Outsiders
4 – The Years
Xxxxx
Tori was merely putting up her 'OPEN' sign, when she heard sudden loud yelling from outside. She hurriedly looked outside to see what had happened, and quickly spotted the source of the commotion, as everyone else in the vicinity was watching as well.
A tall man held one of the Square's vendors by the neck, holding him up high for everyone to see. Beside him, another stood, his arms folded.
"Listen up!" Yelled the shorter one. "This town is now the domain of the Great Ishiteru! From this point forth, I am your lord!"
What..?
Even as "Ishiteru the Great" spoke, men were surrounding the entire square. Bandits…shit. Thought Tori.
"As your lord," continued Ishiteru, "I demand that you all pay a tax. My revenue collectors will be coming around to collect it momentarily. Do them a favor; pay your taxes, or soon you won't have any source of income and you'll be in debt to your ruler! Boys!"
Tori felt a hand grasp her shoulder, and turned to find a large man had grabbed hold, a greedy grin plastered across his face.
"And this!" Continued Ishiteru, pointing at the poor vendor being held by the giant man. "Is an example of what may happen if you try to threaten the collectors!" The vendor was being choked, as the giant man began walking away. Ishiteru himself followed, cackling as the vendor's store was suddenly lit aflame.
Tori felt pain shoot up through her arm as her captor squeezed, pushing her back into her shop. Another followed, a sword at his side. "Right, lady, put it all right here," said her captor, holding open a large bag.
Tori, unsure of what to do, complied and opened her cash register. Slowly, she filled the bag, expecting the man to close it up and leave. But he kept waiting, and waiting, until there was no money left.
"That's all that's in there…" she said. The other bandit unsheathed his sword and stabbed it straight through the register.
"Come on now…" he said, "I'm sure you've got more in the back now, don't you? Or something else valuable.
"N-No! There's nothing! Please!"
"Hm…" he said studying the store's merchandise. "I'm sure some of these vases could sell for some decent money…" He picked up a large, clay container, covered in an intricate design of cuts. "Heh. I like this one. I should get some nice cash for it. Wat'chu think?"
"Take it, then," said the other, shrugging.
"P-please…don't take that," Tori begged." Take anything else, just not that!"
"Sounds even more valuable now. Why shouldn't I take it? The way you talk about it, it sounds like it's even more precious than I thought…"
"Please…just leave it. You can have ANYTHING else!"
"Anything…?" He repeated. Smirking, he said, "well, if you insist that I take anything I want…" He grabbed her arm and began pulling her out the door, motioning for the other bandit to follow. "How's about I just take you?"
Tears began to well up in Tori's eyes as she was dragged out the door by the snickering bandits. The bandit threw aside the clay container, and watched as it shattered into pieces, colliding with the ground. "You're worth more than that thing anyway…" He murmured. "Stupid piece of—ARGH!"
He was unable to complete his sentence before he felt a powerful, sharp pain shatter the back of his head. Tori saw the end of a large, bamboo stick twist around and slam into the man's stomach, effectively knocking him out between the two blows.
"Hey, who the hell do you think you are?!" Yelled the other bandit. "I'll burn down this store and your home for that, you hear! C'mere…"
Tori, who was now released, back away and looked on. "Hmph," said her rescuer. "You think you can get away, threatening Tori-san like that… It'll take more than just a few jabs to pay you back!"
The man burst into laughter, looking his enemy in the face for the first time. "You're just a little girl! You got lucky beating up Yukio like that, he didn't see it coming. But it'll take more than some little stick and some little bitch using it to hurt me!"
"B…bitch?! TAKE THAT BACK, YOU BASTARD!"
The bandit was seemingly unprepared for the oncoming onslaught. Tenten pole-vaulted into the air and pulled out several knives from her pocket, firing them simultaneously at the unexpecting man.
He easily sidestepped the assault, but found himself off-balance as Tenten used the momentum of her fall to kick him hard in the side. He half keeled over as she struck him in the stomach with her bostaff. With graceful technique, she delivered several more blows, striking him in the face, neck, and lastly…
"Gah!" The bandit fell forward, unable to stand the pain of a bostaff slamming into his unmentionables.
"That's what you get you bastard!" Tenten yelled. "You mess with Tori, you mess with me! You call me a bitch, you lose your manhood! And this!" She heaved her staff high in the hair and proceeded to slam down onto his head. "That's for breaking my vase!"
"Hm?" She turned to see several other men running in her direction. Apparently, she had identified herself as a threat. She prepared to meet them, when she realized that some of them veered in the direction of Tori's shop.
"Oh no!" Exclaimed Tori. "They're going to burn down the shop!"
"No way in hell I'll let them do that…" Said Tenten, but she could do nothing as three of the bandits came at her as a distraction. She quickly squatted down and burst forward, bostaff aimed forward. She struck one in the stomach, then lifted up her staff to keep another from slicing her with a katana. Holding onto the staff with one hand, she used her free one to pull two more knives from her pocket and stabbed the man with one of them, then fired the other around her back to keep the last attacker from coming near her.
"Dammit! Why won't it catch fire?!"
She turned to find that the bandits attempting to set the shop on fire were struggling to light aflame the air in front of them. The one with the torch was viciously stabbing the air, slicing it, doing anything he could, but nothing seemed to work.
Tenten smirked. "Nice, Sakura!" On a rooftop behind Tenten, sat Sakura, deep in concentration, her hands forming a seal. She quickly performed several more seals, before opening one eye to watch the scene.
"W-what is this?!" Yelled one of the men. "What's going on?!" To him, as well as all the others, it appeared as if the world was spinning around, quickening with every revolution, until it seemed to them as if they were trapped in the center of a tornado. One by one, they hit the floor, too dizzy to keep balance.
"I won't ever let you burn down that shop… Shannaro! She added, mentally.
Tenten glanced at the few remaining bandits in the vicinity, several of whom were edging away from the two girls. She hefted up her staff and twirled it around before slamming it down into the ground, end-first.
"THIS IS OUR VILLAGE!" She yelled.
Xxxxx
"Heh, check it out man, that house looks pretty big. There's probably a shitload of valuable stuff inside…"
Several of Ishiteru's bandits had advanced outward to the suburbs of the village, searching for good homes to pilfer from. The "Revenue Collection" could be left up to the others.
"Hey, good find. Let's check it out." Said another.
"Excuse me," said a voice as they opened the gate to the property. They turned around to find a young boy staring them down, his body in some sort of stance. "But that is my home. I would appreciate it if you didn't step on my property."
One of the bandits laughed. "To hell with you kid! Jizu, take care of him! We'll look through the house!"
One of the men, Jizu, walked up to him, intending to grab him in a bearhug. In retaliation, he broke forward out of his stance and delivered a powerful punch to Jizu's stomach. "I'm willing to fight if I must…" said Lee. "If that's what the situation calls for."
He hefted Jizu up onto his back, then with little struggle, heaved him up into the air and threw him towards the other bandits.
"Damn. Kid's strong." Said one of the bandits.
Several more came after him, but Lee easily sidestepped their slow thrusts, and knocked away their punches. He jumped up into the air, flipping, and landed with his hand on one of the bandits' shoulder. As he fell down to his feet, Lee grabbed the man's ear and pulled as hard as he could, forcing a cry of intense pain to emanate from the bandit.
"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Lee landed and tripped the man, knocking him down.
"If you wish for worse, I'm certainly willing," he told the others. However, his eyes widened as he heard the sound of the felled bandit roaring behind him as he attempted to smash open Lee's head.
Lee, however, stood perfectly still, remaining calm as the pain failed to arrive. "W-what the hell…"
"Kagemane no jutsu… Success." Lee glanced at the nearby benches and found Shikamaru lazily sitting in one of them, his hands forming the required seal for his Shadow Imitation Technique. "Take them out, Lee."
Lee nodded. "Thanks, Shikamaru!" The black-haired boy immediately proceeded to beating the bandits, multiple at a time, until his superior physical abilities left them all in on the ground, groaning in pain. Lee himself stood in the center, retaining the same stance he had been in at the beginning.
Shikamaru looked on, amused at the ease with which Lee had defeated his enemies. "GOT YOU!" He heard from behind him, but he showed no hint of surprise. The surprise attacker who had snuck up on him found himself captured in Shikamaru's shadow. "I can capture more than one person at once," Shikamaru explained, bending his neck back so he could see the guy's face. "And I don't need to pay attention to my surroundings when I know you're going to try to pull such a simplistic trick."
The man's face struggled to grimace under the hold of Shikamaru's shadow. "Try better next time," Shikamaru said, as Lee pounced on him.
"This is our village," Shikamaru said lazily, twisting around with his arm hanging behind the bench so he could see the now well-beaten bandit. "You mess with it, you mess with us."
Xxxxx
"What is it?" Asked Ishiteru. One of his men had arrived, panting hard.
"There's…there's resistance, sir. We're being beaten in several parts of the village."
"What?! Who? How?"
"I don't know. They looked like…they looked like kids! But…they couldn't be. Could they?"
Ishiteru grunted. The village couldn't have hired shinobi…he had just arrived this morning. Had they already had some here for some other purpose?
No…the villagers wouldn't be so willing to comply with their threats if they knew they had shinobi in the area. So how could it be that kids were beating up his men?
"Find out what's going on," he told the messenger. "If you come back not knowing what the hell is happening, then it'll be your head."
The messenger nodded and ran off. He knew just what Ishiteru had meant by "it'll be your head".
Ishiteru instead turned his attention on the vender that he had been collecting taxes from. "Do you know what's going?" He asked.
The man simply quivered in place, fear completely in control. Ishiteru grabbed him by the collar. "Answer me!"
"I…I don't know!" The vendor said.
"Oh, I'm sure you do. If anyone was capable of taking out as many men as I brought with me today… I'm sure they're presence or identity would be well known across the village. So tell me: Who. Is. It?!"
The man shook his head. "Perhaps Madomo can convince you to tell me." He let go of the man's collar and backed away. The giant man beside him, over seven feet tall and covered in muscles, grabbed the vendor by the neck and held him up in the air.
"Talk!" Yelled Ishiteru.
Suddenly, several object whizzed by, embedding themselves deep in Madomo's arm. The man grunted in pain, enough to release the vendor.
"So they're here, then," Ishiteru said. Who is it?
He turned to see a young boy, raven-haired and black-eyed, staring at him from a rooftop. His pose spoke of confidence, but Ishiteru merely smirked.
"So you're the one causing trouble then? Why don't come down here and fight us face to face, instead of playing around with your little toys."
A real ninja probably would have cut off Madomo's arm with shuriken. This is just some kid playing hero.
"Hn," the boy side, looking passed Ishiteru.
Hmm?
He turned around, only to find a blonde blur shoot into him, tackling him to the ground. The new attacker immediately flew off and landed on the concrete ground, near his raven-haired companion.
"Is that face to face enough for you?" He asked.
Ishiteru got up, visibly irritated. "You little shit…how dare you? Madomo! Forget the vendor! Go after those two!"
The giant man nodded and took his place between Ishiteru and the boys.
"Naruto!" Yelled the dark-eyed one.
"Got it!" Answered the other. Naruto shot into the air threw a punch at Madomo. Needless to say, it had little effect, but it provided a distraction for the other.
"Go! Sasuke!"
Sasuke jumped over the giant's head and came down, full power, towards Ishiteru. The bandit leader jumped away just in time to avoid the attack, but Sasuke was immediately back in an offensive stance.
"I'll give you credit, kid," he said. "You've got guts." Ishiteru unbuckled the straps on his back, releasing the long spear they held. He held it in his arms and fell into a defensive position. "But it'll take more just some fancy moves and tall hops to beat us."
"Heh. Good thing that's not all I have, then, isn't it?" Sasuke retorted. He burst forward. Ishiteru thrust his spear forward, but Sasuke easily sidestepped the jab. Sliding forward on the ground, Sasuke fell in between Ishiteru and his weapon. The bandit leader attempted to get away from Sasuke's assault, but the boy was too quick, and he landed a brutal punch in the man's chest, sending him flying back.
Ishiteru quickly recovered and stood, grunting. "Hmph," he said.
This time Ishiteru lunged forward first, feinting an attack to Sasuke's left. But Sasuke easily saw through it and ducked under the real attack. Still squatted, Sasuke ran beneath the shaft of the spear, and pushed up Ishiteru's dominant hand. Swiftly, he grabbed hold of both of the man's wrists and used the control to pull him into a powerful knee thrust.
"Gargh…" Ishiteru grunted, but no sooner was he keeling over in pain than he pulled a large knife out of his sleeve. Sasuke evaded the attack, allowing Ishiteru to gain control of his spear. The bandit leader took his chance to attack and immediately lunged forth, showering Sasuke with a multitude of spear thrusts and knife cuts, but somehow, to Ishiteru's dismay, he dodged every single one.
At last, Sasuke pulled out his own pair of knives and used them to parry and hold down both Ishiteru's spear and dagger. Ishiteru looked him in the eyes, intending to intimidate the boy, but only found that to be an impossible task. He fell back in fear, his gaze fixed on Sasuke's red eyes. "W…what are you?!"
Sasuke merely hmph'd at the demand. Ishiteru got to his feet once more, prepared to go fight once more.
Meanwhile, Madomo was having trouble capturing his little blonde blur of an opponent. Naruto easily evaded every swipe of the giant man's large, muscular arms, ricocheting off the walls of surrounding stores to deliver an occasional punch or kick to the large man.
At last, Madomo caught him by thrusting forward his long leg in a powerful kick that Naruto barely managed to stop. In fact, it nearly knocked him over just from the sheer extension power. Madobo smirked and switched legs, once again extending a powerful sidekick in Naruto's direction.
Naruto struggled to jump back in time, and found himself confronted with nonstop kicks, until at last he rolled over onto his back. "Argh… Son of a…"
Madomo attempted to stomp down on him, but Naruto got out of the way, jumping back to his feet.
His hands formed a quick cross-shaped handseal. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" He yelled, and three solid copies of him suddenly appeared. Madomo seemed confused at the sight of the blond multiplied by four. Was this guy all brawn and no brains?
"Let's go!" Yelled all four Narutos, as they all leapt in different directions. Two ran forward, one using the other as a stepping stone to get into the air. Madomo barely knocked him away in time to avoid his punch, causing him to disappear in a puff of smoke, but only grimaced when two other Naruto's shot up at him from the sides. One attempted to bearhug him from behind, despite the height difference. The other attempted a midair kick that Madomo was able swipe away, causing the clone to poof away. However, all three provided a great distraction as the fourth Naruto body-checked Madomo in the stomach, knocking him off balance. The Naruto bearhugging him from behind pulled backwards, using the momentum of disbalance to bring Madomo down, although it caused the last clone to disappear.
"The bigger you are," yelled Naruto, "the harder you…FALL!"
The giant recoiled in pain as his huge body met the concrete, but a powerful twitch knocked Naruto away, allowing him to stand once more.
"Hey, you're not bad for such a big guy, you know?" Naruto said. He had barely taken any damage and was in perfect condition. Madomo, however, had been hurt pretty badly by the fall.
"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto produced several more clones. A couple of them lunged for Madomo's legs, incapacitating his lower body. The others all burst into the air, attacking him in turn. The first two were blown away by his arms, but three more came after. One kicked him hard in the chin, while another threw a powerful pushing punch into his chest.
Behind him, Sasuke, fighting Ishiteru, kicked back his opponent, then used the bandit leader as a kickstand to leap into the air. Together, both Sasuke and the last Naruto attacked, each aiming as powerful a kick as they could muster to each of Madomo's temples.
The giant fell in a heap, unconscious and possibly dead from the assault. Naruto and Sasuke meanwhile, landed on their feet, staring down Ishiteru, who narrowed his eyes in anger.
"Dammit," he said, lifting up his spear once more.
"Naruto, make sure you watch out for his—" Sasuke was cut off by Naruto's warcry, as he burst forward, running straight for Ishiteru.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Naruto jumped into the air, producing three more clones. Ishiteru prepared his spear and watched as three came at him in turn, while the last went passed over his head.
He thrust his spear forward, destroying the first clone, then again to destroy the second.
These are all clones… The real one is behind me!
He turned as he jabbed his spear into the last clone and prepared to attack the real Naruto. But suddenly, he felt a powerful tug on his spear. He turned his head in shock to find Naruto, with a powerful hold on the spear, pulling back as hard as he could. Ishiteru fell backward into him, and Naruto delivered a destructive punch to the bandit leader's face, effectively knocking him down back to the ground.
He…he took the hit? As a…distraction…
Naruto jabbed the spear into the ground, pinning Ishiteru down by his collar. Naruto was panting now, but glaring at him angrily.
"This is our village! If you mess with it, you mess with us! SO GET YOUR DIRTY ASS OUT!"
Xxxxx
"They've grown, haven't they, Minato?" Asked Sagisu. "These past five years."
"Yes. I suppose they have."
The two ex-shinobi had been sitting at the highest point of the village, watching the individual battles as well as they could. Minato sat cross-legged on the wall guarding the roof of the only tall building in the village, while Sagisu leaned against it.
"They've improved greatly. I'd venture to say…they could easily make standard Genin in a Hidden Village."
"Would you? Hm…perhaps."
"Heh, you don't give them enough credit."
Minato looked on, watching as Naruto threatened the bandit leader, yelling something about it being their village.
It had been a quick five years; Minato wasn't sure where the time had gone. But when he took into consideration the growth those six kids had experienced in that time, he couldn't believe that it had only been five years. They were no longer the innocent little children they were before… They had grown into some interesting adolescents. And skilled ones at that.
The older two were nearing their fourteenth birthdays, whilst Naruto, the youngest of the others was not far from celebrating his thirteenth. Minato supposed that by now, they would have been Genin, and probably good ones. Sagisu was right; they had grown a great deal more than he ever gave them credit for. To think that they had come so far…
Tenten, of course, had exhibited great skill in handling tools from a young age. It had been clear to Minato that she would become the weapons expert of the group. And strangely, she never failed to carry a weapon on her, seemingly pulling knives out of nowhere.
After they had overused the practice weapons that Sasuke had had with him, Minato had decided that they no longer needed the Academy toys anymore anyway. He quickly sought out the best blacksmith in town and set him to work on a set of kunai and shuriken for a hefty sum of money, giving him the Sasuke's worn out tools to use as a model. The resulting products had been about as close to standard shinobi supplies as Minato hoped to get; clearly not of the same caliber, but close enough to be used, let alone deemed functional.
And Tenten had mastered her art well. She was now proficient with a multitude of different forms of weaponry, from ranged weapons to melee tools, bladed and blunt. No matter what it was, if it could be held in the hand, Tenten knew how to use it to kill. Though, Minato was glad, she had never been forced to do so.
Well, that bandit had taken a rather brutal jab to the head after insulting Tenten. She had shown no mercy. Minato wasn't sure if he was alive still or not.
He watched as Tenten and Sakura took their leave of Tori, their lifelong role model. She had helped him a great deal with raising the two girls while they were young, and he was undeniably grateful for it. However, he couldn't help but feel a tad sorry that he had basically stolen them from her. After all, Tenten had been immediately willing to give up the majority of her flowershop visits to train, and even Sakura had relented.
Speaking of which, Sakura had taken a strange turn at the beginning of their shinobi training. Minato suspected that it had something to do with Sasuke, whether it was a crush or something else entirely. But it seemed as if Sakura was willing to do basically anything that he was involved in, even hard work and training.
And it was a good thing, too. The scared little girl of before had grown into a confident and talented adolescent girl. Minato would be damned if he'd seen such a skilled Genjutsu user at that age in his life, and he suspected that her chakra controlled rivaled that of even his former student, Rin.
At this point, he could no longer tell which one had more potential. These days, both girls managed to remind him of Tsunade herself. It seemed that, had they together been one person, they probably would have been a reincarnation of the Sannin herself.
His gaze now shifted to the arriving figures of Lee and Shikamaru. Pride in the kids was not something he often allowed himself to show, as their desperate chase to earn it fueled their motivations more than anything. Nevertheless, Minato couldn't deny that the progress those two had made made him incredibly proud just thinking about it.
After all, it had been a huge disappointment to everyone when they realized that Lee was incapable of molding chakra. The boy had been so dismayed that Minato feared he would never come out of his depression. But he had promised never to let Lee fall behind the others, and devoted a great deal of time and attention to supervise Lee's training, putting all the emphasis on his Taijutsu skills. Needless to say, Lee's hard work and determination were the true factors of success in his training, and they were things that Lee had an excess of.
And it had worked. After all, even Sasuke, who would easily have been dubbed a genius in Konoha, could not keep up with Lee's speed, nor any other of his physical abilities. He was stronger, faster, and more durable than anyone. And he never stopped practicing; whenever Minato showed him a new skill, he would practice it nonstop, only stopping to eat and sleep, until he mastered it.
And of course, being the most mature of the group, Lee never showed off, nor did he complain at the difference in training between him and the others. He worked with what he got; he made lemon juice with his lemons. And he never showed any hint that he felt superior or inferior to the others for it.
And of course, as always, what Lee was, Shikamaru wasn't. He was the epitome of the Nara legacy; a tactical genius, lazy shit, and local maverick. If Shikamaru wasn't busy watching the clouds, then he was playing a game of Shogi with anyone who would bother (these days, it was mostly the older gentlemen of the village, since Minato, Sagisu, and Lee were too busy). And if he wasn't playing Shogi, then he was hard at work trying to figure out something that he had set his mind to discovering. He was always deducing new things, and sometimes Minato thought that Shikamaru was reading his mind when he spoke of things he shouldn't have known of.
That wasn't to say that Shikamaru did no training, though. Minato forced him to practice his chakra control and jutsu every once in a while. It had taken a great deal of time and a lot of effort, but with Minato's help, Shikamaru had re-developed and mastered Kagemane no Jutsu, the Shadow Imitation jutsu. Shikamaru, of course, had no idea that it was a clan skill that belonged to his real father; as far as he knew, he had developed it on his own, with Minato guiding the way. Nevertheless, he made as good use of it as Nara Shikaku ever did. And hopefully he would be able to, one day, develop more techniques similar to his family's legacy.
And speaking of clan legacies…
Minato turned his gaze back down below them. There sat Naruto and Sasuke, panting hard and calming down after their battle with the bandits. From where he was sitting, it was difficult, but with chakra-enhanced vision, Minato could just barely make out the red tint in Sasuke's eyes disappear, only to be replaced with the usual, dark onyx coloring.
Sasuke had wasted no time in proving how powerful his bloodline was. He mastered new skills in a speed that Minato could describe as nothing short of amazing, and it made him admire the Uchiha clan all the more. Obito, it seemed, had never possessed the Uchiha blood as powerfully as Sasuke did.
It had taken a few years, but eventually, Sasuke had awakened his Kekkei Genkai, his bloodline limit, the infamous Uchiha Sharingan. It brought back memories of Minato's student, Kakashi, to see such a genius young ninja in possession of those eyes. In fact, even Sasuke's stoic personality reminded Minato of Hatake Kakashi, at least after Obito's death.
But Sasuke, it seemed, had even more potential than Kakashi. Although he was now nowhere near the level of skill that Kakashi had possessed at this age, he had a huge amount of untapped power resting within him. No doubt, one day soon, Sasuke would make one splendid shinobi. Perhaps he could even make a legend of himself.
Lastly, Minato's attention was brought to Naruto. The blonde, although having just gone through a difficult battle, still had the energy to run around and yell. Sasuke himself was resting on the ground, but Naruto just kept going…and going…and going. It seemed there was no end to his stamina.
Minato inwardly was most proud of Naruto's improvement. The prankster had advanced from being a conniving, annoying little monster to a clever, witty warrior. True, he was loud and obnoxious and had a strange attraction to great, blaring colors, but Minato would be damned if he wasn't the most hyperactive, master of surprise ninja that he had ever seen.
And thankfully, through all these years of training, the Kyubi had stayed put. There had been no sign of the seal cracking, as Minato had made it a point to check on it regularly and ensure that it was still safe. As he and the Sandaime had planned together, the seal was designed so that over time, Naruto's chakra would mix with the Kyubi's chakra, as a form of protection for the time when a life-or-death situation would truly be upon them. Minato, undoubtedly, had been curious as to how the chakra mixing would work, but it seemed that Naruto was just like any other ninja. Although, Minato couldn't help but wonder if the hyperactive blonde's insane stamina and incredible recovery power had anything to do with the Kyubi.
Overall, they had made enormous improvements over the years, not only in the ninja arts, but in terms of maturity and individualistic growth as well.
"Hmph," said Sagisu, "maybe we ought to congratulate them on their victory."
Sagisu, too, had been a great help over the years. Training six kids in the ninja arts would have been a near impossible task for Minato. But with Sagisu, they had exactly three students for every Jounin-level ninja, which perfectly fit two sets of Genin teams. They often alternated their tutelage, addressing the needs of whomever required their individual knowledge and skill the most. Minato really owed it to the other ex-shinobi.
"Yeah. That, or yell at them for not taking care of the problem quicker."
Sagisu snickered. "Right. Let's go, then."
The two of them leapt down from the tall building, arriving just at about the same time as Tenten, Sakura, Lee, and Shikamaru. Naruto had now taken a seat on the ground beside Sasuke, and the two seemed to be arguing.
"I took them both down! I should get all the credit!" Naruto said.
"What're you talking about, dumbass? We both beat the giant guy together, at the same time. And that spear guy wouldn't have been so easy for you to beat up if I hadn't shaken him up first."
"Yeah, yeah, but I delivered the finishing blow! I took a hit so we could finish him off!"
"Yeah, just like you, idiot. Get hurt when you don't need to. You drama queen."
"Hey! I'm a man! I can't be a queen."
"Hn. Dobe."
"Bastard!"
Minato and Sagisu sweatdropped at the exchange.
I can never tell… Either they hate each other, or they're like brothers. I never had a brother, so I wouldn't know…
"Argh…those bickering little snots… I got beat by them…?" Minato turned his attention to the defeated bandit leader. Over the past few minutes, the majority of his minions had fled, not at all eager to take on the adolescent monsters. He was now incapacitated, and worse, all alone.
"Naruto and Sasuke have an…interesting relationship," Minato answered. "But that has nothing to do with your defeat. They're just talented, is all. And it's like Naruto said… This is their home. When something precious to you is threatened, you're bound to fight your hardest to save it, no?"
The bandit leader had no answer, so Minato let him be. Sagisu would take care of him. Minato, on the other hand, confronted his six students…children… Things.
He stood with his arms folded, gazing intently at them. The six of them lined up, albeit in a pretty crappy line.
"You guys fought pretty hard today…" he said, quietly.
"We kicked some ass, too," said Naruto.
"Hell yeah," added Tenten, her first in the air.
"Well, I can't say that I'm proud… Real shinobi would have taken care of the situation so much quicker and more much more efficiently."
The looks on their faces were somewhat dismayed.
"But, I suppose, your victory does warrant a celebratory meal, eh? Your pick."
"Yatta! Ramen, I call ramen!"
Xxxxx
Despite Naruto making the first call, the group had settled on a restaurant of more variety in foods. They were a rather large party, and a little ramen bar wasn't very likely to house them all comfortably.
Wait…comfortably?
"Hey, Lee, pass the sauce!"
"Keep your elbows off the table, Shikamaru, it's not polite!"
"How troublesome…"
"Who took my fork?!"
"OUCH! Not THAT sauce!
"Hn. Too loud."
"Shut it, bastard."
"Dumbass."
Minato sighed. Not only did he have to pay for all of them to eat…but he had to endure an entire meal with the lot of them. Not that he didn't like them or anything…but sometimes they could be so…well…so troublesome! Minato sometimes wondered how he managed to survive so long as a guardian for all six.
He had originally invited both Sagisu and Tori to come along, but Sagisu was intent on making sure the bandits were well disposed of and Tori had had enough excitement for one day. So, he was all alone.
"Listen," he said, "stop arguing about the sauce, kay? And Shikamaru, you can put your elbows on the table, it's not like it's a fancy restaurant or anything… And nobody stole your fork, Tenten, this restaurant just has one per plate…"
Suddenly, all the attention was on him. The little kids of five years ago would have immediately shut up if he told them to, but unfortunately he had taught them to have the guts to ask why. He had attempted to make the switch from being a parent to being a commander, but seemingly he had failed to do so. Nowadays he had hardly any control over them, and so he had now gathered the animosity of most of the table.
Well… this is what being a commander is all about, isn't it? Making yourself the common enemy of the whole group.
Minato spent the remainder of his afternoon lamenting his decision to interfere with the argument, as all it resulted in was a disturbingly painful headache.
Xxxxx
As time passed, things calmed down in Satowa. The bandit attack had caused a great deal of excitement, but thanks to the amateur shinobi, it had caused minimal damage and allowed the village to continue on its way to prosperity.
In fact, Minato had, to his surprise, received a great deal of thanks from the villagers for the kids' efforts. He was proud, to say the least.
Looking outside, he watched as rain clouds were beginning to form. There was supposedly going to be heavy rain that night, and he didn't want anyone to get caught in it.
"Yo! Head count!" He yelled, waiting for everyone inside the house to come. In a few moments, he found before him five confused and annoyed heads.
Only Sasuke's missing, hm?
Looking back out the window, he studied the clouds. It was going to start raining soon.
"Tenten," he said.
"Yeah?"
"Go get Sasuke. It's about to start pouring pretty hard, and I don't want him to get sick out there."
"Right." With that, the bun-haired girl left and ran off towards the clearing that had become "the orphan family"'s private backyard.
Although it was for his own good, Minato felt bad for having to pull Sasuke away from his haven.
After all, he thought, it's the anniversary of that day.
Xxxxx
Sasuke sat calmly, his feet dangling over the pond. He stared at his own reflection, seeing beside his grown self the face of his youth. The innocent young boy who had lost everything.
Comparing himself now to what he was back then…he had grown significantly. But he had no means of testing his growth. He had no idea how he would stand if he measured himself against the shinobi of Konoha.
Not that he particularly interested in going to find out. Over the past five years, he had gained a growing comfort in Satowa, and more importantly, the people in it. He enjoyed being with and living with the other orphans; he was almost at home around them. But it was around this time of year, every year, that thoughts of returning drifted into his head. He considered, every year, the possibility of going back to Konoha to confront his brother.
But it never lasted. Eventually, he would be brought back down to Earth and realize that he wasn't yet capable of taking on that man, and it would only fuel his determination to train harder.
And yet…those same words echoed through his head, nonstop.
"My foolish little brother… If you want to kill me, curse me, hate me!"
His fist clenched, the scene replaying in his mind once again.
"Live a long and unsightly life. Run away, run away, and cling to your pitiful life…"
His jaw clenched; his legs no longer swung, but were now hanging still above the water.
"And some day, when you have the same 'eyes' as me… Come before me!"
Looking back at his reflection, Sasuke found that he was shaking. He opened his fist and took a deep breath.
Calm, Sasuke, he told himself.
He needed to keep his cool. Otherwise he would never get anywhere.
…Huh? What…
He turned his head ever so slightly, but there was no longer any reason to do so. Whoever had come to interrupt him had walked openly into the clearing.
"Are you Uchiha Sasuke?"
That hadn't been the question he was expecting…nor was the voice familiar to him at all. Look at the reflection of the water, he saw the tip of a silhouette, but he couldn't make out any distinguishing features.
"What if I am?" He answered.
"Heh. That's good enough for me."
"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded, still not bothering to turn around.
"My name is Hyuga Neji. I'm here to bring you back to Konoha. Forcefully, if I must."
So… Konoha had come after him at last. After all this time…
Struggling to keep his cool, Sasuke turned his head just enough to get a view Hyuga Neji. He couldn't have been any older than Lee or Tenten, and had long brown hair. He seemed to wear a white jacket, and as expected, he wore the standard leaf Hitai-ate that marked him as a Konoha shinobi.
"And what will you do, Hyuga Neji, if I'm too much for you to handle?" He asked.
Neji looked unimpressed. "That doesn't seem to be quite likely of a result. However, the only way to make sure is to find out. Honestly, I would prefer it if you came quietly. It would save me the trouble of going through a battle that I can already predict the ending of."
Sasuke snorted. He didn't like this guy.
Slowly, he stood up and turned to face the Hyuga.
"I'd heard that the Uchiha were among the most powerful clans in the world," said Neji. "I wonder if your doujutsu can stand up to that of the Hyuga?"
"Hmph." Sasuke buried his hand in his pocket, getting a grasp on several knives.
"Stop playing around with your knives. Come at me or surrender."
"Tch." Sasuke let fly his knives and followed them through their course. Neji pulled out his own kunai and easily knocked them away. Sasuke came immediately after, throwing a momentum-filled punch towards Neji, but the white-eyed boy easily evaded by bending backward. He released his legs from the ground hitting Sasuke as they flew up, but Sasuke managed to veer off in midair away from the Hyuga's impending trap.
This time, Neji came at him. The Hyuga ran forward and jumped overhead. Sasuke, seeing no other alternative, activated his Sharingan and tracked down Neji's movements. Just in time, he managed to avoid a kunai slash by jumping away. Neji landed and burst forward, Sasuke barely having time to retaliate. They each threw their respective assaults, but thanks to their doujutsu, neither landed a hit. Sasuke parried a punch and tried to sweep Neji off his feet, but the Hyuga was too quick. He jumped into the air, thrusting his palm into Sasuke's face, only to be stopped by Sasuke's own fist.
Sasuke grimaced as they pushed away off each other. This battle wasn't going well. He wasn't accustomed to fighting a shinobi.
"Heh. Looks like what they say about the Uchiha is true, after all… Even a deadweight loner who's spent half his life in a farming village has some skill."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Watch what you say, Hyuga. You can't even fathom the power of the Uchiha bloodline."
But Neji had no retort. Instead, he had left his battle stance, his gaze fixed at a sight behind Sasuke.
"Perhaps he cannot… But can I?"
Sasuke's eyes widened, as he felt every inch of his body suddenly shiver due to the cold, emotionless voice. He had recognized it immediately.
"So…" said Neji, smirking. "I was wondering how long it'd take for you to come out. Is this reunion difficult for you?"
Sasuke slowly turned around, his Sharingan fixed on the man standing behind him. He had hair, as black as Sasuke's own, tied in a ponytail down his neck. He wore the standard Konoha flak jacket and black uniform. Wrinkles secluded his eyes upon his face, as the fully-mastered Sharingan stared out from within them. Sasuke's fists clenched.
Once again, the memory of that day played out through his mind. All the thoughts of revenge, all the anger he had gathered throughout the years spilled into him instantly as he stared down the man whom he considered to be the root of all his evil.
"And some day, when you have the same 'eyes' as me… Come before me!"
"Uchiha…" he seethed. "Itachi."
Author's Notes: I liked this chapter a lot more than the last few. Maybe it's because the story is finally starting to move along? Meh.
For some strange reason, there were several instances at which I had the urge to make characters say 'lol'. It happened pretty much every time any dialogue began with a word that starts with the letter L. Weird.