I'm back with my second chapter of Naruto: The Sibling Stars! The new chapter will give you a little more information on Shadow and Sakashi, but don't expect me to give you their whole history quite yet (would be pretty boring if I did that!)

I'd like to thank vampireknight364 and Dragon Man 180 for their reviews! For those of you who didn't review, just remember, if you don't give me any feedback then I can't improve my story. This is my first fanfic so constructive criticism is encouraged, and if you liked something about my writing then you should tell me so I know to write more things like it! Now on with the story!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or .hack//G.U. if I did I'd use the money I made to build a mmorpg for one if not both of these series!

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Demon or Inner-self Speech"

'Demon or Inner-self Thoughts'

Jutsu

(Jutsu Translation)

//Scene Change or POV change//

//Flashback start or end//

The Sibling Stars

Chapter 2

"Alright, we're here at Tazuna's house, the village medic is taking care of the Demon Brothers' concussion, and Haku and Zabuza have been checked over and are fine… Now if you don't have any more concerns, why do you two have the Sharingan?" Hatake Kakashi asked the 14-year old seated before him.

Shadow sighed and quickly assessed the gathered ninja. His sister Sakashi sat next to him while Haku and Zabuza sat off to the side ready to jump in if things got ugly. Gouzu and Meizu were both having their concussions treated and would be back to normal in the next few days. The Uchiha was glaring at him as if by simply looking he could solve the mystery while his pink-haired banshee was fussing over his battered condition. The blonde Jinchuuriki had taken a seat next to Haku, seemingly oblivious as to the seriousness of what was about to be discussed.

Shaking his head a little Shadow thought over and over about what he would say to him without revealing too much. It was then that he felt Sakashi squeeze his right hand a little in support. He looked at her and saw to his surprise that she was smiling a bit, but was broken out of his musings when she shifted her left-hand into a familiar position where her left-hand was the back of his right-hand. Shadow was confused for a bit before understanding dawned and he smiled at her. He then turned to the now impatient Copy-nin.

Rather than going into an explanation however, he asked a question, "Kakashi-san… Was that technique you used, the ­Raikiri your own invention?"

Kakashi looked surprised for a moment before his gaze hardened and replied, "It was… It's my only original technique so I'd actually like to know why you knew how to perform it."

Rather than intimidating the young teen however, it seemed to have the opposite effect and the boy relaxed. 'I knew that his name was familiar even though I'd never met him…' Shadow's smile grew bigger before saying, "In that case I think this should two words should suffice for my explanation Inu-san."

At this retort, Kakashi's eyes flew open in pure uninhibited shock. 'How the hell does this 14-year old kid know my ANBU designation!?!?!?' He quickly brought his reactions under control and said in a stern voice with laced killing intent, "You'd better have a good explanation."

Shadow remained unaffected and simply said in a firm voice, "Zeranion Takaito…"

For a moment nothing was said. The three leaf genin just seemed confused while their instructor had actually sat down and held his head at the implications of the name. Zabuza appeared interested while Haku held a sad smile as if she had some hidden knowledge about the meaning. Sakashi on the other hand just held her brother's hand tighter as her brother gave her a comforting look. Eventually the silence was broken when the silver-haired man looked up at Shadow and Sakashi before saying, "I understand… We can talk more later… In private…"

With that the copy-nin stood up to leave but was stopped when a certain pink-haired banshee started screaming, "NANI!?!?!? WE WAIT ALL THIS TIME FOR AN EXPLANATION AND THEY GET AWAY WITH A NAME!?!?!?"

Kakashi looked sharply at Sakura, who promptly shut up, and replied in a firm voice of authority, "I have found that to be satisfactory. They are not a threat and I don't like you're questioning my judgment on this matter."

Sasuke on the other hand was still seething at the abrupt end to the conversation. 'How? HOW!?!?!? I WAS SURE ITACHI WIPED ALL OF US OUT BESIDES ME!!! SO HOW DO THEY HAVE THE SHARINGAN!?!?!? WHY ARE THERE MORE UCHIHA ALIVE!?!?!? WHERE HAVE THEY BEEN ALL THIS TIME!?!?!?'

As if sensing his pupil's thoughts, Kakashi said to him, "I don't want you questioning them Sasuke. They will tell you when they trust you. There's a good reason they're so careful." And with that the silver-haired man left to go clear his head.

For a moment, all was quiet until Naruto asked, "I don't get it… What's the big deal about them having the Sharingan?" Everyone face-vaulted at this statement and Naruto just looked at them puzzled.

//Outside with Kakashi//

Kakashi left the house, eye-smiling as an irate Sakura started screaming something about blonde idiots who don't pay attention. He walked into the forest as memories over a decade old started to flit through his head.

When he finally came back to the present, he noticed that night had fallen. The stars were spread across the sky and the new moon was nowhere in sight, allowing a breathtaking view of the stars. "Zeranion Takaito eh…" He said aloud as he looked into the night sky. "Looks like it's time for me to fulfill my promise."

"I guess it's time we fulfill ours as well…" a voice rang out from behind.

Kakashi turned around and saw Shadow and Sakashi sitting behind him. Shadow was leaned against a tree looking up at the stars as well as his younger sibling sat in his lap gazing at the stars as well. The silver-haired Jonin just gave his trademark eye-smile and said, "So I guess your parents told you about me."

Shadow smirked a bit and replied, "Yeah… Being missing-nin they told us as much as they could about who we could trust from Konoha. Otou-san said that if we ever met you to thank you for giving him the scroll for Raikiri."

"Did he now?" Kakashi asked as he took a close look at the two siblings. The younger one had relaxed in the security of her Brother's presence and seemed to be content. It was an expression of utmost trust. Shadow on the other hand had dropped his smirk and let his mask drop. In his fully revealed face he held a look of almost longing as he gazed at the stars, but of determination to protect the one who sat relaxed in his lap. When he took a closer look however, he was startled to see how much older his open eye looked. It held such a multitude of emotions that Kakashi wondered just what he had done in his short life. He remained silent for a while before asking in hopes of breaking the tension, "So what's with the headband? I mean I'm sure you admire me from your old man's stories about me, but that's kind of pushing it."

This didn't quite have the effect that he wanted as Shadow looked at him with that same pained eye. In fact if it was possible he looked even older, as his sister looked at her brother with caring eyes. Shadow smiled a little at her look and lifted his headband and showed what was underneath to the Jonin while pulling his sister closer in a hug with his left arm. When Kakashi saw what was underneath he visibly flinched. Shadow just widened his sad smile as he replaced the headband. Once it was back in place Kakashi seemed to recover and said to the young man, "I see why you keep that headband on…"

Shadow merely nodded in recognition and brought his gaze back to the stars, his left-arm still wrapped around his little sister. After a moment Sakashi spoke up and asked, "So does that blonde boy know he's a Jinchuuriki?"

Kakashi looked up sharply at this and said, "You two are very bright aren't you? How did you figure it out?"

Sakashi flushed a bit at the compliment and didn't answer, instead opting to hide deeper in her brother's hug. This puzzled Kakashi until her brother spoke up for her, "Gomen Kakashi-san… Sakashi is very shy around people she doesn't know well. As to your question… We've… Had experiences of our own involving a Jinchuuriki, and Yokai has a very unique feel to it…" He finished with a haunted look, this time clutching his sister closer to him with both arms.

Seeing his reaction, Kakashi decided not to delve further and merely nodded. Shadow then asked a question that surprised Kakashi, "So what's our cousin like?"

Kakashi thought about things for a moment before replying, "Sasuke? I guess the best way to describe him would be bitter. When Itachi slaughtered your relatives he only left him alive. He's become an avenger, and his "ambition" is to kill your other cousin and restore your father's clan."

Shadow replied sharply to Kakashi's comment and said, "The Uchiha are NOT Otou-san's clan and they sure as hell aren't OUR clan either. We're ZERANION not UCHIHA. THEY disowned him when they drove him to become a missing-nin. Sasuke and us are related by blood, not by clan!" He fumed for a while before continuing, "As for my cousin's "ambition"… He needs to suck it up and stop being a brat! So what if he saw his clan and parents die! He's had it a lot easier than some of the people we've met! He still had the safety and the security of a village to support him while others have been left with nothing!"

The silver-haired Jonin looked surprised by this reaction before his eye softened and he said, "Does this have anything to do with what you and your sister went through?"

The young man's eyes softened at Kakashi's question. He looked down to see that Sakashi seemed to have fallen asleep. He let a small smile slip onto his face before continuing, "When Otou-san and Okaa-san were killed Sakashi and I had nothing left except each other and the scrolls that our parents left us under the house. Every day was a struggle to survive. Our dear cousin had the luxury of being within a village when training and having a warm safe bed to sleep in when he was tired. We on the other hand had to train long and hard to make sure we weren't killed by bandits or missing nins for our eyes, and had to sleep with one eye open or risk death every damn night! We couldn't even join another ninja village for risk of being exploited! A Chunin from Amegakure once overheard me talking to Sakashi about our bloodline and tried to kidnap her so that they could BREED her! I'm just lucky I was able to kill him before he got away…" The 14-year old took a deep breath before continuing. "Sasuke needs to learn there are other things to life besides revenge. The dead are dead and there's no changing that. We can only learn from our mistakes and move forward."

"You seem very mature for your age…" Kakashi responded carefully. He didn't want to bring up too many bad memories, but it was necessary for them to get this out of the way before they met with the Hokage.

Shadow snorted and responded, "I had to grow up a heck of a lot faster in order to survive." His gaze then softened again as he continued, "That and it's not too easy to remain innocent when you've had to endure as much as what we've had to. I'm just glad that my imouto still has her innocence after every thing that we've been through. It's the only thing that kept me sane sometimes. No matter how many people we've had to kill she's never stopped caring and no matter what we went through she's always been able to bring a little bit of happiness…" By the end of his short speech he was smiling at his sleeping sister. She looked so open and pure in her sleep, and Kakashi couldn't help but smile as well as the young girl snuggled into her brother in her sleep. It was hard to believe that this innocent little girl had killed about 20 men a few hours ago.

However, Shadow's speech had helped Kakashi get a better evaluation of the two's mental states. It was then that he realized something was amiss and asked the young man, "She didn't see them die did she?"

At this question Shadow looked sharply at Kakashi. "And you say we're bright… Yeah, Okaa-san put her under a genjutsu so that she wouldn't wake up during the fight. I'm glad… I don't know how she would have turned out if she had to see that when she was 5-years old…"

For a while, neither of them spoke. Eventually Kakashi broke the silence and asked, "This probably isn't a very comfortable topic for you but I really need to know. How did they die?"

Shadow sat in silence for a while before looking back at the stars and continuing. "The hunter-nin somehow tracked us down to the cabin we were living in at the time. Thanks to the alarm seals, my parents knew they were there before they were even a mile away. When that happened Okaa-san put Sakashi to sleep with the genjutsu and had me take her away in an underground tunnel they built into the floor of the cottage. Our parents were always very careful… Anything that indicate that there were children in the house was hidden underground where a Byakugen user would never look, and us being underground made it so that we would be safe as well… Otou-san told me to go and not look back, but of course I didn't listen… Once we got to the other end of the tunnel I went back to see what happened to our parents. At that point in my life my stealth was probably about mid-Chunin level given how much of my training revolved around it. It also helped that the hunter-nin were completely focused on wiping out two missing-nin and didn't know or find evidence of their children… I got back just in time to see the start of the fight."

His expression grew grim as he prepared to continue onto the actual attack. "The team seemed to have been specifically designed to wipe out my parents, there were four of them in all… In the opening seconds of the attack they took advantage of my mother's only major weakness and killed her in the opening moments of the attack. I think she expected this though because before she died she activated a case of explosive tags she'd hidden in the yard and killed two of the four hunter-nins. Otou-san didn't go down without a fight either. I still remember it like it was yesterday…" With that Shadow closed his eyes before continuing to what happened in his father's battle.

//Flashback 6 years ago//

Takaito didn't pause to mourn his wife's death. They knew it would happen before the hunter-nin had even stepped into their front-yard. Instead he used the distraction to throw a barrage of shurinken and kunai at the shell-shocked third hunter nin. The hunter nin didn't even have a chance to block as the shurinken and kunai imbedded them into his torso killing him. 'Must have been a rookie…' he thought as he turned to the last one. Who was still hidden in the trees.

"That was a bit surprising." The last member of the team said as he stepped out of the trees. To Takaito's surprise he saw the last member dressed in ANBU clothing with a Weasel mask. He was brought out of his thoughts as the figure continued, "However, those fools should have been more careful, and that rookie shouldn't have been on such mission yet even if he was a Hyuuga." The ANBU's voice then took on an almost respectful tone. "After all, it's not the best idea to send a rookie against a former ANBU captain and his second in command. Isn't that right? Uchiha Takaito…"

Takaito just continued watching his opponent with his now active Sharingan. The ANBU looked pretty young, but the tone of his voice screamed veteran in his mind. He dropped into his own version of the Uchiha's interceptor fist stance and to his surprise, his opponent dropped into a similar stance. He smiled a bit at this and said, "Sorry, but when I left Konoha and became a missing-nin I gave up my family name. Uchiha Takaito and ANBU captain no longer exists. All that remains is myself. Zeranion Takaito, missing nin, and former Rekka no Konoha (Raging Fire of Konoha)!"

The younger Uchiha only gave a respectful nod before throwing a few shurinken. He then flashed through a few seals before saying, "Shurinken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shurinken Shadow Clone Technique)!" With that the few kunai suddenly became a massive wall of throwing stars, which were flying straight towards Takaito.

The former Uchiha only smiled flashing through some seals himself before yelling, "Doton: Doryuheki (Earth Style: Earth Release Wall)" Chakra infused soil then spewed forth from his mouth creating a large wall to guard him from the shurinken barrage. He flashed through some more seals as he heard the shurinken thump against the wall before jumping out from behind the wall and blowing a gigantic fireball at his opponent, "Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique)"

The ANBU watched in surprise as the C-rank but effective jutsu came billowing towards him. He jumped over the fireball in order to dodge it, and drew a kunai launching an overhead slash at his opponent.

His opponent quickly jumped out of the way flashing through even more seals at speeds that the Uchiha could barely keep up with and this was only thanks to his Sharingan before yelling out, "Katon: Karyu Endan (Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet)" blowing a large flame dragon towards the Uchiha. To his mild surprise his opponent flew through a shorter series of seals before yelling out, "Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu" The fireball and dragon met, resulting in a large explosion that hid the combatants from each other.

When the smoke cleared, Takaito had already finished another series of handseals and put his hands onto the ground shouting out, "Doton: Doryuudan no Jutsu! (Earth Style: Earth Draggon Bullet Technique)" A massive dragon of Earth came roaring out of the ground but to the ANBU's immense surprise the dragon instead of heading for him, headed for the giant wall created from the earlier Doton: Doryuheki which was still riddled with hundreds of shurinken. When the Dragon smashed into the wall, it broke in a massive blast of shrapnel composed of chakra infused earth and shurinken. Forcing the young Uchiha to devote all his resources to dodging, but not getting away unscathed as a larger piece of earth hit him, damaging his left leg limiting his mobility and slamming him hard on the ground.

He looked up just in time to see his opponent finish yet another set of seals, "Katon: Karyu Endan" and yet another flame dragon burst from Takaito's mouth heading for the ANBU.

The ANBU was barely able to dodge the dragon, but felt some of his clothes singe from the intense heat as he stood on his injured leg and examined his opponent. "It seems most of the rumors about your abilities were true Takaito-san… A fighting style consisting of rapid high-powered techniques that can be used to decimate enemy forces while constantly adapting to your opponent's moves and strategies, sometimes even finding ways to use their own techniques against them, using the Sharingan to predict their movements and leading them into traps, and to top it all off, handseal speeds so fast that you can cast your high-powered jutsus in such a small space of time it put's even Sandaime-sama to shame..."

Takaito was panting. He had hoped to end this battle quickly, but his opponent was proving more skilled than he'd anticipated. He smiled and said, "You're not too bad yourself! Even if you have the Sharingan, there aren't many people who escape so many of my combos, especially when you're injured and have lost mobility." He gave his opponent a careful gaze before asking, "What's your name kid?"

The young Uchiha looked surprised for a moment before responding, "My name is Uchiha Itachi…"

Takaito looked surprised for a bit before he laughed a little, "So all this time I've been fighting my nephew! I haven't seen you since you were 5 years old. How's my idiot of an older brother doing anyways? Still preaching about Uchiha superiority?"

Itachi gave no signs of emotion and just replied, "Hai, he still seems to believe that our Sharingan makes us superior to all other clans. He sees me as proof of this seeing how rapidly I've progressed and calls me the pride of the Uchiha clan."

The missing nin just shook his head a bit and asked, "He doesn't know that you rarely train with the Sharingan does he?" letting his smile show to his nephew.

The young Uchiha actually let a look of surprise appear behind his mask before replying, "No he doesn't…" He then fell back into a battle stance and continued, "Forgive me ottoji (uncle), but I think it's time we end this. You fought well and injured me, but all those high power techniques seem to have drained you."

Takaito let his smile change to a savage grin before replying, "Oh I don't know about that. I think I've got enough in me for one more!" The former Uchiha then flew through hand-seals before shouting, "Raiton: Boufuu no Denkou (Lightning Style: Storm of Lightning)" Takaito shouted as he pointed his hands at the cloud above them and a globe of electrical energy flew into the cloud. The young Uchiha at this point was sweating as he saw the cloud crackle with electricity before a barrage of lightning bolts came crashing down towards him. The resulting explosion tore apart a good portion of the earth, but when Takaito took a closer look, he realized that there was a charred and broken log where there should have been a body. 'Kawarimi no Jutsu(Substitution Technique)!' he thought in alarm just before he felt a sword go through his back.

"You might have thought you'd removed all the items that I could use for the substitution technique but you missed one." Itachi stated as he held the sword stuck into his uncle's back, only to see him burst into smoke. 'KAGE BUNSHIN! (Shadow Clone)' he thought in alarm.

He didn't have time to react however as he heard a shout of, "Shurinken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" The young ANBU turned around only to watch as a pair of shurinken strung together with ninja wire suddenly became around fifty. He did his best dodge, but was caught by the wires strung between them and pinned against a tree while his Weasel mask was knocked off of his face, revealing the face of a young Uchiha who was barely a teen with two fully mature sharingan. This however was overshadowed when the ninja wires pulled the young Uchiha into a tree and bound him so that he was unable to move.

"Actually, I left that log there with this scenario in mind Itachi-kun" Takaito said to his now trapped nephew with a sad look on his face. "I'm sorry that I have to do this, but I'm guessing that if I let you go, you'd just be sent after me again once they thought you were strong enough…" He then went through three hand-seals before thrusting his right hand out in front of him grabbing the wrist with his left hand. "Raikiri (Lightning Blade)" he said tonelessly as he looked at his nephew before charging at him.

Itachi watched as his uncle charged him with Kakashi's legendary technique. For a few instants he did nothing, but soon he channeled more Chakra to his eyes. He felt his Sharingan morph and saw the look of surprise and horror on his uncle's face. But it was too late for Takaito as he heard his nephew yell in a clear voice, "Tsukuyomi (Moon Goddess)"

//Shadow's POV//

Shadow watched from the trees as he saw his father charge his final attack. He saw the look of shock and horror as his older cousin yelled the name of his technique. He saw his father suddenly stop and let the Raikiri sputter and die in his hand. He saw his father fall to his knees exhausted, his breathing labored and heavy as his cousin freed himself from his binds with a low-level fire technique. At this point 8-year old Shadow couldn't take it anymore and ran out with a kunai in hand ready to defend his injured father.

Itachi looked surprised at the boy's sudden appearance. He'd expected the boy to remain rooted in fear and only watch as his father died before him. His look of surprise however disappeared quickly and he kneed the young boy in the stomach, knocking him a good distance away. Momentarily winded, Shadow could only watch as his older cousin drew picked up his dropped sword, pausing for a moment and looking into his father's eyes before nodding and stabbing it through his father's heart. At this Shadow stared in disbelief, but was able to hear his father's last words, "Shadow… Take care of Sakashi…" With that his father let his eyes close, and looked almost at peace in death.

For a moment there was only silence before Shadow broke it with a quite but rage filled voice. "Why? Why did you have to kill him?" he turned towards the older boy with his left-eye red and spinning with one tomoe. His Sharingan had activated in his distress imprinting his father's final words in his memory forever.

The older boy just looked surprised for a moment but continued, "It was a mission, nothing more."

"Just a mission?" Shadow asked in disbelief. "You killed your uncle, your own blood just because it was a mission?" Shadow began shaking in anger before gripping his kunai tighter and yelling, "Don't say it like it's no big deal!" he held the kunai in a ready stance, his anger beginning to override reason.

Itachi looked impassively at his cousin before replying, "Do you want to kill me? You have no chance."

Shadow ignored his words and charged at his older cousin intent on ending his life. He was then thrown back into a tree, his cousin pinning him to it with his Sharingan changing yet again. "Tsukuyomi (Moon Goddess)" Was heard for the second time that night as Shadow was plunged into the illusionary world. For what seemed like an eternity he saw his parents and sister killed over and over again, as the world brought up all the happy memories of them just before the blows struck.

When he returned to the physical world he realized he was crying and shaking even as he was pinned to the tree by his cousin. Itachi then released his cousin from his hold and said to him. "You are too weak to defeat me."

Shadow sat there empty and asked his cousin, "So are you going to kill me then?"

For a while Itachi said nothing for a while before he said to him in reply, "It would be worthless to kill someone like you… If you want to kill me then, curse me! Hate me! Live a long and unsightly life for only yourself clinging to your pathetic life! Sever all your ties and live for nothing but power. Then come before me when you possess eyes like mine." Itachi then let his eyes morph again as he gazed into his cousin's "The only thing you need to do to obtain them… is to kill your closest friend!" Itachi watched his cousin's stunned expression before he turned away, slicing off the heads of his parents as proof of their death and setting their bodies ablaze with a Katon jutsu before leaving his cousin there to whatever fate he chose.

//Flashback KAI//

Kakashi stood there stunned at how his parent's deaths had come about. He had known that they were killed by hunter nins along with an ANBU, but he had no idea that it was Itachi who did the deed. What's more is he had no idea prior to his conversation how the Mangekyou Sharingan was obtained. Shadow just sat there holding his sister, giving her a grateful look even as she slept.

Nothing was said for several minutes Kakashi said nothing until he finally asked, "Well I'm glad you decided not to listen to Itachi's words."

Shadow said nothing for a while before responding. "That's not entirely true…" Kakashi looked sharply at the young man, silently asking for an explanation. "After Itachi left me alive I decided I would take the path of an avenger like Sasuke… I trained hard and withdrew myself. The only things I cared about were Sakashi and getting strong enough to kill Itachi."

This response stunned Kakashi, 'He chose the path of an avenger even when he still had a family left?' he thought incredulously.

His thoughts were cut off however, when Shadow continued, "But then I actually made a friend and I found that they gave me something far more precious than revenge." The boy turned to Kakashi with a genuine smile and replied, "I found acceptance. I found someone who was able to ease the pain of my missing parents, and when I imagined cutting that bond… I realized it would feel even worse than losing my parents. In the end it wouldn't be worth it."

Kakashi looked surprised by this response, but gave an eye-smile in response before replying, "Well hopefully back in Konoha you'll be able to make even more friends. After all, I promised your dad that I'd take you back to Konoha with me and protect you if we ever met."

Shadow smiled and nodded his head in confirmation, "And we promised tousan and kaasan that if met you that we'd go to Konoha. They always said that Konoha itself was a great place, and we shouldn't let their bad experiences stop us from giving it a go."

"I guess I should have expected something like that coming from Obito's unofficial older brother." Kakashi said with an eye-smile. "Obito always did say that the only one who gave him a chance in the clan was Takaito." A thoughtful expression then came over his face and he then asked, "Come to think of it… If you knew about my promise to your father then why didn't you approach me earlier?"

Shadow thought for a moment then grinned and said, "Well you see when we heard your name we thought it was familiar. However, every time we tried to remember why it was so familiar a black cat would suddenly walk across our path and we'd lose our train of thought as we tried to find a way around it!"

Kakashi just sweatdropped at the response. 'I'd forgotten… Takaito was the one who invented how to make really bad excuses… Looks like he taught his kids as well…' Then aloud he replied, "You do remember that your father taught both me and Obito how to make up excuses right?"

The young man flinched a bit and scratched his chin while giving the copy-nin a nervous smile. "Truthfully… We forgot."

Kakashi nearly fell on his face at that blunt answer. 'How the heck do you forget something so important?' He then recovered his composure and asked, "How?"

Shadow gave a nervous laugh before replying, "Well the only thing that kept our interest about you form tousan's stories was the fact you invented Raikiri. Although we promised that if we met you we'd go back with you to Konoha that was the only important detail we remembered about you… What can you expect? I was an 8-year old kid when tousan told us. The only thing I was interested in then was cool jutsus."

The silver haired man sweatdropped again. Instead of commenting he just said, "Let's go back to the house. I'm sure that some of the people are getting worried, and you can put your sister to bed."

Shadow smiled and nodded before lifting up his sister bridal style and carrying her back to the people who helped fill the void left by his parents.

//1 week later//

Things had fallen into a kind of pattern over the past few days, and a sense of normalcy had more or less been formed. Sasuke and Sakura would stay at Tazuna's house, Sasuke because he needed to recover and Sakura because she was needed to "give Sasuke moral support" during his recovery. When Kakashi accepted this Sasuke felt the need to slam his head on a table, but was too tired to move and do so.

Earlier in the week Kakashi had approached Zabuza about letting him and his group come with him to Konoha. The Sandaime was a fair man and Zabuza and his group would be a welcome addition to Konoha's forces. In the end he accepted, partly due to the fact that Shadow and Sakashi had already agreed to go back with Kakashi, but mostly due to the fact that he was tired of living on the run and wanted Haku to have a stable life. Gouzu and Meizu were also tired of life on the run and agreed with Zabuza's decision. Once that was settled they agreed to help guard Tazuna and the bridge, even helping with construction a bit.

Naruto had made friends with Haku, Shadow, and Sakashi. Sakashi was shy at first, not saying much around Naruto and opting to stay next to her brother instead. However, this ended when Naruto started talking about his great pranks back in Konoha, and Sakashi started telling him how he could have improved them. After that particular discussion, Haku and Shadow decided then and there not to get those two angry or risk being pranked to death.

A week after the battle however, Sasuke was given a clean bill of health and among the first things he did was seek out his cousins. He found them helping Haku teach Naruto how to water walk so that he could improve his horrible chakra control. They had been working on the exercise for the past 3 days and he was coming along better than expected as Naruto was able to walk on water easily enough now, but he still had trouble maintaining his concentration as they sparred. As Naruto fell into the water once again, Sasuke just snorted and said, "You should give up on training the dobe. There's no way he can master that exercise."

Naruto scowled at his rival and was about to retort when Shadow spoke up first. "And how the hell do you know what he is and isn't capable of?" Shadow asked disinterestedly as he helped Naruto out of the water. He continued, "He's making some really great progress considering how much chakra he's got to control."

These comments served to make Naruto grin. He wasn't used to anyone standing up for or complimenting him. Sasuke on the other hand dismissed this and just snorted. "Yeah right. The dobe's a hopeless cause. Show me how to do it and I'll pass him up in no time."

Haku narrowed her eyes at the Uchiha's comment. "You should show more respect to your teammate. If I remember correctly he did save your life in your first confrontation with Zabuza-sama."

Sasuke scowls at the mention of that particular incident, but before he can answer he's interrupted by a shriek. "DON'T BADMOUTH SASUKE-KUN LIKE THAT!!!" Sasuke turned around and saw to his displeasure the pink haired banshee coming from the trees. "I'll bet Sasuke-kun had a plan and Naruto-baka just wanted to steal the glory! Sasuke-kun is a hundred time better than Naruto-baka!"

Naruto looked hurt at Sakura's comments. 'Does she really think that?' he thought in dismay that his crush would criticize him for helping their teammate. He was slightly comforted however, at the dark looks that were beginning to appear on his friends' faces.

The last "loyal" cough Uchiha wasn't pleased with the appearance, but still smirked a bit at the praise. 'I know I'm superior. I'm an Uchiha. Making bonds with others will just slow me down. That was proven when I almost died to save the dobe.' Then aloud he said, "See, even she can see how superior I am to him." Then to Shadow and Sakashi he said, "You two shouldn't be hanging out with trash like them. After all we Uchiha are above them."

At this last comment Shadow's cool suddenly snapped while Haku and Sakashi suddenly looked alarmed. Shadow then let some concentrated killing intent flare on Sasuke and Sakura causing Sakura to drop onto her knees and Sasuke to sweat. "WE ARE NOT UCHIHA!!!" Shadow roared at his younger cousin as Haku and Sakashi backed away from him and Naruto looked on in more awe than anything. He had never seen Shadow lose his cool at any time during the past week. Shadow then continued, "Our tousan may have been born into your clan, but he was disowned long before I was born! Therefore I am not a part of your PATHETIC clan! So DON'T call us UCHIHA!" he yelled spitting the last word out like it was poison.

Sakashi winced as Shadow shouted at their cousin. Shadow rarely let his anger show, but when he did he almost always blew up big time. He had a bad habit of bottling up his anger choosing to remain pleasant for the most part, but allowing his anger to blow up all at once and taking things a bit too seriously. It didn't help that her brother HATED being called an Uchiha. Calling him one was a sure way to put him in a foul mood. Haku had similar sentiments going through her mind, and Naruto was surprised. He'd thought that Shadow would jump at the chance of being part of the GREAT and POWERFUL Uchiha clan, but instead was yelling about not wanting anything to do with them.

It took a while, but Sasuke finally got over his shock, and scowled saying, "So you're saying you're not Uchiha huh? You're fools to throw away the Uchiha name. We are the elite of the elite and wielders of the most powerful kekei genkai in the world!"

'Bad move…' Haku and Sakashi thought simultaneously as they saw Shadow's anger return full force. 'Never preach about superiority due to heritage or kekei genkai to Shadow.' was Haku's continued thought.

"Cut the crap!" Shadow shouted. "The Sharingan and being an Uchiha doesn't mean shit! Just because we have a kekei genkai doesn't make us superior!"

Sasuke scoffed and said, "Of course having a kekei genkai doesn't make us superior. The SHARINGAN is a different story however. With it we are capable of defeating any enemy. No one can possibly measure up to us! If you're father was disowned he must have been pretty pathetic!"

Things went deathly quite on the shore as Shadow heard Sasuke's last comment. "What did you just say?" he asked quietly.

Not sensing the danger, Sasuke just repeated, "I said you're father was pathetic if he was disowned by the clan."

Killing intent so dense that it could make a Jonin sweat began pouring from Shadow as he glared at his cousin. "That's it Uchiha." He said quietly. "We're gonna settle this NOW!" he roared dropping into a stance that Sasuke was unfamiliar with. "I'm going to beat you down right now WITHOUT my sharingan and show you just how little it means in the real world!"

Sasuke looked shaken by the killing intent, but somehow managed a smirk when he heard Shadow's declaration. He then activated his sharingan while dropping into a standard interceptor fist stance and saying, "Bad idea! I'll show you just how stupid you are to deny the power of the Sharingan and the Uchiha!"

"GO SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura shouted out from her position.

Naruto looked confused, wondering if Shadow really could beat Sasuke without the Sharingan but relaxed when he saw Sakashi and Haku's expressions. Both girls were smiling smugly, sure that Shadow would wipe the floor with the pompous brat.

The battle began as Sasuke began charging, but he was forced to stop as he saw Shadow point at him with two fingers and saw chakra building up on his fingers. Before he could even finish his handseals he heard a yell of, "Raiton: Dangan no Ikazuchi (Lightning Style: Thunder Shot)" A bolt of lighting then shot out from Shadow's pointed fingers which forced Sasuke to stop his charge as he jumped out of the path of the lightning bolt.

'What the? He didn't use handseals!' Sasuke thought. 'If I hadn't moved before he fired that would have hit me! I have to predict where he'll shoot.' He thought trying to break down his opponent's strategy, however he didn't get a chance to dwell more as he was suddenly assaulted by a punch towards his face as Shadow suddenly closed the distance between them. Unable to dodge he was sent flying back towards the trees before recovering a short distance away from the tree line. 'What the hell!? I couldn't react!'

Seeing his confused expression, Shadow said to his cousin, "You're too slow. Even if you're eyes can see my movements they'll be useless if you can't even catch up to me!" Shadow then quickly closed the distance again and smashed his knee into Sasuke's gut and made him fly back once again.

Sasuke recovered again a short distance away seething about being beaten so easily. He began flashing through a series of handseals, but suddenly paused as his opponent brought up his two fingers again and shouted out, "Raiton: Dangan no Ikazuchi!" firing another bolt of lighting and forcing Sasuke to stop his seals and dodge out of the way.

'Dammit!' Sasuke thought. 'How the hell am I supposed to do anything when he keeps firing the damn jutsu and stopping me!? And to make matters worse it doesn't use handseals so I can't even copy it!'

Shadow smiled at Sasuke's expression and said to him, "So are you disappointed that you can't copy my jutsu since there aren't any hand-seals?" Taking Sasuke's snarl to be an affirmative he just smirked and continued, "Here I'll do a jutsu WITH handseals. Let's see if you can copy it!" With that Shadow put his hands through two handseals before spreading his arms and yelling, "Raiton: Seiteki no Ryou! (Lightning Style: Static Charge)"

Sasuke watched this with a smirk, expecting to be able to copy it without any problems, but came to a startling realization. 'What? I can't see what that jutsu's supposed to do! He only used two seals to boot!' He stood there seething for a bit before charging in and sending a roundhouse kick towards Shadow's face from Shadow's left side.

For his part, Shadow smiled at Sasuke's obvious frustration and blocking Sasuke's kick with his left arm, and smiled a bit darker as at the contact lightning natured chakra flew out of his tenketsu flooding into the young Uchiha. He then grabbed the younger boy's leg letting even more electricity flow into him from the palm of his hand before throwing him away and watching with some satisfaction as his opponent struggled to stand up from the floods of electricity. "Confused? Seiteki no Ryou only uses two handseals because like Kakashi-san's Raikiri it is almost completely based on elemental manipulation and form manipulation." Shadow told the struggling Uchiha. "The fact of the matter is, that although the sharingan can copy the handseals and chakra manipulation to an extent, it can't copy any complex form manipulations such as my Seiteki no Ryou and Kakashi-san's Raikiri. There's also the simple fact that you have absolutely no idea how to even manipulate lightning natured chakra so that even if you COULD copy the jutsu, you couldn't use it against me just because you've only learned to manipulate your fire element. Right now your sharingan is only good for copying fire and neutral jutsus, mimicking movements, and seeing some attacks come early." As Sasuke's expression turned even darker, Shadow just continued, "I've worked on my elemental manipulation, form manipulation, and chakra control for YEARS in order to be able to use these techniques! Thanks to all myhard work it's actually possible for me to use A-class jutsus and jutsus with no handseals. You on the other hand seem to want everything handed to you on a silver platter and expect your sharingan to just give you the jutsus others have worked so hard to learn! You don't seem to understand that some jutsus are just too complicated for the sharingan to copy!"

By now Sasuke was livid with anger. How dare this son of disgraced outcast make a fool of him and insult his sharingan! "SHUT UP!" Sasuke yelled out charging at his opponent blindly with a kunai in hand.

Shadow just watched Sasuke charge at him with a sinister smile on his face before putting his hand into a handseal and saying to his cousin, "I'll show you one more jutsu. Raiton: Seiteki no Kaihou! (Lightning Style: Static Release)" As he yelled out the name of the jutsu the stored lightning natured chakra in his body suddenly came rushing out in a sphere of electricity. Sasuke was unable to react in time and was caught by the wall of electricity and blown back before landing fifty feet away unable to move. Shadow just walked up to the downed Uchiha before saying to him in a hardened tone, "Never insult my family or my friends! They are my precious people and I'll do anything for them! If you do anything to hurt hem…" he then turned his back to the downed Uchiha, but then looked back over his shoulder with his sharingan active and continued, "I'll make you wish Itachi had killed you!"

With that the group of four friends left to find a new spot to train though Naruto was staring in awe at Shadow, 'He beat down Sasuke-teme like he was nothing! He's pretty strong!'

Sakura stood there gaping at what had just happened. 'How did Sasuke lose!? I KNOW! He must have cheated! That's it! Sasuke will beat him next time for sure!'

Sasuke on the other hand was in slight shock. 'That cold glare… It was just like Itachi's!'

As they walked away Naruto asked Shadow, "Neh Shadow… You said you've been working for years to get that strong? Just how many years?"

Shadow said nothing for a while before he replied. "I trained every day for the past 6 years in order to get to the level I'm at now. Even now though I'm probably only about high-chunin to low-jonin in terms of my strength."

Naruto looked shocked for at the answer before getting a look of determination and grinning at the older boy. "If that's the case I'll just have to train harder and pass you up! After all I want to be the Hokage one day!"

For a second Shadow looked surprised while Haku and Sakashi both giggled a bit. After a moment however, Shadow put on a grin of his own. "You won't become Hokage if you can't keep up with the training that Sakashi and I put ourselves through!" he replied.

Naruto just let his grin grow and continued, "Just you wait! I'll pass you up in no time! I'm gonna become strong so I can protect my precious people!"

His three friends just grinned before Haku said with a smile, "We look forward to seeing you become Hokage then Naruto."

For what seemed like the hundreth time in the past few days, Naruto looked shocked. 'No ones ever said that they believed I'll become Hokage before. It's always been "Like a dobe like you could become Hokage." Or "That's impossible. There's no way you can become Hokage." Before…' Naruto futilely worked to quell the tears that were forming in his eyes and simply said, "Arigatou…"

He was snapped out of his thoughts however when he heard a camera click and saw Sakashi show a picture of him crying. "Another one for the scrap book!" She said cheerfully before running as Naruto chased after her yelling for her to give the picture to him. Shadow and Haku just laughed at the scene and smiled contentedly that they could help someone else that was like them."

//The Next Day//

The ten shinobi stood in a group at the newly completed bridge saying their goodbyes to the people of Wave. Sasuke was brooding after his defeat at the hands of his cousin while Sakura was still fawning over him like he was god in human form. Naruto strangely enough, didn't seem to notice or even care about this. His time with Haku and the Zeranion siblings gave him the attention he'd always craved, and as a result he'd even managed to calm own a bit over the past few weeks. Kakashi noticed the changes and couldn't help but smile even if he was a bit worried about Sasuke and Sakura.

"Thanks to you we've completed the bridge, but this is still sad…" Tazuna said to the departing shinobi.

"Thanks for everything." Kakashi replied with and eye-smile.

"Yeah! We'll come and visit sometime!" Naruto said with a grin on his face.

"You… better…" Inari replied, struggling not to let his tears start flowing.

Naruto was doing his best to hold back his own tears and tried to cover them up. "Inari… You're sad right? It's alright to cry!"

Inari quickly brought himself together and yelled back, "I'm not going to cry! But Naruto you can cry too!"

Naruto just quickly turned around and said, "Fine… later…"

This seemed to be a signal because both boys suddenly had tears flowing down their faces as Sakura just thought, 'Are they twins?'

Their thoughts were interrupted when Sakashi's camera suddenly flashed. She then held the photo of both boys crying for everyone to see and said proudly, "Wow! Two crybabies for the price of one! I think this one will work better in my blackmail album!"

The sadness of the scene suddenly evaporated as Naruto began chasing Sakashi again demanding the picture, and the others just smiled or laughed. Except Sasuke and Sakura… Sasuke just brooded and Sakura thought, 'Jeeze how immature are those brats!'

Tazuna watched them leave with a smile. "That boy changed Inari's heart and Inari changed the people's hearts…" The bridge builder said proudly. "That boy gave us a bridge to "hope" called "courage."

Tsunami then spoke up, "Don't we still have to name the bridge?"

"Name?" Tazuna laughed quietly. "Yeah I guess we still do have to name it! How about… The Great Naruto Bridge?"

Some of the villagers cheered while Tsunami just chuckled a bit at her father's decision and said, "It's a good name."

AN// Well that concludes Chapter 2 of Sibling Stars. You got some background on Shadow and Sakashi as well as a battle between Shadow and Sasuke in which Shadow proved that the sharingan isn't flawless. I'm sure many of you are wondering about Shadow's mother, but I'm holding off on revealing more info on her for later chapters. You'll also find out more about Shadow and Sakashi's past with jinchuuriki as well as what happened to them in-between their parents death and their meeting with Zabuza and Haku at a later time.

Anyways! Thanks for reading Chapter 2 of Sibling Stars! Remember to Read and Review! I can't improve my writing without any comments good or bad!