Sealing Salientia - Chapter 41: Brothers - Author: PenSmoke
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor make any profit from writing this.
Previously on Sealing Salientia: Jiraiya's voice kicked in. "Six years old and already making the ladies faint. Just like your Pops." From his side, he could hear Tsunade snort in derisive laughter.
Konoha
Monday, November 2nd, Year 71
"Auntie, I will be fine."
The voice carried through the brisk winter air, reflecting off the early morning frost and into Naruto's ears. There was a slight familiarity to it, he was sure that he had heard that voice previously. As he turned to look at the entrance of the gates of the Academy, he was temporarily blinded by the brightness of the morning sun setting the skies ablaze with the reds and oranges of sunrise.
Holding his hand up to blocking the offending source of light, through the piercing streams that punctured the spaces between his fingers, he could just make out a long skein of brown hair, tied at the bottom with a small knotted ribbon. The person wore a high-collared light beige shirt with patches of fabric covering the zipper that was holding it together in the front. Dark brown pants covered the legs atop light boots to protect the feet. Grayish, almost lavender eyes shone from under a furrowed brow, as the boy continued to argue against the female figures' protests.
"But, Neji! I don't want you to be hurt becoming a ninja!"
"Auntie, I am already hurt without being a ninja. The villagers, they pick on us. The Uchihas mock us. The whole village thinks that we are traitors and would rather leave us lying in the streets than help us. I know you've seen it too."
The adult female seemed unmoved, though looking closer he could see that she had tears in her eyes. There was also a child riding piggyback on her, a tangle of sticky hair falling behind the small face. Both had the same pale eyes as the boy, whom he now recognized.
Neji continued, "Becoming a ninja, I can prove my worth… OUR worth to the village. If I can rise up as a ninja, perhaps I can deny the destiny that fate has laid out for us. It is up to me now. I can help to restore our clan's name to honor!"
The passion with which the child spoke, there was a marked difference from the last time that Naruto had interacted with this boy. Previously, Neji was mild and meek, hiding and ducking away from even the slightest of perceived threats. The mere mention of his aunt had seemingly terrified him when they last spoke. Now, the boy was standing up to her, even making Naruto feel a little inspired. He started to walk up to the small gathering.
The aunt spoke again. "If you feel that strongly about it then. Please be careful, Neji." With that, the adult female wrapped the young Hyuuga boy up in a tight hug, practically lifting him off the ground with a bone crushing squeeze. After a moment, the lady let go and stood up, quickly wiping her eyes. She looked around and noticed Naruto walking towards them. Neji watched her eyeline and quickly turned his own head, face lighting up when he made eye contact with the alabaster-haired boy.
"Naruto! I was hoping to see you here!" Neji quickly turned to the lady and introduced them. "Auntie! This is Naruto. The boy that saved me from those Uchiha bullies! Naruto, this is my aunt, Hitomi."
Naruto stopped his approach at being remembered. He knew that he recognized the boy, but hadn't really even recalled the name of the other boy until it had been mentioned by the lady. Apparently, Naruto had left a much bigger impression on the other boy than had happened vice versa. After hearing the other boys' words of introduction, he quickly and politely bowed to the older lady.
"Hello Miss Hitomi! I'm Naruto."
The lady had similar pale eyes to Neji, though they seemed to be heavy with sadness, rather than the exuberance of the boy. He noted her attire was dirty and in shambles in places, grey cloth threadbare at the joints and hems. She smiled slightly, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Hello Naruto. Thank you for helping Neji out." It sounded sincere, though there was something else within it that he couldn't discern.
The small child that was riding piggyback on her shoulders peered out from around her head, moving strands of dark hair out of the way to look at him. Her tiny voice spoke up, repeating his name in a garbled form. "Nawutoe! Nawutoe!"
As Hitomi quickly reached her hands up to shush the child, Neji spoke again. "And that's Hanabi. She's my cousin."
"Hello Hanabi." Naruto said, eyes sparkling at the innocent little girl who was saying his name over and over as if it was a recording.
Naruto's eyes may have been focused on the people he was conversing with, but his ears pricked up as he heard hushed words from his side.
"What are the traitors doing at the Academy?" "I bet they want to make the boy a ninja." "What, so he can slaughter another clan like his dad?" "Probably."
He turned his vision to peer in the direction that he perceived the words coming from, three older kids that he didn't recognize were talked in quiet tones as they passed by. They were at least a year above him, as he wasn't familiar with them, but they weren't too much older as they were still around his same general size and weight. He thought for a couple of seconds, and was about to open his mouth.
When a sudden burst of air and leaves and a flash of green beat him to it. Three cries of "Ow!" rang out from the side, and all whirled around to see the spectacle. The boys were suddenly clutching at their heads, rubbing at a freshly inflicted wound caused by the blunt ring end of a kunai clutched in the palm of the mysterious newcomer.
The man stood tall, wearing a full body jumpsuit that was nearly skin tight, and so potently green that it was almost difficult to continue to look. The pitch-black hair around his head swooped around in the after currents of air, settling into a straight line cut that eclipsed his head at the same length across the scalp, as if the man had set a bowl on his head and cut off everything that fell below that line. The large black eyebrows looked almost like someone had taken a marker to his face, and the eyes were openly and shining brightly.
But perhaps the most defining feature of this bizarre man was the smile. The dazzling gleam of teeth outshone even the early morning sun and made Naruto squint at the sight. They seemed to reflect more light than what should be possible, the pure whiteness so effective at blinding him that he thought it must be some form of attack technique.
"Now children! There will be no such unyouthfully exchanged banter on school grounds! We are all here to learn together and work to extend the Will of Fire!" The odd man spoke loudly too, on the verge of yelling. It seemed as if this man was eccentric at every facet of life. Three winces and the boy were rubbing both their ears and their skulls as best as they could manage before scurrying off at the urgent shooing of the man, who followed them into the building. As Naruto looked on, he saw another boy about his own age following the action with figurative stars in his eyes, trotting after the man like a lost puppy that had just found a home.
Naruto glanced back at the small gathering of Hyuuga, hoping to find any answers with them. However, they looked just as dumbfounded as he did, glancing back at forth between themselves. Hitomi eventually muttered something about "crazy ninja" and turned her focus back to Neji.
"Take care of yourself Neji, and please be careful. I'll pick you up at the end of the day." With that, Hitomi wrapped up Neji in a large hug, squeezing him tightly. She stood up, letting him go in the process, and waved as he walked towards Naruto and the doors to the Academy.
As the two boys walked in, they noticed a small crowd had already gathered, including kids both younger and older than them. Up in front of the crowd were Hiruzen Sarutobi and several teachers, standing in a line, directing students to head towards the large open space used as both a lunchroom and announcement area. Hiruzen nodded at them as they walked by, indicating with his arms where to go.
They followed the slow crush of people in the general direction of the meeting hall. "Do you know what is happening?" Neji inquired, but Naruto shook his head. This was apparently the beginning of the school year and Naruto had not been around for the beginning of the previous year either. Both ninja in training confusedly followed the crowd, unsure as to what could be expected.
Naruto took a seat near the back, Neji sitting next to him. He shot furtive glances around the room. He could see Sakura and Ino up at the front, looking as if they were arguing over something. Shino and Choji were talking quietly halfway down the seats, Shikamaru nearby with his eyes closed and leaning back. He quietly contemplated if he could hit the sleepy boy with some projectile, though discarded that thought as there were dozens of students milling about in between the two of them.
He watched as Sasuke walked into the room, looking uncharacteristically depressed. The normally proud boy sullenly stomped into the large hall, avoiding all eye contact. With his gaze glued to the floor, the Uchiha scion silently stalked to the closest seat and promptly sat down, body language screaming to be left alone.
A few minutes later, as the entrances of children trickled to a halt, the doors clanked open. The headmaster and teachers entered the room, with Mikoto wheeling her way in first and the rest behind. This was the first time that Naruto had seen all the teachers assembled at the same time. As the general noise slowly dissipated from a dull roar into quiet whispers from the corners, Hiruzen stepped forward to a small metallic object, which he spoke into. His voice projected through the air from all sides, carried by large boxes installed in the upper corners of the room.
"Good morning children. Welcome to the beginning of the school year at the Academy. We are looking forward to another great year of learning and producing the finest shinobi in the ninja world. Classroom assignments will be announced shortly, and regardless of whether you advanced or are a repeating student, we are all very much proud that you have come here to carry forward the 'Will of Fire' and make Konoha the best it can be! Every great shinobi that you have ever read about or heard of was at one point just a student like you, and we all believe that amongst those is in this room right now could be the next great shinobi!"
His speech given, the first teacher came forward to the microphone. The man had light blue hair, and looked ever so slightly familiar to Naruto. After thinking for a moment, he was pretty certain that the man was another of the first-year teachers, which was confirmed a moment later after he announced his class roster. As the names were called out, the youngest of the crowd stood up and gathered, following him out moments later. Miss Mikoto wheeled herself up next, calling out another list of names of children that repeated the actions to stand up, form a group and follow her out.
The tall man in the green jumpsuit that he had seen earlier was the next up to speak. However, unlike the rest of the teachers who went up near the small microphone, he just took a step forward and spoke. His voice boomed through the room, rendering the speaker system completely useless, even detrimental as the whine of feedback quickly crackled into life.
"I am Maito Gai! This will be my first year of teaching at the Academy and I look forward to showing you all the power of youth, no matter whether you are just starting here, have progressed from the first year or let the flames of youth dwindle in your hearts! My lovely students will be Ami, Fuki, Hibachi, Kiba, Koji, Lee, Neji, Sai, Shino, Shishido, Takaki and Tenten! Please come here so you can follow me to your new classroom!"
Naruto was slightly surprised to hear a couple of his friends called up. Neji stood up, whispered 'Good Luck' to him and walked towards the front of the room. He watched the people he knew stride towards the front of the room. He looked for his friends, giving them a wave as they were up front, catching Tenten's eye, who waved back as she was about to turn and walk away. He saw Kiba pouting as he walked off, while Shino marched off as stoic as ever.
The next person to come to the front of the room was a tall man in the standard issue dark olive flak jacket and wire mesh underneath, accentuated with the hide of some animal spurting out in various places. Cargo pants festooned with various pockets in the same coloration as the vest adorned his legs above ninja sandals. A black metal arm bracer with handguard rested on both forearms. Three large scars decorated his face, two slashes on the right side of his face carved an ugly trace along his forehead and cheek, going down as they moved toward the edge of his face. The third scar was smaller and on the left side, marring only a small area near the temple. Dark gray hair tied back in a spiky ponytail stuck up behind his head and a small goatee of similar color rested under the chin.
Naruto was reminded very much of his friend Shikamaru, whom he glanced at. This enabled him to see the boy immediately startle as the voice rang through the speaker system.
"Hello students. I am Shikaku Nara, and I'll be one of the second-year teachers. Please step forward as I call your name. Choji, Daichi, Ino, Kasumi, Kota, Naruto, Nobori, Sakura, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Tsuji, Unagi."
The last name and familiar hairstyle immediately informed Naruto that this must be a familial relation to Shikamaru. This appeared to be confirmed by the boy, who was grumbling under his breath as he walked by. The group left the meeting area as the next instructor was calling out their list of class names.
They proceeded down the hallway, just past their previous classroom, to the next door down. The small door had a window in it and the number 105 just outside the frame, indicating the classroom number. Shikaku Nara opened the door and ushered them inside with a hand gesture. As they proceeded inside, Naruto noted the differences between this classroom and the last.
Previously, the room for first-year students had had room for upwards of thirty children, spaced evenly amongst the rows to allow for some closeness between students. That design was seemingly abandoned here, with there being three seats in each of the four elevation levels, spaced well-apart. This left large gaps more than a meter across between students, which numbered only twelve. Naruto made his way for a seat in the furthest back row and was able to claim the far right seat before anyone else.
He noticed Sasuke sulk into the front row on the right, Sakura walked up to sit directly in front of him, and Ino attempt to sit front and center, as close as she could to Sasuke. Naruto watched as his friend Shikamaru attempted to climb up to the back row, but was stopped by a heavy hand on his shoulder.
"Front and center, Nara."
The white-haired boy watched the shadow user physically deflate, slumping several inches lower in his stance, as their new teacher urged the blonde girl to move seats. The girl appeared to start protesting the decision, but was immediately silenced by the man. A darkened visage took over his face, and he shot a glare at the young girl, who quickly backed down and acquiesced to the order to move to a different seat, sliding up to the seat behind Sasuke instead. Naruto noted Choji, the only other child that he was familiar with, sitting over on the far side of the room, quietly eating something from a bag.
The remainder of the class was made up of names that he had heard in passing, but didn't know personally. Naruto was surprised at the comparatively smaller number of students in this class as compared to his first one.
Once all the children had taken their seats and stillness claimed the room, their new teacher strode to the front and center of the room, and began writing his name on the nearby blackboard. Finishing that, he turned around crisply.
"Good morning. As you have now heard and read, I am Shikaku Nara, you may address me as Sir or Mister Nara. As you may have noticed, this class is significantly smaller in pupil size than your previous. This is because of the newest standards. Only the best candidates are chosen to move forward. If the faculty believes that you are not capable of developing into a top-tier ninja, you will either be forced to return for a year to prove yourself under the sponsorship of a senior ninja or not allowed to return at all for Academy lessons."
He started to pace around the room. "There were some rumors that this particular age group of students has extra potential, and so I left my previous position as Jonin Commander for a time to ensure that all of you are properly trained." He added a large emphasis on the word, staring directly at Shikamaru, who was unusually sitting directly upright in his seat. Naruto was even more surprised when he didn't hear the trademark sigh or whispered 'troublesome' from the boy, who remained perfectly straight and still.
"As your teacher, I am here to whip you all into shape. After your second year, you are to start proceeding onto assisting with D-rank missions, which can involve real danger. This process is designed to weed out extraneous students who will not have the abilities to survive higher-level missions and re-assign them to positions more suitable to their skill level." He talked as if he was trying to prove a point, letting the words sink in for effect after each sentence, silence hanging in the air during the pauses, as if the students were afraid to even breathe.
"This class, along with the other second-year class, has children that have been designated as a returning student from the previous-second year, others that just advanced from first year or even some that are first time older students." He stopped his pacing and started looking into each and every one of their faces, a stern look on his own peering into their eyes. "Do not let this affect your judgment. Konoha ninja forces will not abide bullying or dissent amongst comrades because of perceived skill. You are expected to work together at all times, and provide your best effort. Do I make myself clear?"
A chorus of "Yes, sir" and "Yes, Mister Nara" rang out across the twelve voices.
"Good." He redirected his gaze from their faces to the board in front of them. "First lesson for the day will involve tactics. Let us start with the standard mission plan sequences. How many are there and can you name them all?" Several hands shot up, and the new year of Academy commenced in earnest.
Several hours later, as they were let out for lunch, Naruto quickly packed up his things to go out and get some food. Jiraiya had given him some coins to go out and eat lunch today but he wanted to talk to his friend Shikamaru first to see what was going on. The normally sleepy boy looked almost terrified of their new teacher, hadn't put his head down even once, nor did he even seem to try and not answer things, always having his hand up. The attitude shift told Naruto that either Shikamaru had undergone a massive change since their exams or the source was Mister Nara. He was willing to bet on the latter.
Even before he was able to quickly gather his stuff up and start moving toward the door, his inquisitive friend had already disappeared out the classroom, seemingly anxious to get out of there as quickly as he could. Naruto rushed out the doors, but was not presented with any sign of the young Nara. He opened up his senses as best he could, but the crowding of the halls with other students pouring out from classrooms made tracking by sound impossible and mixed up dozens of scents so that he was unable to try and trace one out of the crowd. Sighing in his best impersonation of his langorous friend, he walked out towards the entrance to go visit old man Teuchi for some delicious ramen.
On his way back from his wonderful lunch, he noted a familiar head of black hair sitting near the water's edge a few feet down a hill from the road. He was throwing rocks onto the surface, skipping the projectiles across the water multiple times, before frowning and going again. The overall expression on his face was sour, seeming to be permanently locked since it was seen this morning.
He walked down the grassy embankment towards the person, waiting until he was only a couple feet away before speaking.
"Oi! Sasuke!"
Naruto took great pleasure in seeing the boy startle, whirling around with his arm outstretched in surprise. Though, he did not enjoy the rock thrown his way that he barely dodged. As the pebble pinged off the hillside and landed in the grassy slope, Naruto finished walking up to his friend/rival as a sullen glare stared back at his face.
"What crawled up your butt and died?"
Sasuke continued to look as though he had eaten two lemons for breakfast and then dumped the rest of the juice in his eyes. The pursed lips, knitted eyebrows, and scrunched up forehead only intensified as Naruto plopped down next to him.
"Well? Are you going to just stay silent all day long?"
No response was forthcoming from the black-eyed boy.
"Fine, if you won't tell me what's wrong, I'll just sit here until you do."
Sasuke stared directly into the cerulean blue eyes, and looked as if the Uchiha was contemplating whether moving would cause Naruto to follow. A motion as if the boy was about to stand was met with a reciprocal motion from Nartuo, and the toad summoner swore he heard a muffled curse under the breath of the other boy.
After several minutes of sitting there with no further actions, Naruto was starting to wonder if he would end up being late for class, but reasoned that if Sasuke was willing to not be back to class on-time, he could chance it too. Having mentally decided to wait it out however long it took, he shifted to make himself as comfortable as possible on the small wooden pier. As such, he almost missed the words coming from the other boy over the rustling of his own clothes.
"He left."
Naruto stopped his movement at the sound, attempting to process what he heard. He quickly took inventory of what he knew about the Uchiha. The boy said 'he', which meant Mikoto was out, and besides, he had seen Sasuke's mother not a few hours ago. He doubted that Sasuke's father, the Hokage, had just randomly left without causing an uproar. The boy didn't seem super close with any of their fellow students, and most of the one's that Naruto had witnessed interactions with were back in school. That meant it had to be someone else that was close to the boy. Naruto mentally racked his brain for a connection.
Latching onto the only one that he could muster, he responded, "Your brother?"
Sasuke's eyes shut tightly, possibly to avoid showing any tears. "He just left! I woke up this morning, and Itachi was just gone! No goodbye, no anything!" The fist of the boy was clenched tightly enough that Naruto could smell coppery blood, small patches of red showing by the fingertips.
"I'm sure he'll be back. He's a ninja, they have missions."
Sasuke whirled on him, his eyes furious and bloodshot, causing the whites of the eyes to turn pink, though the center remained onyx. "What would you know about it? You don't have any siblings, you barely even have a family! You couldn't possibly know what it means." The boy quickly stood up and raised his arm as if he was about to strike at Naruto, muscles tensed in preparation for a forward swing.
A moment later, as the arm reared back, Sasuke seemed to collapse in on himself, arms falling down to rest limply by his side as he stood there without moving. A small droplet leaked from his face, glistening with afternoon sunlight as it fell to the ground.
Naruto wasn't really sure what to do. It seemed that he seemed to encounter a lot of people crying, and he was caught by surprise that it would be the cocky Uchiha of all people. As the last couple of encounters he had with tears had been resolved in a positive manner by just remaining there and listening, he decided to follow the successful sequence by just staying there, unmoving.
Sasuke sank back down to his knees, curling into a ball.
"It's just…" The boy drew a shuddering breath in. "He was always there. And now he's not." Sasuke looked around for a moment, seemingly to see if anyone else was watching. Confirming their relative privacy, he continued.
"He taught me so much, and now he's just gone. And I didn't want him to go. What if I can't keep up? What if I'm not good enough without his help?"
Naruto didn't really follow, he had seen Sasuke work just as hard as he did for his skills, if not even harder. But, this obviously meant a lot to the Uchiha scion, if he was reacting this strongly to it. Thinking for a moment as to what he could say, Naruto settled on a simple statement that doubled as a taunt, similar to what Sasuke always did to him.
"Well, if you don't keep up with me, I'll just have to kick your ass until you do. Come on, we don't want to be late for afternoon classes."
Naruto stood up, reaching his arm out for Sasuke to grasp. Graphite irises looked up into lazuline, as if trying to answer a question.
The sitting boy spoke. "Try it."
A moment after, Sasuke slapped his arm against Naruto's own, accepting the hand to stand. Naruto yanked him up, and was met with the sudden feeling of déjà vu, as if this had happened to him before. There was a certain energy that seemed to fill him in this moment, and he felt as if Sasuke was his own family.
Internally, he could hear Kurama stir for a moment, seemingly whispering only one words "Asura". He wasn't sure what that meant, though he resolved to ask later if he remembered.
From that moment onward, Naruto stopped regarding Sasuke as a rival, instead thinking of the other boy as his own brother.
AN: Another chapter down. Here's to hoping you guys enjoy!
As always, constructive criticism is welcome. Until next time.