Chapter III
Forging Bonds
Three months had passed since the time where Sasuke's fan club was revamped and not much had changed for Sasuke and Naruto. While they were the unrefuted most powerful in their age group, when it came to grades both of them were like night and day. Though Naruto was gifted physically and could understand complex situations, he had zero ability when it came to breaking it down. And despite the tutoring that he would give the Uzumaki, it seemed as if it would go in one ear and out the other.
This irked the Uchiha to no end; his rival was one of the lowest ranking of the academy students yet able to give the highest ranker a run for his money. If he had not befriended the blonde earlier, he would have thought that Naruto was really moron and beneath him and would thus have developed an inferiority and superiority complex regarding the blonde. Sasuke now knew that Naruto was instead a walking contradiction half the time and thus knew not to worry about it.
Within that span of time, all of the major clan heirs had bonded with Naruto and Sakura, forming a tightly knit group of Academy students. They were then joined by Hinata's older cousin and two of his classmates, one TenTen and a Rock Lee.
The biggest change to both their lives would occur when they were beginning to go into their second year of the Academy.
"Class," Iruka said, clapping his hands together to grab the classroom's attention. All eyes turned to him and all conversation stopped. "I'd like to welcome you back to the Academy. You will notice that some of the faces from last year are no longer among you, that is a given since many children find other passions to follow other that being a ninja. I'd also like to introduce two new students that will be joining the class from here on out." He then turned to the door and spoke aloud, "Please make your entrance."
The door slid open and a number of the students held their breaths, wondering whom the new additions to the class would be and whether or not they would be a boy or girl. What all of the students noticed first was that both of them had red hair and were girls. The one with the glasses though had a darker shade of red hair while the girl with a blue hairclip had red nearly pink hair, slightly darker than Sakura's hair.
"Please introduce yourselves to the class," Iruka spoke.
"My name is Karin," the girl in glasses introduced herself shyly. She wore a black shirt with fishnet beneath it, all under a light brown open front long sleeve shirt and had on short black shorts. "I like Okonomiyaki. I dislike gyōza. My hobby is collecting perfume. My dream is to be reunited with my mom's family," Karin spoke aloud, blushing at having to say her hobby.
"The name's Tayuya," the other girl muttered, crossing her arms. The girl herself was wearing a long-sleeved fishnet shirt under a light yellow sleeveless kimono top held closed by a green obi and light blue shorts. "I like tonkatsu and hate sushi. My hobby is playing the flute. And that's all you guys need to know," Tayuya huffed.
"Tsundere much?" Naruto whispered from his place beside Sasuke. The Uchiha just gave Naruto to a look that spoke volumes.
"What was that shorty?!" Tayuya shouted at the blonde. Apparently, Naruto needed to learn how to whisper more quietly. That or Tayuya had amazing hearing.
'Whoops.' Thinking about his motto, 'Live fast, Die Young, Leave a Good Looking Corpse Behind' he soon did put his foot in his mouth. "I said you're a cute Tsundere Ta-yu-ya-chan!" Naruto exclaimed for the whole class to hear, enunciating every syllable of her name while attaching the familiar –chan.
"Wha-what?!" Tayuya squeaked out. "I'm not tsundere, shorty!"
"And I'm not short, Tayuya-chan!" Naruto shouted back.
"Stop using my name so familiarly!"
"Both of you shut up!" Everyone in the class immediately shut up when they saw Iruka use his Big Head Jutsu to scare the living daylights out of them. "Take your seats so I can begin class now!" he shouted, more towards Tayuya, pointing at an empty seat beside Sakura and one beside Hinata.
With that, Tayuya took the seat beside Hinata while Sakura played hostess to Karin.
"What's up with that shorty?" Tayuya grumbled, her head on the wooden table before her.
"You really are a cute girl," Hinata giggled from her side.
"Not you too!" the redhead moaned. "I am not cute and I am definitely not a tsundere!" she grumbled.
The blunette just giggled once more. "My name's Hinata." She then stuck her hand forward. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," Tayuya replied, though still a little glum. "So do you know who the shorty is?" she asked, sticking her thumb in the blonde's direction.
"That's Naruto-kun. And yes, he is short," she whispered the last part to the redhead. "But don't let Naruto-kun hear that, he's a," another giggle, "little sore on that subject."
Tayuya giggled as well. "I bet you like him, he's not half bad to tell the truth." At Hinata's teasing smile, the redhead backtracked, "F-for a shorty that is." Hinata just giggled in response.
"Yep; definitely a cute tsundere," the Hyūga giggled. Tayuya let out an indignant squawk and flicked the other girl's forehead, causing her to giggle even stronger. "So mean Tayuya-chan!"
Tayuya just huffed in response, muttering about people using her name so familiarly. Despite that, she had a small smile across her face.
From her seat beside the pinkette, Karin spied down upon the blonde who called her friend a tsundere. She watched as he and the dark haired boy beside him traded witty banter and jabs between each other. Feeling as if something was nagging at her mind, she expanded her budding sensory abilities outward. With a yelp, she tumbled out of her chair at what she felt coming off of Naruto and Sasuke. One had a shell of complete darkness surrounding it, but further in was a great warm that seemed to be reach out. The other had a bright and glowing chakra, but held a deep darkness buried deep within. But what was surprising though was the sheer size of their chakras, as it seemingly oozed out of them with now end, saturating the area around them with their chakra.
"Are you okay?" Karin was startled back into the real world by the hand in front of her and the concerned green eyes looking at her.
"Yeah, sorry," the redhead apologized, accepting the hand and pulling herself back into her seat.
"So you saw it too, huh?" Sakura asked the girl.
"Saw what?" Karin replied, trying to play dumb.
"The darkness that envelopes Sasuke-kun's chakra," Sakura replied. "And the darkness inside Naruto's chakra."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," the redhead replied, sweating bullets.
"I'm a sensor too. I could tell you were one when you opened your mind to the world," Sakura said, pinning her in place with a stare. "It's fine; I won't tell your secret as long as you don't tell mine," the pinkette said as she smiled.
Karin exhaled in relief, glad that someone understood her need for secrecy concerning her ability. "Thank you," she replied. "I've never felt such strong chakras from people so young."
"I know," Sakura whispered back. "Sasuke-kun and Naruto had strong chakras before, but then when they became friends one day, it's like their chakras suddenly became so powerful and began to dispel that darkness they held. To tell the truth, that's actually why I like Sasuke-kun so much; I wanted to be there for him and help him shoulder his sadness, just like Naruto did for him."
"He kind of seems cold and aloof to me," Karin pointed out.
"True," the pinkette shrugged. "But once you get to know him, he can be such a warm and easy-going person." She soon began to slightly swoon over the young boy.
When school later released that day, Karin found herself being dragged along by Sakura. She then looked over to see Hinata pushing Tayuya along in a comical fashion. The other redhead caught her eyes and gave a look that said, 'Don't talk.' Soon the two Konoha natives brought them to a training ground where seven others from their class and three older kids were waiting for them.
"What are you guys doing here, and why'd you bring me and Karin here?" Tayuya asked the blunette beside her.
"Our friends usually train here with Neji-nīsan and his friends after school," Hinata replied as she grabbed the girls hand and drug her along to the group, Sakura doing the same with Karin.
"They are not my friends, Hinata-sama; they are my comrades," Neji sighed.
"You don't need to call me Hinata-sama, Neji-nīsan. And they too are your friends!" Hinata pointed out. "At least I think TenTen-san is."
"How do you figure that Hinata?" Naruto asked from his spot beside Sasuke, closing the book with the title ド根性忍伝 (Tale of the Gutsy Ninja) along its spine.
"I always see TenTen-san sneaking into the compound every now and again and then the two of them sneaking off later," Hinata supplied.
"Argh! Curse you my hip and cool rival!" Lee cried out. "Even when I feel like I so close to defeating you, you suddenly come out on top! And now you and TenTen are enjoying your youth! How can I compete with that?!"
"Shut up Lee!" TenTen muttered as she bopped Lee on his head, a blush adorning her cheeks.
"Like I was saying, this is where we usually train." Hinata and Sakura looked at the two redheads. "Would you like to join us?"
"Do I get to kick shorty's butt?" Tayuya grinned viciously.
"Hey!"
Everyone ignored Naruto's indignant remark and looked at Sakura, who grinned just as evilly. "Sure."
"Then I'm in!" Tayuya shouted, cracking her knuckles.
"Bring it Tayuya-chan!" Naruto shouted back, jumping up from his spot.
"I told you to stop using my name so familiarly shorty!"
"I'll stop when you stop calling me shorty!"
"Hold up first." Neji then motioned for Lee to create a sparring ring, which the boy did with enthusiasm. He then had the redhead and blonde stand towards the middle of the ring. "Make the seal of confrontation." Tayuya, not knowing what to do, watched as Naruto raised a half rat seal in front of himself and mimicked him. "The rules are as follows: only taijutsu, and no advanced or family type either. First to ring out the other wins. Are you both ready?" The two nodded in confirmation.
"Hajime!" Neji shouted, jumping out of the circle.
It was Tayuya who threw the first strike, a quick jab kick intending to knock the wind out of Naruto. The blonde of course just barely dodged, though comically, by bending to the side and supporting himself by his hands. The redhead glared and readied another kick that grazed his shoulder in his downed position. The blonde was thrown back, nearly going ring out, but managed to dig his feet in, comically waving his arms around. When he steadied himself, the redhead was upon him a fist read to sock him in the face.
She was too close for him to counter, so instead, he dodged around her, though his hand did graze her chest.
"Pervert!" Tayuya shouted blushing madly rapidly turning to once more clock the boy. Naruto was surprised at the speed of the attack and once more barely avoided the attack. He did feel though he would have to stop barely dodging Tayuya if the dark aura behind her was anything to go by.
From the sidelines Sasuke sighed from in between Sakura and Karin. "That usurantonkachi," he muttered. "He needs to stop acting like a fool and fight her seriously," the Uchiha said, palming his face. Shikamaru shared his sentiment due to the fact he could just tell that this troublesome girl would become more troublesome is she felt she was being patronized.
Kiba himself would have made a smart remark about not fighting a girl seriously, but had in the past few months learned that the girls in his age bracket were fearsome, especially timid little Hinata. He could remember just how sore Hinata made him when he had made a casual remark about Naruto being a loser.
"Fight seriously Naruto if you don't want to get your ass handed to you by a girl!" Kiba shouted.
"Just because I'm not fighting seriously, doesn't mean I intend to lose." He soon began to trade kicks and punches with the redhead. Naruto was surprised though that Tayuya was keeping pace with him, something only Sasuke seemed to exhibit. He could tell however that Tayuya was just a little bit below Sasuke in terms of endurance then.
When soon Tayuya became a little sluggish in her movements, Naruto found the opening he needed and capitalized on it. He then began to call upon that extra power inside of himself and began to fervently assault Tayuya, pushing her further and further until she was nearly ring out. The redhead had tried her best to force the blonde back, but he had deftly dodged her attacks as if they were coming a mile away at a snail's pace. She jumped back though when Naruto suddenly appeared right a few centimeters away from her and whispered, "You really are cute."
"Winner by ring out is Uzumaki Naruto!" Neji declared.
"About time," Sasuke muttered from his spot.
"I've never seen someone defeat Tayuya so soundly. She's always been able to defeat most people around her age," Karin murmured, completely dazed at seeing her friend lose for the first time.
"Well, Naruto-kun isn't like most people," Hinata pointed out.
"Isn't that the truth?" Sakura replied cheekily.
"Oi," the blunette pouted.
"I'm just kidding Hinata-chan. Calm down," Sakura apologized.
Naruto walked over to the redhead and offered her his hand. "You're not bad at all," he complimented down at her, grinning all the while.
"Same to you," Tayuya grinned back, accepting the offered hand. When she stood to her full height, a good five centimeters between them, she smirked. "Still a shorty though."
"Oi!"
"And a cute one at that," she teased.
Sasuke just palmed his face. "Can someone get those two off the field so we can get to the others?"
From that day forward, Karin and Tayuya had become fully accepted into the group of Academy students. Though Tayuya seemed to gravitate more toward Naruto, due to their new found rivalry, while Karin was simply fascinated with Sasuke, the two of them did not neglect the other or simply push them off. The group later found out that Karin and Tayuya were living together on their own, and took it upon themselves to help the girls.
That of course meant Naruto suggesting the idea of them moving in with him and Sasuke, dragging the Uchiha into this situation without his permission, not that he really minded. Really, he is more than willing to help others if they just ask him. Honestly, is it that hard to approach him?
"Maybe if you smiled more," Naruto teased.
After a short bout that ended with the blonde conked out on the floor and a smoldering bump, Sasuke had designated a few of the homes close to his own. In a twist of irony, Tayuya ended up next door neighbors to Naruto while Karin found a home next to Sasuke.
The teasing that followed Naruto and Tayuya because of this did not end for quite some time, much to Hinata's chagrin. Of course, she knew that Naruto and Tayuya were more of brother and sister. But for how long would they possibly stay like that? She needed to move if she wanted to be alongside Naruto.
But how?
A week later, the two boys had decided to head out of the village and find a place to meditate to become one with their inner selves and gain greater insight into themselves. When they found a secluded clearing nearly a kilometer away from the village, they stopped there to meditate, feeling the spiritual energies there were strong. As Sasuke meditated with Naruto, while he doing the same on the opposite side of the field, his consciousness began to fade in and out of the world. Soon, his mind was in a completely different place. When he opened his eyes, he found he was surrounded by a night sky with stars and galaxies floating by. What amazed him too was the fact that he stood on a floor of water, yet he was not using chakra to stay afloat.
"Is this Nirvana?" Sasuke wondered aloud as he stood on his feet and began to look all around himself. Had he finally become one with the world and found peace?
"Not quite." The Uchiha quickly rounded on the voice, before looking up at the most interesting face he had ever seen. "This is where one communes with their past lives and ancestors."
"Which one are you then?" He soon got half the answer when the man's eyes morphed into a spiral design. "Mangekyō," he murmured.
"My name is Indra," the man introduced. "Not only am I the first of the Uchiha, but I am also your first incarnation." The man smirked at the dazed look on the young boys face. "Not only that, but I am the first son of the Rikudō Sennin, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo."
"So the Sennin is real?" Sasuke asked, completely blown away that the man standing in front of him was his first incarnation and son of one of the most famous ninja ever.
"Yes, father was real." Suddenly, Indra's face hardened, startling the young boy. "But we are not here to talk to the two of you about that."
"Wait, we? Does that mean your brother and his reincarnation are talking about the same thing?" Sasuke looked around, trying to see if there were any other people in the distance.
"Yes we are," the Uchiha ancestor spoke, smiling at the brilliance of his descendant. "You should know him. He's just as bad a flunky as my brother."
The Uchiha stopped, before slowly turning to his first incarnation. "Naruto?" he murmured. At the nod, Sasuke sat down and just rubbed his face. "I had a feeling that whatever was between us was just more than a strong rivalry and friendship," he then looked up into the stars. "We were brothers long ago."
"And best friends for a time," Indra added.
"Tell me what changed."
The first son just sighed, and took a seat in front of the young boy. "Then I must tell you where it all started," Indra intoned, changing the area around them into a battlefield. Sasuke nearly had a stroke but froze when he saw a woman running toward a massive tree. "That is my grandmother, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya," he said, pointing to the woman who soon showed that she had horn like protrusions on her head.
"This is the story of the first wielder of chakra and how a world of chaos was wrought from the ashes of another."
When Naruto and Sasuke woke after their meditation and meeting with their incarnations, they blearily blinked their eyes at the sky. They were met by the night sky and had realized that a large amount of time had passed since they had begun their meditation.
"How long were we meditating?" Sasuke asked aloud as he and the blonde stood up.
"I think we'll find out when we return to the village, don't you?" Naruto responded. He then motioned with his head toward the direction of the village.
"Hn," the Uchiha grunted, following after the Uzumaki.
After a while the two of them lapsed into a companionable silence.
"So…" Naruto drawled, breaking the silence a few decameters away from the village gate. "You learn anything during your meditation?"
"That depends on what you learned usurantonkachi," Sasuke shot back with a smirk. "Then again, I think I'd be giving you too much credit when it comes to learning."
"Jackass," Naruto replied in a snarky tone. He sighed and looked up at the stars, his arms crossed behind his head. "We've always fought one another, haven't we?" he asked in a quiet voice.
Sasuke shot him a look out of the corner of his eye. "Friends fighting is stupid enough." He then looked up at the sky and thought of his brother. "Brothers fighting and hating each other… that's even more stupid."
"We may be reincarnations of them, but we aren't them… right?" the blonde asked hopefully.
"Nah," Sasuke replied slapping his friend on the shoulder. "You may be a usurantonkachi, but I'd never really hate you."
"That includes not being jealous of me, right?"
"As long as I know you have the book smarts of a rock, I'm never going to be jealous of you," Sasuke teased. "Too much strength and not enough control? I'd rather be an animal. At least it'd be a step up from you." He then eyed his friend. "Who knows, maybe they'll be funnier than you."
"Oi!" Naruto shouted, thwacking his friend on the back of the head.
"Not only that, I don't have to deal with being a midget."
"We're kids you ass!"
"Yet you are the shortest of all the kids in our class," the boy pointed out.
"Screw off," Naruto pouted.
As the two of them once more lapsed into silence once more, Sasuke could feel the anxiety, anxiousness and fear radiating off the boy beside him.
"Do you think we'll be strong enough to stop what is being set in motion by Madara right at this moment?" Naruto asked with a hint of uncertainty. "I mean I know we'll be strong… but will we be able to fight someone that has the Rinnegan, over fifty years or so of combat training and on top of that Kaguya?"
"Well if you put it like that," Sasuke muttered, "then we do seem screwed." He then gave his friend a fiery and determined look. "None of that matters though! We need to right the sins and misgivings of our past selves if we want any chance of saving not only this world, but all of our friends and loved ones!" The boy placed his hand over his heart and continued on passionately, "Even if we fall down, we can't give up! Everything is counting on us to succeed! Failure is not an option."
"Because beneath failure in this, there is nothingness and damnation," Naruto finished for his friend.
Sasuke nodded his head. "Exactly." He smirked at his friend, glad that the blonde finally understood from here on out, the both of them would have to give it their all to succeed and finally bring peace to their broken world. "C'mon," he said, motioning with his head to the village, "Everyone's probably worried about us."
"Race ya there," Naruto challenged, smiling toothily.
"You're on usurantonkachi," Sasuke smirked back.
"We'll make this work Sasuke."
The Uchiha looked at his friend as they raced back home.
"I know that."
"Our father and uncle once fought to see this world safe. We should give the world the same chance they gave it."
"You know it can't be as simple as that with everyone," Sasuke replied with a shake of his head.
"I know we can't make everything black and white, but we might as well give the future the chance to sort itself out."
"And if it won't sort itself out? What happens then?" The Uchiha himself was unsure of whether or not any such change in this world would be worth it due to the fact that it just seemed to repeat itself with worse consequences each time.
"Then we place our faith in others hoping they will rise to change this world for the better. Our father placed faith in us to do the same."
"And look how that turned out."
"At least I know you won't turn out insane during life."
"And if I do?"
"Then I'll save you from that path once more." He then looked at Sasuke. "We're brothers, remember? And friends till the end." Naruto then grinned at his friend. "Besides, we know who'll win in the end."
"I'd like to see that usurantonkachi," Sasuke joked back. "I could take you with one hand behind my back."
"And just to make it fair, I'll have both of my hands behind my back."
