Will of Fire
Chapter 2: Friendship and Tragedy
A six-year-old Uzumaki Naruto walked through the door of his ninja academy class, ready to take his first steps in becoming a full-fledged ninja, just like his Aniki(big brother), Kakashi. He was dressed in a black tank-top that was adorned with a red spiral in the center of the back, black jeans, and black shinobi sandals. His short blond hair stuck out in spikes, while the lower half of his face was covered by a black mask that was exactly like Kakashi's. His azure-blue eyes seemed to only be interested in the little orange book he was reading from, though he was actually surveying the classroom, and making note of the more interesting occupants.
In the back, he spied a boy with spiky black hair, sunglasses, and a thick white coat. Must be an Aubrame, he thought. Kakashi had mentioned them when he had been talking to Naruto about the more prominent clans in Konoha. His attention then turned to a sleeping boy with his black hair in a ponytail, and a rotund one sitting next to him, eating a bag of potato chips. Nara and Akimichi, would be my my guess. Then he noticed a boy with a dog sitting on his head, Inuzuka, talking to a shy girl with ink-blue hair and pale eyes. Hmm, a Hyuuga, then, as an afterthought, A pretty cute one too. Then he noticed a blond, pony-tailed girl, Yamanaka, and a pink haired girl, Haruno, fighting, apparently over the last seat next to boy in a blue shirt and raven-dark hair, with similarly colored eyes. He was sitting next to a boy with crew-cut black hair, and dark brown eyes. The two seemed oblivious that there was anything even remotely interesting occurring near them, as they continued their conversation.
Since he didn't see the sense in fighting over a seat, of all things, he decided to end the argument on his own. So, he walked over and took the seat next to the boys. When they noticed him sitting there, Naruto turned to them and, with a smile behind his mask, lifted his left hand in greeting and said, "Yo, name's Uzumaki Naruto. You guys mind if I sit here?"
The blue-shirted one just shrugged, while the brown-eyed boy smiled and said, "Nah, it's nice to meet you, Naruto-san. My name's Jaganshi Ryu." He then stuck his hand out, which Naruto proceeded to shake in greeting.
Naruto then looked at the one to his immediate left, and held his hand out. "And you?"
"Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke," he replied, with a small smile. In the first ten minutes of the academy, he had already made two friends. This day wasn't turning out to be nearly as bad as he had expected.
"Wow, an Uchiha, ne(huh)? You guys have one hell of a reputation," Naruto stated. He then turned to Ryu, and said, apologetically, "No offense, but I don't think I've heard of the name Jaganshi."
Ryu chuckled a little, then said, "Well, that's probably because I just moved here with my sensei, Genkai."
"That just might be why," Naruto said in a jokingly thoughtful tone, while scratching his chin. This got a small chuckle from Ryu, and a smirk from Sasuke. He turned back to Ryu, and was about to ask about where he was from, when he felt someone tap his shoulder.
Naruto looked up to see the pink haired girl, apparently the winner of the fight, looking down at him with a cheery smile, that held barely-constrained anger.
"Excuse me," she said, her voice laced with that same anger, "I believe that's my seat you're sitting in."
Naruto just looked back at her with that same bored expression that Kakashi was so famous for, and said, "Actually, as of three minute ago, this became my seat, seeing as how your name doesn't seem to be on it."
Before the girl could shriek her reply, the door opened and admitted a man with a scar across the bridge of his nose.
"Hello, class," the man greeted, "My name is Iruka, and I will be your sensei for your duration in the academy." He looked over his class and stopped on a boy whom he could've sworn was Kakashi, had it not been for the blond hair, and blue eyes. That must be Naruto, he thought. Great, I get the vessel in my class. Hope he doesn't turn out to be too much trouble...
With those thoughts, he turned to the blackboard and began the lesson.
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Naruto told Kakashi as soon as he got back from the first day about his new friends. Kakashi couldn't have been happier for his Ototo(little brother). If there was one thing Kakashi thought Naruto needed, it was friends. In the proceeding weeks, Naruto and Ryu were introduced to Sasuke's family, including Itachi, who just rubbed Naruto the wrong way. Ryu, in turn, introduced Naruto and Sasuke to his sensei, Genkai, whom Naruto thought was pretty scary. Naruto tried to introduce Ryu and Sasuke to Kakashi, but he was constantly being assigned to missions, so he finally stopped trying, at least until his Aniki had some time off.
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The next ten months afterwards went by smoothly enough. That is, until the screams of pain and cries of anguish of his brethren would bring a young Uchiha to his knees, as he watched his brother slaughter his own parents. He was then subject to the torture of the Mangekyou Sharingan, causing him to relive that same moment in his own mind for three full days, only one second of real time. Normally, something as traumatic as this would send someone on a path of darkness, that would likely end in the loss of one's sanity, as well as death. Luckily, this young boy had two extremely loyal friends.
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"How is the boy?" Sarutobi asked the doctor.
"It doesn't look good, Hokage-sama," the doctor replied. "The boy is completely unresponsive. He doesn't eat, sleep, or talk. He just sits there. If this continues-"
"Where's Sasuke?" a voice cut in.
The two looked down at the source of the interruption. There stood two young boys, one he recognized as his old friend, Genkai's, student, Ryu, and another that looked eerily like Kakashi. It took a second for Sarutobi to recognize the boy in the mask as Naruto. He looked up, as Genkai and Kakashi came walking up behind their respective charges.
"Sorry, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said. "They wouldn't take no for an answer."
Sarutobi eyed the boys, and asked, "You two are his friends I presume?" Both boys nodded. The old man sighed, looked back at the doctor, and nodded for them to be let in.
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The sound of the door opening didn't bother Sasuke at all, nor did the sounds of footsteps in his hospital room spur any kind of reaction. But it was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the incessant poking of his shoulder. He'd finally had enough of it and he smacked the hand away the next time it came to poke him.
"Hey, you aren't dead!"
Sasuke looked at the one who had been poking him, and saw Naruto sitting there, obviously grinning behind his mask. He looked around a bit and saw Ryu was there too, standing next to the bed, smiling.
His smile turned into a frown as he said, "We heard about what happened."
Sasuke looked down at this, trying to fight back tears, as he said, "I couldn't stop him. I was too weak. I... I didn't even try to fight him!" He couldn't hold back the tears any longer. He started crying. Then he felt a comforting hand on each shoulder.
"Of course you couldn't stop him. Your brother was in the ANBU. You haven't even made it past the academy yet," Ryu said.
"Yeah, so if you had fought him, you'd probably be dead. And we can't have that. After all, we're a team aren't we?" Naruto chimed in.
Sasuke thought back to the day when they had all declared themselves a team, and had promised to fight for each other, and help each other reach their respective goals. He gave a small smile, and said, "Arigato(Thanks), you guys." He thought about something for a minute, and decided on a course of action. He turned to his two best friends, and he said, "I need to get stronger. I need to get strong enough, to kill Itachi," he stated matter-of-factly.
Naruto and Ryu looked at each other and nodded. Then Ryu said, "Then we'll help you train."
Naruto nodded, and said, "And when the time comes for you to fight him, we won't interfere."
Sasuke nodded his thanks, then noticed something rather important. "I'm kinda hungry." To confirm this, his stomach let out a low growl, causing the other two to sweat drop.
Naruto snapped his fingers and said, "I forgot! There's this awesome ramen stand called Ichiraku's that I've been meaning to take you guys to. It's got the best ramen in town!"
"Then let's go!" Ryu yelled, pumping his fist in the air.
Sasuke smiled at his two friends, and thought, I won't do it, Itachi. I won't kill my best friends. I get my own power, my own way. And then, I will avenge the clan.
With his resolve set, he headed out with his companions into bright Konoha morning.
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Author's Notes
Gah! Not enough action! Good thing that next up is the Genin exams! Although, it will be my first time writing fight scenes, so don't judge me too harshly. Anyway, please R&R.