-_-October ninth, Konoha-_-
Naruto Uzumaki woke up smiling. He had no reason not to, it wasn't that cursed day yet. He could go out and do anything (reasonable) that he wanted to. Despite being kicked out of the orphanage two months ago, he couldn't think of a reason to cry. He wasn't even too mad at being kicked out of the orphanage. Not like they ever liked him.
Yet, even without a reason to be down, he couldn't help the thoughts that were gnawing at the back of his head. Even he couldn't deny that he didn't have a reason to be happy. He could only trust two people, his surrogate grandfather, and a masked man that appears randomly. Everyone else, was a potential assailant.
But, today was the day before his birthday. He knew that he wouldn't be able to enjoy his birthday as a normal child would. Therefore, he deduced, that he should use today as a faux birthday. With that in mind, he left his apartment. The park being the only target of his mind.
Without a true knowing path to the park, he was only four after all, he decided that he could go to the Hokage's hut to ask where it is.
Entering the Hokage's hut always felt safe to him. Even though it was no different than any other building, the secretary was nice to him… compared to everyone else. The secretary was a twenty-three year old female with long brunette hair, brown eyes, and a slim figure.
"Hello." Naruto states in a baby's tone.
"Aweee. Hello Naruto. What brings you here?" She asks, a small smile adorning her face.
"I really want to go to park, but I don't know where it is!" He pouts the last pout, his small face contorted.
The secretary wanted to pinch his little cheeks but refrained from doing so. "Oh. The park is down the main village marketplace, and once you reach Suzumi's weapon shop, you take a right and the park should be around there." She replies the smile still present.
Naruto's head nodded, and he raised his tiny hand before going back on his way. Seeing his motion with his small hand, the secretary couldn't help squealing. Then a question arose in her head, why did they let a such a delicate child walk around the village without an obvious guardian…..
Naruto though, ignorant of the secretary's thoughts, continued his trek to the park. Naruto's eyes narrowed when he saw a building with weapons inside of it. His eyes gazed at the words above the shop. Reading, "Su" and only su, Naruto hoped that this was the shop, yet couldn't be certain.
Naruto kicked his legs off at the ground, making a small run towards the building of his attention…. Until his feet tangled up, and he started a fast descent into the street. Naruto's arms attempted to stop his descent, but only ended up collapsing under his body weight. Naruto's head hit the ground, and he forced it to look up when he heard footsteps coming towards him.
He stopped himself from picking his body up and running away however. He saw a girl, maybe a year or two older than himself, with brunette hair rushed towards him with worry on her face. "Are you okay?" She asked with concern flooding her voice.
Yet Naruto was unsure what to think, the only time he had ever seen worry on someone's face was on the Sandaime Hokage. But, Naruto didn't feel the need to pull away yet, he believed that should something go wrong, he could outrun the girl in a foot race, or at least run until she was tired.
She kept staring at him though, expecting an answer from him. He stared back, wondering what she wanted from him. "I want to go to the park." He replies.
Her eyebrows furrowed, but she still did what was asked. She pointed at a certain direction, and muttered, "it's over there, you should be able to reach there if you walk."
He nodded and bowed his head slightly to the girl. Leaving without another word, he walked down the path to the park. And he eventually found it, a place of grass, swing sets, flowers, trees, you name it. Naruto couldn't hold hits excitement at the thought of playing with other people for the first time (since he left the orphanage).
A ten year old's gaze watched Naruto like a hawk, almost wondering if he should do what he was thinking of. A small smile played on his face for a second before coming up with what to do. Without a true second thought, he grabbed his younger brother's hand, and practically rushed Naruto… just not being that obvious.
To Naruto, it felt like he blinked, and suddenly there were two black haired, coal eyed children in front of him. The older one seemed happy that he noticed them, while the other one had a slight pout on his face. "Nii-san, whewe awe we?" The smaller child asks, unable to pronounce their r's.
The elder boy laughed for a second. "Sasuke, you need to make friends, and I've decided that he should be one of them." The smile that the elder boy wore made it simple to tell he was telling the truth.
The pout remained on Sasuke's face however. "But I don't need fwiends." Sasuke replies.
"Come on Sasuke, even I have friends. Don't you want to be like me?" Even Itachi knew that it was a low blow, but he felt it was needed.
"Fine." Sasuke relents.
Naruto just stared at the two siblings. Shocked to see the two arguing as if he wasn't even there. So, while they were talking, he took a look at the two siblings. The short one, which the elder one called Sasuke, was wearing a black t-shirt with a odd red and white crest on his right shoulder. He wore anbu pants, matching him off with a total of wearing everything black….
The elder one looked more professional than his brother. His hair didn't cover his eyes, but on each side, there was a streak of hair that went down. The back of his hair was fit into a pony-tail, the first time Naruto had ever seen a pony-tail on a male. He wore a green flak jacket, signifying his rank of Chunin. Underneath the jacket, he wore a black shirt. The collar poked through the jacket, giving the world a view of the same crest that was on the younger one. Despite his young age, his eyes always seemed to have a glimmer of wisdom in them.
But, once it ended, he was excited at the idea of having a friend. "Hello! My name is Naruto." Naruto states, a wide grin filling most of his face.
"Nii-San he's loud." Sasuke complains.
"You shouldn't say that to his face, Sasuke. That's extremely rude of you. Apologize." Itachi commands.
"Oh. I'm sowwy." Sasuke states.
Despite the apology, Naruto made sure to tone down his volume when he spoke again. "It's no problem. It was my fault to begin with."
Sasuke looked towards Itachi confused, almost as if to translate what was heard. Seeing this, Itachi couldn't help but chuckle at the reaction.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Naruto-Kun, my name is Uchiha Itachi, and this is my otouto, Sasuke." Itachi greets.
Naruto nodded his head, a smile placed on his face. "Do you want to play with me?" Naruto asks with barely restrained energy.
Sasuke looked at Itachi, almost pleadingly to say no. "Of course Naruto-Kun, it should be a fun experience for both you and Sasuke." Itachi answers smirking.
Sasuke, upon hearing this, glared at his older brother with a passion. Naruto, ignorant of Sasuke's feelings, smiled wider at Itachi's response. "Thank you." Naruto thanks.
-_-Two Hours Later-_-
As time passed, the sun seemed to glare mercilessly at the ground below. Itachi felt like glaring at the sun, but refrained from doing so. Instead, a simple idea filled his head. "Naruto. Sasuke. I believe that it is time for lunch." Itachi states.
Naruto glared at the ground, "lunch" was a common excuse for his playmates to ditch him. "And I believe that we should introduce mother to your new friend." Itachi announces.
Naruto's head whipped up, Itachi could almost hear the snap on it. Sasuke almost looked excited about this, having gotten used to Naruto's… behavior, he and Naruto got off on a good foot.
"What are you guys waiting for. We need to get home soon." Itachi mutters, knocking them out of their trances.
"R-really?" Naruto asks.
"Of course, Naruto-kun, I think mother will enjoy the visitors." Itachi responds with a smile.
Itachi smiled for a brief moment. "Well, follow me."
-_-The Uchiha Compound-_-
Itachi walked into the Uchiha Compound, a stoic expression residing on his face. His back was straight, showing the epitome of posture. His face held rigid as he stared at the area in front of him. This was Uchiha Itachi, undoubtedly one of the strongest Uchiha to walk out of the compound walls, even at such a young age.
Sasuke walked into the Uchiha compound. A small smile taking residence on his face. His body leaned forward yet remained rigid all the same. His face was constantly moving around, moving from Itachi to Naruto in quick secession. For, Uchiha Sasuke wasn't the same as his elder brother. He was not born the same caliber of genius as Itachi. Yet, Itachi couldn't care less about that. This was his brother.
The final member of the party, Naruto, strolled into the Uchiha compound. His face was purely a grin that went from one side of his cheek to another. His hands were in his pockets as his head explored the rest of the compound visually. Some people couldn't stand staring at how Naruto's body twisted in ways that humans just shouldn't be able to. Sasuke thought it was quite cool, not that he was aware that it wasn't normal. The difference between Sasuke and Itachi was slim, yet the difference between Naruto and both of them, was extreme. Uzumaki Naruto, the orphan who hadn't been taught… anything really, but learned what he did on his lonesome. Glares from those around him, ignored by a resolve to get through.
Overall, it looked quite odd when the three were seen walking to the clan head's house. Itachi, the tallest looked the most serious, Sasuke, the second tallest, looked kind of serious, but not quite as stern as Itachi, and Naruto was the shortest, and he looked the most out of place.
When they finally entered the house, Itachi opened the doors for the two younger children. When they both entered, and took of their shoes, Itachi followed suit. "Kaa-san, we're home." Itachi announced.
"Oh. Welcome home Sasuke-chan and Itachi-kun." Mikoto states, walking into the room.
When she noticed the third member, she almost stopped dead in her tracks. For a moment, a mere sliver of time, she could have sworn that the Yondaime came back as a child. The blue eyes that hid intention, the unique hair color, and the grin.
Continuing her stride, she smiled. "Sasuke, did you make a new friend?" She asks, a motherly smile on her face.
Sasuke nodded his head. "Sasuke, introduce kaa-san to your new friend." Itachi orders.
Sasuke looked up at Itachi before nodding. "Nawuto." Sasuke states simply.
"Hello Naruto, my name is Uchiha Mikoto. It's always good to see my youngest with new friends." Mikoto states her nice smile bleeding into Naruto's eyes.
Naruto looked at her. His eyes entranced on her face. Wondering what it was that made him trust her. He didn't understand why, but he felt like he needed to be grabbed, but he just couldn't explain why. His brain was trying to explain what she was doing, without any sort of idea of what it was.
'I-is this how a family is like?' Naruto asks himself.
Mikoto's smile slowly turned into a frown as Naruto went from excited child, to a completely blank face, while looking at her. Her frown almost seemed to knock Naruto out of it. He turned his head back to Sasuke, refusing to get under the same 'spell' that had just caught him.
"Let me go prepare a lunch for you three. You guys must be starving after being outside for so long." Mikoto states before going to the kitchen.
"Is this your house?" Naruto asks, as his eyes wondered around the house.
"Yes, it is. It's quite roomy, wouldn't you agree?" Itachi asks.
"I guess so." Naruto states, his eyebrow furrowing slightly.
"Well, I want to teach you two something before lunch is ready, follow me outside." Itachi orders.
Once everyone was outside, Itachi continued. "I am going to give you two, five blunted kunai and shuriken, your goal shall be to hit the target I have placed over there. Since Naruto has never done this before, I will inform both of you as a reminder of how to do so."
Handing the children the specified weapons, he told them to look at him. Holding a single shuriken in his hand, he went through the motion of throwing.
When he believed that the two had it down, he backed up and allowed the two to practice on two different targets, same distance.
Sasuke threw his first one, and it barely grazed the target. Naruto, threw his first one, and it got in the second inner ring. Sasuke's second kunai got into the outer ring, and he was visibly excited at his slight improvement. Naruto's throw hit the center mark, yelling 'yata" loudly after doing so. Second couldn't seem to get out of the outer corner. After two throws, both of Sasuke's hitting the outside stripe, while both of Naruto's hit bullseyes, both of them touching eachother, they were so close.
Sasuke's kunai looked like a mashup of kunai all around the right corner of the target. Naruto's three in the middle made a triangle, a tight triangle as all of them were touching.
Sasuke was getting frustrated. He had been practicing this, and Naruto came in, being an idiot, and got it down. It wasn't fair, he was getting Itachi's attention instead of himself. Hoping to do better, he threw it again, and luckily, it landed in the middle stripe, not on the bullseye, but in the ring.
Naruto threw his last kunai. It flew, hitting the handle of one of the already placed kunai, dislodging it slightly from it's position, and giving the thrown kunai just enough room to fit onto the bullseye. After pulling off his throw, he jumped into the air, yelling once again.
"Children, lunch is ready." Mikoto announces.
"Thank you, Kaa-san." Itachi thanks.
"Yeah, thanks Kaa-san." Sasuke copies.
"Erm, thank you Mikoto-san." Naruto states.
"Itadakimasu." The Uchiha's said in unison before eating.
"I-ta-da-ki-ma-su." Naruto imitates trying to pronounce all of the syllables.
Mikoto showed how ashamed she was for only an instant before she covered it up with a smile. Unaware that Itachi had noticed her slight expression. Mikoto planned in her head, what she would write later.
Naruto used his peripheral vision to keep an eye on what Sasuke was doing, and imitating it. He wasn't sure how to behave in a family setting, and Sasuke seemed like he had it down, and it would be obvious if he had been coping Itachi directly. Sasuke was copying Itachi, so if he copied Sasuke, then it would make him seem less intelligent.
When they were done eating, Itachi decided that they should spend some time training. "Now that we've had lunch, I believe that we should begin training." Itachi announces.
Sasuke's face brightened, smiling brightly at his elder brother. Naruto just looked at Itachi, then at Sasuke. Almost immediately looking at Sasuke, Naruto brandished a smile of his own.
"Good to see that you guys are excited. This time, we're not going to use kunai. But, I want you to get physically in shape. Naruto. Sasuke. I want you guys to go around the training ground ten times." Itachi orders.
Naruto and Sasuke immediately starting running. Naruto easily staying ahead of Sasuke. At lap four, Sasuke's inexperience in running such long distances truly showed. His breaths became labored, his chest felt it was bursting as his heart pounded against his ribcage, screaming at Sasuke to either let it free, or stop.
Lap five, Sasuke took a knee, before falling face first onto the ground. He left himself relax in that position, struggling to catch his breath once more. Naruto eventually got back to where Sasuke was relaxing. "Hey Sasuke, don't sit like that. It would help. Try to stand up. Put your hands on your head. Trust me." Naruto states.
Sasuke, listened. He stood up, albeit wobbly, and put his hands on his head. He stayed like that for a while. Naruto continued running.
At the ninth lap, Naruto slowed down into a jog, allow him to walk out the last few feet of the exercise. "Itachi-San. I have completed that part of the training." Naruto states.
"I see. Good job on completing the challenge. And, Sasuke, we'll work on that so that you and Naruto will be on the same level." Itachi states.
Sasuke nodded towards Naruto, before turning back to Itachi. "So, the next part of your training, is still going to be physical exercise. I want both of you to do as many push-ups as you can.
-_-Later-_-
Itachi could feel it in his gut. He just knew that something was off about what was happening, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He just felt a deep sense of foreboding as he waved at the retreating form of Naruto. He wondered, absent mindedly about whether or not it was a good idea to let Naruto walk himself home.
Watching Naruto's retreating form…. He never realized how correct he was.
-_-Omake-_-
"Where are we?" Kurama asks, looking around the space.
"This my friend is the same thing as Shining Hope." The Author states.
"I see you're still pretentious enough to bold everything about yourself." Kurama mutters.
"I believe it appropriate. It makes sure that no one can believe me to be an actual member of the story… hopefully." The Author replies with a small smile.
"What's with this new picture thing? The first one was Naruto crying, this one looks like he's pissed and about to go on a rampage." Kurama asks.
"Very true. I figured that the change in how I was going to write the story, which is going to be in a more serious fashion, with jokes to lighten up here and there. Whether or not the jokes are mistimed, the comment will inform me." The Author responds smiling.
"Hm. Have you been using me recently?" Kurama asks.
"Yes, I have added another book to my repertoire-"
"Wait a damned minute. Another book? Are you insane?" Kurama questions.
"Possibly, it was an idea that was stuck in my head for a while. I may hide it from public eye if I think that I don't have any possible way to continue with the story." The Author answers.
-_-Fin-_-
Hello guys and girls. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter, it took me a while writing it. 3200 words, and it was fun to write. I'm gonna take like a thirty minute break, then I'm gonna start writing chapter two. By the time that this is published (September 16, 2018) then I should have chapter three and four completed.
Today, September 8, 2018, Shining Hope (The original book for this re-write), has reached 53,475 views today. That's insane. When I started, I never thought I would get 10k. Then I thought I would grow stagnate, but nope, I got to 25k. And it's been one hell of a ride to 50k viewers. And I would just like to thank all of you readers for that.
I hope to see you all in next week's installment of Agent of Anguish. If you guys have a better title for the story, I have open ears. If you suggest an idea, I'll read it. I look at all my comments (even if some take longer than others), but I get to all of them. If I don't respond in the first 24 hours, don't worry. I should respond in the same week (in really bad cases, I should be able to respond in two to three days).
Alright, thank you all. If you have questions, I will answer them to the best of my abilities without spoiling the story. I can't promise that this is going to be too similar to Shining Hope, because I hope to do better in this one. Make it nicer and stuff.
Anyway, Citrus out.