Rants: Hi everyone. I received mixed reactions from last chappie's reviews. Again, thanks for the support. This will the last of the characer appreciation arc and I'll be starting Naruto's mission arc next chapter. Keep reading okay cause I really enjoy the effort making 'em.
It was a typical morning for the Uchiha family, Sasuke and his father having their morning tea, his mother doing the dishes, and no Itachi around to join them for breakfast. Yes, it had always been like that ever since Itachi quit being Anbu and went to handle a genin team of his own. Itachi would leave well before the sun rises in the morning and return home after the sun has fully set below the horizon. Glancing over to his brother's usual place at the dining table, the side directly in front of his father's, he couldn't help but wonder about a lot of things, most of them involving his brother. "Otousan? What's 'niisan's genin team like?"
Sasuke's father took a sip from his tea before placing the cup down the table to answer. "I don't know. I never saw them once."
"But I'm sure you have at least some idea about them." Sasuke pressed.
The Uchiha head sighed. "I don't know their names or any details about them since it didn't come to me before to look into their files." Those were flat-out lies. The high ranking official had actually dug into the Ninja Registration files the following day after Itachi spoke of his intention to leave the Anbu. The fact that the registration list was an open book for all didn't make his investigation hard, in fact he got all the information he wanted about his elder son's student but for some reason he chose not to talk about it. "All that I am certain is that these kids are special."
"Special?"
"That's what I think." The man said shifting his gaze towards his younger son. "Your brother is a bit different. He doesn't like interacting with people. The fact that Itachi left his position as Anbu captain just to teach these kids must mean that they interest him in some way."
"I see..." Sasuke muttered pulling his head down. 'They must be really talented ninjas to deserve 'niisan's attention.' He took the cup of steaming tea and down some in.
"Now, now, hurry up and finish your breakfast." Sasuke's mother said, placing food on the table before his husband and son. "There isn't much time for you two to train in the morning. Father's got an important meeting today and you have some things to attend to at the Academy, right?"
"Yes. Today's the Registration Day for this school year." Sasuke responded with a nod.
"Okay. After training father will walk you to the Academy. Right dear?" Sasuke's mother continued, the last words were directed to her husband.
"Um." Sasuke's father grunted taking his chopsticks and placing some food into his mouth. His wife let out a hearty smile before turning her back against the rest of her family and returning to her kitchen work.
'That's right. I have Otousan's attention now.' Sasuke thought, obediently eating his breakfast like his mother told him. 'Even without 'niisan it's okay.'
"Oh my, oh my... Ramen at Ichiraku is sooo good! If only training consists of this I can do it forever!" Naruto exclaimed, happily tapping his bulging belly as he marched his way across the neighborhood. A wide grin of satisfaction spread across his face after the delightful breakfast. Downing more than fifteen bowls of ramen, at someone else's expense of course, was enough to keep the blonde pumped up for the rest of the day.
Naruto looked back, glancing over his sensei who was trailing in silence a couple of steps behind. 'Itachi-sensei's so quiet, I bet he's pissed that I almost emptied his wallet. But then again, he's always like that.' Naruto simply shrugged the thought away turning his eyes back on the road ahead. It was then that both teacher and student stopped on their tracks after feeling a presence begin to stalk them from behind.
Glancing around once again, Naruto noticed a perfectly shaped rectangular block with two holes at the front side now standing on ground two paces directly behind him. 'Is that supposed to be a rock...?' He asked mentally, eyes twitching.
Naruto looked ahead acting as though he didn't notice anything and started to walk casually for a few steps forward before going to a halt. The 'rock' mimicked his movement. Next, Naruto run back and forth at a moderate pace with the 'rock' following him. He began to speed up running around in circles but the 'rock' continued its relentless pursuit. Finally, Naruto came to a sudden stop turning around with his hands on his hips and catching sight as the so-called rock abruptly applied its brakes to render itself motionless before the blonde. "A square rock like that doesn't exist!" Naruto exclaimed pointing sharply at the object. "It's so obvious!"
"Ehehehe! That's something I expect from the man who is my rival!" A voice from inside the 'rock' sounded before exploding in a giant cloud of multi-colored smoke. The smoke cleared revealing three small kids on all fours unto the ground, coughing. "Hey, you used too much gunpowder," coughed the spiky haired brat at the center. Seeing the dumbfounded look on Naruto's face, the group quickly pulled themselves on their feet to begin their introduction.
"The one who possesses the sex appeal of an adult and the konoichi of the group, Moegi!" The cute orange-haired girl said aloud making several poses as she spoke.
"The one who loves dividing numbers, Udon." A snot-nosed boy followed.
"The village's number one genius ninja, Konohamaru!" Hokage's honored grandson said flexing his puny muscles.
"The three of us make the Konohamaru Corps!" The three of them finished by forming a group pose.
"Just as I thought, it was the three of you." Naruto said placing his hands over the back of his head apparently uninterested. It was then that he noticed the gear hanging across the trio's foreheads. "Hmm? Why do you have goggles on?"
"Hehehe... We copied old you." Konohamaru stated proudly, each of the kids tapping their goggles with broad smiles on their faces.
"Oh?"
"'Oh?' 'niisan, you've been treating us cold lately." Konohamaru said sounding a bit hurt. The smiles on Moegi and Udon dropped into frowns.
"And? What do you want?"
"See? He's so cold." Konohamaru whispered aloud into Udon's ear while shoving Moegi in front to face the older boy.
"Um... Well, Leader, do you have time today?" Moegi asked.
"No." Naruto replied shaking his head. "I'm going to go train!"
"What?! You said you were going to play ninja with us!" Konohamaru protested. The two others seconded by nodding in the background.
"R-really? Did I promise that?" Naruto laughed sheepishly while scratching the back of his head. 'Really. If I play with these guys, I'll be stuck with them the whole day.'
"Would you kids like to go help Naruto-kun train?" Itachi asked making everyone turn their heads towards the person that they happen to overlook for quite some time now. Moegi's eyes instantly turned into hearts and began emitting love bubbles the moment she had laid sight of the handsome young man.
"Naruto-niisan, who's that creepy-looking guy?" Konohamaru whispered elbowing Naruto at the side to catch his attention. He kept a wary look over the black clad teen.
"Oh, that's Itachi-sensei. He's my jounin sensei." Naruto said introducing Itachi to the kids.
"I see..."
"So, will you come with us?" Itachi asked again.
"Sure! Anything for Naruto-niisan!" Konohamaru nodded flashing a thumbs up coupled with his toothy wide grin. Udon simply nodded while a love struck Moegi giggled uncontrollably from behind. Committing too soon, they failed to see the small ominous smile that appeared over Itachi's lips until it was all too late. A few minutes later and the kids found themselves tied up on a pole sticking out at the middle of Nakano River.
"Naruto-niisan!! Help us!!" Konohamaru wailed as loud as he could, hoping that his voice reached up to the pier by the riverbank where the blonde boy stood.
"Leader!!" Moegi and Udon cried aloud.
"Itachi-sensei! What do you think you're doing?! Why'd you have to do that to Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon?!" Naruto yelled angrily at the man standing, as odd as it may seem, on top of the surface of the water at the distance between Naruto on the pier and the kids out into the river.
"They volunteered to help you on your training, didn't they? That's exactly why." Itachi said matter-of-factly, his arms crossed over his chest.
"But..."
"Listen Naruto-kun, for this exercise you have to walk across the river, untie your friends, then bring them safely back here."
"Walk across the river?" Naruto repeated. Itachi already demonstrated the task earlier when he dragged the kids and tied them up at the center of the river.
Itachi nodded in confirmation. "Constantly release the appropriate amount of chakra from your feet into the water then balance that amount according to the weight of your body in order to make yourself float. This exercise is designed to teach you how to control chakra by releasing a constant amount of it. Now that you've completed the tree climbing exercise, this shouldn't prove to be a problem."
'I'll do this no matter what!' A very determined Naruto formed a hand seal and began gathering chakra on his feet. "Hang in there, Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon!!" Naruto then took a deep breath before courageously taking his first step into the water. The first few steps proved to be a success as Naruto got himself to float over the water. However, it was still premature to celebrate after he found the balancing act to be very though indeed. 'Balance... I have to keep myself balanced...' Naruto thought hard fighting over control as he felt his footing slowly slip.
"HURRY!! Naruto-niisan!!" Konohamaru cried even louder this time, moving his legs helplessly in the air.
"SHUT UP!! I can't concentrate... whoa!" Naruto cursed inwardly as that short moment of distraction threatened to make him plunge into river. Thankfully enough, he managed to regain control just in time. Heaving a sigh of relief, Naruto continued inching his way slowly across the water. 'Yosh. I'm starting to get a grip on this.'
"By the way, you better speed it up if you want to save your friends." Itachi said all of a sudden catching everybody's attention. Even the Konohamaru Corps stopped crying to listen to what the young man has to say.
"Why is that?" A confused Naruto asked.
"The dam is scheduled to open its floodgates around this time to release the excess water into the river. In my estimate, it would probably take less than four minutes before the water reaches this place. If you don't rescue them soon, they will drown." Itachi continued. His voice and the look on his voice were indifferently cold, totally unconcerned of the children's fate.
"EHH?!!" Naruto and the kids exclaimed collectively. Immediately after Itachi's warning, the calm waters of the river started to get rough, slowly rising in height.
"NARUTO-NIISAN! HURRY!!" The brats turned white with fear and began to wail louder and louder driving a panicking Naruto crazy. A few moments later, a loud rumbling sound was heard from the horizon and sure enough, a large wave of rushing white water was seen traveling at incredible speeds sweeping everything in its path. "WAAAHHHH!!!"
It didn't take long before the waters finally subsided. Resting near the edge of the pier, Naruto, Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon were catching their breaths, taking in a huge amount of air into their lungs with each gasp. "You guys okay?" Naruto asked in between breaths. Receiving nods from the three, Naruto finally sighed in relief. "That's good." He took the time to relax by slumping his back against the boardwalk.
"Good work, Naruto-kun. You got them out just in time." Itachi towering behind the kids commended Naruto for his performance.
"Good work my ass! You almost got Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon killed! Is that something a sensei should be doing?!" Naruto yelled angrily quickly getting on his feet and pointing accusingly straight at Itachi.
"Yeah!" Konohamaru seconded, Moegi and Udon backing him up with nods although they were hiding themselves behind the hokage's grandson. Seeing Itachi cast his eyes upon them made the three cringe in fear. They could already foresee the maniac pitting them through another insane stunt and they didn't want any part of it.
Studying them for a while, Itachi then shifted his gaze back to his blonde student. "The preparations are complete. You're going to learn jutsus now."
"Really?! Is it a cool jutsu?!" Naruto asked, his face already beaming with enthusiasm. It's still a mystery how the loudmouthed kid could change emotions within seconds.
"Watch closely." Itachi walked pass the kids towards the end of the pier where he performed a set of hand seals. "Katon: Karyuu Endan no Jutsu." He announced, taking a deep breath and released a powerful tongue of bright white hot flames from his mouth. The flames traveled at astounding speeds all the way towards the other bank of the river. As Itachi continued breathing fire, Naruto and the others felt the temperature of the area around them soar to uncomfortable heights.
"Wow! So cool!" Naruto couldn't help but voice out his amazement. Even Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon could only nod their astonishment at the feat the scary man displayed.
Itachi ended the demonstration and immediately proceeded to explaining the basics for the jutsu. "The hand seals are serpent, ram, horse, serpent, dragon, rat, ox, tiger. Draw a large amount of chakra from your mouth into your chest. Hold it there for a while then blow it out in a continuous flow. Use the skill you learned in the water walking exercise to control the release of chakra. Remember, the flow of chakra out of your mouth must be exact otherwise the jutsu will certainly fail. Now you do it." He instructed.
"Okay! Here I go!" Naruto exclaimed joining his hands to mold chakra by forming the initial hand seal.
"Naruto-niisan! Fight!" Konohamaru cheered.
"Do your best, Leader!" said Moegi while Udon nodded vehemently beside her in support of the blonde eleven year old boy.
Naruto performed the rest of the series of hand seals for the jutsu after which he took a deep breath pushing the molded chakra into his lungs. "Katon: Karyuu Endan no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled converting chakra into fire and blowing it out of his system. Unfortunately for him, the result was not something everyone had expected. Naruto only managed to puff out a tiny ball of fire which hissed out of existence just as quickly.
"Naruto-niisan... you suck..." Konohamaru said bluntly through narrowed eyes.
"Shut up! I'll try it again, watch!" Naruto snapped back at the brat before going through the steps for the second time around. Once again Naruto spew out the same small packet of fire making the boy scream out in frustration.
Itachi could only shake his head after watching Naruto's blunders. Inside his mind, however, was a different story. 'Grasping the concept of this level of chakra control so quickly... The threat on his friends' lives and his compulsion to save them has fuelled him to progress this much without him realizing it.' Itachi continued to watch as Naruto attempts on the jutsu for the umpteenth time while Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon pestered him with a barrage of unwarranted tips and suggestions. 'Naruto-kun, this will be a milestone for you once you've mastered this high-level ninjutsu. Even so, you'd still have a long way to go... but definitely a step closer...' Itachi's musings were interrupted when he heard an all familiar voice calling out for him.
"'niisan!"
Itachi turned around and saw the owner of the voice, his little brother Sasuke, standing on top of the elevated riverside. Standing next to him was there father, the all important head of the Uchiha clan and captain of Konoha's Police Force.
'The kyuubi kid...' The middle-aged man narrowed his eye, lips frowning after catching sight of the blonde boy. "Itachi, what are you doing? We're going to be late." The head of the Uchiha stated shifting his attention back to his eldest son.
Itachi nodded. "Naruto-kun..." He called waving his hand gesturing the orange clad boy to come closer. The blonde readily obliged. Once Naruto was within arms length Itachi raised a hand and poked him on the forehead. Naruto immediately rubbed the part that his sensei touched, thanking god for his hite-ate that it didn't hurt at all.
Unknown to them, to Naruto and the three kid's part the least, Sasuke was burning in a mix of emotions after witnessing the exchange. The young Uchiha was clenching fist so hard that his fingernails were biting against his flesh. His father took notice of this and, most probably, so does Itachi.
"I'm going to leave for a while. We have an important meeting to attend to."
"What kind of meeting is it, Itachi-sensei?" Naruto asked.
"It's a meeting called by hokage-sama and the elder council to discuss some very important agenda concerning the village. Only shinobis from jounin level are required to attend." Itachi explained.
"I see..." Naruto muttered nodding his head in fake understanding. 'Agenda? What's that? I don't understand any of this stuff.'
"It will take about a couple of hours the least but I want you to continue practicing the katon jutsu while I'm away. I will be checking up on your progress later." Itachi instructed first before turning his back at Naruto and leaving to join with his father and brother.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes to cast a hateful glare at Naruto for a while before walking away with the rest of his family.
"Hey 'niisan. Why don't we go play Ninja while that scary sensei of yours is gone?" Konohamaru suggested as soon as the Uchihas were out of sight.
"Stop pestering me. I have to continue my training." Naruto said positioning himself back to the edge of the boardwalk. He then began to gather chakra for a fresh new attempt at the Karyuu Endan jutsu.
"Hmph! How rude!" Konohamaru huffed, turning his head away in a fit of anger. "Then we won't be leaving here either! It is kinda fun watching you screw up." The brat followed flashing a mischievous grin, his two sidekicks nodding in the background.
"Why you little...!"
The head of the Uchiha clan together with his two sons walked in silence through the village. Most the people they happened to pass bowed their heads in respect at the noble family while the others said their greetings. Occasionally, the Uchiha head would reply to them but most of the time he just stayed quiet.
Trailing a few steps behind their father, Sasuke glanced up to his brother who was walking right next to him. "'niisan..."
"..."
Catching Itachi's silence, Sasuke continued. "He's your student, right? Naruto, that is."
"Yes."
"I thought you were going to teach a genin team. That's why you quit from Anbu, right?" Sasuke asked again.
"Yes, that's right."
"Then how come you're hanging around with that guy? I know him. He's from my class and he's not a genin yet. He may not even become genin this year." Sasuke explained. Their father kept his silence and simply acted like it didn't interest him but surely was keeping a close ear at the conversation.
"Naruto-kun is a genin." Itachi stated firmly.
"I don't believe it! That guy's an idiot! He's the dead last in our class! There's no way he'd be allowed to graduate a year ahead of me!" Sasuke raged, his voice growing louder and louder after each word that left through his mouth.
"You saw the hite-ate tied around his forehead didn't you? Naruto-kun passed both the Academy graduation exam and the genin admission test." Itachi explained keeping his cold demeanor in place when he turned to face Sasuke. "Also, he is the only genin in my team." He added.
Sasuke stopped dead on his tracks. He had his head lowered while his fists clenched in a mix of rage, disbelief and outright jealousy. "I don't believe it. I don't believe it." '...that dobe.'
Both Sasuke's father and brother came to a halt after they felt the youngest Uchiha stopped following them. Both turned around to watch the boy. Their father had a worried look on his face which he tried to mask with indifference while Itachi's was just plain cold. "Sasuke, let's go." His father said.
"How come you hang around and teach that bastard everyday while you won't even help me! With my shuriken training... with my jutsus... you never bother to help me with anything! Tell me 'niisan, why?!" Sasuke shouted out loud letting out all the emotions bottled in chest loose. All the people around started to look at him, some were surprised, shocked, others scandalized, but Sasuke didn't give a damn about any of them. His eyes were totally focused on Itachi. "What's so special about that dobe that I don't have?!"
"He's a genin and you're just a regular Academy student. That's all there is to it." With that said Itachi turned his back at Sasuke and continued walking ahead.
"Itachi!" Their father called but Itachi acted like he didn't hear anything. The Uchiha head merely sighed in defeat and glanced back at his youngest son.
Gritting his teeth, Sasuke's eyes burned with resolve. "'tousan, you go ahead. I'll walk to the Academy on my own." Sasuke said in a low tone after which he turned around and traveled the fork on the road leading directly towards the Ninja Academy. He didn't even bother to hear what his father had to say at that time. His mind was totally focused on one thing, 'I have to know... I need to find that person.'
In a few minutes Sasuke reached the gates of Konoha's Ninja Academy, the place where young aspiring shinobis are trained and thought about the Hidden Leaf's way of the ninja. Ever since he entered the school back when he was seven, the people in this place had always looked up to him. Most of the girls in school admired him. Boys choose him to be their rival and always competed with him. The teachers had high hopes and expected him to be top caliber ninja one day. It maybe because of the Uchiha name but Sasuke had always lived up to everyone's expectations by consistently being the number one student of his class. Right now, those things didn't interest him.
"Sasuke-kun! Can I walk with you?" A pink-haired girl suddenly asked positioning herself next to the Uchiha kid. Taking the boy's silence for a yes, she looked behind and stuck her tongue out at the pack of seething fan girls and continued walking side by side with him all the way into the school building. "Have you come here to pass your registration form? I'm sure this will be a great year ahead."
Sasuke simply ignored all of her ranting and continued to walk in a quickened pace.
'Sasuke-kun's so fierce and silent today. He looks preoccupied with something. I know! Maybe he's just being shy around me.' The thought made the girl blushed profusely, the color of her cheek glowing brighter than that of her hair. "Ne Sasuke-kun, y-you wanna have lunch together?"
"Sakura, where's Iruka-san?" Sasuke finally spoke.
"Iruka-sensei? I think he's at the faculty room fixing up documents or something." Sakura thought aloud. The next thing she saw, Sasuke broke to a dash across the corridor ditching her behind. "Sasuke-kun, wait!"
With preparations for the fast approaching opening day for the next school year, all the Academy teachers have been saddled with so much workload for more than a week now that many of them are trying to use whatever excuse that they can find to escape the torture even for just a few moments. Today's excuse – lunch. The faculty room was completely deserted except for one martyr teacher who was busily sorting out the stacks of registration forms in his desk during his precious noon break.
"Iruka-san."
Iruka had been so engrossed in his work that he failed to notice Sasuke enter the faculty room.
"Oh, it's just you Sasuke-kun." Iruka said glancing briefly at Sasuke before returning his attention back on the mountain of paper. "The teachers are having their lunch break right now. You can leave your registration form here and we'll just call you for your pre-testing once the teachers arrive."
"How come Naruto's already a genin?!" Sasuke said forcefully causing the teacher to turn his eyes back at him.
Iruka raised an eyebrow at the kid. "Why does that interest you?" He asked knowing fully the answer to the question.
"It doesn't matter! Tell me! How come that dobe's already a genin!"
"He passed both the Academy graduation exam and the genin admission exam his sensei gave him. Naturally, he'd be recognized as a genin." Iruka simply shrugged explaining it as though it was common fact.
"Don't play with me, Iruka-san!" Sasuke yelled in outburst. "I still remember clearly what you said a week before the end of last term!"
The said memory flashed inside both Sasuke and Iruka's mind. That day Iruka dumped a tied-up Naruto back in class. "The Academy graduation exam is due next week and let me remind you that you already failed the last time! This is no time to be causing trouble, you moron!" he yelled.
"Yeah, yeah," huffed Naruto.
Iruka seethed and decided to turn his anger to the class. "Time for a review test on Henge no Jutsu! Everyone line up!"
"The Academy graduation exam is due next week... You already failed the last time... That's what you said." Sasuke watched Iruka intently. The chuunin had kept his silence crossing his arms listening to everything the boy said. "Naruto officially belongs to our class! He has been our classmate since we all first entered the Academy! He should be taking the graduation exam only after this coming school year so how come he was allowed to take the graduation test two years earlier than the rest of us?!"
"I don't remember you or any of your classmates protesting to it back then."
"Just answer the question!"
Iruka sighed. "I placed Naruto's name on the list of those who were to take the graduation exam both this and the previous year."
"That's totally unfair!" Sasuke slammed his fist against a nearby desk in his anger. "Naruto's grades are the worst in class! All he does is slack off and cause trouble! He was a dead last, no talent bum and yet he got the chance to graduate ahead of everyone else who was doing way better than him!"
"That's exactly what my colleagues told me. That I was being bias and unfair." Iruka said.
"Then why?"
"Naruto never knew his parents and has lived alone for most part of his life. He doesn't have anyone to acknowledge him that's why he plays all those pranks to catch the attention of the people around him. The pain of being alone..." Iruka paused for a while, turning his head down on the floor. "I know exactly how he feels because I was an orphan myself."
"You..."
Iruka nodded lightly. "Naruto and I are very much alike. I see my younger self in him. I really wanted him to become a genin because that was the time when I finally found people who will acknowledge me. My sensei and teammates were the first people aside from my parents to truly acknowledge me for who I am. By making Naruto graduate, I believed that he too will find people who will acknowledge him for who he is. That's the reason why."
"Unfortunately for you, your plan failed. Naruto doesn't have any other person in his team other than my brother."
"I asked the hokage the same question too and he didn't give me the answer back then. It was just now that I finally realized what the hokage had been planning and all along. Something that I happened to completely overlook." Iruka said.
"That is?"
"Maturity." Iruka stated with full conviction. "I believe Sandaime wanted Naruto to mature and have a grown man's view about the workings of the world. For someone who had lived through so much, Sandaime believed that by putting him alone in a genin team would make him mature faster and in the end that maturity would help ease his suffering and give him a bright prospective about the future. I admit that I don't have the same opinion as the hokage does with regards to this setup but I perfectly trust his judgments."
"Pfft! I can't take anymore of this crap." Sasuke sounded rudely, turning his back at Iruka and marching his way towards the door.
"Sasuke."
Sasuke had placed his hand over the knob and was about to turn the door ajar when he heard Iruka spoke.
"This isn't about Naruto, is it? It's about your brother."
Scowling, Sasuke choose not to answer. He pulled the door open with all his might and slammed it forcefully in his wake. The young Uchiha wandered along the corridors already having a particular destination in mind. He hadn't covered much distance away from the faculty room when he suddenly felt someone latching herself over his back.
"Sasuke-kun! I've been eagerly waiting to see you again after the long summer vacation. Having a nice day so far?" The blonde girl, Yamanaka Ino, cooed wrapping her arms around the boy's neck.
Sasuke pulled Ino's arms off him and pushed the girl forcefully aside in his anger that she fell down with her behind crashing painfully against the floor. The girl gave out a pained yelp that Sasuke ignored. 'I don't have time to deal with annoying girls.' He thought continuing to be on the move without giving the offended girl so much as a backward glance.
Sasuke was already on his way out of the school yard when he met another classmate of his, a spiky hair boy with a white puppy plastered on top of his head. "So, it's the big show-off Uchiha Sasuke. You better watch out because I'm not going to let you bet me anytime this year." Inuzuka Kiba said confidently wearing a scowl to show his displeasure at the boy. His little dog barked to second his master.
Sasuke simply brushed pass Kiba without uttering a single word. The Inuzuka kid shouted swear at him to get his attention, something that he readily ignored. He soon found himself out of the school premises and into the center of town.
"Oh, Sasuke-chan. How's everything at the Academy." A stout old woman called when he strode passed her store.
"Good afternoon, Uchiha-sama." A man greeted, bowing his head low in respect for the passing boy.
"Mama, who's that? He's kinda cute?"
"That's Sasuke-kun, a successor to that genius Uchiha clan."
"He must really be strong, right mama?"
He heard a mother and her young daughter talking about him and his family. Like the rest, Sasuke ignored all of these along with all the other greetings and compliments that came his way from random people he'd met down the street. 'These people, I don't need them.' Sasuke thought angrily. ''tousan... 'niisan... Hokage-sama... Even Iruka-san... The people that matters... Why is it that I can never gain their acknowledgement?' Sasuke's musings kept his mind occupied for the rest of the way.
It didn't take long until Sasuke found himself back on the same spot where he found his brother that morning. Looking over, he easily found his reason for coming all the way here. The blonde boy, surrounded by three bratty kids, was training on the boardwalk jutting out into the Nakano River. Rage fully consuming him, Sasuke ran all the way down the stone steps and into the wooden pier. "Naruto!"
"Eh?" Naruto sounded, turning around after hearing someone call his name. Instead, what he saw was a fully clenched fist ramming itself against his face. The force from that punch threw him all the way into river. It didn't take long though before Naruto recovered from the surprise attack, yanking himself upright over the surface of the water. "What do you think you're doing, Sasuke?!" Naruto yelled aloud rubbing his swollen cheek.
"Fight me, Naruto!" Sasuke screamed over the pier, his facing contorting with fury.
"What?" Naruto asked totally bewildered of Sasuke's change of attitude. From what he remembered it was him who used to pick up fights against the Uchiha kid during their stay at the Academy and definitely not the other way around.
"Hey you! Why did you do that to Naruto-niisan?!" Konohamaru bravely snapped shaking his tiny fist angrily to defend his idol.
With the small boy catching his attention, Sasuke decided to vent some of his anger into the little punks by throwing a punch on each of them and in effect knocking the trio out of the platform and into the water. Taking in one deep breath, Sasuke set his eyes back on the boy standing at the middle of the river.
"You bastard!" Naruto cursed, angered by the attack on his friends. He immediately performed the set of hand seals Itachi taught him. "Katon: Karyuu Endan no Jutsu!!" Naruto blew out all of his breath but instead of a powerful stream of flames coming out of his mouth, all that he got was the small puff of fire he'd been expelling from practice the whole day.
"Naruto-niisan... you really suck..." A floating Konohamaru said bluntly through narrowed eyes.
"Hmph!" Sasuke sounded, jerking his head up, his eyes looking down at Naruto. "Is this the special kid who gets to have my brother's full attention?" He began to perform a string of hand seals before taking in a deep breath. "I'll show you what a real Katon jutsu is like. Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" The Uchiha exclaimed releasing a giant ball of fire straight at Naruto.
"Naruto-niisan!" Konohamaru called out. The sight of the huge flames blazing across the water that threatened to roast Naruto alive worried him so much.
"Leader!" Moegi shouted.
"Worthless dead last, that's the end for you." Sasuke muttered in a triumphant gloat. There was no way that Naruto could have survived such an attack. He had clearly proven to himself and to everyone else that he was way stronger compared to the reject his brother blindly took in to be his apprentice.
Suddenly, a pair of Narutos jumped out of the water, catching Sasuke off guard, and locked themselves on each side of the Uchiha securing him in place. The two clones grinned after seeing the confusion on the boy's face. A second later, the real Naruto jumped out of the water directly in front of the raven-haired boy, not giving Sasuke any time to react, and landed a sharp kick under his jaw. The surprise attack propelled Sasuke into the air and ultimately crashed down against the wooden platform several paces back. "Hmph! Don't think that you can take me out with your cheap tricks, idiot!" The three Narutos mocked him back, flashing a thumbs down in synchronized movements for added effect.
"Naruto-niisan! You're so cool!" Konohamaru exclaimed amazed at the blonde's moves. A Naruto clone appeared beside each of the three kids yanking them out of the water.
Sasuke felt himself shaking both in anger and frustration at the boy's gestures. 'He's totally disrespecting me. That bastard, I'll kill him!' He pushed himself back up, wiped the blood off the corner of his mouth and charged towards Naruto anew, screaming out a battle cry as he went.
Naruto and his clones also lowered themselves into a battle ready stance in anticipation of Sasuke's attack when a kunai suddenly fell down from the sky embedding itself with a loud thud unto the wooden platform causing the pumped up eleven year olds to stop on their tracks.
"Stop it, Sasuke." A voice suddenly sounded from behind the young Uchiha.
Surprised, Sasuke quickly turned heel and saw his older brother standing before him. "'niisan?"
"We're going home now. Chichiue wants you back for your training." Itachi said to his brother. Next, he turned his eyes at his student but didn't say anything to him.
Sasuke glared at his brother. Though feeling extremely furious, Sasuke chose to stand down and, under Itachi's instruction, silently walked pass his brother with the intention of heading back towards the Uchiha household. Itachi didn't say a word and went to follow his younger brother home.
"Geez. What's with those guys? They're just plain scary." Konohamaru commented aloud, shaking his head dry just like a dog after Naruto's clones brought him, Moegi and Udon Back to the platform. The brat did have the mind to say such things when the aforementioned brothers were out of earshot or who knows what sort of things might happen to them.
"Yeah." Moegi and Udon nodded their assent.
"You kids better go home. I'm staying here to continue my training." Naruto said shooing the kids away so he could have the rest of his day in peace. He dispersed his shadow clones into a cloud of smoke after their jobs were all done.
"Hey Naruto-niisan, you're not getting off that easily! Considering all the troublesome things we did for you this morning, you have to compensate by playing ninja with us!" Konohamaru demanded.
"What?! What about my training?"
"And as an added bonus, you'll have to treat for lunch or else we'll tell the entire village how you sucked big time!" Konohamaru added sounding all high and mighty, arms crossed. His eyes were also both closed that he did not notice the rest of the Konohamaru Corps hide themselves shaking behind his back. Only after he opened his eyes did he saw the older boy cracking his knuckles, eyes burning and gigantic knots of nerves throbbing on his forehead that the Hokage's grandson felt what true fear is like.
"Ko–no–ha–ma–ru– I'll strangle you myself!" An angry Naruto screamed.
The sparring match continued for the remainder of the afternoon inside the large dojo within the Uchiha residence. After a few moments trading attacks with one another, a badly beaten Sasuke fell haplessly on the floor. The elder Uchiha wasn't showing any signs of going easy on the match just because his own son was his opponent. Even so, Sasuke pulled himself back on his feet with a single though firing his determination, 'I won't let that dobe beat me! I have to become stronger!'
On the sides, Itachi sat watching his brother's training session in silence. Keeping that cold, indifferent expression made it hard for anyone to draw out if whether or not he was actually interested in this little match.
"Wow, this is a first. The head of the Uchiha clan and the person in line for succession actually missed the all important village meeting called by Sandaime Hokage-sama himself." A familiar police jounin marched inside the practice hall and taunted in a soft voice so that only Itachi could hear.
"Why are you here, Shisui?" Itachi asked.
"I just came to deliver these documents about Mizuki's murder case to the captain. I won't mind waiting a little though." The police jounin plopped himself down next to his friend to comfortably watch the sparring session. "You wanna hear the details about it?"
"No."
"Okay." All too used to the former Anbu captain's ways, Shisui simply shoved the cold shoulder treatment aside and focused his attention on Itachi's younger brother. "I see your father's investing a lot of time into Sasuke, something that he doesn't usually do before. I'm sure the captain wants him to become the all important representative of Uchiha. That is if you don't change your mind."
"That's unlikely to happen. Also, Sasuke is the one most fitting for the position. He will serve Uchiha well." Itachi said not bothering to take his eyes away from his father and brother.
"So, you're okay with the idea that Sasuke is just a replacement for you?"
"..."
Shisui heaved a small sigh at the answer his friend gave him. "I heard that Naruto and your brother had a little fight early this afternoon."
"Yeah."
"I know it's pointless to say but just now Sasuke has chosen Naruto as his rival. Whether he likes it or not, Naruto's one of your brother's targets now." Shisui said as he watched Sasuke push his tired, shaking body back on its feet. "You've seen this coming from the longest time and yet you still went through all the trouble setting up that Hyuuga genius against Naruto."
"..."
Shisui shook his head. For someone who has stayed long enough with Itachi, the young man's silence actually revealed more about the things swimming across his mind than the words coming out of his mouth. Shisui focused his eyes back at Sasuke. "You know, you have a very odd way of showing your love for your brother."
"..."