Chapter Twelve: A Talk Between Brothers

"What are you doing here?" the Uchiha asked as he watched Naruto land in front of his door glistening with sweat. "You need to be resting, dobe."

How he wanted to laugh the question off, but as much as Naruto hated to admit it, he pushed himself too far. His entire body was aching and throbbing, screaming out in pain. Stumbling forward, Naruto propped himself up against the doorway with a cheeky smile playing his pain off the best he could.

"I got tired of being in the hospital. Couldn't sleep, and I'm able to walk now so they would have kicked me out in the morning anyway," he replied, shrugging it off.

"Really? Looks like you're about to keel over."

"Your house isn't exactly on the way."

"You were using the rooftops, weren't you?"

"Wha- no, no, no… I wouldn't dream of it. I was just in a big battle today, Sasuke. Use your head, will ya?" Naruto laughed.

"But you were using the rooftops."

"Shut it!"

Naruto wiped the sweat off of his forehead and watched as Sasuke glanced at him for a moment before stepping out of the way to let him in.

"I'm not being held responsible if you die, Naruto."

"Hmmph, and to think I was going to ask you to arrange my funeral."

Sasuke chuckled, crossing his arms. "As I've said before, I will not bury you in a ramen bowl shaped casket."

"B-but… Sasuke! You're supposed to be my best friend! That's like the one wish I have!"

"Not happening," the raven-haired boy shook his head as Naruto stepped inside. "Besides, I don't believe the village would let a Hokage go to the grave in something like that."

Out of everyone besides Iruka, Sasuke was the only one who believed Naruto could achieve his dream of becoming Hokage. The two might go head to head against each other more often than not, but there was no doubt that they had each other's back. If only more people would realize that.

So many of their classmates thought they hated one another, but that was far from the truth. They pushed each other to be better, learning from the other's mistakes and improving continually. Naruto wouldn't lie and say they started off on the right track, but now they were as close as brothers.

"Still, you need to at least try!" he laughed with a wave of his hands.

"How about we try to avoid needing a casket?"

"Where would be the fun in that?"

Sasuke watched as Naruto limped his way over to the couch and sat down, resting his chin on his hands. Something was bothering him. "What's going on, Naruto?"

"I, I probably should wait until tomorrow to tell you this, but… I promised to tell you what was going on."

Sasuke's eyes went to the watch on Naruto's wrist and nodded, sitting down next to him. "I'm listening."

"My entire life, all I've wanted is for the village to accept me. It's why I wanted to become a ninja, so I could earn that respect. I suppose that's also partially why I want to become Hokage. To be told that I would never be a great ninja or even stand a chance at becoming the Hokage, it only made me want to do it more."

"You've told me this before, what are you getting at?" Sasuke asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Just listen, will ya?" Naruto huffed his breath, before touching the watch. "When I went to go see Gramps the other day with Iruka-sensei, somebody was there waiting for me. They had an offer for me, one that I wasn't sure of. Like I said, becoming a ninja and the Hokage, it's all I've been working towards. They offered me something that could do a lot more than either of those could."

"What, you mean you were asked to join ANBU?" the Uchiha scoffed incredulously, his eyes widening.

"Huh? No, not the ANBU. It's, it's… ugh," Naruto stood up and took a deep breath. "This isn't easy to explain, alright? It's going to be easier for me to show you."

Naruto began walking towards the backdoor to the lake, with Sasuke reluctantly following. "This is weird, even for you."

He didn't respond as he stopped a couple feet from the dock and held his arm up to show the watch. With a quick motion, Naruto found the form he was looking for and pressed down.

Within the blink of an eye, Sasuke watched a flash of green light encase Naruto, and as it died away a tall, magma creature stood in his place.

"N-Naruto?"

"Ta-da!" Heatblast chuckled, holding his arms out. "Pretty cool, am I right?"

"What is this? Wait, that thing that helped us fight that creature, it was you?" Sasuke asked, the pieces starting to connect finally.

"Oh-ho, yeah!"

The Uchiha couldn't move as he stood in awe of the being in front of him. This was actually Naruto? How did he do this? He was messing with that watch right before he became this thing, right?

"That watch you were wearing, it allows you to turn into this?"

"Yep, and millions of other alien species that it's scanned." From the sudden confusion that rushed across his best friend's face, Heatblast knew this was going to take some time to explain. "I suppose I should start from the beginning, huh?"
Sasuke nodded.

"Might as well, I'm not going to be going anywhere for at least another ten minutes." Heatblast watched Sasuke's eyebrow twitch, making him chuckle. "I can't return to normal for ten minutes. It's part of the watch's design."

Heatblast sighed, sitting down as the sand sizzled beneath him. Sasuke sat down across from him and motioned to start his story.

"Like I said, it started with a guy talking to Gramps about me…"

When he was done, Sasuke didn't look nor feel as flummoxed as before. So, that was why Naruto had that new outfit, the watch (or Omnitrix as it's called), and why that sentry attacked the village.

He couldn't say it wasn't a lot to take in all at once, but Sasuke felt like he was taking the news pretty well.

"That explains a lot." he put his hands up to his chin. "That sentry sensed the Omnitrix's energy? Doesn't that mean it can detect it every time you use it?"

"Yeah, but I don't think they'll attack again so soon."

"What makes you so sure?"

"This was the first time in over five years the Omnitrix was used. They didn't want it back in action so they tried to stop me before it was too late."

Sasuke went silent, but followed as Naruto walked into the house having turned back to normal a few minutes earlier.

"This only started on the day of our exam, right?"

Naruto paused. "Y-yeah, why?"

"You've been different ever since the beginning of the school year, that's why. The change in colors aside, I barely recognize you anymore."

"A lot can change in a year, Sasuke…" those words held a meaning truer than anyone could ever know. Sasuke was right, he had gone from being dead last in their class to working his way into the top 3.

That doesn't just happen overnight. This wasn't something that he just decided to do on a whim or anything like that. Only one person besides Naruto knew what started this change, and that was the Kyuubi. He'd been there all along and seen how everything went for the blond his entire life.

He was there that day when Naruto nearly lost his life thanks to a couple of kids he accidentally pissed off. So many kids treated him the same way the adults did, and that alone was terrifying. Adults would treat him like dirt, but they wouldn't go so far to physically abuse a child, regardless of what was sealed inside of him. Children, however, don't have those inhibitions. If something makes them mad, they'll do whatever they want.

"I should get to bed, I'll talk to you in the morning." Naruto motioned to the guest room. "Goodnight, Sasuke."

"Goodnight, Naruto."

About the only thing Naruto really remembered from that encounter was that when they were beating him in that alley by the academy, he blacked out. When he woke up the kids were laying on the ground in worse condition than he was. Naruto's injuries on the other hand had already started healing.

It didn't make much sense to him then, but knowing the Kyuubi was a part of him made it all clear. Laying on the bed, Naruto smiled softly.

"It was you, wasn't it? You protected me."

"I've seen more than enough of your life, Naruto." Kyuubi spoke to him as Naruto rolled onto his side, the pain from his wounds barely noticeable now. "My chakra heals you faster if I allow it. I wasn't going to let you die."

"I know you did it to save yourself, but thank you."

"Don't. I don't need your thanks. Now, get some sleep. We've got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Sure thing. Goodnight, Kyuubi."

The fox didn't reply, as Naruto closed his eyes and dreamt of the attack on the village.

There was one thing the Kyuubi was right about: Naruto had a busy day ahead of him. Hate him as they might, Naruto was going to help in any way he could. Starting with one person in particular.