(AN: I forgot to post a question at the end of the last one.)
+~#*-
"Faster."
Naruto moved with a grunt, slamming a kick into Sasuke's arm as the boy blocked. He twisted on his ankle, bending his leg at the knee, and kicked again, then again.
"Strong Fist!"
The blonde pulled his left leg back, planting it to the ground and twisted. The bottom of his right foot slammed into Sasuke's crossed arm with a resounding crash. Yet the boy merely slid back a few inches.
"Gentle!"
Naruto fell into the practiced stance and struck out as Sasuke tried to close their gap. Two finger jabs to the bottom of the other boy's arm, and a palm strike to the chest.
"Drop your weights!"
Sasuke flew forwards, and Naruto couldn't help but grimace at the impact.
"Teme." Naruto grunted.
The black-haired boy was gone in the blink of an eye. Naruto spun, switching to the Interceptor Fist and slamming his fist against Sasuke. Up, down, a side kick, they matched each other. But Naruto was still using the beginner's style, while Sasuke had just started learning the Intermediate. He couldn't match the boy hit for hit, as a back hand swiped past his nose.
"Free!"
Naruto backed up, swinging wildly as a distraction, before spinning and kicking a bit of sand into the air. The other boy flinch, and Naruto tried to box the boy's ears, but was barely blocked. His head snapped back as Sasuke countered, and Naruto grimaced. He was going to lose this. Again.
He twisted, switching between the Interceptor Fist and the Gentle Fist, trying to find openings, only delivering glancing blows as Sasuke hammered into him, over and over.
"Stop!"
Naruto hit the dirt, barely dodging a kick from the other boy, and grimaced as his body began to numb itself, slowly healing the bruises and torn muscles.
"Not bad." He glanced up at Nanashi, who was lying in a hammock, eyes closed as she swung in the breeze. As always, a bottle of sake gently held between two fingers. She almost seemed happy, serene… Beau—Naruto looked away with another grimace and slowly picked himself up.
"Good fight." Sasuke muttered, holding a hand out for his friend.
The blonde nodded and grabbed the hand, pulling himself to his feet. "Yeah. You still won, though."
"Technically, a tie!" she shouted, and Naruto couldn't help but snort and laugh.
"You weren't even watching!" He challenged.
Sasuke took the chance to pour a bit of water over his eyes, trying to wash out the sand, saying, "You're getting better with your taijutsu."
He grimaced. Technically, he had been even reaching number two in his class, but he still had issues.
"Early graduation is only a month away. I'm sure this time you'll get it this time."
Eleven months since his first attempt, one more month and he'd get to attempt again.
One month.
"No offense to Sasuke, kid, but you'll pass this time. No way you won't."
"How is that offensive to me?"
"Eh." The woman shrugged and took a long swig.
"Lunch?" Naruto asked the other boy.
"Let me guess. Ramen again?"
Nanashi waved from her hammock, shouting, "Bring me back a salted pork miso! Extra salt!"
"Do you think the alcohol will get her first, or the salt?"
Sasuke gave him a strange look, and eventually they nodded at one another.
"Both."
As the two laughed, the woman shouted something, but they were already too far out of the area.
"I want a tomato curry for dinner tonight."
Naruto grinned, "I bet Nanashi would make it for you."
He scrunched his nose up. "She adds sake, but doesn't cook it long enough."
"She'd add sake to anything if she could."
"At least she's gotten better…" Sasuke admitted with a grimace.
"…Yeah." Naruto had only seen the woman in shambles a few times before. But Sasuke said it used to be a daily occurrence. The amount of times the boy would come home to her passed out in the kitchen, or living room, or if she was even in the house at all. They talked and joked about it now, but Naruto knew it was for Sasuke's own benefit. The boy tried to push the past away. She was the boy's only family, after all.
"Except for Itachi."
The woman had told him about her little cousin that slaughtered the clan. At only 14, the Uchiha heir had slaughtered his entire clan. Nanashi had "luckily" been imprisoned at the time. Living a hellish life while the rest of the world turned.
"Hey. She said If I passed she'd teach me some Ninjutsu finally!"
"At least you finally started water walking. You suck at charka control, dobe."
Ten months it took to finally last two hours on the tree, upside down, running back and forth. For Sasuke, he only needed to last one hour going up and down.
"Your old man would kill me if I let you drown by not preparing you, brat." He knew she meant the old man, but something in her eyes always made him doubt that's who she meant.
He never wanted to ask that question, though.
That horrible, horrible question.
"Did you know my parents?"
The woman always slipped. A comment here, or there. Mostly when she was drunk. His hair, his eyes, the way he acted when serious.
Still. He never asked. For now, he was content with the family he had. His Jiji, his brother, and… Nanashi. Whatever she was to him.
"Naruto?"
He jerked up and blinked at the two new members to their little team. "Yo, Choji, Shika."
"Troublesome blondes."
"Eh?"
Sasuke elbowed him and said, "They wanted to know if they can join us."
"Always spacing out." Shikamaru muttered.
"Oh… uh yeah! The more the merrier!"
The small group continued through the Village, talking about whatever they came across, until eventually, the four arrived at their destination. "Yo! Teuchi-Jiji!"
"Ah, Naruto."
"The usual, please!"
"And an order to go?"
"You betcha. Oh, and whatever these two want! Sasuke's paying!"
The Uchiha blanched, "Since when!"
"Since you invited me!"
Sasuke grumbled under his breath, but started digging through his pockets for his wallet. "Fine. But just this once. And you all owe me!"
"Thanks a bunch, teme!"
"Three bowls max for these two." Sasuke motioned to Choji and Naruto.
"But that's only a snack!" The two shouted before glancing at each other with sheepish grins.
"Is there room for one more?" The curtains behind them were moved, and in stepped the Third Hokage himself.
Naruto greeted the man enthusiastically, ignoring the narrowed eyes of Sasuke while everyone else bowed low. "Jiji!"
"Naruto, my boy," he waved at the other's to rise, giving a small smile to each one. "Ah, and if it isn't to of my old friend's children. Shikamaru, Choji, how are you two? And your fathers as well? I haven't had a chance to speak to them outside of working matters with Shikaku."
"Father is fine, Hokage-Dono." Choji spot with only a slight stutter.
"That is fantastic to hear, Choji."
Shikamaru spoke in a tone that Naruto had never heard from the lazy boy before. "Father and the rest of our family are doing quite well, Hokage-dono. It is an honor that you ask of us."
"Ah! Yes, an honor." Choji jumped in.
"They are such good men. I am glad to see that their children are rising to their level."
"Thank you, my lord."
He turned to Sasuke now, a smile still on his face. "And you, Sasuke? How are you? Are your studies going well?"
"They are… Hokage-sama." Sasuke muttered.
The man turned away, looking to Teuchi and Ayame now. He made to open his mouth—
"Nanashi is doing fine as well." The comment was sharp. Even Naruto caught that with confusion.
"Ah, yes. I am glad. Is her health any better?" The words were swift, but judging by Sasuke's scowl, they hit a nerve. One that hit Naruto as well.
"She's doing great, Jiji." The blond shouted. "She's taking a nap right now while we go get some lunch! Our training's been coming along great thanks to her."
"Good. Good." There was something in the old man's eye, just a glint, but Naruto felt his stomach turn, for some odd reason.
An ANBU stepped into the Ramen Stand, leaning over to the old man and whispering something that Naruto couldn't quite catch.
"Well, my friends, I am sorry to say, but it seems I cannot, in fact, join you all for lunch today. There's a minor emergency that must steal my immediate notice. I am afraid to say our meeting must end. Teuchi, my old friend, and Ayame, thank you for your short hospitality."
"It is our pleasure to serve, Lord Third."
"Oh, and please, send the bill to me. I will, of course, pay Naruto and his friends."
"I'm paying." Sasuke interjected.
"Please, I insist." The man was gone before Sasuke could retort, and the boy slinked down into his seat with an angry scowl.
"Hey." Naruto hissed in a whisper, "What's the deal?"
The boy bit his tongue. "Nothing. It—Don't worry about it."
"That definitely wasn't nothing, Sasuke."
The boy glanced at Choji and Shikamaru, who sat awkwardly beside them. "I'll tell you later. Maybe."
"Alright."
Tension filled the shop for a short time, before Shikamaru finally broke the silence with a simple question. "So… Nanashi is your aunt, right, Sasuke?"
"Cousin." Sasuke grunted. "My Father's Brother's Daughter."
"Right. And she's been training you and Naruto, huh? Is that why you've gotten so strong recently?"
That was something the pair had never discussed with anyone at the academy. It was technically taboo, and against a minor law, to train someone now in your own clan. Nanashi was kind of able to get around it for Naruto, but that was only because she was neither active duty nor retired. She had been stripped of her status and refused the offer to be reinstated after returning to the village. For having her record semi-cleaned, she was simply a civilian. Even if she now claimed the head of a Shinobi Clan. There were too many hoops to jump through, so the three had simply agreed to try to keep the training on the down low.
"Yeah! Nan-Chan's great! She's taught me all sorts of things! Though it's mostly just been some scrolls on taijutsu."
"You've really climbed the ranks." Choji admitted. "I don't think I've won a spar against you in the last several months."
"I'm surprised you've been doing so good on the written tests."
Naruto grimaced. Doing good was an exaggeration. He was barely passing the tests. Usually by only a few points. Nanashi was still trying to get him to study more often… but it was sooooo boring! "I'm just glad to be passing!"
"Are you going to take the Early Graduation Exams again?"
"Already signed up!" Naruto grinned at the boys as the food finally arrived. "My chakra control has never been better! And I can use the Clone Jutsu easy as pie now!"
"He still can't beat me in a taijutsu spar." Sasuke added.
Naruto slurped down his first bowl, and shouldered checked the boy gently, "Give me a couple more weeks, and I'll start taking you down! Just look at how close I got today!"
"The only close part was before I took my weights off."
"You're using weights already?" Choji asked in shock.
"Nanashi has me using them."
"Aren't they dangerous?"
Sasuke shrugged. "She's teaching me how to use them properly. When to lower them, when to keep them at max weight, and more."
"Nan-chan always makes sure we're training safely!" Naruto laughed, his third empty bowl being put down. "Ever since Sasuke fell and broke my hand."
"Him falling broke your hand?"
"Shut up, dobe."
Naruto recanted the tale, and many more as the group of boys slowly ate their meal. To Naruto, it was nice to finally have people interested in what he was saying besides the Nan-chan and Sasuke, and for Sasuke, it was nice to have company besides Naruto and Nanashi for once.
As for the third member of the little family, Nanashi was dealing with her own visitors at the moment.
+~#*-
"Fuck off."
Three ANBU stood surrounding her hammock, and Nanashi waved her sake bottle at them threateningly.
"Lord Danzo—"
"Can suck my—!"
"Silence!"
"Fuck you too." She mumbled.
One of the men moved forward, but was stopped by his ally. "She insulted our lord."
"Peace." The man spoke. Nanashi stared at the man, trying to get a glimpse of his hair or eyes, pretending to squint through her fake drunkenness. "Our lord wishes to meet with you, Lady Uchiha."
"Lady?" Nanashi glanced around. "I don't see some refined hag around here. Do you?"
"Lord Danzo has a proposition for you."
"I don't go for old, creepy men."
"You should hold you tongue, Lady Uchiha."
"You can hold it, cutie." She winked at the group, almost laughing as the youngest looked off in his body language. "It's always fun messing with these drones."
"He has an offer for you. A quite serious one."
"How exciting." She tipped her bottle over, watching as one last drop slipped from inside. "Awww, I'm out."
"A gift, then." A bottle appeared, a high end one from the look of it. Completely sealed, intricate design, and a golden embroidery on the cork. Higher than top shelf. No doubt filled with poison, drugs, or an aphrodisiac. She had framed more than a few people with those in the war.
"Wait. I used that same brand on a Mist Jonin… That I got from a blank ANBU. Never did put two and two together." She held her hand out for the bottle and immediately popped the cork. No strange smell entered her nose, but just to be sure, she hid a hand behind her back, and activated a body purification jutsu before finally taking a swig. There it was, a drug that was slowly trying to numb her body, as well as one that… stimulated her. She couldn't even drink it. What a shame. "Thanks for the cheap swill. What's his offer?"
The three stood still for some time, before it became obvious their gift wasn't working for them. Finally, "He wishes for you to join his voting block."
That's what the blackmail would have been for. "And what do I get out of it?" The man had spent months trying, yet she usually ignored him. "I guess he's gotten tired of waiting."
"He wishes to give information."
"I have all the information he could ever give me. At least, any I could care about."
She could practically hear the bastard's gears turning. There were only a few things the man could actually offer that would interest her.
"Two A-Rank Taijutsu techniques, and a style from the Land of Lightning not used since the Warring Clan Era. They come from an extinct clan known as the Mizuhokō-sha."
"Let me guess," Nanashi smiled innocently at the man. "Shattering Fist as the first technique, Ocean of Stars as the second, and… their taijutsu style was known as the… Stepping Stones."
She heard the leader's lips open before his teeth clacked shut.
"It's funny, you know. Fugaku Uchiha, not my uncle, but Madara Uchiha's grandfather, led the final charge to eradicate the last of that clan. Took every scroll and person they could." The techniques were difficult to use, requiring near perfect chakra control, but their power was great. Though they lived in the Land of Lightning, as their name suggested, they were originally from what would become the Land of Waves, though back then it was a part of the Mist before the Second War. Shattering Fist would be used with tight chakra control to knock the water from someone's skin, eventually leading to dehydration. Ocean of Stars, on the other hand, was more of a genjutsu and needed a pool of water or rain to fully use. The user would bend the light bouncing between the water droplets around themselves like a mirage, and was supposed to be used in combination with Shattering Fist…
…
"What were we talking about?" She had distracted herself by thinking of the technique. "Oh right. Also, that's not really information, is it?"
"The truth of the massacre."
She snorted, a glint of mirth shining in her eye. "Which one? I was a part of several, remember?"
Finally, a grunt of frustration from the man shown through. "You know which one. The Uchiha Massacre. He will tell you everything he knows."
"What that it wasn't Itachi's idea?" She guessed. A simple, innocent guess.
"… You knew already?" Hook, line, and sinker.
"Of course I knew. What kind of idiot wouldn't know? I also know of Danzo's hand in it. Still won't get me to follow him."
"I see." The three stood in silence for several minutes before finally the leader turned. "We shall leave for the time being. But please, do give the meeting your thoughts. I believe Lord Danzo and yourself could have much to discuss."
"Come back with something better than this swill." She threw the laced sake with a burning passion and watched it shatter and splatter against the ROOT nin's feet. They were gone in an instant. "Bastards."
Silence greeted her once more as she swayed in her hammock. Though, on the inside, she was ready for anything. Hoping they wouldn't come back, but ready none the less.
"So Danzo did have something to do with the clan's death." Nanashi hated her clan more than anything in the world. Well, it was mostly the name. She would have killed the elders, Fugaku and maybe a few of the other blowhards. But the entire clan? The kids didn't deserve such a fate, and more than a few of the half-blooded Uchiha weren't half bad.
…
…
…
"Itachi. Why you?" The boy had been so bright eyed and bushy tailed back then. Always following Shisui, but he was even kind to her. And then she had shown him up while trying to teach him a technique. And then… "You're just a rat like your father." It didn't matter the why. He had still killed all the children. For good or bad, the man had spilled the blood of the innocent. If Nanashi ever met him, she wouldn't let him go for that. Though it was unlikely. As if she'd ever leave the village. Who would willingly leave infinite money and all the booze you could drink… sweet, sweet booze.
+~#*-
(AN: This will not be a Naruto/Nanashi fic, just wanted to point that out now. Naruto is a kid who had practically no one, and was suddenly swept into the whirlwind that is Nanashi. He's a kid who doesn't really understand his feelings. Anyway, since we're on the topic. What are you all's favorite relationships and Pairings in Naruto? Or your favorite strange ones? Let me know before the next chapter.)