Note: Sorry this took so long, writer's block hits hard sometimes. Thank you for your reviews PrinceBenvolio, Lara5170, entity9silvergen, and Ita1412.
PrinceBenvolio: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, and yes Naruto's skills will have plenty of time for improvement along with the others.
Lara5170: Very true, Naruto will need some training to catch up. His nine tails should help him with this once he masters it though.
entity9silvergen: Skill introduction is a necessary evil. Though as far as the overpowered thing goes, the Naruto manga/anime is the land of the OP.
Ita1412: Yes, Gaara is adorable with his teddy bear. When his character was introduced in the show I never thought I would describe him as adorable lol. As far as Neji goes, yes I imagine that would be rather frustrating for him after being the prodigy child for so long. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter.
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As the class ended, the younger ones headed for the door where they presumed Konan would be picking them up. They all stood outside the school quietly waiting for her as the other's filed out of the room. They watched as Kichona headed out the front gates with Totsu, the other boys sticking around, however.
They soon approached the younger children, specifically Gaara. Tsuyoi stood in front of the much smaller boy, and it was only then that the older students noticed how truly sickly the small child looked. How had he beaten the number one student?
Gaara didn't inch away as he noticed the other move to stand in front of him, instead of looking up at the blue-haired male. Neji did grow a bit nervous at the looming of the older teens however and frowned. He moved so he was between his older classmates and the younger children, a bit of protectiveness coming over him. Sasuke mimicked the movements of his slight rival, so both boys stood to guard in front of the others.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at them while Neji asked "What do you want?" defensively. He noticed the slight frown on Tsuyoi's face as the tall blue-haired male knelt down so he was on their level.
"We mean no harm. I just came to tell you all that your power is impressive. Though, I noticed Gaara's struggle to hid his killing urges." eyes sweeping over to the young boy. "I don't care if you beat me, I don't care if you become stronger than anyone else in the village. But know this, if you decide to release the killing intent on Kichona or any of my friends for that matter, you will have all of us to deal with."
Gaara hid a grimace at that, nodding slightly. Tsuyoi continued, "I'm not threatening you specifically, that stands for all of you. None of you will bring harm to anyone else in the classroom." Shurui nudged him a bit and he continued, "I hold no grudges to you all, it is simply a fact. I hope we can all become friends over time despite the age gap. It's rare for this town to see new faces, let alone so many children."
Tsuyoi's face softened into a smile once his point had been made, Neji and Sasuke remaining between them protectively. Shurui nodded in agreement, "Yes, we don't get many new villagers let alone someone as young as you guys. How did you even get here, and where from? Did your guy's parents all decide to move away together or something?" he questioned with a smile.
Naruto was the one to answer for them, smiling brightly up at the green-haired man. "We're all from Konoha, except Gaara. He was visiting from Suna with his dad for a kage meeting. Then Konan and these other guys came up to Sasuke-teme and Gaara. Sasuke didn't have parents so she was going to take him. But Gaara got mad and tried to kill her for messing with him, and I had to stop Gaara from killing her because sometimes Shukaku gets a little pushy. So then the guy she was with said to just take us all so she did."
He was babbling on and on by now, Sasuke and Neji gaining an embarrassed blush to their faces while Gaara frowned at the talkative boy with a sigh. Here he'd been hoping to keep Shukaku a secret. Hinata glanced over at Gaara with worry, not wanting him to be upset. Naruto seemingly didn't notice a thing, of course. "So then we were leaving but Hinata saw us and was worried we were being kidnapped so she told Neji and he came up to us and told them to put us down because he had to listen to her because she was the heir to the Hyuuga clan so that means she's in charge of him."
Neji glared at Naruto as this point was made, noting he needed to teach the other some educate when it came to sharing other's personal information. "So then Itachi, that's Sasuke's older brother who had disappeared after doing something bad, told Konan they would bring Hinata and Neji along too because the leader of their clan was mean. So then we all were brought here and Konan said she was adopting us all." he smiled.
Amai raised a brow, "Konan-San as in the woman who runs this entire village along with Pain-Sama?" he blinked. "You're saying she pretty much kidnapped you all to make you her children? Won't your parents miss you?"
Naruto shook his head "No, no. I and Sasuke don't have parents anymore. Plus Neji, Hinata, and Gaara's guardians are all a bunch of jerks." he pouted at the idea before adding with a smile, "Konan is super nice and so is everyone else we live with now."
Hira put a hand up to his chin in thought, leaning down as if to inspect them. "I think you're missing the main point, Amai." he rolled his eyes at his friend. "So let me get this straight. You were the heiress to the Hyuuga clan." motioning to Hinata who nodded shyly "You were the bodyguard to the heir so presumably you're a prodigy to the clan." glancing at Neji who gave a firm nod. "You're most likely a prodigy of the Uchiha since from what little I know about the Uchiha, they don't get their Sharingan until usually thirteen or so," he noted looking to Sasuke who gave a light but slightly pained nod. "Then you're presumably the son of the Kazekage and the vessel of a tailed beast?" Gaara nodded quietly at that.
Hira gave a thoughtful look before glancing at Naruto "So were you just in the right place at the right time or do you have some sort of odd little quirk? I'm not saying those reasons I said before are the only reasons you were adopted but it would be likely." he analyzed.
Amai frowned at him, knocking his friend over the head. "Hira, that's rude. They're just kids and are excited to be in a new home. Don't spoil their fun." he scolded sending them an apologetic look for Hira's bluntness.
The medical ninja huffed a bit at the other, glaring lightly to him. "I was just asking. But seriously kid, do you?" he asked with a tilt of his head.
Naruto put a finger to his lip as if thinking before shrugging slightly, "Kisame said I have the nine tails in me, like Gaara but with more tails." he spoke easily, Hira raising a brow. So that knocked out any possibility of them taking Gaara and Naruto for no reason. Seeing the warning look from Amai however, he dropped it.
Neji looked at the younger boy and scolded "Naruto, you can't just go around saying things like that. Gaara can protect himself, you can't. Keep that information to yourself. It'll get you killed." he glared. Sasuke nodded, mimicking the Hyuuga's firm nod.
Naruto only shrugged at them, unaware of the danger he put himself in by speaking of the nine-tails. Hira waved it off as he assured them "Don't worry, none of us have anything against the tailed beasts. Well, Totsu has some bad history with the two tails but he's too timid to do anything and he would never blame a host for its demons doing. After all, it's not like it was you who destroyed the leaf village. It was the demon. It would be illogical to hate you."
Tsuyoi added with a frown "However, your friend is correct. You shouldn't let others know if you can't protect yourself. I won't lie, that might be a while since your abilities are raw. Some people will take advantage of that."
Suddenly the mood brightened however as Shurui got an idea. He smiled, "I know, we all like training at Amai's house on Saturdays. Why don't you guys come to join us this weekend if Konan-San saids it's okay?" he asked with excitement.
Amai sighed at his friend "Shurui, don't invite strangers to other people's house!" he scolded. Honestly, how impolite could his friends be!?
Shurui asked with a pout "So you're saying they can't come over to train with us?" he raised a brow. He knew this wasn't what the other had meant, but it was fun to tease him none the less. Amai's face quickly turned a pink as he glared at the green-haired male.
"That isn't what I meant and you know it. Of course, it's fine with me," he assured them. Neji nodded a bit to the other, knowing they would need to ask Konan first of course. Amai blinked "By the way, the school's been out for ten minutes or so now. We usually walk home but you all can't know your way around town yet if you're so new. Is someone coming to pick you up?"
Sasuke scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, glancing at Neji. Was someone coming to pick them up? Were they supposed to walk back on their own? These fears subsided however as they heard Deidara's voice coming through the school gates. "Hn, brats. We're here to pick you up." he greeted, dango hanging out of his mouth.
Tobi rushed towards them, lifting Hinata up and cuddling her to his chest with a coo "Tobi doesn't think your brats! Tobi loves you!" he assured them. Hinata let out a squeal as she was lifted, Neji reflexively moving to kick the older male in the shins.
The masked man squealed, setting Hinata down in favor of gripping his poor leg. That Hyuuga had some strong legs, damn. Tobi whimpered "Tobi was being nice to Hinata-Chan! Neji is so mean." he pouted, the older children were taken aback. These were two of the men responsible for taking part in raising their classmates? They were so immature...and rude.
Deidara headed over and let out an annoyed sigh "Tobi is also the reason we're late. Just had to get some dango on the way here." he muttered with a shake of his head.
Naruto beamed at this however and looked up at the older blonde "Can we get some dango on the way back? Please?" seeing Deidara's glare he pleaded more, giving him the one weapon he knew would always see him through his childhood. It was on that day Deidara met his greatest--and only in his opinion-- weakness. Naruto's puppy dog eyes. The younger blonde swayed slightly on his feet as he asked "Please?"
Deidara was at a loss, and Tobi watched his partner closely to see what he would do. After all, he needed to keep track of how close the other members got if worse came to worst and he had to extract the demons, killing them in the process. I necessary evil, he deemed. Deidara looked away roughly with an annoyed voice, "You're all so bothersome. Fine. Hn, but don't get used to it." he growled.
Tsuyoi nodded to his classmates and spoke on account of all of them. "Well, then we'll see you tomorrow everyone. Good luck with the school work." he bid them farewell, heading off with the others towards their houses.
They nodded goodbye to the older ones, Naruto looking up at Deidara curiously. He thought for a moment, unsure of himself, before deciding it couldn't hurt to ask. He lifted his arms up and asked with a sly smile, "Up?"
Deidara sighed in annoyance, but was unable to refuse the little blonde's request. He lifted him up, setting him on his hip with a light 'Hn' of irritation as Naruto wrapped his arms around his neck, nuzzling up to him sweetly. Tobi, of course, had to ruin the moment, pulling out his camera in excitement. Before Deidara could stop him, the masked man had snapped a photo. "Ooo! Deidara, you look like a mother! Mommy Deidara!" he cooed.
The blonde in question sneered at him, temper rising as he growled "Shut up Tobi! Rip that up, now. I'll blow your ass up-" he threatened, eliciting a light gasp from Sasuke and Naruto alike. Naruto glared at him, and Sasuke crossed his arms.
Deidara blinked as Naruto scolded him. "You two be nice. Deidara, Nagato-San said no more grown-up words, and you aren't a grown-up. So none of that, nuh-uh." he frowned at the fifteen-year-old who felt incredibly odd with the boy's command.
Tobi moved to tease Deidara about his behavior but Sasuke interrupted him. "You be nice to Deidara! Deidara is very handsome! Tobi is being a bad boy." he scolded, remembering his mother explaining how fragile men's egos could be.
Tobi pouted a bit at this, but Deidara just sighed. Really, these children were either brave or stupid. Possibly both. He shook his head back and forth, and they headed off. Hinata and Neji held Tobi's hands so they wouldn't be lost while Sasuke held Deidara's and Gaara stood tucked decently close to the blonde's side. The redhead was in a great mood, proud of himself for the first time in a while.
As they headed into the dango shop, Deidara huffed and sat down. Tobi sat across from them, the kids piling onto the picnic table while they waited on a waitress to come to them. A woman soon came over notepad in hand. All of them ordered sweet dango with the exception of Deidara and Sasuke, who both settled for Mitarashi Dango, preferring the salty taste to the overly sweet traditional kind.
While they waited, Deidara noticed the younger blonde looked particularly less energetic than usual. He still smiled and made it seem like he was happy, but he also looked a bit sulkish in the process. Deidara leaned on his elbows ideally, huffing at the little boy, "What are you so sulky about?" he quirked a brow.
Naruto shrugged and looked away, trying to dismiss it. Neji answered for him. "He's probably sulking because he didn't get to fight today at school. Sensei said there wasn't much point since he doesn't have any ninja skills," he explained, earning a glare from Naruto.
Deidara quirked a brow. The kid had absolutely zero ninja skills? The older blonde scoffed. "If that's why then stop your sulking. You're going to the academy now so you'll get better. Not to mention you're living with nine amazingly skilled ninjas, plus Tobi. I'm sure at least one of them will pick up training you when you're older."
Naruto perked up a bit at this, and Deidara noted "Hn. The leader seems to be taking a shine to you. Maybe he'll even oversee your training if you're lucky enough. Though, that's a long way away if so." he commented before taking his dango from the waitress and plopping it in his mouth, similar to the others.
Naruto's mood now seemed lifted, and Tobi questioned "You all were doing your placement test? What rankings did you all get?" he hummed out curiously. After all, the school system for their village was not a very easy one.
Neji thought for a moment before he spoke, a bit shamed he and his cousin had come in last. They would need to pick up training together again so they didn't make fools of themselves. "Gaara got first place. Sasuke got fifth. I got eighth. Hinata got ninth. Then Naruto got eleventh."
Deidara nearly choked on his dango. "You got first place?" glancing at the little six-year-old who nodded slightly with a light smile. "That's good. I'm sure you'll be a good ninja one day." he nodded in approval as they all finished.
Tobi left the money, humming as they all started towards the main house. As they entered, the kids quickly dispersed. Neji went to his bedroom, tugging Hinata along with him. Gaara made a beeline for Sasori, while Sasuke headed towards his room. Naruto wound up heading to the top floor.
Neji closed the door behind him, frowning heavily at his younger cousin. He pulled the pack of homework out, Hinata mimicking him as he spoke. "We should start our homework. We need to work hard to be better." sitting down on his bed. His voice was firm, but his eyes were nowhere near as hard as they had grown used to being.
His ego had taken a huge blow today, and he wasn't sure how to handle it. Usually, he was the best. The prodigy. So to hit so low on a ranking was painful. He felt as though his ninja skills had been amature in comparison to the others. He was working on mimicking the dotted lines for the letters and sighed. He supposed she was giving him a basic introduction packet to see how developed his skills were.
Hinata noticed the slight shake to her cousin's shoulders and the stressed look on his face. She reached over, hesitantly. She wrapped an arm around him in a hug, already having figured out what was wrong. After all, even if his cousin played the part of a humble protector, she knew the other had quite the pride in him. "Neji-Nii-San, don't worry. You went up against Gaara, and he's the one who hit the highest mark even above the elder classmen. You just had a hard match. You're still an amazing ninja." she smiled, her admiration clear.
Neji seemed to calm down a bit at this, sighing. "You're right. I'll just have to do better next time." he shook his head back and forth. "We both will. We'll do the Hyuuga clan name proud," he assured himself more than her.
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Sasori was working on a puppet when a little ball of red hair bounded towards him. He was a bit startled as he saw Gaara sit beside him, a proud smile on his face as he held onto his teddy bear which he had reluctantly been convinced to leave at home for the school day. Sasori raised a brow as he continued to wire the puppet. "You enjoy school?" he asked.
Gaara nodded in excitement, announcing proudly to the other "I got first place in the whole class, and I didn't hurt anyone too bad." he smiled. Sasori smiled slightly at the other, though his mood dampened. If the child was this excited at not killing his opponent, he could only imagine how many had died at his hands. How much blood was on this boys hands, despite his hidden sweet nature.
The little redhead had made a few rude comments to the other members or sent deadly glares, but he had restrained himself from killing any of them yet. The fact they were all S-Class ninja probably helped too so it would be harder to harm them than average citizens. Despite the rude comments and few glares he gave, Sasori could tell he was a sweet boy hiding behind harsh actions. Mainly, because Sasori had done the same thing when he was young and freshly left his grandmother.
It was odd, but Sasori felt the need to protect the boy. Rationally, he knew he would become a ninja and would shed a lot of blood in his life. However, he wanted this bloodshed to be with reason. He didn't want the sweet little boy to become a shell of himself as Sasori had become. He wanted to give Gaara what he himself could never have-- a good childhood where he would be raised and even loved. He didn't want him to turn out as he had.
"That's great Gaara, you did very well. I'm proud of you." he praised the boy, Hidan raising a brow at the normally brutal and sadistic member from across the kitchen where he was watching the entire conversation. These kids really seemed to be getting attached to the Akatsuki, and it wasn't one-sided either.
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Sasuke headed to his brother's room, opening the door. After all, at his old house, he went into whatever room he wanted without warning since he was alone. Unfortunately, this was not the case here. His eyes widened the size of baseballs as he saw his brother.
The ravenette was leaning on Kisame's chest, very much asleep. The shark ninja had his arms wrapped around him but was focused more on Sasuke at the moment. Both had their coats removed and laying on the other bed, Itachi wearing his normal undershirt and loose pants. Kisame wore a pair of shorts but was shirtless. Sasuke flustered as he made eye contact with Kisame, quickly looking down in embarrassment.
Kisame raised a brow at the flustering little six-year-old. Did a kid that young even understand there was something more than friendship based on their position? "What are you looking at, kid?" he prodded ideally, not bothering to remove his arm from Itachi's head where he was lightly stroking his bangs. He did, however, use his water to press the door shut behind Sasuke.
Sasuke jolted lightly as the door shut behind him, eyes still remaining on the floor, his hands folding behind him. "N-Nothing," he muttered, curing the waver in his voice as he spoke. He heard Kisame's long sigh but said nothing.
"Sasuke, come here." the bulky swordsman commanded. Sasuke slowly inched forward a bit but came nowhere near close to where Kisame and Itachi lay. "Closer." he took only a few inches forward before Kisame growled lightly. "Don't make me get up and come to you."
Hearing this the boy quickened his pace so he stood beside the bed, head still down. He wasn't sure what kind of person Kisame was yet, so he was wary, but he also knew he was definitely stronger than him so there was no use in making him angry by trying to run off. Kisame asked "Sasuke, do you know what I and Itachi were doing?"
Sasuke bit his lip, glancing down further, mentally curling into himself. "I dunno," he muttered, not sure what they had been doing but guessing by the way Kisame had been looking at Itachi that it was not platonic love.
He physically jolted back when Kisame put a hand on his head, ruffling his hair. The shark ninja chuckled deeply at him, smirking a bit. "Tch and Itachi saids you're fierce. You're about as threatening as a kitten." he shook his head back and forth before returning to his original point. "Sasuke, do you know why Itachi is laying on me?" the small boy shook his head back and forth. "It's because he's my partner, romantically," he explained.
Sasuke asked curiously, slowly lifting his eyes to look over his brother. "Romantically? Like mother and father?" he questioned, remembering the use of the word when describing a wife and her husband. "But your both boys." he pointed out in confusion, never having heard of a husband and husband due to it being so taboo.
Kisame looked at the small one firmly. "Yes, like a married couple. We just aren't that far yet. What we're called is 'boyfriends', but it's not something we want others to know. Being in a romantic relationship means making each other happy. It doesn't matter if its two boys, two girls, or a boy and a girl. Alright?"
Sasuke thought for a moment before nodding a bit. That made sense to him. He asked suspiciously "You make my brother happy, right?" not wanting his brother to be unhappy as he had recently begun to forgive the older Uchiha. After all, if he was willing to kill their entire clan to protect him, he must love him.
Kisame smirked at the boy's suspicions. "Of course, I do my best. Now, you'll keep this a secret, right? Having others know would make both of us very unhappy. You wouldn't purposely make us upset would you?" he noted, needing to know no one would get confirmation of this. The other members would never let him live it down and there would probably be a few dead villagers because of their loud mouths if they found out.
Sasuke nodded seriously. He wanted his brother to be happy.
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Naruto headed into Nagato's room slowly, asking "Can I come in, Nagato?" not wanting to upset the man who had agreed to be his friend. After all, he only really had Gaara and Sasuke as his friends before then so he wasn't completely sure if friendship could be lost easily or not. He didn't want Nagato to hate him, he wanted to hear about his clan and be able to stay close to the older Uzumaki.
Nagato agreed easily from his chair, waving him over weakly. "Of course. Come here, my boy." he smiled painfully. Konan was really the only one allowed up in this room in the Akatsuki, and she was usually busy in the village or sorting out other matters so it was nice to have some real conversation with another. He couldn't exactly go downstairs with his body the way it was.
Naruto smiled and bounded over to stand by his chair, grinning as he spoke. "Guess what? We went to school today and had to introduce ourselves, then the other students did the same. They're all really big though, they're mostly teenagers. We all had to fight to see who was the top-ranking and Gaara got the top out of everyone! He's really strong. Sasuke got ranked five, then Neji got ranked eight, and Hinata got nine. I think Neji is upset he got such a low score. I got the lowest though because I got automatically placed as eleven since I don't have any ninja training so it would have been pointless for me to try. Deidara said I'll get better. Oh! The others also invited us to go hang out at Amai's house this Saturday to train so we're going to ask Konan. And Deidara took us to get Dango too! It was really good-"
He babbled on and on, enjoying having someone to come home to talk about his day too. He also knew he would need help with that packet, so afterward he would make sure to ask Nagato about that. He seemed like a pretty smart guy to Naruto.
