Today was a close call, you almost lost to Sasuke. Bad sleep and anxiousness did that to you.
You wanted, no you needed to know what the damn seal was doing to you.
You should perhaps do something constructive while you waited for Danzo, but all you wanted now was to rest your head on your desk and just wait.
You had almost fallen asleep as you noticed the door open.
"Sit up," Danzo commanded. "I've talked to Hiruzen, and got some answers."
"Oh?"
"He claims it was to prevent me from putting my seals of my own on you," Danzo explained.
"He's lying, right? Or else he would just have told me?"
"Yes. Don't let yourself get fooled by his old grandfather facade. You seem to have a good sense of judgement, trust that."
"I will," you replied. You could of course not trust Danzo either, but that didn't mean everything he said was false. It was your logic that brought you to the conclusion that Hiruzen was lying, not Danzo. "You can remove it right?"
"It will take me some time."
"Thanks, can you teach me how to remove seals?" You asked.
"No."
"Why?"
"The Hyuuga would try to have you killed if you go around removing the caged bird seal," Danzo said.
Did he know about your talk with Hizashi?
"I wasn't thinking about that, I just want to learn," you replied.
"Perhaps when you show you can be trusted."
He couldn't stop you from trying on you own, you should be sure to observe him when he'd be trying to remove that on your tongue.
-x-
"Sota let me talk to you a bit," Shisui asked you as you were walking down the road to your apartment.
"What is it?" you glanced up at him.
"Can we sit down for a moment?" He asked and pointed to a nearby bench.
You nodded and sat down alongside him.
"I know it is your birthday tomorrow, but a mission came up. It will be me and my father, it is a chance for us to get closer again, we've fallen a bit out in the last years. So this isn't a chance I want to give up. But Itachi will be here and make your birthday a great time."
Looking at his face you weren't sure what to think. You had an ugly feeling about this. Like something was not right. You were watching his calm breath being made visible in the cold winter air. Happy wasn't the right word to describe his face. Determined, no... Reading faces was not easy. You were left just watching him till you could find the right words.
"Be careful," you finally said as the first flakes of snow hit his face.
He smiled at you and folded an arm around you. "Don't worry, missions rarely go wrong, both I and my father are strong enough to handle this."
"Just get home safely will you?" You looked up at him.
"You almost worry about me more than Itachi does. Keep a watch on him that he doesn't do anything stupid will you?"
You nodded and just sat there and watched the snow falling for a while before he had to get going. The snow was beautiful, but it could also be a detriment for a ninja. You could just hope you were overreacting.
-x-
Today was your birthday, becoming seven wasn't a big thing, it wasn't even your first time becoming seven years old.
Outside the snow had made a thick layer, so you better look for some decent clothes. You were pretty sure someone had shipped a box of winter clothes not too long ago.
Scarf, a woollen hat and gloves should do, you didn't want to get too overheated. Along with some decent shoes.
The cold wind hit your face as you left your apartment. Should you go and visit Itachi already or wait till he got you, you didn't want to ruin any surprise if he had planned one.
Genin was running around shovelling snow away from people's front yard. Would you even be doing stuff like that when you graduated?
A snowball hit your back, and as you turned around you were grabbed into a hug.
"Happy Birthday Sota," Itachi greeted you.
"Thanks," you muffled through his embrace.
"Come with me, I've something I want to show you."
You walked together to the Uchiha compound but not to Itachi's house, but instead, you arrived at a snow cave.
"What do you think? I felt it could be fun and we get more privacy than at home with mother and father."
You may be a child now, but you couldn't say you had that childish joy inside where snow caves were super exciting. It would be better if you could just stay inside and be warm. But you were going to be a ninja very soon, you couldn't complain about the cold or Danzo would dump you naked into an icy river till you got used to it.
"It's nice."
"I'm glad you liked it, just keep your shoes on no need to take them off here," he said and entered inside.
Inside you could see a smiling Naruto stirring into a pot. Taking a look at his clothing it became apparent that it was much hotter inside than you first realized, so you took off your jacket and joined Naruto in sitting there in your t-shirt.
"Harry Birthday," Naruto said and walked up to you and hugged you.
"Thanks Naruto," you replied.
"So who of you want some hot chocolate?" Itachi asked.
"Me!" Naruto called out with his hand stretched out.
Here you go, Itachi said and filled a cup from the pot who was hanging over the fire.
"I'd take one too thanks," you said.
A short moment later Itachi handed you your cup before serving himself.
"How does it feel being seven years old?"
"Like being six, I don't feel any different," you replied.
"So, do you want to open your gifts?" Itachi asked, "Or do you want to wait for later?"
"Let us start now," Naruto said.
"Naruto, shouldn't we let Sota decide?" Itachi smiled at him.
"Oh... Sorry Sota."
"That's fine Naruto, we can start now."
Naruto grabbed something from behind him and handed to you.
An envelope with "Happy Birthday Sota" written on it with some sloppy kana, but this wasn't the time to help Naruto with his writing.
"Open it!"
"Patience Naruto," Itachi said.
You carefully opened the flap on the end, as ripping it open could destroy the content. And then grabbed the content out from it.
Inside were multiple gift cards for dango.
"Thanks Naruto, I love it," you said.
"I'm glad you liked it," he smiled and got up to give you another hug. "I was going to give you some for Ramen, but Itachi told me I should give you a gift based on what you liked and not what I liked. He's pretty smart you know."
"Itachi can be stupid sometimes, or at least that's what Shisui tells me."
Naruto started to laugh.
"That's not a nice way to act towards someone who's hosting your birthday party," Itachi said in a round of mock hurt before laughing at his joke. He really was a cute kid at this point, as he had not yet started to grow out his hair. Further cementing his more innocent look.
"Don't worry Itachi, we both know that Shisui is the stupid one."
"All is forgiven, here this is from me," he said and handed you a larger box.
You set it on the ground and opened it. Inside was a dark green bag, or was it brown? A bit hard to hell.
"It's for your sealing equipment. Open up and you can see."
It was easy to open and close, it looked like the strap was held in place with a small magnet.
And inside you could see what Itachi meant. it had multiple square compartments to put stacks of sealing tags or scrolls.
"I like it," you said.
"Thanks, there is even some blank pieces of paper and room for ink and a brush in the top in case you need to do some on the fly stuff.
"Thanks," you smiled at him.
"Shisui left you a package too, he said it was something he had found while on a mission," Itachi said and handed you another box.
On the top, there was a letter taped to it, you took it and started to read.
"Happy Birthday Sota,
I'm sorry I can't be there for you, but Itachi and Naruto be there with you I hope. Given that I wrote this before I left, I can't say for certain, but everything is good and well with me and my father. Our trip to our destination was uneventful and nothing unexpected happened. Or at least I hope, I can tell you more when I'm back.
My gift might not be as practical as Itachi's, but I hope you'll enjoy it nevertheless. On a mission near Hidden Stone, I encounter a ninja who used small clay golems for defences in a cave he hid in. I don't know how these work, but I'm sure you can work it out. There is also a book on clay working that I hope can be of use.
Now I've to go back to the mission as my father is waiting for me, have fun and tell Itachi to not worry about me. All is fine here."
"Shisui should know that writing in a letter in advance won't stop me from worrying."
"He'll be fine Itachi," you said. "Most missions are pretty safe, aren't they?"
"Nothing is ever completely safe, but yes, everything should be fine if everything goes after the plan. So you'll have nothing to fear about becoming a genin."
"You're becoming a genin already?" Naruto asked, his eyes getting big.
"Yes, that's the plan. I and Sasuke will take an exam in a few days to see if we're ready. And if I pass, I'll get to be a real ninja and will start doing missions."
"What kind of stuff, saving princesses and visiting new places?" He asked.
"No, as a fresh genin you'll mostly do different chores around the village till you can show that you can work together as a team and follow orders properly," Itachi explained.
"That sounds so boring, I thought ninja got to do fun stuff," Naruto pouted.
"Haven't you seen all the genin shovelling snow around today?" You asked him.
"Yeah…" Naruto muttered before taking another look at the present from Shisui. "What's inside?"
"Let me see," you said and opened up the lid. Inside was as promised several clay figurines which you put on the ground in front of you. The promised book, 'Working With Clay' with rusty brown stains. And even a bow and some arrows he forgot to mention in his letter. Attached to it was another note.
"I got a nice idea I want to show with this when I'm back ツ." You read for the others to hear.
"Why did he give you those clay things?" Naruto asked.
"It is so I can learn from them and maybe do something useful with it, ninja stuff."
"Oh, is it similar to this flute I got from Sasuke," Naruto asked and pulled up the gift you've given him. He had it tied around his neck like a lucky amulet, which was normally hidden under his t-shirt. "I can use it to blow fire like Itachi, it's the best thing ever."
"Yeah, it's kind of like that," you said.
"Cool, so you can make those clay men breathe fire?" He asked making a blowing expression.
"That sounds like a good idea. I'll try," you replied.
"Tell me if you need any help Sota," Itachi offered.
"I will."
"Now that the gifts are over with, do you want to play something," Itachi asked and held out a deck of card.
"Yeah!" Naruto said. "We can play 'Hidden Spy'"
"Shouldn't Sota get to decide Naruto?"
"It's fine with me," you replied.
It was a fun but simple game. It was about creating multiple pairs with the cards while avoiding being left with a foreign spy as the last card in your hand. You could be left with your own spy as the last card, but that didn't matter.
It was overall a fun day, later Itachi surprised you with ramen which made Naruto quite happy, with a solid amount of dango as snacks afterwards. Now it was just waiting for Shisui to come home.
-x-
On the way to the academy next day it was raining and much of the snow had disappeared through the night. Typical snow, it stayed for a day before going away.
You hurried to the academy, not wanting to get too wet. When you arrived in the classroom most of the others had already arrived and there wasn't long till the last students joined you, Naruto included.
"Good morning children. Today will be a bit different you'll have your first written exam. Don't worry kids. The results here are mostly there to see how everyone has improved and where you all struggle so we can help you.
"But that doesn't mean you shouldn't take this seriously. Sasuke and Sota, this will affect your graduation exam, so do your best. For the rest of you, while failing won't have any consequences, not taking it seriously will. And no cheating, you will get caught and kicked out of the exam immediately, then you will have to retake it another day."
Consequences, what did he mean about that?
"You can start as soon as you've received the test, if anyone forgot to bring something to write with, please raise your hand and you'll be handed a pencil when we take our rounds"
Soon after a group of genin came in and helped Iruka handing out. You reached down in your backpack for a pencil and waited for you to be handed your test. You looked towards the genin handling your row. And he sure was familiar.
"Something wrong?" The boy asked with a smile while handing your test.
Those glasses, that was Kabuto, why was he here? "No, I'm sorry," you mumbled.
It was time for the first question.
You suspect your sensei is a traitor, what do you do?
This was easy.
'I'll tell someone higher up I can trust and pretend I don't suspect my sensei, while still being observant about their behaviour.'
And not let myself be tricked by them to steal an important scroll.
'Your teammate is wounded during a mission, but you must bring back a scroll before the time limit is done. What do you do with your wounded teammate?'
There sounded to be a more right answer here, but you were not going there.
'There are several options here.
If time is critical make the fastest leave the group with the scroll while the rest protect the injured teammate.
Have the fastest member in the group carry the injured member and carry on as fast as we can
But in the end. Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash! If I'm going to be called trash either way, I'd rather break the rules! And if that somehow makes me anything less than a real shinobi, then I'll crush all of the so-called "real" shinobi!'
As you wrote the last kana, your thoughts got to Obito. Was there anything you could do about him? Probably not, you just had to figure out how to defend yourself against him, Pain and all the other endgame bosses.
You looked back at Kabuto again.
And him...
You turned over to question 3.
'You've been injured during the mission on the way to your target. However, it's not a serious injury. Should you tell your teammates?'
This was much easier and you started to quickly scribble down your answer.
'I'll swallow my pride and tell my sensei right away so he knows it can be aware if something happens.'
There was a few more of these kinds of questions before going over to more conventional questions about history and other stuff you'd learn the past year.
When you handed in your answers, it looked like most were still present. Naruto was not having a good time you noticed, but he would manage it.
-x-
It wasn't looking good outside, heavy rain and quite nasty wind. But bad weather wasn't an excuse to not attend the academy. The sky looked dark and inhospitable, but you had to go.
Luckily you had proper clothes in your wardrobe, so you just went back in and got dressed properly.
On the way you say some of the other kids from the academy getting distracted by some big puddles. You kind of wanted to jump in with them. But despite this body, you weren't child enough for that kind of stuff, even if it looked fun.
You wondered what Itachi would have done at your age. Would he be serious or give in to the temptation. Truth to be told, getting wet wasn't that fun, so better just walk past it.
.
The entry to the academy was a mess with wet shoes everywhere. But you found a suitable place to park yours and used your ninja skills to jump onto a bit of flood to put on your indoors shoes before getting to the classroom.
If you were lucky, you wouldn't have any classes outside today. But was luck your strongest suit?
Iruka's class was quite boring today as always. Talking about some battle where Konoha had made great advances in one of the previous wars. But you weren't the only one getting bored in these classes, even Iruka seemed to be bored of his own history classes. Not weird given that he'd probably heard this kind of stuff every year since he became a teacher. And then the years he was a student himself.
A big flash of light could be seen from the windows. You didn't know how it happened, but when the rumble from the thunder reached your ears, you were somehow under your desk clutching your head.
What was going on? Everything was suddenly silent.
"Sota, is everything fine?" Iruka asked.
"Yes, I just fell," you explained.
"Right, can you try sitting up again?"
"Yes," you said before another much worse rumble reached your ears. At this point, your body was trembling and you tried to hide your head in your lap.
"There is nothing to be afraid of Sota, you're safe inside here."
"I know," your voice was shaking for some unexplained reason. "I don't know what's going on."
"Alright Sota, just sit there if you want, I'll just continue,"
It was fine for a while, and you tried to listen to his lesson to block out all other worry and it worked, at least till the next crackle could be heard. And you started to mumble involuntary "Please... stop..." your voice was not very loud but it could still be heard. Tears filled your eyes as you could feel the wetness around your eyes.
A pair of arms embraced itself around you. "It's okay Sota, even badass ninja can be afraid," Naruto tried to calm you down. You wanted to just get up but you couldn't.
"I know, I know," you muttered to your best ability.
And then another strike hit and your brain were shutting off more and more of what happened around you. Naruto was gone, Iruka's voice was gone. The rain hitting the windows where gone. You were finally at peace.
You could sit like this for hours, just focusing on your breath in and out as nothing else existed around you. But the spell was broken when you feel your body being lifted.
"Thanks for getting me, I'll take him home and take care of him," you heard Itachi telling Iruka.
-x-
The next day you were back down in the underground tunnels.
You had surprisingly got a gift from Danzo too, you were now allowed to walk in and out of your room at your own decision. No longer needing to have a guard open it for you.
It was time to take a closer look at the gift from Shisui. According to him, the golems had targeted him so there had to be some kind of control mechanism. You just needed to find it.
You carefully started to disassemble one of the golems and you found two kinds of seals hidden inside connected with wires. You had no ideas that you could even do it.
So one controlling the other, made perfect sense. The ones placed on the primitive gears inside was clearly rotating them which you were able to confirm by channelling tiny amounts of chakra through the wire.
The weapon system of it was quite inefficient, the head had room for a spring-loaded kunai who were now gone, probably targeting Shisui who cleverly had dodged it. If you were going to use this yourself, you'd definitely use something else inside it, and Naruto's suggestion of fire would be perfect.
For the other seal, you knew it had something to do with aiming at a target, but you could not recognize any of the parts, apart from the obvious of course, but none of the core mechanics. Activating the targeting seal of one of the non-dismantled golems did nothing.
"Shadow clone Jutsu," you called out and as soon as a clone appear you pointed at it and told the golem to attack, but the head didn't move an inch.
"Sorry, I'm just testing out something," you told it.
"Can I look?" It asked.
You nodded and the clone got next to you and started smelling the seal.
"What are you doing?" You asked it.
"We've never tried smelling them, so maybe it could give us some hints," it said.
"And?"
"Nothing, just smells old cave, I can lick it if you want?"
"No, you'll just risk ruining it," you sighed. Your clone was creative sure, but not in the way you'd like. "Let us just give it some time. We can still use this with ninja wire."
"What's the point, you can just use any fire scrolls by themselves?" It asked.
Hmm.. good point.
"Wait, you use it while you're hiding somewhere, and then control the golem while they can't see you."
"Oh… that's pretty smart," you replied.
"But why are you even bothering with ninja wire, can't you just control it remotely like with explosive tags?" It asked.
"I guess there is only one way to find out," and folding your hands into a seal to dispel the clone.
"No wait, I can't help you," the clone interrupted.
"Sorry, but I only have one set up brushes," you said and made the motions to dispel it again.
"You just got another set of brushes from Shisui," it said, the voice was getting angry. "If you don't want me here, just say it, I'm not playing your games."
Clones were annoying. But you didn't want to tell it that you didn't need its help either so you fished out the keys from your pocket and threw it at it. "Catch, go get the stuff."
Why were you doing this? You should be accepting your clones help, not reject them. You shook your head in frustration over yourself. You were unable to gain their memories, but that didn't mean you couldn't benefit from their help.
You were almost done with a copy of the modified seal with a soaking wet clone stepped inside, carrying your seal bag.
"We need to get a fireplace inside so we can get dried in cases like this," it said.
"I need a kiln, but I'm not making one now. If you're freezing go get some dry clothes, there should be some here."
It was time to be somewhat nice to your clone, wouldn't be good if they hated your guts if you needed them on a mission.
So while they were getting dressed you put the finishing touches on the seal to give them some privacy in the process.
"You're done?" It asked while it was peeking over your shoulder. It had left its wet clothes in a pile on the floor. They'd disappear anyway when it dispelled so it didn't matter too much.
You nodded and replaced the old seal on one the dismantled golem for a new one and started channelling chakra. The gear just twitched for a moment.
"I guess it doesn't work, so we'll have to use ninja wire," the clone sighted. "We should ask Itachi tomorrow for some."
"I'm sorry for being mean to you, I don't know what I'm doing sometimes," you said hoping the clone wouldn't see through your thin excuse.
"It is okay," it shrugged.
You started yawning. "I think it's time to go home."
"Don't dispel me, let me just stay here for a while," it said.
"What's wrong with getting dispelled it's not like death right? Because if that's the case I'm not going to use this Jutsu anymore."
"it's more like sleep, but there is no fun sleeping all the time."
You could understand that sentiment.
"So you remember stuff?"
"Yes. I'm not sure if I remember things because I retain my memories or because I remember you remembering it."
"What about when there is more of you, are you all different people, or do you feel like you're the same?"
"The same, the memories from you feel like as if it's from another person, but those from the others feels like me. I'd rather not think about it too much, it makes the brain hurt," it chuckled.
"Okay, good night then, if you want to work on something just go ahead," you said and left the room.
You were quick to notice how your clone had gotten that wet. It was a lot more stormy outside than when you had arrived earlier. You were not quite keen to walk into the bad weather. You just stood inside watching until the sky flashed and you started shaking and when the quake came, you fell to the ground but was caught by someone behind you.
"Is everything okay Sota?" the figure asked you.
"Yes, I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid," you started to mumble.
"Don't worry, I'm your friend, remember me? I gave you the soup. I won't tell Danzo anything."
"Thanks," you replied and went crawled further inside while you still had some semblance of control left. The magic of the entrance ensured that any sound and view of the outside quickly disappeared.
"If you want you can sleep here, I get you a bed if you want?" They suggested.
"What would Danzo say, I don't want him to know that I'm afraid of thunder, he'll just make me face my fears till I'm not afraid anymore, I don't think I can handle that," you said.
"Sota, I'll just tell him that you want to sleep here so you can spend more time studying fuuinjutsu without needing to go home. I'm your friend, your secrets are safe with me, you don't trust me?" They asked.
"I do," you mumbled, it would be good to lose your only real ally down here. "I'm sorry. Thanks for your help" You looked up and smiled at them.
If they smiled back you couldn't tell, masks kind of hid their emotions, even without the mask, they'd probably be trained to not smile. But they were nice, that was all that mattered.
You went back to your room while they were getting the bed.
Your clone didn't notice that you were coming back, it was too occupied with something else on the desk.
"Change of plans, I'm staying the night," you told it.
It turned their head towards you, "Oh. Bad news, you know that helping voice right. I don't have it, I've been trying to work on this, but I've gotten no guidance like I remember you've gotten, just nothing. So I might not be as useful as I'd hoped" The clone looked down in the desk clearly disappointed.
"Hey, it's okay. There is plenty you can do, I'm sure you can still figure out stuff based on what I've already worked out. What are you working on?"
"Being able to more effectively store offensive attacks so we can use absorption seals as an effective defence."
"Yeah I kind of forgot about that, I'm happy that you bring it up again," you said.
Behind you, a group of Root agents entered carrying different stuff. Bed frame, mattress, pillow and a thick blanket put in place in a corner before quickly leaving.
"Not so bad down here see," you told your clone.
It nodded.
"Do you know why I'm so afraid of thunder?" You asked.
Your clone started to shake as if you've awakened a memory. "I don't know, all I know is that it hurt," it muttered.
"But you remember that something happened, just not what?"
The clone nodded again before turning towards you. "Do you think I can sleep in your bed tonight, don't dispel me, please. I don't want to be alone."
"That's fine," you replied. Looking at the sink you noticed someone had placed a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste on it. "Sneaky ninja," you mumbled under your breath.
And talking about sneaky ninja, a bowl of soup had appeared out of nowhere. "Thanks"
You took the bowl, sat down on the bed and began eating.
"Can I have some too?" The clone asked.
"You don't need to eat."
"That doesn't mean I don't want to eat," it said and got up from their desk to sit next to you on the bed.
"Okay, but not too much, I actually need to eat," you said and handed it the bowl.
It took a few spoons before handing it back to you. "It's good"
You nodded and continued eating till the bowl was empty and you go two sets of clean pyjama. "Here," you said and threw one set to your clone.
"Thanks," it said.
After getting changed and brushing your teeth, you could finally go to bed.
"Can I brush my teeth too?" It asked. "I know I don't need to, but I want to."
"Go ahead," you sighed and got into bed and shortly after the clone was done brushing in jumped in beside you.
"You were not so bad today bastard," it mumbled.
"Why does everyone call me a bastard?" You replied.
"Because you act like one."
"Good night, I won't dispel you until you want to."
"Good night, please stop considering me an 'it' tomorrow, just because I'm a clone doesn't mean I'm at not a person," he mumbled before feeling asleep.
-x-
When you woke up the clone was still asleep, he had no school today so no point in waking him.
You got dressed and noticed there was a plate of food on your desk, rice omelette I looked like. You made sure to leave some for your clone before leaving.
You had of course forgotten something, your backpack was at home and you had to get it before going to school.
Your door was unlocked, didn't you lock it yesterday? You had probably just forgotten, Sasuke wouldn't try to seek revenge again, and there were no explosive tags here anymore so you were safe.
Ninja wire started to bind around you, making you unable move your arms.
"Uzumaki, where have you been?" An unknown voice said from… everywhere really.
"That's none of your business, who are you?" You asked.
"I followed you and then you disappeared, what's going on Uzumaki?"
"I said that's none of your business," you grunted.
"Then you appeared again later on just to go back home and get some bag."
"Oh... you're a stalker."
"I'm not a stalker," you heard from under your bed as your attacker crawled out.
A blond boy a bit taller than you, you couldn't say you'd ever seen them.
"Who are you?" You asked.
"Who am I? I'm your classmate bastard!" They yelled.
You weren't sure what to say, you really couldn't recall them, not that you ever paid too much attention to the rest of your class. Where you this much of a clutch?
"I'm Yamanaka Shin, just because I'm not an Uchiha doesn't mean I'm not worth anything. I work hard and just because I'm not that good at fighting doesn't mean others doesn't value my skills. Let see anyone else in the class capture you like this."
"I notice plenty of my classmates, I just forgot about you."
"Name them," Shin demanded.
"Uh... Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Ino." Shin was right. You hadn't managed to even learn the names of any your classmates you didn't know from the anime.
"You remember Ino but not me!" He yelled at you.
"I'm sorry, let's be friends," you offered.
"No bastard. Not that there is any point anyway at this point and you better not blame me for you getting late to the academy today," Shin said before moving towards the door.
"Cut me loose please," you asked.
Shin turned back and cut the wire with a kunai.
"Thanks," you said, but you got no response back, now you just had to hurry back to the academy. Today was hopefully the last day at the academy, given that the exam next day would go well, so you didn't want to give a bad impression by being late. At least the ninja wire could get useful later.
-x-
The plan was to go back down to your clone after school, but Itachi changed the plans a bit.
"Sota, Shisui has come home," he said, his voice was more sombre than usual.
"Anything wrong Itachi?"
"Yes, he'll tell you himself."
You followed Itachi through the Uchiha compound, it was a route you were quite familiar with by now, and the other Uchiha no longer seem to mind your presence as much as when you first visited the place.
The first thing you noticed was that Shisui's shoes weren't there, and rather pretty obvious footprint in his small hallway.
Further inside you noticed Shisui on his couch with his head buried in the pillows shoes still on.
You were unsure of what to do in this situation. You're no idea how to properly comfort people, that was Shisui's speciality.
"It's okay Shisui, we're here," you tried.
"It's not okay, he's dead."
"Who's dead?"
"My father, things got fucked up. Nothing went right, one moment he was alive, the other he was dead. I managed to get in safety thanks to him but the mission failed."
"Oh, I'm sorry," you replied. "Do you want to sit up?"
"I...," Shisui muttered "I don't know. This was supposed to make everything better, it's all my fault, he died to save me because I wasn't good enough."
Itachi put a hand through Shisui's hair and started to comfort his older friend and cousin. "You're a good ninja, you're better than me and you know all the praise I get. Don't blame yourself."
Shisui started to laugh a bit and sat himself up. "That's because you're 12. When I was your age, I was far from your level. And I was far from yours and Sota's level when I was 7. Don't try to spare my feelings by stuff like that."
Now that Shisui's was sitting up, you could notice something has changed.
"Itachi, look at him, but not say anything," you said.
His eyes had turned into the familiar pattern of them, Mangekyou Sharingan. You were a bit unsure about what kind of information to provide Shisui at this moment
"What is it?" Shisui asked.
"Look yourself in the mirror, but avoid the windows," you said. It would be no good if any wandering Uchiha saw him.
"Why be so secretive about it, if you know, what does it hurt that anyone else knows?" Shisui argued.
"Just listen to me please," you said.
Shisui sighed and went to his bathroom for a moment before getting back again.
"My eyes…" Shisui mumbled.
"I can tell you more when we're alone, I've got a feeling someone is watching us…"
By now Sasuke had noticed you and Itachi and was currently climbing on top of his lap. The cute and furry one, of course, not his brother.
"Shouldn't you be comforting Shisui and not sit on my lap?" Itachi asked Sasuke.
"Don't worry, Itachi, I get in a better mood just watching you two. You're kind of a cat sometimes too," Shisui said and looked at him
"Meow," Itachi said.
"Do I ever need Sasuke when I've you?" He asked.
"Meow," Itachi said and began to crawl over into Shisui's lap. Quite a fun view really.
"Okay, enough now."
"Meeow," Itachi said and pawed at Shisui's face.
"I think you broke him," you said.
Itachi just ignored you two and continued to paw at him.
"Itachi, what's going on? It's not fun anymore, you're weirding me out."
But he just flashed his teeth at him and made a feral sound.
"It's your eyes," you whispered.
"I made Itachi think he's a cat, Itachi is too smart for genjutsu to work on."
"It's not what you think it is," you said, trying to be a bit cryptic.
"So if I try doing it again, he'll stop?"
"Yes," you suggested.
"You're not a cat Itachi," Shisui told him while looking in his eyes. But nothing happened, Itachi just rubbed his head into Shisui's chest.
"What do we do know?" Shisui asked.
"I've no idea."
"I thought you knew everything, I've no idea how you even know this much and don't tell me it's your head injury again, that makes no sense."
"I'm sorry, I think we'll just need to keep a watch on him. I think your powers need to recharge, and I'm not sure how long it will take. Or if we can find another way of getting it to wear off."
"I guess I'll just enjoy my second cat then, Itachi should have his old cat ear headband somewhere, can't you go and ask Mikoto if she knows where it is?" He asked.
"I'm not doing that to Itachi," you said.
"Come on Sota, wouldn't it be fun to see Itachi as a playful kitten, he just needs the ears and he's perfect?"
"You can go and I can watch Itachi. See if you see anyone lurking outside while you're at it," you suggested.
"Are you sure you can handle Itachi?" He asked.
"Can anyone handle him? I'll just find a piece of string to keep him occupied."
"Hmm... I'll go, I can't let this chance skip past me."
Shisui found a ball of yarn for you to occupy your new cat with and he left.
And Itachi didn't even wait for you to throw it, he just leapt forward and bit his teeth into the yarn and rolled around on the ground with it.
Not exactly what you had in mind, but Catachi had it fun. Sasuke, however, kept his distance from this mess and you'd no idea what he thought about the matter.
Should you try to ask Matatabi if she had any idea on how to solve the matter? How could you even ask her?
"Matatabi, do you know what I can do about this?" you asked out aloud. She was able to observe the world through your eyes, so she should be able to listen. The problem would be to listen to any eventual answer.
Could you stop it by just pushing chakra into him? How did they fix the Samurai leader at the 5-kage-summit? Didn't they just tell him what had happened and it was fine?
What that was you needed to do, just tell Itachi exactly what had happened and you'd fix him?
"Itachi, Shisui used the Sharingan to make you believe that you're a cat," you whispered in his ear.
In an instant, something seemed to wake up inside him and he got up and dropped the ball of yarn from his mouth.
"That was weird," Itachi said.
"Don't worry, we won't tell anyone."
"Having you two see me like that was embarrassing enough."
"True, but I guess you cheered him up a lot."
"What did you do," Shisui said from the entrance. He was back with a pair of white cat ears.
"I fixed him," you said.
"I can see that, but I wanted to have him be my cute cat for a bit longer."
"Shisui, I can still wear those if you want," Itachi took them and put on his head. "Meow."
"Thanks, I think this can solve things. We should tell the Hokage and we can solve this whole mess."
"No!" You called out.
"What, this will be perfect, if we tell him we can fix this..."
"No, you'll just get killed if you tell anyone, if you're going to do it, do it in secret."
"Don't they want peace, why would he do that?"
"I don't know, just don't tell anyone about this power, promise me. Not unless you have to, besides, it will probably not work again for at least some months, maybe a year, maybe a decade. I've no clue really, just that it takes time."
"Hmm, it is a shame to give up such a powerful weapon, but you're right, a power like this would be sought after. I just feel there is something we should do about it. We cannot sit and do nothing," Shisui said.
"We're not doing nothing, Father is pleased that Sasuke is being given a chance to graduate early. We just need to make father happy and if the others in our clan can see that, we might have a shot at it," Itachi explained.
"Is there someone outside the window?" You asked.
What had they heard, where you in deep shit or was it just an animal wandering about, or perhaps a crow? But a crow could very well be an Uchiha unless it was just Itachi that had that ability.
"I think we should leave Sota," Itachi said.
You nodded, you didn't know why, but it just seemed to be the safest choice. "We'll talk about this when you're somewhere safe Shisui."
"Talk about what?" It was the quite recognizable voice of Uchiha Fugaku.
"Nothing father," Itachi said.
"Don't lie to me. Sota here have good senses, I'm disappointed that you two didn't notice me," he said before turning to you and pointed to the door "Get out, I need to talk to them. And Itachi, take off that silly headband you're too old for that nonsense."
"I'm Shisui's guest," you argued.
"Just wait outside will you," Itachi promoted and took off the cat ears to put on you.
You nodded and stepped outside of the living room with Fugaku promptly closing the door. Though for some reason, every noise was suddenly much louder than it used to.
"What was going on here, why were you behaving in such a childish manner?"
"Sorry father, I and Shisui were just pulling a prank on Sota to make him believe that Shisui had made me think I was a cat. Just some harmless fun."
"And what's this about a powerful weapon?" Fugaku asked.
"Uchiha-sama, if I could make the Hokage think he was a cat, wouldn't get give me a lot of power?" Shisui said.
"That's not what it sounded like from Sota's reaction do this power."
"Father, Sota's head injury did turn him a bit weird, his rationale might not be the best and he's just seven years old, children make up explanations that don't always make sense."
"Very well son, we'll end it here for now. But I don't want to hear anything else suspicious around you two, the rumours are already wandering."
"Yes Father," Itachi replied.
Fugaku opened the door to the hallway where you were waiting and looked straight at you. In an instant, he removed the ears from your head and started tapping his foot on the floor before putting the ears on his head.
His face turned into a frown and he took them off again.
"Itachi, very clever these ears aren't they? I'm sure you didn't know it would let Sota eavesdrop on us when you put them on him."
"I'm sorry Father," Itachi said.
Fugaku put them in a grip ready to break them, before changing his mind pocketed them inside his uniform and left.
-x-
"Sota are you ready?" Itachi asked you.
"Are you sure this is right, training Sasuke and then come straight to me to teach me how to counter the tricks you taught him?"
"Are you saying I'm a bad brother for protecting Sasuke from the dangers of the world?"
"No."
"Then there should be no issue. We'll work on countering counters today, sounds good?"
You nodded.
"Alright, you start on the defensive, I'll come at you trying to strike, you're going to counter and I'm countering that again."
"Alright, come at me!" You said as you got into a defensive stance.
Itachi came at you, but his speed was slower than normal, you grabbed his hand while punching back. But instead of hitting straight, he dodged you again before hitting you in the stomach."
"It won't be this easy against Sasuke, but you get the idea on how it is in his shoes right?"
"Yeah, then it's my turn to go against you, ready?"
"I'm always ready, so go at it."
You moved quickly into Itachi's reach and tried hitting him while being aware of his planned defence. But you saw quickly that he was not grabbing your hand, so you had to take a step back to avoid getting hit with his superior reach.
"Not bad, and you seemed to not be taken by surprise that I didn't copy your tactic. A ninja is never predictable."
"Never?"
"If someone goes at you with the same trick 9 times in a row, there is no guarantee that the 10th won't be different and kill you."
"Ever happened to you?"
"Do I look dead to you?" He asked.
"No, but you get what I mean."
"Yes, I've been too arrogant when facing some of my opponents yes. So if you're going to be a better ninja than me you better not make the same mistake yourself."
"I got it, another round, make it a bit harder this round will you?"
"Be careful what you asked for," he said with an evil grin on his face. Even twelve-year-olds could look scary in such a small body as yours.
-x-
Today was the day, today you would know if you got to graduate or not. It all started with Fugaku getting up to take a pledge in front of the Hokage.
"Repeat after me. I Uchiha Fugaku promises to respect the results of the exam."
"I Uchiha Fugaku promises to respect the result of this exam."
"I accept that any failure is full you on my own, and not due to biased examiners," the Hokage continued.
"Why does he have to do this, won't your father get mad for getting accused of cheating?" You whispered to Itachi.
"This is something every parent have to do, it saves the Hokage from having to accuse anyone, Father just needs to accept it or there will be no exam for Sasuke. And it also saves the teachers from angry parents demanding that their kid should pass, even if they're not prepared."
"I see."
"Sota and Sasuke, I wish both of good luck, your teacher will take over from here," the Hokage said and left.
"Now, the written exam has already been completed, so we'll move onto the first practical test. Target shooting," Iruka said. "Now, Sota will you go first?"
"Sure," you replied and get handed a small pouch of kunai and shuriken and followed Iruka to a designated area behind the school.
"We start when I give the signal. There will be ten targets in total, you choose which order you want to use your weapons. But you'll end up using all of them in the end. You can try again if you miss, but be aware, the target will only appear for a short while and get faster and faster as we go.
So not like the normal target practise where the target was immobile.
"How will we be scored?" You asked.
"As long as you hit, you get a point, bullseyes aren't important here."
With the sound of a firecracker going off, you were on. The target could appear from all around you so you needed to be vigilant or else you'd lose point fast. With little hesitation, you managed to get the first shuriken off as you noticed the red disc appearing in the foliage. Kunai was easier to throw, so better save them for the last. It all went quite well, until the last targets. Things were going really fast and at your 7th target, you missed your first shot. No point in trying to hit it again as it would just disappear before you could react.
At eight and ninth you were lucky with your angle. Things felt good, like as if that miss was just a fluke. But before you could hit your 10th target, you heard another firecracker calling the entire thing off. What a great way to end it, not even being able to see the target before it disappeared. But 8 out of 10 wasn't that bad, you hoped.
It was now Sasuke's turn.
"The target will appear in different spots this time, so don't try to just copy Sota," Iruka told Sasuke.
He had a confident look on his face, not wanting to disappoint his father or Itachi, but unknown to you, for his own self-esteem, he needed to beat you.
Instead of going for the shuriken first tactic, he chose to start with kunai. And one after one he managed to take down the targets. He almost seemed pleased with himself. But then he ran out of kunai and the trouble started. His aim was off on his first shuriken and instead of hitting the target, it curved of course.
The previous smile on Sasuke's face was gone. One miss and he was suddenly a failure, at least in his own eyes and probably his father. Itachi however, was happy with Sasuke.
Even when the next one hit Sasuke's smile wasn't back. And it wouldn't come back as that was last of his hits. Six out of ten. He might have fared better if he started with the quicker more straight moving kunai, but that was in the past now.
"Good job Sasuke, 6 out of 10 isn't bad," Iruka smiled at Sasuke trying his best to be encouraging to the both of you. "Now do you need a short break or are you ready for the spar?"
"I'm ready," Sasuke replied.
"Alright, follow me both of you," Iruka said and lead you to a clearing with a big ring carved in the ground. "For the rules, taijutsu only. Don't hit your opponent when they're down, but you are allowed to pin them in place. You're out if both feet are out of the ring or if you're unable to stand up," Iruka explained.
"Nii-san has learnt me a lot of tricks to beat you Sota, this isn't like class where you can win all the time, get it?!" He yelled at you.
The fire was back in his eyes, you could say that at least. Little did he know that Itachi has gone to you each night and prepared you for everything Sasuke had learnt. You had made a promise to crush Sasuke, and you were going to keep it. None of you wanted to see Sasuke get promoted and killed in the field.
"Good luck," you greeted back. There was no need for trash talk. You were going to beat him, not his spirit.
"Now make the seal of confrontation."
You both followed suit as you'd done in every spar in class.
"Start!" Iruka yelled out.
Sasuke didn't move, he waited for you to make the first one, and you knew that he was letting you make the first move so he could surprise with you with a well-trained counter, but that wouldn't work.
You charged at him, but instead of hitting, you went into a blocking stance stopping Sasuke's fist. At the look of his eyes, he had expected you to hit instead. And that was the opening you needed to hit him back.
How were you going to approach this? Try to grapple him out or knock him down?
You were unsure if you were stronger so you went for the safest approach and tried hitting him again while being prepared to block any incoming hit. Sasuke had learnt from his previous mistake and was blocking instead of trying any risky moves again. But the bad thing about blocking was that you still got hurt. You just needed to keep going till Sasuke got tired of being on the defensive and hit back. It didn't take long, and when he tried swinging at you, you ducked down and charged at his midst with your head pushing him backwards.
You got him a bit closer to the edge before his footing loosened and he fell to the ground.
Usually, this was were spar ended in class, but now you had to force him to stay down. You didn't like what you were planning to do, but you had to. The rules only prevented you from hitting him, but stamping on his hand to inflict pain and keep him down should be within the rules right?
He let out a shriek of pain as his fingers got pressed into the ground. He quickly started to hit your foot with his other hand, but it was not very effective.
Iruka began to count down. "Three..."
Sasuke became more desperate and started yelling out while hitting you. "Get off me, I need to win.." But he was unable to put much force into his attacks.
"Two"
"I can't lose this, please get off me."
"One"
"You're a fucking asshole."
"Zero. Sorry Sasuke, but its over," Iruka announced. "Please get off him Sota."
You lifted your foot off him and handed out a hand to help him get up. But he just swatted it away with his other hand. He looked up at you with tears in his eyes. He was devastated, he was truly crushed. But he didn't say a word.
"Do you need help with your hand?" Iruka asked.
"No, I'm fine" Sasuke answered. But you couldn't avoid noticing him rubbing it. His pride hurt more than his hand.
"For the last part. I'm going to test your ninjutsu abilities. While Sasuke's hand gets some rest, you can start Sota. The first Jutsu is the henge, can you turn into me please?" Iruka explained.
You nodded and folded your hands into the correct seal. With a smoke cloud later, you were now a carbon copy of Iruka.
"Good work Sota, next one is the replacement Jutsu. Please switch with this chair," he said and pointed to said furniture, "and please dispell the henge will you?"
"Oh sorry," you said and dispelled it, before making another set of seals to replace with the chair. With a poof, you had changed places.
"Good work, now for the last one, the clone."
This was it, would he accept your shadow clone or even notice that it wasn't the normal clones?
You took a deep breath before splitting yourself into three. They all look fine and healthy, and you were quick to dispel them before they talked. They had a mind of their own and you wouldn't want Iruka to notice.
"Very well Sota, perfect this round," he said and smiled at you. "Now Sasuke, are you ready?"
"Yes," he said and walked up to where you'd stood.
"Can you turn into me please?"
Sasuke nodded and copied your earlier movements. What appeared wasn't completely right. It was rather how Iruka had looked like if he had Sasuke's eyes and hair colour.
"Good, but you still need a bit of work."
For the replacement, Sasuke had no issue.
"That's better, now for the clones. I want you to make two."
At the look on his face, it didn't look like he liked that, but he didn't say anything, just made the seal and produced a clone, not the two that were required. It looked fine, probably much better than what you'd done without the shadow clones, but not enough.
"Good job Sasuke. Both of you are done now. We'll go over your performance and decide if you're ready to become genin or not. It shouldn't take more than an hour. Go get some good to eat, you've both deserved it," Iruka said.
Sasuke walked back to his father and Itachi, you could see in Fugaku's eyes that he was not pleased. It was the eyes of a man that had just failed. He didn't believe Sasuke had done a good enough job and it was hopefully true. The only one looking happy there was Itachi.
While Itachi was spending time with his family, you took the trip to the dango stand. You still have some of the gift cards Naruto gave you for your birthday.
As you sat down at the stand you heard steps behind you. "How did it go?" Shisui asked.
"It went good, I mostly messed up on the two of my kunai shot, but other than that it looked good I hope."
"And Sasuke?"
"Safe I think."
"I'm glad to hear that, so should I buy you celebratory dango or wait till you've actually been promoted?"
"You can buy me, 'Good work today dango', and then later buy me 'Congratulations you're genin' dango."
"Would you have betrayed the village for dango?"
"How much dango are we talking about?"
Shisui started to laugh and you joined him.
"I'll make sure I and Itachi provide you with enough dango that you won't betray Konoha then", he said before ordering the usual stuff at the stand.
You've eaten this for months and you were still not tired of them. Maybe the Hokage should be worried about your dental health after all, because you were unsure how good these were for your teeth.
-x-
After a while, it was time to go back to the Academy to get your results. On the table, beside Iruka, you could see a single forehead protector lying there. So you knew that just one of you had made it.
"First of all, both of you did a good job, so if you fail, there is nothing to be ashamed over. Sota, come up here please," Iruka said and you stepped up to them.
"Your score in every part was well above the requirements, a bit of weakness in the target shooting, but that isn't hurting your performance too much."
He then moved his armed to grab the forehead protector and started fastening it around your forehead.
"Congratulations Uzumaki Sota, you're now officially a genin of Konoha. Meet up at the academy tomorrow for your first team meeting."
"Thanks, sensei," you answered.
"Now Sasuke, come up here."
He slowly approached Iruka and was pushed the first part by his father.
"Sorry Sasuke, I know you did your best, but it is not enough for this time. Your low score at the written part, along with the target shooting and ninjutsu, I cannot pass you this time around. But you might get the chance again next year, so stay positive and work on improving yourself," Iruka said.
"You never planned on passing him did you?" Fugaku was yelling at him. "Don't pretend we're blind, everyone can see that there was only one forehead protector."
"Uchiha-san, don't break your pledge, you promised before the exam to respect the results. Besides, we only brought out the forehead protectors after we evaluated the boys' performance. Sasuke had just as good of a chance of graduating, he just didn't perform well enough this time."
"You better tell the truth or I'm getting you removed from your position," Fugaku said before stepping up to Sasuke and grabbing his wrist. "We're going home now, Sasuke"
Before leaving, Itachi stepped up to you. "I'm sorry, I'd love to celebrate with you, but Sasuke needs me more now. I hope Father isn't too angry."
"I get it, I'll just get Shisui to buy me more dango for both of you."
"See you another time Sota and good luck with your team tomorrow."
"Thanks," you smiled to him while he was leaving.
Everything had gone according to the plan, now you just had to prepare for the next stage in life as a ninja. No more school to worry about, just missions and the dreaded D-ranks. As long as you got a sensei that let you use your shadow clones things would be fine.
Oops, you had all forgot about visiting your clone again...