Manicherryblossom33
Leaf Village Regular 🍃
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Uhhh. I'm soooo tired. I've had a test and/or quiz every day of this week. And it snowed today, but didn't stick, didnt get me sent home from school early, and didnt serve its purpose. Argh... But! I managed to write chapter and get it to you before the week was up. Yaay. (On a different subject, Kishi's is really scaring me with these latest chapters. Scary! And that Kakashi anbu special from today was awesome).
Please enjoy, rate, comment, like, tweet, retweet, other social networking jargon, etc. etc.
Naruto Fanfic A Future Without You
Chapter 26
NARUTO'S POV [USHIO VILLAGE INN]
"You two are unbelievable!"
Naruto crossed his arms at Sakura's attitude while Hinata shifted uncomfortably. Where was the thank you? Naruto had brought back a valuable teammate so there should be a thank you. Not that he needed one! But that wasn't the point...
"I can't believe you just ran off like that, Naruto!" Sakura scolded, throwing her arms up at him. "You know you can't just leave like that, not for any reason! Lady Tsunade warned us not to let you out of her sight! And Hinata! Neji and the others are on their way Akane right now to escort you back to the village but you changed your mind and decided you're not going at the last second?!"
"Stop complaining, Sakura." Sasuke said from the other side of the room, where he was leaning against the wall. "I already sent a messenger hawk to them explaining everything. They can report it to the Hyuga and the Hokage."
"But... Sasuke..." Sakura said, faltering. "This is really inconvenient... It's rude..."
"It's fine. This was his idea." He pushed off the wall and approached Naruto, jabbing him in the head. "If anyone gets mad, we'll just pin the blame on him."
"But--!" Sakura began.
"What's done is done." Sasuke finished. "We'll deal with the consequences later. Besides, it's better to stick with Hinata, rather than bring in a stranger Naruto's not used to. It'd be problematic to risk that, when we're going into Uzushio tomorrow."
"Well I'm not disagreeing with you or anything," Kiba said before turning to Hinata, "But is this okay? If Hanabi needs you--"
"Then we need to hurry and finish this mission, so I can get back to her." Hinata stated.
Kiba "hmmm[ed]" in concern, but didn't say anything else.
"But still!" Sakura turned back to Naruto. "Running off like that is--"
"Look, calm down okay!" Naruto ordered. "Geez. You act like I'm gonna set myself on fire by accident or something. I'm not gonna run away from you guys. I promise, okay? Geez, you're so noisy."
Sakura shook a fist at him. "I'M NOISY?!"
Naruto sighed, annoyed. This was worse than Yuuki's lectures. "Don't leave the hideout alone, Naruto," and "don't sleep all day Naruto," and "stop! Naruto! That's not ramen seasoning, it's medicine!" On and on and on.
He crossed his arms behind his head. "Well! I'm gonna go for a walk. Alone! See ya."
"WHAT DID I JUST S--"
Naruto slammed the door behind him, and hopped to the streets below.
He was full of energy now, for some reason. As soon as the bruise disappeared, he started feeling light and happy and even more powerful than before his injury. There was a full moon out tonight, and not a cloud in the sky. Taking a deep breath, he inhaled the scent of ocean water and freshly baked bread from a nearby bakery. Exhaling, he let himself fall backward as a cool breeze blew past him. A split second before he would have hit the ground, he flexed his legs and jumped to a high rooftop.
He took off running, jumping from building to building, at top speed, so it felt like he was running on clouds.
He came to a wide gap between rooftops and jumped onto thin air before letting Kyuubi's chakra flood out of his hands in the form of light red, transparent, grainy-looking "clouds" that were both loose and solid. He landed on them and rode them into the sky, letting some of the chakra corkscrew around his arms to keep him from falling off. He grinned, a little mischievous, as they carried him into the sky. Yanking his arms free, he willed the "clouds" to dissipate and had the chakra return to his body, letting himself free fall through the air with his arms crossed behind his head.
"Brat!" Kurama barked. "You waste my chakra on something so ridiculous!"
"Shut up!" Naruto joked, laughing. "I'm in a really good mood, okay?"
Stretching his arms out, he flipped over, wind blowing his hair out of his face. He was headed towards a forest just outside Ushio village.
Bending his arms, he brought his hands in front of his face and watched as his hands lit up with blue chakra, followed by the symbols of either bird, dragon or sheep appearing on each fingertip.
He took a deep breathe, then blew out a large amount of air that collected itself around a few trees. After slipping through the pocket of highly condensed air, there was a weird sensation like falling through oil, followed by a POP sound when he undid the jutsu, and the rustle of leaves after his feet clasped down on a thick branch.
Still grinning, he sat down and leaned against the trunk.
"Impressive."
Naruto huffed, peeved at Sasuke, who apparently had followed him without him noticing.
"If you hadn't been showboating, you would have been fine." Kurama smirked, rubbing it in.
"I said I needed some alone time, Sasuke." He grumbled.
Sasuke, stood on a different branch, in a different tree, across from Naruto. He took a step out of the tree shade directly into the path of a moonbeam so that Naruto could clearly see the smirk on his face.
"What you said was that you were going for a 'walk.'" He replied. "And anyway, it seemed like you had something to say to me."
Naruto slowly lost the attitude. He DID have to talk to Sasuke.
"I met up with Mami." He confessed, prepared for the worst. "And I... I didn't try to attack her, or kill her, or capture her, or anything..."
"Do you know why?" Sasuke asked, not surprised in the slightest.
Naruto knit his brow and clenched his fists. "I think so. Back in Akane, when Hinata was talking to me about her sister, she said that it would be easier to hate the people who hurt you,but it's... Kind of impossible when they're related to you. Is that... True?"
"No." Sasuke answered bluntly.
Naruto made a face at him. "Seriously? That was quick."
"I don't need to think about it." Sasuke explained. "I've experienced it before. Pure hatred... For my brother."
Naruto straightened up, blinking ad nauseum, and pushing off the trunk into a stance. The serious, blunt way Sasuke said that... Made him feel very concerned.
"You're... Brother....?" He asked. "But... Why...?"
His brother! That WAS what he said, right? Naruto didn't have any brothers... That he knew of. But if Tsuna weren't just like a brother, then he didn't know the meaning of the word brotherhood. And to hate Tsuna was impossible. There were times when Tsuna complained too much, times when their prank wars got out of hand, times during their sparring sessions when they got over-competitive and hurt each other, but Naruto could never hate him.
Sasuke jumped to Naruto's branch and pointed at him.
"You were living in the underground for a while." Sasuke stated. "I'm infamous in the shadows. You clearly didn't like me when we first met. What did you hear?"
Naruto's expression steeled; he was still seething over that. "I heard you tried to kill your best friend to get the Mangekyo sharingan! That you're an ex rogue! That you're broody, have a gloom and doom power complex, that--"
Sasuke jabbed him between they eyes with a twig he'd pulled out of nowhere. Naruto yelled "ow!" And swatted it out of his hand.
"Gloom and doom, hmmm? Whatever. I wasn't always the only Uchiha, and I DID try to kill my freind. As for why I hated my brother, well it goes back to when I was really little. I usually don't talk about myself, but I need you to understand something so listen up!"
Naruto rubbed the space between his eyes and pouted. Yeah, right, like this guy DIDN'T like the sound of his own voice?
"My clan was similar to yours. They were strict, and there weren't any other children other than my brother, his friend shisui, and myself. Everyone else were experienced ninja, including my parents. My father was distant and nearly silent, and my mother was cheerful, and easy to talk to. I adored both of them. And I adored nii-san. Graduating from the academy, activating the sharingan, joining the anbu black ops, all of that happened for him early on. I was envious of the attention he got, feeling like our father neglected me. Father was always praising him, saying 'that's my boy' whenever he reached yet another goal. I wanted him to tell me that, even if it was just once. So I was never slacked off in school, and was always top of the class. But when I showed my report card to my father, all he said was that I should keep it up so I could become amazing, like my brother."
"But that's..." Naruto glared. "Why was he always comparing you two? I mean, you're not your brother. You're Sasuke. You're different."
Sasuke chuckled, still sounding bitter, but also amused.
"Exactly. But my brother was the pride of our clan, so he cast a big shadow." Sasuke went on. "One I was always trying to surpass. I got my chance when my brother and father started fighting. That was when my father starting talking to me more, mostly about school. I told him I was bored, since it was so easy for me. My father showed me the fireball jutsu, and when I didn't get it away, it disappointed him. But I kept at it, mastered it, and showed it to him. So he finally said 'that's my boy...' To me."
Naruto beamed, but his face fell when the look in Sasuke's eyes became dark once more.
"That was also when he told me not to follow my brother anymore. I was confused, and anxious. To me, it sounded like he was trying to make me a replacement for my brother. So I told my mother what happened, and what I thought fathers words meant. She that that father loved me and my brother equally, and that the only reason my brother got more attention than me was because my father relied on him to help protect the clan. She also said, that when she and father were alone, all he talked about was me."
"Really?" Naruto grinned. "What'd he say?"
"... I don't know." Sasuke answered. "...I've never known. And I never will know. Because unfortunately, even though the young me didn't realize it, that was no ordinary day. I stayed late after school, training. And when I came home, I saw the corpses of my clan covering the streets. Everyone was dead."
Naruto gasped. He had known this was how the story went, with all the Uchiha dying, but... It sounded so different hearing it from an actual Uchiha.
"I raced home, to make sure my parents were okay. But I found they had been killed too... And my brother was standing over them."
"Why was he okay?" Naruto asked.
"Because... He was the one that killed them all." Sasuke answered.
Naruto paled.
"I was afraid of him. I didn't want to be killed, too, so I ran. I wanted to pretend it was all a horrible dream, but he wouldn't let me. He stopped me. Then he told me that he wouldn't kill me, and if I hated him for it, then I needed to attain the Mangekyo sharingan, and kill him one day. In order to get the Mangekyo, I had to--"
"Kill your best friend." Naruto frowned, remembering Tsuna's explanation. "That's why you did it..." He grinned trying to hide the sorrow he was feeling and give Sasuke a look of rage. "But still--!"
"I only tried to kill him." Sasuke reminded him. "He doesn't die easy. Still, I did defeat him. But My brother had killed his best freind to obtain Mangekyo, and I couldn't stand the idea of copying him, so I let my freind live, and then I went to work for a rogue ninja who trained me for two and a half years before I turned on him. I went after my brother, without the Mangekyo, and succeeded in killing him. But then I learned the truth."
"Truth?" Naruto tilted his head, confused.
"My clan was never truly welcome in Konoha." Sasuke continued. "Because of our historical conflicts with the Senju, who held power in the village, the advisors and higher ups were always suspicious of us. It used to be a simple case of both sides disliking each other, but the biju attack on Konoha changed that. Many shinobi, villagers, and the fourth hokage were all killed."
Naruto shuddered as Kurama became restless, and felt him back up to the more shadowy part of his cage, as if he were hiding. Gripping his stomach, Naruto's mental self approached the bars of Kurama's cage, asking him what was wrong. There was no response. Naruto couldn't go beyond the bars carelessly. Unless he was in biju mode, going behind the seal could be dangerous.
"The advisors suspected the incident was man made," Sasuke continued, bringing Naruto's focus back to the real world," And since sharingan are one of the only things that can control biju, we were the prime suspects. All Uchiha were herded into a small area in the village, and were monitored via a double agent. My brother was a peace loving, gentle, and kind person. Just like our mother. Unlike her, he chose the village over our clan."
Naruto's arm shot out, trying to grasp at something. Anything. Something solid so he wouldn't fall now that Sasuke had yanked the ground out beneath his feet.
"Wait... You mean...!" He said, wrapping his head around it. "He was the double agent?"
Sasuke nodded, expressionless.
"He betrayed you." Naruto's eyes were shaking, remembering Seto. "But why...?"
"My father was planning a rebellion with the other me,miners of our clan." Sasuke explained, and Naruto flinched. "Wanting intelligence on the inner workings of the village, father pushed my brother to join the anbu himself, using him as a spy. The advisors had the same idea, and he became a double agent. If a rebellion occurred within the village, civil war would break out, and Konoha would be invaded. Innocent foreigners who had nothing to do with the rivalry between Senju and Uchiha would die. My brother joined their side with this in mind. When things got out of hand, they ordered him to annihilate our clan. Nii-San made a deal with one advisor, Danzo: in exchange for killing everyone else and pinning the blame on himself, my life would be spared."
Naruto jumped, understanding everything so well it hurt. "He did it to save you?! All of it?!"
"Yes. I was shocked too. My vengeance had been achieved, but it was anything but sweet. I was so bitter, and regretful. He had never been my enemy, but the kind and gentle brother I had idolized as a child. The one I loved. However, even if I hadn't killed him, he would have died anyway. He was deathly ill, and had prolonged his life using medicine."
Naruto's arms fell to his side, limp. This story sounded like a nightmare. Only a nightmare couldn't actually hurt you, and Naruto was hurting inside so much from the very idea of family killing each other that he wanted to throw up.
"Then why are you with Konoha now? They stole everything from you!" Naruto waved his arms at Sasuke, still confused, and kind of furious.
"Not everything..." Sasuke shook his head, almost smiling. "We ended being united against a common enemy, and I returned to Konoha afterwards, deciding to protect the village my brother loved. Many people there are still uneasy about me, which is why I'm on a kind of probation even now. But that's beside the point."
"What IS the point?" Naruto asked miserably. "Why are you telling me all this?"
Sasuke closed his eyes, tilting his head to the side and then back.
"My brother was never truly evil, but I 'knew' he was." Sasuke said. "I was positive in my hatred and in the power I'd acquired to kill him. He had murdered our clan, even our parents. He was an evil sociopath who wanted to kill ME. He was power hungry, and wicked, and he was going to keep hurting me as long as he existed. Even if I had wanted to, I couldn't have stayed in Konoha as long as Itachi was alive. Back then, that was all I knew. My heart, brain, and gut, told me it was all true. My instinct was to kill Itachi. I may have been wrong, but I wasn't wrong to think this about my brother. It would have been too risky, unbelievably risky, to think anything other than that. And the same goes for Mami."
"What are you... Talking about?" Naruto asked, getting a sinking feeling.
Sasuke's eyes snapped open. "Mami is your enemy. She has hurt you, and will KEEP hurting you as long as she is alive. She's an evil temptress, who is threatening her own clan, and if she keeps running free, you'll only lose more and more important things and people. This is all you know about her. But..."
Sasuke poked Naruto in the chest, right where his heart was.
"You're a kind person, who adores his family. All of them, despite how they've treated you. Just like nii-san." Sasuke stated. "You're hoping Mami is actually doing this with some good intention in mind. You're hoping she really does love you, and isn't actually a threat. You don't want to hurt her. Even though you only know bad things about her. That's why you've been protecting everyone in you're clan, even though, from what I understand, only those kids, Uri, Tsuna, and Yuuki care about you. Best case scenario: Mami is actually your protector, hurting you because she loves you, the way my brother did for me. But you can't rely on that! My brother was unique. I doubt there is anyone else like him. If Mami is spared, and you turn out to be wrong, you'll more than likely be killed, and so will these people you're so desperate to protect. Is the small hope that she's actually an ally worth risking that?"
Naruto's eyes shook, and his face fell.
"No..." He replied, his voice barely above a whisper.
Sasuke was right. Somewhere, deep down, he HAD been hoping Mami would be like Seto, more or less. Seto turned out to be a pitiful person whose heart was bashed in by his fathers betrayal and Naruto's mothers death. He had been kind once, back when Kaa-chan and Uri were kids. Naruto had been thinking, if he had tried harder, would he have been able to save Seto? Would Seto have returned to how he used to be?
"Mami needs to be defeated, and captured at least." Sasuke said. "And you're perfect for the job, BECAUSE you're an Uzumaki, and you're strong, like me. I can help you, if you want, but I won't take on the job for you. And you shouldn't push it onto anybody else. Mami is messing with you. You have to settle the score, if you want to live in peace."
"Are you peaceful?" Naruto argued. "You killed you're own brother. Doesn't that bother you?"
"My friend who disappeared.... He is just like a brother to me. Itachi is gone. He can't make it up to me. But my freind is still alive, and has already more than made up for my horrible childhood. He and Sakura....Konoha is their home. I want my brother to live in peace. That is why I'm here now."
Naruto sighed. This was the worst lecture EVER. Mostly because it made sense.
"How's your shoulder?"
Naruto whipped his head up, glad for the change of subject. "Oh yeah! It's gone now! The bruise, I mean. See?"
He pulled back his collar. Sasuke seemed shocked and relieved to see it gone.
"But how--"
"I dunno!" Naruto answered, dropping his arms. "This weird black smoke started coming out of my shoulder, and then, poof! Gone! Hinata was surprised, too!"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, then reached over to grip the back-curve of his own neck.
"How do you feel...?" He asked, eyes focused on Naruto's now healed shoulder.
Naruto grinned, punching the air. "Amazing! I don't think I've ever felt this way before, it's like! It's like my muscles, my bones, like... Like they're as light as a feather! And my chakra, its! It's expanded! I mean, there's more of it now! And this too!"
He pounded his fist over his heart, beaming. "This is a heck of a lot lighter, now. I don't feel as much... Pain as I did before! Like I'm on top of the world! Like I can't lose!"
He clenched his fists and waved them excitedly at Sasuke, who was actually smiling. It was small, and a there was still some apathy in his eyes, but it was definitely a smile. Had Sasuke smiled at all since he'd first met him?
"Yes, actually." Kurama answered, before ducking deeper into his cage and leaving Naruto confused, his mouth hanging open to form a small "o."
"Let's go." Sasuke turned and nodded towards the port. "Since you have so much energy, you and I should go look for a ship so we can set sail to Uzushio tomorrow morning."
Naruto hummed, then gave Sasuke a curious look.
"Did you have to?" He asked, unable to help himself.
"What?" Sasuke looked over his shoulder at him.
"Did you, ya know, have to hate him?" Naruto asked. "He killed your whole family. Did you have a choice about hating him or not?"
Sasuke looked up at the moon, then tilted his head, considering this. Then he locked eyes with Naruto.
"You decide." He said. "I trust you to find the right answer."
Naruto smiled, feeling flattered, and more than a little respect for Sasuke.
"Let's hurry and find a ship so we can finish this mission." Sasuke reminded him, already walking off.
Naruto chuckled and took off after him.
Please enjoy, rate, comment, like, tweet, retweet, other social networking jargon, etc. etc.
Naruto Fanfic A Future Without You
Chapter 26
NARUTO'S POV [USHIO VILLAGE INN]
"You two are unbelievable!"
Naruto crossed his arms at Sakura's attitude while Hinata shifted uncomfortably. Where was the thank you? Naruto had brought back a valuable teammate so there should be a thank you. Not that he needed one! But that wasn't the point...
"I can't believe you just ran off like that, Naruto!" Sakura scolded, throwing her arms up at him. "You know you can't just leave like that, not for any reason! Lady Tsunade warned us not to let you out of her sight! And Hinata! Neji and the others are on their way Akane right now to escort you back to the village but you changed your mind and decided you're not going at the last second?!"
"Stop complaining, Sakura." Sasuke said from the other side of the room, where he was leaning against the wall. "I already sent a messenger hawk to them explaining everything. They can report it to the Hyuga and the Hokage."
"But... Sasuke..." Sakura said, faltering. "This is really inconvenient... It's rude..."
"It's fine. This was his idea." He pushed off the wall and approached Naruto, jabbing him in the head. "If anyone gets mad, we'll just pin the blame on him."
"But--!" Sakura began.
"What's done is done." Sasuke finished. "We'll deal with the consequences later. Besides, it's better to stick with Hinata, rather than bring in a stranger Naruto's not used to. It'd be problematic to risk that, when we're going into Uzushio tomorrow."
"Well I'm not disagreeing with you or anything," Kiba said before turning to Hinata, "But is this okay? If Hanabi needs you--"
"Then we need to hurry and finish this mission, so I can get back to her." Hinata stated.
Kiba "hmmm[ed]" in concern, but didn't say anything else.
"But still!" Sakura turned back to Naruto. "Running off like that is--"
"Look, calm down okay!" Naruto ordered. "Geez. You act like I'm gonna set myself on fire by accident or something. I'm not gonna run away from you guys. I promise, okay? Geez, you're so noisy."
Sakura shook a fist at him. "I'M NOISY?!"
Naruto sighed, annoyed. This was worse than Yuuki's lectures. "Don't leave the hideout alone, Naruto," and "don't sleep all day Naruto," and "stop! Naruto! That's not ramen seasoning, it's medicine!" On and on and on.
He crossed his arms behind his head. "Well! I'm gonna go for a walk. Alone! See ya."
"WHAT DID I JUST S--"
Naruto slammed the door behind him, and hopped to the streets below.
He was full of energy now, for some reason. As soon as the bruise disappeared, he started feeling light and happy and even more powerful than before his injury. There was a full moon out tonight, and not a cloud in the sky. Taking a deep breath, he inhaled the scent of ocean water and freshly baked bread from a nearby bakery. Exhaling, he let himself fall backward as a cool breeze blew past him. A split second before he would have hit the ground, he flexed his legs and jumped to a high rooftop.
He took off running, jumping from building to building, at top speed, so it felt like he was running on clouds.
He came to a wide gap between rooftops and jumped onto thin air before letting Kyuubi's chakra flood out of his hands in the form of light red, transparent, grainy-looking "clouds" that were both loose and solid. He landed on them and rode them into the sky, letting some of the chakra corkscrew around his arms to keep him from falling off. He grinned, a little mischievous, as they carried him into the sky. Yanking his arms free, he willed the "clouds" to dissipate and had the chakra return to his body, letting himself free fall through the air with his arms crossed behind his head.
"Brat!" Kurama barked. "You waste my chakra on something so ridiculous!"
"Shut up!" Naruto joked, laughing. "I'm in a really good mood, okay?"
Stretching his arms out, he flipped over, wind blowing his hair out of his face. He was headed towards a forest just outside Ushio village.
Bending his arms, he brought his hands in front of his face and watched as his hands lit up with blue chakra, followed by the symbols of either bird, dragon or sheep appearing on each fingertip.
He took a deep breathe, then blew out a large amount of air that collected itself around a few trees. After slipping through the pocket of highly condensed air, there was a weird sensation like falling through oil, followed by a POP sound when he undid the jutsu, and the rustle of leaves after his feet clasped down on a thick branch.
Still grinning, he sat down and leaned against the trunk.
"Impressive."
Naruto huffed, peeved at Sasuke, who apparently had followed him without him noticing.
"If you hadn't been showboating, you would have been fine." Kurama smirked, rubbing it in.
"I said I needed some alone time, Sasuke." He grumbled.
Sasuke, stood on a different branch, in a different tree, across from Naruto. He took a step out of the tree shade directly into the path of a moonbeam so that Naruto could clearly see the smirk on his face.
"What you said was that you were going for a 'walk.'" He replied. "And anyway, it seemed like you had something to say to me."
Naruto slowly lost the attitude. He DID have to talk to Sasuke.
"I met up with Mami." He confessed, prepared for the worst. "And I... I didn't try to attack her, or kill her, or capture her, or anything..."
"Do you know why?" Sasuke asked, not surprised in the slightest.
Naruto knit his brow and clenched his fists. "I think so. Back in Akane, when Hinata was talking to me about her sister, she said that it would be easier to hate the people who hurt you,but it's... Kind of impossible when they're related to you. Is that... True?"
"No." Sasuke answered bluntly.
Naruto made a face at him. "Seriously? That was quick."
"I don't need to think about it." Sasuke explained. "I've experienced it before. Pure hatred... For my brother."
Naruto straightened up, blinking ad nauseum, and pushing off the trunk into a stance. The serious, blunt way Sasuke said that... Made him feel very concerned.
"You're... Brother....?" He asked. "But... Why...?"
His brother! That WAS what he said, right? Naruto didn't have any brothers... That he knew of. But if Tsuna weren't just like a brother, then he didn't know the meaning of the word brotherhood. And to hate Tsuna was impossible. There were times when Tsuna complained too much, times when their prank wars got out of hand, times during their sparring sessions when they got over-competitive and hurt each other, but Naruto could never hate him.
Sasuke jumped to Naruto's branch and pointed at him.
"You were living in the underground for a while." Sasuke stated. "I'm infamous in the shadows. You clearly didn't like me when we first met. What did you hear?"
Naruto's expression steeled; he was still seething over that. "I heard you tried to kill your best friend to get the Mangekyo sharingan! That you're an ex rogue! That you're broody, have a gloom and doom power complex, that--"
Sasuke jabbed him between they eyes with a twig he'd pulled out of nowhere. Naruto yelled "ow!" And swatted it out of his hand.
"Gloom and doom, hmmm? Whatever. I wasn't always the only Uchiha, and I DID try to kill my freind. As for why I hated my brother, well it goes back to when I was really little. I usually don't talk about myself, but I need you to understand something so listen up!"
Naruto rubbed the space between his eyes and pouted. Yeah, right, like this guy DIDN'T like the sound of his own voice?
"My clan was similar to yours. They were strict, and there weren't any other children other than my brother, his friend shisui, and myself. Everyone else were experienced ninja, including my parents. My father was distant and nearly silent, and my mother was cheerful, and easy to talk to. I adored both of them. And I adored nii-san. Graduating from the academy, activating the sharingan, joining the anbu black ops, all of that happened for him early on. I was envious of the attention he got, feeling like our father neglected me. Father was always praising him, saying 'that's my boy' whenever he reached yet another goal. I wanted him to tell me that, even if it was just once. So I was never slacked off in school, and was always top of the class. But when I showed my report card to my father, all he said was that I should keep it up so I could become amazing, like my brother."
"But that's..." Naruto glared. "Why was he always comparing you two? I mean, you're not your brother. You're Sasuke. You're different."
Sasuke chuckled, still sounding bitter, but also amused.
"Exactly. But my brother was the pride of our clan, so he cast a big shadow." Sasuke went on. "One I was always trying to surpass. I got my chance when my brother and father started fighting. That was when my father starting talking to me more, mostly about school. I told him I was bored, since it was so easy for me. My father showed me the fireball jutsu, and when I didn't get it away, it disappointed him. But I kept at it, mastered it, and showed it to him. So he finally said 'that's my boy...' To me."
Naruto beamed, but his face fell when the look in Sasuke's eyes became dark once more.
"That was also when he told me not to follow my brother anymore. I was confused, and anxious. To me, it sounded like he was trying to make me a replacement for my brother. So I told my mother what happened, and what I thought fathers words meant. She that that father loved me and my brother equally, and that the only reason my brother got more attention than me was because my father relied on him to help protect the clan. She also said, that when she and father were alone, all he talked about was me."
"Really?" Naruto grinned. "What'd he say?"
"... I don't know." Sasuke answered. "...I've never known. And I never will know. Because unfortunately, even though the young me didn't realize it, that was no ordinary day. I stayed late after school, training. And when I came home, I saw the corpses of my clan covering the streets. Everyone was dead."
Naruto gasped. He had known this was how the story went, with all the Uchiha dying, but... It sounded so different hearing it from an actual Uchiha.
"I raced home, to make sure my parents were okay. But I found they had been killed too... And my brother was standing over them."
"Why was he okay?" Naruto asked.
"Because... He was the one that killed them all." Sasuke answered.
Naruto paled.
"I was afraid of him. I didn't want to be killed, too, so I ran. I wanted to pretend it was all a horrible dream, but he wouldn't let me. He stopped me. Then he told me that he wouldn't kill me, and if I hated him for it, then I needed to attain the Mangekyo sharingan, and kill him one day. In order to get the Mangekyo, I had to--"
"Kill your best friend." Naruto frowned, remembering Tsuna's explanation. "That's why you did it..." He grinned trying to hide the sorrow he was feeling and give Sasuke a look of rage. "But still--!"
"I only tried to kill him." Sasuke reminded him. "He doesn't die easy. Still, I did defeat him. But My brother had killed his best freind to obtain Mangekyo, and I couldn't stand the idea of copying him, so I let my freind live, and then I went to work for a rogue ninja who trained me for two and a half years before I turned on him. I went after my brother, without the Mangekyo, and succeeded in killing him. But then I learned the truth."
"Truth?" Naruto tilted his head, confused.
"My clan was never truly welcome in Konoha." Sasuke continued. "Because of our historical conflicts with the Senju, who held power in the village, the advisors and higher ups were always suspicious of us. It used to be a simple case of both sides disliking each other, but the biju attack on Konoha changed that. Many shinobi, villagers, and the fourth hokage were all killed."
Naruto shuddered as Kurama became restless, and felt him back up to the more shadowy part of his cage, as if he were hiding. Gripping his stomach, Naruto's mental self approached the bars of Kurama's cage, asking him what was wrong. There was no response. Naruto couldn't go beyond the bars carelessly. Unless he was in biju mode, going behind the seal could be dangerous.
"The advisors suspected the incident was man made," Sasuke continued, bringing Naruto's focus back to the real world," And since sharingan are one of the only things that can control biju, we were the prime suspects. All Uchiha were herded into a small area in the village, and were monitored via a double agent. My brother was a peace loving, gentle, and kind person. Just like our mother. Unlike her, he chose the village over our clan."
Naruto's arm shot out, trying to grasp at something. Anything. Something solid so he wouldn't fall now that Sasuke had yanked the ground out beneath his feet.
"Wait... You mean...!" He said, wrapping his head around it. "He was the double agent?"
Sasuke nodded, expressionless.
"He betrayed you." Naruto's eyes were shaking, remembering Seto. "But why...?"
"My father was planning a rebellion with the other me,miners of our clan." Sasuke explained, and Naruto flinched. "Wanting intelligence on the inner workings of the village, father pushed my brother to join the anbu himself, using him as a spy. The advisors had the same idea, and he became a double agent. If a rebellion occurred within the village, civil war would break out, and Konoha would be invaded. Innocent foreigners who had nothing to do with the rivalry between Senju and Uchiha would die. My brother joined their side with this in mind. When things got out of hand, they ordered him to annihilate our clan. Nii-San made a deal with one advisor, Danzo: in exchange for killing everyone else and pinning the blame on himself, my life would be spared."
Naruto jumped, understanding everything so well it hurt. "He did it to save you?! All of it?!"
"Yes. I was shocked too. My vengeance had been achieved, but it was anything but sweet. I was so bitter, and regretful. He had never been my enemy, but the kind and gentle brother I had idolized as a child. The one I loved. However, even if I hadn't killed him, he would have died anyway. He was deathly ill, and had prolonged his life using medicine."
Naruto's arms fell to his side, limp. This story sounded like a nightmare. Only a nightmare couldn't actually hurt you, and Naruto was hurting inside so much from the very idea of family killing each other that he wanted to throw up.
"Then why are you with Konoha now? They stole everything from you!" Naruto waved his arms at Sasuke, still confused, and kind of furious.
"Not everything..." Sasuke shook his head, almost smiling. "We ended being united against a common enemy, and I returned to Konoha afterwards, deciding to protect the village my brother loved. Many people there are still uneasy about me, which is why I'm on a kind of probation even now. But that's beside the point."
"What IS the point?" Naruto asked miserably. "Why are you telling me all this?"
Sasuke closed his eyes, tilting his head to the side and then back.
"My brother was never truly evil, but I 'knew' he was." Sasuke said. "I was positive in my hatred and in the power I'd acquired to kill him. He had murdered our clan, even our parents. He was an evil sociopath who wanted to kill ME. He was power hungry, and wicked, and he was going to keep hurting me as long as he existed. Even if I had wanted to, I couldn't have stayed in Konoha as long as Itachi was alive. Back then, that was all I knew. My heart, brain, and gut, told me it was all true. My instinct was to kill Itachi. I may have been wrong, but I wasn't wrong to think this about my brother. It would have been too risky, unbelievably risky, to think anything other than that. And the same goes for Mami."
"What are you... Talking about?" Naruto asked, getting a sinking feeling.
Sasuke's eyes snapped open. "Mami is your enemy. She has hurt you, and will KEEP hurting you as long as she is alive. She's an evil temptress, who is threatening her own clan, and if she keeps running free, you'll only lose more and more important things and people. This is all you know about her. But..."
Sasuke poked Naruto in the chest, right where his heart was.
"You're a kind person, who adores his family. All of them, despite how they've treated you. Just like nii-san." Sasuke stated. "You're hoping Mami is actually doing this with some good intention in mind. You're hoping she really does love you, and isn't actually a threat. You don't want to hurt her. Even though you only know bad things about her. That's why you've been protecting everyone in you're clan, even though, from what I understand, only those kids, Uri, Tsuna, and Yuuki care about you. Best case scenario: Mami is actually your protector, hurting you because she loves you, the way my brother did for me. But you can't rely on that! My brother was unique. I doubt there is anyone else like him. If Mami is spared, and you turn out to be wrong, you'll more than likely be killed, and so will these people you're so desperate to protect. Is the small hope that she's actually an ally worth risking that?"
Naruto's eyes shook, and his face fell.
"No..." He replied, his voice barely above a whisper.
Sasuke was right. Somewhere, deep down, he HAD been hoping Mami would be like Seto, more or less. Seto turned out to be a pitiful person whose heart was bashed in by his fathers betrayal and Naruto's mothers death. He had been kind once, back when Kaa-chan and Uri were kids. Naruto had been thinking, if he had tried harder, would he have been able to save Seto? Would Seto have returned to how he used to be?
"Mami needs to be defeated, and captured at least." Sasuke said. "And you're perfect for the job, BECAUSE you're an Uzumaki, and you're strong, like me. I can help you, if you want, but I won't take on the job for you. And you shouldn't push it onto anybody else. Mami is messing with you. You have to settle the score, if you want to live in peace."
"Are you peaceful?" Naruto argued. "You killed you're own brother. Doesn't that bother you?"
"My friend who disappeared.... He is just like a brother to me. Itachi is gone. He can't make it up to me. But my freind is still alive, and has already more than made up for my horrible childhood. He and Sakura....Konoha is their home. I want my brother to live in peace. That is why I'm here now."
Naruto sighed. This was the worst lecture EVER. Mostly because it made sense.
"How's your shoulder?"
Naruto whipped his head up, glad for the change of subject. "Oh yeah! It's gone now! The bruise, I mean. See?"
He pulled back his collar. Sasuke seemed shocked and relieved to see it gone.
"But how--"
"I dunno!" Naruto answered, dropping his arms. "This weird black smoke started coming out of my shoulder, and then, poof! Gone! Hinata was surprised, too!"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, then reached over to grip the back-curve of his own neck.
"How do you feel...?" He asked, eyes focused on Naruto's now healed shoulder.
Naruto grinned, punching the air. "Amazing! I don't think I've ever felt this way before, it's like! It's like my muscles, my bones, like... Like they're as light as a feather! And my chakra, its! It's expanded! I mean, there's more of it now! And this too!"
He pounded his fist over his heart, beaming. "This is a heck of a lot lighter, now. I don't feel as much... Pain as I did before! Like I'm on top of the world! Like I can't lose!"
He clenched his fists and waved them excitedly at Sasuke, who was actually smiling. It was small, and a there was still some apathy in his eyes, but it was definitely a smile. Had Sasuke smiled at all since he'd first met him?
"Yes, actually." Kurama answered, before ducking deeper into his cage and leaving Naruto confused, his mouth hanging open to form a small "o."
"Let's go." Sasuke turned and nodded towards the port. "Since you have so much energy, you and I should go look for a ship so we can set sail to Uzushio tomorrow morning."
Naruto hummed, then gave Sasuke a curious look.
"Did you have to?" He asked, unable to help himself.
"What?" Sasuke looked over his shoulder at him.
"Did you, ya know, have to hate him?" Naruto asked. "He killed your whole family. Did you have a choice about hating him or not?"
Sasuke looked up at the moon, then tilted his head, considering this. Then he locked eyes with Naruto.
"You decide." He said. "I trust you to find the right answer."
Naruto smiled, feeling flattered, and more than a little respect for Sasuke.
"Let's hurry and find a ship so we can finish this mission." Sasuke reminded him, already walking off.
Naruto chuckled and took off after him.
