For a boy so young himself, he was doing a fine job raising Sasuke already - far better than Hiruzen himself felt he'd done with his own firstborn, although his boy had turned out just fine despite having an amateur for a father. "It'll do Naruto and Sasuke good to have each other, I imagine. However," he said, raising his pipe at Itachi, "Naruto is an orphan under the care of the village - remember that. Attendants will still need to check in on him, and if you don't want them in your house, he'll need to be in his own when they stop by."
"Understood."
"Very well, then. You're dismissed," Hiruzen said.
With a bow, Itachi vanished. Behind him, Danzou sighed, and Hiruzen turned to look at his friend. He was staring out the empty window with a stunned expression that even a longtime rival like himself rarely saw on the man, especially when it came to his favorite captain. He liked Itachi so well in great part because nothing about his performance was ever a surprise. "Well," the ANBU commander said, throwing Hiruzen a rare smile of his own. "It's always good to find that one was concerned over nothing."
He narrowed his eyes at Danzou and took up his calligraphy brush again. "Say that when the village is still here in the morning, would you?"
"And people say I'm the pessimistic one."
~/~
Goin' to train with Sasuke, goin' to train with Sasuke... Naruto sang in his head as he molded a handful of dirt into a ball. He didn't want to say it out loud, 'cause someone might hear and want to come, too. He didn't know about Itachi-no-niichan, but Naruto didn't want them there and he knew for sure Sasuke wouldn't. Sasuke didn't like people, even if the other kids always made a big deal out of him.
That was why he was waiting outside. If he weren't waiting for Sasuke, he'd have cleared out completely, but no matter what, he wasn't going to hang around inside the building. Too many kids being stupidheads. Too many parents and teachers looking at him like he was some nasty, no-good -
But that's all over! he thought as he rolled his dirtball around in a sandy patch. The day before, when he'd run into Sasuke and his brother at the ice cream stand, had changed everything. Itachi-no-niichan doesn't look at me like that. And Sasuke...
Sasuke knew what it was like to be alone. The other boys and girls all thought he was awesome, no matter what their parents said about him being trouble, but they weren't his friends. He was going to be friends with Sasuke. Naruto smiled as he pressed the sand into the ball so it would hold together while it flew. All he had to do was wait out here and follow him home. Sasuke'd probably pitch a fit, 'cause Sasuke was like that, but he'd see before long. Together, they'd be the two awesomest ninjas ever, and all the others would be eating their dust.
He imagined a target on the old swing tree and let the ball fly. It busted to pieces against the darkening stain on the bark with a dull smack.
"Naruto!"
When he looked up, he saw Iruka-sensei running over, though he wasn't screaming like usual and his face didn't look like it was going to explode. "I didn't do it!" Naruto yelped.
Iruka-sensei stopped in front of him and crossed his hands in front of his chest. "Didn't do what, Naruto?"
"If something happened, it wasn't me. I've been here the whole time," he said, and pointed to the pile of dirt under the mark where he'd been pitching balls while he was waiting. "You know I can't make no clones, either!"
"Make any clones, Naruto, not 'no clones'. And if you keep practicing, you'll do fine. I promise." Naruto blinked. He'd never seen his teacher smile at him like that before. He smiled at the class, sure, but never at him. "I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you. You really worked hard in class today, and I heard you talking with the shinobi who stopped by earlier. Cleaning up that graffiti was a good thing to do."
Iruka-sensei wasn't that bad, either, Naruto thought with a grin. Not as awesome as Itachi-no-niichan - he yelled a lot and he didn't like jokes or fighting - but tons better than the teachers who just ignored him because they didn't want to look at him. "I'm way past playing around!" Naruto told his teacher, then he grabbed another handful of dirt and molded it between his hands until it was packed tight. "I'm gonna train, an' I'm gonna be the awesomest ninja there is, an' then I'm gonna surpass all the Hokages! Just watch!"
While he rolled his new ball of dirt in the sand, Iruka-sensei reached out and ruffled his hair. "Are you, now?" he asked. Naruto stared at him, not sure what he'd done to make the teacher mess with his hair. None of the other teachers would get anywhere near him, let alone do that. Not even the babysitter ninjas who made sure he ate dinner and stuff would do that. But Iruka-sensei acted like it was nothing and said, "Well, then, I look forward to seeing your grades improve."
"Grades?" Naruto complained, twisting his mouth into a frown. "Why do I need grades?"
"Well, you said you were going to study hard, didn't you?"
Then Sasuke walked out of the school at last. Naruto grinned at his teacher and shook his head, handing off the half-finished dirtball before he jumped up. "I said I was gonna train!" he said and ran off after his friend. "Sasuke! Oi, Sasuke, wait up!"
He didn't, of course. He walked straight down the road while Naruto ran after him and yelled. Like Naruto was going to let that stop him. He could run faster and keep going longer than most grown-up ninja he knew, let alone other kids, and Sasuke wasn't even trying to get away. He was just walking and not paying any attention.
"Hey, Sasuke," he said when he caught up. "Thanks for training with me."
Naruto settled into an easy pace, walking alongside. "Hmph," Sasuke grunted, shifting his bag on his shoulder.
"Are you going to meet Itachi-no-niichan somewhere?"
Sasuke whipped to a sudden stop right in Naruto's path. "Don't you call him that!" he snapped. "He's not your brother."
"So what!" Naruto yelled right back.
"That's enough," Itachi-no-niichan said, suddenly by their sides and resting a hand on each of their heads. "Save it for the targets, you two."
"Hmph," Sasuke said again, and Naruto would have pouted at being told to stop if today had been less completely awesome.
"Thank you for showing Naruto the way home, Sasuke," the older boy said. Naruto smiled at his friend, but Sasuke didn't see. He was looking down at his shoes. "Let's go to the training field, shall we?"
"Yeah!" Naruto yelled, ready to race off to the field. He'd beat Sasuke there, even if Sasuke knew the way and he didn't.
But instead of running ahead, Sasuke grabbed Itachi-no-niichan's pant leg without saying a word. Well, he definitely couldn't find his way if Sasuke wasn't running with him, so he fell back into a walk with the two brothers. "What kind of training are we going to do?" Naruto asked.
"You'll see," was the response from Sasuke's awesome older brother. Seriously, since when were grown-ups that cool?
Naruto bit his lip, peeking around Itachi-no-niichan to get a look at Sasuke's face. Perfect Uchiha Sasuke, who only got bad scores in 'plays well with others'. He was ignoring Naruto, and he was scowling. He always scowled. The girls in class called it 'moody' and 'brooding' and all kinds of stuff when they squealed over how cool he was. Naruto knew better. That scowl was to keep people away, like that grip on his older brother's leg was to keep someone close. That wasn't cool at all. Sasuke was lonely, and he didn't want pity from people who couldn't understand because they'd never been alone.
But he'd been alone all his life. He couldn't pity Sasuke any more than he pitied himself, and Sasuke knew it. Sometimes, he saw Sasuke looking at him from the other side of the classroom, but he'd always put the scowl back on as soon as he noticed Naruto looking back.
It was all because of the Rebellion that Sasuke went from proud to prickly, not that most people could tell the difference. Naruto only knew a little about how the Uchiha family had fought the Hokage a year ago. He'd been in his room 'cause the babysitter ninja had said there was a curfew and locked him inside, but he'd been allowed to look out into the darkness. Even though he'd sensed something moving, the night had looked still and empty.
Then the shadows had come to life - like the darkness was running toward the Hokage's tower - and that empty street had been full of awful silence. The street vendors were gone. The drunk workers were at home. No one was playing in the streets. The whole night was full of fast creeping shadows, and the only sound was the mutter of the shinobi outside his window saying, "Damn Uchiha." The shinobi's eyes had been full of cold hate, like his voice when he said the name.
Naruto didn't see a single face or body, but the shape of the shadows burned into his eyes. A gut-wrenching, clear vision what it meant to be a ninja, and he couldn't stand it. It stung in the back of his throat. He wanted to be a different kind of ninja. His own kind of ninja. Anything but that.
The shinobi outside his window wouldn't talk to him, let alone say what was going on when Naruto asked. Then he'd stopped asking, 'cause four bodies had fallen out of the Hokage's window, one after another. It was far away, but nothing looked the same as a body when it fell, even from too far away to hear the sound. The shadows had cried with a noise like a hawk after that, freezing Naruto's blood. A single figure ran away from the tower, dark against the broad streets that shone bright under the moon. All around him, the shadows broke and swarmed to swallow him whole. All the shadows, and they all fell around him like waves crashing on the shore.
And everywhere he ran, the shadows bled men, littering the streets and staining the ground. From Naruto's far-off window, they had looked like phantoms of the smooth shadows cast by the moon on an ordinary night. Like seeing all the people who might have been on the streets if they hadn't been locked inside their houses - only without the people there to cast the shadows, they didn't move. Just the still forms of people strewn on the ground.
One shadow had fled from his silent footsteps. Right in front of Naruto's window, he caught up to the shadow and drove a knife into his back. A man had collapsed to the ground in horrible silence; spreading blood had blotted out the image of a red and white fan, and the lonely figure turned to find other shadows to slay. That same red and white fan, painted large on his back, burned into Naruto's eyes in the moonlight.
The Uchiha.
All of them were Uchiha - the shadows, and the man who had cut them down.
No one talked about it in the morning. The streets didn't show a drop of blood and the shops opened at the normal time. Life had returned to normal, even though Naruto was sure he hadn't been the only one watching from a window. The only thing that was different was that the silence of that night lingered rows of empty houses - all of the Uchiha were gone, except for one boy in his class and a legend named Itachi.
Come to think of it, the figure in the moonlight must have been Itachi-no-niichan. He hadn't realized, even though he'd seen the fan on his back. Naruto took the man's hand while they walked through the quiet rows of Uchiha houses and squeezed. The older shinobi smiled down at him, so he smiled back. He didn't really know what had happened, except that it had happened, but he could tell for sure that Itachi-no-niichan wasn't a bad guy. He still heard grown-ups muttering, about how the Uchiha had tried to kill the Hokage and how they'd been cut down by one of their own. They said that he'd taken it all on himself, as long as he got his one wish.
"He made the Hokage promise that 'That One' would be safe," was what the grown-ups said. They whispered about what might happen if 'That One' grew up, and they never went near him. The grown-ups didn't use names, but Naruto had known right away who 'That One' was.
Sasuke.
That was when he'd known they were the same. He'd always been a 'That One'. When they threw looks at Sasuke that Naruto had seen all his life, he could see the night of bleeding shadows reflected in their eyes. Naruto had known, then, that they couldn't see him anymore than they could see Sasuke. But no matter what, he was going to make them all see and acknowledge who he was, and he'd erase whatever shadows they saw in his place. He'd shine so bright that they'd never believe they used to think he was a 'That One'. He'd be Uzumaki Naruto.
The dark-haired boy turned a glance his way, scowling and holding tighter to his brother. He'd show Sasuke the way out of the shadows even if he had to drag him kicking and screaming. That was what Sasuke had done for him, and he'd do the same for Sasuke if it took him his whole life.
When people said 'Uchiha Sasuke', they wouldn't be afraid of the dark.
He smiled, and a strange, confused look spread over his friend's face, who retreated back behind his brother, out of Naruto's line of sight. "Just watch, Sasuke!" he said. "I'm gonna get ten times the bulls-eyes you do!"
"Say that when you can even hit a target, idiot."
The clearing where they stopped had a rock in the middle and targets hung on trees all around. Off to his left, there was a row all at even heights, just like at school. To the right, targets were scattered - high, low, on the ground, hidden behind trees, everywhere. Itachi-no-niichan let go of their hands and said, "Okay. You both stretched at school, right?"
"Right!" Naruto yelled.
Sasuke checked the strap on his kunai holster, then tugged on his brother's shirt and said, "I always remember to stretch."
"Good." He pointed to the left and patted Sasuke on the shoulder. "Sasuke, Naruto, you two go over there and warm up with your basic overhand throw."
While they checked their kunai pouches, Itachi-no-niichan walked to the right, toward the scattered targets. "What're you going to do?" Naruto asked.
"Me?" Sasuke's older brother looked back over his shoulder. "Just basic exercises," he said, and stepped up on the rock in the middle of the clearing.
Naruto's breath caught. "What's he going to do with targets like that?" he whispered to Sasuke. He'd never seen anybody try for targets that were scattered like those, so he wanted to watch. Sasuke was watching, too. Watching had to be okay. "Something cool, right?"
The dark haired boy spared him half a glance, with his protective scowl mostly melted away. "Nii-san," he called out. "Naruto says he wants to see what you can do."
"Oh?" The older ninja faced them both, which made Sasuke break into a grin (until he noticed Naruto was grinning back). "Well, I suppose you can have one demonstration, but then you have to get to your own training." Once they'd both nodded 'yes', Itachi-no-niichan jumped into the air - completely silent - twisting and flipping over himself as kunai flew in every direction and hit the bulls-eye on every target. When the last one hit, the older ninja landed dead center on the rock.
"That was awesome!" Naruto yelled, racing towards the rock. "I wanna do that!"
Halfway up the rock, Itachi-no-niichan grabbed him. "Not so fast," he said, and jumped with Naruto back down to the ground. "You have to learn both parts on their own before you can put them together. Let's practice your throwing first."
"Okay," Naruto groaned. More than being disappointed - since he was only okay at flips and throwing weapons wasn't his best class - he was kind of surprised at the way Itachi-no-niichan picked him up and carried him without flinching. Sasuke turned around and started throwing at the targets as soon as Itachi walked Naruto over and set him down. One after another, perfectly in the center, like he always did.
"Very good, Sasuke. You're improving."
His friend has a big smile for his brother, the kind he never showed in school, but really that kind of throwing wasn't any different from classes. Those targets weren't all over the place!
"I can do that, too!" Naruto hollered, and pulled a kunai from his pouch to lob at the nearest tree. Unfortunately, it went wide and landed in the roots of a tree three targets down. "One more try," he said to himself. Looking straight at the target, focusing as best he could, he chucked a second kunai.
It was better. It landed in the roots of the tree he was aiming for, at least.
"Naruto," Itachi-no-niichan said from behind him.
He looked up, ready to protest that he could do it, and there wasn't any need to make him go away. He could keep up with Sasuke. He wasn't going to hold anyone back.
"Just watch! I'll get the next one!" Naruto said.
The older ninja knelt next to him, face to face. "Of course you will. And here's how. Just do exactly what I say."
He stood back up, facing the target to Naruto's left. "First of all, hold the handle with the tips of your fingers, not the palm, like this." The way he held the kunai in his right hand seemed easy enough, but it took a couple tries to get the kunai to stay balanced in his grip. "Good," Itachi said when he got it. "Now, turn your left foot to face the tree straight on, and turn your right foot so it's just a little out to the side."
Naruto looked at the way Sasuke's brother was holding his body, and adjusted his legs like the he said. It felt a little weird, but not too weird. He sort of remembered the other kids stances looking mostly like that during regular practice.
"Right. Hips facing the target, keep your knees loose - don't lock them. No, keep your toes facing straight on. Your toes are important. Now, are you ready?"
Naruto nodded, listening as close as he could.
"Okay, now watch carefully. Keep your eyes on the center, and bring your arm up." Naruto brought his arm up to his shoulder, moving his eyes between the target and the older ninja's example as fast as he could. When Itachi glanced over, he said, "No, just watch me for now. You can try in a second." He dropped his arm, but kept his legs in the right position, since he was starting to adjust to it. It still wasn't natural, and he didn't want to move until he was sure all of his muscles knew where to be.
"Now, when you bring your arm forward like this," Sasuke's brother told him, miming the action slowly, "keep your wrist stable, and make sure the left side of your body is straight. You'll learn to do this without moving, but for now I want you to stomp with your left foot and use it as a pivot. Okay?" Naruto nodded as fast as he could, watching so hard he thought his eyes might start burning. "And the most important part is that you follow through. So, here's what it's going to look like."
All the motions he'd demonstrated slowly, Itachi performed in one fluid move that was so fast, Naruto could barely see.
But he could see it. And he could see the kunai buried three inches deep in the bullseye on the target.
"All right!" Naruto yelled, settling into the leg position and focusing intently on the center of the target. This time, he'd get it for sure.
Itachi rested one hand on his shoulder, pushing him slightly. "Right there. Good," he said, using the other hand to draw up Naruto's throwing hand to position. "Now, eyes on the target, wrist stable, and follow through right when you stomp with your left foot. Can you do that?"
"Yeah!" he answered, remembering the way the pivot had looked. It had been fast, but not too fast.
Sasuke's older brother let go of his shoulders and stepped back. "Good. Throw it."
Naruto stomped, throwing his body's weight around after his arm, releasing the kunai and following through, just like he'd seen Itachi-no-niichan do. He heard the hollow thwock of a kunai hitting the wooden target before he managed to process the sight of it quivering in the red circle second from the outside.
"I did it!" he yelled, throwing his arms over his head. "Did you see that, Sasuke!" Naruto turned to grin at his friend, who he found looking at the target with the kunai he'd thrown sticking out of it. Sasuke didn't look impressed.
"Well, it's about time, isn't it?"
Naruto stuck out his tongue, grabbed another kunai from his pouch, and settled back into position. Another throw, another kunai in his target, this time on the other side of the center, but he was sure it looked just a hair closer in.
"Not bad, kiddo," Sasuke's brother said, messing up his hair before patting him on the head. "You two keep working on that. I'll be watching you from over here."
This was the best kunai practice ever. No wonder Sasuke was so good! Itachi-no-niichan was fantastic!
~/~
Twilight was starting to fall, and the trees darkened into the forest around them. He could have kept going. He didn't need more than the tiniest bit of light to see the targets he needed to hit, but even if his baby brother and Naruto hadn't been passed out on the ground near the basic targets, both worked into exhaustion, they shouldn't have been practicing in low light like this. They'd only develop bad habits by trying to aim for targets they couldn't see properly.
It was all moot, though. They were passed out on the ground. He'd never seen Sasuke throw so diligently in his life, and Sasuke was no slouch. And as for Naruto, he was in, throw for throw, with everything he had. By the time the two kids were too tired to stand anymore, his kunai had been grazing the center circle as well.
Itachi walked over and started pulling the knives out of the targets. Correction. It looked like all three of the last throws Naruto had made were cleanly inside the middle. No bullseyes, but what could you expect? As it was, he'd never seen someone improve that quickly. The boy seemed to have all the right muscles already. He just lacked control, and apparently the knowledge of what he was actually supposed to be trying to do.
He packed the kunai away into each boy's leg pouch, the two kids barely stirring as he did so.
They were solidly asleep.
He couldn't remember the last time he'd been able to sleep properly out in the open, with no guard on watch. And even when there was a guard on watch, he was restless. It was one of those habits you picked up in the field.
Bringing Naruto along had been a good idea, both for the kid himself and for Sasuke. That was the most motivation he remembered ever getting out of his little brother. It'd do him good, being the number one in his class, to have someone chasing his tail. And they were pretty cute, those two. Snoring in a puppy pile, Naruto having found Sasuke's stomach to use as a pillow.
Itachi picked them both up, slinging Naruto over one shoulder and Sasuke over the other, and started back down the path towards home. He wasn't sure where Minato-san's little boy belonged in town. He probably had an apartment, but he wasn't going to hunt all over Konoha for it when he had a perfectly good house a short walk away, and he could get supper together for when the boys woke up.
Itachi walked up the trail that led directly to their house from the training ground, with no need to walk through the dead town of the Uchiha compound or to look at any of the empty houses. Once in the door, he headed right and turned into Sasuke's room, stepping past the fortress of building blocks on the floor to get to the bed. Turning down the covers was a little harder than usual with Naruto over his other arm, but he took care of it. First, he laid Sasuke down, and his little brother curled up like he always did. He put Naruto down right next to him, and watched the blond boy sprawl across the sheets.
After he took off their shoes, he slipped Sasuke's dinosaur into his arms and pulled the blankets up over them both, then walked silently out of the room. The shoes went by the door, and he went to the kitchen to make dinner. Itachi added an extra scoop of rice to the two that usually were just enough for him and Sasuke, and set it on to boil. By the time it was done, he'd be able to chop enough of the dried fish in the cupboard to make Sasuke's favorite, since he'd been such a good sport all day.
He knew it hadn't been easy for his brother to handle having someone else in their lives, but it'd be good for him.
Itachi chopped in silence. He never heard ghosts floating around the kitchen, or anywhere else. Maybe the family knew he'd done the right thing. He finished chopping the fish with enough time to mix in soy sauce and clean everything up before the rice finished cooking. There was nothing but complete silence for a few minutes while he waited for the rice to cool and set. He walked over to his brother's room and peeked in the door. Still fast asleep. Naruto was even snoring.
Well, they couldn't have that. Snoring was a dead giveaway of your position on a mission outside of the village. Itachi walked in with hushed footsteps and rolled Naruto onto his side, facing Sasuke. His mouth closed and he seemed to breathe easier. Before his eyes, Naruto's hand fell on Sasuke's and he, sleeping, pulled it to his chest just like Sasuke held on to his dinosaur. "You'd better let go before he wakes up, or you might get hit," Itachi whispered with a smile. They were too sweet. Softly ruffling Naruto's hair and leaving a kiss on Sasuke's forehead (he'd never know to complain), he walked out to start turning the rice into riceballs for dinner.
He'd just set the last one on a plate when he heard Sasuke yell, "What're you doing here!"
"Sasuke?" a sleepy voice asked, "Why're you in my bed?"
"It's my bed, you numbskull. And let me go!"
Then Naruto's voice turned into an agitated scream. "Gyahh! What? What am I doing here!"
"I asked you first, moron."
The two of them rushed out of Sasuke's bedroom to the kitchen, skidding to a halt when they saw Itachi holding plates full of riceballs.
"What's he doing here?" Sasuke asked.
"Well, I couldn't send Naruto home without dinner," Itachi answered, placing the last two plates on the table. "A boy needs to eat."
"I've got cup ramen at home," Naruto said.
Itachi pulled out a chair for him. That absolutely settled it. "Cup ramen is no kind of meal to eat after you train, especially when you work as hard as you two did. Sit."
Naruto climbed into his seat, and Sasuke pushed his plate around from his usual seat at the table to the seat next to Itachi's, scooting their chairs as close as he could.
"Thank you, Nii-san," Sasuke said after a bite.
"This is fantastic!" Naruto yelled. "Thank you, Itachi-no-niichan!"
He felt Sasuke's hand grabbing the side of his leg and holding tight to his pants.
No, this wasn't going to be easy. But it'd be worth it.
Having the blond at the table definitely made dinner more energetic. There was no question that he'd inherited his mother's hot-blooded personality. Naruto could barely stay in his seat, he was so excited to show off his new ability to hit the target to his teacher. Sasuke stayed mostly quiet, only commenting now and again that his tests today had been easy and classwork was 'nothing'.
"Yeah, Sasuke's always the best," Naruto said. "But just watch! I'm gonna be at the top of the class in no time! From now on, we're rivals!"
Sasuke scoffed sullenly and swallowed a bite of rice. "Hmph. Do what you like."
Naruto didn't pay much attention to the attempt to dismiss him. Itachi could tell he'd picked exactly the right friend for his brother, though. He'd never seen anyone, even before the Rebellion, show Sasuke a smile like that. Naruto adored his brother.
As he should. His brother was adorable.
While the blond stood up on his chair, gesturing with big arms to talk about the trees on the school grounds, telling them all about how he'd climbed up to the top where none of the teachers could reach him, Sasuke tugged on Itachi's sleeve.
"What is it, Sasuke?"
"Are we training tomorrow?" he asked. "You and me, the two of us?"
"I'm sorry," Itachi answered, messing up Sasuke's hair to make him pout. "I have an assignment tomorrow afternoon. I won't be home until late." With a poke to the forehead, he said, "Forgive me, Sasuke. Maybe next time."
He turned back to his food with a quiet pout and took a decisive bite that filled up his cheeks like a little chipmunk.
"Naruto, do you need us to walk you home?" Itachi asked as the boy jumped down from his seat to the floor.
"Nope! I just have to head towards the Hokage's tower! I know my way from there."
"All right, then. Get home safe. We'll see you later."
"You got it!" he said with a big grin and a thumbs-up. He ran for the door and put on his shoes. "Thanks again for dinner! I'll see you tomorrow at school, Sasuke!"
"Bye," was all his baby brother would say, not even getting up from the table or turning around as his new friend rushed out the door.
As soon as they heard the slam and the house went quiet again, Sasuke turned and grabbed his chest, circling it as tight as he could with two tiny arms and burying his face against Itachi's shirt.
"Hey," Itachi whispered, wrapping his arms around his baby brother. "What's wrong?"
It took a moment for Sasuke to answer. He just pushed his face closer to Itachi's chest, even though Itachi would have figured it wasn't possible for him to get closer.
"Am I no good?" he asked at last, his voice muffled by the fabric of Itachi's shirt.
"What kind of a question is that?" Itachi asked in response. He could tell that Sasuke wasn't crying. He wasn't moving, wasn't sobbing, there were no tears, but he kept holding tight. "How could you be no good? That's impossible."
"Then why do you need Naruto?"
He lifted Sasuke up from his chair, sitting his little brother in his lap, and immediately he started clinging again, with his head tucked under Itachi's chin. "Sasuke. You're my only little brother, you know. My irreplaceable little brother. You're everything I need."
"Then why?"
"I'm not the one who needs Naruto, Sasuke." He didn't push his little brother away, but he wanted to look in his eyes. Itachi moved the clinging child just a little so he could turn his head to the side and see his face. "See? I have you to look after, and you have me to look up to, but he doesn't have anyone. He's never had a mother or a father, and he's never had a brother. But he looks up to you. So maybe, you can be there for him the way I'm here for you. What do you say?"
Sasuke buried his face in Itachi's shoulder, but he thought he could see the tiny crack of a smile on the side of his pout. "I guess," Sasuke said at last.
"All right, then," Itachi replied, standing up and swinging Sasuke onto his back. "Let's get dinner cleaned up." And with Sasuke hugging his neck, he gathered up all the dishes and took them to the sink to wash.
