Like I said in the intro to the last chapter, Im gonna be uploading everything I ahem for now as I go through it, then slow to about once a week. Another slight time skip here because wouldn't it be so boring to follow a 6 year old around? or a 3 year old from chapter one? Nah, Id rather have long chapters with details, then short time skips. Anyway, let me know any criticisms, questions or concerns you may have!
Edited 10/13/19
And so began an epic friendship. While the academy bored me, Shisui was interesting. He wanted to run to be quick; however he already was quick. Faster then most chunin or jonin, he explained to me. But still he had a goal and he wouldn't stop. He was already much quicker than me and did have to slow down for me on our runs together but did so cheerfully, saying that he enjoyed the company. I wasn't completely shocked when he told me he was already a chunin. At 12. What a crazy world we lived in.
For the first few weeks I thought the friendship was odd. Why was a 12 year old chunin hanging out with a just turned 7 academy student? I knew I was intelligent enough to keep up a conversation, but I usually didn't bother, finding it troublesome. I did know that age wasn't a usual barrier between ninja, considering other chunin would be willing to talk and be friends with Shisui, but I was still an Academy student. It could be seen as a little odd.
However after a little while of hanging out with Shisui, I began to realize why he might seek friendship from a student. For one, his running really was mocked. I hadn't noticed any repercussions because I kept my workouts a secret, but most ninja didn't bother with long distance running. They built endurance from repeated spars and endurance exercises. The idea of just running seemed like a waste of training time. For Shisui, and for myself, running was meditative, a way to build endurance, as well as clear our minds and focus relaxing after a long day. And it seemed to be even worse that Shisui was the one doing it. It was subtle but no less subtle then racism and xenophobia had been in my past life. I could see the way the villagers, citizen and ninja alike, seemed to look down ever so slightly on Shisui. I never asked him and I think he was grateful for it, but I could tell he noticed me noticing it. He just soldiered on. What was worse was he let their hate motivate him. The villagers were snotty and rude to a 12 year old fucking kid. And he was motivated to do better— for the sake of his clan. Sometimes this new world made me want to just give up. How could I beat the system of indoctrination that they were using? It was better then North Korea ever managed.
Once I realized what Shisui was putting up with and that he really was just looking for a friend to run with, I decided to drop pretenses with him. I had, after all, decided I was going to keep him alive. I figured that made him important enough to have a real conversation with. I didn't bother with many conversations outside of my family but most Nara's were like that. I decided to treat him like the friend he had been treating me as since day one.
"Hey Shisui, why do you think chakra is easily expellable outside the hands and feet versus a point like the neck or elbow?" A question I had been mulling over for days; Hyuga were the only exception I knew of; of course anyone could do it but it was much easier to expel chakra out of the hands and feet then anywhere else.
Shisui looked surprised, then thoughtful. We continued our looping run through the forest while he thought aloud. It was surprisingly relaxing to argue his points down or help him build them up. When we finished out run that day, I had a big smile on my face and cheerily waved goodbye to him. Of course he had his customary infectious smile on his face as well. Old me would sometimes say very mean things about how disgustingly cheery Shisui could be after running 10 miles but usually refrained and kept it minimal mumbles. Shisui often started running before he met up with me and sometimes continued on after I finished my run.
It wasn't long after the runs progressed to conversations that Shisui decided to teach me how to throw kunai and shuriken. I was slightly below average. It wasn't my forte and I didn't plan on including it in my skill set. Shisui was horrified at my casual ignorance of the basics and forced me to practice with him. He was markedly above average and helped me improve, as well including how to perform tricks with ninja wire, one of his clans specialities. The ninja wire intrigued me. The combination of kunai, ninja wire, and my families shadow technique could prove useful.
It was around this time that I introduced Shisui to my family. As a child prodigy, Shisui was probably already known to my dad, but Shisui didn't realize this. Besides, I had been paling around with Shisui for months by now which meant Dad probably knew. Which meant mom probably knew. And I knew that Shikamaru knew because he'd seen Shisui before after one of our runs when we'd grabbed dango in the village. I had casually dropped the invitation for a family dinner to Shisui at the end of one of our runs. We had been running together for a few months now and moved on to Shisui teaching me how to use shuriken and kunai. It was eating into more and more time of the afternoon and I was getting back into the compound later and later every day. Dad had waited long enough for an introduction—and can I just say, what an awesome dad he was, never too nosey; it was too much work to bother asking, so usually he would just let me and Shika be.
I figured I could reward dad for his patience by bringing over Shisui without him even asking. Instead, Shisui freaked out. I was surprised. Normally he was unflappable, always smiling and bubbly. At the invitation, he was panicked and nervous. Still I dragged him along with me, literally not taking no for an answer. He babbled the whole way there, tugging nervously at my sleeve and looking biting his lip like a long broken tick that had resurfaced. I tried to figure out what I was missing; Shisui was friendly enough, but had he managed to piss off my dad? Not likely- dad was pretty hard to get angry. Maybe he had to go home? No, he only had to go home right away when he was having dinner with his aunt and uncle; they were the clans head. 'Hm maybe thats the line of thinking to go down. Maybe Shisui isn't supposed to go to other clan heads home because he was related to the Uchiha leaders?' I internally shook my head and listened to Shisui's blubbering.
"Ah, Kage-chan they don't know I'm coming right? It would be so rude to intrude. At last let me stop to get a gift. They wont be mad will they?" I tuned him out again; he was talking a mile a minute anyway.
'Maybe he's nervous because Uchiha don't…get invited to other clans?' Something told me this was the right answer. It made sense with the way the villagers treated all the Uchihas I had seen. Prodigy or not, Shisui was dealing with discrimination on a level I couldn't really comprehend. It was insidious; I wouldn't stand for this for my friend. But there was nothing I could do on a large scale, just small things like dinner invitations. So this was the best way to change it. Besides, I could tell Shika was getting curious where I had been- I was missing more and more shogi games, which was annoying him. He also deserved to have an explanation for my behavior.
Dragging Shisui past the languid guards at the front gate of the Nara compound, I led him straight to my home. Mom and Dad were surprised. While dad took it in strode, Mom excitedly locked on to the fact that I had made a friend. I guess she hadn't know as much as I had thought she would. I shrugged when Shisui looked at me bewildered for how to respond to my moms attention. He'd figure it out. I walked over to Shika and motioned for him to go get the shogi board. He muttered about how troublesome I was but obliged anyway.
Dinner that night was a nice affair. Slightly louder then usual with both Shisui and mom speaking when normally it was just mom, but still nice. Shika liked him too I think, even though Shisui wasn't very good at shogi; He didn't have the temperament to sit still and plot moves ahead. Dad was the most surprised I think, but he too moved on and accepted it. I think he was just shocked that I was able to stand someone as loud and bubbly as Shisui, but I think he sometimes forgot that I was raised in an orphanage with dozens of other children. Sometimes I missed the noise. And besides; Shisui appreciated our runs and didn't mind giving me tips for training. He also appreciated the fact that sometimes I just didn't want to train. He gave me my lazy days and didn't push too hard even on my non-lazy days. It was a pretty good match of a friendship. I was also really glad that Shisui got along with my family. It was a comfortable feeling to have everyone in the same building together.
Dinner including Shisui became a pretty regular thing after that.
~Line break~
I was starting to wonder if I had misremembered emo kid being quite so emo. He was just a focused quiet kid for now. While I had no issues with Shisui's cousin, I found it kind of annoying that I was misremembering stuff. Especially considering that emo kid got emo when Shisui died.
Pause. Maybe he got emo when Shisui died, in which case I no longer wanted him to become the broody kid from my memories. Still I was in my third year at the academy and I was pretty sure that by now something should've happened. Still, I expected something to start to look kind of familiar.
Now that we were in our third years, Chakra was starting to be introduced. I was not able to perfectly control it (yet) but I was working on it. I wanted to be able to limit waste and had been introduced to the leaf exercise by Shisui over a year ago. This was good because it meant I could sleep through the lesson now. Shika, who I had shown when I learned from Shisui had the same idea and decided to skip the lecture with Choji, dog boy, and demon kid. I knew they had names, but in the sanctity of my mind I could call them whatever I wanted. I jealously glanced out the window. Shika had the right idea. It was the perfect kind of day for lazing about in the sun and doing nothing. Still a nap was a nap.
After class the teacher found my brother and his group and held them back to lecture them about leaves. I tried to slip away finding it quite boring but he snatched my collar and included me in the lecture. I slumped inwards, 'how bothersome.' He kept going on and on about responsibility and heritage. I yawned in sync with Shika, setting sensei off. We all escaped out the window. I thought we could've used the door as the day was over but the blonde demon had grabbed me and dragged me along.
Once outside and away from our angry sensei, I studied my brothers group. They were all underachievers like him, however his was from not applying himself. I had an inkling that the others were missing more then just motivation to do better in school. I Hmmed. Shika groaned knowing I was up to something.
"I don't plan on being as boring as Sensei, but you guys really did miss a pretty important lesson." I lectured as if I had been awake and engaged in the lecture this morning; I was a filthy hypocrite. "And you should probably make it up." Shika sighed mournfully knowing his plan to cloud watch was going down the drain. Choji chuckled, amiable enough to go along with whatever the group decided to do. Kiba stuck out his tongue at me and Naruto decided to begin lecturing me on his goal of becoming Hokage. I groaned "How bothersome. Aright all of you sit in a circle, let's go"
Kiba and Naruto looked at me aghast that I hadn't already given up like Shika would've, like a normal Nara would've really and when Shika grabbed their shoulders and shoved them towards the ground they dropped obliging. I picked up a few leaves off the ground next to me. "Right, so chakra is important. Not wasting it is…probably important too." I mean I thought so anyway but I didn't know how important chakra preservation was to them, so I kept it general. "Cause were a leaf village, we use leaves for this village. I heard mist village uses drops of water and sand uses grains of sand, but what do I know." Shika leaned back looking unimpressed; of course he knew that I did know but the other boys didn't. I shrugged hopelessly at him; I needed to get the other twos attention. I knew dog boy survived to the war, same with Demon kid. And there was no way I was gonna let Choji come to harms way.
"Take this leaf and hold it to your forehead using only chakra. The best way to gain control of your chakra is to gain focus. Focus on every bit of the leaf you can feel. There are little hairs on the leafs- see if you can feel them when you focus. The more you can feel about the leaf, the better off your control is gonna end up." I handed out the leaves to the boys. Shika sighed but put the leaf to his forehead and held it there all while giving me a sardonic stare.
'Are we done now?' His eyes asked me sarcastically. I looked pointedly at Choji who was struggling so hard that his whole face was scrunched up, unaware that the leaf was already on the ground. Dog boy kept getting attacked by his dog, who didn't seem to like the leaf, which was super funny and adorable at the same time, and demon boy kept blowing the leaf off of his forehead into the center of the group.
I frowned. As children, we should have very little chakra stores and trouble moving that little amount around. However, demon boy wasn't showing the nonstick issue. He almost seemed like he had too much.
"Weird. Naruto I want you to hold this whole stack to your head."
"Huh? I move on to the next step already? Im so awesome! I'm the much closer to Hokage! Dattebayo!" I took back every comparison I had mentally made to Shisui and Naruto. I hoped that if Shisui ever realized what I had thought he would forgive me. Putting them in the same category was just wrong. The level of hyper annoying this kid was showing made me literally cringe back.
"Right… Well just try with whole stack." He nodded and sat back with an intently focused face at odds with his bright orange regalia. I looked dog boy who had finally gotten his pup to sit quietly. His leaf kept fluttering around and he could only hold it steady for a second or two before it fell. Choji was listening to Shika's quiet instructions, so I didn't worry about him. Shika could handle it.
Shika was good at ninja stuff. Whoever Shisui and I ended our runs at the Nara compounds to practice throwing and some light sparring, Shika would join us. He was intrigued with my idea about using ninja wire and shadow techniques to control a shuriken or kunai from mid air. He was really good at it too. None of our clan focused on throwing so it was something that was wholly our own as well. Even better, as a future clan head, Shika had to bring something new to the clan and this was something he could work on and perfect over the years. With his practice of throwing knives and sparring with me and Shisui, he was persuaded to also work on chakra with us. Shisui was good at explaining things. Now a jonin, he now had pretty good understanding of his chakra and his techniques. He explained them all as best he could to us. In his down to earth, informal manner, Shika and I found ourselves racing ahead of our class on chakra control. We could both do the leaf control exercise and we both were working on the senbon exercise, which involved holding the point of a senbon to whichever chakra point you were working on. I had stopped bothering with my forehead, and instead focused on my hands and fingers. Shika concurred and worked on it as well.
Drawn from my thoughts by Naruto's exclamation of surprise, I focused on the group once again. "YATTA I DID IT" Even as he spoke all the leaves fluttered to the ground. Still I noted that I had been correct; He had too much energy. Far more than could be expected for a student. This was something else. 'Maybe calling him demon boy wasn't too far off the mark.'
"Ah right. So if you can hold the whole stack there for a minute, the next thing to do is to let them all of one at a time until only one is left." His jaw dropped at me.
"That'll take forever! I don't have time for that, dattebayo! I need to work on becoming hokage!" I blinked, taking a second to understand what he just said. The kid ran words together like they were colors, than frowned at him.
Tilting my head to one side, I asked, " Don't you know all Hokages can do this in their sleep?" Kiba straightened up, alongside Naruto—Someone clearly has a secret dream. They both began to redouble their efforts. I motioned towards Kiba. "You're the opposite Kiba. You're gonna try and add leaves one at a time until you get to 5 leaves held there. This will take time, a few weeks even months. This is to refine chakra control which doesn't happen overnight." There, that'll increase Naruto's control and also increase Kiba's reserves. And bonus, if the way the two were glaring at each other was any indication, then they were both going to be motivating each other as well.
"Anyway, I need to go now, but keep up the practice, hm? It'd be bothersome otherwise…" As a Nara, I would probably be paired with another clan member on a genuine team and I wanted my team to have a chance at surviving. It didn't hurt to give them the tools to get better. Besides, they were Shika's friends and I didn't have any issues with them. Still, I really did need to leave. I was surprised that Shisui hadn't shown up and snatched me already.
'Maybe he saw that I was busy with these kids and didn't want to interrupt?' I wondered giving a slight wave goodbye to Shika and indicated my backpack for him to bring home. He gave a slight upwards tilt of his head to acknowledge me but continued to work with Choji. The other two didn't even notice I was leaving.
I made my way in the woods towards the Uchiha bordered forest area. Where could Shisui be? I knew that he was stressed out lately. In the past few months he had asked me to show him how to move without quite so much energy. He wanted to be able to sit quietly for hours at a time. I obliged by showing him my brother's favorite activity of cloud watching and introducing him to yoga which was funny at first but not so much when he got it down perfectly after cheating with his sharingan.
Honestly, if I hadn't already figured out that he was in Anbu, I would've assumed he had another entrance exam. 'Maybe Anbu capitan?' I wondered, not quite sure how the promotions within Anbu worked. Not that I thought he should be in Anbu anyway, but Shisui was no longer a 12 year old chunin. No, he was now a newly turned 15. He had already been a jonin for a year. He was being followed closely by his younger cousin, a 13 year old Itachi who I guessed was also already in Anbu.
Lost in my speculations, I meandered further through the woods still looking around for Shisui. It was by chance that I stumbled upon them without being caught. I recognized this scene at least 'finally recognizing something in this world' because Itachi had been Kayla's favorite character and she had rewatched this episode so many times, that I could quote in English the words I was over hearing. Some dude with bandages was confronting Shisui. Shisui was a few seconds away from losing his eye. One of my closest friends was about to die.
They were ringed by people, all in blank Anbu masks. I was shocked no one had noticed me. But they would. How could they not notice me when I was about to save my friend. (For a second I thought about doing nothing. After all I wanted to live. But this was Shisui and I couldn't —wouldn't—-leave him to die.)
My brain kicked into overdrive. I needed to save Shisui without getting noticed. I wasn't strong enough to fight one anbu let alone dozens. Shisui had kicked my ass enough times for me to be sure about that. The only way I was getting Shisui out alive was by being clever. On the bright side I had at least one advantage going for me here. I knew what was going to happen. This scene at least was clear. As Shisui had grown older, I recognized him more and more from the television show I had glimpsed in my past life. This was absolutely the moment he was going to lose an eye and then later die if i didn't— Wait what if I….
I lost myself in my own thoughts. I had some advantages besides just foreknowledge. I had no backpack with me today. I had left it with Shika. I also quickly stripped myself of my weights and tucked them inside a tree next to me, making sure to make no noise and internally trying my best to emulate a shadow. My opportunity was coming up, I had to watch closely.
There he was reaching for Shisui. With all the practice I had been putting in with Shika, I knew I could do this. I would be exhausted later, but my friend would be alive and it would be worth it. I stretched my shadow as long and narrow as I could. It was already late, the shadows long, My shadow went unnoticed. And then I felt it connect. The second I did I jumped back and to the side. Shisui mimicked me. No one noticed. Instead they quickly moved towards him. I released him, but it was a second to late; someone slashed against his face; 'shit did he lose his eye anyway?'
Clutching his face with one hand, Shisui dodged the onslaught of attacks and then he ran towards the forest. Moving to get way from them. He was slowed though. 'From his vision? From fear? Exhaustion?' I had no idea, but I moved as quickly as I could to intercept him. He was a little way ahead of them, but they would catch up in a second. I grabbed him around his middle.
He turn towards me, his face a vicious snarl, no sign of his normal smile. Blood ran freely from a scratch down his left side of his face, but I was happy to see the eye was still intact, instead the eyelid had dealt with the brunt of the attack. I blinked, hoping he wouldn't kill me by mistake. He was holding a kunai, covered in blood and I had to fight to hold back panicked flashbacks to a knife similarity covered in blood. I didn't let go though. Instead I held on and I ran like I never had before. I was used to running in these forests with weights and a back pack heavy with thick books. Shisui was slight enough for a 15 year old boy. I weaved my way effortlessly though the trees, sticking to shadows, maintaining swift silence and aimed for the hospital. Shisui said nothing. I like to think he was too surprised by my grabbing and then carrying him to say anything, but I think he was actually going into shock. The strike on his face was still bleeding freely and I wondered if it had been poisoned. It would explain his sluggish movements.
People were chasing, but they were veering off in the wrong direction. Hmm I suppose they would've expected Shisui to go back to the Uchiha compound. After all, that's what he had done in the show but no, I was taking him to the hospital. He would survive, I was making sure of it.
I didn't slow until I was pushing the doors open to the hospital. The nurses at the desk were unsurprised to see a late night ninja visitor, but being held by such a tiny girl threw them off a little bit. I quietly and succinctly explained what I had seen— minus Anbu masks and bandage guys, which I guess means I actually told them very little then I watched them hurry him off to a room, hands already glowing green with medical ninjutsu. I blinked and turned making my way home slowly. Dad was waiting on the porch, as it was full dark outside by now. I think he was going to handle the lecture instead of mom, but when he saw me he stared. The same way the guards at the gate had started, then straightened up— if the kid of the clan head was coming in beat up, there might be trouble tonight.
"Sorry I'm late dad. But I've got something to tell you." Master of understatement, thy name is Kageko.
Dad studied me for a second taking in the blood on my shirt as well as the slight shakiness of my walk. My hands were definitely shaky from chakra exhaustion. While I practiced with the shadow capture, it was hard. I just didn't have large chakra reserves yet. Even the little bit I had done tonight had been beyond me.
'But Shisui is alive. Shisui is going to live' The thought made me giggle, slightly hysterically causing dad to shoot me a concerned frown, before motioning to the living room. I sat next to him on the couch and he pulled me into his lap. I didn't bother to resist. Right now I wanted comfort. If there was one thing that Shikaku had managed to teach me since coming to Konoha, it was that family always came first. It was heartening to know that he cared as much for me as he did Shika. He had never made me feel like less than his daughter.
I sighed leaning into his chest and told him everything; Anbu, bandage man, using the shadow capture, causing Shisui to get cut. Getting him to the hospital. The story actually wasn't very long when I told it. It had seemed like forever in the moment but it was only a few seconds that stuck out. The rest was simply running. Running to get in position, running to grab Shisui, running to the hospital. Running, running, running.
Dad stayed quiet the whole time and let me talk. I didn't realize I had started to cry until dad hugged me tighter. Mom moved into the room to pull me into a hug next. I hadn't even realized when she entered the room. Dad said something quietly to mom that I didn't hear, my head tucked into her chest, but then he said loud enough for me to hear, "Don't worry Kage-chan. I'm going to take care of Shisui and who ever thought they could hurt him." I nodded in moms chest. That was right. Dad liked Shisui too, once he'd been introduced. Even though Shisui was horrible at shogi, my whole family enjoyed when he joined us for dinner. Even the other Nara liked Shisui, he spent enough time training Shika and I in the compound to have a passing acquaintance with more than a few older Nara.
Mom brought me upstairs, helped me wash off all the blood, change into night clothes and then tucked me into bed. It was a fitful sleep that I got. Only my exhaustion pulled me into a dreamless sleep. Otherwise I'm sure I wouldn't have slept at all, scared of the potential nightmares.