Welcome to another chapter of Naruto of the Uchiha Clan! I hope you're all prepared for Naruto and Sasuke's fourth year in the academy. This chapter includes very moving scenes that will enrapture your hearts and change the way you think about your family.
Now, with no further ado, let's begin!
The Academy Escapades Part 3:
Survival of the Fittest
The fresh mountain air is said to put most people into a calm trance-like state. Be it alone or with a friend, you can always expect a serene peace to enclose your mind, giving you the felling of freedom from responsibilities. Unfortunately, for a group of young children, they were unable to find even a second for peace or relaxation.
"Iruka-sensei! I'm tired, and I got blisters on my feet!"
"Gah! Bugs! Get 'em of! Get 'em off!"
"Wah! Some rabbit stole my chocolate bars!"
"Iru-"
"SHUT UP!" a very angry chuunin yelled.
All the children immediately silenced and stared with fear at their teacher. He was currently seething with anger and his face was extremely red, "Now, we are all going to climb this mountain and we are all going to like it, right?"
"HAI!" the class shouted.
"Good, now get going, it'll still be a few days until we reach the summit."
A raven haired boy who was standing next to Iruka simply huffed and began walking again. Near the back of the group, a blonde boy tried to find the raven haired boy.
"What are you looking for Naruto-kun?" a blonde girl asked him.
The boy looked down and sighed, "My nii-san, he's acting funny lately and he won't talk to me at all." "He's still the same as the other night."
Flashback
"A camping trip?" Mikoto asked, looking at the papers in her hand.
"Yup, Iruka-sensei said that we'll be leaving Konoha for about three weeks for a survival
trip out in the wilderness." Said Naruto.
"So, can you sign it?" Sasuke asked.
"Well, okay, but we'll have to go and buy some stuff tomorrow, it seems like just a sleeping bag and tent won't do." Mikoto said as she signed the sheets.
"Yatta! Isn't this great Sasuke? The famous 'Double U Brothers' out to fend for themselves in the wild!"
Sasuke then looked down, "Yeah, I guess…"
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, tell me when dinner's ready." Sasuke said then left to his room.
Half an hour later, the Uchiha family was gathered around the table eating sushi, egg rolls and (of course) ramen. Itachi, who was surrounded in emoish cloud of self-despair, spoke up, "So, okaa-san tells me that you boys are going to go on a trip."
"Yeah, it gonna be fun, we'll go rock climbing, hunting and all sorts of stuff!" Naruto said between bowls of ramen.
"You do know that there are killer beasts, poison plants and other things that can kill you." Itachi said with a smirk on his face. "I've seen bugs that can eat a human down his bones and plants that squirt acid at whoever picks it. Are you sure that you're up for this?"
"Of course, with Sasuke by my side we'll be fine. Right Sasuke?"
"Hn, whatever."
Naruto then looked at Sasuke, trying to see into him, "Seriously, Sasuke, is something wrong?"
"NO- I mean, nothing's wrong nii-san."
Itachi then pulled a book out of his pocket, "As much as I like the concept of death, I don't think that I would like it if my own brothers were to die. Naruto, take this; it's a combination of all of my notes from the forests of Konoha. It includes stuff about what plants are edible and what not to do in there."
As Itachi reached across the table to give the book to Naruto, Sasuke's eye twitched slightly.
"Arigatou, Aniki-san, I'll make sure to read it tonight." He said as he flipped through the pages, "Hey… how did you find out which plants were eatable?"
"Well, I had to go through quite a number of test subjects. You'd be surprised at how many kids will eat anything for money."
Naruto sweat dropped as he read the seventh page:
Marijuana Leaf: definitely NOT edible in LARGE AMOUNTS! Tester slipped into instant coma, paid tester sum of 5 yen.
Then the family, except Sasuke, began talking about the boy's previous achievements, Itachi noticing that Naruto's achievements outweighed Sasuke's slightly.
"…and then there was the time that Naruto pulled that cat out of the fallen wagon. Hey, Sasuke, when was the last time you saved a ca-"
"SHUT UP!" Sasuke yelled, hitting the table and sending his bowl of ramen to the floor.
The family stared in shock at Sasuke's outburst.
"Sasuke-"
"I'm going to bed." He said and then left.
Itachi then began eating again, "Jeez, who pissed in his ramen bowl?"
End Flashback
Naruto still thought about that night as he climbed the rock wall in front of him.
"Why is he so angry? Was it something I did?"
Once he reached the edge of the rock wall he looked over at the sky and noticed that it was getting dark. "Iruka-sensei, we should set up camp, it's getting dark."
Iruka pretended to not hear Naruto, "Okay, kids, I think we should set up camp as its getting dark."
At the Hokage Tower…
"You called for me, Hokage-sama?"
The Hokage looked up, "Ah, Itachi, well, we've received reports of some bandits around the west side of Konoha. I'm giving this to you as a B-rank mission because their leader appears to be an ex-ninja of the Rock village."
"The west side… isn't that where…"
"Yes, Iruka and his students are there on their camping trip. That is why I want you to leave immediately. Take out the bandits as soon as possible."
"Hai!" Itachi then disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Naruto had set up his tent while others tried to make their tent closer to his, especially some of the girls. Iruka noticed this and yelled. "Boys and girls on different sides of my tent! NOW!"
Once the group set up their tents, they gathered around a large fire. They ate burgers that someone brought and snacked on sugar cookies. Most of the students were gathered around Naruto, asking him questions or just to have a good laugh. Suddenly one kid asked a question: "Why do you guys want to become shinobi?"
"I want to have a job that's exciting and offers adventure. I don't want to end up working in my mom's flower shop." Ino said.
"I want to become stronger than anyone in my family." Kiba announced.
"I'm doing this for my family…" Naruto said.
"Huh?"
"You don't want to be a ninja you're just doing this to make your family happy, right?"
"No, that's not it. It's just that, I didn't have a family until the Uchiha's adopted me. Now I have someone who can acknowledge me for my accomplishments. Whenever I do something in school I think about otou-san, okaa-san, Aniki-san and Sasuke-nii-san. They are my inspiration and the power that drives me to do so well in the academy."
"Wow, that's deep, man, real deep." Shino said.
"Speaking of which, where is Sasuke?" Kiba asked.
"He's been avoiding me for a while, I don't know why though."
"I'm sure he'll come around, he a cool guy and all, but not as cool as you are, Naruto-kun." Ino said.
Suddenly, a snap was heard followed by rushed footsteps. "What was that?" Shino asked.
"Probably a bear or something." Naruto said.
"No, it was Sasuke." Kiba said. "I could smell him."
"First he avoids me and now he's stalking me, what's going on?"
As the next two weeks progressed, the group continued on with their journey. Sasuke still hadn't talked to Naruto and it was worrying him a lot. Whenever he would try to talk to Sasuke he would run off or start talking to someone else. It was making him angry sometimes, but he knew that if he wanted to talk to Sasuke, he would have to talk with concern and not anger. "I'll talk to him tonight then." Naruto thought after the fourteenth day.
That night however, Iruka had called Sasuke to do some jobs around the camp site and to go gather food. So talking with Sasuke tonight was out of the question. After Naruto ate he immediately went to his tent and fell asleep.
Itachi was running full pace now, he had left a bushin to watch over Iruka's group but when it suddenly disappeared, he began to worry.
"Kuso, I just had to go and 'scout the area'. If Hokage-sama finds out about this, I'm dead."
Itachi activated his Sharingan and he copied the steps that Iruka's group left behind. He had just come up to a cliff face when he heard voices. He stopped and jumped into the cover of the trees.
"…listen, it's a bunch of kids who are basically pretending to be ninja. They'll be easy to rob. Even if they do have a chuunin with them." A man wearing a hoodie and cargo pants said. A slashed forehead protector of the Rock village was tied around his arm.
"Yeah, Boss, and with kids they always have some good food with them." Bandit one said. He wore a large axe on his back and slouched terribly.
Bandit two then spoke up, "They might have dango! Oh how long it's been since I had dango!" he began salivating as he spun his twin sai between his fingers.
"Shut up!" both men silenced themselves, "I sense someone." He placed his hand on the ground and made some discrete hand signals.
Bandit one nodded and walked up to the tree Itachi was in. With a flash of speed, he grabbed his axe and felled the tree in one swipe. Itachi had no choice but to jump and give away his cover.
"Huh, some ninja you are." Said the Boss.
"You must be very skilled to be able to hear heartbeats through the ground." Itachi said.
"You have no idea how powerful I am, kid."
Itachi then glared at the man as his anger took control, "Nobody calls me 'kid' and gets away with it!"
"You're going to regret ever calling me a good for nothing kid!" he shouted
"Indeed, well, since I'm bored of your voice already, I'm just gonna kill you. Hiretsu, you go first."
"Gladly." Bandit two, now known as Hiretsu said as he charged towards Itachi.
"Hm, too predictable." Itachi said as his Sharingan began spinning slowly.
He pulled out his katana with the sheath still on it. As Hiretsu came forward, Itachi side stepped, letting the man run past him. Hiretsu spun around and headed for another head-on attack. This time, Itachi held his sword up and swiftly brought it down on Hiretsu's spine, cracking it cleanly in two.
The Boss growled and motioned for bandit one to fight, "You know what to do, Gama-feisu."
"Hai, Boss."
With one hand, Gama-feisu swung his axe down on Itachi. Itachi then hopped back and lunged at his opponent with his still sheathed katana. Using a surprising amount of speed, Gama-feisu then used his free hand to punch Itachi. Itachi bent backwards and pulled himself into a one handed hand stand.
"Quit moving, worm!" Gama-feisu yelled in a deep voice as he attempted to head butt Itachi.
With, Itachi's other hand other hand he drew a kunai and flicked it into Gama-feisu's throat
"Gahhhgggggg…" Gama-feisu gripped his neck to try and get the kunai out but it was too late, he fell over dead.
"It seems that your accomplices won't lives to serve you any longer. I am Itachi Uchiha, and I will take you into custody dead or alive!" Itachi said.
"(sigh) Very well, I guess I'm the only one left." The boss said as he pulled out a gauntlet from his hoodie pocket. "Prepare to die!"
Naruto opened his eyes, there, right in front of him was Sasuke. Naruto smiled but then noticed that Sasuke was holding out two kunai. He took a step back but Sasuke disappeared. Instantly, Naruto was covered in long painful scratches and Sasuke reappeared in front of him, the kunai were dripping blood.
"Why Sasuke?"
"You have the nerve to ask me why? I'll tell you 'why' it's because you stole everything from me, my okaa-san, my otou-san and even Itachi-aniki-san. Ever since you came, you've been the favourite child, everyone wants a little piece of Naruto! Now you will die at my hands and I will be the prized child!"
Sasuke raised the two kunai and stabbed them into Naruto's heart.
"Why…"
Naruto woke with a start, holding his heart making sure nothing was stabbed into it.
"Just a dream, it's just a dream." Suddenly, he heard a noise in the forest. He grabbed his kunai and looked outside the tent. There he saw a shadow run into the bushes, he couldn't make out who it was but the symbol on his back gave him away immediately. It was the Uchiha fan.
Before Naruto could shout, Sasuke ran into the foliage and continued running. Naruto cursed as he put on his sandals and ran after Sasuke. Although Naruto had more stamina than Sasuke he still wasn't as fast as him. It took a while to catch up to Sasuke and Naruto finally found him near the edge of the cliff they climbed earlier.
Naruto then spoke "Sasuke what-"
"Naruto, " Sasuke said, cutting off Naruto, "Do you think if I jump, right here, right now… do you think people will notice?"
"Nani! Of course they'll notice! It's like a fifty foot drop, your blood will be everywhere and-"
"No, I mean, do you think they will remember me when I'm gone?" Sasuke said sullenly.
"Well, yeah, okaa-san will be sad that her son is gone and otou-san will become depressed and everything."
"Now, if we die together, who do you think they will remember more?"
Naruto sighed, "Me…"
Sasuke dropped his shoulders, "I knew you would say th-"
"Aw, hell, my death wouldn't even be 'remembered' it would be celebrated."
Sasuke's eye twitched, "Naruto, now you're just being egotistic."
"They always hated me and would celebrate the fact that I'm dead. And you? They'll probably think that you killed me in a valiant fight and you would have your face up on the Hokage monument."
"I was not expecting this…" Sasuke thought, "What the hell are you talking about? Everyone loves the great Naruto Uzamaki. Me, I'm just his lowly sidekick who's always second best."
Suddenly everything fit together, "You're jealous aren't you?" Naruto asked.
"Jealous? Hell, I'm green with bloody envy! Ever since you came into my family you've been getting the royal treatment, even from the other Uchiha's." Sasuke then reached into his kunai pouch…
Naruto remembered his dream and held his hands up in defense. However what Sasuke pulled out surprised him. It was a picture of his family, before Naruto came.
"I had everything I wanted, I even went so far as to do the village some good and become their hero. But then you came and my life went downhill from there." He threw the picture at Naruto, who caught it before the wind did.
The picture showed Sasuke, Itachi, Mikoto and Fugaku sitting at their lake. Naruto then noticed that there were large blotches on the picture which meant that Sasuke's tears had fallen a few times on it. Naruto then remembered what he said to his friends a few nights back, "My family is my inspiration that drives me to do so well at the academy."
Naruto then sighed, "Gomen, Sasuke…"
Sasuke then looked up "Nani?"
"I wanted to be the best so that okaa-san and otou-san would be proud of me. I strived for the best to show that I was grateful to them for taking me in. I never realized that I was slowly pushing you out of the picture. Forgive me."
Sasuke then stared at Naruto "The other night, when you said that your family was your inspiration, did you mean me as well?"
"Of course, you're the one who brought me into the Uchiha clan! It's because of you that I got a new chance to live at least partially away from those who hated me. And now, I'm surrounded by people who actually like me! Sasuke, by taking me in, you saved my life! I owe you my life so many times over."
Sasuke smiled, "Naruto, you definitely have some sort of power that cheers people up."
Naruto then stepped up to the edge of the cliff, "So, were you really going to jump?"
"Hell, no! The only way I'd jump off that is if there's water at the bottom. Then again, I can't swim that well either." Sasuke said with a laugh. "But, someday, I will be the best swimmer EVER!" Sasuke yelled as he struck the Good Guy pose.
"There's the Sasuke everyone knows and loves!" Naruto said, "C'mon, let's go back to camp and see if we can swipe some of Iruka-sensei's chocolates."
"I'm in for that, nii-san!"
They began walking into the forest when suddenly… RRRUMMMMBLE! CRASH!
"What the hell was that?" Sasuke asked, both boys then ran back to the cliff edge and looked over.
Itachi was getting tired, his legs were bleeding and his katana arm had been previously dislocated. He managed to pop it back in place but pinched an artery and now every move he made sent spikes of pain throughout his shoulder and neck. His opponent had managed to get around Itachi by using and canceling jutsu so quickly that his Sharingan was getting confused. The Boss also never made eye contact with him so it was impossible to trap him in a genjutsu. He was low on energy and now only used his chakra to enhance his movements.
"Aww, is the little jounin getting tired?" (remember Itachi is 16 year old, which is still young)
"Not as tired as you'd like me to be." Itachi said.
"Well, we'll just have to fix that now."
The Boss then created six kage bunshin (shadow clones) and charged towards Itachi, all eyes were on the ground. Itachi readied his sword and struck the first one. However, two jumped Itachi from behind and threw him towards the cliff face. The remaining three then used high level taijutsu to back Itachi into the wall. Suddenly, the clone exploded and caused a large smoke screen. From out of nowhere, a voice shouted,
"Doton: mushashgyou!"(1)
"Shit, dammit, shit!" Itachi thought as he made to dodge the attack. The Boss's gauntlet had quadrupled in size and was rushing towards Itachi. Using his last bit of chakra, Itachi jumped back onto the wall, stuck for a second, and then propelled himself as hard as he could off of it. The damage done to the cliff was devastating. The gauntlet had drilled a hole through the cliff that had weakened the bottom of it. While Itachi was still airborne, he noticed two heads looking over the cliff's edge, one blonde and one black.
"Get out of the way!" Itachi yelled as loud as he could.
The boys looked over the cliff and saw that, directly below them, the area was completely hollowed out. And still more rocks were falling. They then noticed a figure shoot into the sky; they tried to identify who it was when it shouted, "Get out of the way!"
"What does he mean by that?" Sasuke asked.
CRACK! The boys looked behind then and noticed a large crack in the ground. Both boys did not know what to do at the moment but then the piece of earth that they were standing on began to dip downwards.
"Sasuke, move!" Naruto pushed Sasuke's back and sent him flying over to the safe side, while Naruto continued to fall.
"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled as he watched his brother disappear. He ran to the edge and looked over, hoping to see Naruto. Large clouds of dirt filled his vision and the rock face continued to crumble little by little. In desperation, he activated his Sharingan, which now had one tomoe in one eye and two in the other. His eyes slowed down the movement of the dust and he was able to see through it.
"Where are you…?" Sasuke muttered, "(gasp) There!"
Twenty feet blow Sasuke, Naruto was barely holding on to a small clump of dirt that was slowly crumbling under his grip.
"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, "Nii-san, help me!"
Thinking quickly, Sasuke stabbed a kunai into the ground and tied his wire into the loop at the other end of it. Once he tied the other end around a harness on his belt, he slowly lowered himself down to Naruto's position. There was about a foot and a half of space left between them when Sasuke noticed that he ran out of wire.
"Kuso, what the hell did I use a whole roll of wire for?" Sasuke wondered. "Well, time for plan B."
Sasuke then removed the wire from his belt and began to tie it on his ankle. "This is gonna hurt later. Wire isn't meant to be used as rope!"
Now, Sasuke could just almost reach Naruto with both his hands outstretched. "Naruto, you'll have to jump up to me."
"S-sure, but I think that I've only got one chance." Naruto said as more dirt crumbled away. He then dug his feet into the wall to give him more of a boost and prepared to jump.
"Okay, on the count of three!"
"One…"
"Two…" Naruto's hand then slowly let go…
"THREE!"
Naruto hopped up a mere few centimeters. His left hand just missed Sasuke's right but his other hand had grabbed Sasuke's fingers. Sasuke gave a grunt of pain when the extra weight that was Naruto suddenly tightened the wire around his ankle. Temporarily ignoring the pain, Sasuke then reached out with his free hand and grabbed Naruto's wrist.
"Naruto, listen carefully, I want you to climb to the top now and pull me up after you."
"H-hai." Naruto said, he was still shaken up about almost falling to his death.
Using the wire to help him, Naruto slowly climbed the wall. But before he started he noticed that Sasuke's leg was dripping blood.
"The wire must be cutting into his skin…" Naruto thought.
"Oi! Naruto, hurry up. If you haven't noticed, I'm bleeding here!" Sasuke yelled.
Climbing as fast as he could, Naruto reached the edge and pulled himself up. He felt a tug on the wire he was still holding and began pulling Sasuke up. "Hold on nii-san, you saved my life again, and I won't let you down!" Naruto thought.
Finally, both boys were up on the top and completely safe.
"Whew! It's a good thing were completely safe now, eh Sasuke?"
...or so they thought…
"Well, well, well, I come up here looking for my gauntlet but instead I find two helpless cadets! How lucky!"
Both boys looked behind them to see a man wearing a hoodie and cargo pants. "You boys had better cough up your goods if you know what's good for you!" he said.
"We're not giving you anything!" Sasuke yelled.
"Yeah! You'll just have to fight us!" Naruto yelled.
"Suit yourselves, prepare to die! I am The Boss, and no one has yet defeated me, not even that damned Sharingan user, Itachi!"
Sasuke gasped, "What did you do to Itachi?"
"Oh, I left him for dead; he probably impaled himself on a tree branch and is just hanging there, waiting for death to overcome him."
"You bastard!" Sasuke yelled and attempted to charge The Boss but Naruto grabbed him.
"Sasuke, stop, he's my brother too; we'll fight this guy together!"
"You're right, we fight together, because we're…"
(both together) "THE FAMOUS DOUBLE U BROTHERS! Prepare for an ass kickin'!"
"Well, bring it on then!" The Boss said.
"CHARGE!" both boys ran head first towards the missing-nin.
Suddenly… WWWWHHHZZZ! WWWWHZZZ! WWWHHHHZZZ! CLUNK! CLUNK! CLUNK!
"What the hell?"
Three kunai embedded themselves in The Boss's head, heart and stomach. He still stood dumfounded for a second then fell over. Both boys looked behind them and saw Itachi struggling over the edge of the cliff. "How's about a little help?" he asked.
Both Sasuke and Naruto then pulled Itachi up over the edge of the cliff. "What are you doing here Itachi?" Sasuke asked.
"Well, I came to see my brothers of course!" Itachi said with a smile.
"Really?"
"No." both boys faceplanted.
"Then why were you here?"
"I came for that guy and his band." Itachi pointed to the dead Boss, "I was sent to stop him because he was robbing some people around here."
"How come no one told us? Our class was in danger this whole time!" Sasuke yelled.
"Don't worry little nii-san, I was watching over the whole time making sure he didn't try anything funny. Now get back to your camp, it's almost sunup and I don't think Iruka will be pleased that his top two students were sneaking around at night."
"Yeah I guess you're right, Aniki." Naruto said, "C'mon Sasuke, let's go back."
"Sure."
After saying goodbye to Itachi, the boys then went back to camp. Itachi then walked towards the dead body of The Boss and knelt down.
"I told you that you'd regret calling a kid!" he said as he carried the body away.
Luckily for Naruto and Sasuke, Iruka hadn't wakened up yet and the boys were able to sneak into their tents easily.
"Now that Sasuke's happy, this trip should be even better!" Naruto thought.
The next week passed by with many fun times. The campers had found a tall cliff overlooking a lake. Kiba had then suggested a diving contest and something he called 'Fall Racing'. Simply put, two people would jump off and see who would hit the water the fastest. Everyone had fun, including Sasuke, who won the diving contest hands down.
Sometimes, Iruka would set up obstacles for everyone and they would have to get through them as fast as possible. Everyone's favourite was the tree jumping. By gathering small amounts of chakra to their feet (and in Kiba and Naruto's case, their hands since they ran on all fours) they were able to run along branches and jump far distances. This was especially fun playing tag or man-hunt in the night as some kids would smash themselves into trees.
Once the trip ended, the students went back to the academy for their parents to pick them up.
"That was the best trip ever!" Ino shouted.
"I hope we do one next year. That would be awesome!" Kiba said.
"And the best thing is, there's only one month left of this year!" Naruto said.
"Only one month left?" Shino asked, "YOSH! Party at my house then!"
"Who do you think will be students of the year?" Sasuke asked.
"Well, it's obviously, Naruto-kun!" Ino said as she hugged Naruto.
Iruka then approached the kids, "Actually, this year, it's Sasuke."
"NANI!" The kids screamed and Ino dropped Naruto on his head.
"On the camping trip, Sasuke helped out the most while most of you were just goofing off. So, because of Sasuke's helpfulness, he wins students of the year this year."
Naruto then ran up to Sasuke and put him in a head lock, "See, Sasuke? You did all that complaining and jealous stuff for nothing! You proved that you really are the Awesome Blue Beast of Konoha!"
Sasuke was excited but at the same time, he was quickly running out of air, "Uugg, c-can't breathe!"
Suddenly, the classroom door opened and a small girl entered while bowing. "Ano… I'm here for Iruka-sensei's class. I'm the new student."
Kiba looked at the girl strangely, "You're kinda late to be joining a class, ya know?"
"Thanks for stating the obvious, baka." The girl said as she raised her head. The kids gasped when they looked into her eyes.
TBC….
Well, I hoped you enjoyed that, to be honest, it's not my best chapter because I was sick while writing this. If I can I will rewrite this soon. Anyways, next chapter will be the final chapter in the Academy Escapades. Naruto and Sasuke will be hard pressed to pass for if they don't… well, let's just say, that bad things will come about. And who's the new girl? And what does she want with Naruto? Find out next time. Ja ne.
(1) Earth element: samurai drill
btw, I have exams coming up so the next chapter might come out like, three weeks from now, if not later.
Keep voting for pairings! (sorry, but I will not do a hina/naru because it is too common)