Sorry people for the late, late, LATE update. My excuses are that 1) I had my school practice exam, 2) I had my flute exam, and 3) I ran out of ideas. So I am sorry for this late chapter. I hope you'll like it. Also, to those who reviewed and said that I can't use script writing in fanfic, don't worry, I went back and changed all that.
Falling Right Side-Up: Thank you so much for your compliments! I'm feeling warm and fuzzy now. I agree with the Kazekage getting killed by Orochimaru but I'm not sure what will happen in my fic. By the way, Hitsuka told Gaara about not knowing enough taijutsu was true. Although I made him into an anbu, he's still suck at being a ninja. The only reason that I made him an anbu so I could have a better excuse for shipping him off to Sunanokuni. Thank you so much again and I'm so sorry for not updating sooner. .
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Disclaimer: Nearly forgot this thing. I don't own anyone and anything that's in Naruto but I do own Hitsuka so hands off. Now!
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
Kyuubi talking
-Shion talking-
Chapter fourteen
"Get your asses back here now so I can censor censor censor and censor x5!"
This was what greeted the villagers of Konoha first thing in the morning. They turned their heads towards the voice and met the almighty Death himself. They watched as Death stormed past them, leaving cracked earth and a burning trail of fire behind. The villagers should be afraid and run in fear, shut and lock their doors and windows, hide under the weak protection of their duvets and shiver pathetically in fear.
But they didn't. Yes, they were watching Death himself. Yes, Death had the power to crush them. But even if Death's targets were them, they would die of laughing too hard before he actually reaches them. Why, you might ask. It was because Death had fallen into the evil hands of the Leaf's Evil Prankster Trio.
Death was in fact, a Hyuuga who was extremely proud of his long flowing black hair, like the rest of the clan. I, as the authoress of this fanfic, will start from the very beginning of this tragic, funny, hilarious, sad, angry, etc. (you get the idea) story.
That morning, the unfortunate Hyuuga (of course he didn't know that) woke up at precisely 5.30am and got up. At precisely 5.40am, he walked into his private bathroom and began his shower. Smiling very slightly (could be seen under a microscope) as he reached his favourite part of this morning ritual: washing his shining, fabulous hair.
With a measuring cup in one hand and a shampoo bottle ('Hyuuga Shine!') in another, he carefully measured out exactly 45 millilitres of shampoo. He lathered up the shampoo with 20 millilitres of water and applied it to his hair. With precise strokes, no movements wasted, he washed his hair. He went through everything not too fast but not too slow either, still with the same precision. After his careful rinsed down, 45 millilitres of conditioner and another rinse, he walked out to dry and to dress himself. It was when he stepped in front of his lovely, big mirror (where he often flexed his muscles in private), did he noticed something… different.
For the first time since any life appeared on the face of Earth, a high pitch, girly scream was heard in the Hyuuga mansion (as you are well aware of, Hyuuga don't scream because of their Hyuuga pride). "AAARRRGGGHHH!" Before the echoes of the scream died down, over hundreds of pairs of Byakugan turned on and saw the hilarious and very naked disaster. The targeted Hyuuga's hair had somehow changed colour. It turned into a mixture of neon pink and neon green and neon etc.
On the other side of the mansion, three children burst out laughing. One was laughing so hard that tears had escaped his eyes and was rolling on the ground, clutching his aching stomach. The other one was trembling in silent laughter. One hand on his mouth to stop himself laughing out loud and the other around his throbbing stomach. The last of the three, the only girl, shyly giggled, finding both their prank and the boys' antic funny.
"His coming!" the silent laughter, with his Byakugan on, gasped out. Indeed, the furious Hyuuga had noticed them and was coming towards them like an angry bull.
"Run!" the boy on the ground cried out, finding the situation very funny. He grabbed the girl's hand and started to run with the other boy leading the way. Being smaller, they had the advantage of crawling through their tiny secret tunnels and holes. Leaving the older Hyuuga wanting to tear the place down to just get them. In his anger-clouded mind (it was about his most precious hair, of course he would be mad and piss off), he had forgotten that he had something called chakra and jutsu, and also the fact that he was a Leaf shinobi. For the safety of our cute little chibi, let's not remind the Hyuuga that particular piece of information.
By the time the Hyuuga got out of the mansion, the chibi were already gone, hiding in some unknown place. And that brought us back to the beginning of this story. "Get your asses back here now so I can censor censor censor and censor x5!"
With his Byakugan still activated (it was a nature thing for the Hyuuga to do, so he still didn't remember the fact that he was a jounin), the Hyuuga went searching for the Prankster Trio (whom we all very well).
"It's a pity that we couldn't see his face!" said Naruto. "That was brilliant!"
"Bu-But don't you think we we-went to far this time? Naruto-kun," Hinata shyly stuttered, eyeing the tan hand that was holding her white one. "We cou-could be in deep trouble!"
"Nah I don't think we went too far, Hinata-chan," Naruto yelled, flashing a grin at the girl. "We'll be perfectly fine!"
"Beside, that guy deserves every single moment of this prank," Neji muttered and turned his head to look at the younger pair behind him. "After all, he did call Naruto some nasty things." He was referring to something that happened around three days ago. The Hyuuga (the pranksters' target) sneered at Naruto when the three kids were training together.
"Heh," he scoffed, talking and laughing with his companion. "That stupid fox brat will never be as great as the Hyuuga, no matter how hard he tries. I don't understand how Hyuuga-sama can stand this stupid brat." The kids heard every single word. Hinata and Neji looked at Naruto who was pretending that he didn't hear anything. But deep inside, he was planning a prank. A prank that even Hitsuka would be proud of.
"Neji-nii-san, look out!"
Hinata's warning was a few seconds too late. While Neji was still walking down his memory lane, he had run into someone. "Oommff!" The person he ran into fell on his bottom and him on the top.
"I am so sorry!" Neji apologised and looked up to see whom he had bumped into. Lavender-white eyes met gold eyes. "Hitsuka!" Neji blushed slightly when he recognised whom he was lying on top of. Indeed it was Hitsuka with Kakashi looking amused at the side.
"Hi Neji-san, Hinata-san and- ouch!" Hitsuka yelped in pain when his backside landed on the ground again. Neji was helping him up when Naruto ran him over.
"Hitsuka! Hitsuka!" Naruto cried out in happiness, hugging the said boy to his early death. A punch and a yell of pain from Naruto later, Hitsuka was released from the death hold. The blond child gingerly touched the throbbing lump on his head and winced.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata said worryingly, crouching down to kneel next to the injured boy, whom secretly enjoyed the attention.
"What was that for?" Naruto whined at Hitsuka who was desperately taking in lungful of air.
"I was about to suffocate. Naruto," Hitsuka told the pouting child. "Your welcome is a bit too warmly." He smiled at Naruto whom returned it with a grin.
"Welcome home, Hitsuka."
Right now, dear readers, you can go "Aww… that's so cute!" Unfortunately, this fluffy scene was interrupted by…
"I've found you three brats! Now it's time to DIE!"
… The angry Hyuuga.
Five heads (Hitsuka, Naruto, Neji, Hinata, and Kakashi) turned to face the forgotten man. "What the…" Kakashi muttered with widened eyes. Hitsuka looked approvingly at the trio.
"Looks like you have made quite a reputation while I was away." Naruto beamed while the Hyuuga kids blushed lightly. "Why are you still here?"
"What?" three confused voices asked at the same time.
"If you don't run now, I'll say that you might die a painful death," Hitsuka said lightly with a grin. Horror replaced shock as the pranksters turned and ran away.
"GET BACK HERE!" the Hyuuga cried out, racing after his targets and leaving a trail of flying dust and debris. Both Hitsuka and Kakashi chuckled, even though they were grey with dust, as they resumed walking to report to the Hokage.
That afternoon, in front of the Hyuuga mansion
'I wonder if Naruto is still alive.' Hitsuka thought. He was very serious when he asked himself this question. 'All well, he won't die that easily.' With that thought, he walked into the mansion, swapping greetings with the guards at the gate.
His feet took him through the now familiar maze of the mansion. With his mind still pondering on the outcome of a Hyuuga and three kids, he didn't notice two shadows behind him until one of them spoke. "Hitsuka, you're back."
Hitsuka first jumped in surprise then whirled around with his heart pounding. "Hyuuga-sama, Hyuuga-san! Please, don't do that!" Hitsuka nearly yelled, one hand over his still fast beating heart. "I could've died from a heart attack!"
Both Hyuuga looked confused for a second before Hiashi apologized for both of them, "Sorry, we thought that you sensed us."
"Well, I didn't."
"But you could sense Jiraiya-sama and Kakashi!" Hizashi said with surprise. Then another thought struck him. "And I've heard from Hokage-sama that he couldn't sense you the first time he met you! That's incredible!"
"That is amazing for someone as young as you are to pull it off," Hiashi agreed with his brother, nodding his head. While they were talking, they had arrived in one of the more cozy living rooms in the huge house. The three males sat down around the low table and tea was sent for.
"Well, I guess there is something that's like a switch inside me," Hitsuka said, bringing them back to the 'sense' topic. He started to explain when two pairs of eyes focused on him, "When I concentrate very hard, I can sense people like Jiraiya-sama, although I can yet to sense Hokage-sama. But when I am thinking about something or that I am distracted, this 'sensing ability' is turned off."
"What about that thing how Hokage-sama couldn't sense you?" Hiashi asked, eager to know more about his young friend.
"I'm not quite sure how I pulled that off. Probably because of that 'Game of Pranks'."
"'Game of Pranks'?" The Hyuuga men just couldn't understand how a game had got to do with this subject.
"You didn't think that all the pranks are just for the sake of fun and a laugh, did you?" Hitsuka asked, looking at the men. Both men were giving him a look that roared duhhh-what-do-you-think?-that's-such-a-stupid-question-I-mean-what-else-were-pranks-for? Hitsuka couldn't help but sweat-dropped. "Well…" he started slowly. "I'll take my smoke bombs for an example. Those bombs can be used in battles as well. While the enemies are confused, I can knock them out one by one."
The Hyuuga men went, "Ahh"
"Also," Hitsuka continued, "Remember that day when Naruto and I decorated the Hokage monument ("More like trashing it," Hizashi muttered quietly.)? We were practicing our chakra control."
"So what you are saying is that with every prank that you did, you were actually either training or experimenting," Hiashi summarised.
"Yup!"
"But what does the word 'game' got anything to do with your pranks?" Hizashi asked confusedly.
"I used to play this game with my brother where we-"
"Wait, you have a brother?" Hiashi cut Hitsuka off with a question.
"Huh? I didn't tell you?" Hitsuka looked at the men, a bit surprised. "Yes, I do, I mean, I did have a brother. He died about six years ago," he said, not at all uneasy talking about his brother's death.
"We are sorry for your loss," Hiashi said quietly for him and his brother.
Hitsuka smile and reassured them, "Don't worry, it happened a long time ago." 'Beside my brother is actually living inside my head right now,' he thought absently. "Anyways, back to what I was talking before. Where was I… Oh yes. My brother and I used to play this game when our parents were still alive. We would split up and tried to attack each other with the things we invented. So in order to not get prank, I had learnt to walk quietly and sense my brother, who was very good at this game."
Hitsuka had a fond look on his face when he thought of the past. "There was that time my brother surprised me with his special 'Holy Water', he called it. There was nothing holy about it. I had to go to school with blue hair and green skin for the next three days."
Hiashi and Hizashi couldn't help but chuckled lightly at that. "So why are you here?" Hiashi suddenly asked.
"I am here to pick up Naruto. Is he… still alive?" Hitsuka asked uncertainly, a bit worry.
"He's still alive. Why would he be dead?" Hizashi asked. He wasn't there in the Hyuuga household when the prank happened.
"The Evil Prankster Trio had another target this morning," Hiashi explained and upon hearing Evil Prankster Trio, Hizashi instantly understood. Hitsuka was a bit confused.
"What happened during the time that I was absent?" he asked.
"Those three…" Hiashi murmured, shaking his head from side to side, leaving his younger brother to explain it.
"Well, you see," Hizashi explained. "Since you left, Hinata-sama, Neji and Naruto spent a lot of time together. For a few days, nothing happened, but then, strange things started to occur."
"Like what?"
"Like the pipes in one of the toilets exploded, all the eggs were replaced with live chicken, creating a chaos in the kitchen."
"Remember that time when they painted a smiley face on the every shop's door?" Hiashi butted in.
"Yeah, that did bring a smile on everyone's face," Hizashi grinned. "I believe they also managed to dress up your ex-teacher, Umino Iruka I think was his name, so he resembled a yellow featherless chicken with a pineapple head. He couldn't get out of the costume because the zip was jammed and he chased those three down the street with flaming red face!" Hitsuka laughed, a bit regretful that he wasn't there to see the comedy.
"So after awhile, they gained the name Leaf's Evil Prankster Trio," Hiashi concluded.
"All of this in three weeks?" Hitsuka wondered, a bit surprised. "Wait a sec, so everyone knows that they are the pranksters? And nothing is done about that?"
"Those pranks were no trouble and they were funny," Hiashi said. "Everybody likes them."
"The Hyuuga from this morning didn't look too happy," Hitsuka said.
"He is one of the most serious people in this village. So with his hair like that, well…" Hiashi smiled lightly.
"Can you hear something?" Hitsuka suddenly asked, head tilted to the side, listening for something.
"Yeah…"
What they heard was, "DIE! DIE! DIE!" It was getting louder and they also heard pounding feet on wooden floor. The noise went past the room they were in and gradually faded away. Sweat-drops on everyone's head.
"I think that was them," Hitsuka stated. He didn't need to specify who 'them' were.
Later at night, in Hitsuka and Naruto's apartment
"Hitsuka! Tell me what happened on your trip! Tell me, tell me!" Naruto yelled, jumping up and down on the large bed. "Tell me!"
"Okay, okay! Stop jumping or you'll break the bed," Hitsuka said, holding up his hands in mock surrender. He sat down on the bed next to a now stilled Naruto, and began telling the child all about his trip. "I made a new friend. His name is Gaara…"
The next day
Hitsuka woke up at eight o'clock in the morning. He stretched and sighed in content when he heard the multiple pops from his spine. "Ah That feels good." He looked at Naruto who was still sleeping. 'Can't blame him. We only fell asleep at around two o'clock this morning,' Hitsuka thought. "I should go back to sleep again."
But before he could lay his head down, a thin string of red chakra rose from Naruto's sleeping body. 'Heh? This looks familiar-' Hitsuka thought before he was out cold.
Wake up, kit. A rumbling deep voice woke Hitsuka up. He sat up to find himself in a familiar dark corridor.
"Huh? Why am I here?" Hitsuka wondered out loud.
Come, I want to see you. Kyuubi said from his place behind bars.
"Heh is it possible to change how this place looks?" Hitsuka called out, walking down the dark passage. "It's really gloomy here."
Yup, I can change it.
Suddenly, light flooded the place and after Hitsuka got the white spots out of his eyes, he noticed he was standing in a well-lit hallway with white walls. "What the hell?"
The dark and gloomy corridor is only for the scary effect, Kyuubi said, laughing lightly at the not-really-funny-thing. Hitsuka couldn't do anything but sweat-dropped.
"That was so not funny," Hitsuka said, now standing in front of the cage and was looking at Kyuubi. "You look different…"
Indeed Kyuubi looked different. The fox ears, tails, snout and everything else that belongs to a fox were still the same but he was bigger. About the size of a large dog. He was beautiful…
Kyuubi looked delighted when Hitsuka said that. I know. Now I am your father I want to look more like a father instead of a toy, Kyuubi said, turning to show himself off. What do you think?
"I think you look fabulous, father…" Hitsuka said, the last word a bit foreign on his tongue. It had been years since he used that word.
Come here.
Following the command, Hitsuka walked into the cage. The moment he was in it, Kyuubi pounced on him, knocking him off his feet. "Wha-"
You seemed to have grown bigger since I last saw you, Kyuubi said, giving his kit a good lick.
"Father, it had only been three weeks!" Hitsuka said, giggling as Kyuubi continued to lick. "I can't grow that fast in three weeks!"
I still think you have grown, Kyuubi growled lightly, jumping off Hitsuka.
Hitsuka sat up and looked around the room. "Where's Naruto?" he asked when he couldn't see the said child.
He's asleep so he won't be here unless he wants to, Kyuubi explained.
"Right, so what jutsu have you been teaching him?" Hitsuka asked another question, interested in knowing what spectacular jutsu the thousands-year-old fox had taught his younger brother.
None.
Hitsuka face-planted. "Bu-But I thought you sai-said you wi-will…" he stuttered slightly.
What do you see, Kyuubi asked, holding up his front paws. What do you see?
A bit confused by the question, Hitsuka answered, "I see your paws."
And…
"And…"
Kyuubi sighed, wondering what made him thought this kit was smart. Kit, I don't have long and thin fingers like you do, so I can't do hand seals, he explained.
"I see…" Hitsuka murmured. He couldn't believe he was so stupid!
But I do know a few jutsu, even though I can't do them with these hands… paws of mine.
"How do you even know jutsu? You don't need them," Hitsuka asked, an anime question mark appeared above his head.
I picked up quite a few of them when I was visiting human villages in my human form, Kyuubi replied, scratching the tip of his snout with his paw. I can show you those jutsu with my memory since I have no idea what those hand seals are and probably some taijutsu as well.
"Thank you Father," Hitsuka said with a smile, looking forward to learning more jutsu. "Wait a sec, did you say in your 'human form'?"
At this question, Kyuubi looked a bit embarrassed. Well, when I was young (that will be several thousands years ago) I used to go and play pranks on humans. I would… transform into human with no face to scare people or into beautiful young woman to seduce young man to rob their purses. It was all for fun! It's in my nature as a fox, Kyuubi exclaimed when he saw Hitsuka lifted an eyebrow.
"How… childish," Hitsuka said after a few seconds of silence.
And look who's talking, Kyuubi muttered in response and Hitsuka laughed.
"I am going out now, I have to make breakfast," Hitsuka said. With a nod, Kyuubi watched as Hitsuka faded from his sight.
Three years later
Three years past in a blur. Almost everyday, Hitsuka and Naruto trained either by themselves or with the Hyuuga kids. They grew stronger and stronger and their weights increased slowly from six kilograms to fifty kilograms. Not a lot in a professional's eyes but they were young and their bodies needed to grow.
Their knowledge also improved as well, with Hitsuka a few steps before Naruto since he had the advantage of having an older mind. They learnt more jutsu with help from their father, Iruka-sensei, the Hyuuga and books from the library. Hitsuka, with his chakra reserve and his intelligent (?) mind, he knew quite a few of chuunin level jutsu. As for his job as an anbu, it wasn't really that dangerous and exciting. The occasional missions that were given to him were usually spying on some important but not dangerous people. His ability to hide his presence had gotten better and better because of this. The peaceful time of Konoha didn't need an anbu like him.
Even though he had the chakra reserve that could rival a jounin, most of the jutsu Naruto knew were genin level since he still lacked a bit in the theory department, but he knew some chuunin level jutsu. Armed with more than genin level knowledge, Naruto still joined the Ninja Academy at the age of six. He wanted to meet children around his age and held the hope of becoming friends with some.
The night before the Ninja academy entrance ceremony, Naruto was filled with excitement and dread, making it hard for him to fall asleep on his soft bed. 'What if they hate me? What if I'm too stupid? What it I make a fool of myself? What it…?' Naruto thought, the 'what ifs' swirling around in his mind.
"Naruto, you really should be sleeping," a voice said, startling Naruto. It was Hitsuka, leaning against the doorframe of the study room.
"But I can't!" Naruto whined, scrunching his face up. "What if they hate me? What if they chase me out of the Academy? What-" The blond boy was silenced by a finger on his lips.
"Shh…" Hitsuka shushed and pulled Naruto into his laps. Rocking the boy gently, he said, "Don't worry, everything will be fine. No one is going to kick you out. I'll be there to watch so you'll be fine."
"But what if I'm too stupid?" Naruto whispered, clutching onto Hitsuka's pyjamas.
"No you are not. Heck, you can even try to become a chuunin with that mind of yours," Hitsuka said with a chuckle. "Now, go to sleep."
"Play me a song," Naruto murmured, starting to fall asleep. Hitsuka did what he was asked and pulled out his wooden flute. A soft melody began and slowly drifted out of the small apartment. In no time, Naruto was off to dreamland.
The entrance ceremony
"Everyone, congratulation on entering. From this day forth, please work hard to follow the shinobi way," the Hokage said to the crowd of the hopeful children and their proud parents. Everyone was respectfully quiet while their leader talked. Now the speech was over, parents, children and teachers all started to chat with each other.
"Iruka-nii-san!" Naruto yelled happily, jumping onto the man
"Iruka-sensei," Hitsuka said, walking slowly up to the pair and bowed slightly, showing respect to his ex-teacher.
"Hitsuka, you don't need to call me sensei anymore. I'm not your teacher," Iruka said with a small smile. He shifted Naruto so his weight was more balanced.
"Iruka-sensei, you'll always be my teacher no matter what," Hitsuka replied with one of his own smile. He then told the blond in his teacher's arms, "Naruto! He's your sensei now so you'll have to call him Iruka-sensei too."
"Sensei?"
"Yes, Iruka-sensei."
"Okay… Iruka-sensei it is," Naruto said with a firm nod.
"Naruto! Hitsuka!" The said boys turned towards the voice and saw Neji waving at them with Hinata beside him.
"Neji-nii-san! Hinata-chan!" With a hop, Naruto was out of Iruka's arms and made a beeline to the Hyuuga children.
With an apologizing nod at the man, Hitsuka followed the yellow ball of energy. "How are you, Hinata-chan," he asked when he was close enough to the timid girl.
"I a-am fine, Hitsuka-kun," Hinata replied. Looking up at the slightly taller boy with a smile. "I-I wonder if Naruto-kun is going t-to be alright?" She said that because Neji was giving the boy a noogie attack.
With a laugh, Hitsuka asked Neji to stop, "Neji-nii-san, please stop torturing my dear brother." With a grin, Neji released Naruto who softly touched the abused parts of his head. Everyone laughed lightly.
The Hyuuga adults, Hiashi, Hizashi and Iyo, who was holding onto baby Hanabi, smiled when they saw the children were having fun. Iyo's smile grew wide when she heard the suffixes Hitsuka used. She still remembered the day Neji, Naruto and Hinata had tried to force the white-haired boy to change.
Flash Back - one year ago
It was a sunny day and Naruto and Hitsuka decided to pay a visit at the Hyuuga household. Before Naruto could properly walk past the main gate, two blurs grabbed him and whirled him away, leaving Hitsuka blinking in confusion. "What the?"
Feeling a bit neglected, he went looking for Iyo to help her in making their lunch. "Iyo-san."
"Hitsuka-kun?" Iyo said, slightly surprised at seeing the boy in the kitchen. "What are you doing here?"
"Neji-san and Hinata-san took Naruto away and left me behind," Hitsuka said in a slight whining voice, something that Iyo never heard before.
"Ah… I see. You can help me make lunch then," Iyo said with a smile, knowing very well how good the boy could cook.
"Right, what are we having for lunch today?"
"Let's see… we can have some rice and fried chicken. Can you wash the rice?"
"No problem."
While he was just drying his hand after he finished his task, Naruto raced into the room, yelling, "Hitsuka!" He was followed by Neji and Hinata.
Hitsuka sighed and wondered, 'What now?' He turned around and saw the look on the three children's faces. The look of predators who found their prey. "Err… What's up?" he said nervously, backing away from them.
"Oh nothing, nothing," Neji replied with a rather scary smile. He walked forward, following Hitsuka.
"Yeah nothing at all!" Naruto chirped. They were cornering Hitsuka into a corner.
"We just wa-want to ask you for something," Hinata said with a stutter but determination was in her eyes.
"What will that be? Hinata-san," Hitsuka asked, looking left and right for an opening. None, he was cornered unless he did some jutsu to help him out.
Before he started to do the necessary hand seals, what Neji said stopped him, "We want you to change the suffixes."
"The what?" a question mark appeared above Hitsuka's head. He was looking very confused.
"The suffixes," Neji repeated.
"No mo-more Neji-san and Hinata-san," said Hinata, looking into Hitsuka's eyes.
"But Neji-nii-san and Hinata-chan," Naruto piped in.
"Well?" Neji demanded for an answer.
Hitsuka looked bewildered for a few seconds. 'The hell?' he thought. Decided to escape, he did the hand seals.
"No you don-" Naruto shouted, trying to interfere the process but was too late.
A yell of "Kawarimi!" accompanied by a poof of smoke, Hitsuka was replaced by a rock that was from the large garden in the Hyuuga household.
"Dammit!" Naruto and Neji yelled at the same time while Hinata sighed.
Wiping her hands, Iyo smiled at the kids. "Since you are here, you can help me make lunch!" she said in a no-argue-and-complain-from-you voice. This time, all three kids sighed. Mission: failed.
'What the hell was that?' Hitsuka thought as he walked through the garden. 'I've been calling them Neji-san and Hinata-san almost three years and they never complain! So why so suddenly… and Naruto is in this as well. What should I do… no it's more like what should I say.'
He wandered around until he made a plan and decided to go lunch. "Ah Hitsuka-kun, right on time," Iyo said when she saw the gold eyed boy.
"I won't miss your cooking for the world," Hitsuka replied with a grin. He then saw the three kids. They were avoiding his eyes because they felt embarrassed by what happened before.
"Hmm… Something smells very good," Hiashi said when he walked through the door.
"I agree," Hizashi said following his brother.
"Thanks. Hitsuka-kun, Naruto-kun, Neji-kun and Hinata-chan helped me," Iyo said with a smile at the said kids.
Silence was in the dining room when everyone started eating. Occasionally the adults would talk about minor things as they wondered why the kids were so quiet, especially Naruto. Unable to get any answers out from the kids other than the quiet "Yes," or "No," they decided to give up and just eat.
At the end of the lunch, Hitsuka stood up and started to gather up the dishes. "Naruto, can you please help me in cleaning up," he asked. Naruto jumped up and tried to hold onto as plates as he could.
"Careful, you don't want to drop any plates," Iyo said, standing up to help. She was worried for the safety of the young children.
"Iyo-san, please sit down. You should relax a bit," Hitsuka said while looking at her. "Don't worry; I am sure Neji-nii-san and Hinata-chan are willing to help too." He walked out of the door before anyone could register what he just said.
'Neji-nii-san? Hinata-chan?' was the thought that ran through everyone's mind. Then a cheer from Naruto broke the silence.
"Neji-nii-san, Hinata-chan, did you just hear what Hitsuka call you?" Naruto cried, jumping up and down.
With a laugh, Neji and Hinata joined the small celebration while the male adults were looking at Iyo for an explanation. "Well it was like this-"
"What's taking you guys so long!" a voice yelled from the kitchen's direction. The children immediately stopped and went to take plates to give to Hitsuka.
Flash Back Ends
On the other side of the school ground, two Uchiha were talking to one of the teacher. "…There wasn't much need for my care…" the teacher said to the older Uchiha, Uchiha Kouji, who was the leader of the Uchiha clan.
"Isn't that flattery a bit too much?" Kouji said. He was well aware of his older son's abilities and potentials, but he wasn't so sure about his younger son's. Behind his back, the younger son of Kouji, Uchiha Sasuke looked at the ground gloomily.
"No, no… You should expect this from them, shouldn't you!" the teacher said with a big grin.
Looking down at his son, Kouji said, "Become a fine shinobi like your brother."
"…Okay."
"Please look at this board," an old man, probably a teacher, yelled so everyone could hear and pointed at the board beside him. "And you'll be able to find your classroom and teacher. Go there as soon a possible to start your first day of school."
With excited chattering, children crowded up to the board to look at which classroom they were in and which teacher would be teaching them. Naruto didn't need to look because he and Hitsuka already knew, for no teacher other than Iruka wanted to teach the container of the so called demon.
But looking at the large crowd, children pushing, pulling and even punching to just look at the board, Hitsuka and Naruto couldn't help but be thankful at the advantage. "I am glad I am not there," Naruto whispered to Hitsuka who nodded in agreement.
"I'll see you to your classroom and then I'll be leaving," Hitsuka told Naruto and started walking to Iruka's classroom, waving goodbye at the others.
With a yell of goodbye, Neji ran off to his own class. Hinata waited with her parents for her turn to look at the board. She was a little disappointed because she knew that girls wouldn't be in the same class with the boys. Girls would be learning different things once they had past the basics. 'Ah well, I still can see him,' she thought quietly to herself.
Iruka's classroom
Iruka and Naruto were scratching their heads at the riddle that Hitsuka just asked. The riddle was, "What can instantly turn water into ice?"
"An ice/water jutsu?" Iruka asked. Hitsuka shook his head in negative.
"I give up!" Naruto cried out with a frown. "What is it?"
"Two dots," Hitsuka answered and watched as understanding appeared on Iruka's face but not on Naruto's.
"What?"
Going to his lecture mode, Iruka picked up a chalk and wrote on the blackboard. "Look, this is the kanji for water and if you add two dots on the top and bottom left corners you get the kanji for ice!"
"I get it!" Naruto yelled and demanded for another riddle. "Another one! Another one! I'll get it this time!"
"OK, OK, let me see… Right, a truck carrying pumpkins, eggplants and tomatoes. It encounters a sharp curve, what drops?"
"Definitely a pumpkin!" Naruto yelled.
"No."
"Since tomatoes are probably lighter that eggplants, I'll say it's a tomato that drops."
"No."
"An Eggplant!" Guess who yelled.
"No."
"Pumpkin! Tomato! Eggplant!" Frustrated, Naruto yelled everything out.
"No, no and no."
"What is it then?" a very confused Iruka asked.
"The speed of the truck." Two shocked faces looked at Hitsuka and then they all laughed.
"That's so stupid!" Naruto said, wiping a teardrop from the corner of his eye. "To think that I-"
"Go and sit down now Naruto, class will be starting soon," Iruka cut Naruto off, knowing that he would take a long time boasting on how great he was and etc.
With a pout, Naruto said a quick goodbye and ran off to find a seat. Naruto sat down in the seat that used to belong to Hitsuka three years ago and looked around, hoping that someone would sit next to him.
Looking around as well, Hitsuka discovered that almost all the would-be rookie nine were here (except the girls). 'I see Shikamaru and Chouji sitting together, they must be friends already. I can see Kiba as well but where's Akamaru? No wait, Akamaru hasn't born yet so of course he's not here. Shino is over there in the corner. I need to go soon but someone is missing…' Hitsuka thought, waving a last goodbye at Naruto. 'He's all by himself,' he thought sadly and sighed. There was nothing that he could do about this.
He reached out to open the door but it slid open before he could touch the handle and he accidentally bumped into someone. "I'm sorry," he quickly said. His eyes widened in recognition.
In front of Hitsuka was Uchiha Sasuke himself. Mumbling a quick sorry, Sasuke looked around for a place to seat. There were two choices, 1: beside a gloomy looking boy wearing dark sunglasses and had dark shadows behind him in the corner, or, 2: beside a blond boy with sky-blue eyes who had this lonely look on his face. Hmm… tough choice, not.
He sat down gracefully next to a surprised Naruto. 'He's sitting next to me?' Naruto thought, staring at the black-haired boy.
"What's your name?"
"Huh?"
With a sigh, Sasuke wondered if he had made the wrong choice. "I said, what's your name?"
"Oh right." Naruto blushed in slight embarrassment and answered, "Naruto. My name is Uzumaki Naruto."
"Uchiha Sasuke. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Sasuke." And this was the start of a beautiful friendship.
Outside of the classroom
Hitsuka giggled in delight which earned him some looks from others. 'Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Naruto has a new friend! It's Sasuke as well! I hope everything will work out for them,' he thought, practically skipping out of the school.
'Now what should I do?' Now he was calmer, Hitsuka wasn't sure what he should do. 'This must be what my parents felt when I went to school,' he thought, walking aimlessly around. 'I'll just go and practice my taijutsu and kunai throwing then.'
The end of school
"Hitsuka!" Naruto yelled, running towards the said boy, pulling Sasuke behind him. "Look! I made a new friend!"
Hitsuka gave an apologising smile at Sasuke for Naruto's behaviour as Naruto introduced them. "Hitsuka, this is Sasuke. Sasuke, this is Hitsuka."
"Please to meet you, Sasuke-san," Hitsuka said, sticking his hand out.
"Sasuke is fine," Sasuke replied, shaking Hitsuka's hand.
"Let's go and train together!" Naruto yelled, looking at Hitsuka for permission. Although they were the same age (to Naruto), Hitsuka was like his brother and his guardian so most of the time he listened to him.
"Sure, that is, if you want to come," Hitsuka asked Sasuke.
"Why not?"
"Let's go then!"
Sasuke was a bit surprised after they trained for awhile. He honestly didn't think that the clown-like boy that sat next to him in class was that good. Same with that white-haired boy, Hitsuka. 'I'll have to train harder so I can be better than them and aniki,' he thought with determination and pushed himself even harder.
Naruto decided that he would not be out-did by his new friend and started to push himself as well. Hiding a smile, Hitsuka continued his kunai throwing practice, getting bull's-eyes every time.
Uchiha mansion
Sasuke was quite happy at what happened today. He had found two new friends and rivals although he was a bit puzzled to why Hitsuka wasn't going to go to the academy. Shrugging, he walked to his room. He went past a room and heard his father talking to his brother, Uchiha Itachi. "As expected from my child… entering the anbu squad, I knew I could trust you with my heart," Kouji said with a rather evil laugh. Sasuke frowned slightly.
Weekend
Training, training and training were the only things on Sasuke's to-do list on his day off from the academy. He was training again with Naruto and Hitsuka, pushing themselves to their limits. Cuts and scratches were all over their body but those were the least of their worries.
After a few hours of intense training, Sasuke and Hitsuka dropped in exhaustion. Even Naruto, who was well-known for his inhuman stamina, couldn't help but sat down in a panting mass. "We should go home and get ourselves fixed up," Hitsuka suggested and two heads nodded in agreement.
"Let's go to my house, its closer," Sasuke said, lifting himself up with his hands.
"Really? I've never been to your house before," Naruto exclaimed, instantly jumped up in his excitement. "What are we waiting for then? Let's go!" The other two boys merely chuckled and wondered where the blond child's energy came from.
Uchiha mansion
"Ouch! That hurts!" Sasuke and Naruto both cried out at the same time the hot water washed over their injuries. They had washed themselves thoroughly and were now in the pool of hot water to relax themselves. Sliding into the water as well, Hitsuka gave a hiss of pain. Gradually the stinging pain faded, leaving behind a lovely warmness.
Just then, a question popped into Sasuke's head. "Hitsuka?"
"Hmm?"
"You are the same age as me and Naruto, right?"
"Yeah," Hitsuka murmured, wanting to fall asleep right there.
"Then why aren't you in the academy?" At this question, Naruto tensed a bit. He knew the answer to that question and no one other than him and Hitsuka should know. They just couldn't tell everyone that Hitsuka was the secret weapon of Konoha and that he was already an anbu since he was three!
"Because… I have my priorities," Hitsuka replied and left it at that.
When they all started to become light-headed, they got out and dressed. Sasuke in his usual dark blue, wide-collared shirt, which had the Uchiha emblem on the back, and shorts. Naruto in his orange shirt with a red spiral on the back and shorts. And Hitsuka, the odd one of the three, in his black kimono that only reached above his knees and tied together with a grey obi.
Talking random things as they walked to find a first-aid kit for their injuries, they came to the topic of how Hitsuka dressed. "Why do you always wear that?" Sasuke asked.
"I can ask you the same thing," Hitsuka replied, looking at Sasuke's standard Uchiha clothes.
"But you wear things that are more modern when I first saw you," Naruto pointed out.
"That was different. I didn't pick those clothes."
"So why not anything more modern?" Sasuke asked.
"Because I like kimono, okay?" Hitsuka silently cheered when he saw someone coming towards with a box that was obviously a first-aid kit.
"Mother!" Sasuke smiled, running up to his mother.
Uchiha Kana was a kind looking lady with a warm smile, which she gave one to her youngest son right now. "Geez, you should rest your body properly at least on you day off from the academy," she scolded him. She looked up and saw two boys. One she instantly recognised and the other one… she wasn't sure. "Who are your friends?"
"Mum, this is Uzumaki Naruto and this is Yuki Hitsuka. Naruto, Hitsuka, this is my mum," Sasuke introduced happily.
Naruto and Hitsuka bowed at the same time while saying, "Nice to meet you."
Kana's heart melted at the sight. She didn't hate the Kyuubi kid but she didn't really want to have any contact either. But now, this Naruto was probably Sasuke's first friend and she couldn't just push him away. "My name is Uchiha Kana, nice to meet you too."
Now with all of them sitting down, Kana started to dress their wounds. She started with Naruto whom gladly accepted the attention. Kyuubi had deliberately held back the healing process so that Naruto could get a little mother-love. "You don't have to push yourselves so hard," she chid the three boys.
"Brother… he only needed one year to graduate from the academy," Sasuke gloomily said and winced in pain as the disinfectant was applied onto his cheek by Hitsuka.
Moving onto Hitsuka, Kana said, "Times have changed since then. Besides, that boy is special."
As expected from my child.
Sasuke wanted his father to say that to him. His mother just wouldn't understand that if he was the same as his brother, father would look at him and say that! He looked down, face grim.
"Ne, ne, Sasuke, let's go and play!" Naruto said, pulling the said boy's hand. Kana and Hitsuka both smiled.
A grin split on Sasuke's face as he let himself being pulled up. "Let's go to my room!"
Before he could follow the others, Hitsuka sensed someone watching them. He looked at the presence and caught a glimpse of a person around the corner. It was Itachi. He gave a smile with a nod to the dark-haired boy. He soon lost sight of him as he entered Sasuke's room.
The next day
'I wonder what Hokage-sama wants me for.' Hitsuka thought as he walked into the Konoha Head Quarter. "Good morning, Sarasa-san," Hitsuka greeted the clerk behind the counter.
"Good morning, Hitsuka-kun. Hokage-sama is expecting you," the woman said with a smile.
"Thank you." Hitsuka then started to climb those awful flights of stairs. 'They need a lift, dammit!'
Once he was outside the Third's office, he took a few seconds to rest a bit. Nodding at the two anbu that stood on both sides of the door, he knocked. "Come in." A reply came through, muffled by the wall. Hitsuka walked in.
"Hitsuka, right on time as usual," Hokage said, puffing on his pipe.
"Good morning, Hokage-sama," Hitsuka said with a bow.
"Please sit down."
"How can I help you?" Hitsuka asked once he was seated. He noticed that there was someone else in the room. An anbu with a weasel mask. 'Three guesses to who that is,' he thought sarcastically, knowing very well who that was if not by the look, then it was by the chakra signature.
"Gaara of the Sand had asked if you want to go and visit him for a week," Hokage said, looking at Hitsuka.
"Gaara? Of course I want to go!" Hitsuka exclaimed, all excited by the idea. "When do I leave?"
"You are leaving tomorrow. This anbu, Uchiha Itachi, will escort you there." At his name, Itachi took his mask off.
'Itachi and Sasuke really look alike,' Hitsuka mused. Then a question popped into his head. "Why an anbu?"
"Hmm… we are a bit sort on jounin right now," Hokage said, looking slightly embarrassed. "Unfortunately, you'll have to walk there because at this time of year, no merchants are going there. I am sorry about this."
"Don't worry about it. The walk will be good for me," Hitsuka said with a smile. "I guess Naruto still can't come with me since he has started the academy. I'll have to ask if Hyuuga-sama or Hyuuga-san will take him."
"That's all sorted. I'll see you later then," Hokage said with a smile of his own. Throughout this conversation, not once did Itachi spoke.
'That's kind of creepy,' Hitsuka thought, walking out of the HQ and towards the Hyuuga mansion.
"Hitsuka!"
Upon hearing his name, Hitsuka turned to see Hiashi, the very person he was looking for. "Good morning, Hyuuga-sama."
"Good morning to you too," Hiashi said, now walking beside the white-haired boy. "I saw you walking out of HQ, another mission?"
Hitsuka shook his head. "No Hyuuga-sama, I was invited to go to Sunanokuni to visit Gaara. So… can Naruto go and stay at your place for one or two weeks?"
"Yeah sure. That'll be fine," Hiashi said.
"Thank you so much!"
"I think someone is following us," Hiashi whispered from the corner of his mouth.
"I know but its okay," Hitsuka said with a grin. He knew it was Itachi but he wasn't sure why he was following him. 'Ah well, it's probably nothing.' He mentally shrugged.
The next day
"Leaving so early?" Naruto said while yawning. He was walking Hitsuka to the gate before going to the academy.
"Yeah," Hitsuka reply, eager to see Gaara again after so many years. "Now Naruto, be polite, don't get into unnecessary troubles, brush your teeth, don't eat too much, don't-"
"Okay, Okay!" Naruto interrupted. "Geez, you sound like a mother hen."
Hitsuka blushed at this and bopped Naruto on the head. "Shuddup."
Clutching his head in pain, Naruto noticed something. "Hitsuka! You aren't wearing any weights! Not fair," he whined.
"I have to walk for three days almost non-stop so I don't want to carry too much weight. Besides, those weights are nothing to me now, I need to get new ones," Hitsuka replied and laughed when Naruto poked his tongue out at him. "It's almost time for academy to start. Run along now and I'll see you in two or three weeks."
Giving Hitsuka a hug, Naruto ran off yelling goodbyes. 'Man, he is noisy,' Hitsuka thought. He then noticed the figure by the gate. It was Itachi wearing his normal Uchiha attire. 'Strange, no anbu uniform. Probably didn't want to attract too much attention since he has to walk beside me,' he reasoned with himself. "Itachi-san."
"Hitsuka," Itachi said with a nod as a reply. "Should we leave now?"
"Yeah, let's go."
They were on the road to Sunanokuni and Hitsuka was happy because his body was unusually light. Taking fifty kilogram off from your body could have that kind of effect.
While he was happy and all that, he fell to notice that Itachi was observing him. 'He makes no sound when he walks and if I'm not looking straight at him, I'll definitely think that no one is there,' Itachi thought, amazed at the level of stealth Hitsuka had. 'And he achieved this level at such a young age!'
'On the manga, it said that it takes three days to get to Sunanokuni. But last time it took us five days. Why is that… I see. Three days are for ninja running to there but it takes approximately five days for walking,' Hitsuka realized. 'But I wanna get there in three days!' He had to mentally debate whether to run or not before coming to a decision. "Itachi-san."
"What is it?" Itachi asked, a bit surprised at the sound after so many hours walking in silence.
"Well… umm… I want to get to Sunanokuni as fast as possible and I know I can't run as fast as you and probably get tired easily but can we run a bit so we can be there faster?" Hitsuka asked, all in one breath.
"Sure, why not," Itachi replied. Secretly, he was kind of bored of this slow walking pace.
With a grin, Hitsuka shifted his backpack on his back before he started running. Without the usual extra weight of fifty kilogram, he was running abnormally fast for someone as young/short as him. It wasn't really that fast in Itachi's eyes but he was a professional and he was impressed. 'Hmm… not bad.'
By the time the sky started to turn dark, they were already one third of the way there. 'Two more days and I'll be in Sunanokuni!' Hitsuka silently cheered as he gathered some firewood for the fire which Itachi would give with his fire jutsu. With a yawn, Hitsuka crawled into his sleeping bag after dinner and bid Itachi good night. He was tired; after all, he did ran for nearly half of the day. 'I need to get fitter,' he thought sleepily.
After setting up some traps, Itachi jumped up onto a tree branch which gave a clear view of the clearing they were in. He had to guard the boy. It was his job.
It was on the third day when they ran into some troubles. A group of bandits decided to rob them. Not a good idea. "Yo! You over there, hand over your money if you don't wanna die," a bandit yelled, pulling out a wicked looking sword, a shinken.
'Are they samurai?' Hitsuka thought, looking at the once-beautiful-but-now-ugly-because-of-bad-maintenance sword. 'Yet again, looking at the state the shinken is in, I doubt they are really good.'
"Please stand back, Hitsuka," Itachi said, pushing the boy back a bit.
"Okay. I'll just get in your way anyway."
"Come on! It's your life or the money!" another bandit yelled out, getting a bit impatient.
'There are only five of them. This won't too much of a trouble,' Itachi thought. "Leave before you get hurt," he gave a warning.
The bandits only laughed. "You dare to stand up against us? Let me tell you something boy, we've killed more people than you could possibly imagine. Now, if you don't wanna die and let the girl suffer, you hand over the money," the bandit drawled. He thought Hitsuka was a girl and the said 'girl' was pissed off.
'I do NOT look like a freaking GIRL!'
With a sigh, Itachi vanished from the bandits' sight. "What! Where did he-" Before that exclaim could be finished, the bandit, along with one of his partners, fell forward, unconscious.
"Shit! Form a ring, boys, form a goddamn ring!" the leader yelled out and they scrambled to form a ring.
"It won't matter anyway." This was what they heard before two kunai lodged into one of the bandit's hands.
"AHH! My hands, my hands!" the bandit yelled out, dropping his shinken and broke the ring. "AHH-" Itachi had punched him into dreamland.
"Fuck," the leader said but before he could yell out more commands to his last man, Itachi brought the blunt end of a kunai on his head. The last man whimpered but didn't get anywhere because he shared the same fate as his boss.
Finished, Itachi stood up and looked around. Suddenly, he felt another faint presence, behind Hitsuka. He whipped around to find another bandit standing right behind Hitsuka with his shinken raised. 'Damn, this guy had some training and I was too careless,' Itachi thought, running to rescue Hitsuka.
Hitsuka was still pissed off by the girl comment and he found the perfect opportunity to let out some steam. With speed and accuracy, he rammed his elbow into the stomach of his was-going-to-be-his-attacker and brought his right hand down at the same time to chop at the bandit's right hand, causing him to drop the shinken.
The bandit doubled over in pain and surprise. This was a wrong move for he was now approximately the same height as Hitsuka. The white-haired boy smirked as he grabbed onto the bandit's head and brought it down while bringing his right knee up.
'Ouch,' Itachi thought as the bandit's forehead connected with the knee. Another man sent off to dreamland on the Dreamland Express. toot toot
"Should we go now?" Hitsuka said, straightening himself up. He wasn't even sweating or breathing hard.
"Let's go."
In Sunanokuni
"Hitsuka!" Gaara yelled as he ran up to the white-haired boy and gave him a hug.
"Gaara!" Finally, after so many years they met again.
"Hitsuka, welcome."
"Yashamaru-san, it's great to see you again," Hitsuka said to the man in front of him. "How have you been, Gaara."
"Everything is great. I am in the Ninja Academy now and I have Yashamaru, nii-san, nee-san and now I have you!" Gaara replied, smiling all time which Hitsuka returned.
"Hitsuka, I'll pick you up in a week's time," Itachi said. His mission had half finished, now he could go home.
"What's the point?" Yashamaru said. "By the time you get back to Konoha, you'll have to leave again won't you?"
"What are you implying?"
"Why don't you stay with us for a week? You've got the pass so it's no problem," Yashamaru replied.
"If you don't mind… Then thank you very much for your offer. I hope I'm not too much trouble," Itachi said with a slight bow.
"None at all, none at all," Yashamaru said with a smile.
The week past too fast for both Hitsuka and Gaara. Kazekage had given Gaara a week off from the academy so he could spend more time with the white-haired child. They played, either by themselves or with Gaara's siblings. They spent almost every hour together.
Itachi had watched all of these. He was intrigued by Hitsuka. 'Gaara of the Sand… the Sand's weapon. From reports and rumours, I thought Gaara was supposed to be unstable and dangerous and from the looks that the villagers are giving him, they were probably right. This just makes that boy more interesting. He was able to be Gaara's best friend despite all the danger. Hmm…'
Gaara had shown Hitsuka his development in his taijutsu and the Hitsuka was amazed. Gaara's skill wasn't bad at all and the white-haired boy was happy for him.
Hitsuka was sad when he found out that although three years had past, no one in Sunanokuni had become Gaara's friend. No one. 'I'm just glad that he is happy with just Yashamaru and his siblings,' he thought to himself with a sad smile. 'Maybe he and Naruto can make friends. That'll be nice.'
He had met Kankurou and Temari again. They were nice to him and he discovered that they had started to use the weapon they used in manga. Kankurou was training to become the puppet user and had received his first official attacking puppet, Karasu. Hitsuka had learnt the basics of the Puppet Jutsu from a very proud, with his nose in the air, Kankurou.
As for Temari, she found fans were great for using wind jutsus so she had an enormous fan specially made for her. She had developed the strength to lift the fan up for it was made in solid metal but she still had problems in using the weapon to its full capacity.
It was the last day and Hitsuka hugged the teary-eyed Gaara goodbye. "I'll see you soon," he whispered and the red-haired boy nodded in agreement.
"Bye."
The trip back to Konoha was peaceful.
A few months later
In these few months, Sasuke and Naruto, with a great start, had aced their way through their classes. Being the close friends and rivals they were, they continued to push themselves to their limits. What had surprised Sasuke was that his brother had started to give more time in training not just him but Naruto and Hitsuka as well. He didn't know what had prompted his brother to do that but he was glad.
They also hang out quite a lot together as well. Soon, Neji and Hinata came into the group as well. The combination was a bit strange but everything worked out in the end.
A semester had past and today, Iruka dropped a nuclear bomb. "Well then, I'll give you back your report cards for the first semester."
"EEEHHH?" Such exclaim rang out loud and clear in the classroom. Chouji was stuffing his face thinking that he couldn't have done too badly. If it wasn't too bothersome, Shikamaru would thump his head on the table but it required energy and unnecessary movements. Kiba groaned and feared for the worst. And Shino… he was being a Shino.
Sasuke's face lit up with happiness as he looked through his report card. "What did you get?" He looked up upon hearing his friend's voice.
"Not telling," Sasuke said, poking out his tongue. "I want to show my dad first."
"Well, I want to show Hitsuka first too!" Naruto huffed and poked out his tongue as well. Looking at each other, they laughed at their immatureness.
"You ARE coming tomorrow, aren't you," Naruto asked with his voice lowered.
"Of course. I won't miss it for the world," Sasuke whispered back.
"Good, this'll be great!"
Uchiha mansion
Kouji looked through his son's report card, his emotionless face betrayed nothing. It said that his youngest son was the number one student both in class and school in all the subjects (taijutsu, ninjutsu, senjutsu (strategy), individual and team).
Sasuke was looking at his father with hopeful eyes. 'Maybe today… maybe I'll get it today!'
Suddenly, Kouji looked up and straight into his son's eyes. "Keep this up and become a fine shinobi like your brother," he said and Sasuke froze. With that said, the leader of the Uchiha clan stood up and walked out of the room, leaving behind his son.
'Dad… I…' Sasuke thought, head down. 'I wanted you to say, as expected from my child.'
That night, Sasuke was woken up by the sound of a loud voice. "What! You should know well what kind of day tomorrow is right?" It was Kouji's voice. "You don't understand where your position is…" Kouji said a bit more quietly but still angry.
'What are they doing so late at night with the lights off?' Sasuke thought, quietly eased open the paper door, eavesdropping.
"Tomorrow I have a mission to do," Itachi said in a monotone voice.
"What mission?" Kouji demanded.
"Well, I can't say… It's an absolutely secret mission." While Kouji was looking annoyed, Kana was looking worryingly at both her husband and son.
Kouji finally spoke after a bit of silence, "Itachi… You're the backbone that connects this family to the village… You have to be a useful connection." His eyes slowly started to turn red, emphasising the glare. "You understand that… right?"
"Yeah…" Itachi answered almost half-heartedly.
With a bit more thinking, Kouji decided to let this go this time. "Impress them well and then come to tomorrow's meeting."
Not giving a reply to his father, Itachi looked to where his brother would be. "Sasuke, go to the bathroom and quickly go to sleep."
Kouji and Kana both looked extremely shocked. Although Kana wasn't a kunoichi, she still had some training before so she could sense people up to a certain degree. But she didn't sensed Sasuke's presence, neither did Kouji.
"O-Okay," Sasuke said with a bit of stutter, opening the door wider.
Hiding his surprise, Kouji scolded, "Loitering around this late at night. Hurry up and sleep!"
"Okay…" Sasuke said again, looking down. When he looked back up, his eyes connected with his brother's. 'Brother… You're not coming tomorrow?'
The next day
"… So Neji-nii-san, you'll be the decoy and the rest of us will get the 'stage' ready." A black head nodded. "Get back here on the set time with the target, by then we'll all be in places. Everyone understand?" A lot of heads nodded. "Then let the play begins!"
"Sorry, I'm late."
"Aniki! I thought you aren't coming! What about your mission?" Sasuke asked the new arrival.
"I had to have an excuse to come here," Itachi replied, putting down the bags he was holding onto. "Someone will cover for me in my squad, besides; father will never let me come instead of the meeting."
"True," Sasuke said with a grin then he ran off to do his part.
"Hitsuka, do you want to go to the library?" Neji asked. Personally, he didn't like the library. It was too dark and gloomy, big too. But Naruto said that the gold-eyed boy liked, no, loved the library to bits.
"Sure, why not," Hitsuka replied, walking ahead of Neji to hide his facial expression. A goofy smile and shining eyes, not exactly what one could call good looking.
"Hitsuka-kun, how are you today?" the librarian asked when she saw the boy. She had never seen a boy this young loved library this much.
"I'm fine, Momiji-san. Such a beautiful day today, isn't it?" Hitsuka said with a brilliant smile which Momiji returned. He then walked to the jutsu section and started looking for a good book to read. Neji sighed and went to find a book as well. Out of all the people, he was the only one that fitted the description of: approximately the same age (that excluded Hiashi, Hizashi, Iyo, Hanabi, the Third, Iruka, Kakashi and Itachi) liked reading (excluding Naruto and Sasuke) and not shy (Hinata).
'Why me…' Neji thought, hoping for two o'clock to come faster.
One hour… two hours… three hours… four hours… Finally five hours had pass and Neji almost begged Hitsuka to go home, anything to get him out of that evil building. Hitsuka stood up and went to get a few books out. Neji didn't even want to talk about the amount of books Hitsuka got out.
With practiced ease, Hitsuka made his way to his house with his pile of books that obscured his vision. Neji was shocked at the skill Hitsuka was showing. "Neji-nii-san, what are you waiting for?" Hitsuka yelled, causing Neji to jump then ran after him.
Walking up to his apartment door, Hitsuka juggled with his books to fit his key into the door. As soon he walked into the dark room and put down the books, a chorus of, "SURPRISE!" rang out along with the light being switched on.
The living room was decorated with colourful balloons and ribbons. A large and beautiful cake was in the centre of the table with all sorts of delicious food around it 'Probably made by Iruka-sensei and Iyo-san,' Hitsuka thought. A pile of presents was beside the table.
He was surprised. He knew about the 'secret party' because Naruto was bad at hiding things (plans for the party, list of people, etc.) but he didn't know that they would do so much for him. "Thank you. Thank you all for this," he said with a smile from his heart. Most people looked a bit embarrassed, but everyone smile back, including Itachi (he can smile you know, before the whole let's-kill-my-clan-so-I-can-measure-my-capacity).
"I'm just returning the favour from three years ago," Naruto said, walking up to Hitsuka.
"But isn't this a bit too much?" Hitsuka asked, looking around.
"This is also for last year and the year before," Neji said, coming up from behind him. "You didn't tell us when your birthday is until this year."
"But we just had your birthday party yesterday, Neji-nii-san." Hitsuka was referring to the party that was for Neji's birthday which was on the third of July.
"Yeah, it was a surprise when we discovered that your birthday is the day after Neji's," Hizashi said.
"Anyway, you seemed to know everyone's birthday, so this is only a return of the favour." Iruka said and he was right. Hitsuka had gave a present to people that were close to him on their birthdays (he had to send the gifts over to the Sand sibling), even Jiraiya.
"Happy birthday to you," Naruto started singing and soon everyone joined in. They partied until the adults decided to leave, with Iyo carrying a sleeping Hanabi. The youngsters were allowed to stay for the night. Though there was an age difference, Itachi stayed too.
Hitsuka was on cloud nine. He hadn't had a birthday party for himself since his brother died nine years ago. 'Such a long time ago,' he thought as he watched Naruto and Sasuke tried to out-sing each other on the karaoke machine that Kakashi brought. They went quiet when the landlord came banging on the door, yelling. But he too went quiet when Itachi opened the door with a cold look.
One by one, the kids fell asleep anywhere that was comfortable. Soon, the only one's that were left awake were Itachi and Hitsuka. "They are a handful, aren't they," Itachi said, smiling slightly at the other boy.
"Yeah," Hitsuka replied, bending down to lift Naruto up. "Can you help me? This bed should be big enough to fit four of them."
"Sure."
After awhile, Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke and Neji were sound asleep on the only bed of the apartment. Itachi watched Hitsuka from his place by the table as the white-haired boy tugged the kids in. A soft smile was on Hitsuka's face. 'He looks like a mother,' Itachi thought.
"Would you like some coffee?" Hitsuka asked and Itachi nodded. Soon, he w handed Itachi a cup of coffee, having one himself as well.
"You're the first six-year-old drinking coffee that I've ever seen," Itachi said quietly for the kids were sleeping in the same room. He sipped his coffee and sighed in content.
Hitsuka laughed lightly. "I think it tastes good," he said. Looking at the state the apartment was in, Hitsuka couldn't help but groaned, "Might as well get started now, since with all the excitement I can't get to sleep."
Itachi laughed at this. "I'll help you."
"Thanks, I need it."
While cleaning, Hitsuka noticed something. "Itachi-nii-san?" Itachi had requested that Hitsuka called him that quite a while ago like Naruto did.
"Hmm?"
"What are you thinking so hard about?"
Itachi looked a bit startled. "What do you mean?" he asked slowly.
"Itachi-nii-san, when you are worrying or thinking hard about something, you tend to blink more than usual," Hitsuka said then he looked worried. "What is it?"
Surprised at how close Hitsuka was in studying people, Itachi sighed. 'Might as well tell him, it won't hurt,' he thought then chuckled. "You really are like a mother hen." Hitsuka blushed and Itachi chuckled again. "Let's sit down, it might take awhile."
Shrugging, Hitsuka sat down on a chair and brought his feet up so his could rest his chin on his knees. Itachi sat down on the couch that was facing Hitsuka. "Well?"
"What can you tell me about the Uchiha clan?" Itachi asked after a bit of thinking for a way to start.
Hitsuka blinked at the question. He started slowly, "Well… Uchiha clan is said to be the strongest and the finest clan in Konoha. They possess the Sharingan, a bloodline limit that gives the user the ability to copy jutsu, see through all kinds of jutsu immediately and see opponents' next movement. It's a really powerful bloodline limit. And if I remember correctly, it was your ancestor who started the Konoha's Police Force."
"You're right," Itachi agreed.
"Well?" Hitsuka asked after a bit of silence.
Looking down at his hands, Itachi said, "I'm… worried about my clan. They seem to think so highly of themselves up to a point that they are being arrogant. Arrogant people are weak and can easily be defeated because they underestimate others. I guess the Police Force, the clan and the name Uchiha have limited everyone's capacities. They are blinded and brainwashed by those things. I don't care about anyone else but I'm worried about my little brother. He admires our father and I'm afraid my father will try to brainwash like he did to me."
Lifting his head up to look at Hitsuka, Itachi continued, "Through my action and speech, I tried to warn them. But they paid no heed and send Shisui, a man I considered as a brother, to keep an eye on me. I'm worried that Sasuke might grow up like those arrogant Uchiha."
Hitsuka understood Itachi's worry about his clan being weak because he knew that even this 11-year-old in front of him could kill the whole clan in one night. "Don't worry about Sasuke," Hitsuka said with a soft smile. "He looks up to you and hopes to surpass you to gain your father's acknowledgement."
"That's something else I'm worried about," Itachi said with a sigh.
Hitsuka didn't really know what to say. In his world, he didn't need to worry about such thing because he was just a normal teenager. Even though was seven years older than Itachi, sometimes he would think that Itachi was older than him!
'At least he's different,' Hitsuka thought. 'At least he's not trying to kill his clan anymore, I think.'
A week flew past and quite a few things happened. From Sasuke, Hitsuka learnt that two Uchiha had gone missing on the night of Hitsuka's birthday because they didn't go to the Uchiha meeting. They were Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Wakuta. Itachi was the suspect because he also wasn't at the meeting. Itachi didn't say anything about him being at a birthday party. Sasuke didn't say anything else but Hitsuka could guess something else happened and he was willing to bet that Itachi probably blew up at the other Uchiha.
From Itachi, he learnt that after that particular incident, Kouji had started to pay more attention to Sasuke who had succeeded in doing the fire jutsu, Goukakyuu no jutsu (Great Fireball) after intense training. "He even said 'Do not follow after your brother,' to Sasuke," said Itachi.
'Something is going to happen, I can feel it,' Hitsuka thought in frustration as he sat on the bed and watched Konoha from the window that was beside him. 'But what… and what can I do?'
With a tired sigh, he flopped back and stared at the ceiling. 'What's the connection? If everything is like it is in the manga, I'll just bundle Itachi up and put him into a padded room or something. But he has changed way too much so he's not like the Itachi in the manga! And what's up with the two Uchiha went missing instead of one dead!'
-Maybe one of the missing Uchiha killed the other Uchiha to get Mangekyou Sharingan.-
Hitsuka was so surprised by the sudden voice in his head that he fell off from the bed. 'Shi-chan?'
-One and only.-
'Geez, don't scare me like that! I nearly had a heart-attack,' Hitsuka mentally grumbled as he climbed back onto his bed.
-Sorry.- Hitsuka could hear a snicker behind the apology. -Anyway, did you hear my theory?-
'Yeah I did, it was a pretty good one too,' Hitsuka praised his brother.
-And if that Uchiha is anything like the Itachi in the manga…-
'To measure the height of his capacity…'
-Then Uchiha clan is in danger,- Shion concluded.
'Shit.'
-I agree.-
I'm not sure about the quality of this chapter and I have no idea how to continue from there, at least now you know that Itachi is not evil. I am not quite sure I got Itachi's personality right though. It's a bit hard to get into his character with that entire kill-the-clan thing. I hope you enjoyed it.
PLEASE REVIEW! YOU SHOULD DO IT! I AM HOLDING THE NEXT CHAPTER AS A HOSTAGE! IF YOU DON'T REVIEW, IT'S GOING INTO THE BIN ON THE DESKTOP!