The incident at the playground rattled me. Knowing what was going to happen to the Uchiha made me jump at every mention of politics of any sort. Considering Shikamaru had been an unflappable kid before that confrontation, things must be getting really bad. I almost considered not pushing through with the playdate. But Naruto would have never gone with it, and Sasuke would just be insulted. So off to the Uchiha compound we went.
Walking into the Uchiha compound the second time was only slightly less nerve-wracking than the first. Two things helped: first, I had a legitimate reason to be there in Sasuke, walking ahead of us with his chin held high and his face still flushed from squabbling with Naruto two blocks ago. The second was Naruto's mere presence, as he held my hand and babbled my ear off with boundless cheer.
"Hey, hey, did you see that shop? Did you see it? We should drop by next time! Maybe they'll sell us some mochi!"
"Minako, look, look! A big dog! D'you think Akamaru'll ever grow that big?"
"Oh, wow! That guy's running around on his hands!"
"Do you ever shut up?" Sasuke demanded, whirling around to face us. Naruto didn't bother replying. He just stuck out his tongue and blew.
I snorted, unable to keep my smile off my face. Sasuke spluttered, trying to think of a way to retaliate. Thankfully, the guard interrupted us before the two broke out squabbling again.
"Welcome home, Sasuke-sama," said a familiar voice. I looked up to see the grinning face of Guard the First, standing at ease with his hands hooked onto his belt. "And welcome back, Aka-chan!"
He was clearly teasing me. I scowled. "My name is Uzumaki Minako," I said, stressing every word. He just laughed. He glanced at his partner, who replied with an exasperated look. She seemed more relaxed than the last time we saw each other, now that I was actually with an Uchiha and not trying to break my way in.
Beside me, Naruto perked up. "You know my sister?"
Guard the First nodded. "Yeah. We met the first time she visited, trying to get to Sasuke-sama here." He spared a moment to wink at me. "Guess that confession went well, huh, Aka-chan?"
Sasuke whirled around, his jaw dropping to a rictus of horror. It's like I had become the embodiment of his worst nightmare. "You were going to confess to me?"
"NO, DATTEBANA!"
Naruto just stuck out his tongue in disgust. "Sasuke and Minako? Gross." He hopped up and down, trying to catch Guard the First's attention again. "My name's Naruto! Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo!"
"Nice to meet you, Naruto-kun." The guard jerked his thumb between himself and his partner. "I'm Uchiha Ryoji, and this is my partner, Uchiha Kiku." He even went to the effort of bending one knee to get to Naruto's level. "You headed somewhere with Sasuke-sama?"
Naruto's eyes were wide and gleeful. It was the first time an adult spared the energy to give him the time of day. He was practically vibrating with excitement. "Yeah, yeah! We're gonna train at Sasuke's house!" he said. "He's gonna teach us how to throw shuriken. Then I'm gonna kick his ass!" He nodded, as if to cement his determination.
"You wish!" Sasuke retorted, crossing his arms.
The fact that Guard the First made Naruto smile like that was enough to melt the last bit of resentment I had against him and his partner. "That's a good skill to learn," he said, ruffling Naruto's head. "Right, Kiku?"
"Hn." Lady Guard rolled her eyes.
Okay, so maybe just him.
"Good luck with your training, Naruto-kun." Ryoji- Ryuji? gave Naruto one last ruffle before standing up. "Teach those targets who's boss."
I could swear Naruto glowed in that moment. "Yeah!" He pumped his fists into the air.
Sasuke elbowed Naruto, making him yelp. The spotlight had been off of him for long enough, probably. "Ryoji-san," he said. "Has nii-san come home yet?" He could barely hide his eagerness, no matter how much he tried to keep an impassive face. The change from his usual rough speech was jarring enough that I felt a grin break out on my face. Naruto didn't miss it either.
"How come you don't talk to me like that?" he demanded. Sasuke closed his eyes, as if that would keep him from reacting to Naruto. But Naruto would not be ignored. "You're talking all polite and sh- stuff!" he corrected himself, glancing at me. I raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you talk polite to me, huh?" Naruto poked Sasuke.
"Because you're not an adult and you're annoying!" Sasuke snapped.
I swear I heard Lady Guard choke on a laugh.
"Not yet, Sasuke-sama," Ryoji-san said with an admirably straight face. "He left with your father earlier this morning, however, so he should be back soon."
Sasuke's frown relaxed. His brilliant smile was ridiculously adorable. "Thank you!"
Naruto bugged Sasuke all the way up to his house. I couldn't help but join in with the teasing as well. It made for a rambunctious little group by the time we made it to Sasuke's place.
Facing Mikoto again was less embarrassing than the guards, at least. She welcomed us into her house with a smile (and a pointed look at Sasuke for being rude). She made no mention of my previous visit, expressed delight in "finally meeting Naruto-kun," then pointed us to the private training area behind their home. To Sasuke's credit, it was something like a mini forest, not counting the actual Uchiha forest that came up to the village wall. Damn rich people.
The only time Mikoto paused was when Naruto bounced up and down and said, "Thanks, obaa-san! You're the best!"
"Don't call my mother obaa-san!" Sasuke yelled.
"Sasuke." Mikoto's face had done that thing again, where her expression was blank, but her eyes crinkled with a kindness I was starting to believe was real. "It's fine, Naruto-kun," she added, turning to my brother. "Please, call me obaa-san." She made sure to look at me, including me in the request.
This was the lady whose thousand ryo kimono I'd soaked with my snot. I nodded, my hands twisting behind my back. Naruto beamed. "Mikoto-baa-san!" he cheered. And because I never taught him about personal space, he threw his arms around her knees and hugged her.
I couldn't see Mikoto's expression. I was too horrified. "Naruto—" I squeaked.
Mikoto bent down and gently unwound Naruto's arms from around her. She squatted to his level. "What a sweet child," she said, pushing his hair back from his face. And that was all.
"Sasuke, remember to set up the dummy away from the house. I don't want you breaking the lamps again." She stood back up and shooed us towards the training area. "I'll have snacks ready in a few minutes. You children go have fun outside."
Sasuke reddened. "Yes, okaa-san," he said hurriedly, running for the door. Naruto chased after him with a cackle, mangling the pronunciation as he went.
"Sasuke broke a lamp, Sasuke broke a lamp—"
I spared one last glance towards Mikoto. After all, you don't just leave kids throwing metal objects unsupervised, right? Right?
Her hand fell from her face. She seemed surprised to still see me there. "Go on," she urged.
Wait, she was seriously leaving us alone? Was this a ninja thing?
Confused, I just answered her with a nod and bolted after the boys. The "Thank you!" over my shoulder was an afterthought.
I caught up to the boys as they were dragging the dummies to one of the trees. Sasuke was scowling, and ribbed Naruto even more than he had on the way here. The angry flush on his face amused me. Don't tell me the kid was jealous.
Of course, that just meant things dissolved from there. His impatience made any advice on shuriken throwing useless to Naruto, who himself learned better through demonstration than clumsy words from a six-year-old. It ended with, of all things, Itachi and Sasuke's father coming home to a horrified Sasuke pinning Naruto to the dust.
And me?
I was sitting on the veranda, spinning a shuriken around a finger and wishing I had a book.
I caught Itachi's lip twitching, before schooling his face into a neutral expression. There was a weariness in his young eyes that made me drop the shuriken as he met my gaze. I offered him a hesitant smile.
The thin line that was his lips relaxed. He tipped his head in a slight nod.
Guess that's what stood for an Uchiha smile?
If I thought Mikoto was intimidating, Sasuke and Itachi's father blew my standards out of the park. The lines around his scowl looked like they'd been etched in stone. He stared Sasuke down as the boy scrambled off his playmate, stammering out a greeting. Even Naruto's gleeful grin shrank in his presence.
"What is going on here?" he asked. That was the voice of a man who didn't need to raise it to silence a room.
"I've been teaching Naruto how to throw shuriken, otou-san." Hearing Sasuke sound so meek, and yet filled with a hopefulness we'd never heard from him before did funny things to my gut. His enthusiasm was adorable. But there was a pleading tone to his words that made me squirm. "He and Minako aren't that good yet, so they asked for my help." He was standing so straight, I could see his toes straining from where I sat.
"Hey! I just need some pointers, that's all!" Naruto leapt to his feet. I quelled him with a look, too far to kick him quiet.
"It's true," I said, for Sasuke's benefit. Those pitch-black eyes turning on me made me wince. "Sensei started us throwing stuff a few days ago. Naruto and I needed practice, and Sasuke-kun's the only one with a place to do that, so I nagged him to bring us here." Now I knew why Sasuke was so reluctant to bring us home.
I didn't even live here and I was already scared of his dad. If it meant not getting his dad mad at him, then I was ready to throw myself under the bus. Not like people could have a worse first impression of me than they already have.
"I take it those are yours, then?" Sasuke's dad nodded towards the shuriken-imbedded dummy. Sasuke nodded eagerly.
"Some of it's mine too!" Naruto said, though not as enthusiastic as his usual energy.
"Sure, the ones on the ground," I teased. I held out my hand. He scampered over and took it, giving the father and son pair a doubtful look. Itachi spared us a glance, but otherwise didn't look away from his family.
"It would be better for you to concentrate on your own skills before you try to pass them on," Sasuke's father said. He pointed at the neck and hips of the dummy. "You missed the vital spots here, here, and here. I expect better from you than this."
Sasuke's face fell. "Y-yes, otou-san."
I couldn't help it. My jaw dropped. I tried to catch Naruto's eye, but he only looked at me with troubled confusion. He knew he didn't like what was happening, but not quite why. I ended up sharing my disbelief with Itachi, of all people, who answered me with a faint frown.
None of Sasuke's shuriken had missed the dummy. I knew, because I'd had nothing better to look at for the past thirty minutes. I'd been impressed by a six-year-old that could hit a dummy from 10 feet away. And yet his father would rather point out what he missed?
Suddenly, the other students' respect and envy for the clan kids made more sense. Was every ninja clan really like this?
"Itachi had already advanced to moving targets at your age. Focus on achieving that before you teach anyone else," Sasuke's father ordered, before moving for the house.
Itachi was a once-in-a-generation super-genius, the likes of which wouldn't be seen before or since! Otherwise known as ridiculous standards for a six-year-old boy!
Naruto may not have understood Sasuke's turmoil, but he did understand a dismissal when he heard one. "Hey! What about me and Minako?"
"It's okay," I butted in, quailing under the intense stare leveled at the both of us. Sasuke's father felt like a simmering fire, waiting to burst into an inferno. It made me shiver. "We can come back another time—"
To my surprise, Sasuke protested too, albeit more quietly. "I promised, otou-san."
"Hn." If anything, it only made his father's—dammit, if I could just remember his name—frown deepen. But still, he paused at the door to the house.
My grip on Naruto's hand tightened. He frowned at me, glanced at Sasuke's dad, then scrunched up his nose. I squinted at him, flicked my eyes to the ground and back, then pressed my lips together. He widened his eyes, incredulous.
"Otou-san, if I may." Itachi stepped forward. "I could assist Minako-chan and Naruto-kun, which would let Sasuke fulfill his promise even as he focuses on improving." A breath. "Unless we had more to discuss?"
Naruto squeezed my hand. I held my breath, and squeezed back.
Their father considered the two of us, standing in the corner of his backyard. We tilted our chins up, almost at the same time.
"Very well," he said.
I breathed out.
He tipped his head towards us. "Let it not be said that the Uchiha are lacking in hospitality."
Naruto blinked at me. I bit my cheek and shrugged one shoulder, the subtlest I could get. There was a bite behind the words that gave me a quiet sense of dread. The sarcasm wasn't directed at us, as far as I could tell. That didn't stop it from affecting me. Like a kunai glancing off my skin, before hitting its true target.
Sasuke glanced between Itachi and the two of us, looking conflicted. "Thank you, otou-san," he said anyway.
I gulped, and rushed to pull Naruto into a shallow bow. "Thank you, Uchiha-sama!" I said, Naruto echoing half a second after.
He acknowledged us with a nod, and finally left. I slumped in relief.
Naruto turned to Sasuke, frowning. "Why's your dad so grumpy?" he asked. Sasuke sputtered.
"Shh!" I squeaked. The door had closed behind the man in question, so I couldn't tell how far away he had gotten. "He might hear you!"
Itachi raised an eyebrow, wryly amused. "You might want to take more care with your words, Naruto-kun, if you don't want otou-san to… get grumpier."
"Nii-san." Sasuke tugged on Itachi's shirt, eyes brimming with dismay. "You're gonna teach them? Not me?"
Itachi frowned, then relaxed as understanding dawned. His smile grew. "There's nothing stopping me from training all three of you," he said. "No need to worry, Sasuke."
I tried to bite back my giggle, I really did. Naruto didn't even bother. He grinned is fox's grin. "Hehehe, Sasuke's jealous we need his nii-san's help!"
"Am not!" Sasuke fired back. "That just means you suck, idiot!"
Naruto reddened. "Do not! You're just… just…" It took him a second. "Just advanced!" He puffed out his chest in triumph.
I turned to share an exasperated grin with Itachi, only to find him smiling softly as our brothers began to squabble. My breath caught.
Such an expression didn't belong on a murderer. The quiet joy at seeing his little brother brimming with life erased every line on his face. In that one moment, Itachi looked like the twelve-year-old he was supposed to be.
Feeling my gaze, he turned to me. His smile… didn't disappear, not exactly. It faded, into a small tilt to the corner of his lips. If I was a betting kind of girl, I'd say he felt embarrassed.
"I have never seen Sasuke this animated," he said.
"You should see him in school, then," I replied, still a little stunned. "Every time I turn around, they're rolling on the ground again."
His lips twitched. "I'd like to see that."
He slipped between the boys as they paused to breathe, casually picking up a shuriken at their feet. And just like that, the argument was over. Both boys watched with wide eyes as he ushered them to the target. Considering my S.O.P. was to ignore them til they finished, well.
Hilariously enough, it was Sasuke's challenge that gave Naruto the drive to focus on Itachi's lesson. I stood a little ways behind them, watching as Itachi reminded Sasuke about wind resistance and set him to work. Then he turned to Naruto.
He had him demonstrate a few throws. I had to admit, it was adorable seeing Naruto scrunch up his nose, stick out his tongue, then toss the shuriken. It landed at the dummy's feet. A couple more swung wide. Naruto scowled.
"I see." Itachi stopped him. He held up Naruto's hand and tapped the base of his wrist. "Your muscles are too lax. When you throw straight ahead, you need to add resistance at the end of your swing."
"Eh?" Naruto turned to me. Curious, Itachi set his eyes on me as well.
"Oh!" I took a moment to think back through Itachi's words. There was that one word I didn't know, but if I got it right… "He means you should make your arm go all stiff when it points at your target. Right?" I looked to Itachi for confirmation.
His expression was thoughtful. "Not quite, but close."
His heavy gaze made me uneasy. "It might be better to show him. Naruto learns better that way," I suggested. He nodded.
"Alright." He demonstrated what he meant, first slowly, so Naruto could see the way his elbow, then his wrist locked when he aimed. Then he threw, in a flash of movement not even I could catch.
Thunk!
His shuriken pinned the dummy to the tree by its throat.
"WHOOOOOAAAAA! THAT'S SO COOL, DATTEBAYO!"
"Shut up, idiot! You're too loud!"
Sure, my hands were over my ears and I was cringing into my shirt, but I could not disagree. Itachi was smiling again as he supervised Naruto's next throw. This time, it actually hit the dummy, even if it just glanced off its straw leg.
"I'm gonna get it next time!" Naruto stomped his feet, then dashed over to the dummy to collect his shuriken.
"Ready, Minako-chan?"
I jumped, then grinned sheepishly at Itachi's raised eyebrow. Oh yeah… my turn to throw the semi-sharp thingy…
"Right. Um. Here." We headed to the third dummy. It had quite a few shuriken littered on the ground… but I did manage to land a couple hits. One of the dummy's arms sagged, because I managed to nick the top but the shuriken cut through instead.
His eyes on me made me self-conscious enough that my first throw went wide. I gritted my teeth and tried again, focusing on my target this time. Remembering their father's words, I tried to aim for the biggest vital spot on the dummy—the neck.
It thudded into the dummy's chest.
I beamed at Itachi.
"Was that what you were aiming for?" he asked.
The question made me scowl. "No," I admitted. "I was trying to go for the neck, like you did."
"I thought so." He squatted down to my eye level. "Try to aim for behind your target to add more strength behind your throw."
"Right. Got it." I ran towards the dummy and picked up my shuriken.
"It's wise to aim for the vital spots when you're practicing," Itachi noted as I walked back. "But with shuriken, it would be more prudent to aim for important muscle groups than with arteries, like kunai."
"Really?" I came to a stop next to him. "Why?"
He took one of my shuriken and pointed at the blades. "A shuriken has shorter points than the kunai. If it stabs a major muscle group, like the bicep or the thigh, it would render that limb near-useless. It is also much harder to pull out on the spot than a kunai with a handle."
"Oh. That makes sense." I studied the metal in my hands, flipping the star over. The logic behind weapons was fascinating. We hadn't started on any specific things like that in class yet, just the basic "these are what make up the parts of the human body."
And yes, I knew it was the science of how to end the life of another person. But reality and theory were two different things. You could look at a sword in a museum and 'ooh' and 'aah' over the design. It was hard to fathom just yet how I would be using these lessons to kill people.
A thought crossed my mind. "What if you boost it with chakra? Could you make up for its reach then?"
Itachi's eyebrows rose. "I wasn't aware they were already teaching chakra theory in the first year."
My face burned. "I read about it in a book," I explained, reaching up to rub my temple. Then I remembered I was holding sharp metal.
"Where did you find that book?" Itachi asked.
"In the school library. Izumo-san is helping me practice reading." Well, help was a strong word. The thought made me smile anyway. Chakra was pretty much the local system of magic. I could read about its theory and applications for hours. I tried my best, honestly.
I caught Sasuke scowling at me from the corner of my eye.
Thunk, thunkthunkthunk.
"Nii-san! Look at what I did!"
I fought back a snicker. "Looks like Sasuke-kun got tired of having your attention elsewhere."
Itachi huffed in wry amusement. "So it seems." He stood, then paused. He held up the shuriken still in his hand, then offered it to me. "Wind chakra would allow the shuriken's radius to grow to a size that could cut limbs off. If you like, there are some scrolls in the house that might be of interest to you."
My eyes widened. More books? Really? "I'd love that!" I took the shuriken, then grinned up at him. "Thanks!"
Alas, the peace was not meant to last. I managed to get two out of four shuriken to land on the dummy, before Naruto and Sasuke were squabbling again. Something about it being Sasuke's turn with Itachi, while Naruto complained he'd been taking too long. Honestly, the whole thing was hilarious. I didn't think Sasuke had ever had to share his precious brother's time before, and it showed. The clinginess alone made me want to laugh.
I tried to keep practicing what Itachi taught me, while he mediated between our brothers. In the end, I had to help him out, just to get them to stop.
I shoved my way between the two. It was rare for me to have to physically separate them. Man, Sasuke must be really upset. "Naruto's not stupid, and he isn't hogging your brother. Sasuke-kun's not a bastard, he just misses Itachi—" Oh. Shit. I didn't know what honorific to tack onto his name.
"-san" would be appropriate, since it seemed to be a catch-all for everyone you're not close to. But he was also technically our senior in the profession, so…
"—senpai?" I squeaked, peeking in his direction.
"That would be better than 'nee-san,' yes," he agreed.
I gaped at him. My face was so hot I felt ready to steam. Somewhere in the corner of my gibbering mind, I could hear myself screaming into the void.
Was that a smug edge to his smile?!
Thankfully, Mikoto returned then, a platter of onigiri in tow. Her mere presence ended any and all arguments, by the simple fact that the boys couldn't yell and eat at the same time.
After the onigiri was a platter of a platter of outrageously delicious daifuku mochi. Shisui wasn't kidding about how good it was. I swear I was sobbing from the taste. It took everything I had not to shovel the whole thing into my mouth. Naruto didn't even bother. He was squirrel-cheeked and already reaching for seconds. Before I could scold him, a pale hand smacked him lightly on the wrist.
"Hey!" Naruto yelped, showing off a disgusting mess of half-chewed mochi. He pouted, only to flinch at Mikoto towering over him. Mikoto didn't react, other than to kneel down into a perfect seiza.
"That's not how to eat mochi, Naruto-kun," she said.
"Huh? Then 'ow?" Naruto asked, chewing around his food. He seemed unsure how to deal with Mikoto, glancing between her, Sasuke, and me.
"Please don't talk when your mouth is full," I begged. He swallowed, then choked.
Mikoto sighed through her nose. She handed him his cup of green tea. He tried to take a huge gulp, and whined at the heat. I covered my face with my hands.
Itachi hid his smile with his cup.
Mikoto patiently walked Naruto through eating the mochi, complete with using the little bamboo utensil I'd only guessed at. Soon, I was paying attention too, especially when Mikoto showed us how to hold the cup so an enemy couldn't smash it into our face. Sasuke was happy to demonstrate for his mother, while she corrected our hands and posture. Nothing could beat down his smug smile.
Naruto stuck out his tongue at him while Mikoto wasn't looking, only to make the same discovery I did a week earlier. Mikoto didn't need to glare to keep children in line.
By the time the sun was setting, Naruto and I were headed home, with a bento of leftover onigiri between us, and the promise of daifuku tomorrow to look forward to.
"And then he went WHOOSH! And I went AAAAH but it hit! And the dummy went uuugh."
I nodded along as Naruto narrated his whole afternoon. Events that I had been there for, mind. I was tired in the pleasant kind of sense, after a day where I got a lot done and nothing went wrong. I looked forward to sleeping tonight.
"Let's go again tomorrow! Let's go again tomorrow!" Naruto yanked my arm this way and that with his glee. I rolled my eyes, tugging him back before his bouncing caused him to crash into someone.
It was easier to ignore the glares today.
"Fine," I said.
Naruto cheered.
"But only if Sasuke says we can."
He opened his mouth.
"And you can't make him either!"
While it was fun seeing how far Naruto and I could push our puppy eyes to the limit, it would be unfair to abuse it. Especially with Sasuke, who was already in an uncomfortable position between his father and his friends.
Surprisingly, we did get a second invitation, and from the most unexpected source.
"Nii-san said he and otou-san will be out late, so we'll have the training ground to ourselves," Sasuke said. "He also told me to lend you some books he found."
"He did?" I asked, starry-eyed.
And so began our regular visits to the Uchiha compound. There were a couple of days where Itachi warned us away, but otherwise the days their father (and sadly, Itachi) were home were few and far in between. Sasuke was positively cranky the three days Itachi left on a mission.
Naruto and Sasuke trained their taijutsu and shurikenjutsu, with Naruto doing his best to catch up. The Academy had yet to teach us any formal taijutsu. Naruto pretty much flailed around while Sasuke kicked his ass. This resulted in many arguments I chose to stay out of.
I turned my focus on a far more interesting puzzle: the books Itachi had chosen for me. He had left three books for me on what I assumed was the chakra manipulation I asked about. To my chagrin, I could only read the first, with plenty of holes in my vocabulary. At least he was thoughtful enough to leave a dictionary.
Mikoto caught me struggling over my reading and promptly swept them away. When I whined, she replaced them with storybooks. Storybooks. None of those technique scrolls or instruction manuals from the school library. She brought me books on the bijuu, on spirits, on local legends, and even stories about the summons Konoha had contracts with. There was a series on the misadventures of a fictional ninja named Tomo-san, which were both entertaining and educational. Might as well make call them A Manual on What Not to Do as A Ninja.
The more I read, the faster I got. Letting me bring home books meant I could read well into the night or even during lunch time at school. Shikamaru and Sasuke could've started a brawl in front of me and I wouldn't have noticed.
And, of course, since I had to return said borrowed books, we spent even more time over at Sasuke's.
The next time Itachi managed to hang out with us, he brought a friend.
"Minako-chan!"
I shrieked as Shisui yanked me into the air. "Put me down, dattebana!" I yelled, clinging to the book in my hands with everything I had. It was the most recent book Mikoto had lent me, on the founding of the Hidden Villages. I could not let it get dirty.
He twirled around before finally setting me on the ground. I kicked him on the shin. "Ow!" He shot me a mournful look, holding the aggrieved spot. "Is that really how you greet your senpai?"
My eye twitched. Itachi must have told him. Too bad I had no sympathy for him. I was under no illusion he couldn't have dodged me if he had wanted to. "Senpais shouldn't grab little girls without their permission."
He winced. "Maa, Minako-chan… you didn't have to word it that way."
I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Who're you?" Naruto asked, wide-eyed at the ninja that had appeared out of nowhere. Sasuke was too busy greeting his older brother to comment.
Shisui grinned, jerking his thumb towards his chest. "Uchiha Shisui! You must be Naruto-kun." He ruffled Naruto's hair, making Naruto squint through his bangs. "My enemies call me Shunshin no Shisui… but you can call me Shisui-senpai."
"Did you practice that?" I said flatly. He winked at me.
"But why Shunshin no Shisui?" Naruto demanded. "What's shunshin?"
"It's how shinobi move really, really fast," Shisui said. He held up a finger, eyes alight with mischief. "Watch this." He tapped my brother on the nose, then disappeared.
I blinked and my hair was flying in a rush of wind, yanked loose from its tie. Across from me, Itachi moved. I didn't know what he'd done, exactly, until Shisui reappeared a few feet away, pouting, while Itachi raised his head.
"You could've played along," Shisui said, raising my hair tie. Itachi just stared him down, his ponytail swinging back into place. Sasuke's starry eyes could've lit up a whole room.
"Hey! Give that back!" I sputtered, coming to my senses. Beside me, Naruto jumped up and down.
"That's so cool, dattebayo!" he cheered.
"See, Minako-chan? At least your brother appreciates me." Shisui preened.
I held out my hand, scowling. With a sigh, he disappeared again. The only warning I got was the wind tugging on my hair. I whirled around and yelped, falling flat on my ass. My book fell to the ground with a thud. Shisui grinned, holding up my hair tie. "I thought you wanted it back?"
I stared at the book. Already I could see clumps of dirt sticking to the cover and its edges. Blood rushed to my face. I rose to my feet, picked it up, yanked the hair tie from Shisui's fingers, and stomped off to the door.
I sat down on the elevated wooden floor and gently tried to brush off the earth with a finger. I had to go slowly, because I was too busy trying not to cross the line between fury and angry bawling.
"Huh, I didn't know you lent her that book, Itachi," Shisui said, leaning over my shoulder.
I stared at Itachi in horror. "I didn't know it was your book!" My voice cracked. "I tried to take good care of it, I swear!"
Shisui threw up his hands in alarm. "Aw, hey, no, Minako-chan, don't be upset." Any other time, I would have found his verbal backpedaling amusing. "Here, I can take care of it! Just give it to me and—"
I hugged the book to my chest, glaring at him. "You'll just make everything worse!" At the same time, Naruto charged forward, missing only because Shisui hopped back.
"Get away from her!" he yelled, diving for him again. Shisui dodged him just as easily, looking chagrined.
Itachi walked over, his face impassive. I bowed my head, unable to look him in the eye. His hand entered my vision. I handed him the book, cringing.
He immediately tossed it at Shisui's head.
Shisui caught it with a loud smack. There was this odd shiver in the air. Clods of dirt fell to the ground. He raised his hands in surrender, the book free of mud. "See? All better!"
Naruto paused, squinting at the book. He turned to me, lower lip still jutted out in an angry pout. I was too startled to react. I just stared at them both, eyes wide and watery.
"Thanks," I croaked at last. Naruto stopped glaring Shisui down and ran over to me. Automatically, I put my hand on my lap so he could scramble up beside me and all but cuddle close.
Itachi had settled down next to me as well. Shisui joined us like a normal human being, walking step by step until he stopped in front of me. He handed over the book. "Sorry, Minako-chan," he said. The sincerity in his voice made me squirm.
"'s fine," I said.
Sasuke climbed onto the wooden floor too. After a moment of hesitation, he crawled under Itachi's arm and settled by his lap. Itachi, startled, raised his hand and rested it behind his brother.
"It's just a book," Sasuke said with a huff. "Don't be such a crybaby."
"I'm/She's not a crybaby!"
Naruto and I shared a look. He grinned first.
"Nah. Minako-chan was just trying to take good care of the things she borrows. Right?" Shisui smoothed my hair back with a gentle hand. I couldn't help but lean into the touch.
"And good job trying to protect your sister, Naruto-kun," he continued, ruffling Naruto's hair too. "With a little more training, you might even be able to fight me off!"
"Hmph." Naruto tried to keep his frown. I didn't miss how his chest puffed out with pride.
I poked him in the side, making him yelp. "That's what we're here for, isn't it? I bet Shunshin no Shisui has a lot he can teach you." I grinned at Shisui to let him know I was teasing. He grinned back, relieved.
Naruto shuffled away, rubbing his side. "Don't wanna," he grumbled. "He's mean."
Shisui made a wounded noise, sharing a pout with Itachi. Itachi raised an unimpressed eyebrow. You dug this grave, so you sit in it.
"He isn't mean! Shisui-san's the fastest ninja around!" Sasuke said, leaning over Itachi to glare at Naruto. Itachi seemed resigned to being his little brother's climbing post, his lips curling in a small smile.
"Ehh? Even faster than Inu-san?" Naruto asked, interested in spite of himself. Itachi blinked.
"I don't know who Inu-san is, but I'm sure I could give him a run for his money." For someone who had just knowingly challenged an ANBU member, Shisui sure looked cheerful. Then again, he could just be humoring Naruto, for all I knew.
Naruto's eyes narrowed. Inu-san was his inspiration for starting the life of a ninja. Any slights against him were taken as a slight against himself. "Prove it," he demanded.
Shisui's grin turned shark-like. A rush of air, and suddenly Naruto was shrieking on the floor. Only long familiarity with the sound kept me from doing more than jumping in my seat.
"Ah… no… stop… HAHAHAHA!" Naruto laughed, squirming away from Shisui's fingers.
"But you said I was mean! If I stopped, I wouldn't be mean anymore, would I?" Shisui countered. He found the vulnerable spot under Naruto's ribs, making my brother squeak.
Itachi nudged Sasuke. "You should go help Naruto-kun."
Sasuke looked at him in dismay. "But why?"
"True shinobi don't abandon their comrades." Itachi nodded towards the noisy pile Shisui and Naruto made. "Especially if they're your friends."
Sasuke scowled. But what Nii-san said, went. He crawled off Itachi's lap and crept for Shisui. I blinked at Itachi, puzzled. What he said sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it.
Shisui dodged Sasuke's leap, sending the poor boy sprawling. "A new challenger has arrived!" he cried. He dived in again, this time to the tune of Sasuke's involuntary howls of laughter. I scrambled to the side, shaking my head when Shisui eyed me. He spared me an understanding, apologetic smile.
Then Naruto yelled, launching himself at Shisui's back and making for an effective distraction.
I tuned out Shisui's gleeful "You can't catch me, you can't catch me!" and inspected Itachi's book. The pages were clean, with not a speck of dirt on the spine or cover.
"You can clean stuff with chakra?" I asked Itachi, holding it up.
"Shisui is trying to learn how to use Earth jutsu. Repelling soil like that requires good chakra control, nothing more," Itachi confirmed.
"Huh." I gave the pages one last, sad glance, then handed it to him.
"Have you finished?"
"No?" I said, startled.
"Then keep it." He pushed the book, and my hand, back. "You can return it when you're done. I'm sure you'll be finished quickly." I stared at him. "This wasn't one of the books I lent you," he explained.
"Oh. Hehe." I tugged on a loose strand of hair, a sheepish grin tugging on my lips. "Mikoto-baa-san took them away because they were too hard. But I finished reading Sasuke-kun's and wanted something harder, so she found this and lent it to me." It meant I was stuck with stubbornly sounding out the words as I read. But reading about the founding of the Hidden Villages was worth it.
"Are you enjoying it?" Itachi asked.
I nodded, bright-eyed with enthusiasm. "Yeah! It's really, really fascinating how the Shodaime and Uchiha Madara managed to convince the different clans to come together, dattebana! I'm in the chapter comparing the clan mini-villages from the Warring States Era to how they adapted to living inside a more confined space. The culture was way different back then too. It's really… cool." My face burned as I trailed off. I had never talked this much to anyone that wasn't Naruto.
Itachi looked pleased, which helped soothe my embarrassment. He nodded towards the book in my hands. "I'm glad," he said. "I finished that book when I was six as well."
I stared at him. My immediate reaction was disbelief. Of course this kid had read this book when he was six. I bet he breezed right through it too. None of the muttering I did as I traced every character with a finger. Freaking prodigies.
Then I remembered I was six. And I was meeting a dark, expectant gaze.
The blood drained from my face.
Itachi nodded, as if putting together the last piece of a puzzle. "You aren't very good at hiding your intellect," he said gently.
I took a deep, shuddering breath. "With you, or in general?"
"It's probable Izumo-san has an inkling," Itachi allowed, leaning back. "I don't know enough about your library sessions to make an accurate assessment."
I closed my eyes. Had I been learning too fast? I stuck mostly to the first year and second year books in my time at the library, with a few stubborn excursions into the chakra section. My first few days were spent bugging Izumo-san for word meanings, because I was slow and the books were dry as hell. My library time lessened as Naruto gathered more friends to hang with at lunch. It was only recently, with Sasuke's books, that I'd gathered enough of a vocabulary to breeze through them. If Izumo-san knew, the rest of the faculty would, for sure. If he didn't—it would be a miracle, if he didn't.
"The books gave it away, huh," I said, my heart sinking.
"It was during shuriken training, actually." My head jerked up, startled. Itachi's lips twitched. "Naruto-kun turned to you without hesitating, implying this had become routine between the both of you. Your comprehension was high enough to explain my words to your brother. Neither did you falter when I made my choice of words more complex."
I covered my face with my hands.
He tapped the book on my lap. "The books were a test. How much could you understand, and how fast could you learn?" His lips twisted. "I wasn't sure you were trying to hide it until now," he admitted.
"Because I was doing so well," I said sarcastically. Inside, I was panicking. What was I going to do? Izumo-san might not have caught on yet, but that didn't mean I hadn't slipped up elsewhere. I could lower my grades even more, while keeping my reading subjects up. Math could go down, but not phys ed. I couldn't really fake sweating.
"Why?" Itachi asked.
I drew my knees up, curling into myself. Why did I even bother? I was terrible at it anyway. I was so sick of the mind-numbing existence of a toddler that reading and learning never failed to send me sky high with joy. To give it up…
But the answer was easy. And if there was anyone in the world who would understand, it would be Itachi.
"I don't want to be separated from my brother," I mumbled into my knees.
His eyes darkened. I could guess what he was thinking. We sat there for a while, ruminating on Konoha's treatment of its youngest greats. All I could do was sink further and further into my misery.
I could put more effort into it. I could. But I didn't know if that effort would only make it more obvious. Or if I could even give up reading so much, for my brother's sake. Would it even work? What the hell did I know about fooling ninja?
"Perhaps it may be something you can train," Itachi said.
It took a minute for the words to sink in. I was too busy wondering, is this genius a fucking mind reader too?!
I straightened, like someone had jabbed a bolt of lightning up my spine. "R-really?"
He nodded. "Consider it a form of infiltration training," he elaborated. His hands curled together in his lap, his gaze distant as he thought. "Your comprehension is high, but your speech has yet to stray too far from that of children your age. All you need to do is hide how much you understand."
It was a rope. A frayed rope handed out as I hung over a cliff, but a rope all the same. Relief ended my panic spiral as abruptly as it began. It took a while before my body got the message.
I picked at a stray thread unraveling from the hem of my pants. "You think I can do it?" I mumbled into my knees.
I felt more than heard Itachi's surprise, like sparks jumping out of a low fire. "You're a fast learner," he said, the same way someone would say, Of course. What made you ask that?
I breathed in, and out. The last of my anxiety escaped me. I raised my head and gave him a shaky grin. "Got any ideas?"
The corner of his lips curled. If I didn't know any better, I would have accused Uchiha Itachi of smirking. He nodded towards Shisui's game of tag. "You could start there."
We watched little Sasuke try to take out Shisui's face with his feet, while Naruto clung to one knee. My brother wrapped his legs around Shisui's shin, then bit.
I winced. Shisui yelped. Down he went.
The corners of Itachi's eyes creased. Oh, he was definitely laughing now. I gave the book in my hands a mournful look, then sighed.
"You can keep it," Itachi said. My head snapped up. I could almost feel the stars blooming in my eyes. Melancholy stained his smile, dimming my joy. "I have no need for it anymore."
I bit my lip, searching for the words to say. There was a weight to his words that I couldn't fathom. It could have been about anything—about his childhood, his career, his family's dynamics. After all, he had been—is—a pacifist, right?
It sounded like a man twice his age carrying a burden too big for his shoulders.
It sounded like an omen.
"Hey, Itachi," I said. "If you… if you have a problem—" I twisted my fingers together. "—and you can't talk to anyone about it… you can always talk to me, yeah?"
His eyebrows shot towards his hairline. It was the most surprised I'd ever seen an Uchiha, even Sasuke. I cringed.
"As a thank you! For, for helping me, with the books and stuff!" I flailed my hands, trying to dispel whatever came over me. Shit, this is why Itachi told me off for being too obvious. This was what I got for calling everyone younger than fifteen a kid. "That's what friends are for, right? They help each other. I mean, we've helped each other out, so—so we're friends now. Right?" My breath caught in my chest. Suddenly, I was very, very invested in the answer.
Swear words piled up in my head as I quivered like a rabbit under his stare.
"Thank you," he said at last. I couldn't read his expression. "I'll keep it in mind."
I jerked my head down, one, quick nod. No answer was not a no. That was the vaguest no answer I'd ever received in my entire two lives. But fair enough. To him, he was an adult in the body of a child, speaking to a kid who knew too much for her own good. Maybe that was why my heart went out to him.
Maybe I was just lonely.
I decided to spare us any more awkwardness on my account and followed the noble, ninja way:
I fled.
"Alright, imma just—go." I pointed over my shoulder, nodded again, then ran. I threw myself at Shisui with an enthusiasm only sheer embarrassment could bring, sending him to the ground again.
Only later would I realize I'd forgotten to slap "-senpai" on Itachi's name. I screamed into my pillow. It was enough to send Naruto running out of the shower in a panic, soap suds still in his hair.
A/N: Please don't try to throw shuriken like this. The anime doesn't throw them properly anyway. And, yes, I made up everything about shuriken vs kunai.
Even if I only update once a year, I'm going to update, dammit!
Ps. For those who weren't aware, I went through this entire fic and edited it. Most of it were just minor edits like sentence structure and punctuation, except for VIII, which got a major overhaul. It was the weakest of my chapters, so I was glad I got the chance to fix it. I hope you enjoy the new version!
