Daily life went back to being routine and formulaic over time. Whenever Imiki was sent out on a mission that lasted longer than a day, I was sent to the Uchiha compound, where I would proceed to fool around with my glorified baton and clash against Shuu and his kid-safe wooden sword until that got boring. Whenever Kouko was around with spare time, she'd watch and offer tidbits of advice from her academy lessons. Then we'd play games from my other life revised to fit this world's technological limitations.
As time went on, our sparring got more and more intense, and I even ended up breaking my training bō one day. Imiki got me a new one with the funds from her latest mission when that happened, but I still kept the remnants of the old bō. It was almost all I had left of Dad, minus the old letter I'd stashed under my bed. I'd face it when I was ready and when I needed it most.
At the Uchiha compound, Shuu and I were pretty much avoided by Sasuke whenever Itachi was home. He never spared us more than a fleeting glance whenever we saw him with Itachi on the streets. I was content with this, though—it was probably for the better that he and Shuu maintained a more distant relationship if it meant they wouldn't be fighting all the time. I couldn't help thinking that he looked after us for a second longer than usual on a few occasions, like he wanted to join in, but also didn't.
I couldn't help but feel unfulfilled in some way, despite the fact that I was, by all accounts, living out my desired life of peace with a whopping two friends to pass the days with. Why was I still feeling unfulfilled, like I hadn't actually done anything? All my revised plan entailed was staying out of trouble and keeping my loved ones safe and happy. So why did I feel like I should have been doing more with my time?
Then, as Kouko's eleventh birthday came and went, marking the end of summer, I gleefully noted my increasing height and endurance. Imiki didn't see these as things to be celebrated; instead, she'd given me a sinister smile and increased my sets and reps during training sessions.
"Slave driver," I had called her one time.
Imiki's eyebrow twitched, her face remaining unchanged from the serene smile she held aside from that. In that moment, I knew I had made a fatal mistake. "Oh, I'll show you a slave driver, Futaba-chan. Forty more sets!"
My agonized wails resounded through all of Konoha that day.
On the subject of growth, shortly after Kouko's aforementioned birthday last August, he'd unfortunately started to spring up in height too. No more was the Shuu with a height complex and a temper that was almost as short as he was—now, Shuu boasted the few inches he had on me every time we stood side-to-side.
Like we were now.
"Quit gloating, idiot," I hissed. I couldn't wait to smack the smug look off of his face during our spar today.
"Sorry, what? I couldn't hear you from all the way up here," Shuu said, smirk growing ever wider.
I missed when Shuu was smaller and nicer.
"So, kids," Imiki said, starting the lesson part of our training the way she always did. "Today we'll be focusing on a common chakra exercise that involves—these!" From behind her, she brought out two leaves. Something pinged in my head, something familiar.
"Whaaat? I wanted to beat the crap outta Futaba today…" Shuu whined. I elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow!"
"Watch your mouth, Shuu-kun," Imiki scolded. "Taijutsu is just one component of being a shinobi, Shuu-kun. Ninjutsu is equally, if not more important, and to perform effective ninjutsu, you need to master chakra control. Observe." Imiki placed the leaf on her forehead and it stayed there like it was dipped in glue. Then, it fluttered back into her open palm. "It takes utmost concentration to do this successfully."
We took our leaves with grim expressions. I gave mine, the leaf Imiki used, a critical stare. Was there anything special about this leaf that had allowed it to stick to her like it did?
"Place the leaf on your forehead and concentrate your chakra into that one spot."
I tried to do as she instructed, but as usual, my chakra felt like molasses as it slowly crawled up to my forehead. The leaf fluttered down uselessly, the flow of chakra too slow to reach it in time. Great.
"Concentrate, Futaba-chan!" Imiki was staring straight at me. This happened every time we worked with chakra—Imiki would pay special attention to me, but never told me what was wrong with my chakra or how to control it. It was really getting on my nerves, and I glared back at my aunt as I picked up my leaf with harsh movements.
What had to be a couple hours of frustration later, Shuu and I had both failed to maintain the leaf's position on our forehead for more than a few seconds at a time.
In a rage, Shuu picked up his leaf and started tearing it up. "Stupid leaf! I don't care if you're the village mascot!"
Imiki slumped in her chair, sighing at Shuu's exhausting temper, but suddenly perked up again. "Hey, isn't that Kouko-chan? Isn't she supposed to be in school right now?"
We turned instantly, running up to Kouko in the middle of the street that bordered our training field. "Onee-san, what are you…"
Kouko didn't say anything, silently grinning at us, but she didn't have to. She tapped the metal plate fastened to her forehead, her side-swept bangs nearly covering the entire village symbol.
"You graduated!" I stared at the hitai-ate with widened eyes, hit with the fact that Kouko was now a fully-fledged kunoichi at age eleven.
"Yup," Kouko confirmed. Shuu was so excited he seemed to be in this wordless trance, simply staring up at her headband. "And you know what else?"
"What?" I blinked.
Kouko closed her eyes, face falling into deep concentration. Then, she opened her eyes and they were no longer black, but a piercing and vivid red. One tomoe spun in each eye, circling her pupils.
"The sharingan," I breathed.
"Whoaaa!" Shuu finally cried. He jumped right up to his sister, grinning. "No way! My sister is so cool!"
I saw the way Kouko's eyes glimmered at the praise and smiled secretly to myself. Imiki came up to me as the two siblings celebrated, a hand on her waist. "What's happening?"
"Kouko-chan graduated and awakened her sharingan today," I explained. Imiki oo-ed supportively, going up to Kouko to congratulate her as well.
I stood where I was and watched the three of them interact happily, a content smile on my own face.
After a while, Kouko suddenly froze. "Ah, I gotta get back to the academy for team bonding. I just ran out to give you guys the news." She smiled sheepishly.
"I have to go to the compound for kenjutsu training, too," Shuu said, sounding a bit pouty about his sister having to leave so soon. Since Shuu had started to get stronger and more clever (thanks in part to Imiki's training, I liked to think), his clan had started to recognize him more as a formidable future shinobi and gave him more training sessions. It meant more solo training sessions for me, which was a tad lonely at times, but Shuu was more confident than ever thanks to his clan's increasing confidence in him, so I was still satisfied.
Shuu and Kouko bade us both farewell, Kouko offering to walk Shuu back to the compound before she headed back to the academy, leaving just Imiki and I standing in the grassy field. I sighed silently, bracing myself for more training, when Imiki suddenly hummed and smiled at me. "Let's go get lunch at Shiro's, Futaba-chan."
The way there was spent in silence, the days when Imiki would chatter to me like an excited teenager about the wonders of this world long behind us. In general, Imiki had changed since my mother's passing—Imiki was still an energetic woman, full of life and intention. She didn't seem like someone who even had the ability to cry, but then Mom died and proved me wrong. It was disconcerting that someone as strong as my aunt still cried, but I was starting to sense my mom's death had other more profound effects on her as well.
When we got our table and put in our orders, Imiki's sunny persona returned. "So, Shuu-kun will be enrolling in the Academy soon, won't he?"
"Mm," I grunted through a mouthful of zoni. Swallowing, I elaborated, "Fall class."
"Ah, that's really soon," Imiki noted, sounding thoughtful. "You'll be lonely, then, Futaba-chan!"
"Don' need Shuu t' hab fun," I rebuked defensively through another mouth of zoni.
"We'll see," Imiki mused knowingly.
A month later, Shuu enrolled in the academy. He was almost sweating bullets the day of his entrance ceremony, denying all claims that he was nervous with a reddened face. I hadn't gotten to attend, feeling a little uncomfortable with the fact that it was typically a families-only event. Predictably, as soon as he got there he easily demonstrated his Uchiha prodigy-ness and proved how awesome he was to the rest of his class of six-year-olds. At least, that's how he told it to me.
Of course, that left me alone most days. Kouko was training with her new genin team, Shuu was busy with lessons and newfound academy friends, and I was a pitiful child with all of two friends and just one aunt.
And maybe, if you squinted, you could include Enma as an acquaintance, because though I saw him every so often in my sleep, I got the sense he didn't exactly treasure my company. I guessed it didn't help that I was usually actively trying to annoy him into leaving me alone, either.
But I didn't mind. Not at all. It gave me a lot of time to...practice my bōjutsu kata in peace.
Man, I needed more friends.
One day in late September, half a month after Shuu's fall class had started, I strolled through the streets of Konoha at a leisurely pace. Early autumn brought more chilly but relatively moderate weather, so I wore another tunic over my baggy shirt and cuffed pants.
I was planning on visiting Shuu at school again today, squashing my own doubts that Shuu may not have wanted me around anymore now that he had cooler academy friends. I was still going to be a bit early at this rate, though, so I took my time.
After taking a nice stroll through Konoha, I reached the academy with perfect timing, as classes appeared to be over, with kids grouped off outside and chattering amongst themselves. As I drew closer to the front of the Academy, I spotted Shuu first, then a...very familiar blonde boy.
Oh man.
Shuu had shoved Uzumaki Naruto himself, against the fence. I couldn't hear what he said, but his expression suggested he was being serious. His gaggle of six-year-olds stood off to the side with expressions mixed with irritation, smugness, and fear.
I couldn't help the surge of anger that came when I saw my friend's behaviour. I thought Shuu was better than this. I would have never pegged him for one of those assholes that hated Naruto for something so utterly out of his control. Somehow, I felt responsible. But I still stood rooted to the spot, conflicted.
My plan was always to stay out of trouble, and no one embodied the concept better than the titular protagonist of the story I'd found myself born into. I'd decided long ago that I'd do anything within my power to keep my friends happy and safe, too, even if it was at the expense of my first policy. But Shuu wasn't in trouble now, and neither was he unhappy, so why did I feel so compelled to do something?
But then my eyes fell on Naruto, whose face I could barely see through Shuu at my angle, and I saw the despair in his eyes. And something in me ignited when I did.
So I stormed over, shaky-ass plan be damned, and pulled Shuu away by the shoulder, fixing him with my harshest glare.
"Futaba? What gives!?" he growled.
"Quit it, Shuu. You're being really stupid," I gritted out. He looked ready to retort a response, but a flash of fear and embarrassment entered his eyes when he saw the intense, uncharacteristic anger in my scowl. I'd never gotten genuinely angry at him in my life.
I forced my anger to seep away as I looked down at Naruto, who was on the ground against the fence. He looked torn; a mix of anticipation, confusion, and hope was concentrated into one open-mouthed stare, and it threw me off for a brief moment before I remembered the source of my rage and turned back to Shuu. His groupies had backed away unsurely, and I grabbed Shuu by the shoulder and pulled him away from the scene.
"What's wrong with you?" I demanded. "You don't usually act like that. What did Na—I mean, that kid do to you?"
Shuu scowled. "What, don't you know what everyone says about him? Haha-ue says he's dangerous. That he killed Hiro-ojii-san."
"Your uncle?" I asked incredulously. "How old were you when he died?"
"One," Shuu said defensively.
"How did a newborn kill your uncle?" I said even more incredulously. "He looks even younger than me! If a newborn killed your uncle, it was definitely your uncle's fault. That, or Michiko-san is lying." I wasn't sure why I was so defensive of Naruto. Maybe it was the combination of seeing his mistreatment in my other life and thinking he didn't deserve it—and then meeting him in real life just now only to see the horrors of how these kids his age treated him in person. Either way, something in me would not let this kind of behaviour towards the blonde boy pass, especially when it was my best friend playing the role of the bully.
"Shut up," Shuu hissed, his tone venomous. "Haha-ue wouldn't lie. And Hiro-ojii-san was a great man." He stormed off back to his gaggle of friends after shooting me one last glare, leaving me to sputter in his wake.
I gritted my teeth, glaring in Shuu's direction. I didn't know that kindly Michiko was like...that. That being the type to hold animosity towards Naruto like so many others for the attack of the Nine-Tails. She was such a nice woman I couldn't imagine her holding hostility towards anyone, much less a blameless five-year-old child. I supposed I went too far insulting Shuu's uncle like I did, but I was irritated...and disappointed.
I huffed moodily, blowing my bangs off my nose, and started to trudge the path back to the apartments, trying to ignore the murmurs of other academy students as they undoubtedly got to gossiping about the mysterious girl who defended the village monster. I couldn't care less at this point.
As I passed the spot near the fences where the scene had taken place, I saw Naruto still sitting there on the ground, stunned. For a moment, I wondered if he overheard me chewing Shuu out, but I dismissed the idea. I didn't stop to help him up as I walked by, but I didn't outright ignore him, either. I simply met his widened blue eyes with my own amber ones, hesitated for a moment, then kept walking the way home, alone.
figuring out how the academy school year works is hard when kishimoto didn't really cover it in naruto's childhood...not that he had to, but after doing some web-surfing, i've concluded that there'll be a fall class and a spring class in this story.
