"The lady plead'eth with us to halt all the conflict in this land and we didst. Truly our benevolence knoweth no bounds."
- The Book of Log
C6: Academy Days (Pt.2)
Beta Reader: Izaranna
On one fine day, Sasuke elbowed Naruto in the ribs, immediately waking him up.
If the blond was anybody else, he would have probably screamed in pain at the amount of force the Uchiha used to wake him up, but luckily, Naruto was anything but normal.
He had a very peculiar skill called [Gamer's Mind] that gave him the patience of a saint and a head as cool as a freezer.
Naruto simply opened his eyes, used to Sasuke's painful wake up calls, and asked him why he'd abruptly woken him up in the middle of a wonderful dream— starring him saving the world from a gigantic squid via a super-ultra-awesome ray gun of doom, made from the gold he'd found at the end of a very elusive rainbow.
"My mother invited you over to my place."
"Why?"
Sasuke turned his head towards the blond. "I'm pretty sure most kids would have said when instead of why."
Naruto stared at Sasuke with indifference. A staring contest began between the two boys and, like most contests, only one person could be the victor.
"Fine…fine, my mother told me that she knew your mother and wanted to meet you. Today, in fact. Right after school."
"Really? Why did she not inform you of this sooner? I would have loved to know of this a few days ago… so that I could adjust my schedule appropriately," whispered back the blond. He normally took showers after school, it would be weird to just break habit.
"Mother decided only today morning to invite you over. She hasn't even told father or brother about it yet. It's supposed to be a surprise."
The blond pondered for a moment on this new development before giving his response. "Okay. Do I need to change?"
"Not if you don't want to. It's a casual visit."
Naruto nodded and put his head down to go back to sleep, only to be interrupted by a piece of chalk and a sudden sharp feeling of pain.
"Why do you never pay attention, Naruto?!" yelled a clearly annoyed Iruka. The blond didn't require his HUD (Heads-up display) to tell him that his teacher was extremely agitated.
Naruto covered his mouth with his hand and whispered to Sasuke, "What was he talking about?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and whispered back, "How to construct angles using a compass and a ruler."
Naruto responded to his teacher. "I am extremely sorry for not paying attention."
"Admitting that you're wrong without doing anything to correct your behaviour is just as bad! Since you act like you know everything, how about you come to the board and demonstrate it to the class, hmm?"
Most of the class laughed, finding their classmate's antics amusing, but it didn't last long because the blond simply grinned and walked down towards the board and asked his teacher for a board compass and ruler.
"I didn't actually expect you to come down. Regardless, if you actually know how to do it, you might as well show it to the class." Umino Iruka handed over his mathematic tools to Naruto who immediately set to work on the blackboard, drawing angles of all sorts; 60, 30, 18, 120, 90, 45. The entire class was silent as they watched the blonde actually doing what was said earlier on in the class.
"Good job, you may return to your seat."
"What exactly should we do at my home?" asked Sasuke as he walked with Naruto to the Uchiha compound.
"I don't know. It's your home. You are the host, so you would know best."
The two walked in a companionable silence until they reached the walls of the Uchiha compound.
"I've always wondered why your clan has walls around their compound…" the blond muttered, admiring the imposing girth of the boundary while Sasuke talked to the guards at the entrance.
"Father says that it's to keep out the 'riff-raff'."
"The… what?" questioned Naruto who was confused by the Uchiha's choice of words.
"Forget it," sighed the boy. "Let's just go."
The duo walked into the compound and followed the main path, which led to the home of the current clan head. On the way, Naruto could hear music being played, one instrument after another. Unfortunately, it was quiet enough to make him feel that asking Sasuke about it would lead to more questions about his unrealistically good hearing.
He didn't need a repeat of the 'tape' incident.
Eventually, they arrived at an extremely scenic home with a large garden and a little pond to the side.
The Uchiha tried to open the door, but discovered, to his dismay, that it was locked, so he knocked and in a few minutes the door was opened by a black-haired woman wearing a cooking apron.
"Ah, Sasuke… and you've brought Naruto!"
The woman stood up a bit straighter.
"I was expecting the both of you to come a bit later, so the food isn't ready yet. How about you two go to the lake?"
The two nodded.
"And take Fugaku with you. He's still sulking because of that botched up investigation yesterday, so some fresh air should do him some good."
The woman turned around and found her husband sitting in a corner, reading a newspaper whose date was suspiciously three days old.
"Husband dear, won't you take Sasuke and his friend to the lake? It's lovely outside, a perfect day for a leisurely stroll."
The head of the Uchiha clan lowered his newspaper. "I would love to, but as you can see, I am a bit preoccupied with this very interesting newspaper—"
"Which is three days old?" finished the Uchiha matriarch.
"Yes, but that's beside the point, so sadly my answer is very much a-"
Mikoto glared at the man with a look that promised a world of pain if he didn't acquiesce to her demands.
He gulped, "Yes?"
She smiled. "Good, good. Now, off you go! Everything should be ready by four."
The clan head walked out of the house with an even older newspaper in tow. The two boys followed behind him.
"Why on earth did you pelt that little kid with chakra charged stones, Sasuke?"
The Uchiha harrumphed in reply to Naruto's question as they walked back with his father to his house as it was nearing four.
"I thought he was a rabbit."
Naruto's expression was flabbergasted. "That doesn't make it any better."
The two were interrupted by a chuckle from the man walking beside them. Naruto's head shot straight up, just in time to see the man's blood red eyes (with an extremely strange pattern in it that involved three spokes and four dots).
Right across the street, an elderly man slumped over.
What in the world was that?
Sasuke looked up, too late to see the Sharingan in his father's eyes. "Are you alright father?" he asked.
Father never laughed. He was always grumpy and strict when training him. He might sometimes smile if something particularly strange or funny happened, but never did he laugh.
"I'm fine Sasuke. In fact, more than fine."
The three headed back to the Uchiha head's house, only to find dried blood underneath the door and the pavement leading up to it.
The man's mood switched from joy to fear. "Stay."
The Uchiha head walked into the house and appeared to have triggered a trap as a knife came flying from the kitchen. His eyes glowed red and, in one sharp motion, he tried to catch the knife, but it went through his fingers as it was coated in chakra. The two boys managed to dodge it just in time as it pierced through the tree and made a large hole in the perimeter wall. Fugaku walked into the kitchen with the boys trailing behind him, unbeknownst to him.
"Oh! Hello dear… I thought you were another one of those Root Anbu again."
Mikoto Uchiha stood right next to the wash basin with blood covering her front and dripping from her sleeves. It was quite obvious that she had tried to wash the blood off as her hands had a reddish tinge. The most eye-catching thing wasn't the blood however, but her crimson eyes, which were more vivid than the almost luminous blood in the sink.
"It seems that Danzo was a bit too zealous in his mission. He seemed to have forgotten to tell his minions that we weren't supposed to be dealt with."
The woman took off her apron and stuffed into the washing machine and went back to washing her hands, before continuing, "Right after you left, a root Anbu attempted to attack me, so I taught him a lesson on how to actually use a kunai to effectively kill someone."
The Uchiha matriarch kicked something with a resounding thud. The boys immediately looked down and were only mildly disgusted to see an eyeless corpse. It seems the Academy's desensitization program had worked.
"Another Anbu tried to ambush me from the ceiling, but well…"
Having rid herself of all the blood on her skin, she went to check the steaming food. "Perfect. Oh yes, the masked fool is now in the broom cupboard with a slit throat. Very messy business."
She nodded to herself, before looking around and taking note of which parts of the house were damaged.
"Are there anymore?"
"No, clearly because they thought that they could underestimate a housewife." She muttered the last half of the sentence with disdain.
While taking stock of the collateral damage, she discovered the two boys and gasped. "Oh! I'm so sorry you had to see that son, and you too Naruto. How about you take Naruto to your room while your father and I clear up this mess and serve up food? Don't worry about the blood, it seems as if all of it has escaped unscathed."
The duo made their way out into the hallway, only to hear the door creak open to reveal a teenager with jet black hair that framed his face. He wore arm guards and a flak jacket that seemed to have been only just polished. The gleaming metal's luminescence paled in comparison to his vivid scarlet pupils which held a swirling esoteric pattern that Naruto could barely make out.
It deactivated almost instantly, giving Naruto barely a millisecond to see it. In fact, he was pretty sure if he couldn't revisit memories at will and manipulate the speed at which they ran, he would never have seen Itachi's Sharingan.
"Hello, Sasuke. I see you've brought Naruto-sama over."
Sasuke's eyes widened. "Nii-san!"
The boy tried to run towards his brother but was stopped by Naruto.
"You'll slip."
He decided to walk this time towards his brother and embraced him.
Mikoto took this opportunity to see her eldest son, "Itachi! You're back?"
The Uchiha heir signed a response to his mother behind Sasuke's back.
IT-IS-DONE
The woman smiled. "Why don't you go change and then help us clean-up for dinner."
"Certainly, mother."
Sasuke burst out, "Can we help too?", but quickly changed his statement as he realised that he hadn't even asked Naruto whether he wanted to do so.
"That is if Naruto doesn't mind."
The blond looked at his best friend's family and considered his answer, before giving his response. "Sure."
By the time they were done, Naruto had learnt more than he ever felt he would need to know about blood, it properties and how to clean it up; from how to do it naturally to the best products to use to do so.
Dinner was served and everyone dug in with gusto, but just before they managed to finish, they were interrupted by a knock at the door.
The Uchiha head and heir finished off their food and placed it in the kitchen's sparkling wash basin, before going to answer the door.
A few minutes later, just as Naruto finished eating, they returned and announced that they would be back in a few hours. The door slammed shut and just as it did so, the Uchiha matriarch decided to begin addressing the main reason for his invite.
"Naruto-kun? I decided to invite you here because I only very recently learnt that you were indeed the son of a friend of mine. Would you like me to talk to you about your mother?"
The blond nodded, trying not to look too eager.
"Your mother and I were as I said earlier, friends." The Uchiha matriarch changed her sitting position to something more comfortable. "Best friends, in fact. We first met in the academy, when she was setting up one of her more…. precarious pranks."
"What are you doing with that deer?" asked a young Uchiha Mikoto, her hands on her hips and irritation clearly written on her face.
The red haired girl who she was speaking to tried her best to hide the struggling adolescent deer behind her back. She gulped in fear and hurriedly said, "Nothing!"
Mikoto's eyes bored into her, "Why do you have a bucket of paint next to your feet?"
"That's none of your business!"
"Are you trying to pull off one of your pranks again?"
"So what if I am? What're ya goin to do? Rat me out!"
The Uchiha carefully thought out a response to the flustered girl and then responded, "Maybe! Your pranks are extremely distracting and waste time, that could be spent learning."
"About what? Some lame history about our, oh so precious Nidaime who died like a million years ago, or something equally as boring. You should relax and have some fun for once in your life, instead of acting like a prim and proper princess."
"What do you mean by me not having fun? I have fun!"
Kushina grinned. The Uchiha heiress fell for her trap, hook, line and sinker.
"When was the last time you had fun, hmm? Go on; bet you can't!"
The black-haired girl tried to wrack her brains for a response. "I….train?"
"Willingly? Not your clan coercing you?"
"Fine, um, I read?"
"Textbooks and ninja material?"
"Yes, yes, fine I get your point," The Uchiha admitted, "But how does letting you prank sensei benefit me?"
The Uzumaki decided to invite the girl to join in on her mischief and, to her surprise, she accepted. "If I join you, you have to tell me what you're going to do with that paint. And the deer."
The red haired girl smirked before beckoning the other girl towards her. Mikoto approached her hesitantly as she pushed the deer towards her and pointed at its belly.
"See here?"
The girl was pointing at a painted number. "As ya can see, I have painted the number, one, here. I have a couple more deers I "borrowed" from the Nara reserve, and I'll label 'em two and three. Then, everyone'll spend all day looking for the rest of 'em, and we won't have any classes!"
Mikoto interrupted the girl. "And no one will know it was us?"
"Geez Mikoto-chan, you're such a worrywart!"
The girl in question glared back at the Uzumaki heiress.
"Fine, we could be all stealthy and have hideouts, and all that other complicated stuff…actually, that sounds like a lot of fun! So, what do you say? I could use a Sharingan!"
Mikoto thought over the girl's offer and decided, for the first time in her life, to make a decision by herself. The first of many to come. "The prank needs work."
Kushina motioned for the girl to continue. "If we miss out a number on one of the deers, the instructors will spend all their time searching for a non-existent deer."
The red haired girl's shock was evident in her face at hearing an actually good idea from such a studious and serious fellow student. "Ya know what?" The girl slung an arm around Mikoto's neck. "You're cruel. I like you! This could be the start of a beautiful friendship."
Mikoto tried to say something but was interrupted by a deer running past her.
Mikoto gave the two kids an extremely embellished version of the actual events, "—and by the end of the day, we were best friends. She even made me your godmother."
Naruto's eyes immediately steeled. "Godmother? Then why have I never seen you before this?"
Sasuke also looked at his mother. "You're his godmother? How come I never knew about this?"
The Uchiha matriarch's mood dropped. "Well, like I said earlier. When I found out about you, I wanted to first make sure that you were actually her Naruto. I was under the impression that you were dead you see."
"Why would I be dead?" questioned the blond, not sure if he actually wanted to know the reason, but letting his curiosity win over anyway.
"I'd never actually heard of you until Sasuke brought you up. From what he told me, I didn't think you could be Kushina-chan's son; you're quite different from your parents, and I guess I kind of had the notion that their son would be even a little bit like them. I see now that that was just me being…well, me missing them far more than I should."
Silence permeated the room as the blond thought about the newly discovered identity of his mother. He needed a book on the Uzumaki clan, or he could just ask Jiji for more information.
His scheming was interrupted by the Uchiha matriarch.
"Would you look at that? It's going to be dark soon. You best leave now, Naruto-kun. You can come anytime you feel like it," she said with a smile. "After all, what sort of godmother would I be otherwise?"
The blond tried to stand up but failed. His legs had become numb from disuse, so after a few more attempts he finally succeeded and bid the Uchihas good-bye. "Thank you for inviting me to your house, Uchiha-sama, and Sasuke."
"It was my pleasure."
Naruto had just had a very informative day.
Omake
"I am not really sure if we should be here, Sasuke."
The blond trailed behind the Uchiha, constantly rethinking and trying to convince him that this direction took him to an unsavoury area that even he hadn't explored.
"But the Uchiha I overheard said that it was amazing! Even better than tomatoes!"
"Right… but it's your funeral if anything happens."
The duo continued until Sasuke broke the silence.
"Naruto? What is that…?"
The blond looked at where the boy was squinting at and discovered a woman who was scantily dressed and was strangely missing a top.
"That," Naruto informed him, "is a partially naked woman. I presume that this is the red-light district of Konoha and that she works here."
Sasuke walked forward, a bit hesitant.
"You know, we could always turn back..."
"Never!" gritted out the boy. "An Uchiha never surrenders."
Naruto walked along the number of people of both sexes scantily clad increasing exponentially. This would have fazed most people, but the blond was nowhere near normal.
His [Gamer's Mind] saw to that.
The Uchiha didn't have such an ability.
Naruto walked into Sasuke just as he passed out.
Since I'm already here, I might as well map out this area for future reference.
The boy with the Uchiha in tow walked around the place. In Konoha, no one ever made it illegal for minors to enter a red-light district. Whoops.
R&R (Suggestions and advice are always welcome!)