Hidden Genes
Summary: There is a type of jutsu only one shinobi could use,the Shodaime became famous for it being impossible for anyone who doesn't have his DNA, and even then it was rare. Sharingan is an Uchiha doujutsu,so no one can have it unless an eye is given, so why does the Kyuubi vessel have both?Why does he move like the Yondaime?
"Naruto?"
"Do you know about the attack on Konoha from twelve years ago?"
"The Kyuubi attack?" Sasuke asked hesitantly and Naruto nodded.
"I was born that night and the Kyuubi no Kitsune was sealed away inside me by my father," Naruto said, lifting his orange top to allow Sasuke to see the now visible swirly seal on his abdomen. Black eyes stared at the black ink, still not quite sure he was hearing this right. Or seeing it right, for that matter. It felt too surreal. "That's why everyone always treats me so badly. I've always known only jatred from the villagers and I could partially understand them. I mean, they're just scared and angry that the monster that destroyed their homes and families was still alive. Sandaime didn't allow for me to be killed and a lot of people were against that, but he was Hokage and so they couldn't do anything about it."
"They had no excuse," the raven growled out and Naruto's head snapped up (when had he even lowered it?) at this, not believing the fierce scowl om Sasuke's pale face. He looked ready to murder someone as he placed a hand over the seal, making the blond blush. "You were, still are a child and they decided to hate you for something you had no control over. You never did anything to suggest you would bring harm to them, their families and friends or their home, as Konoha is your own home and you're obviously willing to die for it and them if you're so determined to become a ninja. You could have left and never turned back. You could have joined renegades or bandits or other such criminals and helped them destroy the village and the country, but you didn't. You chose to serve and to protect them and this," he gestured around them, not implying the nice little apartment but the fact that Naturo had to build it himself in order to even stay alive while still in the village. "Is how they repay you." He took hold of one of Naruto's wrists with his own free hand and drew the blond closer to his own chest. "They don't deserve you, dobe. And you don't deserve to be treated like this."
"But they do have a reason-"
"Excuse."
Naruto ignored Sasuke's correction as if it had never been uttered. "For acting like this, teme! I'm not saying I deserve it," the blond interrupted when his slightly older companion made to speak and Sasuke shut his mouth. "I'm just saying I understand. They're scared of him. They're scared he can control me and that he will attack the village all over again, like he did twelve years ago. They fear more of their loved ones would die. They're as scared of ending up alone as I am, so I understand."
Sasuke stared at the younger boy for a moment, hand still splayed over the seal in an almost protective manner as he thought over what he just heard. Naruto was scared of ending up alone? Wasn't he already? As far as Sasuke knew, Team 7 will be the first group of people Naruto will daily see and interact with that don't hate him. Unless ... 'Is he talking about me?' He couldn't stop the excited flutter in his stomach at the thought, but he pushed it away. This was not the time for him to think about his crush on the smaller boy.
"And he did leave quite the mess afterwards," Naruto was still talking, now unable to look away from Sasuke's eyes, despite them having lost focus for a few moments while the Uchiha had been deep in thought. Sasuke blinked as something that Naruto just said registered. He was a bit angry with himself that he had not noticed it immediately, as this definitely wasn't the first time Naruto had said it, either. The blond had mentioned it what? Four, five times?
"'He'?"
Naruto stopped talking at that a frowned, not understanding the meaning behind the word, but Kurama did and the fox sighed. The jig is up, kit. You just told him you and I were partners in crime. Naruto wanted to cringe at that but held it in. He did, however, let out a loud gulp that earned him a fine arched eyebrow. Those startling blue eyes moved away from the black gaze of his teammate as he did his best not to go into another near panic attack. You really need to be more careful.
"Naruto," was the only warning Sasuke was going to give and the whiskered tween sighed.
"Um, yeah, about the Kyuubi ... He's kind of ... conscious and talking to me in my head." When the other stared at him as though he were crazy, Naruto glared at the older boy. "I'm not making this up! Not am I crazy!" He snapped and Sasuke shook his head. Though his expression never changed, Naruto realized it hadn't even been judging from the beginning. He had just ... overacted. Feeling the need to somehow apologize but not finding the words, Naruto instead settled to tell Sasuke a bit more about himself. It seemed only right for the way he was acting and the Uchiha clearly only wanted to get to know him or something. Though that sounded really weird when referring to Sasuke. "I just ... he has been looking after me since that night when I activated Mokuton. I don't remember much before that age, so we've been talking to each other since as long as I can remember and he's not all that bad. He's just ... just ..."
"Misunderstood?" The raven threw in helpfully and Naruto beamed at him.
"That's it! Misunderstood."
"So you can talk to the Kyuubi." Sasuke concluded, looking down to where his hand was covering up Naruto's stomach. He drew his hand away and Naruto shivered as cold air hit his heated skin. He shivered and squeaked for a whole different reason a second later when a pale finger started tracimg the black swirl. He looked up at Sasuke, having had expected at least some fear upon the older genin learning that the beast that had terrorized his home was conscious and that Naruto had been talking with it. Yet the Uchiha looked non-pulsed by all of this. As if learning your teammate houses one of the strongest beings in the world was an everyday occurrence. Naruto couldn't help but like Sasuke a little but more at that. "And since the Kyuubi no Yoko is a fox, I'm guessing that your little kuchiyose, Kurama, was it?" Naruto nodded. "I'm guessing there's a lot more behind those red eyes than him just being a kuchiyose."
'He got it so quickly,' Naruto thought with some envy. He might like and admire Sasuke, but he was still only human and he couldn't help but be a little jealous of his natural genius. Naruto himself was of only average intelligence (Kurama disagreed, since no average person could pull off the pranks Naruto did) and even with the Sharingan, he needed quite some time to learn something. He guessed that that was the difference between him and Sasuke, between his Uzumaki blood that had somehow gained the Sharingan and Sasuke's pure Uchiha blood that carried the gene naturally. Then again, the key to learning with the Sharingan or copying something with it was to understand what you were watching. If someone were to suddenly use different hand seals for some jutsu, not even those with the Sharingan would be able to repeat the technique since they wouldn't know how to mold chakra for the jutsu. Uchihas still needed to learn the basics, but Naruto himself had never had help with it and that was another reason he was struggling.
I expected nothing less from an Uchiha. Kurama said from his cage with a swish of his nine tails. With his host calm and the conversation going the way it was, he was pretty relaxed, despite the seal being touched and he himself being the topic at hand. Indra was as intelligent as almost every of his descendants.
'Ashura sounds more like my type of guy,' the blond joked in his head while he smiled a small smile at Sasuke and nodded. "Yeah. Kurama, the Kyuubi no Kitsune," he stressed the last word, indicating to Sasuke with just tone alone that he didn't want his partner to be refereed to as a demon. "And I have been working on that for years. Finally got the hang of it last year."
Sasuke nodded and finally drew his wandering finger away and pulling down Naruto's jacket. He had seen and felt that the boy had shivered a couple of times and he didn't want the idiot getting sick the day before their first mission outside of Konoha. "How does that work?"
"Well, because of my large chakra reserves, I need to meditate often. Usually, I go about keeping te power deeper inside of me so no one could detect my chakra, but if I focus into a specific spot, I can manifest some of Kurama's chakra in the form of a clone of sorts and then we need to push a piece of Kurama's mind into the clone we made of his chakra." Naruto shrugged, trying to not make it sound special, despite it being very much so. "That's up to him and it mostly takes half an hour or so."
"So that's why you didn't summon him until later during the bell test." Sasuke realized, fascinated by what Naruto had told him. "You weren't ready."
"No. We weren't. We had to prepare on the spot and it didn't help that Kakashi-sensei had riled us both up." The blue eyed boy muttered, pouting. "And now because of that stupid old man, Kurama won't be able to come out until two months pass."
"What? Why?"
"It takes a lot of dense chakra to make a corporal body, bastard. Even with the both of us working together on maintaining it or just making it, it's exhausting. All that chakra leaving the body in a rush and then suddenly coming all back in a single second." Naruto explained as he fully relaxed and rested his back against the backrest on the love seat. He closed his eyes a sighed. "We need some time to sort all of that chakra back into place and the body needs some time to adjust to those changes."
"Hn, makes sense." The Uchiha conceded, copying his younger teammate's actions and actually relaxing for once. "So there's no hope of you changing your mind?" It may have sounded like a question but Sasuke meant it as a statement. He now understood why Naruto hadn't agreed in the past to move in with him. He needed the sort of space the Uchiha Compound couldn't give him for his training with Mokuton and no doubt for the destructive powers he practices with the Kyuubi. If he tried that in the compound, he would either end up breaking something or restraining himself in order not to do just that.
Naruto looked over to his guest with a confused frown on his face. "Why are you so persistent with that? I mean, I really wouldn't mind it but I don't want to be a burden or intrude on you."
Sasuke scoffed and faced the blond. "You're an idiot, dobe." He ignored the indignant response and just continued. "If I were to think of you as either of those, I wouldn't be inviting you to stay with me."
Okay, he could see the reasoning in that. "But why?"
Sasuke looked away, willing his cheeks not to heat up. This was not how he had expected his afternoon to go but he was definitely not complaining. He probably knew more about Naruto than anyone, sans the fox he hosted in his body. Ge should probably share a little, too. "Because you ... make the place feel alive again. If you're there, it does not feel so alone anymore." I don't feel so lonely with you, who understands the pain of returning to an empty house, were the words that rang between them and both boys fell silent.
They have always been close in a way no one would call it close. They understood each other with a single glance. That's why they became so important to each other. Something pulled on their young hearts insistently when they were near one another. If they were in the same room, their eyes were drawn to each other. If they were withing hearing range, they will always exchange words, even if it were just insults. With one glance, they could see what the other needs. That's why their fights were special. When they fought, Sasuke forgot about what Itachi had done and his revenge was pushed to the farthest corner of his mind and heart. When they clashed, Naruto ft acknowledged more than ever, even if the entire village were to acknowledge him all at once, it couldn't compare to what it felt like when Sasuke devoted so much attention to him.
In the light of the moon, the pitchforks and the torches, Sasuke was Naruto's comforting shadow, his hiding place that will shield him. In the darkness of the shadows, the nightmares and the memories, Naruto was Sasuke's ray of light, the sun shinning over the horizon and breaking through the black that was his life.
They balanced each other out. Their very presence was comforting to their counterpart. Complete opposites, yet they didn't clash like everyone assumed they would. Instead, they fit perfectly. Like two halves of a whole, the pieces of a puzzle that made out their lives. Black and white, light and dark, hot and cold. One without the other was meaningless. It was the order of all things and they were no exception.
Their loneliness and their rough lives have brought them together; as if it were the string of fate, it drew them in until they could see each other and by then it was already too late to pull back. But would they even want to try? They were hell of a stubborn pair but not even they were prideful enough to pull away from such comfort.
The silence that descended on the room should have been thick and suffocating, but the boys found it welcoming. It was so relaxing that Sasuke felt his eyelids slowly dropping closed, sleep trying to take him into its welcoming embrace but he was an Uchiha and he was stubborn. He wouldn't give in. He will not be defeated by the sand ma-
"I guess I could *yawn* think about it ... until we come back ... from the mission." Sasuke blinked when that statement was followed by a weight on his shoulder and he glanced down to see that Naruto's golden mop of hair was right underneath his nose. Said Jinchuuriki was have trouble with finding a comfortable way to fall asleep so Sasuke instinctively lifted his wrapped it around Naruto, drawing him closer until they were touching from their thighs to their shoulders. Naruto seemed to almost purr as Sasuke started playing with his hair before falling into a deep slumber. A small smile played on Sasuke's lips as his teammate rested against him, bringing his hands together while still keeping a steady hold on the blond.
It took him a lot more effort and concentration to make the shadow clone, but that was normal. It was his first time trying out the jutsu and he knew very little about it other than it being the strongest kind of clone and a forbidden jutsu. He watched as the clone went upstairs to find dome blanket to cover them with and then sent him to light up the fireplace. After the fire was good, he dispelled the clone, feeling even more tired than before. He wrapped both arms around Naruto and started rearranging their positions until he was lying on his side, Naruto nestled between him and the back of the couch. He stayed awake for half an hour, watching Naruto sleep and as the fire light played tricks across Naruto's face.
With his dobe in his arms and a nice fire warming them up from behind him, Uchiha Sasuke fell asleep, just as deeply and just as contentedly as he had four years earlier. He really liked sleeping with the loud genin in his arms.
Neither boy were aware of the soft scoff Naruto's inhabitant gave as he, too, curled up for a little nap. Ah, young love. Those two were going to have an interesting love story, that was for sure.
