11. More on Phoenix
"Guess what, guys!" Naruto said gleefully. "Sai's book has disappeared under mysterious circumstances!"
Naruto looked at Yuki and Christo for their reactions. They had been "meditating" beside a fire for a good part of the day. Stupid Uchiha boys.
"Eh." Yuki replied. He was watching the fire intently. If Naruto hadn't been so happy, he probably would've noticed Yuki's face flush redder in a subtle say. Just by a tiny bit.
Christo, on the other hand, stifled a laugh. Naruto noticed that, at least.
"What's so funny?" Naruto demanded. "Tell me!"
Naruto hated Yuki and Christo. They were so annoying! They played pranks on him, and complained (very loudly) whenever Sai got out his book, and swore. Though they were careful not to swear if Sasuke or Sakura was around.
"It got burned." Yuki said, not taking his eyes off the bright fire. He took a stick and poked at the ashes of what was once a book.
Naruto stared.
"I did not burn it." Yuki continued on quietly. "My hand acted of its own accord."
"Just make sure Sai doesn't find out." Christo advised. "He has some ink justsu in his arsenal, ya know. He makes these damned ink rats who can spy on people. That bastard."
"You're not supposed to swear. I'm telling." Naruto whined.
"Who will Uncle and Sakura believe? Two innocent little four-year-olds or a lying bastard like you? Just be grateful Yuki burned that book." Christo snapped.
"You're mean." Naruto said, but very, very softly so that they couldn't hear.
He observed Yuki and Christo. They were like a team, and it was hard to think that they had ever been separated. From what he had heard, it seemed that Jongo and Yuri were also a part of their team. Not Jooyeon, though.
Sasuke was weird, Naruto thought. He was rarely around, and even then, it was to check up on Christo. (What was so great about that little brat?) He didn't talk to anyone. Naruto felt frustrated. Sasuke "temporarily joined" because he felt like it! Just like that! That ungrateful, little-
"Have you seen my 'The Basic Book of Friendship?' " Sai asked. He had just intruded upon their private "meditation."
Naruto was careful not to look at him. Sai might be able to read the expression on his face. Yuki tried to hide the ashes that once was once Sai's beloved book. Christo shook his head.
"What a pity. Now I don't have the whole set anymore!" Sai sighed.
"Whole set?" Yuki looked up in surprise.
"Yes. 'The Basic Book of Friendship' is merely the first book. What a pity, I wanted us to go through every single stage. But today we'll skip ahead and move onto the next one, 'The Intermediate Book of Friendship.' "
Inner Naruto, Yuki, and Christo: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sai (who is secretly able to read minds at random moments)?
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"Yuri! Jongo! Jooyeon!" Ann squealed. She ran up to the three older children and glomped them.
"Hi, Ann." Yuri said. Even though she was four, Ann was only two. That meant Yuri was twice as old as her, though very young.
Ann and the Uchiha siblings knew each other pretty well. In fact, Ann might as well as be their sister. Since they were the only children of Akatsuki, Ann had nobody else to play with, and grew extremely close to the Uchiha siblings.
"Where you be?" Ann demanded in that little-kiddish voice of hers. "You gone!" (Remember, she's still two years old, folks. You can't expect a two-year-old to use big words.)
"We had a mission." Yuri lied.
Ann accepted this. She squinched her eyes and looked at her mother and Itachi discussing something.
Jooyeon and Jongo were quieter than usual. Ann noticed this but decided not to comment. She had learned from experience that bothering any of the five siblings when they were down was a bad move.
"Ann, come here." Blue Hair snapped. Ann looked over adoringly to her mother, waved good-bye to Yuri and the rest, and skipped over to Blue Hair.
Yuri looked at Ann until she and her mother left. Ann seemed so small and innocent and happy in such a place. Not for long, if the things that she heard were true.
Yuri wasn't stupid. She spied on Akatsuki members whenever she could. And lately she had heard snippets of things like, "Ann…sacrifice for…cannot wait." or "The brat will die for…sacrfice." And so on.
They were using the little blue-haired girl and the word "sacrifice" in the same sentence. But when? And for what? Yuri wanted to help Ann escape when the time came, but she hadn't gathered enough information to make up a solid plan.
"Yuri! Jooyeon! Jongo! I am going to teach you something." Itachi's voice made Yuri snap out of her broodings.
"Yes, Father?" Jooyeon asked.
Itachi looked serious. (Well, more serious than usual.) "This is an incredibly old technique handed down for generations in secret until it has reached us."
Itachi went into big speech that Yuri only half-listened to.
"And so." he concluded. "Come forward!"
Yuri exchanged an uneasy glance with Jongo. But both of them came forward along with Jooyeon. They stood stiffly in a straight line, praying that this wouldn't be painful or traumatizing.
"The Uchiha clan has been born with a tendency towards the fire element? Why is that?" Itachi threw a scroll at the ground. "It is because we have been the faithful servant of Phoenix!"
Jooyeon didn't even flinch, but Yuri and Jongo looked a little curious despite their fear.
"It was believed to be a myth. But…it's not." Itachi had to make everything dramatic. (Get to the point, already!) "Phoenix!"
Yuri and Jongo gasped. Like any other ninja children, they had been brought up with the old legend of a demon named Phoenix. Phoenix was said to be spectacular and butchered thousands, but mysteriously disappeared a few hundred years ago.
"It's not a little child's fairy tale. For years, the Uchihas have been Phoenix's faithful servant. As long as they sacrificed one from the clan each generation." Itachi stared at them with hard eyes. "In my generation, it was supposed to be my brother, your uncle, Sasuke."
Yuri remembered who Sasuke was. Sensei's old friend. They knew each other?
"He was supposed to be the sacrifice, but later they decided to change it to me. Needless, to say, I punished them to the maximum. And sacrificed more than what was necessary." Itachi smirked heavily. "Now I'll show you the new jutsu you'll learn."
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"Squirrel!" Sai squealed, and dove out of the way.
"What the fuck! Sai, get over here!" Naruto yelled.
Naruto and Yuki went to go find Sai. He was hiding behind some nice, thick bushes, whimpering and cringing.
"What was up with that squirrel?" Naruto asked.
Sai rocked back and forth. "Forgive me! I lied during our telling of our worst fears. My worst fear is"-shudder-"squirrels."
"What. The. Fu-" Naruto started to say, but Yuki went over to him and tripped him.
"You shouldn't make fun of other people's fears, stupid!" Yuki smirked. Then he put on a (fake) comforting face and said, "Sai, I'll help you overcome your fears."
"They're so freaky! And I'm allergic to them!" Sai kept rocking.
"Everything's all right." Yuki said, patting Sai on the back, and giving a scolding look to Naruto.
Naruto was getting (to say the least) pissed off. By both Sai and Yuki, of course. Couldn't they be less annoying? Naruto was starting to like it better before he turned Sai into an emotion feeling not penis joking guy. And Yuki, well maybe he would be better if he wasn't so conceited!
"Is everything all right there?" Sakura yelled to them.
"Yeah!" Yuki yelled back. "Just give us a sec."
(Yes, Sai in my story is different. He can read minds at random moments, doesn't do those penis jokes of his, is scared and allergic to squirrels, and carries around "The Books of Friendship" set. Volumes 1-10, second edition. He's been trying to get his hands on all the volumes, 1-12, first edition, but alas, he is unable.)
"C'mon. Time to go." Naruto mumbled, hoping that Yuki would actually listen to him for once.
He didn't.
Naruto just decided to abandon Sai and Yuki for the time being, and rejoin Chirsto, Sakura, and Kakashi. So he left them.
"What are they doing?" Kakashi asked. "Is Sai crying?"
"Um, eh." Naruto replied.
Christo threw a kunai at a tree. There was a slight rustling noise and a squirrel fell out. A squirrel that had been killed by the kunai, to be exact, and the same squirrel Sai had run away from. (It had gone right into his neck.)
"You killed a poor, defenseless squirrel!" Naruto accused, pointing to Christo.
"It's rude to point." Christo said. He then walked up to the squirrel and picked up the body by a stick. No sense in getting dirty, icky germs on his nice, clean hands.
"Why did you kill that squirrel?" Naruto and Sakura said at the same time.
"Revenge. Besides, it was annoying me." Chirsto sniffed.
"Revenge is bad for your health." Sakura, the only (and very skilled) medic-nin told him.
"That's not what Uncle told me." Christo said in a rare moment of cluelessness. "He told he revenge was a good thing."
Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi all had the same thoughts. Sasuke hadn't changed about the whole "revenge is good, blah, blah, blah" part. And he had sort of brainwashed the poor kid.
Just then, Yuki and Sai came back. Sai had fully recovered from his fears and was busy planning out the dinner menu. (Yes, he cooked the meals while on the road. He believed it would "bring them closer together." But really, Sakura had invented a trick where they hid the inedible parts in their napkins, so the group stopped complaining shortly after.)
Christo threw the squirrel's dead corpse. At Sai.
Sai gave a high-pitched scream like a girl and ran away. Yuki sighed, glared at Christo, and went back to get him.
"Revenge is good." Christo stated in a dull voice..
(But the poor, innocent squirrel was a victim of Christo's revenge. Don't worry, it will rest in heaven. )
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Yuri had screamed and struggled to no avail. Yes, screamed. The occasionally mute girl felt she had to scream on this occasion. Father had pinned her against the wall and taken some of her blood using a dreaded needle! At first, he did it to Jooyeon, who also struggled and protested. She lasted for about two seconds. Next was Jongo. He lasted exactly one second more than Jooyeon.
Yuri, on the other hand, had lasted for five seconds.
Yuri whimpered and clutched the place where the shot had entered her skin. It didn't really hurt that much, but it was the fear. All her life, her mom had warned her against needles. Jooyeon and Jongo, too. They had been told that drawing one's blood would have perhaps fatal consequences.
Itachi had pointedly ignored his children's screaming. After he had felt he had a sufficient amount of blood from each of them, he made them sit down and stop their blubbering. (Under threat of Mangekyou, of course.)
"Write your name with your blood." Itachi commanded sternly.
All of them ducked their heads, dipped their fingers in their blood, and wrote their names on the unrolled scroll in their childish handwriting. Most of the reason Itachi hadn't stopped Yuri from teaching the others how to read and write was that how else would they know how to write their names on summoning scrolls? And Phoenix was valuable.
After they had all finished, the scroll disappeared in a poof of smoke.
"Now, let us see what you can do." Itachi growled in his sadistic way.
Yuri glared. Jooyeon looked blank and emotionless. Jongo gulped and shivered. They had their own ways of reacting to this.
"A warning. Phoenix is loyal to no one, and likes bargaining." Itachi added as an afterthought. "It is no fixed servant of the Uchihas, or vice versa. Rather, we have an alliance due to past payments."
"So why don't you teach this summoning to someone else?" Jongo asked. Then he bit his lip. It was stupid of him to ask. Now Father would be very angry with him.
But instead, Father seemed almost amused.
"Why don't you explain, Jooyeon?" Itachi asked his youngest. "If I recall correctly, you were there, listening to what I told you my future plans were to Kisame."
Jooyeon glared at her father for a minute. Then she recited with a monotone voice the following: "The only ones who are able to summon Phoenix-and hence make deals with him- are the ones who could use the sharingan."
Itachi gave a rare smile. "Exactly."
The three children waited for the next phase of training to commence. Even Jongo was a little excited.
"Now, go wash up for dinner." Itachi said. He walked off and slammed the door in their faces.
'Harsh.' Yuri thought.
'Mean.' Jongo thought.
'Insensitive narcissistic maniac.' Jooyeon thought.
Later that night at dinnerActually, it wouldn't be "dinner." It was when Yuri, Jongo, Jooyeon, and Ann were confined to the "nursery" until bedtime, with a plate of food for each of them. The food sucked. It wasn't a nursery. It was a small, claustrophobic room with random junk in it.
Ann ate everything on her plate and picked off the leftovers from Jooyeon's. She chatted and giggled about her latest adventure at her mom's most recent scouting mission. That little girl fell asleep shortly afterwards, so the other three had time to talk.
The other time they were at the Akatsuki base, they had tried to amuse themselves in the nursery. Yuki had fashioned a "tent" out of the cardboard boxes, and Yuri had made a slide out of some of the tables. Even after the "maze games," life had been bearable.
Yuri was bored. So she started flicking dust at Jooyeon. Jooyeon got pissed and yelled. Jongo was quiet.
It wasn't a very good night.
End of another chapter. Sorry it took me so long to update.