"Nah, nah, Naruto-sensei?" Ichi trotted after him eagerly, his big, shifty multicolored eyes just…sparkling almost disturbingly, "What are we doing today? Are we going on an A-rank mission? Maybe escorting a princess across the dangerous field while jounin from other villages try to hunt us down? Or, or, are we going to learn an awesome, forbidden jutsu?" Naruto almost raised his hand to rub at his aching temple, but decided not to due to his aching arm. Kiba took him to a bar along with several other people like Neji to have a drink last night after his return. Ow. Hangover. The parasite in his body thought it was too amusing to see him suffer, and didn't heal him from it. Damned fox.
"Nope," Naruto answered cheerfully with his hoarse voice while continuing to walk to their destination, which had been like that ever since he sang his throat out last night when he was drunk. He felt his students, excluding the eager one trotting after him, cringe at his voice, and decided to use it more to torture them. "It's just a regular D-rank mission. Aren't we all happy?" He felt Ichi deflate, and cackled evilly inside. It was just too funny! Was this the reason why Kakashi-sensei always teased him? ...Not that he was accepting the fact that his student was anything like his younger self, of course.
A sigh from the Nara girl. "How troublesome," she murmured not so quietly, falling behind the group as usual. It wasn't that she lacked the stamina; it just was because of her laziness. She just didn't find power-walking a good way to spend her energy; in fact, she didn't even like using her energy! "I should've ditched when I had the chance." Another sigh. "If it wasn't for my mom nagging at me, that is…" Ouch. Ino was a nice girl, but when she threw a tantrum, or when she was nagging you…you'd want to get away from her as far as possible. He almost felt sorry for Shikamaru, who had to deal with it everyday. Almost, because it was just too funny to pass. It was a daily routine to make fun of his friend, which annoyed the hell out of Shikamaru.
"But," Naruto continued, raising his hoarse voice at a level that caused another strong ripple of cringe from his students, this time Ichi included. He would've giggled in giddiness, but his masculine side resisted, so he grinned evilly instead, rubbing his fingertips together. "This time, it's very special. We're going to train while doing the mission." As he said this, they entered a door to the gargantuan building. It was gloomy inside, and also grimy, so they couldn't see anything. Naruto flickered on the lights.
His three students immediately recoiled as blinding rays of lights hit them. As they got used to the white lights, they blinked and looked around confusedly. Taking in the wooden floors, the steel bars just below the source of their blindness, they rubbed at their eyes, gaping at the size of what they had to clean.
"Mirrors?" Mitsuki questioned, turning her head to her instructor. "We have to clean those mirrors? Those massive mirrors that'd take us days to clean? Are you…are you daft?" Her voice left the typical Shikamaru-ish drawl to the Ino-ish screeching, her voice going sharp. He saw Shiro flinching at the echoing sound of her shrieking, and grinned amusedly.
"Yep, those mirrors," Naruto beamed. "Your mission is to clean those mirrors of this dance studio. To make the cleaning possible without using any other unnecessary tools except for Windex and a mop – and also to make it a bit easier – I'll have you guys climb the mirrors so you could clean them, unless you midgets think you could reach the top from here. Care for a demonstration?"
OXOXOXOXO
Sound to Leaf: Part II
Warning: Spoilers, light shounen-ai.
OXOXOXOXO
"Neh, Naruto-sensei," a high-pitched, but still a boy's voice, cut through his mind like a knife. Naruto looked up from cup ramen, from his thoughts, only to find his preppy student staring at him with intense curiosity as usual. Ichi was a curious student, always questioning 'why' to everything they came across. Like…'Why do we have to do this? Why is Shiro such a bastard? Why are we doing this mission? Why are you always bored, Naruto-sensei?' "I've always wanted to ask you ever since I noticed it. Why don't you ever wear your forehead protector?" Ichi asked, blinking. At the corner of his eyes, he saw Mitsuki offering her tempura to the Uchiha rather unenthusiastically due to her father's dominant genes, but her dark eyes were filled with disturbing adulation, which just killed the cool image. But despite her smothering attention, Shiro was staring right at Ichi for some unknown reason.
Naruto raised his hand to his forehead almost instinctively, his fingers coming in contact with his blonde bangs and the skin of his forehead, which were unguarded. Naruto grinned at his student, sticking his tongue out at Ichi, even if he knew that it was an immature thing to do, stooping low as his student's maturity level. "It's none of your business," he simply said, keeping that grin on his face.
Ichi visibly deflated, pouting at him with disappointment, "But senseeeeiiiii!" he whined, trying to coax his teacher into telling him. Apparently, he was really curious, if he was willing to bother Naruto when he was eating cup ramen. Naruto was ominous when he was interrupted in the middle of appreciating all the goodness of ramen, and his students learned it the hard way. (Ichi almost got a shuriken between his eyes, Mitsuki almost got her face burnt off, and Shiro almost lost his fingers the other time. Yeah, they got it, alright.) He was mellow today because he was thinking about depressing stuff before Ichi interrupted him from another of his brooding sessions. Also, Naruto was too distracted with the question to throw Ichi an attitude, even though he acted like he wasn't preoccupied, grinning all the while.
Of course there was a reason why Naruto didn't wear his headband…
After a short pause, Naruto opened his mouth, but closed it. He didn't know what to say, how to put it into words. It was such a simple thing, yet complicated for other people to understand. It was very…him to say or do something people couldn't comprehend, and this was a part of it. Even the old hag didn't understand him on that. She was trying to convince him to wear the Konoha forehead protector since he refused to do it back then. She finally gave up on that matter after a week of arguing with the 'insufferable brat,' as she called him, and let him be without it, since all of the Konoha shinobi knew him already. It wasn't like he'd be noticed as some missing nin in his own hometown, so she didn't care in the end.
Shaking his head, Naruto only said, "Never mind, just go back to training."
His students, exception to the Uchiha of course, groaned and glared at the mirrors in disdain. Mitsuki's hands twitched, as if wanting to hurl her mop at it, but didn't do anything. It looked like as if she was too lazy to actually get up and bend down to grab that mop. Shiro impassively looked at the mirrors, even though his eyes were burning with distaste.
Naruto had noticed that they were doing far much better than how his genin team was long time ago, despite the freaky similarities. (They didn't break the mirror yet – gasp!) Shiro was just naturally good at controlling chakra being the Uchiha genius he was (or maybe he was taught by somebody good, which is possible), Ino and Shikamaru did a good job training their daughter, and Hanabi actually taught Ichi well. (Maybe the only thing they were good at was chakra control.)
Not wanting to be brushed off and ignored, Ichi tackled the subject again, his stubbornness kicking in. (Where did he get all those genes? They were certainly not from Neji or Hinata… No, both were stubborn, but not in a loud way like their son. Maybe Hanabi's traits rubbed off on him when she was training him.) "Sensei, sensei," Ichi kept on whining despite his order, "I really want to know! You only wore it once, and that was when we first met you! Why don't you ever wear your circlet? Is there like a secret behind it? Or did you lose it? Come on! I want to know! Please?"
Naruto sighed. He gave up. He now really knew how Kakashi-sensei felt when he himself asked him questions like that in the past. He almost felt sorry for his teacher, almost because that'd mean that he was admitting the fact that he was annoying before…again. (He still was in denial.) "It's…complicated," he only said, watching as Ichi scooted forward, big eyes intently watching him, "It has to do my current goal. It is to…" he swallowed, something thick in his throat when he actually said something that was related to his past out loud, "…It is to bring a precious person back to Konoha."
Ichi cocked his head to the side, "What does that have anything to do with your hitaiate?"
"…" He thought for a moment, silent. "Back then, I thought that hitaiate was a symbol of equality among shinobi," he murmured, more like talking to himself, "I still do even till this day. He finally saw me as an equal back then… He grew stronger so he might not even see me that way now. I'm hoping that he would accept that when I go beat the shit out of him one of these days…because I want him to know that I was able to bring him back because we were equal. Not because he was superior over me, or me superior over him, but because I faced him as a shinobi, a friend, just like how he is to me. I just want to save the circlet until I face him again." He knew he babbled nonsense to his unsuspecting kids, realized that he talked too much, but he didn't care at the moment.
The group was silent. Even Mitsuki was staring at him soberly. Ichi looked stunned, his big eyes widened, making him look more feminine than usual. Shiro impassively looked at him, a flicker of something shown in his eyes before he turned away. Naruto felt a jolt of pain in the chest at how similar Shiro was as his ex-best friend, no, best friend even now. He ignored the stir in his stomach as usual and stared back at them with a grin, which will be bright, he hoped.
"Now, back to your mission and training," he said brightly, clapping his hands together in a sign of dismissal, which his students knew how to comprehend. Silently, his students wandered back to their side of the mirror obediently. They began to climb the mirror slowly, although clumsily, dragging a wet mop along the surface to clean it.
And that was a week ago.
Now, Naruto stood in between all the jounin, yawning carelessly as the Godaime talked on and on about the upcoming Chuunin Exam, including the villages that'd be attending it, the rules – not that anybody in jounin rank didn't know about it –, and what kind of job they would be entrusted with during the exam. Naruto inwardly flinched when Godaime darkly mentioned "Otogakure (Sound Village)" in one of the villages attending, but didn't show it, and turned to look at the pink haired woman beside the Godaime while the jounin instructors stepped up to nominate their teams.
Sakura was pale, her hands clutching and tightening around the material of her white coat as the conversation went on. Her pink hair covered her face, but with his good vision – thanks to the parasite's senses – he saw her green eyes tearing, the muscles around her eyes tense and straining to not let the tears fall. Solemnly, he turned back to the meeting, when the other two jounin instructors, Kiba and Ino, of nine rookies, began to declare their decisions.
"I nominate all 3 students in the Chuunin Exam," Ino announced with confidence, smiling, "They proved to have excellent teamwork, so I'll give them a shot this year." She ignored the collective gasps in the room and stepped back, looking at Kiba expectedly.
Kiba, grinning with pride and his arms crossed, also declared his decision, "I also nominate all of my students in." Akamaru also barked in approval.
After stepping back, both Kiba and Ino turned to look at him, waiting for him to make his own decision. Sighing with slight exasperation, Naruto also stepped up lazily, scratching the back of his head, "I nominate all of my students in the Chuunin Exam," he drawled dryly with a shrug, shoving his hands into his pocket. He had noticed that his team was getting along well with each other, bickering all the time and bonding on their own way, especially Ichi and Shiro; they were like he and his best friend, except a little more civil. At the corner of his eyes, Naruto saw Sakura giving him an encouraging smile. Godaime put down the information of two teams on her paper, hesitating on Team 6, his team.
"Are you sure, Naruto?" Tsunade frowned at him, pausing in her writing momentarily, "I mean, this is your first time being an instructor and all… Maybe you should wait for the next one and then nominate them in. After all, that's what Lee did with his students." She said bluntly, looking at him with seriousness. But Naruto knew that he could trust on his students' ability, and shook his head, confirming his belief. Tsunade studied him for a moment before nodding in approval, going back to writing. "Alright. That's all I need to know. All jounin who nominated their team may leave, but rest of you, stay back. We will discuss about the examiners next."
OXOXOXOXO
Ino gasped, covering her mouth in dismay as she stared at the scene before her with her blue eyes. Kiba, behind her, cringed as the metallic scent assaulted his senses, his nose twitching in reflex. Akamaru, all grown and enormous now, gave a low growl and stayed close to his master, his nose nudging at the back of his partner's black pants. An ANBU team was at the back, one of them holding a file from the yellow envelop labeled, 'Chuunin Exam Contestants.'
It was a horrible sight, blood splattered everywhere and a young girl slumping against a black stone. Her face was turned to the right, out of their vision and her messy and stained green hair covering her face. She seemed to have died quickly, only carrying one injury on her body. A clean and deep slit at the throat. The blood had dried a couple days before, judging by the way it was dark and easily peeled off when they scrubbed at it just once. Naruto calmly crouched down next to her still body, frowning, and quietly turned her over after gently laying the body on the ground.
Ino gave another gasp.
Kiba flinched at the sight, mouthing a silent 'ouch' as his face scrunched up with shock and horror.
"Her face…" Ino whispered shakily, her blue eyes still widened with dread, "Oh god… She doesn't have a face… Her face is blank…"
Kiba crouched down next to Naruto, inspecting the forehead protector quietly, "Iwagakure (Hidden Village of Rock)," he murmured, tracing the deep markings on the metal plate that was splattered with dried blood of hers, "She can't be a jounin judging by her appearance. She didn't sneak in here either, because she's carrying a passport that approved of her arrival yesterday at noon. She has to be a genin attending the Chuunin Exam."
"Hasaba Kia is her name, we believe," one of the ANBU at the back spoke lowly under his wooden mask, "Both her teeth and chakra system matched to the one on the report. We came to a conclusion that she was probably ambushed on her way to the 1st Exam when she was isolated from her teammates to probably go to the restroom…" he pointed at the bathroom that was set in the middle of the park not so far away from their place, "…right over there." That conclusion was probably the work of Shikamaru's, but that wasn't important right now.
Naruto was silent, only clenching his fist tightly and looking at the stone that was next to the rock nin's still body when Kiba hissed.
"Shit, what will their village think about this? First we kill off like one eighth of their jounin/chuunin population, now their precious genin prodigy is ambushed," Kiba grumbled, running his hand roughly through his hair with a hint of frustration. Then he turned to the blonde. "Oi, what do you think?" he asked, frowning when Naruto didn't react to his question, "Oi, Naruto?"
Naruto only gestured to the stone, his lips thinned into a line.
Kiba turned to the stone while Ino squatted down to inspect the dried writings, her slender but calloused fingers from her life as a shinobi mildly tracing the words. Quietly, Ino's whispered the words, her mouth moving slowly.
"It will happen again."
OXOXOXOXO
Naruto thoughtfully frowned and studied each of his students, who were tired and shabby looking. There was something wrong. Mitsuki, her blonde hair tangled and smudged with mud, glanced over at Shiro nervously once a while, her dark eyes showing fear and worry. She almost looked paranoid. Shiro looked the same except a little dirtier to people who didn't know him well enough, but Naruto, having experiences with guys like him in the past, knew that there was something wrong about him. The blonde jounin instructor noted the little flinches Shiro made often, his hand twitching as if wanting to grab at something, but keeping it down. Ichi seemed like the only oblivious one, looking around excitedly and grinning. Naruto's stomach twisted with fear at the familiarity of that scene, but he calmly restrained it, or at least tried to.
There were 12 contestants left, tired and dirty from their little hassle at the Forest of Death. Naruto shivered a little at that. He still could remember how he was swallowed by the snake, the slimy insides against his hand… Naruto shuddered and turned towards the familiar arena. It seemed like it was Udon, Hanabi, and Konohamaru's turn again this time (they were the judges last time too), because Hanabi was now up explaining the rules of the third exam, the ever present hand gestures decorating her explanation.
His team climbed up the stairs tiredly toward him, even though Mitsuki threw a nervous look at Shiro few more times in the process, as if Shiro was going to do something irrational. Naruto frowned at her paranoid actions, but decided to wait until they reached the top of the stairs, where he was. Straightening up from his slouch against the wall, he, with his hand gesture, silently called over Mitsuki, who followed him tentatively. She gazed hesitantly once more at Shiro, who glared at her warningly, before trotting after him.
Naruto took her to the corner of the arena, and softly talked to her. "What's wrong, Mitsuki?" he asked, worriedly looking at her.
Mitsuki tensed stiffly for the first time he saw her, and she swallowed, avoiding his blue eyes. She gave Shiro another fearful and worried look, before staring at the space between her feet. Naruto patiently waited for her to speak. Mitsuki finally looked up after a short silence, and he flinched a bit, noting her eyes widened with fear, which usually were half-lidded and filled with laziness.
"Naruto-sensei…" she began, her voice quivering, "I… We… I don't know what to say…" her form trembled, and Naruto quickly laid his hand on her shoulder in a sign of assurance. She calmed down a little bit, and began again. "You probably know, but our 2nd exam was to try to eliminate other teams without killing on our way to the tower. On our second day…" her voice thinned out and she started to tremble again, and she tried to regain herself by taking deep breaths, "On our second day… We had an ambush from the Iwagakure (Hidden Village of Rock) genin team." Naruto felt something heavy dropping in his stomach at the mention, but he didn't say anything and allowed her to ramble on. "They used an exploding tag on the tree we were standing on, and even though Shiro-kun and I were able to stay together, Ichi was blown away to some other place. We managed to defeat two of the members, but…" she trailed off, pausing a bit when her voice got too tremulous.
"But…" she began again after a short silence she used to calm herself down enough to talk without quivering voice, "But there was a girl left… She started acting really strange and her voice got deeper, chuckling and all that…"
-
"Ku ku ku ku," the girl chuckled with a smirk on her face, her golden eyes flashing as she tossed her green hair back confidently, "Just as I expected… You are his students after all." Running her pale hand through her green hair, the iwa (rock) genin smirked even wider, her eyes running over the two of them, and her two companions lying on the ground unconscious.
"How do you know Naruto-sensei?" Mitsuki questioned the green haired genin lowly and sharply, eyeing her carefully. Her dark eyes narrowed to slits and she glared at the other female, gripping at her kunai as if the world would end if she let go of it. Something about that genin made her feel very uneasy, and she was not about to let her guard down with an enemy around to eliminate them. Also, she was too confident, acting casual and calm when two her teammates were down. Mitsuki quickly searched around for ways they could defeat the girl, but was quickly reminded that they didn't know anything about what she was capable of.
"Let's just say…" the green haired girl drawled, clearly sending her 'I know something you don't' message to the two Konoha genin, "…that I knew him long time ago." Mitsuki thought she saw a tint of red in those golden depths, but dismissed it as her imagination for the rock genin's eyes were still gold. Still, even with that distraction, the statement still hung at the back of her mind. Long time ago… Knew him long time ago…
Shiro didn't say anything, only biting down on his lips and watching the iwa genin with his activated swirling crimson eyes. Sharingan. The boy became better at controlling his sharingan after they learned chakra control, but he still couldn't keep it for a very long time.
"Aren't you a pretty thing?" the girl cooed mockingly, an arrogant smirk playing on her lips as she tilted her head at Shiro, "Looking at me with those pretty eyes of yours… I'm quite flattered, you know." Shiro twitched, looking slightly disturbed, but otherwise blank as always. He and Mitsuki both knew that that was just a taunt, or a very bad flirt, but the second one was highly unlikely.
'Where is Ichi?' Mitsuki thought, frustrated. She had no idea where Ichi was, because when those rock nins launched an ambush, he was blown away by the force of the exploding tags they set up. Mitsuki never liked to think too much, but ever since she became a genin, she was forced to think when she preferred being a lazy ass, watching the dark, night sky with her father when he was home. (Of course, with her mother yelling at the background too, telling her to go to sleep since she was a growing girl and needed it.) 'Shouldn't he be back by now?'
"But," the green haired girl continued, "You're not the only one who's special." Her golden eyes immediately turned scarlet, three commas around her pupil swirling languorously. She gave them a smile, a smile that made hairs on Mitsuki's neck stand up. Shiro jerked in surprise, eyes widened and his hand faintly twitching. "Surprised?" she snickered, "An Uchiha shouldn't be acting like that. But then again, if you're his son, then I suppose you'd detest anything that's related to the clan. Our clan." She looked at the dark haired boy right in the eye.
The blonde haired girl was startled when Shiro suddenly fell on his knees, sweating and clenching his eyes shut tightly as he let out a long, bloodcurdling scream. The iwa genin was eyeing him almost gleefully, crossing her arms. Mitsuki ran to his side immediately, and grasped his arm, trying to shake him out of it.
"Shiro-kun!" she yelled, "Shiro-kun! It's fine! Nobody's attacking! Shiro-kun! Snap out of it!"
With a gasp, Shiro was back, trembling uncontrollably against her hand as he panted, his eyes dilated. His sharingan faded away slowly, only leaving the hollow blackness behind. He fought for breath frantically, and Mitsuki rubbed his back reassuringly, worried. The black haired boy she admired never was shaken up this bad before… She didn't know what he saw, but to have him acting like this…it must've been cruel…
"M-Mangekyou Sharingan…" Shiro gasped, fear tinting his usually blank voice, "H-How does she know it…? It's the f-final level of sharingan…only an Uchiha could do it…"
"Already down, nah?" the originally golden eyed girl questioned tauntingly, mocking the Uchiha prodigy, "An Uchiha shouldn't be that weak. But then again, you were never trained by a true Uchiha. How would you know their, our great strength?" Her red eyes swirled almost lazily, "To be a son of him. Pity. If I were to raise you, I'd have trained you to be the greatest instead of abandoning you."
"Shut the fuck up!" Shiro gasped, fisting the fabric of his blue shirt, "You're not an Uchiha! You can't be an Uchiha! You're from another village! How could you be an Uchiha when you're from there?" His rant was almost hysterical, as if he was trying really hard to convince himself. He wasn't succeeding. "He…My father…I thought he was the only remaining Uchiha… You can't be an Uchiha…" He trembled, trailing off.
Mitsuki sympathetically patted his back. It was a known, hidden fact that Shiro's father was powerful; really powerful. He was a missing nin S-rank, and was known to have the power to annihilate an ANBU squad single-handedly. Shiro's main ambition was to destroy his bloodline. To him, even killing his father seemed impossible, and to have another strong Uchiha to kill…was… She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling pity rising in her. But she didn't show it. She knew Shiro well enough to know that he wouldn't appreciate pity.
"I'm quite disappointed," the girl continued nevertheless, despite his condition, "You're his– Naruto's – student. I at least expected a mastered sharingan. I guess that dobe is doing a bad job with his teaching, chasing his impossible dream and still far behind my level…as usual." She licked her lips, a smirk on her face.
"Don't talk about Naruto-sensei like that!" Mitsuki lowly growled. Sure, their instructor loved to torture them, and loved to get on her nerves especially, but she still respected him a lot. And from what her father and mother told her, Naruto-sensei was very strong despite the fact that he acted like a 7 year old more than often. She had witnessed a part of it during their mission at the Hidden Village of Rain, and also when he was demonstrating chakra control.
-
"Yoshi," Naruto grinned when all of his students nodded. Ichi was on the curious side, and Mitsuki was on whatever-side. Shiro didn't nod at all, but looked at him expectantly. Reading guys like his homicidal student always has been his specialty, especially due to a…particular friend (well, all those anal guys like Neji and Gaara too) before, so it was easy to know what Shiro wanted. "So you guys want a taste of the power of the Great Uzumaki Naruto, nah?"
He pouted when he was met with open-rejection, his students shaking their head. "Mou!" he whined, "Show some respect to your future Hokage, won't you?" Naruto sighed, throwing his hands up. "No matter. But anyways, to climb the mirror without using ladders and clean it at the same time – which would seem impossible to you guys now – what you'll do are focusing all of the energy of your chakra toward the soles of your feet and use that power to cling to the surface of these babies." Naruto tapped the dusty mirror, only to make a disgusted face and wipe his hands on his pants, "This training will help you have a greater control over your chakra."
"But Naruto-sensei," Ichi asked, blinking curiously, "I don't get it. How will that help us get stronger? We already know how to control our chakra."
"Patience, young one," Naruto smiled, snickering silently to himself as Ichi pouted, "The main point of this training, like I said, is to have a greater control over your chakra, to use no more than necessary, and to maximize its effectiveness in where and how you use it. It's critical that you apply that to your jutsu and techniques. It's even difficult for several high ranked ninjas to control it; even I couldn't control it until the training session before the third round of my first chuunin exam." Satisfied when he had his students' attention, he continued on, "The type of this training we are doing requires utmost concentration and delicate application of chakra possible. First of all, it's hard to manipulate chakra in your feet. Second of all, if do it weakly, you slip and fall, and then die. Third of all, if you go overboard with your chakra, then the mirror would shatter and you'd fall and die anyway. By the way, if you break the mirror, I'm taking it off from your payment.
"The second point of our little session is to build up and work on your stamina, speed, reflex, and accuracy. Think about how it'll be if you're in the middle of a dangerous, A-ranked mission and all of sudden the enemy's in front of you and you don't have enough chakra to perform anything because you're drained from excess chakra-using. Dangerous, nah? Stamina is important in your battles. In a battle, circumstances are always changing, and a true shinobi must be ready to do anything; he has to be able to manipulate and maintain his chakra if he wants to win. You don't have time to stand around trying to collect your chakra and do jutsu slowly or clumsily like when you're training. You need to be precise, accurate, and quick. By doing this exercise, you'll be also gaining that reflex that'd save your lives at some point.
"So," Naruto grinned brightly, rubbing his hands together, "Now that my boring lecture is done, it's time for demonstration!" He laced his fingers together in a form of seal, and looked at them. "Watch now. See, you concentrate the chakra in your feet," his sandal clad feet glowed with powerful purple chakra, "You keep it there," the glow remained, "And then you walk." His feet touched the surface of the mirror, and began to climb it easily as if he was just walking on the ground.
"Wow…" Ichi murmured with an awed expression on his face, "He's actually walking up the mirror…with his legs and feet parallel to the ground! I thought it was just a bluff…"
"So did I," Mitsuki answered back, whispering, "I know that he's powerful and all as we witnessed a portion of it back at the Amegakure, but it's kinda hard to believe it since he acts worse than my younger brother most of times…and my brother is 8!"
"I heard that!" Naruto yelled from his spot, glaring down at them.
"Sorry," they both quickly apologized, sheepish. Shiro just looked up at him indifferently, a bored look on his face even though a glint of excitement in his eyes just killed his cool act. He wasn't as good as his friend at hiding emotions…not that hiding your emotion was good, of course. Whatever will they do when they're sexually deprived? Psh. They'll die of frustration.
"Anyways, this is how you do it," the blonde haired instructor said crossing arms, "Any more questions? Because the blood is starting to rush backwards and it hurts. A lot."
"Naruto-sensei," Mitsuki raised her hand thoughtfully, which caught the blonde off in surprise since it was most likely that she'd start sighing again and muttering about how it was too troublesome. "Normally, people have blue chakra, don't they? When you were demonstrating just right now…your chakra was purple, and it was more powerful than normal chakra waves. It seemed like you were suppressing it down a great deal too, judging by the way it flickered unsteadily. May I ask why?" she felt her teammates look at her in surprise. She expected something like that, since the chakra glow was faint, as if Naruto-sensei was trying to suppress it; it was no wonder that her teammates couldn't detect it. But she was born observant, and she noticed these kinds of things a lot of times.
She felt her instructor stiffen, but patiently waited, crossing her arms and looking straight at him. He shifted uncomfortable under her scrutinizing gaze, but didn't answer for a while. Finally he opened his mouth, but his reply disappointed her greatly. "I can't tell you why," he said, his normally bright blue eyes dark, "It's a rule Yondaime made 28 years ago; nobody's supposed to talk about it."
And he left it as that, and hopped down, landing without any sounds. Mitsuki looked at her instructor. Naruto-sensei seemed like such a simple, stubborn, idiotic, and life-loving man…but it seemed like he was more complicated than anyone else. He hid many things discreetly, so skillful that her other teammates didn't notice the insomnia he suffered during their C-ranked mission with Hina-san, strained smile he gave after his meeting with Haruno-san, the faint dark circles under his eyes this morning, the distant look in his pained, darkened eyes during lunch break, and his way of dodging topics without people noticing it when it was getting uncomfortable for him.
'Naruto-sensei…' she thought as Naruto-sensei bragged to his other two students as if her question didn't impact him, 'Just what are you hiding…?'
-
"Oh. Now the little girl defends that dead last," the green haired iwa genin sighed sarcastically, making feminine gestures with her hand, "What is the world coming to? Sooner or later, the idiot would probably drag Konoha down the drain with him, chasing after an impossible dream." She smirked, brushing a strand of her green hair back, "He'll never accomplish any of his dreams. Both of them."
My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I'm sure you all know me from either your parents or…rumors. I like many things in the world, but there are also several things I really do hate passionately.
Dokun.
My dream is none of your concern.
Dokun.
It's none of your business.
Dokun.
Never mind, just go back to training.
Dokun.
It has to do my current goal. It is to…
Dokun.
…It is to bring a precious person back to Konoha.
Dokun.
Back then, I thought that hitaiate was a symbol of equality among shinobi. I still do even till this day. He finally saw me as an equal back then… He grew stronger so he might not even see me as an equal now. I'm hoping that he would accept me as an equal when I go beat the shit out of him one of these days…because I want him to know that I was able to bring him back because we were equal. Not because he was superior over me, or me superior over him, but because I faced him as a shinobi, a friend, just like how he is to me.
Dokun…
"Shut the fuck up!" for the second time, Shiro lost it, and dashed at the green haired girl before Mitsuki grabbed him, badly shaken. He quickly activated his Sharingan and did a series of hand seals he knew by heart, and yelled, "Katon! Housenka no Jutsu!" After blowing small, yet powerful series of fireballs toward the girl's direction, which was just for distraction, he jumped high and took out his three shurikens in midair, and threw it. A thunk was heard, which meant that two missed and one got the target, before a log with three shurikens embarked on it dropped on the ground after a poof. 'Kawarimi no Jutsu!' he barely dodged the girl who appeared behind him, and jumped away hastily, sliding on the ground and causing dusts to rise.
"So I guess that dobe did teach you something," the girl drawled, "Not bad, even though you need a serious work on that sharingan," her own sharingan flared in response. "You're too weak." She did a back flip and dodged the shadow that was creeping to hers. She smirked, watching as the shadow struggled to reach further, "And slow. Who did your father breed with to make such a worthless son?" Shiro knew that she was taunting him, messing with his mind, but it still stung. He felt something trying to snap at the back of his mind.
The girl disappeared momentarily before appearing on another tree when smoke rose from the tree she stood next to, followed by a big explosion and the fall of the tree. The ground shook with the force of the fall, and the green haired girl smirked confidently, crossing her arms casually. "Don't think that I forgot about you, little girl," she said, twirling a kunai, "Just because I happen to be screwing the boy's mind doesn't mean I'm off guard."
'Shit…!' Mitsuki cursed in her mind, taking out a kunai from her pouch, 'What am I going to do in this situation…?' She had 6 kunai, 12 shuriken, 3 exploding tags, 2 flash bombs, 1 smoke bomb, and 12 meters of a wire. What can she do with these?
…
Meanwhile, Ichi cursed out loud, trying to move his arms, "SHIITTTT!" He felt the blood rush to his head slowly, and tried to survive the splitting headache as he hung upside down. Vines were wrapped around him head to toe, and as he struggled, he felt chakra draining out of him. The enemy trap seemed like as if it was just set up randomly as a team made their way to the center. It wasn't his fault that he fell for the trap. It was that explosion that blasted him out of that stinkin' tree to all the way here, where the trap was coincidently. The long haired boy sighed, his eyes tearing, and pouted. Maybe he should've studied more of those techniques to save him from this. Shiro was better at escaping than him.
He squirmed uncomfortably, and sighed again. He heard something heavily fall to the ground, felt it as it caused the ground to shake violently. He wanted to go to his teammates as soon as possible, to help them, maybe. But he believed that his teammates were fine without him. After all, they were so much better than him, both in ninja skills and qualities that were expected. He knew that they didn't need his help. He'd probably a hindrance to them, and cause danger again like he did back at the Hidden Village of Rain. If Shiro died…he wouldn't know what he'd do…
He had an urge to slap his own face silly when he suddenly felt depressed, but it was the truth. How will he live on knowing that his supposed arch nemesis died saving him? Knowing that the other gave his life so he could live on? Ichi sadly frowned and turned away from those thoughts. They were getting too complicated and depressing for his brain. (Not that he was calling himself stupid, of course.)
Ichi shifted awkwardly, and felt more chakra flowing out of him yet again. Now, what to do, what to do… He couldn't stay here forever, since anything unexpected might happen, quoting Naruto-sensei. Ichi suddenly frowned, his delicate brows furrowing. He felt like he didn't know Naruto-sensei anymore. He thought he had his instructor all figured out, but it seemed like he actually didn't understand much about his blonde teacher. Naruto-sensei was a simple guy at a first glance, easy to figure out and typical, but different from other people. But as you observed him, just like Mitsuki did, he had more underneath, craftily hidden and unrecognizable. "A ninja must see underneath the underneath." That statement repeated by Iruka-sensei frequently back at the academy described his instructor perfectly.
He liked Naruto-sensei. Not in that way, of course, but in a "my instructor's acting like a seven year old, but I guess he's fine" way. Naruto-sensei once told him that he reminded him of his past self when he was a genin as they were eating ramen at Ichiraku. (Ichi preferred udon over ramen, but Naruto-sensei was treating him, so he just ate with him. That man was addicted to those!) It was just a passing statement, but it had remained in his memory. If Naruto-sensei was like him at one point, simple and childish, what caused him to turn out the way he is now?
Ichi's thoughts, for once serious, were cut short as a giant snake jumped out of nowhere with a long hiss and grabbed him, cutting the vines and setting him free from the trap but caught at the midriff in the snake's mouth. He wailed and flailed his arms about as the snake slithered away, feeling slimy saliva soak through his dirty, but white shirt and his pants, and its forked tongue brushing against his thighs.
…at least he was out of the trap.
…
Mitsuki thought getting Shiro to gather his wits was the first and utmost thing to do. She tied the smoke bomb to the round ring of her kunai, and threw it toward the green haired girl. The genin dodged it easily, and didn't even bat an eyelash when the smoke bomb suddenly exploded and filled the site with dusts and gray smoke. Mitsuki grabbed Shiro quickly and rushed away, feeling him struggle against her hold. She momentarily let go of him to cast a Kagemane no Jutsu on him, and hurried away, feeling Shiro imitate her movement and running with her. She heard the flash bomb she set up go off as the force of the smoke caused it to get stimulated. That should hold her off for a while.
Mitsuki deftly climbed a random, tall tree when they were away from that place and pulled Shiro up, and released her jutsu on him when he settled on the branch. As expected, Shiro whirled around and glared at her immediately, his sharingan spinning.
"What the hell are you thinking?" Shiro lowly growled, scowling openly at her. "Running isn't going to help, you know," his eyes were wild as he bit his lips, his hand trembling. "Sooner or later, she's going to come after us when those bombs wear off." Fear was evident in his eyes, but he stubbornly repressed it, hiding with fury.
"I know that!" Mitsuki snapped at him, scowling right back at him. The black haired boy looked taken aback when she darkly continued, "But we can't devise a plan with you losing your cool like how you did back there, Shiro-kun. The reason why I dragged you out of that mess was so that you could calm down. We can't do anything against that girl if you're like this." She gripped his hand. "She knew what I was trying to do, and let us go for that moment for some strange reason. But we can't let this chance slip, Shiro-kun. She's going to come after us soon, and I need your help to make this work," she ran her hand through her messy blonde hair. "So will you please calm down?"
The Uchiha prodigy toned down considerably, his fury fading away and soon replaced with his usual, blank self. "Good," Mitsuki said wearily, "If you didn't calm down I was going to bonk you over the head and knock you out. Dealing with an enraging, roaring, and rampaging you is too troublesome. I'd rather deal with the creepy girl."
Shiro glared at her silently.
"What we're going to do now is a revised version of my father's past, really, really old plan," Mitsuki began, ignoring his silent glare, "Unfortunately, even though I'm supposed to be the genius, I'm not as good as my father, and I don't have a lot of experiences with using my brain. While my father grew up playing shougi or go, I grew up arranging flowers with my mother. So I'm quite inexperienced at using my head to its full potential." It was ridiculous, she knew, but it was the truth. "Part of it is from my brain, and the other part's from my father's brain. So at least trust my father's part."
Shiro nodded.
…
She sauntered into the clearing, where she felt the Nara girl and her…nephew's chakra. She smirked and jumped up into the tree. As expected, a kunai flew at her side, and she dodged it easily. 'That's done by the girl, judging by that slow speed.' She thought she heard something snap at the back, but played along with the kids, knowing that the blonde girl set up the traps. "Come out, now," she drawled dryly, "You know you can't run away from me."
Another kunai flew from the back with an amazing speed. She just stepped to the side, hearing the kunai whizzing past her. It landed with a thunk somewhere out there. Simplistic kids. They never knew when to quit. However, she was surprised when another kunai appeared within her sight, this time heading toward a thick bush near the tree she was standing on. She cursed mentally when it came in contact with a ward there, hidden cleverly behind that bush, followed by a large explosion as the tree shook. She was caught off guard when a shuriken sailed through the air, cutting the thin line the flash bomb was attached to on the tree across from hers. The flash bomb went off, causing a momentary blindness as it created glaring white light. She watched knowingly as the shadows stretched, a smirk playing at her lips.
The light faded away eventually, and when she adjusted her eyes to darkness again, there was the blonde girl on the tree across from her. "That was pretty smart for your level, little girl," she smirked. Probably nicked it from her father. "A work of your father's isn't it?" she asked breezily.
The girl smirked back at her, surprising the iwa genin. "Nah. It's a little bit different… But it worked didn't it?"
She felt the corner of her mouth twitch. "Hn." She tried to jerk one of her arms, testing, and wasn't surprised when her arms didn't move. The blonde looked relieved at that; maybe she wasn't expecting the plan to be perfect, considering that she probably planned it out in 3 minutes, revising her father's plan to adjust to their combat. "Kagemane no Jutsu," she said to herself. She was fairly familiar with it. "Nara clan's specialty,"
Mitsuki breathed in slight relief. She had used her father's past knowledge and used her shadow to reach the back of other's, assisted by the temporary flash of the flash bomb, "Kagemane no Jutsu, success," she grinned, uncurling her hands that were formed into a familiar seal to both her and the genin, "Shiro-kun, now!"
The black haired boy appeared on the tree the green haired girl was standing on, and smirked. He jumped high, and threw 12 shurikens connected together with a long wire, causing the green haired genin to slam against the rough bark of the tree when it wove around her, tying her efficiently to it after Mitsuki released the jutsu at the right time. Then he did a familiar, but slightly awkward series of hand seals – since it was a jutsu he didn't use usually due to its massive chakra waste – quickly, "Katon!" he yelled, "Karyuu Endan!" he breath in, and blew a stream of powerful flames toward the tree, letting it flow out of his mouth smoothly. The three recently invented exploding tags – Konoha created a new kind of exploding tags that'd go off when you stimulate them – on the tree went off with loud explosions as the fire stimulated it. He landed on the ground elegantly, drained and satisfied. The smoke erupted as the tree burned, and clouded the area. Shiro controlled his fire so that it'd only knock his enemy out instead of roasting her to death.
"Not bad, for a bunch of little midgets, that is…" instead of a cooing, alto female voice they were used to hearing, a deep voice came from the place where the green haired genin got scorched at. They both stiffened, and let their guards up again, but couldn't see what was going on, due to the smoke surrounding the tree. Mitsuki shivered, feeling as if something really bad was going to happen. The aura of that girl changed abruptly, going bad to insanely dangerous. Mitsuki also felt a great power radiating from the aura, which was probably hidden up until this point. Shiro took out a kunai, despite the fact that his own legs were shaking unsteadily.
"Naruto taught you well," the deep, foreign voice snickered, "I didn't expect you midgets to come even this far…" some smoke cleared, "But then again, that dobe had a tendency to push whoever he came across." Gradually, the moving gas particles faded away, and revealed a stranger. Shiro recoiled as the dim moonlight revealed the stranger's face.
Mitsuki gasped. That person… He…
He looked almost identical to Shiro.
Maybe it was the other way around, but her mistake was the last thing on Mitsuki's mind. He was someone you'd imagine Shiro to look like when he grew up. But…they looked like as if they were…related. That was the most likely, the only logical possibility. Mitsuki, with her dark eyes widened with fear, collapsed unto the ground, trembling ceaselessly as the stranger smirked, his crimson eyes glowing eerily in the moonlight. He was beautiful, really beautiful in a masculine way, but there was something dangerous about him, which subdued her into this quivering mess.
The stranger raised his slender hand to peel off the remaining skin of the girl they fought against from his face, which came off easily with a sickening, rubber-like sound. The ever present smirk was playing at his lips, the only thing that didn't change from the green haired girl. He was wearing a dark robe, complete with the wooden geta sandals. His dark, slightly long bangs framed his pale face, and his hair shot out at the back, giving a strange impression of a spiky version of a rooster tail. He also seemed like he was around Naruto-sensei's age. Power radiated from the man, and Shiro gulped, his hand tightening around the kunai.
Mitsuki felt like as if she was under a great pressure, and couldn't move. She gasped for breath as she sweated, and she tried to think, but couldn't think straight. She only breathed in and out roughly, unable to speak.
"Who…" Shiro began, trembling, "What the hell are you…?"
"I can't tell you now," the man said teasingly, "But you'll know soon enough." His sharingan swirling, the dark haired stranger walked over to the trembling boy, "You have potential, Uchiha Shiro," his lips pulled into a mild smirk. "If you stay around in this dump, you'll never gain what you want," Shiro's now dark eyes shook when he said that, "You'll soon look for me for power; you won't be able to resist it," he whispered, "Because an Uchiha could never resist power, just as our clan, your father and I couldn't." He did a quick series of hand seals with one hand and grabbed the boy with the other. There was a small purple flash before a snake shot out from his hand, its two long fangs sinking into the flesh of Shiro's neck. Shiro let out a painful scream through his clenched teeth, struggling frantically against his hold.
Mitsuki wanted to reach out and pull the boy away from the man's presence, from that pain, but couldn't as she watched, frozen and mesmerized, as if she was hypnotized. Tears rolled down her face unknowingly, dripping down unto the ground as Shiro struggled wildly.
"Prove to me that you're strong enough," the man murmured loosened his hold, and Shiro fell, unconscious; the snake was sucked back into his palm. "That you're strong enough to survive this seal." There was a faint red mark on Shiro's neck. "It's a mere imitation of what my…ex-master did, but this will be enough for you…for now." His lips curled into a smirk as he turned to the frozen blonde girl, who was crying silently. "No matter what you do," he whispered, "He'll come to me for power, little girl. And you won't be able to stop him." And then he disappeared without any sound.
Mitsuki felt the weight on her shoulder disappear finally, and then passed out with a flump on the ground.
-
When she woke up, she saw a white and black blur moving around her. She felt drained… She blinked and groaned, making a move to rise. A hand immediately stopped her movement, ushering her down onto the soft ground again gently. "Mitsuki-chan, don't do that. You're pretty worn out right now. You need your rest. Don't worry and just sleep." The voice was familiar, painfully high-pitched but nice, and the soothing hand on her hair had her drop back into the dream world yet again.
Mitsuki was suddenly jolted awake again from her sleep when a strangled scream suddenly cut through the comforting silence. Moaning, she sat up quickly, regretting that when her head spun in response to her abrupt movement. She heard somebody curse loudly and move around. "Ichi…?" she called out weakly, rubbing at her temple. "Is that you…?" She felt the soft, moist, grassy ground underneath her fingertips and a light, warm weight over her; she blindly grabbed it, only to find out that it was a towel.
"Mitsuki-chan!" the voice came back, relieved, approaching her quite softly. When he plopped down by her side, he asked worriedly, "Are you okay?"
"What is it…?" she asked groggily, rubbing at her eyes frantically to chase the weariness away, "I heard a scream… Is somebody hurt?" She wasn't thinking straightly; she was never a morning person. In fact, she was never an after-sleep person. It was a gene passed down by both of her parents. Her mother and father were cranky in the morning. They were worse than her when it came to morning behavior.
A short silence. "Shiro's having a nightmare," Ichi said carefully, "He's calling out something about his mother and father… It's best that we don't interrupt him right now… He's burning hot, his chakra is almost drained for some reason, and…he's hurt. I tried to treat him, but I'm not as good as Mitsuki-chan, so…" He looked toward a certain direction and Mitsuki figured that that was where Shiro was.
Mitsuki suddenly felt like she was snapped awake. "How is Shiro-kun?" she asked worriedly, looking at the long haired, feminine boy, "He was badly injured when we were fighting that…girl… Is he okay?" She hesitated on the girl part; Ichi didn't need to know about what happened. She didn't want to worry the boy.
Ichi paused, his big, multicolored shifting eyes glowing in the early morning light, "Like I said, he's not doing so well both mentally and physically, Mitsuki-chan. Both of you weren't doing so well when I found you guys… I thought…" his voice trembled, "I thought you guys were dead…" His fists clenched. "Because I wasn't there to help, I almost let you guys die… I was so scared, Mitsuki-chan… So scared that you and Shiro both died…" he trailed off, clenching his fists, and his eyes tearing.
"There, there," she sighed and patted him on the shoulder, "We're…both fine aren't we?" she had hard time speaking the word both, but that seemed to help Ichi gather himself, so she continued softly, "Nothing…happened to us. We're fine. That team was eliminated." She smiled, "Thanks, Ichi, for taking care of us like this."
Ichi nodded tearfully, but smiling. "Un! I promise that I'll be there for you guys if you guys need help!"
"Good boy," Mitsuki patted him again, smiling just lightly. "Now, tell me where you were, what you did, and why you couldn't come."
"Uh…" Ichi scratched his head sheepishly, "Well, after we were separated because of that exploding tag…I got blasted away to some clearing and fell into an enemy trap unexpectedly." He almost said it meekly, embarrassed, "It was a trap they sat up randomly in hopes to eliminate some enemy, so…yeah. I was trying to free myself from the trap when this snake all of sudden came and got me." His face scrunched up, remembering the horrible, slimy sensation, "I was freed from the trap, but I was in the snake's mouth. But then, I started thinking about you guys…" he was almost getting teary, but he suppressed it, "…And stabbed the snake's tongue with my kunai. Then I used Kawarimi no Jutsu to escape. I went back to the clearing, but you guys weren't there, so I searched around a bit until I found both of you guys passed out on the ground."
His blonde teammate sighed wearily, pinching the bridge of her nose with her index and middle finger while smiling lightly, "Typical of you, really…" She then finally noticed that they were under a tree, hidden by the great roots and tall grass.
"What happened to you guys?" Ichi asked carefully, a lock of his long, midnight hair slipping over his shoulder, yet again looking feminine. He was prettier than most of the girls their age in Konoha, even though he didn't seem to realize it. Mitsuki was secretly jealous – that was why she was dry toward him sometimes, since he just seemed to scintillate with the 'girl' aura. She was tomboy-ish, and not a lot of people realized that she was a girl until they took a good look at her not flat but almost flat chest.
Mitsuki paused, "…Nothing much." She only said. "We beat two enemies, but the last one grabbed her teammates and ran away, so…" She trailed off. She didn't think she'd be able to lie to innocent Ichi with a straight face. It was enough that she had to lie about what happened Shiro… Again, she didn't want to worry Ichi; he probably had a near-heart attack when he found them unconscious in the forest. She flinched when her head spun again. Her hand flew to her head in an attempt to soothe the ache before Ichi noticed, but the boy was able to detect it, and he immediately ushered her down to the ground again gently.
"Mitsuki-chan, you should rest," Ichi murmured, fixing the towel on her body so that it'd cover her more, "I'll take care of Shiro…you just rest for now. You guys had a rough day, and…this is kinda like my apology for not being there when you guys were in trouble," his voice was strangely soothing, and Mitsuki's breath slowed down gradually before she fell asleep in a blink. Ichi fondly patted her hair, like an older brother would pat his younger sister, before standing up and wandering over to Shiro's side, who's been quiet for a while.
Ichi plopped down next to the unconscious dark haired boy, "Bastard," he grudgingly murmured as he poked at the pale cheek – even though it was flushed and sweaty – with his index finger, "You probably overdid it again just like last time, huh? Why do you keep on doing that? Isn't it painful? I never knew that you were a closet masochist…" he tried to crack a joke or something to brighten his mood, but it didn't work. Sulking, Ichi began to play with the dark haired boy's disheveled ponytail mildly, "Why am I like this?" he wondered out loud, "Mitsuki-chan said that you were fine…that you were just physically worn out because of the fight. But why do I feel like something worse happened to you? Why do I feel like as if we're going to lose you soon? Why?"
His questions remained unanswered as the Uchiha prodigy slept on, oblivious of everything that was going on around him.
-
His dark eyes widened as he took in the wall that was splattered with blood, the blood of his mother. His backpack fell to the ground as he scrambled in after slipping his shoes off, his small feet making loud sounds as he ran along the wooden floored hallway. The blood trail that started from the door led him to the kitchen, where he found his mother lying on the ground, unmoving. He made a move to rush to her side.
The scene blurred and suddenly, a figure was in front of him, strangling him in the air as he kicked and resisted in a futile attempt. He looked up painfully and was met with a pair of familiar, but an unfamiliar pair of eyes. He saw these eyes before, but they were filled with warmth before…not the cruelness that was displayed in these eyes. He refused to believe it; this couldn't be true. He clenched his eyes shut tightly, refusing to accept the truth set out right in front of him. The hand on his neck tightened, cutting off air as he hopelessly flailed in the hand that was grasping him by the neck.
"Weak…" the figure whispered as he dropped the boy onto the ground. He coughed and hacked as air returned to his lung full blast. "Weak, foolish, and young…" the red eyes flashed, immobilizing the petrified young boy in front of him. The voice and the scene faded away, and he was still in the kitchen, kneeling on the ground as hot tears streamed down his face. Fear clouded his mind, disabling him from thinking straightly and from moving his limp limbs.
"Foolish boy," the figure murmured, "If you wish to kill me just as I killed the woman, come for me with a killing intent, with hatred and revenge burning strongly in your eyes. If you wish to avenge the woman, come for me with power flowing underneath your hands. Cling to your life and survive. Run and run on the path of loathing and coldness; push the warmth away as they draw you in, steering you away from your ambition. Live on and come before me when you wish to end this pitiful line of Uchiha..."
I wasn't able to do anything… I couldn't save her… My mother…
When those red eyes flared in the dim moonlight once more, the boy fell with a flump after a moment of stillness, falling on top of the dead, cooling body that was next to him. The very blood of his mother soaked through the thin material of his shirt, the sharp metallic scent assaulting his senses as he silently cried, his tears running down his cheek as he clutched at the dead woman, cursing the man over and over again in his head. A sob erupted from his throat once, and as if that was the signal, he started to weep out loud, trembling as he cried.
I was too weak…too young…and too naïve…
There was another presence behind him as he watched his younger self sob. The dark haired boy, the older version of the one in front of him, observed the scene with pain and hatred burning in his dark eyes as he clenched at the material of his pants tightly.
Weak… The voice whispered wickedly into his ear. So weak that you couldn't even protect your own family.
Shut up. He retorted coldly, pointedly looking only forward, watching his younger self cry into the shirt of the dead woman.
That proves how strong you are, doesn't it? How different are you now from the past? The memory of him falling at the forest came back full force. Still the same, aren't you? Not much of a difference, isn't it? What can you do, boy? You know that he's strong – really strong. At this rate, you even won't be able to kill him.
I don't have any other choice. He answered, shaking his head, still staring at his younger self stubbornly.
What if you do? The light reached its hand out at him, its warmth radiating against his back. What if there is a way?
There is no other way. He said firmly to himself, turning around to face the offending source of the voice. He flinched at the bright light, but otherwise didn't do anything else. Only hatred and rage exist on my path…even when I get sidetracked like when I jumped in front of that idiot.
But I could give you what you want, boy. The voice whispered, the light getting stronger and brighter. I could give you power, the power to kill that man.
A momentary silence.
…I accept. The voice was small and doubtful, even though it sounded impassive.
He was able to know that the figure smirked, as the light flooded the deserted area, the scene of his past fading away. A wise choice.
And then there was nothing.
-
Ichi snapped awake from his sleep as a sudden burst of chakra came from the body underneath him. Blinking, he rubbed his eyes, willing the sleepiness to go away, until he noticed the fact that he was sleeping on his rival's chest just a moment ago. He blushed fleetingly, but recovered as another wave of chakra radiated from the unconscious Uchiha. He peered down at his teammate, frowning worriedly as he made a move to reach out and lay his hand on Shiro's forehead.
Dokun.
The long haired Hyuuga withdrew his hand quickly, startled, when Shiro snapped his eyes open, his sharingan activated. This time, though, both of his eyes contained three commas swirling around the pupil. The Uchiha panted as chakra visibly radiated from his body, the red chakra licking at Ichi's clothes. Shiro sat up with his head bowed, his long bangs curtaining around his face, thus disabling Ichi from seeing him.
"Shiro…?" the heir to the Hyuuga clan hesitantly reached for his dark haired teammate, his eyes filled with worry as he attempted to touch the other boy. "W-Why are you…?"
His hand was slapped away as the dark haired boy glared at him, red chakra rolling off his figure. Ichi scowled, rubbing at his stinging hand as he openly showed his distaste at the treatment he got. But his scowl faded as Shiro stood up, wobbling. Worry took over him once again as he quickly grabbed Shiro's pants, trying to hold him down as Shiro pulled against his hold.
"Down, bastard!" Ichi yelled through his gritted teeth, "You're not fully recovered yet! It's only been 6 hours ever since I found you unconscious, damn it! Your chakra was drained when you were sleeping! You can't recover that fast!" He struggled as Shiro tried to reach for him. Despite his attempt to hold his teammate down, Shiro easily pried him off surprisingly with a great power, and Ichi staggered back, his big eyes widened with astonishment.
"Shiro…" he murmured disbelievingly.
But before Ichi made any other move toward his dark haired teammate, he felt something hit the back of his neck, his multicolored shifty eyes turning pale blue. Shiro whispered something to him, but his world went black, and he stumbled backwards momentarily only to fall on the sleeping blonde girl, unconscious. The blonde girl immediately was snapped awake from her comfy, sleepless dream, muttering muffled curses as she attempted to push the boy off him groggily.
"Ichi…" she growled, and pushed the offending body off her with a surprisingly strong heave for a girl who just woke up, "Why the HELL did you…" her question faded away as she sat up quickly, turning the limp body over. "Ichi…?" Mitsuki grew worried when the boy remained motionless, not answering to her call. She immediately checked for his pulse, which was beating much to her relief, and his breath brushing softly and weakly against the skin of her hand.
"Shit…" she lowly muttered and whipped her head toward the direction Shiro occupied before. No one. Empty but the towel occupying the space. Draping Ichi with the towel, Mitsuki silently padded out from their silent, comfortable refuge, stepping out into the chilly morning air. She shivered briefly, but the distraction left her just as quickly when she spotted the Uchiha prodigy, who was leaning against a nearby tree trunk and panting heavily. Frowning, she approached him carefully, not bothering to hide her presence.
"I knew you weren't in the condition to run away quickly," Mitsuki said dryly, "You were hurt pretty badly, Shiro-kun. Both physically and mentally. I didn't expect you to disappear in a flash, but I didn't think that you'd knock Ichi out to run off to that man either." She plainly said, not accusing but only stating the fact. Judging by the Uchiha's silence, it was probably the truth, she realized with horror. She clenched her teeth, and stared at him determinedly.
"Shiro-kun," she only said, "I'm not letting you go to that freaky eyed bastard."
To be continued…
XOXOXOXO
A/N: Finally dooonnneeee! (collapses) Oh yeah, sorry for the long wait! (gets ambushed by the readers) Sorry if Mitsuki's not smart enough – it's just that the author is stupid. Harhar. Anyways, a weird way to end the chapter, but I couldn't think of anything else. I'll do replies the next time. Oh yeah, I'm thinking about separating the "Sound and Leaf" arc into like a different fanfic. What do you guys think?