**EDITED**
AN: For pairings I'm not sure yet, I'm still thinking about those. I would like to know who you think I would pair. So this is the next chapter. I did my best with this one. I even reached past my character limit for a chapter, so it's a little longer. Hope you like it! Happy Reading!
Their ages:
Iruna and Itachi: 4
Kakashi: 7
Obito and Rin: 10
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
POV: Itachi
Iruna-nee won't be around at the house anymore. She told me before that she will be entering the academy. On her first day, Mother and I went with her. While I walked beside her I noticed she wasn't talking that much and she even had a blank look on her. Usually she's more talkative not this quiet and thoughtful.
Is she nervous? When we finally arrived at the academy there were a lot of students and most of them were older than us. I hope Iruna-nee would be alright. I wanted to join Iruna-nee so she won't be by herself but mother said she was entering earlier because of a special reason. Iruna-nee stood near us for a while before she took a deep breath in and out. She turned to us smiling.
"Do you have everything you need?" Mother asked
"Yes, mother" Iruna-nee nodded
"I'll be back later to pick you up."
"What time does your orientation end?"
"About mid day"
Mother nodded "I'll be here before in case it ends earlier."
Iruna-nee then turned to me "Don't worry Itachi, I'll be fine. Once I get back I'll tell you about my first day!"
"Good luck, Iruna-nee" I said to her
"Thanks! I'll see you later, Itachi" Iruna-nee said with a smile still plastered on her before she turned and entered the academy.
"She'll be okay" Mother said watching Iruna-nee
Since Iruna-nee was in the academy and father was mostly out on a mission or either at the military police. Shisui often came over at our house to play with me. But it's not much fun if Iruna-nee isn't with us. I miss her already. If I didn't have anything to do I go to sleep until mother would wake me up and let me help her with some household work.
"It's quiet don't you think so, Itachi?" mother said as she was hanging a white sheet. I hummed in agreement. "When Iruna's here it's not that quiet." I guess mother already misses Iruna-nee like I do.
Iruna-nee usually comes home with mother in the middle of the afternoon. It was during that time do we eat some snacks and she tells us about how the academy went. What they did for the day, there was one particular time she had mentioned about the jutsus' they can learn, the commonly known are ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu, but there was also kenjutsu and fuinjutsu.
When she mentioned fuinjutsu she got excited and shrieked. Yes, my sister shrieked, which is something she rarely does or more of this is the first I see her like this. She had mentioned fuinjutsu before. That was when we were with mother, and Iruna-nee suddenly tells mother she wants to practice her calligraphy. Iruna-nees' reason was because she wanted to learn fuinjutsu and mentioned that her calligraphy has to be good for it.
It had been some months from when Iruna-nee started in the academy. I was with her at our backyard when she had brought a bottle ink, a brush and a scroll with her. Instead of doing calligraphy she was writing some lines that were arrayed circularly and the middle was blank. She had three shurikens on her side which she placed in the middle of the array she had made. She stared at it waiting for something to happen.
After some time still nothing happened, her eyebrows scrunched up and said "Why isn't it working?"
"What are you doing?" I asked curious
"I'm making a storage scroll" Iruna-nee answered glaring at the writings she made she was even mumbling to herself "I did the arrays right. They're all balanced, no extensive strokes."
"Chakra?" I said
My sister stared at me for a while "That's right! You're a genius, Itachi!" she placed her hand over the shuriken and applied some of her chakra into the scroll then with a poof the shuriken was gone and in the middle of the array is the kanji for shuriken. "I did it!" she jumped up and pulled me up to stand spinning around.
After some minutes though the scroll suddenly lit up on fire, Iruna-nees' eyes widened and pulled me with her running from the scroll then diving to the ground a few seconds passed before I heard something blow-up followed by a strong wind. When we got to our feet, Iruna-nee went towards a small crater on the ground. "I wonder what I did wrong."
Mother rushed out of the house and shouted "Itachi! Iruna!" When she saw Iruna-nee standing near the crater, her eyes widened in alarm. "What happened?!"
"I was making a storage scroll?" Iruna-nee gave a smile to mother
Mother stared at her before shouting "UCHIHA IRUNA!" at the same time her sharingan was spinning. Iruna-nee cringed at mothers' shout and the sight of her sharingan.
Mother seldom got angry and just as she was about to scold Iruna-nee the shinobi that was on patrol suddenly appeared at our backyard asking about an explosion. Mother turned to Iruna-nee, who gave a small laugh.
Mother made up an excuse that Iruna-nee had activated one of the explosive tags that she had taken from our fathers' weapon pouch. After that Iruna-nee was finally able to make a storage scroll after some trial and errors, there were no explosions this time.
Father heard of the report of the explosion and told Iruna-nee that he would talk to her after dinner. At fathers' words, I glanced at Iruna-nee her face had become blank is she thinking or is she nervous? After dinner Iruna-nee went to meet father, I would have listened in, but Iruna-nee had noticed me before she opened the door to the meeting room.
"Itachi" she didn't even look in my direction "You should be helping mother with the dishes." I stared at her for a while "I'm sure it's about the explosion I caused with the storage scroll." She stood in front of the door not moving "Go." She told me silently.
Iruna-nee didn't budge and if she remained standing there. It would only cause her fathers' anger, but I didn't want my sister to experience that so, I left and went to our room.
Mother had already tucked me in bed, but Iruna-nee still hasn't entered our room. I was worried. Did father get angry with her? I hope my thoughts are wrong. I drifted off to sleep like that thinking about my sister, when I had woken up her futon was empty and it appeared to be untouched.
I went to look for her around the house, to find her in the backyard training with father. The sun hasn't risen yet and they seemed to have been training for a while now. Watching them it was obvious Iruna-nee was at a disadvantage. She was getting beat up by father.
"Iruna-nee!" I shouted when she fell down.
"Itachi" father said coldly turning to me with his own sharingan active "If you wish to watch do not interrupt or else go back inside." He looked back at Iruna-nee "Stand up, Iruna." Iruna-nee didn't answer but did as she was told.
Before father taught us on a pace we could catch up with, but my sisters training now is different. 'Our' morning trainings stopped when Iruna-nee entered the academy, but now she was training with the use of her sharingan.
Early morning Iruna-nee would train with father before she went to the academy. By that time Iruna-nee was making explosive tags, since then shinobis' were often appearing at our house. Father didn't have any complaints with her making seals nor did he call her about the shinobis' coming to our house because of disturbances. That must have been the reason for her training.
When she had started making explosive tags I had asked her why the storage scroll she made the first time exploded. She told me that she had used the wrong seal formula. Iruna-nee should be careful with the seals she makes. She may end up exchanging the seal formulas and cause a different incident or may get hurt.
POV: Kushina
I was on my way to meet up with Minato and his team when I heard an explosion and it was near Mikotos' house. Minato and his team were probably still training and it was still early so I decided to check on it.
I was standing on the roof of Mikotos' was a cloud of dust covering their backyard. When the cloud slowly dissipated I jumped down to find varying sizes of craters on the ground. I was shocked. Did Iruna-chan do this?
The last time I saw Iruna-chan was when she had shown me her calligraphy. I commented that it was passable and she needed to work on it, and that have been three months ago! She was already attending the academy by then, did she start making seals on her own?
"UCHIHA IRUNA!" I heard someone shout and from the voice it was Mikoto. "You can't test seals without a fuinjutsu expert!"
I didn't want to interrupt them but... "Mikoto?" I said getting their attention and Itachis', who was seated on their porch looking at his mother and sister "Is everything all right here?"
"Kushina! I'm so sorry! We're you on patrol?" Mikoto asked forgetting her anger.
I shook my head "No. I was passing by when I heard the explosion." I looked at Iruna-chan who took a step back. "Iruna-chan, didn't I tell you that making seals was dangerous? What if you make a wrong stroke?"
Mikoto sighed. "I think she's already done some wrong strokes with the explosions that come from our house."
"I didn't make any wrong strokes!" Iruna-chan complained
"I have been hearing from the others about explosions coming from the Uchiha area thinking they were attacks, but they were all false alarms." I looked at Iruna-chan again who was visibly paling. "Iruna-chan, I warned you didn't I?"
She swallowed "Yes" she replied meekly "I'm sorry, Kushina-san, mother. I... I just wanted to test out the seals I made."
"I'm sorry, Mikoto. This is my fault. I was the one who gave Iruna-chan fuinjutsu scrolls."
"It's okay. Iruna told me about that and I don't to blame you. She was the one that wanted to learn but it's dangerous. I've told her she had to have a fuinjutsu expert look at her seals and not test them out."
Iruna-chan frowned "But mother how will I know if it's working? There aren't a lot of fuinjutsu masters around and I'm fine. I'm not injured or anything."
"Iruna" Mikoto dropped to Iruna-chans' level "I told you before didn't I? You should take care of yourself. If you get injured you won't be able to do anything. You have to be careful last time your arm was cut by shrapnel. You were lucky that it was only a small cut."
Iruna-chan looked down at her feet "I'm sorry, mother."
"If it will help, I can look at the seals you make Iruna-chan." I said making her look up at me with hopeful eyes
"Really?"
"Yes, just don't cause your mother heart attacks anymore." I smiled at her "Fuinjutsu can cause you your life. Just like with the scrolls, just tell old man Teuchi that you have seals that you want to show me then he can pass the message to me or you can show it to Minato if you ever bump into him."
"Thank you!" Iruna-chan tackled me with a hug "Thank you so much, Kushina-san! Can you look at the ones I made now?"
"I can't." I said which made her frown "I have to meet with Minato and his team."
"Minato-san?" she said, then humming to herself "For?"
"Lunch" I answered the kid
"Ahhhhh" she grinned at me "Can I come too?"
"Maybe another day, Iruna" Mikoto said to her daughter while looking around "You still have to fix the backyard"
"But" Iruna started, but was interrupted by her mother
"No, buts fix the backyard" Mikoto said firmly
"Yes, mother" Irunas' shoulders drooped in defeat as she went off into their house with Itachi following her.
I chuckled at Iruna-chans' mishap "Mikoto, when did Iruna-chan start causing these explosions?" I asked
"She started off with a storage scroll that exploded at the start of this month, but after three weeks she was able to make a real one." Mikoto sighed "Following storage seals she shifted to making explosive tags."
It was a year ago when we had met the Uchiha twins. They appeared to be normal children, but I bet to differ. Iruna is a strange child. Most kids her age want to be a shinobi because they want to use 'cool' or 'awesome' jutsus, but Iruna she wanted to be a shinobi to protect her family.
Not only that but she threw Kakashi into a situation, where he had to abandon someone for a mission, even using his sensei, Minato to make a point. Why did she ask Kakashi that situation? It was like she was making Kakashi remember the choice his father had made.
She wouldn't have known about that she wasn't born yet, and she had only met Kakashi on that day. How was she even able to construct a dire situation that instantly with Kakashi and Minato in the mix? The fact she only knew was Minato is Kakashis' sensei, but did she know Minato had become precious to him?
She wasn't supposed to know about chakra exhaustion or soldier pills either. I'm sure Fugaku didn't even push his children to train to the point it would cause them their life. That time however felt like Iruna was an adult, her words 'Being abandoned is the worst a person can ever feel' it was like she knew what it felt like, to be abandoned.
How's that possible? How can she have a bout of wisdom in her? She's only four and she's already making seals.
I was pulled out of my thoughts when someone waved their hands in front of me. I looked around me, there was old man Teuchi behind the counter, a cold bowl of ramen in front of me, Minato giving me a worried look and his team staring at me like I had grown two heads.
"Kushina, are you okay?" Minato said
"I'm fine" I answered smiling "Why do you ask?"
"You haven't touched your ramen when Teuchi-san gave it to you."
"I guess I'm not that hungry" I shrugged "Listen, I have to go Minato, I just remembered I need to talk to the hokage." Standing on my feet I left bills for the ramen I didn't eat and said my goodbyes to his team before heading to the tower.
Entering the hokages' office, the first thing anyone would notice is the mountain of paperwork on the hokages' desk. I wonder if there was ever a day that the desk would be free of paperwork.
"Kushina" the hokage looked up at me "What brings you here?"
"About Uchiha Iruna"
The hokage hummed in wonder "What about Iruna-chan?"
"She seems to be different for a four year old child, even when I had met her for the first time."
"Ah, Uchiha Iruna, does seem to be a peculiar child, don't you agree?"
"Yes, but…"
"There is no need to worry about Iruna-chan. Who knows she may be a prodigy." Sarutobi Hiruzen then chuckled "The explosion she causes though makes almost every shinobi on alert. Is that all?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama" I replied and just as I was about to leave
"Ah, Kushina, there's something I have to ask of you."
Not to worry, repeated in my mind as I left the office. Maybe the hokage is right, but why does it feels like there's something amiss? During dinner, Minato noticed I was distracted and ran on autopilot as I ate.
"Kushina?" Minato said worry evident in his voice "You've been quiet this day."
"Minato, when you first met Iruna-chan what did you think of her?"
Minato hummed knowing my question came from nowhere or he understood where I was coming from. "She seemed innocent enough" pausing a bit as if remembering "her aptitude with using chakra is something to be wary though, learning tree walking within a day even hours."
My eyes widened at that information, three years old!? Is she like Kakashi?
Minato continued "She's not like Kakashi" Did he just read my mind? "No, it's obvious from you face." Chuckling at my expense "When she asked Kakashi his reason for being a shinobi, Kakashi didn't answer but she suddenly changes that and asks a question that aimed at Kakashis' attitude about the shinobi code."
"Does it seem to you that she did that on purpose?"
"I'm not sure." Minato shook his head "Iruna-chan is still a child, but she seems to have wisdom not fit for someone her age, maybe it was only then. Is that what's troubling you?"
"Yes" I sighed "She's only four. She shouldn't be that perceptive." I frowned "At her age she should be running around and playing, not becoming a shinobi. Kakashi…"
"I understand, Kushina." Minato placed his hand on mine "But Iruna-chan already made her decision, we can't change that."
"There's something else about Iruna-chan." Minato said holding his chin
"Something else?"
"Fuinjutsu" he answered which only confused me. What about fuinjutsu? She only seemed to have a great interest in it.
POV: Kakashi
I was on my way back to my house from team training and being subjected to D missions isn't something anyone would want to go back to. Yet I'm forced to take this kind of missions. Uchiha Obito and Nohara Rin joined me and Minato-sensei after they had graduated.
Two months followed and one of the Uchiha twins started entering the academy. Besides being present when Iruna agreed, Obito became her escort when Mikoto-san and her daughter were on their way to the academy. Due to that and some other reasons he came to the training ground later than the usual record of one to two hours.
Shinobi are supposed to be on time, not late, that is something we as shinobi have to uphold being late would cost us something.
"Kaka-nii!" Someone shouted, and I only knew one person that called me that. Turning to the direction of the voice, Iruna-san? Iruna-chan? She stood in front of me.
"Do you need something?" I asked
"No. I just wanted to know how you were doing."
"I'm fine anything else?"
"Uh, no, but…" I didn't hear the rest of her words as I went on my way "Kaka-nii!" I did hear her shout before I met the ground. Note to self even if she's three years younger than me be wary of her.
"What do you want?" I asked trying to keep my voice devoid of any irritation I was feeling that moment.
"If I know any better you're irritated right now." she said I'm sure I wasn't showing her any emotions. "You were narrowing your eyes, doesn't that mean something? What time do you and your team meet?"
I stared at her, maybe I need to work on that "Seven"
"Okay!" she nodded "Thanks, I'll see you around." And after that she left. That was strange.
The following day, when I reached the training ground it was a surprise to see Obito arriving right before our set time and he wasn't alone. The Uchiha twins were with him. Itachi was seated on the ground leaning against a tree. Iruna and Obito were running around the perimeter of the training ground. The first one to notice me…
"Morning, Kaka-nii!" she shouted while she continued to run alongside Obito.
I decided to join Itachi leaning against the tree. Eventually, Rin arrived and after some minutes Minato-sensei. He also noticed the twins were with us. Minato-sensei then called the attention of Obito and Iruna making them run towards us.
"You're early this day, Obito." Minato-sensei said smiling
Obito took a few gulps of air before answering "Well, yesterday, Mikoto-san came to my house asking if I could watch this two" placing his hands on their heads "It seemed to be urgent"
"Does your mother know this?" Sensei frowned if Mikoto-san found her children were gone there will be hell.
"Yes" Itachi answered "Mother had left on a mission last night. She told us Obito-san would watch us."
"It's nice to see you two again." Rin-san smiled at the twins
"Hello, Rin-san" the twins chorused in reply
"So you were staying at Obitos' house last night?" Rin asked and Itachi nodded "Why didn't your mother leave you with one of your aunts instead?"
Iruna laughed seemingly embarrassed "Well, uh, let's say we can cause some trouble unintentionally."
I lifted my eyebrow at that. Last time me and Minato-sensei were their babysitter, their game of hide and seek was more of a search and retrieve operation.
"You can underestimate us again if you want" Iruna was looking at me, but I can see the mirth in her eyes.
"Let's not go there" Minato-sensei said laughing wryly
"Minato-sensei, what are we going to do for today?" I asked
"Well, Iruna-chan and Itachi-kun are here so we can't really take a mission." Minato-sensei replied "Guess we'll do some exercises." He then turned his attention to the twins "Iruna-chan, Itachi-kun, can I ask for your help?" The twins looked at each other before nodding.
"Okay, team" Minato-sensei then called our attention "You three go over there and stand on the water"
We didn't have any complaints and stood on the water. We turned to Minato-sensei to hear further instructions. Instead of hearing though a rock went past us and fell into the water. Looking at Iruna and Itachi they both had a grin on them and their hands were filled with rocks, which means, they then started to throw it at us, one of them hitting Obito in the face.
"Obito!" Rins' mouth opened in shock, she was about to approach him but a rock was thrown between them made her stop.
"Now, then" Minato-sensei spoke as they threw the rock at us "We will be throwing objects at you. Question is can you handle them?"
I can handle this, Iruna and Itachi didn't have enough stamina to keep throwing for two hours, but Minato-sensei is an exception or so I thought. Looking at the position of our shadows, one hour already went by, and from rocks they were now throwing shuriken at us. I can understand if it's Minato-sensei, but this two, they're still throwing and Iruna was even enjoying herself.
Minato-sensei told the twins they can stop once the shuriken they were holding were gone. Itachi nodded and sat down on the ground where he stood. When Iruna used up all the shuriken Minato-sensei handed her she then pulled a scroll out of her pocket. Was that a storage scroll?
My eyes widened, if it was, dodging all of them won't be that easy. Iruna though sat down with Itachi and from the scroll were an ink bottle, brush and some small piece of papers. As I watched Iruna I felt an object hit me too hard in the chest causing me to fall into the water. Minato-sensei did say they were going to throw object at us, just because they were using shuriken didn't mean rocks were already out. I was soaked when I resurfaced and approached Minato-sensei along with my two team mates.
"You okay, Kakashi?" Minato-sensei asked
"I'm fine" I answered, that was embarrassing, I had the wrong assumption.
"The three of you did great avoiding but I didn't say that." Minato-sensei shook his head "Do you remember what I said?"
"We will be throwing objects at you. Question is can you handle them?" Itachi said
"Thank you, Itachi-kun." Sensei nodded "Tell me did any of you understand what I said?"
"They can use any means to deal with the objects thrown at them." Iruna said pausing with her work, what was she doing? "And… and they could have ended it earlier, just because they were on the lake didn't mean they couldn't come towards us."
"Correct. Did anyone else come to this conclusion?" I looked at my team mates and both their heads were down, while the twins seated on the ground had their hands up. "Except the two seated on the ground" Sensei had one eyebrow up looking at us. "The three of you ten laps around Konoha, after your laps come back here for lunch."
To be defeated by two toddlers and only one of them was in the academy! After our laps, when we got back to the training ground Kushina-san was there in her casual clothes together with the twins on a mat along with sensei. Iruna turned around beaming at us.
"You're back! Now, we can eat." She said then she pulled out a scroll and contained in it are three packed lunches. She took one of the lunches and offered it to Obito "Here, Obito-nii. Mother said the extra one is for you as thanks for watching me and Itachi."
"Oh" Obito blushed as he rubbed the back of his head "No problem"
While Iruna handed Obito his lunch, I heard Kushina-san give sigh of relief. Just like me, Rin and Minato-sensei we weren't expecting for the Uchiha twins to join us. After eating lunch, Minato-sensei gave us some time before we resumed our exercises. During that time, I watched Kushina-san looking at what Iruna was writing on the small piece of paper. Minato-sensei saw me and answered my silent question for me.
"She's making a seal"
"Seal?" I wondered "You mean fuinjutsu?"
Minato-sensei nodded "She showed me the seals she made. Like the sealing technique we learn at the academy and some of the explosive tags she made."
"And?" Obito asked, sensei and I turned to him, even Obito was curious "Uh, was it only between you two?"
Sensei laughed before answering "No. Well, the seals she made were passable. One of the tags she showed me though weren't quite the same as the seal on explosive tags. She may have done some tweaks on it."
"Isn't fuinjutsu hard?" Rin asked sensei but her eyes were on Iruna.
"Yes, yes, it is."
This time Minato-sensei not only asked the twins, but also Kushina-san for help, I was hoping Kushina-san would agree but she had declined. Minato-sensei was going to side with Itachi and Iruna.
A three-on-three fight. I stood in the middle of my two teammates facing Minato-sensei. Rin had Iruna in front of her and Obito with Itachi. It was a mismatch though. Iruna had her sharingan, so who's to say that she won't be using it?
I kept my eyes of Minato-sensei, I was excited. I wanted to fight with sensei. Hearing the words begin, I didn't hesitate to jump and aim for his head with my leg, it was blocked. Then I pushed myself back to avoid getting caught by my leg, I pulled out my tanto as sensei disappeared from sight.
Now, where is he? Behind me! My tanto clashed with senseis' kunai, we went at each other with weapons and taijutsu. We continued like that until I was caught off guard. I was thrown off my feet hitting a tree with my back. The wind got knocked out from me. I didn't have time to recover as Minato-sensei then was about punch me in the stomach which I had escaped using kawarimi.
Hiding in the branches of the trees in the training ground, I watched Minato-sensei as he placed his hand on the ground. Not good! Before I could make a move sensei was already behind me with a kunai to my neck.
"Kakashi" sensei said cheerfully "You should look out for your team mates. Look over there." He pointed over the three logs embedded vertically into the ground. Rin and Obito were each tied to one log. I wasn't fighting sensei too long.
"Kakashi!" Obito shouted "You could have helped me and Rin a while ago. We got trampled by this two!" The said twins looked at each other smiling.
Kushina-san then approached us "Well, that was fun to watch. This two" pointing to the twins "have good teamwork. Right after Kakashi charged at Minato, Iruna-chan and Itachi-kun didn't make a move with the ones' they stood in front of, instead, they exchanged opponents.
Iruna-chan threw shurikens at Obito before charging him with a kunai in hand and Itachi-kun before Rin could make a move to stop Iruna-chan intercepted Rin. Rin and Itachi-kun had a taijutsu match with each other. Obito fought off Iruna-chan with their kunais' in hand. Itachi-kun was better than Rin, but Rin didn't let herself be overpowered and fought to the best of her abilities.
As for Obito and Iruna-chan, I don't know they were neck to neck just like when Kakashi and Obito would spar. The turning point though was when Obito and Rin were back to back with each other. Seems like the two had planned that, they were then weaving the hand seals for the Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu. Rin and Obito then did kawarimi to avoid the jutsu, though after that they got trapped."
"Trapped?" sensei wondered
"With one of the seals I made!" Iruna grinned "A net trap! I stored a net into a tag and I made it so it will only activate if there was a nearby arrival of chakra within its area. It worked, but Rin-san and Obito-nii escaped using a kawarimi, but we expected that so we used a genjutsu to get them to sleep."
"By the time we woke up they already had us tied, they even took our weapon pouch and kunai holster!" Obito supplied
I stared at the twins, but I turned my attention to Iruna. Noticing me look at her she said "What?"
I answered "I want a rematch from last time."
"Rematch?" Obito echoed "Why? Did you lose to them before?"
"Last time?" Iruna wondered "Ah, you mean when me and Itachi beat you?"
"Yes" I gritted out noticing the smirk Obito had on him "I want to spar with you one-on-one, taijutsu only."
"I don't think I should." She shook her head
"Why not?" I asked
"I may just end up using my sharingan."
"And?"
"Well, I said to myself, I'll only use it in dire situations."
I glared at her "That's a stupid reason."
"What?" She was shocked "It's not!" She stomped her foot on the ground.
"It is a stupid reason. You have a tool that can help you, but you refuse to use it because you're afraid."
We both glared at each other not saying any words, only our eyes were conveying our emotions.
"Why not reserve that for another time?" Minato-sensei said "I think we should end here for today."
I didn't bother answering as I turned on my heel and left the training ground.
POV: Itachi
After our three day stay with Obito-san, during dinner father had called Iruna-nee to the meeting room again. When she came back to our room, I heard her fall to her futon with a thud and a sigh followed coming from her.
"Iruna-nee?" I said making her turn her head to me "Are you okay?"
"Physically, yes." She answered "Itachi, do you think because we have the sharingan does it make us better than everyone else?"
"No, it's only a plus to us."
"The…" she paused "Nah, forget it; let's get some sleep" she gave a yawn before closing her eyes and telling me "Night, 'Tachi."
"Good night."
During Iruna-nees' free time she teaches me some things she had learned from the academy, we often sparred together and sometimes we went to the library. In one of our spars though Iruna-nee was distracted, from then on she became tense.
I don't know when she became like this, but she often had a blank look on her. When we were at our backyard, before she would test her seal she would stare at one area for some time. I just thought of it as her thinking, but she often did that before resuming what she was doing.
I tried asking what it was only she said it was nothing. I wish I can read her mind. Maybe it was about the academy, but I wasn't really sure, that reminds me did my sister get along with her classmates? She never mentioned anything about a classmate or a friend when she told us about her day at the academy. Was my sister a loner?
"Iruna-nee" I said while we were in the kitchen and she was doing her homework.
"Yeah?" Iruna-nee kept her eyes on her work.
"Do you have any friends at the academy?" She froze at my question and mother who was washing the dishes stopped too.
"Friends? I guess there's my seatmate Gekko Hayate." Mother by then continued with the dishes "He's a year older than me, but he coughs a lot. I'm a little worried that he'd suddenly faint."
"Do you eat lunch together?" Iruna-nee by then stared at me.
"Sometimes"
"After eating what do you usually do?"
"Read?"
"What else?" I asked
"Itachi, your sisters' busy with her homework maybe you can ask her another time." Mother said drying her hands with the apron around her waist.
It would be three months before our birthday and today is the day Iruna-nee would take the genin exam. She had left the house in a hurry to get to the academy. Mother had tried to call after my twin, but she was already too far. I looked at mother wondering why she called after Iruna-nee.
"Your sister forgot her lunch." Mother said sighing
"I'll give it to her." I offered, wanting to see Iruna-nee how she does at the academy.
"I'm not sure, Itachi." Mother shook her head "Do you remember the way to get there?"
"Yes." I answered
Mother hesitated before saying "Okay, but I'll write you directions just in case you forgot. Understand?" I nodded.
I left the house together with father, since on the way was the Uchiha military police force.
"Itachi" Father said "After giving your sisters' lunch return to the house right away."
"Yes, father" I answered and father nodded in approval.
I was right on time when I arrived at the academy having gone a wrong turn for two times. They had just been dismissed for lunch. I had difficulty finding my sister though, since she wasn't in the grounds, I went around the first floor until one male student noticed me. He had short brown hair, dark-coloured eyes and dark markings under his eyes.
"Iruna-chan? Why are you in a henge of your twin?" he said then coughing into his hand "Didn't you say you were going to stay in the room?" I looked at him wondering who this person was, was this Iruna-nees' seatmate, Gekko Hayate? "Ah, that's right." He probably realized who I am "You must be her twin, Itachi, right?"
I nodded "Can you show me where Iruna-nee is?"
He stared at me. It was probably how I called my twin. Shisui had said people would ask me that 'why do you call your twin, as Iruna-nee?' "Sure." He smiled "Follow me."
When we entered the room, the room was large; the desks had levels, four levels so the sensei could see everybody, and were divided into three sections. Looking around the room, I saw my sister, seated on the second level near the window.
"Iruna-chan" Hayate-san said, Iruna-nee slowly turned her head towards us "Someone's here to see you."
"Itachi? What are you doing here?" I brought the lunch up for her to see it
"Oh" she blushed a bit scratching the side of her cheek "I forgot that" laughing at herself "Thanks, Itachi. Thanks for showing Itachi the way here, Hayate-kun. Wanna eat lunch now?"
"Sure" Hayate-san nodded "What about you Itachi-kun? Are you going home already?"
"Yes" I nodded remembering fathers' words to me.
Iruna-nee insisted "You're not leaving! You're eating with me and Hayate-kun."
Maybe I could stay until their lunch is over? But then Iruna-nee already decided that for me.
"You two really do look a lot like each other" Hayate-san said as he took a bite from his lunch.
"We are twins" Iruna-nee answered "The only difference is my hair is longer and I'm a girl."
Hayate-san then snickered "You're a girl but you don't go to your required kunoichi classes."
Iruna-nee rolled her eyes "Like I need those to be a shinobi. I said I'd be a shinobi, not a freaking kunoichi!"
"Tomboy" Hayate-san replied
"So?" Iruna-nee raised an eyebrow "I'd rather be a tomboy than be girly."
"Yes. Yes." Hayate-san nodded "I understand, you've mentioned that before. *cough* Itachi-kun did you know that your sister here henged into you to avoid going to kunoichi classes?"
"No" I shook my head
"It would have continued to work, if someone here didn't say I had a twin I could have escaped those dreaded classes."
"It slipped my mouth" Hayate-san laughed
I watched my sister and her seatmate interact together. Iruna-nee here is more animated than at home. She doesn't have to hide her emotions. Here she laughs and smiles more often. I didn't have to worry about her even if she only had one friend.
Lunch was over and my sister instead of going back to the room. She was headed towards the exhibition room as she had showed me around the academy. I followed her there along with some students, but they were older than me by five or four years.
I watched from the balcony of the room as each of them waited for their names to be called. Only two persons were left before it was Iruna-nees' turn when there was an explosion that shook the entire building. I didn't know what happened next, but I do remember someone hitting me on the neck before I gave in to darkness.
When I woke up, I felt my body was aching and as my vision cleared up, I was shocked with what my eyes are seeing that moment. A male jonin stood a few feet from me, opposite him I see Iruna-nee with her sharingan on and Hayate-san beside her with a tanto in his hands both of them were frustrated. Iruna-nee had bruises on her arm and blood went down her face. Hayate-san even looked worse for wear. His clothes had some cuts as well as my sister.
"You two sure are giving me a fight." The jonin said smirked "But then you two are only brats. Don't worry though, thanks to me you won't be setting foot on the battle field your death will be here."
I couldn't move, the jonin was intent on killing them and I could feel it as well. I was scared, scared for my life and for my sisters'. Is this what becoming a shinobi means? We have to kill people even those our own age? Then that means the academy is just a place where they teach us to be killers? Assassins?
I looked at Iruna-nees' eyes it held a coldness to them; it wasn't like the warmth she usually showed. This moment she wasn't the Iruna-nee I know that smiled and played with me, this was someone that could kill if needed.
Iruna-nees' movements were fast and Hayate-san was fast enough to aid her, but the jonin was better than them. They were near the jonin in a flash but before they could touch him. Hayate-san was kicked away and hit the wall, while Iruna-nee had been caught by her shirt and slammed to the floor making her spew out blood. The jonin then dropped to one knee and chuckled.
"Why don't I take your eyes as a prize little girl?" he said with glee.
No! The memory of Iruna-nee smiling at me with her sharingan on flashed in my mind. She can't lose her eyes! She can't! She can't die either! I closed my eyes as tears fell from them. I can't lose my sister. I don't want her to die! While I had my eyes closed I heard someone or a couple of persons shout her name.
After hearing their shouts the shock of everything made me give in to darkness again. When I woke up, I found myself lying on a bed in one of the many rooms in the hospital. At the edge of my eyes I see someone resting their head on the bed.
I didn't have to wonder who it is. I reached out my hand to wake her up but before I could she had grasped my wrist in a strong grip and her eyes opened. Her eyes were blank at first, but when she recognized me she jumped at me and hugged me in the process.
"Itachi!" She said "Thank kami! You're okay!"
"I should be the one saying that to you" I answered as she let go of me, looking at her she had a bandage wrapped around her head and her arms too.
"You're not hurt are you?" I stared at her; I only remember falling into unconsciousness then waking up to Iruna-nee almost…
"No, but you were the one that got hurt."
"It's okay. It was worth it. You got caught by one of the enemy shinobi that attacked the academy" She said gripping her hands on the bed sheet "Some of the senseis' fought the other shinobi, but they were busy that they didn't notice you. I saw you though and I was able to save you with the help of Hayate-kun."
Iruna-nee then stood up and went towards the window and opened it. The curtain fluttered because of the wind.
"We were able to save you, but we were just lucky that time. When we tried to fight the jonin, we got it in over our heads. We were no match. We didn't really have a chance." She shook her head as placed her hands on the window sill and placed most of her weigh on her arms. "It was scary to think he would take my eyes. I felt really helpless then. My body wouldn't move when I told it to move. I felt paralyzed. My mind was screaming that I would die that moment, but I, we were lucky father and Minato-san arrived and not a second too late or else I would be—"
Iruna-nee suddenly stopped as the door to the room burst open showing Nohara Rin, she looked around the room even by passing me.
"Where is she?" Rin-san said as she narrowed her eyes noticing my confused look at her "Your sister"
I turned to look at the open window, but Iruna-nee wasn't there anymore. No wonder she opened the window to my room, she probably sensed Rin-sans' chakra signature and left before Rin-san would get a hold of her.
Iruna-nee isn't afraid of saving me, but she is frightened of mother and scary medics, did Rin-san fall in that category now? I chuckled at the thought. Her two week stay here before must have made her hate the place. After Rin-san left, Minato-san this time entered the room.
"How are you feeling Itachi-kun?" he asked
"Fine"
"Do you remember what happened while you were at the academy?"
"I was watching Iruna-nee with the second part of the genin exam, when there was an explosion but I was knocked out. When I opened my eyes, Iruna-nee and Hayate-san were fighting a jonin." I felt tears forming in my eyes as I recalled the next part "They weren't able to do anything. Iruna-nee got slammed to the floor and blood came out from her mouth. The jonin then was about to take her eyes."
Minato-san grimaced "Then we arrived there just in time."
I was discharged from the hospital after two days. While Iruna-nee remained, mother told me she had a check-up she couldn't miss. While my sister stayed at the hospital, my mind kept going back to the attack at the academy.
Why is there even war? War only leads us to lose someone important to us. Like that attack, I almost lost my twin sister. A lot of people already lost someone precious to them because of war. The jonin that my sister and Hayate-san fought was amused with killing them.
Shinobis' are only killers. Does that also mean Iruna-nee is a killer as well? I remember the coldness in her eyes that time. Yet, I know she wouldn't kill someone without a reason. I shook my head to get the thought of my sister becoming a heartless killer out of my head. I hate violence. I hate war. I hate the idea of losing someone important to me.
POV: Obito
I always thought that all, no, that's not it, and most of the people in our clan were arrogant just like the elders. I have met them once, saying things about our clan being powerful and important to Konoha and other things.
I don't hate our clan. Sure, our eyes are something once we activate the sharingan. When I had met Mikoto-san the clan heads wife she had a lot of groceries to carry and had some difficulty carrying some of the bags so I helped her. She's really kind and sees me no different even though I'm an orphan ever since grandma went and met my parents in the afterlife.
Mikoto-san mentioned about her children, the twins as I call them. I had even met them a year ago. They had run away from their babysitters that time. They were polar opposites of each other.
Iruna is outspoken and energetic and Itachi mostly keeps to himself, but the two are always together. The only time I found out they weren't together was Iruna entering the academy. I thought at first she would be with Itachi. I did notice though Mikoto-san always leaves the twins to me when she has missions.
I've become their official babysitter when I'm around the village. Still it was fun to have them around, Iruna-chan can a bit of a prankster sometimes using her seal traps on me and Itachi-kun is her sidekick, more of he's the bait. It was a shock though to know Iruna had already activated her sharingan.
Our missions for the day were done and I was beat. I hate capturing the cat of the daimyos' wife. Freaking cat mission is always there waiting for its next victim and we've even done the mission five times already. Still I can't wait to fall on my bed and get some well deserved rest. Well, it would have been nice to go walk home with Rin or Minato-sensei or maybe if I was alone, but no, I'm with Kakashi coincidentally he also passes the same path as me to get home. When we approached an intersection Iruna was standing in the middle with her back to us.
"Iruna-chan?" I said making her jump and turn to us, and she even had her sharingan on "Are you lost?"
"No" she shook her head "Obito-nii have you seen Itachi?"
I turned to Kakashi who shook his head understanding my look "We didn't see him. Why is he lost?"
"I don't know. I've been looking for him for a while now."
"How long have you been looking for him?"
"An hour" she answered her voice cracking
Oh no! She's not going to cry is she? Good thing Kakashi was with me being a follower of the shinobi code, but not strictly, only things like me being late and looking underneath the underneath, and even the not showing emotions part. He asked her where they went.
"I wanted to go to the library, and Itachi came with me. We were there for some hours reading. We left the place an hour ago, and passed by the market before we, I, reached the entrance to the compound Itachi wasn't with me anymore."
"Have you looked around the market?" I asked
"Yes"
"We should ask for Minato-senseis' help" Kakashi suggested
"Good idea, sensei, maybe more of a help" I nodded "Let's go"
"I'm going to keep looking" Iruna answered
"You can't go by yourself! What if you're the one that suddenly disappears?"
"I still have to look for him!" she shouted, this is the second time I see her upset first time was when she and Kakashi had an argument about her use of her sharingan. Me and Kakashi shared a look, Iruna wasn't going to listen to us, I knew that even though she listened to her elders once she makes a decision she goes by it.
"Then, we'll have to split up." I turned to my masked team mate "One of us has to get sensei and the other one has to go with Iruna-chan."
"I'll get sensei" we both said at the same time, I narrowed my eyes at him "You're the chuunin here Kakashi, you should go with Iruna-chan."
Kakashi huffed before he nodded "You better find sensei and tell him. Don't go around the village just to avoid a black cat."
"I get it" I rolled my eyes before making a run towards senseis' house leaving Iruna and Kakashi, wait, those two…
POV: Kakashi
After Obito left us, I turned to Iruna, who was staring at me with her sharingan on.
"Do you know any place your twin brother would go to?"
"Not that I know off were always together except when I'm at the academy. He just usually stays at home with mother."
"Does he only spend time with you?"
"No" she glared at me, I didn't even mean anything about my question "Our cousin, Shisui, he often plays with me and Itachi. Besides Itachi isn't with Shisui, I just saw him enter our compound before I do."
I crossed my arms over my chest "You two are twins, shouldn't you know what his hobbies are?"
"We're only four" she said flabbergasted "And ever since I got separated from him a year ago he's always tagging along with me. Just for him to know that I'm fine."
I remember that she had been confined in the hospital. Before we met their mother then, Itachi had kept asking about Iruna asking where she was, if she's alright, if he would see her again.
She rolled her eyes as she continued "The hobbies he has are the same as mine except for fuinjutsu."
"Hasn't he mentioned anything to you about what he wants to do?"
"Itachi" she sighed as she walked pass me I followed after her walking in step with her "he doesn't really say much, he's more selfless than I am. He calls me 'Iruna-nee' but he's always looking out for me. Maybe this whole him suddenly disappearing is one of his way of looking out for me."
She didn't say anything else and we continued to walk around the village looking for her twin brother. Looking through the windows of store and even ending up at Ichiraku Ramen.
At some point we even ended up on the top of the Hokage Monument. She frightened me as she jumped down to the thirds' head and sat down. Looking at her then at the view of the village and the setting of the sun, it was breathtaking. The sun painted the village in a red orange glow.
"I always liked going up here." She said contentment in her voice "The view here is really beautiful."
We looked at the village for a while in serene silence, until she broke it.
"I said that I would only use my sharingan for dire situations right?" I remember that I was angry that she wouldn't take me seriously, she continued taking my silence as a yes. "I said that because I don't want to depend on it. Yeah, it's a plus, yes, it's useful, but I want to be strong with and without it. What if I lose my eyes?"
I knew about that, I overheard Minato-sensei talking about it with Kushina-san. She almost lost her eyes.
"And I was transplanted with another set of eyes and this one didn't have the sharingan."
"Sorry" I said "I thought you weren't taking me seriously."
She laughed "Our chakra is connected to our emotions. I unconsciously activate my sharingan mostly when I'm angry. I have to keep calm and not let my emotions get the better of me. I'm not a genin yet, but when I got this sharingan, I always have to wear one."
"Wear what?"
She looked at me with a raised eyebrow "You're wearing one, you always wear it." Oh, she meant a mask. "Mine though is invisible, unlike yours that is on you." Then she lowered her voice into a whisper "So, did you also notice them?"
"When we got here" I answered softly
Iruna then jumped to her feet and dusted her shorts of dust. She looked at me smiling, sharingan still on. "What do you think Kaka-nii?"
"Think about what?" I wondered
"Think about those three hiding in the trees. You guys can come out now."
Itachi, Obito and Minato-sensei came out of the shadow of the trees. Itachi had a blank face on him, Obito and Minato-sensei were both grinning.
"So, Itachi mind telling what the stunt you did was for?" Iruna looked at her twin with her hands on her hips.
"Let me explain" Sensei offered
"It's alright, Minato-san" Itachi said "You and Kakashi-san were still at war with each other and I wanted you two to be friends again."
Friends? I glanced at Iruna who looked shocked and at Minato-sensei and Obito. They had a smile on them. Maybe in some way Iruna and I are friends.
"You were right" I said getting confused looks from all of them.
"Who?" Obito asked
"Her"
"Right about what?" Itachi asked
I turned to Iruna, she was smiling at me, and she understood what I meant. I smiled back at her, well, more of my eye smiling. I heard a gasp come from her at my action. Her eyes were wide of shock and the others had the same expression as her. Is it that shocking that I can also smile? I blinked a few times and surprisingly Iruna had tackled me with a hug.
"You smiled!" she said cheerfully and her sharingan was still on "This is the first time I see you smile!"
When I had met those twins on that babysitting mission, to me they were only toddlers that we had to look after. Not only did they trick us, and run away from us two times, they even hid well for two kids younger than me.
Still Iruna, she, for a four year old she had a much better perspective than me. Rules are there to follow, but even rules have limits hence look underneath the underneath. Before I went to sleep, I can still hear the sound of Irunas' voice saying I smiled and that it was the first time I smiled.
Yes. It was the first time I smiled ever since my dad left. I guess me and Iruna have the same goal now, to become strong to protect those precious to us. I looked at the frame of my team on my night stand then at another frame beside it. In this picture Team Minato was present, Kushina-san in her casual attire, and the two tag alongs of Obito, Itachi and Iruna, who wore her hitaite around her head and she wore her ninja attire.
When this picture was taken, the three of us were in the same position like in our team picture only Iruna and Itachi stood in of the three of us, Kushina-san was to the right of Obito and Minato-sensei stood to my left. Just as the photographer had said cheese, their cousin, Uchiha Shisui came and ran tackling the two twins and causing a domino effect. The two twins had surprised looks on them, the same goes with Rin and Obito as they were caught in the twins falling towards them, Kushina-san was laughing, Minato-sensei smiled and as for me I guess that would be the second time I smiled. It was the day after Iruna-chan had graduated. We held a congratulations party for her. It was obvious, well maybe that the twins became an unofficial member of our team.
AN: And that's it. What do you think of this chapter? Please leave a review! Thank you so much for the review!