Disclaimer: I don't own this.
Ch. 5
As Uchiha Fugaku suffered from a mild migraine so did one Namikaze Naruto. It was after all rather hard to organize a group of young Shinobi to be into a summer program. They had to decide what could be shared and what couldn't such as family techniques and etc. Frankly it was just aggravating. But Naruto wouldn't let it get to him! Instead, he began to whistle as he walked home from the academy. Of course he had to stop every once in a while to say hi to the various shop keepers or accept the cookie the lady offered him.
So, Namikaze continued his walk home with cookie in hand grinning and whistling all the way. That is until he caught sight of Sasuke. And boy was Sasuke scowling up a storm. Naruto frowned slightly and then glanced at his wonderful beautiful cookie then back at Sasuke. Finally making a decision he ran up to Sasuke grin firmly in place.
"Yo! Sasuke ne, you shouldn't frown so much!" Naruto said with a laugh. Sasuke slowly turned to look around and upon seeing who it was his scowl deepened into a full blown glare. Naruto for his part laughed uneasily. After all Sasuke couldn't hate him that much, right?
Naruto finally laughed and said, "Eh, here have my cookie! It's really good you know! Maybe it'll make you happier!"
Sasuke looked shocked. Slowly he took the cookie and looked it up and down as if looking for poison. Naruto merely grinned and rubbed the back of his head in a nervous gesture. Wasn't Sasuke going to take it? Eventually Sasuke looked back up at Naruto scowl firmly in place and said, "No thanks. I don't like sweet things."
He then proceeded to throw the greatest cookie ever out and walk away leaving a dumbfounded Naruto behind.
But before he left Sasuke remembered to say the customary, "By the way we're still not friends."
Naruto scowled. How dare he throw out the greatest cookie ever? Who could possibly not like sweet things? Oh wait, yeah Sasuke. Naruto scowled some more and with a frown firmly in place much like the one Sasuke had worn continued the walk home.
"Ka- san! I'm home!" he screamed. Uzumaki Kushina raised her eyebrow slightly in consternation from the upstairs. Sometimes she wished her dear son could have taken after Minato a little more in the loudness section. With a huff she slowly walked down to the kitchen where Naruto sat wolfing down food with a scowl firmly in place.
She raised another eyebrow as she heard him mutter, "Stupid Sasuke! Throwing out one of the greatest cookies ever!"
Kushina froze for a second at the name. Sasuke as in Sasuke Uchiha; the jinchuriku? Kushina glanced at her son for a moment before shaking her head. He couldn't possibly be talking about that Uchiha, the one who had taken his place as the living sacrifice. It wasn't like she was dumb. She had heard Minato and Fugaku discussing it outside her hospital door. And to think that could have been Naruto. Kushina scowled looking almost like a mirror picture of her son. She didn't like thinking about the Kyuubi attack. It brought back to many painful memories.
In fact, she completely avoided the Uchiha and when anyone tried to gossip about the boy or the Uchiha she rather skillfully changed the subject. She had used to be rather good friends with Mikoto, but now she avoided the woman like a plague. It hurt to think that once upon a time she and Mikoto had thought their sons would be best friends. Now it hurt to even think of Mikoto's younger son, the sacrifice.
Kushina frowned. She'd mastered the art of avoiding everything that brought back bad memories: the Uchiha, the village, and even Naruto. It was actually rather rare for Kushina to even be in the village. Usually she was off on missions outside the village. As a boy Naruto had been largely raised and trained by Kakashi and even Jiraiya when he was in town. Kushina made him act like a proper godfather and actually meet and train Naruto. It didn't stop the guilt that came from knowing she wasn't acting like a proper mother. A mother shouldn't avoid their only child even if he was the spitting image of his deceased father. Kushina sighed some more and glanced at Naruto's scowling face. It was time she stopped avoiding her problems! Just because it hurt didn't mean a thing! She was supposed to be a kunoichi for god's sake! Steeling her resolve Kushina swore that right there and then she'd stop avoiding her son and her used to be best friend Mikoto.
"What's this about a cookie?" she finally asked. Naruto froze for a moment and stared at her. His eyes slowly widened in shock before a grin split his face and he started telling his tale of the bastard Sasuke and the yummiest cookie ever. Halfway through the story Kushina had to interrupt him.
"Sasuke as in Sasuke Uchiha?" she hesitantly asked. Naruto frowned at her slightly before rubbing the back of his head in a nervous gesture. He seemed to be pondering it for a moment.
"No, Sasuke he's an orphan." He finally said, "I guess he kinda looks like an Uchiha except for those weird birthmarks on his face."
Naruto gave his mother a cheeky grin before pretending to put birth marks on his face like Sasuke's.
"Hehe he kinda look like a fox!" Naruto said with glee. But Kushina remained frozen in place. Those marks had to mean the boy was the container. Hell even Naruto thought this Sasuke looked like a fox. But if the boy wasn't an Uchiha had she misunderstood the conversation between Minato and Fugaku? Had she avoided the Uchiha for no reason? What the hell was going on? It was probably beyond time to visit Mikoto and get some answers. She'd avoided this village and her problems for far too long. It was time she actually started paying attention to Naruto again too. Even if it did hurt.
Naruto couldn't believe his luck! His ka- san was finally paying attention to him. She'd spent all afternoon with him and had even promised to start teaching him more family jutsu. Sure having Kakashi to teach him and his god father was great fun, but this was his ka-san they were talking about!
XXX XXX XXX
Two days later Kushina found herself outside the Uchiha clan compound. It wasn't really a clan compound, though, as Uchiha lived all over the village and many non-Uchiha lived inside the compound anyways, but Kushina still thought of it as thus. She carefully walked to Mikoto's house with a heavy heart and knocked on the door. She wondered what Mikoto would say. After all, it had been almost nine years. Slowly the door opened to reveal Mikoto standing there with a pleasant smile on her face. When she saw who it was her face filled with surprise.
"Ku…Kushina?" Mikoto asked in astonishment. Kushina could fill her face turning slightly red before she slowly nodded and asked if she could come in. As she walked in and sat down she could feel Mikoto's eyes burning her. It was obvious the women was pissed.
"No hide or tail of you for the past nine years or so and suddenly you just show up on my door step for no good reason!" Mikoto ranted, "You couldn't even be bothered to stop by and express your condolences? I know you were upset at Minato's death, but that's no excuse! I know that I tried to find you about half a million times! Where were you? If I didn't know better I would have said you were avoiding me!"
At this Kushina blushed a horrible red color that clashed terribly with her red hair. Mikoto froze and slowly with an appraising eye looked her over.
"You have been avoiding me?" Mikoto asked.
At Kushina's slight nod Mikoto frowned even more and carefully asked, "But why?" Kushina wriggled in her chair in discomfort and wouldn't look in Mikoto's eye before slowly deflating.
"Your son. It just brought up bad memories. You know things I wanted to forget." Kushina finally said. Mikoto frowned. She wasn't used to the normally chipper Kushina being so down and quiet. But what did she mean? Was she talking about Itachi? Mikoto waited for Kushina to explain herself, but when it became obvious she wouldn't Mikoto decided she might as well ask.
"What do you mean? Why would Itachi bring back bad memories?" she finally asked.
Kushina laughed a bitter laugh and looked her right in the eye before saying, "Not Itachi, but Sasuke."
Mikoto frowned and suddenly her anger returned.
"What do you mean Sasuke! Sasuke died. You know the night of the fox attack!" Mikoto said mockingly, "How would that bring back bad memories?"
Kushina froze inside. Sasuke had died? But that was impossible. What was going on? What had Minato and Fugaku been discussing? Wasn't Sasuke Uchiha the container?
"But I don't understand. I thought Sasuke was the container?" Kushina questioned. Mikoto stared at her for a moment in absolute shock before the cold look of hatred descended again.
With a sniff and an upward turn of her nose as if in superiority Mikoto said with malice, "Of course you wouldn't know. It's not like you're ever even in this village anyway. It's no wonder your son is constantly playing pranks. A cry for attention I suppose," Mikoto sneered, "The Uchiha helped the fourth seal the Kyuubi and in thanks the fourth or third I'm not really sure which named the container after my son Sasuke who had just died."
Kushina froze. Had Sasuke really died? She frowned at that thought. Of course he had! So the container really wasn't an Uchiha. But still something about this just didn't really add up. What about Minato's conversation with the Uchiha clan head? Maybe they'd just changed the plan? That had to be right. Still she really should look at the container just to make sure. She did owe the boy for saving her own son from the fate of the living sacrifice. For now though, it was time to patch up her friendship with the Uchiha matriarch.
Two hours later a skipping Kushina left the Uchiha residence. It really hadn't been that hard to patch up her friendship with Mikoto. Then again the woman had always been super kind and understanding. Kushina grinned. It was probably the reason she had always forgiven Kushina for her crazy stunts when they were genin. And boy her discussion with Mikoto had been pretty eye opening. She'd spent so long avoiding this village that she had missed all the changes going on in it. There were now Uchihas as jounin instructors, academy instructors, and members of anbu. Ten years ago that would have been unheard of! According to Mikoto the third was even thinking of one day having Itachi replace him. That one had really shocked Kushina. An Uchiha as Hokage! That had been pretty much unheard of when the first or second were around. Oh hell even when Minato was around it would have been unheard of! She grinned lightly. She should probably thank the Sandaime for making her take a vacation (forced leave) to get to know the son and village she'd been avoiding better.
Uchiha Fugaku stared at Uzumaki or Namikaze Kushina's retreating back with a thoughtful expression. The way she had assumed that the container was Sasuke Uchiha was suspicious. Did she know the truth then? Fugaku frowned for a moment before his eyes flashed. He and Minato had been discussing it right outside her room in the hospital! Shit, they'd been practically screaming it. It really wasn't a wonder if she'd heard. But now what should he do? Even if the Namikaze knew the truth there was no way she would agree to teach the boy. But the boy, his son, had taken the place of her own son. It would be just like Kushina to feel she owed a debt to the boy. A debt that he could easily collect by having her teach Sasuke. This would solve all his problems! But did he really want the Namikaze to teach his son? She was skilled enough of course, but the style she used to fight was nothing like the Uchihas and probably wouldn't suit Sasuke at all. Fugaku frowned some more. No, Kushina was not the right teacher for his youngest son. He needed a teacher for Sasuke, but he just couldn't figure out whom. Maybe he could use Kakashi or even Itachi? Itachi had loved his baby brother a lot, after all.
XXX XXX XXX
Far away a young anbu captain stifled a sneeze. Itachi would have frowned, but that would have involved showing emotions, something which he was strongly against, even if it would have been hidden behind his anbu mask of a weasel. Sometimes Itachi wondered what idiot decided to give him the mask of the weasel. Who else would wear the mask except Itachi? Putting such thoughts away he turned back to the matter at hand which was watching the container.
Itachi had loved his little brother with a passion and still missed him to this day. It always brought a bitter taste to his mouth to think that his brother's name had so carelessly been given away to a nobody. If he believed in showing emotion he would have scowled. His father constantly preached about how the container was a hero and yatta yatta. But Itachi just saw him as his little brother's usurper. And watching the boy day and night was just annoying. He had to admit though that the boy's posturing in front of the mirror was slightly amusing and he wasn't an awful ninja either. If Itachi didn't know better he would have said the boy had a photographic memory. Of course that was nonsense or maybe just wishful thinking. Sometimes, after all, Itachi wished the boy would turn into his little brother and so who could really blame him for imagining the boy being slightly Uchiha like. And maybe he felt a little pride when the boy had called him his favorite anbu ever when Itachi had stopped store clerks from kicking the boy out of their shops or over charging him. Itachi always tried to tell himself that he did that because he didn't want the boy to wear the horrendous orange jumpsuit that he had somehow managed to find and not because he liked the boy. It would be ridiculous, after all, for him to like the boy. He was just his brother's usurper. For kami's sake Itachi knew he didn't like the boy. Hell he couldn't even call the boy by his first name, the name he had stolen from Itachi's real brother. Itachi shook his head slightly. No, he didn't like the boy.
With that thought Itachi turned back to watch the scowling container who was apparently complaining to the sky about stupid Namikaze Naruto and summer classes. That scowl kind of looked like an Uchiha scowl, Itachi mused silently, before frowning and dismissing such a ludicrous thought.
The boy, Itachi had learned, needed something to teach the other brats to gain entrance to the group and still had no ideas. Maybe he could teach the boy some things. It would definitely cement his place as the boy's favorite anbu. Itachi had always imagined teaching his little brother all sorts of cool things anyways.
"Damnit the boy wasn't his brother!" Itachi thought outraged. Why couldn't he figure that out? For Kami's sake he didn't even like the boy, this usurper. Why would he even want to be the boy's favorite anbu anyway? No, he didn't like the boy. And no he would definitely not be teaching this boy any of the things he had been planning to teach his brother. After all he didn't like the boy, right?