"Hisashi, today is your graduation day, correct?" Hiashi Hyuga asked his young grandson as they played a casual game of Go in the room reserved for his meetings. Casual for him, at least, for the young Hisashi looked particularly focused on the board.
"Oh." The boy lifted his eyes from the board for a brief moment. With a mere glance, any would be able to tell his lineage. He had the same wild, spiky hair of his grandfather Yondaime, albeit with the dark color that was standard of the Hyuga clan. What cemented his family tree the most, however, were his eyes. He had the pale orbs of the Hyuga he had received from his mother, yet whenever his eyes would narrow, he exhibited the same mischievous fox like expressions that his own father would make back in his more rebellious years. "Yeah, I do. No big deal." He waved a dismissive hand before focusing on the grid and placing another black tile down. "Your move."
"You don't feel any nerves? Any excitement?" The old man inquired.
"Mmm." The young man considered the question, placing the furled fan he almost always had on hand to his chin as he stared to the ceiling. "A little, I guess. Not too much though. The academy's the academy, ya know? And genins are just errand boys. What's there to get all bent out of shape over?" He pointed towards the board. "You still haven't placed another piece down by the way."
"Oh, that's right. Hmm..." Admittedly, he was not the best Go player. He had dabbled in it throughout his life but only really played as a way to spend time with his dear grandson. His other two grandchildren would go for weeks without a proper visit while Hisashi made it a point to be there once a week, sometimes sleeping over at the estate. "Here." The old man placed a white tile down, then looked up at his grandson's satisfied grin. He knew what that meant: game over.
"Better luck next time!" He conquered all of the old man's territory with a well placed black, concluding their 15 minute session with a victorious chuckle.
"Ah, well." The old man grinned warmly; he was always happy to see him so excited.
"But seriously, you should ask me when I become a chuunin. That's when the real missions start."
"And the responsibilities pile higher and higher."
"Oh, trust me, I know. Uncle Shino's steeped so deep in work that it's all he thinks about. I asked why he didn't have a girlfriend yet when we were out of classes and I could just feel the gloomy look on his face."
The old man let out a chuckle of his own. "Hahahaha, I think you should let him concern himself with that."
"But it's really weird, though, isn't it? What if he dies alone?"
"People lead very different lives." The old man stated plainly, sipping from a cup of green tea he had at his side during the game.
"Mmm." Hisashi sounded thoroughly unconvinced, yet offered no retort upon glancing at the clock. "I should probably get going now, Kazuya's probably waiting for me outside."
The young man stood up and gave his grandfather a big hug, which the older man was more than happy to reciprocate. While normally very affectionate (too affectionate, a certain grandson of his often complained), the dark haired youth's visits were so frequent he felt no need to unleash all of his emotions at once.
"Goodbye, Hisashi, come visit this old man soon, okay?"
The young man smiled and nodded his head, before waving as he left by the screen door.
"Now, where did it all go awry..." Hiashi pondered at the Go board.
"Oy!" Hisashi was approached by a smiling young boy upon taking a step out of the Hyuga estate. He was a youth with straight red hair that had two neatly split bangs at the front and was tied into a small ponytail at the back—the younger half of the Uzumaki twins, Kazuya. "Are you as stoked as I am for the big day?" The emphasis on the word made it sound lie he already knew the answer.
"Nope." He replied simply as the two instinctively started walking on the path to the academy.
"Yeah, I figured." He said with a stifled chuckle. "I wouldn't be either if I knew my little brother was going to upstage me again."
"Uh huh, sure. Remind me, what were our grades for... every single test since we were in the academy together?" The boy asked with a tilted head and narrowed eyes.
"Ha! As if that matters. I'm a doer, not a thinker."
Hisashi knocked on his head lightly with the back of his fist. "Wow, no wonder it always sounds so empty."
The younger boy shrugged with a small smile, open palms pointing upwards. Despite being twins, they were so different at a glance. Hisashi was lagging behind in height at 4'9" while his brother was taller than normal for a twelve year old at 5'3". Where he preferred to wear a baggy white sweater and shorts, his brother wore a zipped up black jacket with similarly colored pants. Whereas the symbol of their family was on Hisashi's back, Kazuya's was front and center in the form of a small insignia on his jacket's right breast. Hisashi liked to think he was the better looking of the two, though.
"But hey, you hear about what happened with Akihiko?" Hisashi's ears immediately perked up when his brother mentioned the name. Uchiha Akihiko. Their childhood friend who was all the girls could seem to talk about. He unfurled his fan and started to lightly wave it at himself, hiding the small smile that had already formed.
"Weeeeeeeeeeell..." Kazuya began, hardly stifling a chuckle as he began recounting the story. "You know how he was dating Naoko? ...And Emiko? ...And Midori?"
"Mm-hmm." He uttered with an inquisitive tone, subconsciously fanning himself slightly quicker.
"He got caught. Big time."
"There's no way."
"Nope! There definitely is."
"How?" Even underneath his fan, anyone could tell that he had the biggest grin on his face at the news.
"So, on Sunday, he decided that he wanted to take Emiko on a date to the movies. And that part goes well enough, right?"
"Right."
"And after he treats her to lunch, he's feeling pretty good about himself so he goes in for the kiss. And riiight before he seals the deal, he hears Midori call out his name right behind him."
"HAHAHAHAHA." The shorter boy let out a howling laugh, drawing the concerned eyes of many of their fellow villagers as they passed through the village's market district.
"No," Kazuya said waving his hand, "It gets worse." He tightened both of his hands into fists and shook them with each syllable he spoke.
"How? How could it... Pfff... Possibly...?" With tears in his eyes, the boy tried to regain his composure, his ever present fan there to cool him off.
"He gets nervous."
"Uh huh?"
"Takes a step back."
"No..."
"And walks right into Naoko."
Both brothers were roaring with laughter, tears spreading down their cheeks.
"THEY BEAT HIM UP SO BAD." Kazuya continued with two fists on his forehead while his big little brother had to hunch down to control himself, too involved in their laughter to realize that the icing on the cake was right on their doorstep.
"So, I'm guessing you guys heard the news?" Both of them looked up at the voice's source simultaneously. It was the man himself. Uchiha Akihiko. The talented, handsome boy with his father's eyes and a black bandana that covered up the forehead that came with having the same short hair his mother did when she was younger. The forehead was the least of his concerns, however, because this "heart throb" was now bruised with slightly bloated cheeks. The twins lost their mind. Their sanity.
"IT'S THE UCHIHA RESTORATION PROJECT HIMSELF! Hisashi yelled out, sending both of them into hysterics. They were absolutely cackling. All Hisashi could do to suppress it was clench at his stomach with a free arm while the other pointed at the playboy with his closed fan. Kazuya was not so stable. He was on his knees with both arms around his belly while tears rained down from his head held low right to the floor.
Their friend was not amused.
"Are you—"
Immediately he's cut off with more laughter.
"Are—"
Even more. He sighed.
"You two are pains in the ass. You know that, right?" At these words, the twins finally began to relax themselves. They took deep breaths, wiping the tears out of their eyes as they stood up straight.
"Not as insufferable as you are to the ladies." Hisashi shot back, the last of his laughter finally parting ways with him.
"Ah... that hurt. What the hell were you thinking?" Kazuya asked, finally steadying himself from the floor.
"It was hard to pick! A midget and a tomato would never understand what I had to go through." He looked away indignantly with a huff.
"I'm surprised auntie didn't patch you up better." Kazuya asked, the trio continuing their move towards the school together.
"Haha... I'm not. She grilled me super hard when I got home so I had to tell her the truth about why my face looks like a lump." The youth gulped. "She said she'd tear the lips off my face if she ever heard about me doing something like this again."
"You're not gonna have lips for much longer, huh?" Hisashi said with a smirk, only to be met with a shrug.
"Whateeever. I'm just glad we're finally getting out of this crappy academy."
"Pff, I bet. You really made Shino-sensei's life hell these past few years."
Sleeping through class, getting caught in fight after fight, being caught smoking after school, which he only stopped after the two of them badgered him out of fear that he would be kicked from the academy. He was a problem child through and through, their class' number one delinquent that no amount of his mother's yelling could possibly stop, and the twins both knew that she tried. It was not uncommon for them to visit him in the middle of one of his mother's long lectures, only for her to switch back to sweet auntie mode when she realized they were there. They had her express permission to smack him across the head if they ever caught him, though, which was nothing if not the most powerful motivator you could give a boy for doing good.
It made sense, Hisashi thought. Their dad was always at work and he detested it, however much Kazuya pretended to be understanding or their older sister implored them to. Even then, at least he saw him in the night. Akihiko never knew when Sasuke would come back to see him. If he were in his shoes, he would be acting up just as bad, that he knew for sure.
"Nah," Akihiko shook his head, "I know he'll miss me. I'm basically the son he never had."
"I don't think Sensei'll ever want to a kid after dealing with you... Wait, have we ever even seen Sensei with a girlfriend?" Kazuya wondered aloud.
"Nope." Hisashi answered plainly.
"That's really weird..."
"Really..." Akihiko agreed.
"Right?!"
The rest of their conversation was comprised mainly of small talk. Who they wanted to be put on a team with, who they would absolutely hate to be included in, their plans to hang out after they finished up with their team's first official meeting. So far, the plan looked like finally finishing up their multiplayer game of "Kiru, Kiru, Sera, Kiru!" over burgers at Satou's BBQ. Now, all they had to do was bypass one final challenge before they could officially begin their day.
"Move out of the way, caterpillar brows!"
"I will never listen to a beady eyed menace such as yourself!"
Ah, it was the disastrous duo of their class fighting to squeeze through the door first.
The first was Nara Fumiko, the daughter of Nara Shikamaru, the seventh's closest advisor, though she took more after her mother in looks and temperament. The biggest difference between them were that she had her father's eyes and let her dark, wavy hair loose rather than tie it into pigtails. There was a grudge between her and Hisashi since the day she lost her fan to him in a competition that should have been frighteningly in her favor. That, however, was a story for another day. It was a trophy he waved at himself to openly mock her for her loss until it felt weird whenever he walked around without it.
He had far less storied history with Lee. They sat far from one another so he had no idea how to gauge her personality. The most he could determine about her was that she was the only one who outright trumped Akihiko and Kazuya in taijutsu. And that she was lucky her thick eyebrows came in the shape of a half crescent moon that the blocks her father had. Her hair was noticeably in braids, though the top of her head was covered by a circular hat that a black fur base, that contained sloping red velvet that led up to a small, bronze ball of some kind stuck to a tiny metal pole. Hisashi had overheard her call it a Guanmao hat.
"Uh, guys?" A milquetoast attempt at intervention left Kazuya's lips. Confrontation was not his strong suit. And it showed, the two girls remained entirely embroiled in their competition. Having him try to break through this would be akin to a child attempting to shatter a boulder with a toy mallet.
From what he gathered about the two, they clashed due to their fundamental differences. Lee was hard working; Fumiko sought to complete tasks with the bare minimum effort. Lee was sincere; Fumiko was sardonic. Lee spoke carefully; Fumiko spoke bluntly. Though it should have been obvious who Hisashi supported in this matter, right now they were simply obstacles blocking their progress at the moment. He could feel two pairs of eyes go from watching the spectacle to focusing solely on him.
"Well, if they won't listen to me..." Kazuya began.
"And the girls hate my guts bad enough after yesterday. You know how it is when word spreads." In response to Hisashi's squinted eyes, he added, "But hey, think of it like this: they never liked you anyway so you don't exactly have anything to lose here." He smirked.
The oldest—and shortest—of the three furrowed his brows in irritation, resigning himself to his responsibility, though not without a small plan for payback.
"Fine, but don't blame me if things end badly." To this, the Uchiha only responded with a nod.
He tapped his fan on his head, summoning the proper words that would break them out of the pettiness of their competition, a light "Hm," leaving his lips when he finally formulated the sentence that would end this conflict for the time being.
"I don't see a caterpillar or a beady eyed weirdo, just two cows who won't let the rest of us pass through. Move out of the way already!" The boy said with a slightly upturned head and an unamused visage. The change in atmosphere was palpable. The squirming between the two stopped in a single moment, genuine killing intent radiating in unison from the once divided pair. Though his two friends had to take a step back—gazing upon the definite dead man with eyes full of shock—he remained entirely stoic, casually waving his fan.
"Cows...?" The two said simultaneously, walking back out from their doorway. For a moment, they simply stood with their backs turned to the boys. That is, until in perfect coordination, they rotated and launched lightning fast punches side by side with pure rage in their eyes. The anticipated movement. Without missing a beat, the boy side stepped at the last possible moment, changing the trajectory of their attack from him to a combined bow square into the Uchiha's stomach.
"ACK!" He croaked as air left his windpipes, the two girls widening their eyes in shock as they realized what they had been goaded into doing.
"My apologies!" Lee immediately began in a flustered voice. "That was not my intention!"
"Remember what you said, Aki!" He chuckled.
"Such an asshole..." Akihiko said with bated breath, while Kazuya looked on with an empathetic look of pain on his face.
"That's for sure!" Fumiko agreed with a glare at the mischievous before kneeling down with concerned eyes to help the boy. "Are you okay?"
As though with the flip of a switch, he switched from their coarse mouthed friend to a charmer with a princely affect that befit his name.
"Now that I've got a girl as pretty as you helping me up, definitely." He gave his rare, oh so genuine looking smile that made the blood rush right into Fumiko's face. She looked flattered, albeit skeptical.
"Pff. I can't take you seriously with your face all bruised up like that. You really are a piece of work, huh?" In spite of that, she raised him up and let him rest a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, I'll help you to your seat."
"Thank you..." Before they walked through the door together, Akihiko turned his head and dragged down his eyelid with a thumb to mock his friend.
"Tch." Hisashi huffed. This was his loss, there was absolutely no way around that fact. Bah, whatever. He turned his head towards Kazuya, "I'm gonna go talk to Akarui so I'll see you after we're done..." With a drought of enthusiasm, he added, "And sorry, Lee, I didn't mean what I said." Before walking through into the classroom.
"Your brother is..." She began.
"A huge handful. Yeah."
Author's Note
A short sample of what I have to come. I am in the middle of rereading Naruto so forgive me for not focusing too much on canons for the time being. What I worked off of was around... 355 chapters of the manga and some clips of Boruto, so this will definitely be subject to edits in the future. It might be a month or two until the next chapter but I hope you enjoyed the foundation I set up, at least. Thanks for reading.