Memories
Itachi and Gai returned to Konoha to give their report and both then headed to the hospital.
"Gai-san." Itachi said.
"Yes, Itachi?" Gai replied.
"Why are you going to the hospital?"
"To visit one of my students, he got pretty banged up at the Chuunin exams, probably would've been killed if I hadn't intervened."
"You must care for him a lot."
"I do, he is... my taisetsuna student."
"I know how you feel, maybe not the student-sensei bond but one of my teammates is also hurt badly."
"Well I'm sorry about that, Itachi... whenever you have a bond with someone it's important to keep it until the end."
"That's... unlike you to say something like that."
"I have my bonds... my students, my comrades and Kakashi; my eternal rival."
"Of course."
"What bonds do you have?"
"My team, that's enough for me."
"Itachi, teams aren't invincible you know. You should form bonds with people who give you a reason to want to come home after a mission."
"Alright this is very unlike you, Gai-san."
"I may be one of the most Hot-Blooded shinobi to date but I also understand what it means to be a human and not just a shinobi."
"I see."
"Well this my stop goodbye, Itachi send my regards to your teammate."
"I will do that." Gai walked into the room where his student was.
Itachi continued further up until he reached Natsuki's room where he found Ayame who got a fright when Itachi entered the room.
"H-hello, Itachi-kun." Ayame said nervously.
"Hello, Ayame-chan." Itachi said indifferently.
"Ano... I was just leaving."
"No you weren't. Please don't let me interrupt you. I have some issues that require some thought." Itachi then sat on a chair and closed his eyes and folded his arms. Ayame stared at him for five minutes straight when he spoke up and gave her another fright. "Do you want to say something?"
"N-no." she said. Itachi then stared at her thinking on what he should say next while Ayame just found things to fiddle with, afraid that if she returned his stare her head would explode. "Can you stop staring?" she said, almost inaudible but Itachi heard.
"Sorry, force of habit." Itachi then turned to Natsuki when Ayame covered Natsuki's face.
"Don't stare at her, you might kill her!"
"What do you mean?"
"Your stare, its a constant look of 'I can kill you just by staring at you.'
"I'm sorry it's a force of habit... and if I recall correctly, you were staring at me."
"Maybe I was maybe I wasn't."
"You were."
"OK, so I was, its only because this is the first time we're alone so I feel awkward."
"I have that affect on women." Itachi smirked making Ayame laugh.
"Sounds like something Dairuko would say."
"I know, Dairuko's personality makes him more approachable."
"So you're acting like Dairuko to make me feel comfortable?"
"Maybe I am or maybe I'm just like him."
"Now that's a scary thought... Uchiha Itachi flirting with girls left and right."
"Many girls would love that."
"Ok you can go back to normal, I prefer standard, intimidating Itachi as compared to this."
"So be it."
"Well I have to go now, Itachi-kun my lunch break is almost up."
"Goodbye."
"Seeya." Ayame was at the door when Gai's words came to Itachi's head.
"Ayame."
"Nani?"
"Would you like to get some drinks with me sometime... purely friendly no hidden objectives?"
"Uhm... sure just stop by the shop whenever you want the drinks." Ayame replied with a smile and left 'I wonder if he is actually coming on to me... either way I have bragging rights over my friends.' Ayame snickered at the thought.
Itachi sat by Natsuki's side and moved a strand of hair from her face then smiled at her.
"Natsuki... I'm not exactly sure how to talk to an unconscious person... but here goes," Itachi took a deep breathe "today the village was attacked by two ninjas Hoshigaki Kisame and a masked man named Tobi. Kisame is a obvious threat but he's not the one I'm worried about, that Tobi however he has a Sharingan and his jutsu... everything I threw at him just went through him... literally. I'm not sure whether or not I want Tobi to be an Uchiha." Itachi sighed "As if dealing with those two wasn't enough, the village elders are giving me a headache talking about damage control, future missions and politics in general. Natsuki, I apologise for burdening you with my problems in your current state...I will be back soon." Itachi said as he left the room.
Dairuko, Jiraiya and Naruto continued on their journey until they got to a crossroads; both of which lead to their destination, one was just shorter than the other.
"Ok, Dairuko you and-" Jiraiya began.
"No." Dairuko interrupted his sensei.
"What?"
"I'm not taking Naruto with me."
"Well it isn't really-"
"Naruto is your student not mine so he's your responsibility." Dairuko said and walked away, taking the left path.
"Come on, Naruto, we can't be late."
"Right! I'm on my way." Naruto said following Jiraiya.
Flashback
Natsuki awoke to find herself in her younger body in Konoha's park surrounded by children playing with one another until one of the older boys noticed Natsuki.
"Look it's Natsuki the cry-baby weakling." he teased her.
"You are pathetic, not worthy of being anyone's student. I don't even know why anyone would train you; you're a waste of time." Another boy said.
Natsuki ran and ran but their words echoed and no matter how far she ran she could still hear their voices. Weak. Pathetic. A waste.
"I'm not weak!" Natsuki stopped running then grabbed a rock the size of her fist; went back to the boys and as one of them opened their mouths to talk she slammed that rock on the side of said boy's face, knocking some teeth out of his mouth. Another boy tried to grab her and she hit him with the rock in the mouth. A third one came toward her; she ducked down and with that rock hit him in the unmentionables.
"Now who's weak, you bastards!"
Natsuki found herself at home being scolded by her parents for attacking the three boys.
"Natsuki, what were you thinking?!" her father exclaimed. "You could've seriously hurt them!"
"They deserved what they got." Dairuko said, entering the room.
"Dairuko, stay out of this." their mother said.
"NO! They had it coming. I saw what they did to Natsuki!" Dairuko's voice was getting a bit loud.
"Dairuko shut up... I don't need your help!" Natsuki screamed at him.
"But, Natsuki I-"
"You're always there fighting my battles for me. How am I supposed to become a powerful ninja or even be able to protect myself with you constantly treating me like a porcelain doll!"
"I just wanted to help you."
"Well stop it, I can fight my own battles!" and Natsuki stormed off. Dairuko followed her, their parents were in shock at how the two usually close siblings just had a shout out.
"Natsuki!" Dairuko called out.
"What?!" Natsuki exclaimed.
"I can't believe that actually worked."
"I know, me neither." the two both gave each other devious smiles.
Later that night the two lay awake, contemplating the consequences of Natsuki's actions.
"Natsuki, you were serious about me fighting your battles for you weren't you?" Dairuko asked which caused a long silence from Natsuki. "Just because I'm on the top bunk doesn't mean I can't tell when you're awake."
"...Yes I was serious."
"...I'm sorry."
"No you're not. You'd do it all again in a heartbeat."
"Yeah I would... c'mon you're my sister, doesn't matter who's older- a man always protects those he loves."
"Oh shucks, Baby Brother I knew you cared," she said sarcastically "but just because you're taller than me doesn't mean you need to protect me from everything." Dairuko then hung his head over the bed and looked at Natsuki and she did the same.
"Natsuki, let me just protect you one last time... please, the boys are gonna come back with a vengeance. Let me take the heat, I'll say I used transformation jutsu."
"No, Dairuko they started this and I intend to finish this." Dairuko jumped off the bed and knelt next to Natsuki, who in turn sat up.
"Natsuki, if I can't take the heat can I at least back you up if they outnumber you?"
"I can't ask you to do that, Dairuko."
"You're not asking, I'm asking you to let me do this."
A pause.
"Alright, Dairuko,"
"But... if we are outnumbered?"
"Don't worry about that." with that, Dairuko climbed into bed, ignored Natsuki asking him what he meant and slept.
The next day those boys were waiting in the park for Natsuki. It was almost movie-like when she approached to what was a certain beating, but she didn't flinch, not in the slightest. She stopped in front of them, a good distance between them when more boys showed up wearing Konoha headbands.
"Betcha didn't think I would bring friends did ya'?" the first boy said with a smug look on his face.
"I wish I had thought of that," Natsuki said and Dairuko appeared then stood next to her. "Oh wait, I did."
"That was a nice touch." Dairuko whispered to his sister.
"I thought so." she whispered back.
"You think your baby brother is enough to take us on?" a second boy said.
"I'm more than enough for you bozos."
"Prove it chu-" One of the Genin boys said but Dairuko threw a stone that hit him in the stomach.
"Shut up and let's get this over with ." Dairuko said and both he and Natsuki charged into the group of boys. Natsuki did a baseball slide between one's legs and when he looked up, Dairuko was there with his fist, finding it's mark on the boy's face. That's when another boy bigger than Dairuko appeared to attack him when Natsuki showed up doing a powerful dropkick on the boy knocking him into Dairuko's tackle before they were surrounded.
"Well, that was quick." Dairuko said looking around.
"Well, what did you expect when you just attacked without making a plan?" Natsuki said.
"Planning was going to take too long and it's almost time for lunch when we get back home."
"You're an idiot."
"Why you little -" Dairuko grabbed Natsuki by the wrist and swung her in a full 360 turn kicking and knocking down all the boys before splitting up left and right. Most of the boys went after Natsuki while the bigger ones went after Dairuko.
Natsuki ran pass and grabbed the swing before throwing it into one of the boys faces, then doing a roundhouse kick on the closest one before she got punched in the face and turned into a log. While the boys looked for her, Natsuki jumped out of a tree and landed a diving kick on one of their backs then two more came at her front and back, she in turn kicked the one in front bringing him to one knee as she pulled back her fist she elbowed the one behind her; while they were both reeling Natsuki punched the one on his knee and kicked the one behind knocking both of them away.
Meanwhile Dairuko had to deal with the bigger ones. They didn't chase him far because Dairuko isn't one to run away instead, he stopped dead in his tracks and tackled one of them to the ground then did a rising uppercut to another before the third boy used Stone Fist jutsu to cover half his arms in stone and punched Dairuko in the face. Dairuko was rocked then the boy delivered an uppercut that knocked him off the ground and onto the nearby bench in such a way it looked like he was sitting on it. Thinking Dairuko was knocked out, he left to go deal with Natsuki who was becoming overwhelmed that's when Dairuko stood up with a piece of wood he tore off the bench and hit the boy in the back with it but he turned into smoke.
"EH!?" Dairuko said before he was caught in a stone prison.
"It's a Shadow Clone stupid even Academy level shinobi know that... or perhaps you're not a shinobi." he said and turned toward Natsuki who was outmatched at this point "They don't need me so I can focus on you." then he turned and punched Dairuko in the face.
Natsuki was punched to the ground then they all began kicking her repeatedly, near to unconsciousness before a silhouette of someone caused the boys to stop.
"Who the hell are you?!" one of them asked.
"Uchiha." he didn't give his first name but just his last name made them question why he was here. "Leave the two of them alone or I will make you leave." he then flashed his Sharingan and most of them ran away except for one.
"I always wanted to fight an Uchiha." the boy who had beat up Dairuko said.
"You have a fight waiting right behind you." the Uchiha signaled him to look behind him which he did just in time to see Dairuko break free of his prison.
"Impossi-" he said before Dairuko jabbed him in the throat then delivered a powerful haymaker sending the boy flying through the air and, once he sat up he began coughing and coughing out teeth.
"Mess with anyone again and I promise you'll be swallowing a lot more than your teeth." Dairuko said as the boy ran away then he turned toward the Uchiha. "You're late Itachi... what gives?"
"I had to finish my homework." Itachi shrugged.
Natsuki slowly stood up and limped toward the two boys.
"Who's this?" she asked.
"I am Uch-" Itachi was interrupted by Dairuko putting his arm around him.
"Natsuki, this is Itachi. Itachi, this Natsuki." Dairuko said "I'm his best friend."
"You're my friend."
"Best friend."
Itachi sighed in defeat. "Are you alright Natsuki? Itachi asked.
"Yeah you took quite a beating." Dairuko added.
"Says the one who was hit in the face by stone fists."
"Hey but look all I got are a few cuts."
"Listen I'm fine."
"Come, you two need to at least clean up before going home. My house isn't far, you can wash up there then go home."
"I don't think-" Natsuki was interrupted by none other than Dairuko.
"We'd love to."
"BAKA!" Natsuki screamed and punched Dairuko on the back of the head before covering up her eye which was swollen.
"Hey, one of them dropped their headband." Dairuko said picking it up then Itachi grabbed it "Hey!"
"Natsuki, come here." Itachi said and Natsuki came toward him. He then place the headband over her eye and tied it so it wouldn't slip.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." and the three children walked through the village toward the Uchiha residence.
Meanwhile Kakashi- returning from a mission- spotted Natsuki on her way to the Uchiha residence.
"Headband over the eye... did I start something?" Kakashi said to himself.
End of Flashback
'I consider that the first time we all met officially, even though Itachi and I met only two weeks prior while training.' Dairuko thought as he reflected on his relationship with his team and how it all began "Well now is not the time to get nostalgic, I have a mission to complete."