Chapter 5: The Genin
…
"Your what?" I asked, sure I must have misheard.
I was sitting under a cherry tree in one of the public parks outside of the Uchiha district. Mikoto had reluctantly agreed to let Sasuke and me play here as long as we promised to be careful and stay together. Sasuke was readily accepted into a game of Ninja, but I was still on light medical restrictions. My attempts at staying out of the way had been thwarted, however, since I'd been approached by a thin, brown-haired boy with a snub nose and a smear of dirt across one cheek. He'd come to me with a simple demand.
"You're the prettiest girl on the playground, so be my girlfriend," he said again, proving that I had not, in fact, misheard him the first time.
I wasn't even sure how he'd come to that conclusion. I was only five years old, and all five-year-olds tended to look the same with chubby cheeks, large eyes, and cute outfits. Maybe it was because I was the new girl and therefore glamorous by playground standards.
"No," I said, perhaps a little heartlessly. But there wasn't much else I could say. I wasn't even sure he knew what a girlfriend was. Weren't boys supposed to be afraid of cooties at this age?
He scowled and folded his arms.
"You'll be my girlfriend, or I'll tell my Nii-san on you," he declared with finality. I blinked at the odd statement and gave him a puzzled look. "He's a genin."
That clarified nothing.
Maybe the boy was from a civilian family who were impressed by the status of genin. In the Uchiha clan, it was a requirement that all children attend the Academy. The family business was running the police force, and the police only recruited clan members who had passed the chunin exams, which was fair since they were expected to police other ninja.
"Okay…?" I said uncertainly. "You do that. I'm going to read my book now."
I raised my book to cover my face. The boy lingered for a few more seconds before stomping away. I felt bad, but if I was completely honest, I didn't want to leave too much of an impression on other people. My death was inevitable, and I didn't want anyone grieving over me. It was different with the clan because…well, we would all go together.
Except for Sasuke and Itachi.
But there was nothing I could do about that.
Just as I was about to return to my reading, there was a burst of activity from across the park. I craned my neck, searching for the cause, and I nearly dropped my book in shock.
Blond hair.
Whisker marks.
Enormous chakra.
Yep. There was no denying it. That was Uzumaki Naruto, plainly identifiable even though he wasn't wearing his normal orange outfit. Instead he had a white shirt with the Uzumaki symbol and a pair of brown pants. I was mildly confused by the serious lack of orange on his clothing, but he probably wasn't acting out for attention just yet.
Naruto was standing opposite a group of children who were telling him to get lost. He gave a heartfelt objection, but the children's dismissal was final. He hesitated a moment longer before hanging his head and walking away. I had a brief moment of indecision. I didn't want to interfere with people who might be hurt by my death. Furthermore, I was an Uchiha. My clan was under watch because the village elders thought that we had unleashed the Kyuubi on the village. I had exactly zero reasons to give for seeking out Naruto and talking to him. Approaching him would only bring trouble for everyone.
And yet…
I was on my feet, my books abandoned in the grass as I hurriedly closed the distance between us.
"Hey!" I called, waving to get his attention. Naruto turned and eyed me warily as I came to a halt a few feet away. I opened my mouth and tried to remember how young children made friends. I'd never been a social butterfly in either of my lives, and I hadn't exactly planned out a brilliant introduction. "I saw you…I mean do you want to play…read? It's not really playing. I'm Kiyo… and new, to the park, I mean, and…I…uh, I was reading, and I have…um, snacks…"
"What?" Naruto asked at my half-mumbled, stuttering speech. A simple hello shouldn't have been this hard. At least he didn't look suspicious anymore. I took a moment to orient my thoughts into something coherent.
"Hi, I'm Kiyo," I said. "Do you want to read with me? I have some snacks to share if you're hungry."
I may as well have asked a drowning man if he'd like a life preserver. The sheer joy that appeared in his bright blue eyes was a little heartbreaking.
"Hey, yeah, Dattebayo!" he shouted. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto!"
"Uzumaki?" I asked. "My birth mother was an Uzumaki. Are you one of my cousins?"
It probably wasn't a close familial relationship. The Uzumaki clan had been scattered for several generations, so tracing any kind of lineage was virtually impossible. The fact that Naruto had been left utterly alone to raise himself implied that he had no family on either side.
"Hey, yeah, do you think so?" he asked, the joy turning to longing. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. I shrugged and led him back to my tree. As I picked up my book, it occurred to me that medical texts weren't exactly normal reading material for a five-year-old. But it was fine. I had brought along a chapter book for when the technical jargon started giving me a headache.
"Have you ever heard of Kumi Kunoichi?" I asked. Naruto shook his head. This was the fourth book in the series, so I gave him a brief rundown of the story so far. I started from the beginning, reading aloud at a normal pace until I noticed Naruto's distressed and confused expression.
"Do you want to read?" I asked.
"Um, I can't," he said, looking abashed. "You're really smart."
"How old are you?" I asked. It was October, so…
"Um, I'm four, but my birthday is tomorrow," said Naruto, flushing slightly with embarrassment.
I blinked, but then I reminded myself that we were five (or almost five) and most five-year-olds had limited, if any, reading skills. So I went back to the beginning and read slowly, tracing the words as I went along just like Itachi had done for me when I was a baby. Naruto listened to the story carefully, sometimes asking questions.
Naruto wasn't really what I was expecting. He wasn't loud or boastful or quick-tempered. He was quiet and a little shy. If anything, he just seemed really happy to have someone to talk to. We paused for a bit to eat some of my snacks, and eventually Sasuke wandered over.
"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded, looking at Naruto with narrowed, distrustful eyes.
I blinked.
That was…unusually aggressive for Sasuke. I glanced behind him. The kids he'd been playing with were watching us with frowns and anxious expressions. Had one of them warned him about Naruto?
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, Dattebayo!" Naruto said, matching Sasuke's challenging glare. Ah, there was the loudness. "You got a problem with me too?"
And there was the temper.
"Ne, Naruto, this is my Nii-chan," I said, attempting to smooth things over. First impressions were important, and they were going to be friends one day. Best friends. "His name is Sasuke, and he always looks after me."
Sasuke folded his arms, still staring at Naruto.
"Let's go, Kiyo-chan," he said. "It's gonna rain, and you need to go back inside or you're gonna get sick again."
I hadn't noticed it before, but the sky had grown dark with angry storm clouds.
"Yeah," I said as I packed up my books. I didn't want to risk getting them wet. "Hey, Naruto, I'll be back tomorrow morning if you want to read with me again."
"Really?" asked Naruto, his eyes wide and hopeful. "Yeah, I'd like that."
Sasuke scowled more. He snatched my hand and half-dragged me out of the park. Naruto watched me go with a small wave and a big grin.
When we were out of earshot, I pulled away from Sasuke.
"What was that about?" I asked. Sasuke kicked a small stone.
"If you want to read with someone, then read with me," he said petulantly, which made me blink. Sasuke had never really shown possessive tendencies before. But he'd also never had to compete for my attention either, and he didn't seem to like the idea very much. "And Kaa-san told us to be careful."
Yep, the other kids had definitely warned him against Naruto. I sighed. I'd just have to get them to play together tomorrow. They'd learn to get along.
"Okay, we can read together when we get home," I said, which mollified his moodiness. "And Naruto isn't bad. He's just lonely."
Sasuke only grunted.
That night, after reading with Sasuke, I baked Naruto a cupcake and asked Mikoto if I could give away a few of my gently used picture books for a friend's birthday. Mikoto seemed thrilled, her eyes lighting up at the prospect of a new friend. I carefully avoided mentioning Naruto by name, instead saying that I'd met a boy who wanted to read with me. Since I'd long since outgrown the picture books, Mikoto offered to help me wrap them up in fancy wrapping paper. I thought they looked pretty good as tucked them safely into my book bag.
The next day Sasuke came down with a sudden cold. Even with his numerous protests that he was fine, Mikoto sent him to bed with plenty of water and some medicine to help him sleep. He was out like a light in ten minutes flat. I had to admit that it felt a little strange to be the healthy child in the family for once.
"Kaa-chan, can I still go to the park to meet my friend?" I asked, holding up the presents. She hesitated, looking worried. "I feel fine, and I promise I'll be careful."
After a long minute of consideration, where she touched my forehead in search of a fever, she nodded.
"If you start feeling unwell, come home right away," she said. "And don't wander off with strangers."
I nodded quickly and headed out.
The park was deserted, likely due to the rainstorm last night which had turned much of the open space into a muddy expanse that no sane mother would want her children running around in. Naruto was already waiting under the cherry tree looking uncertain. I smiled and waved as I ran up to greet him while pulling out his present and holding up the cupcake.
"Happy Birthday, Naruto!" I said.
He looked at the gift and the cupcake as though he'd never seen anything like them before.
"Are these for me?" he asked tentatively.
"Yeah," I said. "You said your birthday is today, right? Friends give each other presents on their birthdays."
Well, we weren't really what I'd call 'friends'. We probably weren't allowed to be friends, but no one had forbidden it yet, and I since I was pretty sure that Naruto didn't receive many gifts, I wanted to make the most of this one. If anyone asked, I could honestly say that I hadn't even gone out of my way. See? Plausible deniability.
"Friends?" he asked, taking the present and the cupcake. I sat down on a dry patch of grass beneath the tree and he settled in beside me, carefully putting the cupcake aside and ripping off the wrapping paper to reveal the books.
"We can read them together," I said. "I'll teach you. It'll be fun."
Naruto nodded. His eyes were bright and his grin was unbearably wide.
"Yeah!" he shouted. "Thanks, Kiyo-chan!"
Naruto wanted to start with 'Touma the Sneaky Ninja'. It was one of the simpler books with many bright pictures and sections that popped up. I made sure to use exaggerated voices while reading, and Naruto paid close attention to the shape and sounds of the words. We'd only been reading for about ten minutes when a shadow fell over us. Naruto stiffened while I merely looked up, puzzled at the interruption. It was the brown-haired boy from yesterday, only this time he was with another boy that was maybe 13 or 14 years old. The older boy was frowning down at us. He wore a Konoha forehead protector as a long sash around his waist that was decorated with an odd assortment of trinkets and bits of fabric.
"So, you're the girl who broke my little brother's heart?" he asked.
"What?" I asked. I looked at the boy and back at his older brother. That was a slightly melodramatic way of putting it. "I guess?"
The genin unfolded his hands and put them on his hips, leaning forward to loom over me.
"What kind of older brother would I be if I let a little Uchiha brat mess with my kid brother?" he asked, and he smirked, slow and vicious. "And here you are with the village freak instead. You know, there are only so many insults a guy can take. But hey, I'll tell you what. If you agree to be my little brother's girlfriend, I'll let you off just this once."
I could only stare.
Really? Really?
"No," I said.
The genin gave a theatrical sigh, his smile turning even darker.
"It figures," he said. "You Uchiha are always so arrogant. You think you're too good for my little brother, huh? I think I'll just have to teach you a lesson."
Naruto was on his feet in an instant.
"Hey, you leave her alone!" he said. "You wanna fight someone? How about me?"
Oh no. This was not good. I hadn't seen Naruto in action, but I did recall that he hadn't had the best skills even during the Academy. At this point, against an actual genin, he wouldn't stand a chance.
"Wait!" I said, but the genin already lashed out, catching Naruto with a vicious right hook. "Naruto!" But Naruto wasn't down yet. He managed to stay upright and swung his fist, the genin sidestepping it easily and hitting him again and again. "Stop it! Leave him alone!"
I was not a fighter. In my former life, I'd never thrown a single punch or kick at anyone. Here, I hadn't even started taijutsu training and I'd left my kunai at home. I didn't even have anything to throw.
Well…no, that wasn't quite true.
When the genin pulled his arm back for another swing, I beaned him in the face with Intermediate Virology and Pathogenesis Volume 3 followed by Practical Clinical Microbiology and finally Kumi Kunoichi and the Curse of the Daimyo's Jewels, which he managed to snatch out of the air. He gave the book a disdainful glance before taking a fistful of pages and ripping them out, scattering them in the mud at his feet.
That…
That was a library book!
Unfortunately, that was also the last of my ammunition since the picture books were all out of reach. The genin retaliated with a swift backhand that sent me to the ground.
I lay there for a moment, stunned and clapping a hand over my eye. It felt like my eyeball had nearly exploded from the force of the hit. He'd hit me. He'd hit me. No one had ever hit me before. But the danger wasn't over yet. There was no reason to think that he would stop.
Get up. Get up. Get up.
I scrambled to my feet in time to see the genin grab Naruto by the front of his shirt and punch him twice in the nose.
"Leave him alone!" I shouted. The genin glanced over at me, and the last thing I saw was his fist.
I woke with Naruto shaking me. His left eye was swollen and his nose was bleeding. I felt something warm and sticky trailing down my lips and chin and tasted the coppery tang of blood.
The genin and his younger brother were gone.
"You okay?" Naruto asked.
I wiped away the blood and –ow! I touched my nose tentatively, but I was pretty sure it was fractured if not broken. My left eye also stung, and I couldn't seem to open it all the way. Some more gentle probing revealed swelling, so we really were a matched pair.
"I'm okay," I mumbled. "Are you?"
"Yeah, it happens a lot," he said, standing up and holding out his hand.
I took it, and he pulled me up. Well, that explained why he'd been so defensive with Sasuke yesterday. He probably thought Sasuke was looking for a fight.
Sometimes it was easy to forget that this was a world of ninja. A large portion of the population was trained to use violence to solve their problems. Even the children were taught to fight, and the cycle of violence didn't spare innocents. I'd acknowledged Mikoto's concern about my safety but had dismissed it as her being overprotective. It hadn't even occurred to me that her fears were justified, that someone might actually want to hurt me.
And Naruto…
He didn't even have a clan to keep him safe. The village hated him for what he was, and no one was around to protect him. Surely the Third would have done something to ensure his safety? But if there was a guardian angel lurking somewhere, they hadn't shown themselves.
Naruto helped me gather up my books. All of them, including Naruto's picture books, had been ripped apart and scattered in a muddy puddle. The cupcake was nothing more than a squashed mess in the dirt. Naruto also pulled my bag, now cut open and useless, from the branch of the tree and handed it over without meeting my eyes.
"I'm sorry," I said. "You were hurt because of me."
"S'not your fault," he said. "He beats me up sometimes. That's probably why he…" He cleared his throat, his eyes wet. "You'd be safer if you didn't hang out with me anymore."
"Naruto, this wasn't your fault," I said. It was mine. I hadn't even registered that the boy was threatening me yesterday. I was so accustomed to having ninja relatives that the implication had gone straight over my head. And I'd come back to the park alone.
I was an idiot.
I took Naruto's hand, but he wouldn't look at me.
"I should go," he said, pulling away.
And then he took off, running out of the park and down the street. I started to follow after him but when I realized that I was standing in the park alone once more, a surge of terror lanced through my heart. I gasped for air, suddenly unable to breathe until the stab of panic eased. I looked once in the direction Naruto had gone, and then I ran straight home as fast as my legs would carry me.
I'd never felt as relieved as when I passed through the entrance to the Uchiha district. Maybe this was why my clan plastered our symbol over absolutely everything. It gave a sense that this was ours, this was safe, and this was home. I slowed to a walk and ducked into an alley, taking the back route towards my house. If anyone saw me, they'd ask what had happened.
I could imagine how the clan would react if they discovered that a Konoha ninja had attacked an Uchiha child. Sure, it was because I'd rejected his little brother, but he'd called my clan arrogant and he'd called me a little Uchiha brat. It would be easy for someone to twist that into an attack against the Uchiha. Not to mention what the village leaders would think if they knew an Uchiha was trying to get close to Naruto. I could guess at where that road would lead.
I shuddered.
No. No one could ever find out. I'd have to hide it somehow.
I stopped at the back gate, and reached out with my chakra sense toward the house to get a bit of extra range. Mikoto must have gone out and Sasuke's chakra was in his room, subdued in a way that indicated sleep. If I was quick and quiet, I just might…
"Kiyo-chan?"
I jumped, dropping the remains of my books in the grass and whirling around to see Itachi. His eyes darted over my bloody face, across my slashed bag, and down to the shredded books at my feet. I stood, trembling. I hadn't wanted him to see me like this. I hadn't wanted anyone to see me like this.
"Please…don't tell Tou-chan," I said, my eyes burning with shame. I'd known how dangerous it would be for everyone if I got close to Naruto, and yet I… "Please…"
Itachi approached me slowly as if I was a wounded animal. He knelt, holding a glowing green hand up to my face. I flinched when he touched me, his chakra sliding beneath my skin and numbing the pain. He didn't speak as he worked, reducing the swelling and mending my fractured nose.
I tried to look away, but he put a gentle hand under my chin and lifted my face up.
"Who did this to you?" His words were soft, inviting me to talk without judgment. But that just made it worse. Itachi's first kill had been at four years old against a fully grown ninja who had wanted him dead. He'd fought and killed and watched comrades die before his eyes. Compared to that, what was a little playground scuffle? Nothing. It was nothing at all.
I just shook my head, and after a minute of silence, Itachi gathered up the remains of my books and took me inside. As we passed a mirror in the hall, I caught a glimpse of my reflection. I looked awful. My face was alternately a blotchy red and the sickly yellow-brown of a fresh bruise that would turn into a black eye without treatment. My shirt was muddy with flecks of blood splattered down the front.
And my ribbon was gone.
Itachi set me down in my room and arranged the torn up pages into a neat pile.
"I'll take care of these," he said, still soft. He stood to leave. Another surge of panic pierced my heart, and I grabbed at his sleeve.
"Don't go," I said, the words half choked with a sob. I made an effort to keep quiet. I didn't want to wake Sasuke. "Please don't leave me."
Itachi knelt back onto the floor and pulled me into his lap while I cried. I tried to hold it together. I really did. I was an adult. The fight was over. There was nothing to cry about. But my body was still that of a child, and the tears wouldn't stop.
Itachi held me, patting my head and rubbing my back, silent and patient until I'd cried myself out. And he continued to hold me after.
"You're alright now, Kiyo-chan," he said. "You're okay. You're okay."
But I wasn't. I really, really wasn't.
…
A/N: Naruto's childhood is a little difficult to pin down since certain aspects were retconned a few times in canon. I based this more on Naruto's comments in Part 1 where he relates to Gaara about being completely alone. I also threw in a reference to Naruto the Last where he mentions getting beaten up a lot. Going back and looking at childhood fights for various ninja, it's a little surprising how many times kids beat each other up, and there were even a few cases of actual ninja beating up kids, so I included that concept too.
