Hello! Second chapter, which is a great feat for me (I usually get to the first chapter and give up a lot) but here I am. Hurray.
Okay. Hope you like it.
The kunai thudded into the tree trunk, one after the other, in a perfectly straight line. Itachi smirked from his position on the underside of the thick branch, idly spinning one of his remaining kunai on his finger. He began to walk down the tree, channelling chakra into his feet so as he didn't slip down the bark and plummet to the hard forest floor. Barely a leaf stirred as he landed gently on the floor.
"Cool," Sasuke said from his hiding place in a bush. He clambered out of the foliage, a few leaves sticking in his hair. Itachi pulled them out, and ruffled his soft black spikes gently, before hoisting Sasuke up onto his back.
"Shall we go home?" Itachi asked, over his shoulder at his brother. Sasuke nodded.
"Can we go across the lake?"
Itachi didn't answer, but set off on the quickest route home, through the forest. As the trees began to clear, the stunning blue of the lake came into view, and Itachi set off across it, his chakra balanced so evenly that the water didn't ripple.
"Itachi-nii-san?" Sasuke asked. Itachi looked up at him again. "Are you going to join the police force when you're older?"
Itachi shook his head. "When I become an ANBU I'll go all over the world, visiting other hidden villages. I'll go to them and learn their secrets. I want to be a good ninja. Then I might settle down in a village somewhere."
Sasuke frowned. "Not Konoha?" he asked.
Itachi laughed and stopped walking, which caused Sasuke to scowl in the way he had learned from his cousin Shisui.
"Not everything I need is in Konoha. Some things I don't need are everywhere here."
Itachi's face remained stoic and frozen for a moment, before he slipped a smile onto his face. "Let's go home. Mother will be wondering where we are."
"Right!" Sasuke said happily, and they set off across the lake once again, towards their home, which was slowly coming into view.
Itachi dropped his little brother to the ground as a tall blonde woman approached them, smiling at Itachi. Sasuke scowled once again, without even noticing it.
"Itachi-san. It's nice to see you again," she said. When she was about a foot from them, she stopped and bowed politely. "How have you been?"
She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, and smiled down at Sasuke.
"This is my little brother," Itachi told her evenly.
"Ah, so you're Sasuke-kun. Itachi spoke about you so much when we were travelling together. My name is Tsunade."
Sasuke's face became neutral, and he bowed to her. "It's nice to meet you."
From the main house, a voice called out Sasuke's name into the still air.
The boy took the opportunity to dart away from the blonde, speeding towards the house. He slipped his shoes off and padded towards the shoji, sliding it open gently, and closing it behind him.
"Go and wash your hands, Sasuke-chan. You can help me prepare dinner," his mother, Mikoto, said without turning around from where she was cutting vegetables.
Sasuke sped off to the bathroom to wash his hands, before he ran to his room to fetch a new shirt. He slid the door open and closed, and turned to his wardrobe.
He frowned. His bed was a mess, the duvet in disarray and the sheets wrinkled. Sasuke always made his bed, without fail. It was part of the rules of the house that the bed must be made in order to get breakfast.
He tugged on the bottom of the duvet, and jumped back with a gasp. There, curled up in the middle of the bed, was a skinny blonde girl, hair in loose bunches, with clothes far too big for her.
She was snoring gently. Sasuke backed into his wardrobe with a thump, and the little girl twitched slightly, her breathing pitching. With a slight gasp and a jolt, she was awake, her wide blue eyes blinking slowly. The whisker-like scars on her cheeks twitched slightly as she turned around to look at him. After a moment of blinking, she opened her mouth and screamed.
Sasuke rubbed the throbbing lump on his head, pouting at the little girl who clung to Tsunade's leg, blinking watery eyes at as many people as she could. Her bunches had been fixed, and were quivering high up on her head as she shivered.
"I was just cold!" she cried, her lip wavering as if she were to burst into tears at any moment.
"It's okay, Naruto-sama. We invited you and Tsunade-hime to stay. We'll let you have a bed soon enough," Fugaku said, smiling down at the little girl. He gestured for her to sit down, and she flopped to the floor, while Tsunade sank more gracefully down.
Itachi took a seat beside Naruto, smiling down at her briefly.
"'Tachi-nii-chan?" she asked in a small voice, tugging on the sleeve of his shirt. "Why's he staring at me?"
Sasuke started slightly as he realised she was pointing directly at him.
Mikoto and Fugaku laughed slightly, and Itachi glared at Sasuke briefly.
"He's fine, Naruto-sama."
Sasuke stood up and turned away, heading outside. Maybe he would go into the village and visit some of the other children he would be going into the academy with, who he had played with for a year.
He'd go to Shino's house, and see if he was there. He only hoped the bugs wouldn't get him.
Mikoto kept smiling as her son left the room, thanking whatever god there was that he didn't slam it loudly. Sasuke was prone to the occasional tantrum every now and then, but was growing out of them.
"Naruto-sama, are you here to go to the academy?" Fugaku asked.
Naruto nodded happily, her blonde hair dancing around her face. "I start in 23 days." The paused for a moment, frowning.
"What's wrong, Naruto-sama?"
"Can I go play, please?" she asked, standing up from the table. Her t-shirt slipped slightly from her shoulder but she pulled it back up.
Tsunade nodded. "No fighting please. And no swearing either. You need to be on your best behaviour if you want to go learn to be a ninja."
Naruto gave her a wide grin, bearing all of her teeth, and a thumbs-up. "I will."
As she left the room, Tsunade sighed. The three other people in the room looked at her.
"What's wrong?"
Tsunade shook her head, leaning her head in a slightly wrinkled hand. "She's getting to be too much for me. I'm beginning to feel my age for once." She sighed. "It's that demon. She has a bad influence on my little girl, telling her stories and calling on animals to come visit her. Did you know that she has a pet fox?" Tsunade asked in a slightly desperate voice.
Mikoto raised an eyebrow.
"Yes! Tamamo brings home dead birds and squirrels. And we don't even have a home to call our own."
Mikoto sank down beside Tsunade on her knees, laying a hand on her back.
"Don't worry, Tsunade-hime. She'll even out. The Academy will be good for her. We said when you contacted us that we would help you raise her well. If you get back to doing missions, we'd be happy to look after her."
Tsunade was inconsolable. "She tried to eat Katsuyu once. And she broke a man's leg once with a kick."
"Naruto or the fox?" Itachi asked.
"Naruto." Tsunade laid her table and said softly, "I need a drink."
"Sasuke," Naruto called out, her blond hair trailing behind her as she ran towards him. He didn't turn around. Naruto growled.
"Teme!" she shouted, running towards him. He stopped for a moment, and then carried on walking. Naruto smiled happily as she realised she had his attention.
"I saw him first, forehead girl!"
"Nu-uh, Ino-pig"
Naruto looked past Sasuke's large hairdo, and saw a pink haired girl with an exceedingly large forehead and a cute red bow, and a white-blonde girl who didn't look at all like a pig, both rushing towards Sasuke.
She could see him blanch, and walk more slowly. Naruto, however young she was, had her perceptive moments.
She ran up to Sasuke, and caught his right arm. "Sasuke-kun, can you show me around the village please? I need to know my way around if I ever want to find you."
Sasuke nodded thankfully, and they took off deeper into the village, leaving the two girls gaping in the street.
Thanks for reading.
Cassie xx
(p.s. reasons for Naruto's being called '-sama' will be explained later, plus why she's not hated by anyone)