Kaerizaki
By The Ambitious Blank
Disclaimer- Naruto still is not mine. --;
Comments- Yay, people like this fic. :D That makes me happy. So far it's coming out decently, pretty much as I had planned it. But.. be warned, people, it's not going to be total fluff, especially near the end. As for a few of your questions..
Well, let's just say it's all one big maaaayyyybeeeeee. n.n
Before the chapter begins.. Sasuke and Naruto are now eight and entering the Academy. I may or may not stretch their Academy years over a few chapters. For those who aren't good at math, the current ages of everyone are:
Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Gaara, Sakura, etc. (all the twelve-year-old rookies): 28
Iruka: 41
Kakashi: 42
Itachi: 33
Tsunade and Jiraiya: 66
Rock Lee, Neji, Tenten: 29
Konohamaru and the Konohamaru Corps: 24 (Now that's just wierd. Konohamaru and co. will come in later.)
--Chapter 3- Reunion! A Familiar Face Returns!
"Hey.. why do you keep coming back here? I thought there was nothing here for you anymore. Especially after Sasuke almost bested you in the last fight you had eight years ago, after he became a Jounin."
"..."
"Hey, answer me."
"..there's something wrong."
"Wrong? What do you mean?"
"It's Sasuke.. something's changed about him."
"What the hell do you mean? I don't get it."
"..neither do I."
----
"Naruto! Naruto, c'mon, we're gonna be late for our first day of school!!" Sasuke yelled, knocking on the door of Sakura's apartment. "We can't be late, or else Iruka-sensei's gonna scold us!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming! Hey, Mooommmm! Do you know where my goggles went?"
"They're on your head, Naruto." Sakura's voice pointed out. There was a pause, and then a sheepish Naruto responded back.
"Oh yeah, huh?" He laughed and then there was a scuffle, a loud crash, Sakura's voice telling him to be more careful, and then the door was flung open, and Sasuke jumped back as Naruto almost charged right into him.
"Watch it!" He yelled. Naruto smirked.
"Naruto! What about breakfast?" Sakura called after him. Naruto turned and stuck her tongue out at her.
"I don't want any of your icky miso!" He called back, and then laughing as the Haruno woman shouted curses after him, ran over to the stairs and slid down the railing, landing easily into the street below and taking off toward the Academy. Sasuke sighed.
"Doesn't even bother to wait for me.." He muttered, and hurled himself over the railing, landing on the street below with the grace of a cat, dashing after and quickly closing the gap between them.
Sakura watched him from the doorway, arms crossed.
"He really hasn't changed all that much.." She murmured thoughtfully, then smiled and went back inside.
----
The door to the classroom was flung open, and the two eight-year-old boys slid inside. Naruto tripped and fell on his face, and the entire class laughed. Naruto stood up and grinned sheepishly, while Sasuke just looked embarrassed. Iruka turned from the podium where he was standing, role call sheet in hand. His dark eyes widened at the sight of the two.. they looked exactly the same as they had when he'd had them in the Academy so many years ago.
Sure, he knew about the physical appearance.. he'd gone and visited them at their respective houses several times, and had even run around with them in the park on a few days when he was free from work. But the expressions they had, their personalities, even in those few seconds, were almost identical to what they would have been a long time ago. Iruka put a hand to his chest as a strange twinge tugged at his heart. Sighing, he smiled at them.
"Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. Really, Naruto, this is the kind of behavior I expected from you, but not from you, Sasuke." He said, putting his hands on his hips. Sasuke moved in front of Naruto protectively, taking the other boy's hand into his.
"I.. I wanted to walk him to school." He stammered, still blushing because some of the class was still giggling at him. "Umm, 'cause.. I was worried he might get himself hurt or something."
"Alright, alright.. I won't mark you late because it's your first day. Go have a seat, you two.. take the two seats between Kazue and Takeshi." He pointed to the front row. Two children waved at them, and they moved quickly to take their seats. There was a girl with dark auburn hair, green eyes, and.. fangs? Naruto blinked, then realized why. The red marks on her face, beneath her eyes.. she was an Inuzuka. The boy sitting three seats away had dark, black hair that shone almost violet in the light. It was combed over to one side, barely covering his right eye, which Naruto could see had a scar over it. His left eye was completely white.. a Hyuuga. The girl smiled as Naruto took a seat next to her.
"Hi!" She said, beaming. "I'm Inuzuka Kazue! Oh, and this is Shiromaru." She gestured to a white wolf puppy that was sitting on the desk in front of her. The wolf glanced to the two boys with its bright blue eyes, yawned widely, and then laid it's head back down and fell asleep. Kazue sighed and prodded him.
"Shiromaru, we aren't the Nara clan! Don't be so lazy! Say hello or something!"
The pup opened one eye to stare at her, and then turned away. Meanwhile, Sasuke was looking at the person he was sitting next to. Judging from the bandages around his head, he was a Hyuuga from the Branch House, Sasuke noted. The boy turned to glance at him.
"Hello." He said, a bit shyly. "I'm Hyuuga Takeshi." Sasuke nodded in greeting to him. The boy smiled a little, then glanced back to the front, where Iruka was beginning to speak. Sasuke elbowed Naruto, who was too busy trying to get Kuromaru to wake up to notice the teacher. Naruto growled in protest, but glanced down to Iruka.
[ A/N: A quick note. No, Takeshi and Kazue are not the children of Naruto and Sasuke's friends.. it wouldn't make any sense at this point.. 'cause they would have had to been born in the same year as Naruto and Sasuke were reborn. n.n; And since I failed to mention that, those two are children of other members of their respective clans. Naruto and Sasuke's friends' children will come in later, but they'll be Konohamaru's age compared to Naruto and Sasuke. ]
"Today, we'll be learning the basics of becoming a full-fledged shinobi!" Iruka said, pointing to a sketch of a human on the chalkboard. "There are two types of energy. Body energy, and energy you get from training. Now, these two together form your chakra.."
Naruto sighed and stopped paying attention. He and Sasuke knew the basics already. Sakura had explained it to them both. Yawning widely, he put his head down on the desk. Kazue blinked at him.
"Hey, aren't you gonna pay attention?" She asked, softly. Naruto glanced at her.
"Nah, I've already learned all this."
An eraser came flying through the air and hit Naruto squarely on the head. Naruto jerked in surprise and looked up. Iruka was glaring at him, hands on his hips.
"Naruto! Pay attention!" He said, sharply. The class giggled. Naruto looked around him, blushing, then glanced to Sasuke, who had his hand over his mouth and was trying to stifle his laughter.
"Oh, not you too, Sasuke.." He whined, putting his head back down and watching the teacher disinterestedly. Sasuke reached over and rubbed at Naruto's forehead. The blonde child jerked up and glared.
"What are you doing?!" He hissed. Sasuke smiled, stifling more laughter with his hand.
"You had chalk dust on your forehead." He said. Naruto blinked and went cross-eyed, trying to see. Takeshi, Kazue, and Sasuke giggled softly. Iruka gave an audible, heavy sigh from the front and turned around.
"Naruto, Takeshi, Kazue, and Sasuke! Outside, now! I'll talk to you in a minute. Naruto, Kazue, I expected this kind of behavior from you, but Takeshi, Sasuke.. I'm very disappointed in you both." Sasuke and Takeshi just hung their heads and trudged outside, trying to ignore the class' laughter. Naruto and Kazue 'hmph'ed softly and stood up to storm outside, Shiromaru on Kazue's heels. Iruka put his hands on his hips. As Naruto passed him, the Uzumaki boy looked up and laughed.
"You look just like an angry mother hen, Iruka-sensei." He said, grinning widely as Iruka's face turned a dark shade of red, dodging a bop aimed at his head, and dashed outside as the class burst out laughing again.
-----
"This is all your fault, Naruto!" Kazue whined. "If you hadn't been disruptive in the first place.."
"Yeah, but you were the one who was talkin' to me when he threw that eraser at me!" Naruto argued back. Takeshi looked uncomfortable with all the arguing. Sasuke sighed. Naruto turned on him next.
"And you! Did you hafta start touching my head like that! You coulda just told me there was stuff on my head!" He said, loudly. Takeshi made a half-hearted attempt to shush him, but it went completely ignored. Sasuke stared at Naruto for a moment, then smiled and reached out, rubbing at his head again.
"There's still some chalk dust on you." He said. The four children stared at each other, and then burst out laughing. The door slammed open, and they quickly flattened themselves against the wall, all of them stifling their giggles. Iruka glared at them.
"What am I supposed to do with you all?!" He demanded, putting a hand to his forehead. "You're disruptive even when I send you outside!" He sighed, looking around.
"Problems, Iruka-sensei?" Chouji was passing by, pausing to blink at his old teacher. "You have worry lines all over your face again." He pointed out. The four giggled again. Iruka glared at them.
"Chouji, can I ask you to do me a favor and escort these four to the Hokage? They were being extremely disruptive in class, and still are being disruptive.. we can still hear them inside the classroom." He said. Chouji gave a faint smile and knelt down in front of the four kids, looking them all in the eye. Takeshi looked away. Naruto and Kazue glared. Sasuke just looked cutely confused. Chouji chuckled and nodded, standing up and ruffling Kazue's hair, earning a glare from the girl.
"Sure, I'll take 'em." He said, and turned to head down the hallway. The four (five, if you count Shiromaru), trudged after him. As they exited the classroom and began down the street toward where the Hokage's office was, Naruto stopped to glance at a sign in a restaurant window. Quickly, he turned to the other three.
"Hey, hey! Give me your lunch money!" He hissed. The other three blinked at him.
"W.. what??" Sasuke demanded, putting his hands in his pockets to keep Naruto from reaching into them. "No way!"
"No, I have an idea to keep us from getting to the Hokage!" Naruto whispered, holding out his hand. Kazue looked to the sign, and then grinned, digging into her pockets and handing Naruto a wad of bills and some change. Naruto counted it. Takeshi, after reading the sign as well, fished out his own money and handed it over. Sasuke blinked and looked at the window, then grinned as he realized what Naruto was up to. He pulled out the money Ino gave him and gave it to the blonde, who smirked and trotted to catch up to Chouji.
"Hey, hey.. Chouji-sensei!" He said, holding up the money. "We're sorry for making you go to the trouble of taking us to Hokage-sama.. so we'll buy you some Korean barbeque!" He grinned, pointing to the sign. Chouji blinked and turned to look at the poster in the restaurant's window.
It was an all-you-can eat day.
Chouji grinned.
----
"Hm, I wonder why they never came back.. I don't think Hokage-sama would have been that angry.." Iruka mused quietly as he walked down the street toward the Hokage's office. He'd left Kakashi in charge of the class as he went out to look for the children. "Chouji's responsible enough, right..?" He casually glanced in the window of the Korean barbeque restaurant. Chouji and the four children, plus Shiromaru, were all sitting in a booth and cooking their meat on the grill built into the table. Kazue was slipping pieces of it to her puppy, Naruto was stuffing his face, Takeshi was trying not to burn himself, and Sasuke was cautiously blowing on his bit of food to cool it down. Iruka smiled and continued walking.
"Haha.. they're so cute."
He froze.
"Wait just a minute..!!" He took several steps back, staring at the scene.
"CHOOOUUJJJJIII!!"
----
As it turned out, Chouji got into more trouble than the kids did. Tsunade was scolding him severely for taking a bribe of food. "And from children, no less!" She'd turned to the children and told them to stop disrupting class or she'd come down there herself. They'd all nodded and ran from her office.
"Hahaha! Ahh, did you see Chouji-sensei's face??" Kazue crowed, grinning widely. Naruto gave her a high five.
"Yeah! He was in such deep trouble!" He said, laughing. "He knew he was screwed.. did you see Hokage-sama's face?? She was so pissed!"
"G-guys, I dunno.. that was kinda mean." Takeshi said, softly. "I mean.. Chouji-sensei can't help it, right..?"
"Eh, his fault." Kazue said casually, folding her arms behind her head. "He should have known better." She snorted. Sasuke nodded.
"Chouji-sensei's a good ninja, but he needs to learn to get his mind off food every once in a while." He said. Naruto clapped him on the back.
"Exactly!" He said, loudly. Sasuke sighed and rubbed his back.
"Hey, hey! Do you guys wanna come play with us in the park today? Maybe we can find Lee-san again!" Naruto said, grinning. Kazue nodded eagerly, and Takeshi shifted on his feet.
"Yeah, that sounds like fun!" Kazue said. "I gotta run home and ask my mom if it's okay, but I'll meet you there!" She said, smiling, and then turned and dashed off down the street with Shiromaru on her heels. Takeshi managed a small smile himself.
"I gotta go ask, too.. but I'm sure it'll be okay." He ran off in another direction. "See you guys there!"
"C'mon, Sasuke, we can go to my house.. my mom said your mom was coming over today, so we'll ask them there." Naruto said, grinning. Sasuke nodded, and the two boys ran off down the street.
They were completely unaware of the pair of blood red eyes that watched them from a rooftop.
----
"The park, huh? So you guys met some new friends?" Sakura asked, looking down from the couch she and Ino were sitting on as the two boys looked up at them. Naruto nodded.
"Yeah! There's a girl and a boy.. the girl is from the Inuzuka Clan, her name's Kazue. And then there's the boy, who's from the Hyuuga Clan.."
"The Branch House of the Hyuuga Clan." Sasuke put in. Naruto glared at him for interrupting, then continued.
"Yeah, anyway, his name's Takeshi. He's kinda shy." He grinned. Sakura looked to Ino.
"I'll run them down to the park real quick, Ino.. you mind waiting here for a few minutes? I know you're kinda tired." She smiled. Ino nodded.
"That's fine. Thanks, Sakura."
"No problem." The pink-haired woman stood and ushered the two boys out the door again, closing it behind her. The boys clattered down the steps of her apartment building, darting down into the street. Sakura followed after as quickly as she could. They turned down into a smaller street devoid of life.. it was a little-used street, but it was a shortcut the two boys had discovered to the park.
"I'll race you, Sasuke!!" Naruto shouted, and then started running ahead. Sakura didn't bother to stop him, she knew there was nothing she could do, and there wouldn't be any harm in it, as Naruto already knew the way. Sasuke frowned.
"H-hey, wait, I wasn't ready!" He shouted, and started to run after, halting as a shadow leapt from the building above, landing in the street directly in front of him. Another shadow followed it, bigger, landing behind the first. Sakura's eyes widened as she saw who it was. Sasuke stumbled back in surprise, landing on his behind from stopping so fast, staring up at the face of the shadow.
"Itachi, why waste your time?" The second shadow asked, stepping forward into the light. He was almost shark-like in appearance, and had a lean, hungry look to him. Sasuke backed away.
"W.. who are you..??" He demanded, still staring up at the first shadow. It moved foward, and Sasuke scooted back even further. Sakura rushed forward.
"Don't touch him!" She shouted, but the fear in her voice was evident as she looked into the familiar face. Pale skin, framed by long strands of dark ebony hair. Red eyes outlined with long eyelashes.. seemingly delicate, if it weren't for his icy stare. He said nothing, only kept moving forward towards the small child in front of him.
"Sasuke." He said, quietly. "What.. happened to you?"
Sasuke stood up, staring at him right in the eye.
"You have Sharingan.." He whispered. "..but.. how?"
Itachi's gaze suddenly narrowed dangerously, and he turned to glare at Sakura.
"What happened to him?! What did you do?!" He demanded. She flinched back. Kisame stared at Itachi.. he hadn't ever seen him get angry like that. Ever. What was going on?
"Itachi.." He began, but was silenced by a wave of the man's hand.
"Be quiet, Kisame." He snapped. Kisame jerked back. What was with him? He was never like this.. he never gave a damn about Sasuke, as far as he'd seen. Of course.. he'd never seen that look in Itachi's eyes, either. It hadn't ever been anything but a cold, icy stare. Itachi's glare was boring into the Haruno woman.
"Answer me, damn you." He said. Sakura was shaking, her eyes were wide with fear, but a kunai was clutched in her hand defensively as she moved to step in front of her child.
"He was almost killed, along with Naruto." She said, her kunai held up to her chest, her will steeling as her eyes narrowed. She'd fight if she had to. "Hokage-sama found a way to give them a second chance at life.. which meant they had to be reborn all over again. You won't take Sasuke.. I'll die for him, if I have to." She added. Itachi stared at her. Kisame turned to run in the direction Naruto had gone. Itachi's hand snapped out and gripped his shoulder.
"Stop." He said, his voice practically a growl. Kisame shouted in pain, and as Itachi released him, he fell down to a knee, clutching his shoulder.
"You bastard, Itachi! What the fuck is wrong with you??" He snapped, glowering. "We've been trying to capture that damn fox for ages! Why the hell are you stopping me?!"
"Be silent." Itachi answered. He knelt down.. his Sharingan vanished. Kisame's eyes widened. Itachi never did that.. not unless he was so tired from using them he could barely move. He could only stare as Itachi watched the young child as he hid behind Sakura.
The same age.. he's the same age as he was.. back then, when I..
A pained look suddenly crossed Itachi's face.
But.. he doesn't remember.
Sasuke clutched Sakura's leg, watching Itachi's face from around it. Suddenly, he let go of her and stepped foward, toward Itachi. Sakura jerked in surprise.
"S.. Sasuke! Don't!" She cried, but Sasuke ignored her and kept moving forward until he was directly in front of Itachi. The tension in the air was so tight, everyone could feel it was about to snap at any second. Kisame found himself immobile, unable to tear his eyes away. Sakura was still shaking as she watched the young boy.
Sasuke reached up, touching Itachi's face.
"You have lonely eyes." He said, softly. Itachi jerked back.
"What..?"
"Your eyes." Sasuke repeated, quietly. "They're so sad. Why..?"
Kisame and Sakura could only watch as Itachi stared at the small child before him. Sasuke watched him expectantly, waiting for an answer. Itachi suddenly found himself unable to look the boy in the face, and stared at the ground.
"..because now I've really lost everything I had." He answered, finally. Sasuke watched him for a second, and then stepped forward, wrapping his arms around the man's neck. Itachi's eyes widened.. he couldn't move. Sasuke would have never done something like this.. this couldn't be his little brother. Thoughts raced through Itachi's mind, vanishing as the boy spoke again.
"No one should be that lonely."
Itachi looked into Sasuke's face. The boy wasn't kidding around with him.. it was in pure honesty that those words were spoken, and for the first time in many years, Itachi felt something wrench in his chest. The ice he had worked so hard to cover his heart in was shattering, melting away. He reached out and wrapped Sasuke into his arms, holding him tightly.
"..I never really understood you, Sasuke." He murmured quietly, and then stood up, turning to face Kisame.
"I'm quitting Akatsuki."
"WHAT?!" Kisame shouted, his beady eyes going wide as he stared at Itachi in utter disbelief. "What the fuck are you talking about?! You can't quit! You're speaking blasphemy, Itachi, this must be some illusion or something!" He glared. "They're messing with your head! You never gave a shit about that brat!" He pointed to Sasuke, who watched with wide eyes. Kisame let out a snarl and reached behind him, grabbing his weapon.
"I'll show you, Itachi!" He shouted, and whipped the huge sword in front of him. Itachi nudged Sasuke behind him.
"Take him and go." He said, addressing Sakura. "I'll catch up in a minute.. make sure Naruto stays in your sight." He ordered. He suddenly turned and scooped both Sakura and Sasuke into his arms, leaping over Kisame and letting them get down the street toward the park where Naruto was waiting, then turned to face his old partner, Sharingan blazing back into view.
"I won't let you touch a hair on him, Kisame. Now come!"
----To Be Continued...
Uhh.. yeah. :) I drew pictures of Kazue and Takeshi.. will get them scanned eventually. xD
--TAB
By The Ambitious Blank
Disclaimer- Naruto still is not mine. --;
Comments- Yay, people like this fic. :D That makes me happy. So far it's coming out decently, pretty much as I had planned it. But.. be warned, people, it's not going to be total fluff, especially near the end. As for a few of your questions..
Well, let's just say it's all one big maaaayyyybeeeeee. n.n
Before the chapter begins.. Sasuke and Naruto are now eight and entering the Academy. I may or may not stretch their Academy years over a few chapters. For those who aren't good at math, the current ages of everyone are:
Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Gaara, Sakura, etc. (all the twelve-year-old rookies): 28
Iruka: 41
Kakashi: 42
Itachi: 33
Tsunade and Jiraiya: 66
Rock Lee, Neji, Tenten: 29
Konohamaru and the Konohamaru Corps: 24 (Now that's just wierd. Konohamaru and co. will come in later.)
--Chapter 3- Reunion! A Familiar Face Returns!
"Hey.. why do you keep coming back here? I thought there was nothing here for you anymore. Especially after Sasuke almost bested you in the last fight you had eight years ago, after he became a Jounin."
"..."
"Hey, answer me."
"..there's something wrong."
"Wrong? What do you mean?"
"It's Sasuke.. something's changed about him."
"What the hell do you mean? I don't get it."
"..neither do I."
----
"Naruto! Naruto, c'mon, we're gonna be late for our first day of school!!" Sasuke yelled, knocking on the door of Sakura's apartment. "We can't be late, or else Iruka-sensei's gonna scold us!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming! Hey, Mooommmm! Do you know where my goggles went?"
"They're on your head, Naruto." Sakura's voice pointed out. There was a pause, and then a sheepish Naruto responded back.
"Oh yeah, huh?" He laughed and then there was a scuffle, a loud crash, Sakura's voice telling him to be more careful, and then the door was flung open, and Sasuke jumped back as Naruto almost charged right into him.
"Watch it!" He yelled. Naruto smirked.
"Naruto! What about breakfast?" Sakura called after him. Naruto turned and stuck her tongue out at her.
"I don't want any of your icky miso!" He called back, and then laughing as the Haruno woman shouted curses after him, ran over to the stairs and slid down the railing, landing easily into the street below and taking off toward the Academy. Sasuke sighed.
"Doesn't even bother to wait for me.." He muttered, and hurled himself over the railing, landing on the street below with the grace of a cat, dashing after and quickly closing the gap between them.
Sakura watched him from the doorway, arms crossed.
"He really hasn't changed all that much.." She murmured thoughtfully, then smiled and went back inside.
----
The door to the classroom was flung open, and the two eight-year-old boys slid inside. Naruto tripped and fell on his face, and the entire class laughed. Naruto stood up and grinned sheepishly, while Sasuke just looked embarrassed. Iruka turned from the podium where he was standing, role call sheet in hand. His dark eyes widened at the sight of the two.. they looked exactly the same as they had when he'd had them in the Academy so many years ago.
Sure, he knew about the physical appearance.. he'd gone and visited them at their respective houses several times, and had even run around with them in the park on a few days when he was free from work. But the expressions they had, their personalities, even in those few seconds, were almost identical to what they would have been a long time ago. Iruka put a hand to his chest as a strange twinge tugged at his heart. Sighing, he smiled at them.
"Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. Really, Naruto, this is the kind of behavior I expected from you, but not from you, Sasuke." He said, putting his hands on his hips. Sasuke moved in front of Naruto protectively, taking the other boy's hand into his.
"I.. I wanted to walk him to school." He stammered, still blushing because some of the class was still giggling at him. "Umm, 'cause.. I was worried he might get himself hurt or something."
"Alright, alright.. I won't mark you late because it's your first day. Go have a seat, you two.. take the two seats between Kazue and Takeshi." He pointed to the front row. Two children waved at them, and they moved quickly to take their seats. There was a girl with dark auburn hair, green eyes, and.. fangs? Naruto blinked, then realized why. The red marks on her face, beneath her eyes.. she was an Inuzuka. The boy sitting three seats away had dark, black hair that shone almost violet in the light. It was combed over to one side, barely covering his right eye, which Naruto could see had a scar over it. His left eye was completely white.. a Hyuuga. The girl smiled as Naruto took a seat next to her.
"Hi!" She said, beaming. "I'm Inuzuka Kazue! Oh, and this is Shiromaru." She gestured to a white wolf puppy that was sitting on the desk in front of her. The wolf glanced to the two boys with its bright blue eyes, yawned widely, and then laid it's head back down and fell asleep. Kazue sighed and prodded him.
"Shiromaru, we aren't the Nara clan! Don't be so lazy! Say hello or something!"
The pup opened one eye to stare at her, and then turned away. Meanwhile, Sasuke was looking at the person he was sitting next to. Judging from the bandages around his head, he was a Hyuuga from the Branch House, Sasuke noted. The boy turned to glance at him.
"Hello." He said, a bit shyly. "I'm Hyuuga Takeshi." Sasuke nodded in greeting to him. The boy smiled a little, then glanced back to the front, where Iruka was beginning to speak. Sasuke elbowed Naruto, who was too busy trying to get Kuromaru to wake up to notice the teacher. Naruto growled in protest, but glanced down to Iruka.
[ A/N: A quick note. No, Takeshi and Kazue are not the children of Naruto and Sasuke's friends.. it wouldn't make any sense at this point.. 'cause they would have had to been born in the same year as Naruto and Sasuke were reborn. n.n; And since I failed to mention that, those two are children of other members of their respective clans. Naruto and Sasuke's friends' children will come in later, but they'll be Konohamaru's age compared to Naruto and Sasuke. ]
"Today, we'll be learning the basics of becoming a full-fledged shinobi!" Iruka said, pointing to a sketch of a human on the chalkboard. "There are two types of energy. Body energy, and energy you get from training. Now, these two together form your chakra.."
Naruto sighed and stopped paying attention. He and Sasuke knew the basics already. Sakura had explained it to them both. Yawning widely, he put his head down on the desk. Kazue blinked at him.
"Hey, aren't you gonna pay attention?" She asked, softly. Naruto glanced at her.
"Nah, I've already learned all this."
An eraser came flying through the air and hit Naruto squarely on the head. Naruto jerked in surprise and looked up. Iruka was glaring at him, hands on his hips.
"Naruto! Pay attention!" He said, sharply. The class giggled. Naruto looked around him, blushing, then glanced to Sasuke, who had his hand over his mouth and was trying to stifle his laughter.
"Oh, not you too, Sasuke.." He whined, putting his head back down and watching the teacher disinterestedly. Sasuke reached over and rubbed at Naruto's forehead. The blonde child jerked up and glared.
"What are you doing?!" He hissed. Sasuke smiled, stifling more laughter with his hand.
"You had chalk dust on your forehead." He said. Naruto blinked and went cross-eyed, trying to see. Takeshi, Kazue, and Sasuke giggled softly. Iruka gave an audible, heavy sigh from the front and turned around.
"Naruto, Takeshi, Kazue, and Sasuke! Outside, now! I'll talk to you in a minute. Naruto, Kazue, I expected this kind of behavior from you, but Takeshi, Sasuke.. I'm very disappointed in you both." Sasuke and Takeshi just hung their heads and trudged outside, trying to ignore the class' laughter. Naruto and Kazue 'hmph'ed softly and stood up to storm outside, Shiromaru on Kazue's heels. Iruka put his hands on his hips. As Naruto passed him, the Uzumaki boy looked up and laughed.
"You look just like an angry mother hen, Iruka-sensei." He said, grinning widely as Iruka's face turned a dark shade of red, dodging a bop aimed at his head, and dashed outside as the class burst out laughing again.
-----
"This is all your fault, Naruto!" Kazue whined. "If you hadn't been disruptive in the first place.."
"Yeah, but you were the one who was talkin' to me when he threw that eraser at me!" Naruto argued back. Takeshi looked uncomfortable with all the arguing. Sasuke sighed. Naruto turned on him next.
"And you! Did you hafta start touching my head like that! You coulda just told me there was stuff on my head!" He said, loudly. Takeshi made a half-hearted attempt to shush him, but it went completely ignored. Sasuke stared at Naruto for a moment, then smiled and reached out, rubbing at his head again.
"There's still some chalk dust on you." He said. The four children stared at each other, and then burst out laughing. The door slammed open, and they quickly flattened themselves against the wall, all of them stifling their giggles. Iruka glared at them.
"What am I supposed to do with you all?!" He demanded, putting a hand to his forehead. "You're disruptive even when I send you outside!" He sighed, looking around.
"Problems, Iruka-sensei?" Chouji was passing by, pausing to blink at his old teacher. "You have worry lines all over your face again." He pointed out. The four giggled again. Iruka glared at them.
"Chouji, can I ask you to do me a favor and escort these four to the Hokage? They were being extremely disruptive in class, and still are being disruptive.. we can still hear them inside the classroom." He said. Chouji gave a faint smile and knelt down in front of the four kids, looking them all in the eye. Takeshi looked away. Naruto and Kazue glared. Sasuke just looked cutely confused. Chouji chuckled and nodded, standing up and ruffling Kazue's hair, earning a glare from the girl.
"Sure, I'll take 'em." He said, and turned to head down the hallway. The four (five, if you count Shiromaru), trudged after him. As they exited the classroom and began down the street toward where the Hokage's office was, Naruto stopped to glance at a sign in a restaurant window. Quickly, he turned to the other three.
"Hey, hey! Give me your lunch money!" He hissed. The other three blinked at him.
"W.. what??" Sasuke demanded, putting his hands in his pockets to keep Naruto from reaching into them. "No way!"
"No, I have an idea to keep us from getting to the Hokage!" Naruto whispered, holding out his hand. Kazue looked to the sign, and then grinned, digging into her pockets and handing Naruto a wad of bills and some change. Naruto counted it. Takeshi, after reading the sign as well, fished out his own money and handed it over. Sasuke blinked and looked at the window, then grinned as he realized what Naruto was up to. He pulled out the money Ino gave him and gave it to the blonde, who smirked and trotted to catch up to Chouji.
"Hey, hey.. Chouji-sensei!" He said, holding up the money. "We're sorry for making you go to the trouble of taking us to Hokage-sama.. so we'll buy you some Korean barbeque!" He grinned, pointing to the sign. Chouji blinked and turned to look at the poster in the restaurant's window.
It was an all-you-can eat day.
Chouji grinned.
----
"Hm, I wonder why they never came back.. I don't think Hokage-sama would have been that angry.." Iruka mused quietly as he walked down the street toward the Hokage's office. He'd left Kakashi in charge of the class as he went out to look for the children. "Chouji's responsible enough, right..?" He casually glanced in the window of the Korean barbeque restaurant. Chouji and the four children, plus Shiromaru, were all sitting in a booth and cooking their meat on the grill built into the table. Kazue was slipping pieces of it to her puppy, Naruto was stuffing his face, Takeshi was trying not to burn himself, and Sasuke was cautiously blowing on his bit of food to cool it down. Iruka smiled and continued walking.
"Haha.. they're so cute."
He froze.
"Wait just a minute..!!" He took several steps back, staring at the scene.
"CHOOOUUJJJJIII!!"
----
As it turned out, Chouji got into more trouble than the kids did. Tsunade was scolding him severely for taking a bribe of food. "And from children, no less!" She'd turned to the children and told them to stop disrupting class or she'd come down there herself. They'd all nodded and ran from her office.
"Hahaha! Ahh, did you see Chouji-sensei's face??" Kazue crowed, grinning widely. Naruto gave her a high five.
"Yeah! He was in such deep trouble!" He said, laughing. "He knew he was screwed.. did you see Hokage-sama's face?? She was so pissed!"
"G-guys, I dunno.. that was kinda mean." Takeshi said, softly. "I mean.. Chouji-sensei can't help it, right..?"
"Eh, his fault." Kazue said casually, folding her arms behind her head. "He should have known better." She snorted. Sasuke nodded.
"Chouji-sensei's a good ninja, but he needs to learn to get his mind off food every once in a while." He said. Naruto clapped him on the back.
"Exactly!" He said, loudly. Sasuke sighed and rubbed his back.
"Hey, hey! Do you guys wanna come play with us in the park today? Maybe we can find Lee-san again!" Naruto said, grinning. Kazue nodded eagerly, and Takeshi shifted on his feet.
"Yeah, that sounds like fun!" Kazue said. "I gotta run home and ask my mom if it's okay, but I'll meet you there!" She said, smiling, and then turned and dashed off down the street with Shiromaru on her heels. Takeshi managed a small smile himself.
"I gotta go ask, too.. but I'm sure it'll be okay." He ran off in another direction. "See you guys there!"
"C'mon, Sasuke, we can go to my house.. my mom said your mom was coming over today, so we'll ask them there." Naruto said, grinning. Sasuke nodded, and the two boys ran off down the street.
They were completely unaware of the pair of blood red eyes that watched them from a rooftop.
----
"The park, huh? So you guys met some new friends?" Sakura asked, looking down from the couch she and Ino were sitting on as the two boys looked up at them. Naruto nodded.
"Yeah! There's a girl and a boy.. the girl is from the Inuzuka Clan, her name's Kazue. And then there's the boy, who's from the Hyuuga Clan.."
"The Branch House of the Hyuuga Clan." Sasuke put in. Naruto glared at him for interrupting, then continued.
"Yeah, anyway, his name's Takeshi. He's kinda shy." He grinned. Sakura looked to Ino.
"I'll run them down to the park real quick, Ino.. you mind waiting here for a few minutes? I know you're kinda tired." She smiled. Ino nodded.
"That's fine. Thanks, Sakura."
"No problem." The pink-haired woman stood and ushered the two boys out the door again, closing it behind her. The boys clattered down the steps of her apartment building, darting down into the street. Sakura followed after as quickly as she could. They turned down into a smaller street devoid of life.. it was a little-used street, but it was a shortcut the two boys had discovered to the park.
"I'll race you, Sasuke!!" Naruto shouted, and then started running ahead. Sakura didn't bother to stop him, she knew there was nothing she could do, and there wouldn't be any harm in it, as Naruto already knew the way. Sasuke frowned.
"H-hey, wait, I wasn't ready!" He shouted, and started to run after, halting as a shadow leapt from the building above, landing in the street directly in front of him. Another shadow followed it, bigger, landing behind the first. Sakura's eyes widened as she saw who it was. Sasuke stumbled back in surprise, landing on his behind from stopping so fast, staring up at the face of the shadow.
"Itachi, why waste your time?" The second shadow asked, stepping forward into the light. He was almost shark-like in appearance, and had a lean, hungry look to him. Sasuke backed away.
"W.. who are you..??" He demanded, still staring up at the first shadow. It moved foward, and Sasuke scooted back even further. Sakura rushed forward.
"Don't touch him!" She shouted, but the fear in her voice was evident as she looked into the familiar face. Pale skin, framed by long strands of dark ebony hair. Red eyes outlined with long eyelashes.. seemingly delicate, if it weren't for his icy stare. He said nothing, only kept moving forward towards the small child in front of him.
"Sasuke." He said, quietly. "What.. happened to you?"
Sasuke stood up, staring at him right in the eye.
"You have Sharingan.." He whispered. "..but.. how?"
Itachi's gaze suddenly narrowed dangerously, and he turned to glare at Sakura.
"What happened to him?! What did you do?!" He demanded. She flinched back. Kisame stared at Itachi.. he hadn't ever seen him get angry like that. Ever. What was going on?
"Itachi.." He began, but was silenced by a wave of the man's hand.
"Be quiet, Kisame." He snapped. Kisame jerked back. What was with him? He was never like this.. he never gave a damn about Sasuke, as far as he'd seen. Of course.. he'd never seen that look in Itachi's eyes, either. It hadn't ever been anything but a cold, icy stare. Itachi's glare was boring into the Haruno woman.
"Answer me, damn you." He said. Sakura was shaking, her eyes were wide with fear, but a kunai was clutched in her hand defensively as she moved to step in front of her child.
"He was almost killed, along with Naruto." She said, her kunai held up to her chest, her will steeling as her eyes narrowed. She'd fight if she had to. "Hokage-sama found a way to give them a second chance at life.. which meant they had to be reborn all over again. You won't take Sasuke.. I'll die for him, if I have to." She added. Itachi stared at her. Kisame turned to run in the direction Naruto had gone. Itachi's hand snapped out and gripped his shoulder.
"Stop." He said, his voice practically a growl. Kisame shouted in pain, and as Itachi released him, he fell down to a knee, clutching his shoulder.
"You bastard, Itachi! What the fuck is wrong with you??" He snapped, glowering. "We've been trying to capture that damn fox for ages! Why the hell are you stopping me?!"
"Be silent." Itachi answered. He knelt down.. his Sharingan vanished. Kisame's eyes widened. Itachi never did that.. not unless he was so tired from using them he could barely move. He could only stare as Itachi watched the young child as he hid behind Sakura.
The same age.. he's the same age as he was.. back then, when I..
A pained look suddenly crossed Itachi's face.
But.. he doesn't remember.
Sasuke clutched Sakura's leg, watching Itachi's face from around it. Suddenly, he let go of her and stepped foward, toward Itachi. Sakura jerked in surprise.
"S.. Sasuke! Don't!" She cried, but Sasuke ignored her and kept moving forward until he was directly in front of Itachi. The tension in the air was so tight, everyone could feel it was about to snap at any second. Kisame found himself immobile, unable to tear his eyes away. Sakura was still shaking as she watched the young boy.
Sasuke reached up, touching Itachi's face.
"You have lonely eyes." He said, softly. Itachi jerked back.
"What..?"
"Your eyes." Sasuke repeated, quietly. "They're so sad. Why..?"
Kisame and Sakura could only watch as Itachi stared at the small child before him. Sasuke watched him expectantly, waiting for an answer. Itachi suddenly found himself unable to look the boy in the face, and stared at the ground.
"..because now I've really lost everything I had." He answered, finally. Sasuke watched him for a second, and then stepped forward, wrapping his arms around the man's neck. Itachi's eyes widened.. he couldn't move. Sasuke would have never done something like this.. this couldn't be his little brother. Thoughts raced through Itachi's mind, vanishing as the boy spoke again.
"No one should be that lonely."
Itachi looked into Sasuke's face. The boy wasn't kidding around with him.. it was in pure honesty that those words were spoken, and for the first time in many years, Itachi felt something wrench in his chest. The ice he had worked so hard to cover his heart in was shattering, melting away. He reached out and wrapped Sasuke into his arms, holding him tightly.
"..I never really understood you, Sasuke." He murmured quietly, and then stood up, turning to face Kisame.
"I'm quitting Akatsuki."
"WHAT?!" Kisame shouted, his beady eyes going wide as he stared at Itachi in utter disbelief. "What the fuck are you talking about?! You can't quit! You're speaking blasphemy, Itachi, this must be some illusion or something!" He glared. "They're messing with your head! You never gave a shit about that brat!" He pointed to Sasuke, who watched with wide eyes. Kisame let out a snarl and reached behind him, grabbing his weapon.
"I'll show you, Itachi!" He shouted, and whipped the huge sword in front of him. Itachi nudged Sasuke behind him.
"Take him and go." He said, addressing Sakura. "I'll catch up in a minute.. make sure Naruto stays in your sight." He ordered. He suddenly turned and scooped both Sakura and Sasuke into his arms, leaping over Kisame and letting them get down the street toward the park where Naruto was waiting, then turned to face his old partner, Sharingan blazing back into view.
"I won't let you touch a hair on him, Kisame. Now come!"
----To Be Continued...
Uhh.. yeah. :) I drew pictures of Kazue and Takeshi.. will get them scanned eventually. xD
--TAB