Chapter 3. Kind.
Age 10
Sakumo is ten years old when the second Hokage is killed in an ambush. It's one of those times where everyone who was alive at the time will remember where they were when they first heard about it. Tobirama Senju had not been a young man anymore, but he'd still been strong- certainly no one in the village could match him.
Sarutobi Hiruzen returns to Konoha wide-eyed and just a little bit stunned, Tobirama's seal of succession clenched in pale-knuckled fists. Shimura Danzou comes home with a bitter sneer on his face that will remain there until the day he dies.
He becomes an even harsher teacher, too. He pitches his students against each other, even when Natsume can no longer keep up with his teammates. Michiyo is quick and deadly, three tomoe spinning in each sharingan, and deadly fire ninjutsu to back it up. And Sakumo..
It's around this time that Sakumo figures he might me something of a prodigy.
He's only been learning ninjutsu for three years, but he can already call upon lightning without handseals. It's as much a part of him as the colour of his hair.
He outpaces even Michiyo with her quick eyes and hands. He runs circles around the few bandits they encounter on missions and paralyzes them with his chakra before they even know he's there.
Danzou-sensei explains those with lightning-natured chakra tend to be naturally fast, just as wind users are naturally agile and earth users filled with endurance.
The only real problem is that his body is small and thin compared to theirs. So Danzou-sensei gives him a tanto and says
"This will help."
xXx
The next day, Sakumo is told to show up at the training grounds outside of their regular hours. He is asked to bring his tanto and does so obediently.
Danzou-sensei doesn't show up, but a strange man with a few days' worth of stubble and black hair pulled into a ponytail does. He's carrying a katana on his back and roughly explains he'll be Sakumo's new teacher.
His name is Karasu, and he breaks Sakumo's brand new tanto into a thousand pieces with the first blow they exchange.
xXx
"You know what your problem is?" Uchiha Michiyo says scathingly. "You're just too damn nice for your own good,"
Sakumo shrugs a little. His head is still throbbing from the blow to his head, and his arms are being swathed in bandages by a medic.
"You could have easily made champion in this tournament, y'know," His Uchiha friend continues. "If you'd just struck that guy doesn't even deserve being made chuunin, and everyone knows it."
Sakumo doesn't really care either way. He remembers the feel of flesh underneath his tanto, and remembers his opponents frightened eyes.
It's one thing to hurt a stranger from a strange place, but to hurt a child who has grown up in the same streets as him is entirely different. Michiyo is right. It would have been easy to win the tournament. It's just that Sakumo hadn't wanted to.
Michiyo stands up abruptly and bows at the waist. "Hokage-sama!" She squeaks, and Sarutobi Hiruzen enters the building.
He asks Michiyo to leave and sits on the edge of Sakumo's bed. He is a small, slight man in his early twenties, with a friendly face and warm eyes. Not at all as Sakumo had imagined when he'd first heard of the so-called God of Shinobi.
Sarutobi give him a gentle smile and ruffles Sakumo's stormcloud hair.
"You did good, you know. No matter what they say." He says.
Sakumo blinks and wants to ask why, but he stops at the last moment. Sarutobi's face is illuminated by the sunlight filtering through the window, highlighting premature wrinkles around his eyes and mouth. He is the kind of man who laughs a lot, and Sakumo cannot help but think that that alone is why people should follow him.
"For a shinobi, strength is everything." Sarutobi says. "But you know what? Kindness is a strength, too."
He pulls a chuunin vest from behind his back and hands it to Sakumo. "Congratulations, Chuunin-san," He says, and leaves again.
Sakumo's grin threatens to split his face apart.
xXx
Karasu pulls up his nose when Sakumo gushes to him about Sandaime's words.
"I believed that once," He grunts. "But life taught me differently,"
xXx
xXx
Eleven years ago
Her knife cuts through his bindings effortlessly.
He smiles and she tenses, expecting an attack.
"Thank you," He says instead. "I appreciate it. My hands were starting to feel numb,"
She looks at him for a moment. He has a lop-sided smile and dimples in his cheeks. There's a few days' worth of dark stubble there, too.
"Just go," She says.