This story has been requested! I found it such an intriguing concept that I had to give it a shot! Chapters will probably start small and get bigger, but that depends on how engrossed I get with writing it! This is for you, Robin Chwan Fatliyansyah! Welcome to "Paradox"...
As always,
Enjoy!
~Kyvena
:Prologue!:
The gasping of air could be heard clearly and the heavy rising and falling of a chest could be clearly witnessed from two individuals that currently laid motionless in the Final Valley after an epic battle that had been waged by one another. With both of their dominant arms missing and the stench of blood thick in the air, the two believed that they were going to bleed out and die at a moment's notice if they were to move around too much; but as such, they didn't have the strength to do so.
Hearing a pained groan, the other male slowly opened his eyes to look at the sky sadly due to the entire ordeal that had just transpired. He had just lost a battle... and he finally came to accept the fact that he had lost. He now acknowledged the one person that he never thought he would actually come to acknowledge... nor truly accept. They were like oil and water... but they were also damned idiots... and apparently that's what worked for the both of them.
"So... why did you do it...? Why did you never cut ties with me when everyone else tried to distance themselves from me at least once?" The one and only Sasuke Uchiha spoke softly, but loud enough for his one and only friend to hear; only for the blonde to begin chuckling, "Come on, don't make me repeat myself." Snapping his head towards the dummy, Sasuke yelled with a slight scowl plastered across his face, "JUST SPIT IT OUT ALREADY!"
A soft, but at the same time heavy and dramatic, sigh was then released from Naruto before he tilted his face towards his best friend; only to speak in a tone of voice that was far too serious for one as bright him, "It's because we're friends..." Sasuke could only stare at Naruto as he then remembered all of the times that this knucklehead had said this to him, only for his eyes to slightly widened over the words that had been thrown right into his face all over again.
Tilting his head away, tears began to slowly slide down the corners of his eyes while thinking 'I'll decide this issue myself... once and for all.' Both then fell unconscious for a bit, only to wake up after much time had passed to hear Naruto huff in frustration and pain, "Guess it's too soon to move. Just when I thought I could punch you to wake you up." For some reason, this made Sasuke... laugh... and he laughed hard, "You STILL want to keep fighting?"
Naruto then basically barked out, "OF COURSE! I'LL FIGHT YOU AS MANY TIMES AS-" - "I accept it..." the badly bleeding Uchiha male spoke, only to make the mirroring bleeding Uzumaki male gain a puzzled expression, "Huh?" Staring at the sky, Sasuke then spoke with a soft smile gracing his face, "I lost..." Processing this for a moment or two, Naruto then became frustrated and would have punched the Uchiha male if he had been capable of doing so without bleeding out.
Patience was now gone as he yelled, "Y-YOU IDIOT! THIS ISN'T ABOUT WINNING OR LOSING! MY FRIEND WAS SULKING, SO I JUST THOUGHT THAT I'D PUNCH HIM TO WAKE HIM UP! THAT'S ALL!" Sasuke then took in a deep breath and closed his eyes as he spoke, "Hey, Naruto... I accept you. If I die here, the chain of war that's been continuing since the time of the Sage of the Six Paths will come to an end. I suppose that you could say that this is another type of revolution..."
The two began to bicker a bit before Naruto tilted his head up to look at the sky while chuckling out, "Now that I think about it, you always have been surprisingly dense." Sasuke's pained voice then rang out in clear pain from his injury, "S-Shut up, you loser." Both became quiet until hearing a sharp gasp coming from Sakura, "N-NARUTO, S-SASUKE!?" Once she finally jumped down, the final member of their team then approached the two and began to stop both of their bleeding.
Once both held enough energy to stand, they made it back to the divine tree and simultaneously weaved the sign of the rat together and all tailed beasts were also released. Once they made it back to the village, Sasuke was immediately imprisoned for his crimes and given medical treatment. The time he spent silently in his prison cell gave him plenty of time to think about what he initially wanted to do with his life that had been spared and how he wanted to go about doing it.
By the time he was finally pardoned for his crimes, mostly thanks to Naruto's hard head; Sasuke went to visit his friend and knocked on his door. Once the door opened to see Sasuke wearing a black traveling cape, Naruto smiled, "Heading out? Well, then you'll be needing this." Handing Sasuke's headband over, he then stared into Naruto's eyes for a moment before taking the headband and speaking, "Naruto... thank you for everything..." - "Sure! Be sure to come home some time!"
With his thanks given, the Uchiha male then left and walked inside of the old Uchiha district that hadn't held anyone tied to the Uchiha surname attached to it for some time. Peering down as he walked inside of his old home, he lifted his head to see the illusion of his older brother standing over their parents dead bodies. Holding four bouquets of flowers and four names written on a small piece of paper, he then placed all but one separately down with a name neatly placed in front.
Hesitant to place the fourth down, he looked up again to see the face of his older brother shedding a tear before turning away. Slowly placing the final bouquet down, he then placed the last name card right in front of the beautifully arranged flowers, placed his headband beside it, and then pulled out a letter specifically for his best friend to read before placing it on top of the bouquet of flowers with saddened orbs over what he was leaving behind. All of that hard work and for what?
Walking to where his parents had been cut down by his older brother, Sasuke yanked out his snake sword with shaky hands and for the longest time... all he could do was simply stare at it. He knew if he were to live with an eye this special, all he would bring was misfortune and a lot of trouble for everyone that lived in the village. Shakily turning the blade around, Sasuke then pointed it directly at his own heart, "I'm sorry Naruto... but this... is goodbye. So, live for me..."
Taking in multiple deep breaths to calm his nerves, he then remembered as to how many people's lives had been taken by his own hand and that was enough for him to thrust the blade forward swiftly so that his heart was quickly impaled, and his life came to a screeching halt. Collapsing forward lifelessly with his blade still in his grasp, his soul then exited his body, and he couldn't wait to be reunited his clan, his mother, his father, and mostly... his brother... to tell them all everything.
All of Team Seven had been waiting for hours at the main gate and were now becoming worried. Kakashi turned to look at Naruto and questioned, "Naruto, did Sasuke tell you that he was in need of picking up supplies before leaving?" Naruto then shook his head, but Sakura hummed out, "Hm, when I saw Ino earlier, she told me that he had stopped by her family's shop to get four bouquets of flowers and told her that they were for his family home that still stood in the Uchiha district."
The team then glanced at one another before making their way towards the abandoned Uchiha district. Once inside of the district, Naruto could tell that Kurama knew something... yet was keeping quiet when he normally just spoke whatever needed to be said. Reaching Sasuke's former home, all three team member's eyes widened, and Sakura fell to her knees to sob hysterically. Naruto gently brushed his hand over her shoulder gently as he walked forward slowly and silently.
Coming to a stop at Sasuke's motionless body, he then lifted him up into his arms with tears flooding from his cerulean blue orbs to stream down his face before yanking the blade from his chest; yet kept it firmly in his grasps. Kakashi, although a complete wreck right now, walked forward and noticed Sasuke's headband and a note on the top of the bouquet of flowers... meant for him. Picking both items up, he weakly called out, "N-Naruto, Sasuke left his headband and a note for you."
Approaching the mess of a blonde, Kakashi knelt down and almost took Sasuke until Naruto yelled out furiously, "DON'T TOUCH HIM! I WILL READ THE NOTE LATER!" Nodding his head, the silver haired male took a step back before Naruto lifted the last surviving Uchiha MALE into his arms. Abruptly, the door slammed open as Naruto began to carry his best friend's lifeless body out to see Kiyomi's pale face, "N-Naruto... W-What happened to big brother!? W-Why does he look..."
Bursting into tears, Naruto finally released all of his emotions as he sobbed out, "H-HE TOOK HIS OWN LIFE! I-I'M SO SORRY KIYOMI, I-I SHOULD HAVE PROTECTED HIM BETTER! THIS IS ALL MY FAULT!" Kiyomi then approached the blonde and wiped his tears from his face even though she was crying just as much while whimpering softly as she took her older brother's hand, "D-Don't you dare blame yourself, Naruto. He made this choice fully knowing the consequences..."
That day, a miserable memorial was held for Sasuke and his name was even etched into the very top of the memorial of heroes from the Fourth Great Ninja War. Kiyomi leaned against Naruto's chest while sobbing hysterically over the loss of her last remaining family member and he held her protectively as if he could save her from all of this heartbreak falling onto her shoulders. Sasuke's spirit had stuck around to watch his memorial sadly, considering his little sister was there.
No longer able to watch all of this heartbreak coming from his little sister that was normally such a happy-go-lucky and free spirited girl, he snapped his head away and looked up towards the heavens. It wasn't right that he had so selfishly taken his life when he damn well knew that it would rip Kiyomi to shreds, but he went ahead and had done it anyway. Beginning to make his way towards all of his brethren, he reminded himself of the full story of his life that he was about to share.
However, just as he was ascending to reunite with everyone in his clan and his family, his soul was latched onto by a powerful unseen force. Itachi then smiled at him from above and shook his head while mouthing words that Sasuke could read - thanks to his Rinnegan, "It's not your time yet, little brother. Do your best Sasuke and find love, but most importantly... live." Panic was all Sasuke could feel as his soul was yanked harsher and harsher until everything within sight... vanished.
Slowly his eyes opened and closed again, only for them to shoot open. Sasuke was quick to notice that he was completely nude while encased in some sort of odd appearing... glowing egg? The next thing he noticed was a man dressed rather oddly as he approached him and spoke in a language that he couldn't understand in the SLIGHTEST and he could barely hear him, but his Rinnegan read everything - which didn't really help at all, since he couldn't understand what he was saying.
The oddly dressed male then leaned forward and studied the male extensively while speaking in a rather baffled tone of voice, "What is this!? He has an etherious form... but, it's just in his eyes and it's always active!? All of my etherious should take on different monstrous forms! However, he doesn't only just hold curses, he holds MAGIC POWER as well!" Feeling two odd sorts of power inside of himself that was NOT chakra, Sasuke effectively began to freak the hell out.
Even with how terrified he was, his face didn't show it in the slightest. Blinking harshly, he realized that his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was now PERMANENT, much like his Rinnegan, and he was now seeing and sensing something that WASN'T chakra in the slightest. He had to get out of this contraption, so all he could think of was using his eyes for the freedom that he desired, only for the odd glowing egg to then gain a good dose of amaterasu to break him free and set him loose.
Coughing once he landed on the ground, the male approached and began speaking, "I must give you a name now..." Quickly noticing Sasuke's overly puzzled expression when he spoke, he then spoke again in the same language that Sasuke had NO DAMN IDEA as to what he was saying in the slightest and that confusion could clearly be seen, "What? Do you not understand me? I must have written the book wrong to not give him a voice of his own, or knowledge of our language!"
Finally, the Uchiha male scowled at this man as he clearly demanded, "What in the HELL are you even saying!? Speak words that I can understand!" Now the man that stood before him was even more shocked. This etherious... was now speaking in a language that even HE did not know. Pointing to himself, he then spoke out with an accent that Sasuke had never heard before, "Zeref Dragneel." Okay, progress has been made. So, his name was Zeref Dragneel, good to know that little fact.
Sasuke nodded at this and then pointed to himself, "Sasuke Uchiha..." No name had been manually written inside of his book as of yet. However, this etherious KNEW what his name was without even being gifted one from his creator. Going over Sasuke's book, Zeref's eyes became widened as blanks began to fill themselves out... but those blanks that were being automatically filled out... were also appearing in a different language that he had no clue how to even read in the slightest.
Flipping through the pages, he began to notice many different automatic changes in that same different language that he didn't know how to read at all, which only proved to make Zeref groan internally before tossing Sasuke a high collared black cloak with white outlining that held one long sleeve and no Uchiha clan ties, a strap of leather for his bicep, a pair of baggy black capris that he was slightly accustomed to, a brown fitted belt with a silver clasp, and black knee-high combat boots.
Placing the pants and boots on, Sasuke then motioned for a needle and thread, which was handed over once Sasuke pointed to red and white. Stitching the Uchiha crest on the back as quickly and effectively as he could, he zipped the top up and noticed that his old snake sword was now being handed to him. The same blade that he had taken his own life with was then taken and laced behind him before he noticed the male motioning for him to follow him, making Sasuke nod.
Following this man, he had no clue as to what he should even be expecting in the slightest. This land was foreign and strange appearing to him, hell it almost appeared as if he time traveled to the distant past with how vibrant and full of life everything was. I mean, it wasn't THAT different in the aspects of how green it was from when he traveled around with his team, except the fact that the land held plants that he didn't have the slightest clue as to what in the hell they were.
Peering his orbs around, Sasuke continued to notice as to how different the land was and compared it to when he had spent his time on the road to find Itachi. Internally smiling at the thought of Itachi's face, all Sasuke could do was continue to shift his eyes around suspiciously as if a band of rogue shinobi's, Deidara, Obito Uchiha, Madara Uchiha, or Kaguya Otsutsuki would attack the both of them at any given moment to end the world as they saw it fit.
Sensing Zeref come to a stop, Sasuke too then stopped and then suddenly froze with widened orbs the moment he witnessed something that he thought he never would bear witness to. Hell, Kabuto had claimed that he had shed his own skin and was now a dragon, but if he would have claimed that in front of this creature... then he would have been put to shame. Maybe what he was now seeing was one of THIS worlds tailed beasts? How could he possibly know otherwise?
Dragons didn't exist outside of summoning contracts in his old world, so he wasn't so sure if seeing one out and about was actually considered to be normal. Dragon summons were incredibly rare and when he had first witnessed one, it wasn't anything that appeared or did anything too special. In fact, the closest thing he had even seen that COULD be considered an actual dragon would've been his own attack... "Kirin", the lightning he tamed to take the form of a dragon.
If the summons... or even Kirin... had looked like this, he was pretty damn sure that no one would have put up a fight during the Fourth Great Ninja War and would have ran away out of sheer fear. This crimson colored monstrosity would have even scared the life out of Kaguya and Madara, which is startling to even consider. He was even pretty positive that this dragon would have scared the Sage of Six Paths to the point where he felt just as small and insignificant as he now felt.
Zeref then began to speak in that odd language towards the dragon that laid in front of them with a pink haired little boy beside him while practicing how to write, "Igneel, I need your assistance once more. My newest etherious already had a name before I had even thought of one to write down and he's always in his etherious form... which merely only changes his eyes. The most troubling is the fact that he knows a language that I don't understand, and he appears confused."
The crimson dragon then peered at the short haired raven and hummed, "That is quite interesting. So, what is his name and what are you wishing for me to do?" Zeref then answered while Sasuke's face remained completely and entirely unreadable, "I would like for you to teach him how to speak, read, and write our language. As for his name, it is Sasuke Uchiha. I will leave him in your charge so that you can teach him, while giving Natsu an older brother that isn't me."
Igneel then nodded his head and spoke in return, "Very well." Zeref then peered at Sasuke and pointed at the crimson dragon, "Igneel." Dragons that weren't summons and were completely capable of speaking shocked him enough, but he nodded and committed it to memory that this dragon's name was Igneel. They had such strange names that he wasn't used to in the slightest, but he could only continue to watch the pink haired child that acted so much... like Naruto.
With that, Zeref turned towards Sasuke and pointed at the ground before holding his hands up to make him stay. All he could do was nod that he understood the motion and that made Zeref turn to leave. Once out of sight, Igneel turned his head towards the rambunctious pink haired boy that had seemed to have caught the male's focus entirely and called out to him, "Hey, Natsu! Come here, would you!" The child's head popped up like a puppy and he rushed over happily, "Yeah, dad!?"
Sasuke was slowly catching onto some words, but not nearly enough to hold a conversation and sound as if he were actually educated and intelligent. Igneel then glanced towards the spiky headed raven and motioned to him, "This is Sasuke, Natsu. He is your new older brother, but he doesn't know our language at all. So, start slow with him, alright?" Natsu then jumped happily that he now had a sibling and waved cheerfully, "Okay dad! Hello big brother, my name is Natsu!"
Thanking the gods that he wasn't a complete dunce and learned how to pick things up fairly easily, Sasuke smiled softly due to Natsu's resemblance to Naruto, "My name is Sasuke." Igneel's head slightly shifted in confusion, but Sasuke tapped the side of his head as if he were already picking the words up with much ease, which was impressive to say the least. Natsu smiled brightly and rushed towards the teen that was now deemed his older brother and hugged him, "This is awesome!"
"Ugh, Natsu! Dad, miss Anna, AND me taught you how to write this correctly far too many times now! I'm not even a native from these lands and I can now speak your language, read in the same language, and write without making a mistake! Now do it again," the Uchiha male internally sighed softly and scowled. This kid acted so much like Naruto that it was FREAKING ridiculous! He just supposed that there was someone exactly like Naruto wherever you went.
The rambunctious little boy then huffed heavily and whined, "Big brother, you're just too smart! Help me, will ya!?" Sasuke then chuckled and motioned the child over to him, which made his face instantly brighten up before jogging towards him. It was finally his turn to do this as the big brother! Sasuke then held his index and middle finger up to poke Natsu's forehead, making him wince, stumble backwards, and hold his forehead; making Sasuke chuckle, "Maybe next time, Natsu."
Damn, this now felt like a blast from the past, considering Natsu whined out while tenderly rubbing his poked forehead, "Hrm... You're ALWAYS saying that, big brother!" Sasuke smiled softly and folded his arms, "Hn, just do it. I have to take you in dad's place to see all of the other dragon slayers, but we aren't leaving until you spell this correctly. Slow down and think about how it is spelled." The little ball of fire then nodded and slowed down as instructed to FINALLY spell it correctly.
Lightly clapping his hands, Natsu gained a bright face, "I did it right!?" Nodding his head, Sasuke then held his hand out and Natsu rushed up before lifted onto his big brother's back, "You did a good job Natsu." - "Thanks, big brother!" Walking to where he was instructed to walk, Natsu then leaned forward and brushed the long portion of his brother's bangs away before poking beside both of Sasuke's eyes, "Big brother, why do you have CRAZY eyes!?" Well, that didn't feel insulting at all.
Pulling his bangs back over his left eye, Sasuke hummed to think about his answer. I mean... he couldn't exactly say "Well, technically, both of my eyes are my brother's eyes; but the Sage of Six Paths gave me my left eye and my right eye is due to my lineage as an Uchiha that was REINCARNATED from the sage's eldest son, Indra." He could only imagine the confusion THAT explanation would give poor Natsu to the point that his brain began to lose cells at a rapid pace before liquifying.
Igneel had been made aware of Sasuke's true lineage and where he had come from. The dragon actually believed such a far-fetched tale and found it to be a completely acceptable answer, which Sasuke had been more than thankful for. He had been even MORE thankful that the fire dragon king had been willing to take this secret to the grave with him. Well, from what he had been told, Igneel was going to be sealed into Natsu's body; so, he would be incapable of telling anyone anyway.
As they approached the meeting grounds, Sasuke finally had an answer for his little brother as he gave a soft chuckle, "Well, I was born like this. It's rude that you are saying that I have CRAZY eyes, Natsu! What if I had said to you, "Why do you have such freakishly pink hair?" I would imagine that you would feel rather insulted and hurt." Pausing slightly, Sasuke then took Itachi's words, "Natsu, you should never judge someone by their appearance, or by your own preconceptions either."
With how many big words that Sasuke had just tossed out there, silence was all the short haired raven actually heard. Blinking slightly, he shifted his head to look at the pink haired little brother he had gained and sweat dropped immensely. Oh, the clear dumbfounded confusion that was written all over his face was so laughable, considering he then blurted out, "PRE...CON-WHAT!? BIG BROTHER, WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!? IT ALMOST SOUNDS LIKE A MEAN WORD!"
Oh, he was about to make Natsu about five-THOUSAND times more confused as he internally snickered and answered, "Preconception, Natsu. It means a preconceived idea or prejudice." Natsu lived up to Sasuke's standards at that damn moment as he blurted out, "...Pre...con... uhhh... pre...ju... GRAH! BIG BROTHER, NOW I'M EVEN MORE CONFUSED!" Sasuke then came to a stop since they were at their destination and sat Natsu down, only to hear their teacher laughing hysterically.
Considering Sasuke had to be taught from page one, miss Anna had been his teacher as well. Anna wiped a tear from her eye as she approached the two and knelt down to Natsu, "Natsu, I do believe that I remember myself and Sasuke teaching you these words. Preconceived, it means to have an idea or opinion of a matter, or a person formed before having any evidence to prove these statements to be correct. Prejudice means an opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience."
Sasuke bowed towards his teacher politely at that moment, "Miss Anna, I'm glad to see you in such good health." Anna then smiled at this teen that had a mind so brilliant that he picked up on everything so incredibly quick that he didn't need to be in her class for too long before he could hold a conversation with ease, read books with no problems, and write letters to others perfectly. It wasn't only that though. The boy was a genius when it came to creating magic and teaching it as well.
With how smart he was, Anna now had Sasuke helping her teach all of the dragon slayer children magic, combat, and vocabulary. He came in quite handy when class became a bit too rowdy for her to control them all by herself. When it came to it, Sasuke basically became Natsu's at home teacher concerning his magic power and how to read and write when Igneel had to go away for a bit, only to make reports on the pink haired dummy's progress so that Igneel didn't have to worry.
She was also the only other to know of his secret, which she also planned to keep under lock and key so that he didn't have to stress. Bowing politely in return as Natsu disregarded the vocabulary lesson just given to him, Anna then chuckled the moment she noticed the raven haired teen snag the back of his little brother's attire to hold him still, "Yes, I am faring quite well Sasuke. You appear in quite good health as well! However, I must ask... why are you holding Natsu like that?"
Giving a dreaded expression, Sasuke knew with how much Natsu was like Naruto... it was in one ear and out the other, so he tested him, "Natsu, can you tell me what preconception, preconceived, and prejudice mean?" Freezing his body up, Natsu then rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I uh... you know... the-uh-thing..." Go figure. Anna was amazed when Sasuke sat Natsu down and began to drill him over and over again so that he knew these words in the future.
Etherious or not, Anna adored having the rather bland teen around. The one thing that she always witnessed was the weakness he held for Natsu... and one day he finally opened up and told her as to why he held such a weakness. Family meant a lot to him and that was quite commendable, but the main reason was due to the fact that he had once held a best friend that had acted JUST like Natsu, and his name had been Naruto. He was rowdy and never knew when to give up either.
Each time Sasuke had to drill Natsu over a word, she found it hilarious that he had found a loophole to actually MAKE the child focus. He made it a game and the first to get it wrong, lost that game. With how Natsu acted, he took those games head on and was always BOUND and DETERMINED to win that game. As all of the children began showing up, Sasuke stood with Anna and listened to Gajeel putting Natsu down over his pink hair; only to hear something they'd never forget.
"You fire breathing pink haired freak!" Gajeel yelled, making Natsu turn around with a serious gaze once he spoke, "Gajeel, you should never judge someone by their appearance, or by your own preconceptions either." Considering the fact that he had easily just said "preconception" made Anna slightly chuckle and smile towards Sasuke, "Sasuke, might I ask as to where you picked up a line as profound as that one?" Sasuke then tilted his head down, "My big brother, Itachi, used to say it."
Nodding her head and giving an apologetic smile, Anna's long platinum blonde locks blew in the wind as she spoke, "My, he sounds like such a profound and wise teacher and probably taught you many lessons before his time came to pass." Not really knowing to say to that, all he could really do was smile sadly and give the gentle reply of, "That means a lot... especially coming from one as wise as you..." Nodding her head in an understanding manner, Anna simply left it at that.
Igneel had finally come home after a short couple of months to hear Natsu yell out, "FIRE DRAGON... ROAR!" Along with that came the sound of a whack upside the head, closely followed by whining, "Ow, ow, ow! Big brother, why did you do that!?" Sasuke had been drilling his little brother as hard and as fast as he possibly could at this point so that he could survive four-hundred years in the future with no problems so to speak of, "Natsu, watch me closely."
Natsu watched close as Sasuke took in a sharp breath... and out of instinct called out, "FIRE STYLE: FIREBALL JUTSU!" He watched massive balls of fire were then shot into the sky to create a cumulonimbus, making Sasuke smirk and hold his hand up into the air before calling out, "COME, KIRIN!" The dragon shaped lightning came straight down, making Natsu baffled and starstruck over what he was now seeing before squealing out joyously, "BIG BROTHER, THAT'S AWESOME!"
Watching Natsu's glistening orbs had Sasuke's eyes softening to the extreme as he led Kirin over to his little brother, but did instruct, "Don't touch, Natsu." Nodding his head, he then tilted his head slightly, "Hey... wait a second... you said fire style: fireball jutsu... what kind of magic is THAT!?" Internally sweat dropping, he then chuckled almost nervously, "I made it up. Pretty cool sounding, huh?" This had Natsu nodding abruptly as he shifted his gaze to stare at the dragon.
"Big brother, why is it not doing anything!?" Natsu's baffled tone rang out, making Sasuke glance towards the dragon before smirking at his dummy of a little brother, "I, little brother, have tamed lightning." He could CLEARLY see all of the confusion in the world radiating off of his brother's face as he blurted out, "You TAMED lightning!? How in the HECK did ya-" - "you..." Sasuke corrected Natsu's slang before the younger continued, "HOW IN THE HECK DID YOU DO THAT!?"
Igneel watched in fascination and awe. Sasuke wasn't lying in the slightest... he actually HAD managed to TAME lightning. Sasuke chuckled at Natsu before giving his rather beat around the bush reply, "A lot of training and practice. Now, ready to see what Kirin can do?" Natsu nodded his head in an absolutely mesmerized state of mind, only for Sasuke to point to the top of the mountain, "GO KIRIN! WITH THE THUNDERCLAP, BEGONE!" That lightning shaped dragon then shot off.
Natsu began to blink rapidly in a confused manner, "Nothing's happen-" Right then, that dragon shot down and a beyond MASSIVE thunderstrike to the peak of the mountain collided for it to demolish the entire structure that nature had created. The younger of the two appeared baffled at this and his mouth now gaped wide open. Turning towards his brother, Natsu jumped on him, "YOU ARE SO COOL BIG BROTHER! YOU HAVE TO TEACH ME THAT TOO! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!?"
Rubbing the back of his head, he then sighed, "I wish that I could, but you are a fire dragon slayer. So, why don't we start with that roar again?" Natsu huffed as his older brother sat him down, "I'm out of magic power though!" Humming and tapping his chin, Sasuke pulled one of Madara's moves, "Get ready to eat little brother! FIRE STYLE: MAJESTIC DESTROYER FLAME!" A MASS amount of flames shot towards Natsu and slammed into his body, only for him to guzzle it down.
"Guh... I'm SO full now! I haven't eaten THAT fast since Tuesday!" Natsu belched out, making Sasuke close his eyes and try not to laugh... considering today WAS Tuesday. Calming his inner laughter, he opened his eyes and knelt down to Natsu to place a hand on his stomach, "Now take in a deep breath to build up all of that magic that I just gave you. When you feel the immense heat buildup in your belly, then release it like you MEAN it! Come on, I believe that you CAN do it!"
Hearing his big brother's words of wisdom, Natsu nodded and took in a deep breath as Sasuke placed a bit of pressure on his little brother's stomach. Sliding a foot back, Natsu then really called out, "FIRE DRAGON... ROAR!" The flames were massive, and Sasuke grinned at Natsu, whom now held an ecstatic facial expression, "B-BIG BROTHER, I DID IT! I FINALLY DID IT! THAT WAS SO AWESOME, WASN'T IT!? MY NAME IS NATSU UCHIHA AND I'VE GOT A FIRE IN MY BELLY!"
That made Sasuke lift his brows in surprise, but ended up smiling and chuckling softly before picking Natsu up, "And what a talented Uchiha you are." It was almost fitting that Natsu carried the Uchiha surname due to fire being his first initial chakra nature- er- magical power. From that day forth, Natsu REFUSED to be called Dragneel and insisted on being called Natsu Uchiha... which surprisingly did not bother Sasuke in the slightest. He was proud to call Natsu his little brother.
Natsu was a bit of home in the form of Naruto. However, one day Zeref came to one of the classes that Anna and Sasuke were teaching. Sasuke actually insisted on helping Natsu, Wendy, and Gajeel the most due to the fact that it reminded him of Team Seven COMPLETELY. Natsu was his bright Naruto, Wendy was his Sakura with how she healed people, and Gajeel acted just like he once had - too cocky as if no one could ever reach him; but held many insecurities that were hidden by lies.
Sweat dropping slightly, he could only think about the rivalry that Naruto and he had once held as he watched Natsu and Gajeel going down that same exact path. Motioning to his little brother, he nodded, "Alright Natsu, let me see your roar, talon, and iron fist." Natsu took in a sharp breath as Sasuke had taught him and felt his magic begin to boil before calling it out, "FIRE DRAGON... ROAR!" Wendy appeared slightly startled while Gajeel ignored such an impressive attack.
Yup... this was Naruto and himself all over again, no doubt about it. As Natsu finished, Zeref's eyes widened once he heard Natsu holler out, "I AM NATSU UCHIHA, DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE ME!" The fact that Natsu even knew what underestimate even meant was shocking enough, but his surname... the Dragneel surname should still be present in HIS younger brother's name. Furious, he whistled to Sasuke just as he was about to help Wendy strengthen her abilities; but held his finger up.
Walking over to Zeref, Sasuke gave a polite bow of respect, "Good afternoon Zeref, what can I help you with?" Hearing nothing, he erected his form to see just how mad this cursed teen was and had to wonder if this was how he had always appeared to others when he hadn't been one of the sanest of people on the block. Anna then peered over to see Zeref quietly yelling at Sasuke, but all could hear his furious quiet rantings over the given topic at hand.
"Do NOT change my little brother's birth given name of Dragneel, ESU! Yes, you might be my ACE to take my immortal life, but that gives you no right to change Natsu's surname," the black wizard "softly" snarled out. Sighing heavily as if dreading this little conversation and the way it had been worded due to the fact that his shortened etherious title actually sounded like "ace" if said fast enough. Looking into Zeref's furious orbs, Sasuke then exclaimed, "I did no such thing."
Zeref was only growing more and more furious as he finally yelled out, "DO YOU WISH FOR ME TO DESTROY YOUR BOOK!?" Sasuke had already turned back to his little class; but turned his head back with a darkened snarky smirk as if knowing that he would never do such a thing to begin with before chuckling and speaking in a tone that matched his look, "Go right on ahead and be my guest. However, I know that you won't do such an outlandish thing, because I am your said... ACE."
Boiling with rage, he now knew how to get back at his creation without breaking his demon book. Rank wise with his demon books, Sasuke stood side by side with END; but as of this moment... he stood leaps and bounds in front of END and could even destroy him if he so desired. Just like END... ESU was human to begin with. However, there were a few things that he could do to royally screw the cocky Uchiha male over and make him regret ever speaking back to him - his creator.
As for END, all he had to do was rewrite his memories right before he entered the Eclipse Gate the next day... which came far faster than either had planned. Originally, Zeref had planned to lead Natsu through the gate... but he was nowhere to be found and that merely made Sasuke release a rather heavy sigh and whisper out, "Miss Anna, I will go ahead and take Natsu, Wendy, and Gajeel through the gate after the Dragon Soul Technique." Anna nodded and gave her profound thanks.
Once the Dragon Soul Technique had been completed and the gate had opened, they all began walking through the gate with Wendy and Natsu clinging to his hands. However,... something did not go as planned and Anna actually WATCHED as Sasuke became no more than seven years old and probably only a few months older than Natsu. The sudden shift made the Eclipse Gate suddenly shoot all of the children out of gate at a such a high speed that she lost track of them ALL.
Landing in the year X777, Anna began to look around frantically as one of her descendants stepped forward to greet her and give her name - Layla. However, she had thought that maybe since they were all now children, they had just arrived sooner than her. Looking at her descendant, she hurriedly spoke, "What year is it and where are the children!?" Nodding her head, Layla then answered, "The year is X777, and we saw no children... there were multiple streaks of light though..."
The king then nodded at this before adding in his two cents, "Yes... it was quite startling, but look at the ceiling... if that was them, then they shot straight through it..." In complete panic mode now, Anna hastily placed a traveling cape on and bowed, "I must go and search for the children right this moment, there is not a moment to spare! They are merely children and I have no luxury in saying that all good things will come in due time as of now!" Both nodded and said their farewells.
Rushing around was all Anna could do. She didn't have any of her gate keys and couldn't call upon a single one to help her out in the search, so moving forward on foot was all she could possibly do as of now. She only hoped and now prayed that all of the children were safe... especially when it came to Sasuke. She was sure that all of this was Zeref's doing, but she couldn't understand why. She had heard their argument; but didn't think that anything negative would come from it.
Sasuke groaned as he scowled and sat up in one pissed off mood for a seven year old to even be in. All he knew was that his name was Sasuke Uchiha and he had extensive knowledge of magic... yet didn't know how he knew any of these factors in the slightest. Sitting there as he remembered his murdered parents, tears filled his eyes, but they were quickly swiped away. He didn't know anyone, and he was completely alone. For weeks... he sat there doing absolutely nothing.
Weakened as of now, he sat there dully as rain began to pour out of the skies to drench his attire that had magically shifted with the rapid change of the size of his body. Hearing footsteps, Sasuke weakly glanced up to see a short old man holding his hand out to him before speaking, "You are rather young to be out here all by yourself. Why not come back to my guildhall to get out of the rain and get some food into your belly. I am sure that you will fit in with the rest of the children!"
Taking the man's hand, the seven year old was then helped to stand. As he followed the elderly man, he then hummed out, "My name is Makarov, Fairy Tail's third guild master." What in the HELL was this old man even RAMBLING ON about!? Coming to a stop in front of the guildhall, Makarov then pointed at the guild, "Welcome to Fairy Tail. What might your name be?" Sasuke then shot a darkened gaze towards this man, but did answer, "Sasuke... Sasuke Uchiha."
Nodding his head at this, Makarov then smiled, "How about it, would you like to come in?" Sasuke had no damn clue as to what a guild was, but he shifted his eyes forward and only spoke two words in a painfully dark tone, "Yeah, sure..." Walking inside, he noticed two boys fighting while two girls fought. Being lightly patted on the back to move forward, he walked to a table and sat down quietly as food was brought to him. As he ate silently, Makarov explained as to what the guild was.
Unsure if Sasuke even knew how to use magic despite his MASS reserves of magical power, he then asked, "This is Fairy Tail, we are a wizard guild. We are a place where wizards band together to find work. So, tell me Sasuke; do you know how to use magic?" Shooting his cold orbs towards the two boys bickering like cats and dogs, he shot his hand out and a burst of light blue lightning separated the rowdy two before answering in no form of a question, "Does that answer you..."
"Ah, so you use lightning," the elderly man spoke out, trying to pry answers out of the pissed off appearing young boy that no longer had his "crazy" eyes. In fact, his eyes were now a regular onyx coloration. As Sasuke finished his meal, he then propped his elbows on the table to lace his hands in front of his face, "I use lightning, fire, wind, earth, water, ice, yin, and inferno. Any OTHER questions?" Makarov could hear how agitated he was, but asked one last thing, "How about joining?"
He supposed it would be better than doing NOTHING, so he agreed and had his bare right shoulder branded with a black Fairy Tail emblem. Those two boys that he had separated were so ticked off at this new kid. He had gained popularity inside of the guild and outside of the guild so quickly that it wasn't even funny to think about. The stripping boy that constantly repulsed Sasuke then approached him and slammed his hand on the table that he now sat at, "Boy, you have some nerve!"
Sasuke merely lifted his brow in an agitated fashion before simply scoffing. The boy then grew even more frustrated and just blurted out, "YOU COULD AT LEAST INTRODUCE YOURSELF! HERE, LET ME GO FIRST PRINCESS! MY NAME IS GRAY FULLBUSTER!" Hearing how Gray now spoke to him, merely had him slightly shifting his eyes towards him, "My name... is Sasuke Uchiha. Are you satisfied now...?" It was obvious that he was FABULOUS at stating questions instead of asking.
Once a few days passed by him, the second boy got on the table in front of his face while the girls that were around their age swooned over him nonstop over how "cool" he was with the way he acted, only to become furious and yell out, "NATSU, GET OUT OF SASUKE'S FACE!" The pink haired dummy then huffed, "Hey there! My name's Natsu Dragneel!" His tone was far too bright for someone as engulfed in the darkness as he was, but he humored the kid and replied, "Sasuke Uchiha."
Right at that moment, Natsu was hit by one of the angry girl's and knocked him forward to lock lips with Sasuke. Both INSTANTLY yanked away and began to gag furiously over THAT little transaction of saliva. For some reason... he felt protective of this boy and stood up to gain some distance, yet he was followed by him as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Sorry about that! So, do you mind if I ask you a few questions? I'm looking for my dad! Maybe you've seen him before!"
Sitting by the river in Magnolia, Sasuke sighed heavily and managed to nod, "Sure... what's his name and what does he look like?" Natsu then sat beside the boy and frowned, "Well... he wasn't my real dad. He found me when I was young and took me and one other in... my brother... I can't find him either and I don't remember much about him. He's a fire dragon and his name is Igneel!" That made Sasuke internally sad about the brother part, but shook his head, "Never heard of him."
Natsu began to blink rapidly and stared at the onyx eyed child before speaking in a rather baffled tone, "Wait, you... you actually believe me?" Sasuke then glanced over at him from the corner of his eyes and scoffed lightly, "I don't see any given reason for you to actually lie to me about such things if you're trying to find him no matter the cost. Besides, I'm in the same boat as you when it comes to a missing brother. I can't remember my little brother at all. We weren't related either."
Giving a burst of chipper laughter, Natsu then pat Sasuke's back, "How ironic! I remember how he talks, and you sound exactly like him when you talk! I only learned as much as I know now because of him... it-it hurts that he's not here now. He used to scold me for saying "ya" instead of "you", which is funny in my opinion. I'm sure that you have very similar memories that you just haven't remembered yet! If only I remembered what he looked like... that could be my starting point."
Well, Sasuke could understand that much, because he couldn't remember what his little brother looked like in the slightest; but he did remember some of his personality quirks. Leaning back on his hands, his frown shifted from side to side, "My little brother was always bright and outgoing, a lot like you. There wasn't a single moment in the day where he wasn't smiling. He idolized me and I helped him become as strong as he possibly could at his age. He... he was precious to me."
"You know what Sasuke? I think you're the first person that I've fully told about my older brother. I have to say, you keep up a pretty tough face; but in my eyes... you have a smile hiding and it's just waiting to shine," the pink haired young boy beamed while smiling brightly. Sasuke then glanced at him and tried to smile... but found it incredibly difficult due to what had just been said, making his eyes fill with tears, "M-My little brother used to say the same thing to me..."
After that day, Natsu and Sasuke became very close friends and did just about everything together. Sasuke never let anyone except Natsu too close to his highly guarded heart. Gray began to notice how his rival, Natsu, was now spending more time with Sasuke rather than challenging him to fight so that the both of them could become stronger... together. Now, he more or less felt alone even though Natsu had offered to hang out with them both. Gray, however, wasn't willing to share.