( Uploaded originally last night. But, I had to reupload this chapter, since oddly enough the chapter updated but not the date it was uploaded, so I wasn't sure if you guys got the notification.)
A 9k chapter, my present to you for not updating for so long.
Disclaimer: ha ha hahaha
Btw, since this is so long it was a bitch to edit. If there are more mistakes than usual, I apologize.
The woman who opened the door took one look at their bedraggled faces and the limp body of their sensei draped over the shoulder of their client and ushered them into the house silently.
"Father, I hope you have a good explanation for this," Was the only thing she spoke before helping their client haul their sensei up the stairs and into a bedroom.
He stood with his teammates as the woman pulled out a futon and helped lay their sensei down. Naruto was fidgeting to his right, glancing between their sensei and his brother. Natsuki, on the other hand, was staring at his feet, hair covering his eyes. Sasuke had caught a glimpse of those eyes during the long walk to the house and was glad he couldn't see them now.
There was something dangerous in those red eyes.
Something that sent shivers down his spine.
The boy had been silent during the duration of their walk, despite his brother's best efforts to try and get him to talk. Sasuke didn't bother. The Natsuki who had helped them release Kakashi-sensei was gone now, and his place was a darker version. The same version that had surfaced when Kakashi-sensei revealed his Sharingan eye.
Sasuke sighed and shook his head when the woman turned to nag them about any injuries once she had their sensei's bandaged and tucked into bed.
"We're ok." Naruto answer for them, uncharacteristically subdued. "Is sensei going to be ok?"
The woman eyed them sadly. "I took care of the surface wounds, but there's probably more to it if he passed out like that. I'm not a medic, much less a shinobi medic, so I honestly can't tell you. All I can say is that he's breathing and his wounds are bandaged."
"It's chakra exhaustion," Natsuki spoke softly. "The Sharingan takes a lot of chakra to manage and he was throwing around high-level jutsus left and right on top of that."
No one asked how Natsuki would know that. The two civilians didn't know enough to even consider that question and Naruto just looked happy that his brother was talking again. But Sasuke wanted to know how suddenly his sensei and one of his teammates seemed to know more about the Sharingan than Sasuke himself.
He didn't ask though.
The boy's eyes were still a bloody shade of red.
(He ignored the flashes of memories. The dark room. The two bodies on the floor. Then those red eyes swirling with black tomoes.)
They were ushered downstairs for a quick meal before they were given another room where three more futons were supplied for them to sleep. However, Sasuke didn't fall asleep for hours after they settled down.
His mind was filled with red eyes.
The next morning, the three of them ate breakfast and sat with their sensei.
He shifted and wondered when their sensei would awaken and if their silent vigil was even worth it if their sensei wasn't going to wake up for days. Naruto was fidgeting with his bag, hands running over what looked like an unnecessary amount of supplies for traps. Natsuki was by the window, staring silently into space. Sasuke watched him for a few minutes. Noting how the sun seemed to set his hair on fire. He couldn't help but notice that while Natsuki's eyes had returned to his normal shade of dark purple, he still wasn't acting like his normal self.
There was a stiffness in the other boy's movements and he kept shifting his eyes to their sensei with an odd expression on his face. It was a tangled mix of emotions that Sasuke couldn't unravel. It was likely that Natsuki himself couldn't unravel them, considering his obvious unsettlement.
Natsuki had put on a decent façade for their client and his daughter this morning. Smiling kindly and thanking the woman for breakfast and taking them in last night. Once they left the room, however, his façade dropped and he had been brooding by the window ever since.
He shook his head and turned his attention back to their sensei. He supposed this would have been the perfect time to pull down the man's mask to see his face, but no one had brought it up nor made any move towards doing so. Sasuke, himself, didn't feel all that inclined despite his curiosity. The man had hid a Sharingan under his headband, who knows what he hid under his mask.
He sighed, as that thought brought him back to the subject he'd been avoiding thinking about.
His sensei had a Sharingan. The symbol of his clan. The doujutsu that only one person should have. The one person that wipe out his clan.
He clenched his fists in his lap.
His eyes darted to Natsuki when the boy shifted for the first time in hours, guarded eyes on their sensei.
"He's waking up."
Their sensei stirred visibly after a second and opened his eye slowly, wincing at the light.
"Sensei, sensei!" Naruto shouted worriedly. "Are you alright?!"
His shout brought their client and his daughter into the room. Their sensei waved the boy off as he tried to sit up, but winced and laid back down. "I'll be fine, Naruto. Just a bit of chakra exhaustion. Unfortunately, that leaves us open for assault from Zabuza and his men."
Things predictably descended into chaos from there.
"What? I thought that weird hunter-nin, person got him?" Tazuna-san shouted angerly.
Sasuke watched silently, feeling faintly perturbed over the information. He had been so relieved that the battle was done, he hadn't even considered the possibility of trickery by the hunter-nin.
"In any cause, I image it'll take a little while before Zabuza is able to come after us again. Which will give us time."
Sasuke almost rolled his eyes at the obvious ploy for drama.
"Time for what, sensei?" Of course, Naruto never failed to take their sensei's prompting.
The man's eye crinkled.
"Training!"
After some muttered complaining from the woman of the house, they had procured a crutch for their sensei and followed the man as he limped worryingly unsteadily towards the woods behind the house. Naruto hovered by his right side, while Sasuke walked to his left, with Natsuki trailing behind with a pensive look on his face.
"Now I can't really teach you any new jutsus for a few days at least since my chakra is quite thoroughly depleted, but we can work on the physical stuff. Zabuza's not going to hold back, so I'll teach you guys some of my more dirty tricks to take down large opponents. I'd give Zabuza about a week to recover. He's undoubtedly in just as bad shape as me if not worse due to those needles his little assistant pegged him with."
He turned to them. "Honestly, there isn't much we can do but train. There's no way you're going to miraculously pull some new power out of your ass in the next five to seven days, so we'll just work on what you already know and try to figure out a plan of attack for when Zabuza come back."
"Yes, sensei." They chorused dutifully.
Sasuke blocked a punch but had to step back to avoid the following kick. He dodged again as the kick arced, aiming for his head.
Sparing Natsuki had become a calming practice. Though, perhaps calming wasn't the correct word to use. After all, Sasuke had to stay on his toes and keep his mind focused on the boys every movement. Unlike Naruto, who often accidently signaled his next moves with his eyes, Natsuki gave nothing away until he was already moving. Sasuke could only react and react fast. He had only gotten to spar him every once in a while, because Iruka-sensei liked to vary their partners, but he remembered feeling frustrated. However, once they became teammates and spared each other nearly every day, the frustration slowly went away as he began to learn the other's style.
He slid to the side, evading several more sharp kicks. They circled each other panting. Sasuke watched his opponent with narrow eyes. With a swing of his braid, the boy was on him again with a kick to his diaphragm then another to his face. Sasuke blocked both, but Natsuki used his momentum to fling himself in the air fingers ghosting over Sasuke's shoulder for balance as he fliped over him to strike at his unprotected back. Their sensei had taught them that yesterday and Natsuki had apparently taken a liking to it.
Maybe predictable would be a better word. However, even that wasn't quite right, since Natsuki was definitely not predictable. Sasuke may have learned to recognize his movements better, but he was no less able to predict them than he could in the academy. Natsuki was like a snake. Sasuke could recognize the coil that signaled an attack was about to occur, but he couldn't always predict where the bite would occur nor could he always move in time to counter.
Perhaps, consistent or dependable would be the best word to describe their spars. The spars were challenging forcing Sasuke to think and react. They never got stale or lost his interest and never failed to make him see the holes in his own defenses and the faults in his attacks.
He took the kick to the back and used its force to send his flying away from the follow-up attack. He spun on his heel and charge planning a kick and punch combination he had been working on in his individual practice.
Sharp purple eyes watched his movements silently dodging the kick easily. Sasuke knew before he even threw the punch that it wouldn't land. He threw it anyway, already planning a different combination of kicks to follow up the failed attack.
Purple eyes shifted to the side and widened briefly.
His fist connected.
Sasuke watched silently as Natsuki was thrown onto his back gasping for breath.
He looked to the side where their sensei was watching silently, leaning heavily on his crutch. This was the fifth time in the three days they had been training. He clenched his fists tightly until he felt his nails dig into his flesh.
Perhaps dependable wouldn't be the best word either.
He turned on his heel and marched away. Naruto was guarding the bridge builder today. He'd switch with him, instead of continuing with the frustration that was sparing a distracted and distant Natsuki. As soon as he was out of sight he leaped into the trees and ran all the way to the bridge, not caring who saw him. By now, the villagers were starting to get used to them after seeing them hanging around for the last three days.
Naruto looked like he wanted to put up a fight when Sasuke got there but dropped everything once Sasuke told him tersely that his brother had lost another spar with him. Naruto's grin faltered briefly before the boy cheerfully announced that he was going to go check on his brother. Sasuke watched as he waved goodbye to the workers and jogged away.
Sasuke scowled and folded his arms over his chest, preparing himself for a boring rest of the day.
It was frustrating.
He watched as Natsuki smiled tiredly at whatever the woman said. It was fake, though the woman obviously could tell. Sasuke knew he wasn't the best with people, but he had spent enough time with the twins to know their personalities and to know that this was out of character for the orange haired Uzumaki. Naruto was loud and obnoxious. He smiled and laughed and for a long time Sasuke thought that he was a complete and utter idiot. But he had learned that there was intelligence in boy, just as bright and blinding as his personality when he put his mind to something. The blond got angry easily, but snapped out of it just as quickly.
Natsuki, on the other hand, was different even to the point of being nearly the complete opposite of his twin. Despite being the younger of the two, as Naruto never failed to let everyone know, the boy acting years older than their classmates. His smiles were smaller and his voice softer. He had a dry sense of humor and a sharp tongue. He was intelligent too. Sasuke always had to fight for his place at the top of the academy. Though he'd never admit it, he was sure that Natsuki would have kept first if he was able to perform the weak jutsus required at that level.
Sasuke gritted his teeth, shoving another portion of food in his mouth. His chopsticks creaked dangerously.
"You'll never win! Gatō will just kill you all!"
He set his chopsticks down with a loud clack.
"We are trained shinobi, not some civilians who can barely throw a punch." He glared at the young boy. "Shut-up and let us do our job."
The boy's eyes filled with tears and he ran out without another word. Sasuke went back to eating, listening only with half an ear to the explanation their client gave them about the boy's adoptive father. He really didn't care. Even after losing his whole clan, he wasn't nearly as pathetic and whiny as that child.
Natsuki excused himself from the table and quietly went upstairs, presumably to bed. Sasuke watched as he skirted around their sensei putting an obvious distance between them. He watched as Naruto's smile dimmed and he tried to continue chatting, but gave up after a few minutes and stared pensively at his food.
This was so frustrating.
They sparred again the next and the day after that with the same results.
He struck the ground cracking the earth and sending up dirt around him. He watched as Natsuki slide to the side before shifting back into a less defensible stance when he caught sight of how close their sensei was to him. Sasuke struck out with a three sharp kick to the head before trying to drive a fist into his stomach.
Frustrating.
He hadn't realized how content he had been after joining this team. It had been refreshing to have consistently good sparring partners. They each had a different style of fighting that challenged him. Though Natsuki had always seemed fifteen steps ahead in chakra control, Sasuke could still fight to complete jutsus before Naruto did. He could complain freely with the two as they completed menial tasks for the D-rank missions and was taken back by how satisfying it was to collapse next to the two, exhausted after a full day of training. He had always thought that he'd work through the system alone, until he could finally go after his...that man. He had thought that whatever team he would be on would simply be a sham, a stepping stone so that he could gain more power.
So.
He lashed out feinting a punch to the head while driving a reverse punch into Natsuki's stomach. Natsuki caught it and flipped himself over his head, but Sasuke was prepared with a kick.
Very.
Natsuki's haired flashed in the light as he shifted to the left, avoiding the kick by a hairs breath. Sasuke tried to meet his gaze in the midst of battle in order to see if he could catch him off guard.
Eyes shifted.
Hands hesitated.
Sasuke saw red.
Frustrating!
"Why did I bother caring for someone who won't even look me in the eye?!"
Naruto took an uncertain step forward as his teammate tackled his brother to the ground. He wasn't sure what exactly happened. One minute the two of them were sparring like normal, then Sasuke was snapping at Natsu and suddenly they were both on the ground cursing and rolling around as each of them tried to pound the other's face into the dirt.
A hand descended on his shoulder and he looked up with wide eyes at his sensei. The man just shook his head.
"Let them fight it out Naruto. They need to let some steam off and work things out between them." The man chuckled darkly. "I was actually hoping one of them would snap before we had to fight again. Trust me, this is better than them blowing up at one another during a battle."
Naruto looked back at his teammates. Sasuke was on top of his brother trying to punch him in the face, while Natsu looked like he was gnawing on the boy's arm. He had never seen his brother so…immature. Maybe feral would be a better word. It was usually his job to get angry and pick fights. His brother had always had a certain air of dignity and maturity to him that made him seem more like the older brother than Naruto. In fact, it was like Natsu was taking care of him half the time.
Now, however, he looked more like the twelve-year-old he was.
Naruto shook his head feeling a little amused even though he was still worried about his brother.
Kakashi-sensei squeezed his shoulder. Naruto glanced back at him.
"Come on," Kakashi said quietly. "Let's leave them to it. I want to go check out the bridge, it's likely we'll be fighting there to defend the bridge builder and I want to see what we can use for an advantage. Why don't you tell me what you brought for traps?"
Naruto glanced back one more time at his two teammates before jogging after his sensei as the man started to walk back to Tazuna-san's house. He'd trust his sensei's judgment. Nothing else had worked over the last week, so maybe this would.
"Sure sensei!"
As they walked Naruto told the man just how much stuff he had managed to fit into his pack for this mission.
"I got two reels of ninja wire, a handful of dumb bombs, several sets of shuriken, a bunch of sticky bombs. Those are really cool. I splurged with those ones, they explode with this gooey stuff that stinks and makes it difficult to move. It's like stinky super glue! I love it! I also got a bunch of tacks. They're really sharp, I accidently dropped a few after I got them and accidently stepped on them. It really hurt!" Naruto eyed his sensei as he chatter, looking for any sign of exhaustion. Today was the first day the man had used his chakra again to create a shadow clone of his own to send over to watch over the bridge builder. Naruto was a little worried he was pushing himself too soon.
It was really scary when the man collapsed. He had been looking better as the days passed, but Naruto still couldn't help but worry. The man noticed his looks and his only visible eyes crinkled in what Naruto had come to know as his smile.
"Don't worry Naruto. I'm feeling much better now that I've rested up." Kakashi-sensei ruffled his hair. "Now it sounds like you have quite the arsenal for setting up some interesting traps. Why don't we go grab your pack and then head over to the bridge?"
"Ok, sensei!"
Naruto chatted about anything and everything during the walk to the bridge. Although the man didn't reply aside from an occasional hum, his sensei didn't seem to mind so he continued with the chatter all the way to the bridge.
His sensei dispersed his clone while Naruto waved excitedly at the builders who grinned and wave back. While he was on watch duty he had chatted up most of the builders despite Tazuna-san's loud complaints about him distracting his men and now knew most of them by name.
The man himself wandered over when he noticed them. "What's with the big bag?"
"I figured that we'd set a trap today," Kakashi-sensei replied easily. "You lot can carry on and ignore us."
Tazuna-san scowled faintly at his sensei. "Right, don't mess up our hard work."
Naruto watched silently as the man left to go direct his men before turning to his sensei. "So, what did you want to do for traps, sensei?"
"I'd had a couple of ideas involving some seals that we could rig with your traps. I had planned on introducing Fūinjutsu to you after you became a chunin. Seals are rather dangerous, after all, but I might as well start you know considering the situation. I'll show you how they're made as I create some for the traps. Luckily, I brought extra seal tags, so you can even practice a little."
The man reached into the pouch at his hip and pulled out a small scroll. He unrolled it and crouched on the ground as his hands flash in a quick hand sign. Suddenly the scroll exploded into a puff of smoke. Naruto blinked in surprised when the smoke cleared and there was suddenly a pile of supplies in the scrolls place.
"That's a storage seal," Kakashi spoke as he sorted through the supplies. "It's a common sealing technique used to store a number of things. All jounin and chunin know how to use them, though like the exploding tags few know how to make them themselves."
Naruto's eyes widened as he took in his sensei's words. He had thought trapping was cool when his sensei brought it up and started teaching him, but this was even cooler! He looked over the supplies his sensei was sorting with awe. There were two inkwells, three traditional brushes, and two thick stacks of blank rectangular tags. Naruto tried to stay still, but his fingers were twitching with ideas for different pranks and traps he could pull off with a storage scroll or explosive tags. He wondered if the seals could be modified. Could he create a flash seal, instead of an explosive one? Or maybe regulate what type of explosion he wanted?
There were so many possibilities!
His sensei chuckled. "Fūinjutsu isn't actually my forte despite my sensei's best efforts, but I know the basics."
"Your sensei?" Naruto finally looked up from the supplies.
It was kind of weird to think of his sensei having a sensei, but he supposed that his sensei wasn't always a jounin and someone had to teach him. His sensei's eye crinkled obviously catching his train of thought. He was uncannily like Natsu in that way. For a long time, Naruto thought his brother was a mind reader.
"Hm, yeah. My sensei and his sensei before him were geniuses when it came to Fūinjutsu."
"Cool!" Naruto grinned widely. "I wanna meet them when we get back!"
Kakashi-sensei's hands hesitated over the supplies and suddenly Naruto wished he never opened his big mouth. However, Kakashi-sensei didn't reprimand him and instead picked up one of the brushes and held it out to him.
"You've had experience with painting, but sealing is a bit different and requires extreme precision. We'll start with a simple small storage seal. The worst that you can do is lose whatever you're trying to seal away in it."
Naruto nodded bouncing in place as his sensei handed him one of the inkwells and a brush.
"Watch how I draw this," Kakashi-sensei spoke as he dipped his own brush in the ink and started brushing it across the tag in front of him. "The ink and paper are specifically made for sealing, but you also have to manage your own chakra. While painting the lines you have to use a small amount of your own chakra. It's like tree walking."
Naruto nodded, his eyes glued to his sensei's movements. His sensei finished the design and gestured for him to try it silently. Naruto stuck his tongue out as he concentrated on copying his sensei's movements. He actually liked painting, which was why graffiti was one of his favorite pranks, but it was harder than he thought to copy the exact line work on his sensei's example. Trying to concentrate on trickling a small amount of chakra down the brush and into the lines was making the process even more difficult. He tried to make his line curve in the right way and frowned slightly when it became wobbly.
He glared at his tag, comparing his shaky line work to his sensei's before snatching another blank tag and starting over. It took three more tags until he started to get the hang of it. He looked up at his sensei triumphantly, but his cheer was caught in his throat.
His sensei was crouch in the same place he had been when he was showing Naruto the design with his head resting in his hand and a distant look in his eye as he watched Naruto.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
The man blinked slowly and shook his head as if he was clearing the stray thoughts away. "Hm, you did a good job Naruto. I suppose Fūinjutsu really is in your blood."
Now it was Naruto's turn to blink. "Eh?"
"You and Natsuki never thought to go look up your last name?" There was an odd tone to Kakashi-sensei's voice that Naruto couldn't place. Not for the first time he wished he had Natsu's ability to sense emotions.
"No…?"
"The Uzumaki clan was known for their Fūinjutsu back in the day when they were the most prominent clan in Uzushiogakure." His sensei replied.
"Whaat?!" Naruto couldn't believe this. He had never even considered that Natsu and he were a part of a clan. They were just orphans with no family. The Hokage had refused to talk about their parents, but he never thought to ask about a clan. He paused. He wasn't sure what was worse, having no family or having a clan that never stepped forward to raise his brother and him…
As if reading his thoughts, Kakashi-sensei continued.
"Though ever since the fall of Uzushiogakure, there were only a few Uzumaki left. Now that your mother is gone, you and Natsuki are the only ones to carry the name in our village and probably throughout the rest of the continent. The Uzumaki's were considered very dangerous, so they were wiped out thoroughly during the war that destroyed Uzushiogakure."
"Eh, so my mother was an Uzumaki and a Fūinjutsu master? And what in the world is Uzushiogakure? I never even heard of that place!" His mother! He was so excited he could hardly breathe. Wait till he told Natsu that his sensei knew about their mother! "What was she like? I bet she was super cool!"
His sensei chuckled and ran a hand through Naruto's hair. "Uzushiogakure was a hidden village that your clan was from. Yes, your mom was a very talented in Fūinjutsu and she was very cool. Though I wasn't as close to her as I was…"
Kakashi-sensei froze for a brief moment as his eye darkened with grief. "…well, we should concentrate on the traps right now. You're still new so I'll do most of the seal work, but I'll need your help with positioning and traps."
Naruto bit back several more questions as his sensei's face closed off. It was obvious that his sensei didn't want to answer any more questions right now. He gritted his teeth and tried to reign in his excitement. He could ask his sensei later when Natsu was there, but he should concentrate on their mission for now.
His sensei's eyes crinkled in a smile, but there was still a sad glint in his eye as he ruffled Naruto's hair. "Don't worry. I will tell you about her later, but now isn't the time or place."
"I understand sensei." He glanced over the sealing supplies. "So, what's your plan?"
His sensei's smile seemed to widen, even though Naruto couldn't see it.
"Listen closely. This'll definitely change the tide of battle."
Kurama was wandering the woods by himself after his little brawl with the Uchiha. It probably wasn't the most intelligent thing to do considering that fact that there were still enemies out there, but he didn't want to be around anyone right now. Especially the tiny doom speaker, Inari. The boy was extremely skittish around the Uchiha after his outburst the third night, but he wasn't nearly as hesitant voicing his opinion with anyone else. If that boy told him that he was going to die one more time today, Kurama was going to smack him.
His eyes widened as he stumbled upon a small field of flowers.
He entered it slowly and settled beneath one of the trees lining the little field. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to relax for the first time since the start of their little journey. He sighed heavily as he felt his shoulders lose some of their tension.
Without opening his eyes he dug his fingers into the grass and dirt searching for the hum of nature chakra. It was weaker than in the chakra saturated forest surrounding Konoha, but still definitely there. He allowed himself to smile, ignoring the slight sting of his still healing slip lip and bruised cheek.
The Uchiha did a number on him.
Though he fought back just as hard and probably left the other boy just as bruised. He put all of his anger and frustration over the last few days into that fight and now he was exhausted.
He grimaced and touch his cheek. Obviously, he was being very overt about his hesitance with his teammate to the point of the other boy noticing and getting upset over it. If a twelve-year-old noticed it, albeit a rather intelligent twelve-year-old, then Kakashi definitely did as well. He had worked so hard to avoid suspicion over who he really was, but had ended up throwing clues around left and right all because of his stupid fear over the Sharingan and his anger over Kakashi having it. He groaned and slid further down the trunk until he was lying on his back staring at the branches above him.
"You're getting flowers and grass all in your hair and clothes." A light voice chuckled.
Kurama didn't even flinch, having felt the other boy's chakra and presence long before he had made himself known to him. It was the supposed hunter-nin. He wondered vaguely if he should be more wary, but he honestly just felt exhausted and the fake tracker wasn't projecting any animosity or threatening emotions.
Just amusement.
Of course, that could change in an instant.
He opened his eyes and took a peek at the fake tracker. Eyeing his apparel he decided to simply play along for now. If the boy went through the trouble of dressing like a village girl, then he might not be here to fight.
Or he could be planning a quiet assassination. Another part of his mind whispered. Like a true shinobi.
He ignored it. Regardless of the other boy's intentions, acting defensive and suspicious probably wouldn't help him.
"I know." He sat up slowly, brushing the grass and flowers from his clothes.
The tracker approach and helped him get some of the stuff from his hair, which had come out of its normal braid during his brawl with Sasuke. He grimaced as he touched some of the snarls as he tried to get rid of the elusive grass blades. He must look like such a mess right now. Judging by the spike in amusement and accompanied laugh by the fake tracker, his assumption was correct.
He sent him an unamused look which had the other boy holding up his hands in surrender despite the fact that he was still chuckling.
"Sorry, sorry. It's just your hair is sticking up all over the place."
Kurama sighed. "It does that. That's why I usually have it in a braid."
The boy nodded sympathetically before turning his attention back to the empty basket on his arm.
"Well if you excuse me, I need to gather some herbs." The fake tracker moved away from him and began picking through the plants in the meadow for the ones he wanted.
Kurama watched quietly as he tried to work the knots out of his hair with his fingers. The boy didn't seem all that disturbed by his stare. All Kurama could feel from him was calmness, like still water. He supposed that it was more than Kurama's state of mind that prevented him from noticing that the boy only pretended to kill Zabuza almost a full week ago.
He turned his gaze to the tree branches above him for a moment.
He wondered how certain humans could be in control of their emotions to that extent. Kakashi was that way, along with many other shinobi in Konoha. Sometimes he'd find his eyes following a distant shinobi running along the rooftops, yet never be able to sense a single emotion from them. It was both interesting and frustrating given his own inability to manage his new human emotions.
How could creatures that felt so much shut down those emotions or control seeming so easily? He supposed it must be a matter of experience. Unlike him, they didn't have memories of another way of life, another state of being.
He felt the fake trackers eye on him as he continued to look towards the sky.
"May I ask why you are so injured?"
Kurama considered the question for a moment before answering. "I got in a fight with my teammate."
"Oh my, that's not good. You should make up quickly!" The other boy exclaimed.
Kurama frowned and glanced down at his hands, still working at a particularly troublesome knot.
"Forgive me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a teammate also be a friend?" The fake tracker asked when Kurama didn't answer. "I noticed the headband on your head. You're a shinobi, aren't you? Is it different for you?"
Kurama sighed. The fake tracker was really playing it up. "You could say that, I suppose. It's not like we pick our teams."
If he could he certainly wouldn't have picked a Uchiha.
"But, you train together, don't you? Surely that would create at least a small bond?"
Kurama turned his attention to the next knot once he finished smoothing out the first. The Uchiha had a bad attitude, but after the bell test, he had been working just as hard as Naruto and him in training. He worked with them as a team while they completed D-rank missions and had even shoved him out of the way of an attack during the fight with Zabuza. He still had an attitude throughout all of this, but his actions spoke louder than his sharp words and prickly personality.
And it wasn't like he didn't understand why the boy was the way he was. It wasn't like he didn't remember a bright-eyed and smiling child those first few days of the academy.
(He was a Uchiha. The Uchiha had the Sharingan. The Sharingan was a horrid mind-bending power that should not be in the hands or eyes of humans.)
"It's complicated." Kurama murmured. "His clan…"
He cut himself off before he could say anything further, eyeing the other boy in faint annoyance. It was almost uncanny the way the boy could project such innocence. He was sure that if he couldn't sense his chakra, then he wouldn't have known this was the same one who rescued Zabuza.
"Hm, it sounds complicated." The boy turned back to plucking herbs, voice mild. "Though I've found that dwelling on the past prevents you from moving forward."
Kurama couldn't help the rueful smile that crossed his face. Now he was getting advice from the enemy about his relationship with his teammate? He didn't know what this boy was playing at, but he had just about enough. He shook his head and lower his hands to his lap, where they would have easier access to the weapons pouch on his hip.
"Since you're talking to me like this, I can only assume you didn't realize I am a sensor, did you?"
The boy's hands froze. Kurama could feel the spike of surprise and slight panic before it was suppressed and the boy continued picking herbs as calm and cool as he had been before. Kurama narrow his eyes. That wasn't exactly the reaction he wanted.
"I suppose that makes sense, considering how you reacted to Zabuza-sama's killing intent. You played along for quite a while, though, I'm surprised." There was an underlining edge to his voice and demeanor.
Like a thin layer of ice over the calm water he had felt before.
"I was trying to figure out what you were planning." Kurama paused and glanced over the other boy critically as he went over their conversation in his head. "But, you didn't really have a plan did you?"
"You caught me." The boy smiled blandly, eyes cold. "Now what, Konoha shinobi-san?"
Kurama sighed. "Honestly, I don't know."
They could fight. They probably should be fighting considering the fact that they were on opposites sides of this mission, but neither picked up a weapon. They simply sat in silence as the boy continued to pick herbs.
"So tell me." The boy smiled after a few minutes. "Do you have a precious person?"
Kurama sighed. "Of course, I do. My brother among others."
"But not your wayward teammate that you had a nasty fight with?" There was a thread of faint amusement that Kurama wasn't especially fond of.
"That's…"
"...complicated." The boy finished with a laugh.
Kurama sighed in frustration. They should have just fought it out.
"It's just curious to me." The boy began slowly. "Watching your group fight Zabuza-sama, I couldn't help but notice how much your teammates care for you when you were hurting and threatened by Zabuza-sama. It was interesting to see the black haired push you out of the way of what would have been a fatal attack by Zabuza-sama. Yet, here you are fresh from a fight with him."
'Why did I bother caring for someone who won't even look me in the eye?!'
"How didn't you know I fought with him and not my blond teammate?" He asked in annoyance.
"Hm, you said your brother was your precious person without an ounce of hesitancy." He replied. "You may have different hair and eye colors, but your facial features are the same."
And I'm not an idiot was the undermining tone.
Kurama flopped back on the ground.
"You're going to get grass in your hair again." The other boy said mildly.
Kurama didn't respond and the boy laughed quietly.
"My name is Haku." The boy murmured.
"Why tell me this when you know we'll end up fighting when your 'Zabuza-sama' is in full health again?"
"You're interesting," Haku replied promptly before pausing as his voice became frigid. "Or perhaps it's part of my devious plan to sabotage your battle with Zabuza-sama and myself. After all, names can hold power whether it be good or bad. Like a certain clan and your teammate."
Kurama didn't reply.
Why was his constantly surrounded by clever humans?
The old man, Shikamaru, Sasuke, Kakashi and even Naruto though most wouldn't see his brother's intelligence. It was a constant struggle to maintain his secrets, his lies. Watch his every word. Action. Movement. All because of the ever encompassing fear of imprisonment, of hatred. He didn't like seeing his brother cry. He didn't want to be the one to make him do so. He didn't want to see the fear and hatred from the people he had come to care for. From the people he knew he hurt twelve years ago. It was, to quote Shikamaru, troublesome.
He was just...tired. Very tired.
Eventually, Haku left without with the barest brush of cloth and lightest step. Kurama tracked his chakra until it left his range before huffing and turning his attention back to the sky above him. He stared up at the sky silently until the sun started to go down and shadows began to stretch over the meadow. He stood up once the sun had completely set wincing at phantom pains from now healed bruises and trudged back to their client's house.
Kurama glanced up when he noticed a familiar chakra and tried to not flinch when he saw his sensei reading silently as he leaned against a tree.
He hesitated a moment before walking over to him. He leaned against the tree next to him and sighed quietly. He hesitated again. But...he needed to do this. He had been acting too suspicious...and he discovered over the past week that he still didn't want to push his sensei away from him, even after learning about the Sharingan.
"Sorry, sensei." He bit his lip before continuing. "I've been acting stupid."
"Hm." Kakashi flipped a page in his book. "Yes, you have. Feeling better?"
"Yes." Kurama glanced up at his sensei. "You're not going to ask about it?"
"Would you tell me the truth?"
"Ah."
The man was as smart as ever. Sometimes Kurama wondered just how much the man had discerned from his demeanor. He wondered if the man had an inkling...but surely he would have acted differently towards him if that were the case. Kakashi was a good shinobi, but a biju made even the best cower.
"Then what's the point?"
Kakashi-sensei glanced down at his face and chuckled. "Don't get me wrong. I'm curious, after all, you are the most mature out of your teammates and even if you aren't as outgoing as your brother you usually make an attempt to talk to people, even Sasuke."
Kurama looked away at the subtly pointed tone in Kakashi's voice. "...I know. I'm sorry. I've just been...frustrated."
"Hm. Well, I suppose that's the best I'm going to get right now, isn't it?" He snapped his book closed, making Kurama flinch slightly. "Zabuza is going to attack again and I have a gut feeling that it'll be very soon. I know that it's rough for you with your ability, but if you're going to freeze up again I'm going to have to make you sit out. Zabuza isn't going to be playing around this time. You three made a fool out of him, so he won't underestimate you guys again. Natsuki, I need to know if you can handle another battle."
Kurama looked at his feet for a moment before looking up into his sensei's eye for the first time since the previous battle.
"I will handle it sensei."
Even if it hurt. Even if his body rebelled against him with nausea and his mind swam dizzyingly with emotions not his own, he would deal with it. He was sick of having to be rescued. He would find a way to deal with it even if he had to flood the battlefield with his own chakra. Though he hoped it wouldn't come to that point. Due to the circumstances of his birth with him "having no chakra of his own", he knew that it was likely he was watched more closely than his brother in regards to his chakra use and state of mind. Although he would never lose control like Naruto did with his chakra, it was probably best not to push the matter and use his chakra in ways that would be abnormal for a twelve-year-old genin, even for a jinjuriki. It was a thin line to walk, between gaining strength and holding back but one he choose to maintain his life, however, strange it had gotten.
(He couldn't falter. He couldn't go back to that place. He couldn't lose his connection to the earth again. He couldn't. He'd lose it. He be as insane as his youngest brother, who still screamed incoherently into the silence of their faint connection as biju.)
(He couldn't face Naruto's fear. He couldn't bare making the boy hurt more than he already had by killing his parent and being the cause of the villager's hatred.)
The man tilted his head in acknowledgment before ruffling his hair, pulling him thoroughly from the abyss of his own mind. Kurama scowled at him in weak annoyance. The man always seemed to know when Kurama was falling and caught him just in time.
For that, Kurama was endlessly grateful. Even if the man had one of those damn eyes.
"Alright, that's good enough for me." He shoved Kurama lightly towards the house. "You missed dinner, but the lady of the house saved you some food so make sure you thank her, ok?"
Kurama nodded and headed towards the door.
"And Natsuki? You can rely on your teammates and myself if you feel overwhelmed or if something is troubling you. You know that right?"
'Regrettably, I cannot let you run loose.'
'You're saying that we have a…a monster inside of us? A-A demon that almost d-destroyed the village?'
He sighed. "Yes, sensei."
He loved his brother and he cared for his sensei despite him having an eye he hates, but he still wasn't sure how they'd react to the truth. In his moment of weakness in the past, he was trapped in a seal for decades. Now he was in an even weaker state…
He smiled tiredly as the woman fussed over his messy state as he entered the house. She muttered about children and silly fighting under her breath as she set food out in front of him.
"Thank you, Tsunami-san." He said a faint smile. Her son may have been a pain, but she had been nothing but polite to them despite the danger their presence brought upon her house. "I'm alright now, so you don't have to worry."
"Honestly, you shinobi are something else." She huffed a final time before dishing out some extra food onto his plate and returning to the sink to wash some dishes.
He slipped into the dark room with his teammates. Naruto was passed out, stretched across his futon sideways. Kurama smiled and shook his head. His smiled faded slightly as he looked at his other teammate's tense back. It was obvious that the other boy was still awake. He wasn't sure what to say to the boy after their fight. He knew what the boy wanted and he understood that he had hurt him by being so standoffish and never looking him directly in the eye, but…he was a Uchiha.
He sighed and laid down on his own futon.
He'd figure out a way to apologize tomorrow, but tonight the emotions were still too raw.
It took the Uchiha a long time to fall asleep, but eventually, he did and Kurama allowed himself to do the same.
Tomorrow.
He'd apologize tomorrow.
The next morning they got up at the crack of dawn to accompany their client to the bridge leaving behind a couple of clones to guard the house since they'd all be out for the first time. Kurama listened with half an ear as Naruto excitedly explained the traps he help set up with Kakashi yesterday.
Kurama kept glancing at the Uchiha, at…Sasuke, out of the corner of his eye trying to figure out what he wanted to say.
His train of thought was halted by two familiar chakra signature appearing. He glanced up at the bridge ahead of them his hand raised to inform his team, but it turned out to be unnecessary as everyone else caught sight of the bodies.
"Look who decided to show up." Zabuza was leaning casually on his sword in the middle of the bridge.
"Shouldn't that be our line?" Kakashi replied. "After all, you were the one who supposedly died."
"Heh, you don't seem all that surprised. Figured it out, did ya?" After enough time spent with Kakashi, he could tell there was a shit eating grin under the man's bandages.
"It was rather obvious in retrospect." Kakashi's voice was mild, but Kurama could see the tension in his shoulders as he addressed them in a low voice. "I'll engage Zabuza. Natsuki, Naruto, Sasuke work together to take out his little assistant. Tazuna-san please stay back and out of the way."
"Yes, sensei." The murmured together.
Their sensei nodded, glancing briefly at Naruto. "I'll leave that to your digression Naruto."
"Yes, sensei."
There was silence after that as they watched their opponents and were watched in return. Kurama eyed the masked boy, Haku, he reached out with his senses but only found a rigid determination. He grimaced, and suddenly the brief reprieve was done.
Zabuza went flying towards their sensei mist already starting to surround them, while Haku launched himself toward them. Kurma brought up a kunai to block as Sasuke and Naruto darted out to surround the boy.
"If you just let us have the bridge builder, then we won't have to fight." The boy murmured.
"Too bad!" Naruto shouted his hands forming a familiar sign. "Our mission is to protect him!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Kurama saw Sasuke do the same. Catching on he broke his stalemate and used the boy's shoulder to leap into the air, out of the way of his teammate attack.
"Hand of Waves!"
Kurama felt the flash of amusement before the jutsu hit.
The blast of water froze before hitting the boy, curling around him like a shield of ice. His hand flashed through several signs and suddenly the ice struck out with spikes in all directions.
"Get back!"
There wasn't much he could do while in the air. He barely twisted around the first spike and used another to push himself to safety. However, a third one managed to catch him in the side as he leaped. He gritted his teeth and ignored the pain as he landed between his teammates. It wasn't a deep cut, he'd be fine.
"Water…was probably not the best element to use against me."
Zabuza cackled from where he was engaged in a complicated taijutsu battle with Kakashi. "Hah, using water jutsus against Haku! That's like handing a sword to a kenjutsu specialist!"
"Now that your three are together." Haku murmured his hands flashing through signs. "Crystal Ice Mirrors."
The spikes that surrounded the boy suddenly flew towards them creating mirrors around them. Kurama frowned sensing the boy's chakra permeate the mirrors and surround them thoroughly. Once the mirrors had completely formed Haku entered one and seemed to appear in all of them at once.
"Naruto now would be a good time to implement that plan of yours." Kurama murmured.
"Right, um, right." His brother's eyes darted around before his took out three kunai and tossed them to three different places within the circle they were now trapped in. "We need to stand in those spots."
Kurama nodded.
"I don't know what your plan is, but I won't let you make it to those places." Haku's voice echoed from the mirrors and suddenly they were on the defensive from senbon needles from every direction.
Dodging them was nearly impossible without running into each other and creating an even bigger target. He scowled as he dove forward to try and make it to one of the kunai, but was blocked by another volley of senbon cutting four lines across his cheek similar to Naruto's markings. He couldn't even sense the boy properly to judge where the attacks would come from. His chakra was everywhere.
He heard his teammates cry out behind him, but he couldn't look back to check on them for fear of being skewered by another wave. He tried diving for one of the mirrors, but was repelled with a sharp kick sending him flying into the Uchiha who had apparently been doing a decent job of dodging.
Kurama covered them both as best he could with his kunai, knocking several senbon away. He couldn't prevent the three that slipped through his guard and into his already wounded side. He bit back a sound of pain, not wanting to give the boy the satisfaction of hearing him cry out. He felt a hand tug on his sleeve, and he glanced back at the Uchiha.
He froze when he caught sight of red eyes.
(Hypnotizing. Disgusting. Pain. Pain. Pain. He was screaming inside his own mind. Watching from within as he moved under the command of someone else.)
"Idiot! Move!"
Red.
He felt warm liquid splash against his face.
He watched silently as the Uchiha…as Sasuke fell in front of him seemingly in slow motion. His body hit the ground with a thump.
"Sasuke!"
Again.
"Natsu get to the kunai now!"
His body move on its own, shoving the limp body to one of the kunai and dove for another, not caring about the senbon embedding themselves into his back as he dove.
Why?
He focused on the flickering chakra, latching onto it like a lifeline. He was alive. Alive. Even though he looked...
After the way I treated him. After our fight.
"This is for Sasuke, you bastard!" Naruto screamed. "Get down Natsu!"
Why would he put himself in front of me?
Ninja wire exploded from seals placed strategically along the bridge. The sticky bombs on the ends stuck them to the opposite pillars from their seals, creating a deadly crisscrossing pattern of razor sharp wire.
Ice mirrors shatter around them and Haku cried out in pain.
"You fuckers!" Zabuza shouted.
Kurama looked up as the mist faded to see the man skewered through the right shoulder and leg by two different wires. Haku was quick enough to evade being skewered, but had been caught between two crossing wires. The x mark the wires created on his chest leaked blood profusely as his mask crack and fell to his feet.
His face was cold.
"You hurt Zabuza-sama. I shouldn't have gone easy on you."
The air thickened with both of their opponents killing intent. Kurama choked, clutching at his head. He fell to the ground his vision blurring at the influx of emotions. He could feel Naruto's panic and fear. Kakashi's worry. Zabuza, Haku and Sasuke's pain.
The hatred.
The fear.
The pain.
No.
He stared at the Uchih-Sasuke's unconscious face. He was covered in so much blood. The senbon needles cutting through his venerable muscles and tendons likely creating even more pain on top of obvious paralysis.
He refused.
He could hear Naruto shouting and felt an influx of chakra as he likely engaged Haku in battle.
He was sick of this.
He wasn't weak.
He closed his eyes as the pain became too much.
He was Kurama.
He was the nine tailed biju.
He refused to be this weak!
His chakra surged with his rage, coursing through his veins and exploding out of him in waves dispersing the killing intent like mist. He pushed himself to his feet, feeling giddy with the influx of power.
The faint sound of cracking glass echoed in the back of his mind.
He laughed hysterically as his chakra surged.
The world around him burned.
Right, so semester over. Thank goodness. I actually wrote most of this chapter on a google doc during my commute to and from my campus, so I didn't exactly realize how long it had gotten till I transferred it to word today to edit and upload. Holy shit guys. It's literally over 9k. I thought about cutting it down a little, but thought 'Nah, let it be a present since they've waited so long'.
In any case, Sasuke's section was difficult to write. He didn't want to do what I wanted, so I rewrote that section like five different times, till I was happy with it. I do genuinely like Sasuke and want to do him justice in this fic. He's one of those characters where I can understand why he makes the choices he does, even if I don't agree with them (which is why some of his later decisions in Shippuden annoyed me so much when I looked into spoilers). I also realized while writing Naruto's section that Kakashi is really holding a lot of secrets back and I wasn't sure how to approach it since in my mind he really should be telling Naruto about his parents, but I realized slowly that he's probably got a major gag order from the Hokage and likely has a huge amount of guilt over the whole affair making him hesitate. We'll address it more later, but for now I wanted to get some bonding in with those two. Also, kudos to the one review mentioning Kurama going crazy on the bridge instead of Naruto. You were on point. Since Naruto got his reality check with Mizuki, I wanted this fight to be Kurama's big decision/slight mental break. From this point forward he's going to be less careful with holding back his abilities. We'll see how that goes for him. Kakashi and Sasuke are already onto him, after all.
Thank you guys for all your support and reviews! It's really fantastic to see people enjoying this story. I never expected it to take off like it did and really appreciate the support and advice.
Next chapter should be up next weekish.
P.S. FollowingTheRivers- Yes, my friend, you can look forward to that scene with Gaara and Naruto. I totally had that in mind when I mentioned Natsuki/Kurama's raccoon eyes. It is in fact, already written. lol