"Guardian of the Fox"
Chapter 14
"Going back to school."
Naruto was just about to throw the homework scroll against the wall when Mycroft walked through the door.
"Nii-san!" He called out and rushed to hug him, something the older boy returned with equal enthusiasm. "How did it go?! Did Iruka-sensei buy you ramen? He always buys me ramen when we meet up! Do you like him? Does he like you?!"
Seeing the little boy's enthusiasm made the red-haired one chuckle.
'Naruto is such a ray of sunshine.' He thought to himself as he affectionately ruffled the blond's hair. 'I can't believe anyone would think of him as a monster.'
"I'd say it went fairly well." Mycroft replied as he took off his boots and placed them near the door. "He seems like a good man."
"Uh-huh! Iruka-sensei is the best!" Naruto agreed, happy that his two favorite people are getting along.
"That he is." The older boy said, reaching out for a slice of bread to make himself a sandwich. All that ramen today has made him carve something good to eat. "He even allowed me to join the last grade in the Academy."
Naruto turned around so quickly his neck made an audible 'snap'.
"You're going to the Academy?!" He screamed out.
"That's right." Mycroft nodded, sitting at the very small table. "It's my best shot at getting us a little more money."
"But… But you're so smart, Nii-san!"
"Just because I'm smart doesn't mean I don't need to learn." The older boy said between bites. "My intelligence is only an indication of how quickly I can acquire and retain information." Forgetting for a second that he's not talking to a younger version of Sherlock.
"Sasuke acts like he doesn't need to learn." Naruto pouted, sounding as bitter as a seven-year old can. "Like he's better than everyone because he never has to redo a test."
"Well then he's not acting properly." Mycroft said, taking a bite of his sandwich. "Remember what I told you about your fellow ninjas."
"Their strength is my strength." The blond replied, proud that he remembered something that sounds so important.
"Correct." The red-head nodded in approval. "You have to remember that studying isn't a competition. You're all working towards the same goal of supporting the village however you can."
"So… Sasuke is wrong?" Naruto asked, his eyes sparking as he turned to his brother.
"Very wrong." Mycroft confirmed with another big bite to his sandwich.
"I'm so going to tell him that tomorrow!" The blond announced with a vicious grin that spoke of a long awaited revenge.
"If you think that will help him realize his mistake, why not?" The older boy shrugged.
Who was he to shun such behavior in this case? This Sasuke fellow did sound like someone who deserved to be knocked down a peg or two.
Naruto frowned at him.
"Sasuke never said anything to help me realize what I did wrong." He pouted, his cheeks puffy and pink. "He just said things to be mean."
"Well then." Mycroft said, picking up his plate and putting it in the sink. He'll wash later, before bed. "It's a good thing he doesn't want to be Hokage then, no?" After giving the sink a quick glance (a plate, two mugs, a spoon, and a knife. Shouldn't take more than a minute), he returned to his seat. "Because, frankly, he'd be rather bad at it." He added with a wink.
As expected, Naruto beamed at the notion that someone so smart perceived Sasuke as bad at something.
"I'm going to tell him that too!" He declared, the promise shining in his eyes like stars.
Mycroft sighed affectionately.
"Of course you will." He said, ruffling the boy's spiky blond locks. "Now go grab that homework you were working on. If we finish it before five o'clock I'll show you a game I like to play."
"Oh boy!" The child exclaimed and rushed over to the tiny living room with almost inhuman speed. Honestly, Mycroft missed the time he could inflict such excitement in a younger brother. It's been far too long.
It allowed him to forget, for just a second, that he too is going to have to do homework starting with next week.
Mycroft never thought he'd see the day when he would actually have to go to school to learn about something, but here we are.
In order for him to actually get a better grasp on the new world he was now inhabiting, and a chance for a better paid occupation, he needed to join the Ninja Academy.
But because his pride refused to let him go to class with children that are four years younger than him, he decided to be bold and ask Iruka-sensei to make an exception for him.
"Can I join your school, Iruka-sensei?"
The teacher blinked, caught off guard for a solid second.
"You want to become a Konoha ninja?"
"If you'll let me, yes."
"Well I…" Iruka thought to himself. "I don't know… I'd have to ask the Hokage."
"If he says yes, could I join the last year group?"
"The… last year class?"
"Yes."
Mycroft, who's education and training was mostly handled by his uncle Rudy, and hasn't been attending school for anything other than the final exams, was actually feeling rather uneasy at the thought of spending more time around other children than he had to.
"I'm afraid that would be impossible, Maik-kun." He said, smiling sadly. "Your age-group is three months away from taking their graduation exams."
"That is not a problem." The boy assured him. "Three months is enough time for me to catch up with the material. I just need the books."
The teacher's expression softened into something resembling pity.
"The exams don't only include things learned from books, Maik-kun." He said. "You'll also be judged on your chakra control and taijutsu."
And that? That was just an insult to his intelligence and capabilities as a student.
Valiantly keeping the frown from manifesting on his face, he looked deep into the brown eyes of one Iruka sensei.
"Again, not a problem." He maintained. "I already have a plan on how to catch up with my peers fast enough to be ready for the exams."
"Is that so?"
'Step one.' Mycroft thought, standing outside the Yamanaka household, 'Acquire the ability to create Shadow Clones.'
With a determined look in his eyes, he reached out and knocked on the slide door.
A muffled "Coming!" could be heard on the other side, before a small girl was standing before him.
It was a young thing, barely older than Naruto, with pale green eyes and equally pale blonde hair. 'Inoichi's girl.' He concluded after a quick look-over.
She was wearing a small pink t-shirt adorned with blue and yellow flowers, not unlike something little girls back in Britain would wear. Her small skinny legs were covered by light-blue leggings that were peppered by… sand. And it wasn't only limited to clothes, either, it was present in her fingernails and, if he squinted hard enough, even in her hair.
Ah.
"Can I help you?" She asked, trying to sound mature and responsible.
She also didn't seem all that pleased to see him, which was fair if he was honest, given what he managed to deduce.
"Hello." Mycroft smiled, a classic attempt to ease tension. "I'm here to see your daddy, would you be so kind as to get him for me?"
She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.
"I don't know…" The girl said slowly. "How do you know daddy? He doesn't work with kids."
"No." The redhead agreed with a nod. "But we did meet during his work."
He'd rather not divulge the particular details, as such stories are unfit for the ears of children no matter what the rest of the village seems to think, but he will if that would earn him the meeting he needs.
"Please?" He added, seeing the girl's further uncertainty. "It will only take a moment, I promise. He'll be back playing with you in the sandbox before you know it."
At that the girl looked at him with shock.
"How… how did you know we were playing?"
"The sand." Mycroft said, pointing at her clothes. "You're covered in it. And I'm willing to bet your father is too."
"I could have slipped!" She argued. "And got the dirt from the ground onto my hair and clothes!"
"A logical argument, if a faulty one." He praised her. "You did not slip and fall onto the ground like you claim, as your clothes would have more dirt than that on them if you did.
"Woah." The girl exclaimed, now looking at him with wonder and shock as opposed to the earlier suspicion. "That was amazing, Mister! How'd you do that?"
"If you let me see your dad I just might tell you."
It was a tempting offer, so much so he could practically see the agreement in her green eyes before it ever made its way out of her lips.
"Promise?"
"Promise." Mycroft agreed easily, and the blonde ran off to get Inoichi.
The man showed up not long after that, his clothes also peppered with sand and a green plastic rake in his left hand.
"Oh it's you." Inoichi exclaimed, seeming genuinely surprised to see him. "To what do I owe this surprise visit?"
"I need a favor."
'Step two.' Mycroft thought, looking around the village for the next target of his school scheme. 'Acquire the teachings of the village's best Taijutsu specialist.'
Which, according to Inoichi, is one Maito Gai, the Green Beast of Konoha.
Whoever that is.
"You can't miss him." The Yamanaka assured him as he walked the red-haired boy to the door after their lesson. "It is virtually impossible."
"Why's that?" Mycroft asked then, looking up at the man with his blue eyes.
Inoichi only smiled.
"You'll see."
And that was that.
How maddeningly unhelpful.
Sighing, the fox-colored boy looked around once more in an effort to find the "Green Beast", his sharp eyes only staying on those whose clothes were green. Which was… a surprising amount of people actually.
Especially when it comes to those with green vests, those seem to be popular with older ninjas.
He wondered, briefly, if those were a sign of rank, because all of the vest wearers had leaf headbands but not all of headband wearers had green vests.
Perhaps something to ask Naruto later, once his plan was fully put into motion.
But all of these people seem quite easily overlooked, very unlike the man he was supposed to find, who, according to Inoichi, was anything but.
So Mycroft decided to go look elsewhere, like the training grounds.
Where he finally found… someone.
It was a teenager with short black hair dressed in all green doing… push ups.
On his pointer finger. Something that, not too long ago (ten seconds ago, to be exact) Mycroft thought to be utterly impossible.
While screaming.
"ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY! ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY ONE!"
'So he can do it more than once.' Mycroft thought, sounding a little breathless from shock even in his own head. 'Good Lord…'
"ONE HUNDRED AND FIF-AH!" The boy paused, having finally noticed Mycroft's arrival. "APOLOGIES, FRIEND! I DID NOT NOTICE YOU!" And he was just as loud in talking as he was in counting. Wonderful.
With a single powerful flip, the teen was on his feet before him, barely looking winded.
"GREETINGS! I AM MAITO GAI THE GREEN BEAST OF KONOHAGAKURE!" He then gave him his hand for a proper handshake, something Mycroft gave him, even though he feared for his bones more than a little.
"Charmed." The red-haired boy replied while trying not to wince under the older teen's vice-like grip. "I'm Maikurofuto Uzumaki." It still felt weird, introducing himself with his new surname.
"A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU!" Gai replied, a blinding smile on his face. Well, no one could say that Gai was not friendly. "HOW MAY I BE OF SERVICE TO YOU FELLOW BEARER OF THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH FROM THE UZUMAKI CLAN?"
Ok if this partnership is to have any chance of working out, this volume must go down at least a few notches.
"I want to ask you a favor."
"I'M ALL EARS."
'If this continues I'll be no ears.'
'Step Three,' Mycroft thought to himself once he was free from Gai's… enthusiasm. 'Find an instructor on this… Genjutsu thing.' which, honestly, should have been Step One considering the subject matter.
And it should have been called 'This Genjutsu thing that's got to go.'
Because he just knows it's going to be a problem, and does not appreciate people messing with his mind.
Especially paired up with that other oddity the… Sharingan Eyes.
So yeah, the next step is to get someone to tell him all about how to get rid of it all(but honestly, how off could it be? He hasn't been here for more than a week, he knows close to nothing about these people. Maybe they use Genjutsu to dodge taxes or something) on the off chance that he'll be affected by it once more.
According to Inoichi the current master Genjutsu specialist is someone from the Uchiha clan, but they're not going to want to help him.
"You're not part of their family." He explained. "They're very protective of their techniques, you understand."
"That's fine." Mycroft had told him though that wasn't fine at all. How is he supposed to learn how to combat the Sharingan if he cannot study under the only possessors of said Sharingan? "The second best will do just as well."
Imagine his surprise (or lack thereof) when the head of the Yamanaka Clan told him that most of the Genjutsu specialists of the highest caliber are from the aforementioned Uchiha clan.
The same Uchiha Clan that would not talk to snotty little brats that aren't from their clan.
Great.
He considered, briefly, trying to contact that boy he met in the interrogation room. The one called "Wolf". The very same one who used the blasted eye on him in the first place.
But immediately dismissed the idea, thinking that, given the eye, the boy could also be an Uchiha just with a birth defect that resulted in him having one instead of two.
"There is a very promising young girl, however." Inoichi said, noticing his growing frown. "Just shy of making Jounin. She should be able to teach you what you want to know."
Her name was Kurenai Yūhi.
And the only clue the Yamanaka decided to give him in regards to helping him find her is 'She shares something with the Uchihas.' Completely missing the fact that Mycroft hasn't even so much as seen an Uchiha yet, and his only frame of reference is a random silver-haired man with a wolf mask.
Naruto may talk a lot about Sasuke Uchiha but he never actually described his appearance, meaning the only way for the poor red-headed boy to recognize him in a crowd is by listening intently for loud boasting about test scores.
As loathed as he is to admit it, even with his intellect and deduction skills, Inoichi's hint is not enough to find the person in question.
Deciding to forgo the search until he has more than well… nothing, he turned on his heels and marched his way back home.
"Did Iruka-sensei like your plan, Nii-san?" Naruto asked after Mycroft was done.
"He admitted it had a chance of success." The older boy replied, frowning at the lack of belief in his abilities. "So he's willing to let me try it."
"I told you Iruka-sensei is the best!"
"Yes, yes."
