24. Smoke and Fire
Rating: K
Verse: Hokage Madara AU by Victoriacapo
Inspiration/Idea: plot of the snippet by me, verse and creation of Masaru by Victoriacapo
"He is too young for that! Much too young!"
"No, he's not. It is a perfectly common age to learn a jutsu."
"A jutsu! A jutsu! Like an Henge! Or Water-Walking! With those I would have been perfectly fine. But you're talking about teaching him Katon!" Sakura didn't even want to scream. It was just turning out this way.
"That's Uchiha most traditional jutsu. A clan-jutsu." Madara tore off a half of bun and started to methodically dismantle it into smaller and smaller pieces. "It has… significance… And I never expected I will be teaching it to anyone…"
"I understand." Sakura took a deeper breath. "But it is simply dangerous. He will burn himself. He can set himself on fire! And stop that – you're crumbling on the table!"
"Sorry." Madara swiped the crumbs on his plate. "But he won't get hurt. You own fire doesn't burn you."
Sakura stared. "What do you mean?"
"Never thought about it? How can any Katon user spew actual fire from his mouth? How can Mizukage produce acid in the air she exhales? Or lava, for that matter?"
"Hmm… I think I've never thought about that. Fire techniques became rare in Konoha once the Uchiha were gone… And with Suiton or Doton it is not that obvious." Sakura paused for a moment considering all the implications and possible uses of the phenomenon. "Even if harmless to him, he can be a real danger to his surroundings. What if he decides that instead of using his fists and teeth it would be more efficient to set the one who currently irritates him on fire?"
Madara tilted his head. "Well, you cannot exclude that… But according to this logic we should have never put a kunai into his hand nor taught him how to channel chakra…"
Sakura sighed. "Which might have actually been a correct course of action. But it's kind of too late for that…" She glanced sideward at Madara. "And would be a really bizarre to raise the son of Hokage as a civilian," she laughed.
She decided not to argue further. The next morning found them standing at the lake behind the old Uchiha district. She on the one shore, Madara with Masaru on the other.
Masaru was currently stomping, his fists balled, his face contorted in an angry grimace.
"But I'm doing just that!" Sakura could hear his screams even from the opposite side of the lake.
She didn't hear Madara's answer. But she could imagine what it was. Concentrate on your chakra, let it move through you on its own. Unlike when you do water walking, now let your chakra off the leash. Sakura saw Madara repeating the seals once again. Seals done so slowly made the execution of the jutsu more difficult - it was like with riding a bike - at some point slow is too slow. But Madara managed. A ball of fire roared and flew over the surface of the water. Hovered around the middle of the pond it like a bird for a moment, supported by the output from Madara's mouth.
Sakura knew that was nothing close to Madara real capabilities. Had he gone all out, the entire shore would be burning, her included. Heck, probably half of a village would be burning. But with Masaru one needed to be careful. He was getting angry so quickly, frustrated at slightest failure. It was better not to set the bar too high, else he would throw a fit.
The second thoughts about teaching him fireball jutsu already now still hadn't left Sakura entirely. Masaru could use it frivolously once he knows it. If he sets some other kid on fire that will be... very difficult to handle. For a son of Hokage to act against fellow villagers…? But Masaru didn't one bit about what consequences his actions had to other people, not even to his own parents. Maybe even to her and Madara the least of all - he was taking them for granted.
In meantime Masaru stood broader on his legs. Each time she looked at him, she was feeling a pang in her chest. Still so small, arms and legs still short, head big made even bigger by the shag of black hair. Madara's hair, her eyes. That curve of lips and narrowing of eyes that was uniquely Masaru. All that future enclosed in such a tiny body; very much a person already, and very much the same person she had borne. His mimics forming an unbroken line since his first conscious smiles, his character so uniquely his, his facial features as they were back then, when she first took him into her arms. Sure, he grew, sure he changed - but Sakura could still see that newborn baby, wet and wailing and clutching at her. He grew, but still… Still so vulnerable, and hers, hers, hers.
Masaru bent back taking the biggest inhale possible, weaved the signs - perfectly, even from the distance Sakura could tell by looking at Madara's body language - and exhaled. A dark grey puff of smoke escaped from his mouth with a very peculiar whizzing sound. Masaru covered his mouth with both hands and started coughing.
Well, apparently learning a fire jutsu came with its pitfalls. Madara patted the boy gently on the back while Masaru still fought through a suffocating coughing fit.
He didn't succeed this day. Nor the next one. Nor five days later when Madara found again some time to go train with him. Sakura had never seen Masaru so frustrated before. Usually he was picking up all skills in a matter of minutes, and now, for the first time ever he facing a failure. He was going around sulking, apparently not being able to forget about his shortcoming.
It was two weeks or so after the first training, when Sakura heard Masaru's scream.
"Mama! Maamaaaa!"
That wasn't the usual angry protest-screaming, nor that particular tone of wailing that he was making when he hurt himself. That was fear. Sakura ran.
The half of the room was on fire.
One heartbeat of panic that rendered her brain free of thought. And then another heartbeat, when she could think again. Masaru was standing in the middle of the room. The paper wall leading to the garden was burning, and so was the wardrobe.
Sakura pounced and grabbed him into her arms, scanning for injury. Still holding him to her chest, and transferring diagnostic chakra, with her left hand she weaved the seals of a basic Suiton jutsu.
Fire wasn't big, she put it down with three streams of water. Masaru wasn't hurt either. Not a single scratch.
"What have you been doing?!" Sakura dropped him on the floor and shook him by the shoulders. "Do you know what would have happened?! Why did you use Katon inside the house?!" she screamed at him.
"I didn't know that it will burn! How should I have known that it will burn so much?!" Her son screamed back at her. "I didn't know, okay?! Okay?!"
Sakura sagged on the floor and pressed her palms to her face. Deep breath. She moved her hands away from her face, extended them towards Masaru and pressed her son tightly to her chest. "Now you know."
AN: thanks for reading and please tell me you thoughts! :)