Shadow of God: Honestly, her history with her parents aren't meant to be dark. Neither are their methods, just harsh. Haruto's darkness will settle in later in the story. (And by later I mean in like one or two chapters lmao). But you can expect a helluva lot of death. Thanks for your review. :3

xFarxAwayx: No, don't explode you wouldn't be able to read by more. :((((((

ohh boy, do I have plans for this story. It'll be quite the trip.

Also, are any of you Assassin's Creed fans? Because I've been working on an AC story, and I want to know if I should post it here or…

Recommended songs: Heaven Knows by The Pretty Wreckless.

Original chapter word count: 4.2k~

Enjoy! :3

Chapter 3: Chick Perch

I was offered three choices.

The first was to live with the Uchiha, my "home" clan (ew). The second was to enroll into an orphanage, foster or adoptive center. The third was to live with Sakumo as an adopted child and become Kakashi's older sister.

I chose the latter.

Mainly because I wanted to stay there. I didn't exactly like the Uchiha, and I've lived as a foster child before. It wasn't fun. I couldn't find "home" until I turned eighteen, and even then I still had difficulty finding ties to keep me still.

But I didn't want to have a home. I perceive it as something physical—something to walk into and pay for. I travelled worldwide because of it.

The Uchiha were snobby. Whenever I went to their manor, the buzzing became very irritating. I broke down crying one time because it got to a legit painful level, and I was barely able to move. Kazue took me to the doctors office that same day. She seemed to have known what it was after we left, but when I asked she didn't reply. Hiro wasn't told, either, and that was…a little unnerving.

However, at the Hatake manor, everything was…peaceful. I liked it, and I had free reign in the two days I've stayed.

So I chose it.

I was the oldest child living there. I was born early January; Kakashi was born mid-September. But even then I was a year older.

After moving in, I felt immensely less tense. I never went to bed hungry, and nobody rose a hand to me for little to no reason. Kakashi and I never made any serious trouble, we were just…difficult children.

Kushina was an Uzumaki. I had yet to know my relation to her, but I could tell that we were close.

Kakashi's mother, Ren, was…gentle, but at the same time she was firm and a little bit irrational. I've found that Sakumo was a high-ranking, respected shinobi. Ren was, too. They had to go out for missions a lot of times, and that was where Kushina came into play. She'd babysit us a lot, sometimes staying for weeks.

Before I knew it, I had reached the age of four years old.

Sakumo and Ren gave me, yet again, another choice: Become a shinobi or remain a civilian.

Uchiha were full of shinobi. True, there were the few civilians—but they were kind of difficult to find. The same went for the Uzumaki before they were wiped out about five years ago (I learned from Kushina).

I saw no problem in it. Okay, well, what if I become a ninja? What then? Do I fight for my village? Myself? My family, my friends?

Who do I fight for?

"What's a ninja, exactly?" I questioned out of the blue during dinner.

Sakumo blinked and stared at me. He looked thoughtful for a second before he started explaining. "Well, a ninja…is a warrior, in some sense," he started. "Assassins, helpers, solvers, killers…the list can go on. Their true purpose is up to oneself, but ultimately we fight to protect. We protect what we hold close. However, we always fight for our village. We gain money for our village. We fight to gain reputation and we fight for our civilians and Hokage."

I blinked. That was…much more profound than I expected. "Really?" I asked in genuine awe.

Sakumo smiled proudly. Little three-year-old Kakashi looked like he was struck by lightning, because his jaw was slacking and he looked surprised. "Yes, really," he said. "Why ask? Is this for your choice?"

I nodded. "Yeah…I wasn't sure what a ninja fights for. But if that's the case then I'm definitely becoming one."

Sakumo's smile became wider, and Kakashi agreed.

(…but…still…what was a ninja…?)

Minimum age for entrance into the academy for ninja's was five.

I patiently waited for my birthday to come around. When it did, I was almost too giddy to sit still.

All of the children were placed in the front of the short stage. In the back was where the teachers stood. Parents were behind us.

I could feel the buzz vibrate my limbs. It made me somewhat sway, but it was barely noticeable.

The buzz, however, became irritably noticeable in both my body and audio system as a man dressed in white robes stepped up to the stage, a triangular hat over his head. He looked relatively young, right around in his thirties, with brown hair and the darkest shade of brown eyes. His skin was fair, and his hands were folded behind his back.

I recognized his face. It was the third ugly ass mug carved into the rock mountain above—the Sandaime Hokage.

I blinked and stared. The buzzing was so irritating. I couldn't focus on the speech, so I just copied what the other children were doing and I stared in awe. People started clapping, and instantly, the buzzing became too much. My hands were shaking. I stuffed them in my cargo pants pockets and swallowed dry spit.

The Sandaime eyed me with a serious face, and underneath those eyes, I felt very little. The unreasonable pride I felt (and I knew it wasn't my pride fluttering in my chest) was overwhelmed by expectation—by sympathy, and by suspiciousness.

I drew in a shaky breath, bravely making apathetic eye contact with the man. He blinked and smiled at me (what the fuck), everything being replaced with admiration before the children cut it off by standing up. I stood up as well, watching curiously as he exited the stage and disappeared from gazes.

Jeez. Was he one those old people who stalked for the fun of it? Or, like, watched from a crystal ball, because he gave me those vibes and I'm fairly creeped out.

"Haruto," Ren called.

I rushed up to the Inuzuka woman and grinned widely, bouncing on the balls of my feel with amusement. "Sandaime-sama is weird!" I announced mirthfully.

Ren and Sakumo both looked a little bit taken aback by the announcement, but the latter just laughed a little. "Really?" he inquired. "What makes him weird?"

"He stared and smiled at me like an old man," I said. "Only weird people do that."

Ren bursted into laughter, the fangs of her clan showing. "Alright, alright," she said. "Let's go inside and meet your sensei, okay?"

Kakashi was staring at me with a frown, but he did look amused. That was probably one of the things that turned me upside down and punched me; he was so young and yet he could show such complex emotions already. This typically wouldn't happen until much later in life, in between childhood and teen years—not unless they were forced to grow up.

I blinked and stared up at my adoptive parents, but nodded and followed them inside the academy.

It was way bigger than it looked.

There were two floors in total. The first floor had all the fighting rings, wooden weapons and hay mannequins decorating the gym floor. Already some of the shinobi were showing civilian families and children taijutsu, shuriken jutsu and the most minor of ninjutsu—like switching out with a log.

I stared at the demonstrations in awe. I'll never get used to seeing it happen. It was so strange. It was like blinking away an illusion. One second they were there, the next they weren't. A log was in place, and the only sound was the soft pop of compressed chakra being released.

"Haru-chan, catch up," Ren called.

The buzzing suddenly came back. I felt scratches of fear, excitement and pride bouncing throughout my gut and mind, and I couldn't stop my wide smiles and frowns of fear. Excitement bubbled up and doubt followed.

I found myself not liking it. I don't know what was causing it, and honestly it was very overwhelming. But I buried and ignored it, pushing it to the back of my mind. Eventually, we made it to class A-1, the class with the Uchiha, the Hyūga, and the genius prodigies. I have absolutely no clue as to how I managed to get into such a high-ranking class, but it was happening. I didn't really consider myself a genius…definitely not a prodigy.

I was a genius in my previous life. The expectations were way too high for me to handle, so moving and hiding were my techniques. I always made sure to get average scores with the occasional above-average scores.

"Isn't this the highest class available?" Kakashi asked as he pointed at the sign.

Sakumo nodded. "It is," he replied. He smiled at me. "Sandaime-sama recommended it. Your entrance exam scores were perfect, which is very rare to find."

Oh.

…Oh.

…Oh shit.

Did I seriously just do that?! What the fuck! Am I a prodigy here?! A genius?! A genius prodigy?!

Ren patted my shoulder in amusement and pride. "Don't worry about it, okay?" she assured me. "You'll make it."

I looked up at her and gave a smile full of nerves. "Sure."

Sakumo slid open the door. We entered, the classroom half full. The buzzing sound in my ear dropped to a low pitch when I saw my Uchiha cousins. Some were staring, and their parent(s) gave me a…pointed look, as if I didn't seem like much in the first place. I probably didn't, I dressed like a male but looked an awful lot like a girly girl. I didn't exactly mind that, but with their stares burning me I felt offended.

I just gave a steady stare back as we made way to an empty spot. Some of the clan children were talking and socializing, and some parents saw it fit to speak. I could feel the tension in their fucking words.

Like, for everyone's sake, just make-out…and then bend over to fuck but not here!

I snorted in amusement.

"I hear laughing. What's so funny?"

"Your mom," I shot back shamelessly.

"That's not how you treat your uncle, Haru-chan! I'm very hurt."

I giggled and looked at Uchiha Kagami—my favorite Uchiha uncle. With him was Uchiha Mikoto, my aunt, and a kid a few years older than me. The duo were the few family members of the Uchiha that I could actually stand, as miraculous as it is. They aren't as intense and frustrated or stressed like the rest of my family, and quite honestly it's relieving to know that people like that exist.

"Ah, Kagami-kun, Mikoto-chan," Sakumo greeted happily. He grinned, teeth flashing happily. "It's good to see you two. You've both grown a lot since I've last seen you."

Ren was quick to greet them as well, and they all dropped into a conversation that was significantly lighter than everyone else's.

Kakashi tugged on my sleeve. "I don't like your classmates," he whispered.

I nodded my agreement. "Same," I whispered back. "Too snobby."

"They give me sabotage vibes," he continued.

I frowned and looked at him. "Why?"

He just shrugged. Gods, I'll never figure him out when he's like that. I rolled my eyes.

A few minutes went by apparently, but honestly it felt like hours. The teacher stepped in right when I was about to ask what time it was (where the fuck's the clock?) and stood at the desk that was right in front of the chalkboard. Her brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and her eyes were hazel…and she looked eerily familiar. Her skin was also fairly tanned and even in tone, and she looked…humble.

To be honest it was weird. A majority of the parents here are all stern and serious, so to see such a light-hearted woman suddenly pop in as our teacher is…um, weird.

She bowed a little. "Welcome to class A-1," she greeted with respect. She smiled. "My name is Kiseki. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

I instantly tucked my head and placed an arm over my neck as I sunk into my seat. I felt my face heat up and I couldn't help but smile sheepishly. Haha, no wonder Kiseki was so familiar. She was the whore who had her syrup-covered boobs sucked on.

I placed my hand over my mouth and tried to force my laughter down. Oh my god that was one of the most memorable moments of my lives as an entire whole. I doubt anyone else would remember, because all the participants and witnesses were high and drunk. That excluded Yū and I, of course. That woman only smoked and vaped.

Sakumo elbowed me gently in warning, and I forced myself out of it. Kiseki was telling us, or the adults, about the curriculum. Some parents actually looked impressed. I was listening as well, and I've found that I knew more than a quarter of it.

What we were learning on paper and in books were about our village foundations, the founders' descendants, the first ninja, the major world clans, the history of wars (civilian and shinobi alike), the most basic of fūinjutsu and—wait…what the hell were jinchūriki?

I straightened in interest, my dark eyes narrowing as I leaned forward.

Mikoto instantly stood up. "I'm sorry for interrupting, but might I ask why our cousins and children are learning about jinchūriki? As far as I'm concerned, that is S-classed information," she said with a stern voice.

Kiseki smiled up at her, keeping an even tone and relaxed face. "Unfortunately I don't control the curriculum," she replied. "This is a refined version, and I'm positive that we're teaching the history of jinchūriki's to understand what their roles are exactly."

"We all know their roles," an Uchiha father pointed out with a rough tone.

"We used to learn through our peers and rumors," Kiseki passively retorted. "I believe the Hokage sees that way of education as inadequate and incorrect. He wants the new generation of shinobi to see them differently. Call it an experiment, if you will. Any further questions about that branch of education will have to be brought to the Sandaime himself. If you don't want your child to undergo it, then you can bump them down."

Mikoto looked troubled, but she sighed and sat back down anyway.

I grinned a little at the tense faces of the parents. They just got burned with words in the most passive way and honestly it was just—

I wish I had a camera.

So I just released a breath of amusement.

Fuck em sideways, Kiseki.

"Next year, we will be learning anatomy and things of the like," Kiseki continued. "Physiology and minor medical education will be involved. This will be learned hand in hand with algebra math and taijutsu…"

I blocked out the explanation, looking out the window to the afternoon sky. Birds were flying about, and clouds were drifting with the wind.

"…and Shōsen Jutsu," I heard Kiseki say.

What? What's a…Show-sin Jootsew…?

…Show Sin, Boot Stew?

Oh my god, what the fuck…

"Isn't that a bit too advanced?" Ren questioned.

"It could be considered that," Kiseki said, "but this part of curriculum is optional. It's seen as highly recommended, though, especially with the war raging outside of our walls without an end in sight."

I winced at that. Wars will always bother me. I've found them to be pointless a lot of times…and the most pointless one ever was the twelve year long Pig War fought between the US and Canada.

"Shōsen Jutsu requires a lot of chakra control, as a lot of us know," Kiseki continued, "but I'm sure we all have faith in our students to at least have an understanding of it."

I almost huffed in disappointment, because faith isn't the same as exceptions, and when the word "faith" is pointed towards a genius, a prodigy or a genius prodigy, it's not genuine. It'll always say "expectation", and it will always be underlying in the social meaning.

The academy was going to be intense. Especially the curriculum, because the reactions of the parents and guardians surrounding me told me everything.

And people asked why I skipped so much…

"Fanculo!" I cursed loudly (in Italian).

A five year old Hatake Kakashi jumped at the pitch of my six year old voice. His kunai-throwing stance was bunched up into a "don't hug me I'm scared" stance. (Not really but still).

He blinked and stared at me. "Um…"

"Shh," I snapped quickly. I grabbed three shuriken and tied them to ninja wire with experienced hands (because I've been doing this shit for three hours a day for two fucking weeks). I strung the string up into the brass knuckle-like hoops that were separately placed on my fingers.

The training exercise was simple: Use ninja wire to direct three different shuriken into three targets. One was at a forty-five degree angle, another at a ninety degree, and the last being at a sixty degree angle. There was a catch, though, and that was to keep your feet planted.

And since Sakumo was watching, I couldn't cheat.

This was difficult. The targets were hidden by tree branches and leafs, and trust me I've hit them multiple times. But I kept trying to repeat what I did—or at least copy it in an almost identical way.

The trees could be used as a leverage and guide. Wrap the strings around the trees and from there it's just luck.

"Why don't we take a mini break?" Sakumo suggested. "I'm sure some dango would help calm you."

I puffed my cheeks out in a pout. "One more time?" I pleaded.

He mocked contemplation. "I don't know," he said.

"'Kay, well, I'm going again," I stated anyway.

Sakumo raised an eyebrow, but I ignored it. I grabbed the shuriken, studied the curve they would take if the wire hooked around the branches. I blocked out all audio and smells, throwing the shuriken with a lithe swipe of an arm. I kept my wrist firm, and let them go right after it passed my second undeveloped, nonexistent baby boob to curve it with a gentle pull of my hand.

One of the shuriken hit the target with ease. I flicked a finger and yanked the string back a little bit, making sure to keep my feet still and my core composed. I heard a thunk, and another followed—

"Haha! I did it!" I cheered.

Sakumo smiled proudly, and Kakashi just looked indifferent. I was very quick to unhook the strings from the loops around my fingers, pride tingling in my chest and buzzing in my head. It was going to get more difficult as time progressed, but I was a fair amount of months down the academy road.

What Kazue and Hiro were nailing into me wasn't done in vein. I ended up being the top kunoichi in all four subjects we were taught so far over the last seven months—the village foundation, the founders' descendants, the first ninja, and the five world clans (Uzumaki, Senju, Uchiha, Hyūga and Hatake).

Honestly, I was impressed by the Shodai. He, and Uchiha Madara, managed to make the worlds five biggest clans and gather them in one place. The Uzumaki had Uzushio, destroyed around six years ago, but they were strongly tied with Konoha (partially) because of Mito and Hashirama's marriage. Then the Hatake lived in forests with patches of meadow field as tradition, so they were rather easy to ally with.

I also learned that the Hatake used to have wolf summons—and the Uzumaki fox. But the contracts were lost. The Uzumaki's fox contract was theorized to have disappeared during their downfall, and the Hatake's wolf contract was said to have been burned during a major clan massacre.

The story behind that was only known to the Hatake's.

There was also a family tree of all the clans. It probably wasn't super accurate, but it was there. I'd have to look at it later, because I wanted to see who my ancestors were.

"Haru-chan, what do you want?" Sakumo asked.

I blinked, realizing we had already arrived. "The usual," I said.

He nodded, looked at Kakashi, who pointed at me (why), and the man ordered three of the same.

The little brat enrolled into the academy. He managed to catch up to me, and he was in my class. I don't know how he did it exactly, but he did steal my textbooks whenever they were free, so I guess that played a part.

I grinned at him, and he stared at me in confusion. "What?" he said with a short tone.

I giggled like an evil little monster with something up my sleeve. He glared. I stuck my tongue out.

"Haru-chan," Sakumo said in warning. He turned around and sat down on the seats of the closest table, sliding the three plates of dango out. One for me, one for Sakumo and one for Kakashi.

"Itadakimasu."

I mumbled the word out (because I found it to be one of those words that was too alien for my tongue) and started eating.

"…Oh, by the way," Sakumo spoke. I looked at him. He was smiling, and suddenly the buzzing became annoying. But it was kind of pitched, and the eerie, intrusive feeling of happiness lingered on my tongue and made my heart speed up. For some reason, that specific feeling was…too much for me to handle. "I have something to tell you both when your mother gets back."

At first, Kazue was on my mind, but then Ren popped up. I've gotten around to addressing them as "kaa-san" and "tou-san", something of which Kakashi looked a little offended by at first. That was laughable. "What is it?" I asked.

"A surprise."

What! What! Why?! I hated these kinds of things, because I was terrible at figuring them out! I huffed and ate, staring at the man and hoping that he'd spill it, but it obviously wasn't working—so I just gave up.

Kakashi blinked. "Does it have to do with kaa-san being gone so much?" he questioned.

"It does," he replied. "I'll tell you later."

I glared at the two. Trying to figure both of them out was like trying to stop the Black Death's symptom of swelling the groin with gay rabbits.

It was stupid, and it just didn't happen.

"Why the glare?" Sakumo inquired mirthfully.

I bit into my dango and looked between the two. "I don't get it," I said.

He smirked. "That's the whole point," he stared.

I rolled my eyes.

When we finished, about one-fifty ryo was set on the table. The walk home was filled with chatter about classmates at the academy and funny moments I had with Kagami, who often barged in covered in either glue and feathers, tar and feathers, sewer water and toilet paper, or traces of the "devil cat", Tora. He never explained why he was there in the first place, or why he always had feathers or toilet paper stuck to him, but honestly it was a good stress reliever for the class (because faith).

But that's probably why he did it in the first place. Kagami was a bit of a prodigy as an academy student, so he had reasonably high intelligence. Honestly, it would be a wonder if he didn't notice.

"When will kaa-san be back?" Kakashi asked as they stepped into the Hatake compound.

Sakumo smiled.

Ren suddenly popped in. She had a really cheesy grin. "Here I am!" she said.

"Kaa-san!" Kakashi almost cheered. He practically jumped into her, giving the woman a big hug. I joined the hug, my curiosity bigger than my joy.

(Nervousness chewed at me…but it wasn't mine).

"I have some news for you two," Ren said. She kneeled down in front of us, a hand on each of our shoulders. "You are both older siblings."

I blinked and stared with wide eyes. Kakashi already started ranting with questions, but I wasn't tuned in enough to process the river of words. We are older siblings? We aren't going to be older siblings?

What the fuck did they mean by that, did they adopt another shit?

But regardless, I wasn't ready. I've always felt rather pressured as an older sibling, especially in my darkest moments. Everything I did was being watched by young, ignorant eyes that were growing. I didn't want anyone to be like me. I was a horrible person who's above every law and person in existence.

I looked at Ren and Sakumo, feeling vulnerable and scared but proud and happy.

The thought I was scared of the most popped up.

I hope it's dead or dying of disease.

"Haru-chan," Ren said. "What's the matter?"

"Um…I don't get what you mean by we are older siblings," I said.

"He's adopted like you, but he's your actual brother," Sakumo revealed. His hand rested on my shoulder. "He's a year younger than you. The reason why you didn't know is because your mother gave him up to the orphanage. We weren't told about this until recently, and both of us instantly decided to take him in."

My eyes widened. "Seriously?!" I cried.

The man grinned. "Yup!"

Ren stood up and disappeared into the living room. A few seconds later, a spiked black head of hair popped out of the doorway. Ren followed the shuffling child (who looked like a twig) with a happy look. "Haruto, Kakashi, meet your new brother," she introduced. "His name is Obito."

"Fanculo": "(Italian for) fuck"

"Itadakimasu": "time to eat"