Chapter 12: Blend

Naruto found it hard to concentrate. The lecture by their chunin instructor was boring and he found that his short attention span couldn't keep up with the dull speech about the history of Konohagakure. Since the young children were so young the instructor was obviously washing it down a bit. The kids would learn details as they moved on to the next grade level. However, just like Naruto, there were many who zoned out most of what was said.

The instructor went on and on about the ninja system back then and how clans fought each other. However, Naruto wasn't paying attention. His focus was lost. He thought about the dreams he had been having and what happened that morning. Tou-chan had said monsters didn't exist. But Naruto wasn't so sure anymore. That voice…maybe it was a ghost?

Naruto tuned the teacher out…that is until a familiar name came out of the man's mouth. Uchiha. That was his Father's last name. He knew he and Tou-chan had different last names but he never thought about the reason why. He had always known Sasuke as his dad. Naruto never ever questioned the origins of his Tou-chan…or his own. Naruto chose to ignore the possibility that Tou-chan wasn't his real Tou-chan. One parent can look entirely different right?

"Now the Uchiha clan were enemies with the Senju clan," The teacher lectured, making Naruto's ears perk up. "Both clans were very powerful. The Uchiha possessed the Sharingan while the Senju had unmatched physical prowess and were skilled Shinobi. However, their Leader Hashirama Senju had the Mokuton. It was very rare. Not even his brother had it. Eventually, the wars became gruesome and Hashirama the Senju's leader-and eventual First Hokage-founded the village alongside Madara Uchiha, who eventually left. But that's for another day."

Something in the back of Naruto's mind seemed to flare at the mention of the Uchiha clan's leader. It didn't come from himself, rather he felt like something other than himself was reacting. It was hard to identify. Naruto frowned. Lately things had been so weird…

Once History class was over, Narurto waited for the next teacher to arrive. He was relieved to see Iruka-sensei enter the room.

"Alright I'm sure you kids are excited to learn ninja techniques," Iruka said, earning nods from the chibis, "but there's more to it than just doing random finger movements. So to start…"

Iruka trailed off as he wrote the word 'Chakra' on the board. Naruto sighed, he knew this already. Sasuke made sure to tell him what Chakra was and a few other things. Sasuke almost lost his patience during that time, since Naruto was very slow sometimes. It took numerous tries for the raven to get Naruto to say '"Chakra" instead of "catra". Naruto chuckled at the memory. Naruto yawned and put his head on his arms, slowly yielding to sleep.

Sasuke looked like a doll. A lifeless doll. Needles protruded from several part s of his body. Naruto held the boy close.

"I guess this is it for me," Sasuke rasped.

Naruto watched horrified as his non-official friend and rival breathed his last. The blond boy felt rage. Pure and hot. Burning within him.

"Is this the first time you've seen a comrade die?" Naruto growled at the boy inside the ice mirrors that surrounded them. He clenched his teeth and saw red.

"I'm gonna kill you!"

Naruto felt an eraser hit his head, which caused him to bolt upright while screaming, "Tou-chan!"

"Naruto!" yelled Iruka, "pay attention!"

Naruto blinked and blushed lightly as he realized he fell asleep in class. Worst of all, he screamed for his dad. The whole class started to laugh at the boy mercilessly.

"Did you hear that?" some boys said, "he called to his daddy! What a sissy!"

"ALL OF YOU BE QUIET" Iruka boomed, successfully silencing the students.

Naruto sighed relieved while at the same time feeling a sense of déjà vu.

Sasuke put his shirt back on. The process had gone as planned. He could already feel the flow of his chakra move with eagerness. He was currently in a room that Tsunade and Jiraiya prepared to remove the seal on his chakra. In an undisclosed location.

"Alright," said the toad sage, "it's all done brat. You've got your chakra back. But I'm wondering what you plan to do now,"

Sasuke thought about Jiraiya's question for a few moments. What would he do now? Train, obviously. But what else? He found that he was without an answer. Sasuke had always been a one track mind kind of person. He had always had a definite goal. When he was a child he wanted to become like his Father and brother. When he was thirteen he wanted to avenge his clan. There had always been something set his mind to. However, that was gone. He no longer felt the burn he had as a young teen. The hunger for revenge. At least not since three years ago. Since he found out the genuine reason for Itachi's atrocious actions. At first, Sasuke thought it was all a lie. All of it. He defended his clan and cursed Itachi's name to the heavens that day…but the more they spoke-and showed him the printed evidence-the more it became clear that it was the truth. For the first time in what seemed like a century Sasuke cried. He also went through a time of depression. A time where he lost all purpose. During that time, Naruto had been his anchor. The anchor that kept his ship from sailing off of the deep end and back to the darkness. Sakura, Ino and the others also helped. Part of him wanted to blame the village. To make them feel the same pain his clan had felt. But thanks to Naruto and his other friends-plus Kakashi , Gai, and the others-he was able to see that it would be no good. Killing off innocents who had nothing to do with his clan would not bring them back. It would only cause more pain. He did however, fully blamed Danzo Shimura.

After a few minutes he had an answer, "I'll protect those precious to me." 'Especially Naruto' was left unsaid, but Jiraiya seemed to know his thoughts. The old pervert gave him a knowing look.

"Alright," Jiraiya grinned, "Tsunade-hime, kakashi it's done you can come in."

Both persons named entered the room. Kakashi closed his book and gave Sasuke a lazy contemplative look. Tsunade looked at Jiraiya and nodded.

"Right," nodded the sage, "Sasuke, I was not just here to set your chakra free. I have some information about the Akatsuki as well as proposition for you."

Sasuke nodded mutely and listened.

"The Akatsuki, are going to make their move soon. I've already passed this information around. It isn't clear what their goal is. However I do know one thing. They want the fox spirit inside Naruto. There's no telling when they'll show up. We need to be prepared." Jiraiya said somberly, "which brings me to my next topic. Naruto. I know he started the academy today...but I think it would to his benefit if you were to help him train outside of school. But, the training I'm implying is…related to the nine-tails."

"Elaborate," Sasuke demanded calmly.

"I mean, that Naruto needs to learn how to properly control the chakra. As well as other training as well. He's young, but there is no reason for him to be defenseless. Take Kakashi for instance. He graduated at five. At Naruto's former age he was already a Special Jounin. I know Naruto is no genius. But…he will get stronger if he works hard." Jiraiya finished, remembering how he mastered the Rasengan in a matter of days.

"He's 5," Sasuke silently argued back, "I will train with him but kyuubi's chakra is off limits for now." Sasuke remembered the malicious chakra. He didn't want Naruto hurt if things went out of control.

Jiraiya crossed his arms. He wanted to argue but he knew that tone. Sasuke said it, and that's how it will stay, kind of tone. The brat was as stubborn as a wild horse who refused to be tamed. "Alright," he agreed.

"There's also the matter of your status. Since you pose no threat to konoha," Tsunade said, "as of today you're a genin again."

"And I," Kakashi interjected, "will be Sensei again sort of(because in reality we're now equals). Sakura has already been informed. We are team Kakashi now."

"There is a catch though," Tsunade muttered, "Danzo."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Hn?"

"He insisted that one of his ANBU root agents be part of the team. You will meet with him in a few weeks. The old geezer probably wants to keep an eye on you and Naruto..." Tsunade said.

"…Hn…" The raven felt rage. While this was an opportunity to find out about Danzo, the fact the old adviser wanted to watch them was unsettling. He would make sure, he told himself, to watch whoever it was. Especially when they were around Naruto. The Uchiha looked at the clock on the opposite side of the room-which had no windows-and sighed. Naruto wouldn't be getting out of school until three hours from now.

"So that's all right?" the raven asked. The three older adults nodded. Sasuke sighed and left to go train. He had time to kill and a sharingan to exercise.

Naruto pouted. It was break period and he had no one to hang out with. Most of the kids in his class avoided him and decided to talk about him behind his back. So rumor got around that the blond kid was a daddy's boy. The bigger kids left him alone, but looked at him with pity. Naruto felt the strangely familiar pang of loneliness. He found this odd, he had never ever felt lonely. No way! He had Tou-chan and his friends. He had Tsunade-baachan and Shizune-neechan! Naruto frowned as he realized how pitiful it was to not have friends your own age. He suddenly recalled a time he was ignored by everyone. Everyone. Even the adults. The blond boy's loneliness grew, until he felt he would drown in it.

'What's wrong with me?' Naruto whimpered eyes watering, a cloud hanging over his head.

"Hey what's wrong miss your daddy?"

Naruto turned to the source of the voice. It was one of the boys from his class. He was slightly bigger than him.

"Go away" Naruto said, trying to emulate Sasuke's glare but failing miserably.

"Why don'tcha make me sissy boy!"

Naruto pounced at the boy, "Teme! I'm not weak! I don't need Tou-chan!"

Both boys started to fight. The bigger one obviously had the advantage. After a few tries the larger boy managed to get Naruto off of him. Naruto went at him again and punched him landing a few blows.

"Runt!" the boy screamed, punching Naruto right back knocking him down. The whole playground watched with interest until an instructor intervened. Needless to say both boys earned a detention.

Sasuke wasn't pleased when Naruto was not waiting for him at the academy entrance. He was even less amused to find that his son had gotten into a needless fight and that he slept in class. After talking to some of his teachers-Iruka included-he came to the conclusion that both Naruto and he needed to have a conversation on proper behavior at school. The raven waited for Naruto to come out. Once he did, both of them walked toward their home in silence. Which worried Sasuke slightly.

"Naruto," Sasuke began, "why did you sleep in class and get into a fight today?" he asked.

Naruto pouted and said nothing. Sasuke shook his head.

"Naruto," Sasuke stopped walking which made the blond stop. "if you don't tell me I'll ground you. No more ramen. For a month. Maybe two."

Naruto's cerulean eyes widened, "NO! teme!"

Sasuke's eyes glinted. Naruto suddenly wished he'd never spoken at all. The raven started walking again and silently motioned for Naruto to follow. Naruto followed hesitantly. Once at their house, in privacy, Sasuke led the young boy to the couch and spanked him. Naruto whimpered.

"What did you call me?" Sasuke asked

"T-teme…" Naruto's eyes widened, "I'm so sorry tou-chan!"

Sasuke carefully sat Naruto in the couch. "Ready to talk?"

Naruto nodded and explained what had happened. Not leaving anything out. He knew better than to hide anything from Sasuke. Naruto was a horrible liar and his Tou-chan could spot a lie in a second. When he mentioned the dream and the sudden tide of loneliness. Sasuke became convinced he needed to tell Tsunade.

"Just promise me you'll behave. You could have ignored the boy easily…as well as your classmates" Sasuke nodded knowingly, since he had done that in the regular bases after the masscre. "and try to pay attention."

"Okay Tou-chan," Naruto nodded, shooting his big blue eyes at Sasuke, hoping he wasn't grounded.

"You're grounded by the way."

Naruto's cloud of doom returned.

Hmm..I skipped the unsealing since I'm not good with writing stuff like that(is lazy XD). I barely managed that tiny brawl with Naruto and the boy...tomorrow's college... ah summer flies.