Brick by Brick - ElementalWatermelon13 (2024)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

'I lived a good life'I thought as my mind started to fuzz out and black began to encroach upon the edges of my vision. I could see the fluorescent lights of the kitchen ceiling, and the doors of the cupboards I had left open. In the reflection of my chrome refrigerator, I could see a slowly spreading pool of blood staining my industrial green scrubs. Black blots obstructed my view and the painful fire at the back of my head turned into a dull throbbing at the edge of my consciousness.

My thoughts started to rush as I remembered all the things I was supposed to be doing today. I was going to miss my shift at the hospital. I had left the oven on, and I needed to unload the clean clothes from the dryer. Somehow, I could tell that none of that would be happening. You could never quite tell the seriousness of a concussion, but this much blood was excessive, even for a head wound. As the light faded out of my vision I couldn’t help but think of all of the people I was leaving behind.

***

I wish I could say that I died a valiant death, saving someone from a mugger or a speeding car. I wished I could say I died doing something I loved or an accident while fooling around for the enjoyment of my extended family. It might have been embarrassing, but I could just imagine the grave marker now. “He died like he lived, happy and laughing.” Sadly, my death was not valiant, or funny, or even tragic. I remember quickly shuffling across the kitchen to grab the phone hung on the wall when I slipped on a thin coating of water. It happened so quickly I couldn’t even react. My legs flew out from under me, and my head hit the tiles under me with such force that a loud cracking sound rang through the room. I could barely hear it under the fuzz in my head.

***

It was dark. No, not merely dark. There existed in this place a complete absence of light that could never be comprehended as such a simplistic word as dark. It was a gaping maw of unlight, an endless abyss that seemed in dichotomy to croon at me, calling me to itself. It whispered of quiet nothing, of endless belonging, of leaving life behind and becoming a small part of the whole of the universe. On the edge of my consciousness, a song crooned through the endless space. It thrummed through my very being, resonating with me on a level deeper than I had ever felt.

For a while I drifted. The darkness was welcoming, and I made a home in it or it a home in me. There was such a sense of overwhelming peace and tranquility, but it was missing something. I had a sense that this was not my final destination, merely a rest stop on the way to something else. What or where I did not know. However, I missed the calm of wind blowing through hair, and the joy of grass curling through toes. My soul ached for the wonder of climbing a tree and seeing how high I could go before I balanced on the thinnest of branches. I knew at that moment that to stay here was eternal peace, but also eternal quiet, and I missed the sounds of life and laughter of children dearly.

Suddenly as if jolted from my oneness with the void I felt a new emotion encompassing me. It did not come from me, but the darkness I was no longer a part of. A different tune called out, eerie but loving. It felt slightly wistful, and I could understand it’s message in the back of my mind. “That one is perfect. Remember that all things end up back here, in my embrace.” And then I felt my soul twist as it was removed entirely from the unlight and folded over and over again until it was dense and compact, and pushed along as if through a tube, to I knew not where.

***

The next time I woke up I noticed that the scenery around me hadn’t changed all that much. All I could see was dark, but it was normal dark, not the unlight of the abyss. There were marked differences. Time seemed to pass at a crawl instead of being the loose, easily skipped over concept of the void. Finally, instead of the knowledge of being nothing more than a soul I could feel something like a body on the edges of my perception. I could feel a wet warmth on my skin – skin, I had skin! – and a rhythmic beating that threatened to lull me off to sleep. As I wondered where I was, I started to drift.

Throughout my time in the Place, I enjoyed various periods of lucidity, in which I had to entertain myself or risk going mad from boredom. My mind was fuzzy, and though I tried to think complex thoughts to fill up the time, my head was too full for much. Instead, music kept me tethered, gentle tunes and loud rock, any genre I could recall. Over my life, music was what put me at ease, kept me driven. Singing took me to a happy place where my problems didn’t matter, and joy could easily be found in jazz, or pop, or rock.

Other times I grew emotional, memories from my past overcoming me, confusing and vague. My mind was not yet developed enough to process them, and so I cried and kicked, squirming against my restraints.

When it felt as if an eternity and a day had gone by my world changed. The walls of my comfy prison started to close in around me like the spiked walls of a trap room set up for the heroes in an 80’s superhero movie. This marked the end of my life as Jacob Angler, and the beginning of a new life, The life of Akitsu.

***

I will not deign to describe the event of my birth. Just know that it was absolutely traumatizing, and that babies are lucky they do not remember the first moments of their existence. If they did, then all people would have claustrophobia. In the time since I was born, I learned some things about my mother in this world. She had long shiny dark brown hair the color of wood varnish. Her face was soft and was set with a pair of chocolate brown eyes. Her name was Kana, no last name.

She worked as a prostitute at the brothel we live in, called The Spring Rain. The brothel provided room and board for all its workers and their children, acting as a small community. She left every day for what I presumed was work in the evening and returned in the morning. The older children worked as tea servers, and in other such menial errands. Our room was small, with wooden walls and floors, and basic wooden furniture. The style of build seemed to be oriental, though I had some trouble telling what with a babies poor eyesight.

Months passed in food, sleep, hugs, and tears. I babbled near constantly, trying to learn how to steer the car that was my face. Weird metaphor, I know, but I knew all the parts were there, I just had to figure out how to use them. It was embarrassing, like hitting the wipers when trying to signal a left turn. Phbbbt. Babababab. Oaooaoooa. It was alternatingly hilarious and tedious. I tried to entertain my mother, making silly faces for her when she was upset, and she returned the favor. My mother was graceful and kind. She played several instruments. Our quarters were rather traditional, with spartan spaces, and a few precious belongings of high quality. I adored her utterly. She wore beautiful traditional garments, with flower patterns and the occasional sparrow. The language my mother spoke around me was some form of Japanese. Through patient listening I learned that my name is Akitsu. I knew it meant dragonfly, because she would point at a small palm sized painting of a dragonfly every time she said it. In the time since I was born, I had not been taken out of the community area of the brothel by my mother at all. I was only allowed to play with other children of the prostitutes in the small courtyard at the center of the brothel. I crawled, then walked. I learned words and tried to say them out loud, but only babble emerged

***

It was finally time! My mom decided to take me out on a shopping trip. She helped me put on my boots, and I toddled along behind her. As I fumbled to place a navy blue hat on my head my mother took out the pair of tinted goggles she always had me put on outside our private quarters. She spoke in a serious tone, and I understood a good chunk of what she said. She told me not to take them off. Then she secured the goggles to my face and led me out the door.

As we left the brothel proper for the first time the sun shone down on the landing of the stairs, and I took a good look at the city surrounding us. It was unlike any city I had ever seen. Many of the smaller buildings we passed were made of wood, but the large apartment buildings had concrete or brick walls, complete with wooded roofs. Every once and a while I saw a building with curved walls and roof. Metal was also in evidence, such as for drainage pipes, and the electrical wires running all over. It was like some bizarre combination of modern and old fashioned. It was certainly an aesthetic. For some reason the architecture seemed familiar to me. I took a careful step down the flight, my mother holding my hand.

Mother led me through the crowds into a busy market area, selling fish, rice, and all kinds of vegetables. She walked up to stalls and haggled with the best of them, lowering prices to what we could afford. I could barely understand one out of every five words, but surely we left the market laden with vegetables. Well, she did. I was still too small to carry anything but myself. She pointed at the things we bought and said their names, letting me touch them before she put them away. She held up a large eggplant, with a long fat body and a deep royal purple colour. She brought it closer to my face, and said, “.” I slapped my hand on it, blurting out “Naaa!” She smiled, putting it away with our other acquisitions.

A couple of minutes later we stopped on a hill to eat our lunch. I lay down on the ground, making a starfish in the soft grass. As much as I had looked forward to our day out, I was tired from all the excitement, and toddlers aren’t exactly known for their endurance. I looked up, gazing at the clouds passing by my tired mind trying to made shapes out of them. As my gaze swept downwards, I saw over the horizon a tall mesa overlooking the city. It jutted out of the landscape like a great wide pillar, broken off at the base, leaving only the first tenth. It was towering, but its width outweighed its height by far. It had four faces carved into the rockface. The first three were fairly ambiguous, but the fourth, with its distinctive spiky hair … reminded me … I knew this. From the stories I read as a young adult in my last life. ‘Is that the Hokage Monument?!’

Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Chapter Text

‘I’m in the world of Naruto.’ I thought dully as I followed my mother back to our apartment, tiny legs aching from the strain. ‘I thought I would get another chance at life, to live a quiet life, and die at an old age! This isn’t another chance to live, it’s another chance to be messily slaughtered! This isn’t fair.’ Frustrated tears welled up in the corners of my eyes, and I fought the childish urge to cry. I sat on the floor of the living room while my mother busied herself putting the more perishable goods away in the ice box in the kitchen.

I took off my goggles, and laid my head in my chubby hands. I had looked forward to living my second childhood, and then deciding what I wanted to do. I would have had time to work it out, maybe become a doctor this time, or expand upon my hobby and become a musician. Now I knew that that would never come to pass. I could go about my days as if nothing was wrong, choose a normal career, but what would I do when Pain assaulted the village? Or Orochimaru? Kaguya? I wouldn’t be able to do anything to protect myself. I realized that If I wanted to live, I wasn’t going to be able to do it as a civilian.

‘How many times in the series were civilians slaughtered because a shinobi had a bad day? For civilians it’s all luck. They could die at any time, at the drop of a hat! Any hat!’ I frowned; my baby face screwed up in consternation. ‘...When did I start to think of civilians as they?’ I firmed my resolve. If I wanted to become a shinobi I would need to start soon. If I waited I would never be able to survive against the more powerful people in the later story, let alone beat them.

The next day as mother left for work, I decided to set down on my path to become a ninja. I tried meditating, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t find hide nor hair of my chakra. I quickly realized that it might take a long time to find it with no guidance, and an underdeveloped chakra system, so I moved onto something just as important. I pulled out a children’s book off the small shelf next to my futon and got to work.

Over the next couple months, I spent all my free time learning how to read hiragana. Mother read to me in the mornings, and I did my best to memorize the pronunciation of the words. It was the easier of the two Japanese writing systems. I found it quite strange how quickly I was picking the language up, a combination of a child’s brain plasticity, and my driven perseverance. I had not been Japanese in my last life, but I had soaked up some vocabulary just by osmosis.

I switched between practicing reading and exercising my body, in part to get out excess energy to calm my mind, and to try and retain my youthful elasticity. I did basic stretches and other techniques to build motor control. I practiced pronunciation during the night while she was gone, and at the end of the eighth week of learning, I decided to test out my newfound tool.

I clumsily asked Mother for miso soup for dinner, enunciating as clearly as I could manage. Kana went dead silent, and dropped the pot in her hand, the tinny clatter of the metal pot rolling on the ground the only sound in the room. Her hands went up to cover her mouth and her light brown eyes spoke of terror. She glanced around the apartment, checking the door and windows, before crouching down to my level. She held me gently, stroking my hair to calm her nerves. After a few minutes she calmed down, and looked me in the eye.

“Akitsu, I need you to do something for me.” She said carefully. Her hand cupped my face, and she played with my ear even as her eyes grew flinty with their strength. “I need you to be quiet for now, only speak when I am the only one in the room, never outside. If people knew how smart you are then they would take you away from me. Do you understand?” I nodded hesitantly and made a zipping motion over my lips. She exhaled in relief and kissed the top of my head. “Good, good.” She whispered out, her voice a little rough. “How about that miso soup darling?”

I let her lead me to the table, and sat down, watching her putter about in the kitchen. I knew what she was talking about, and why she was so worried. Any civilian with good sense would be scared if they had a genius child. Any casual reader of Naruto would know of Danzō Shimura, the creepy old man who kidnapped smart children in the night to train as his secret emotionless shinobi force. I knew that if I was taken by him there would be no escape.

That night she brushed my long dark brown hair, sectioning it and brushing each section, then bringing them back together. Once all of the tangles were out, it felt really relaxing. I fell asleep in her lap.

***

Mother always behaved somewhat weirdly, but she acted even odder after the reveal of my mental abilities. She made me wear my goggles full time and cut the long brown hair she used to love until it was short and spiky. I didn’t know why she made these changes in particular. It wasn’t as if children with spiky hair were shown to be less intelligent statistically.

My mother constantly wore makeup and dressed to impress, quite necessary for her job, and when she did she would sometimes let me sit with her. Across from her futon sat a small vanity, one that had a mirror. It was the only mirror I knew of in the house, and I wasn't tall enough to see myself in it. I didn’t have a good mental image of myself. I knew that my hair was brown, but that was about it. I smiled when she allowed me to attempt to put in one of her hairpieces. She laughed at my attempt, and then redid it, grabbing my nose with her finger and thumb. I pretended to be shocked, and cried that she had stolen my nose, and I wouldn’t be able to smell until she gave it back. She let out a full belly laugh and said I would get it back in the morning. As she left for the night I couldn’t help but ruminate on the events of the past month. ‘Why does she act so oddly? This can’t be only about my intelligence. What else does she have to hide?’

***

The first time I gained access to my chakra network I was four years old. I had been meditating daily since I discovered I was in Naruto, and all that hard work had finally paid off. It slipped out of my grasp easily, but it was a start. In the years since my revelation, I had studied the language of this world relentlessly, and although I grasped hiragana quickly, kanji was another matter entirely. It was much more difficult and complex. Even so I had learned all the basic kanji and a few of the more complex ones.

Mother was impressed with me, but I could tell that she was worried for me. I had managed to keep my ‘genius’ under wraps, and that thankfully quieted her fears. She was also tired. When she came home from work in the mornings it seemed as if the life had been drained from her. I worried that she was becoming sick, but we both knew that we didn’t have the money to pay for any procedures, and medic-nin were reserved for shinobi only, they weren’t allowed to treat civilians.

I remember the first time I asked about my father. I knew it would probably be a sore subject for her, which was why I didn’t ask sooner. I knew single parents were relatively normal, but I wanted to know why he wasn’t in the picture. She told me that he was a client and didn’t even know he had me. She also told me that he was dangerous, or that his family was dangerous, and that if it was found out that I was his son then I would face horrible repercussions.

I wondered who he was to have so much influence. Unless he was nobility it was likely he was a shinobi. There were many people I could think of who fit the description, but that was exactly the problem. There were too many possibilities. In any case if what my mother was saying is true then I must avoid being found out at any cost. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

***

My legs pumped under me as I ran full tilt through the streets of Konohagakure. I could see the shadow chasing me out of the corner of my eye as I ducked under a stall and took a sudden turn out of their view, losing them. Although it was weird being around children ‘my age,’ and they could be intentionally and unintentionally cruel, playing ninja was a good way to get exercise without raising any brows.

Although I was now allowed to wander, I mostly stuck with the kids from the community. It was also useful in mapping out all the escape routes and hidey holes of Konoha proper. It turned out I was quite good at it; my slim body was good for hiding and my body seemed coded for flexibility and sleight of hand. I even practiced some old card tricks I learned in my previous life to keep my hands agile for weapons throwing and hand signs. I was good enough that the other children stopped teasing me about my goggles.

I had figured out by now that ‘ninja’ was basically a version of running tag, where you hid until the ‘it’ person finds you, and then run for it. If they tag you then you must join them in searching for the others until everyone is caught. The last person standing wins and gets to be ninja the next time. This was the one-team version of ninja, because we didn’t have a big enough group for the two-team version.

“Whoa!” I thought as I dodged the swipe of a green haired girl slightly larger than me. Her hair glinted in the sun as her face hardened into the most adorable resolve. It was cute when children pretended to be serious.

“Get back here Akitsu! I’m going to beat you into the dirt, you slippery bastard!” She shouted. After all the times I won the game, I was known by most of the children as ‘that slippery bastard.’ I simply found the taunt amusing.

“Catch me if you can vegetable girl.” I called over my shoulder as I sprinted into an alleyway and vaulted over a low stone wall.

“Grrrrr.” she growled in frustration as she made to follow me. Just then a horn tooted, signaling the end of the game, with me as the victor.

As I walked home after our rousing game of ninja I thought on my plans for the day. By this point I had gotten very good at holding on to my chakra for long periods of time. I could now hold onto my chakra for just over an hour, but I had yet to do any real chakra exercises with it. I was afraid of using it too early and messing up my chakra system irreparably. Today, however, was the day that would change.

I was planning on playing with the leaf exercise once mom leaves for work. I know she would be upset if she found out I was messing with chakra. She really didn’t want me to be a ninja because of reasons connected to my father, but I knew that I would never survive the events of the show without being a ninja, and I knew I could never forgive myself if I had a chance to save people and didn’t even try. Youth!!!!

I had saved up a bag of leaves over the past week and sequestered them in my closet. Once mom was gone, I sat down in a meditative pose and concentrated on my chakra. I had gotten very good at meditation in the years I had spent practicing. I could feel my chakra flowing through my veins like a network of rivers, and I concentrated on the leaf I had pressed to my forehead. My chakra reached out to the leaf and grasped it, holding it fast. Abruptly it disconnected and fell to the floor. What had I done wrong?

‘Oh! I think I get it. I spent so long practicing grasping my chakra that I understand the fundamentals of control, but I never used it outside of my body before. I never had chakra leaving my system before, so it was kind of shocked. I simply need to get used to the feeling and build up my chakra level enough to sustain a steady output.’ I smiled as I got to work, putting the leaf back on my forehead. Also note that if you put too much chakra into the leaf it flies away like in a puff of air.

***

I stared at myself in the mirror. I know it sounds weird, but I haven’t been in contact with that many mirrors in my life. The only mirror in the house is on mother’s dresser and given that I have taken to wearing my goggles everywhere, even inside the house, my appearance is something that I would describe as along the lines of “pale skin, brown hair, wears goggles.”

Today I snuck into mom’s room to look at myself in her mirror. She was still out at work, and I had some free time to myself. I was worried about her. She had a light cough, and although it wasn’t bad, paired with the lack of energy I was worried there was something more serious going on.

I indeed had short dark brown hair – nearly black and spiky. I had pale skin, and the eyes. I guess I know who my father is, or at least what his clan’s name was. For my eyes, my eyes were a pale lavender. I now knew the extent of my mother’s worry. I just had to be reborn into the only clan in Konoha to practice familial slavery. I stared at the ceiling for hours until sleep came.

Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Chapter Text

I thought my life was good. Sure, it wasn’t the most conventional childhood, but I was happy. I had a wonderful caring mother who took care of me and gave me the chance to act the kid again. You have no idea how much a little fooling around like a child can heal the soul. I was smart enough to make a place for myself, and a whole host of friends in the community. I didn’t converse with the people outside the community much, but I was happy with what I had. By this time, I was five years old, and I was able to cut the cost of the leaf concentration technique such that I could hold it for a full hour. I was definitely proud of that. All of this changed when my mother’s cough got worse.

Oh, sure it only started off as a cough but three months later and it hadn’t gotten any better. Her coughs racked her body, and she had trouble breathing. I tried to help her in any way that I could. I brewed her herbal tea that was supposed to help, but it didn’t seem to do anything. I thought back to her energy levels over the past year and worried that this was a terminal disease. I still had medical knowledge from my previous life, and the signs worried me. I knew I was coming to the worst possible conclusion, but nothing seemed to be helping, and the cough only seemed to get worse.

I knew that we could afford no medicine, not even a check up to determine what was wrong. Soon we received to worst news possible. It was three months later, and Mother could no longer work. The brothel could not hire a sick prostitute. They said that no man would pay for a woman diseased, and they needed our room for a woman who was providing for the brothel. Despite the bad news mother didn’t let it put her down.

She quickly used her saved up funds to rent a small apartment at the edge of the red-light District. We were still in the same community, just further. Mother found a minimum wage job at the library and started putting food on the table. Even this didn’t last long. Within a few months she was fired from her job and even with our funds we were starting to starve.

“I have to do something.” I realized as I stared at my mother and the meagre food on the table. “I should have from the beginning. I am an adult, not a child and I shouldn’t have let myself forget that. I just hope that it isn’t too late to make a difference.” I stared down at my soft hands. What could I do that would bring money to the table? I didn’t have any skills not connected to ninja. I wasn’t knowledgeable in any skilled trades, let alone strong enough to be up to expectations. Wait, that was exactly it! I could use my ninja skills. I don’t care if I have to steal to get money, I won’t allow my mother to waste away if I could do something about it.

***

I glanced out from behind a crate, eyes focused on the apple stall close by. The apples stacked in front of it were red and plump. I pursed my lips in concentration, ready for my moment.

This was the perfect test. Daiki was a middle-aged man who had a temper and tended to take it out on any street children he saw. It was common knowledge to avoid him when playing ninja. He saw no problem in hitting you with a broom if he thought you were getting too close to his stall. If I was going to steal from anyone, it would be pleasantly ironic to try him first.

The market was bustling and although that meant that there were many witnesses, it also meant that Daiki was too distracted with his other customers to notice me. I walked up to his stall from the side. Because of my height once I was close enough, he couldn’t see me over it. I quickly reached up and pulled one of the dangling apples from the display, shoving it into my bag. Mother didn’t ask me where I got the apple I gave her that evening, but she gave me a soft sad smile. As long as I only stole from generally bad people, I had a feeling I would be okay.

I made many more small scores in the next few months, as well as some basic necessities from a convenience store run by a man who was known to beat his wife. I knew that it was not possible to always steal from bad people, but it was satisfying whenever it happened. As time moved forward, Kana’s illness progressed. She had little appetite, and seemed to be losing weight at a steady rate. She had chills, complaining often of the cold, and every once in a while she caught a fever. She occasionally complained of a pain in her limbs.

One night I was offered some Ryo to pick up ramen by a drunk neighbour, and my quick service was noticed. After a few weeks I had several customers who I ran errands for, picking up ramen or groceries, the occasional cigarettes, or snacks. This way I could buy food with money I had earned. No one found it odd that I wore goggles all the time.

I abandoned petty thievery at this point as it would jeopardize my delivery income. By this point in time, I was ‘that kid with the goggles.' Plenty of people in Konoha had odd quirks, and mine wasn’t even the oddest they had seen. Mom was so proud of me. She gave me a big hug and told me that she was happy that I was so mature. I knew that I vowed to leave my childishness behind, but I knew that no matter what happened I would always be Kana’s son. On my birthday we celebrated with milk and cookies and paper cone hats. It may have been frugal, but it was one of my happiest memories with my mother.

I thought that things couldn’t get worse. That we had already been through the worst of it, and that no matter what the world threw at us we would make the best out of it. I didn’t truly know how cruel the world could be until I watched my mother cough up blood into a napkin during dinner. It felt as if the world was closing in around me. A thought struck through me like an arrow. “Mother … is dying.” I felt a tear roll down my cheek as the realization overtook me. I had tried my best, but even my best wasn’t good enough. Mother started to cough up more blood and I rushed over with a glass of water. I didn’t think anything I could do now would help compared to all I had already done, but damn me if I wasn’t going to try.

I helped her get into bed and pull her covers up, but before I could leave, she grabbed my wrist lightly. I turned back towards her and prepared to listen to her words, tears already pinching at the corners of my eyes. I took off my goggles to wipe at them. “I’m not long for this world.” she spoke, her voice rough and scratchy from two years of coughing. “I wish I could protect you, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to anymore. Just know that I love you.”

I felt overwhelming grief then. This was really goodbye. I wanted to comfort her, but I didn’t know what to say… No, I knew what to say, no matter how much it hurt to admit her inevitable death out loud. “Don’t worry mom, I’ll be fine. I have all the market people to look after me, and I know it might be scary, but where you’re going isn’t a bad place. It’s just quiet. Really peaceful.” As I sat next to her on her bed, I told her to wait for me because I would join her one day to keep her company. She slipped away in the night.

***

Life was difficult after mother's passing. I wanted to grieve, but at the same time was bogged down with too many tasks too think. I needed to work hard enough to earn my meals, and I think Teuchi kept me busy on purpose to keep my mind off it.

If I tried to use the rest of the month in the apartment, I would be forcibly relocated to an orphanage, so I concealed her death for a day. I pawned everything I couldn’t carry except for some household tools, blankets, and the brush with which she had combed my hair. It gave me a little cash in hand before I became desperate. I gazed at the handheld painting my mother had been so proud of. A dragonfly. “Akitsu!” she used to say, pointing between the painting and myself, as if trying to show me what my name meant. I hastily took off my goggles, wiping at my leaky eyes, and gently placed the painting inside my go bag.

I found a crack in an alleyway near Teuchi’s ramen stand that led to a small crevice out of the wind, where two buildings didn’t quite meet. I scored a refrigerator box from a trash pile and managed to get it over the roofs into the small crevice. A wooden pallet kept it off the wet stones and two hundred Ryo bought a waterproof tarp which I strung up to keep the rain out. I filled my sweatshirt and pants with dry leaves to keep warm in the night. A large tea tin with nail stamped holes occasionally provided some light and heat when it was especially cold.

When I did have time to think my mother was always at the forefront of my mind. ‘I don’t want to forget her. She loved me and I need to remember that.’

I would get up and sneak out of my burrow at the lightening of the sky. I would go to a local park and work on the stretching and flexibility exercises I learned from my mother until the night's chill left me. I would be joined by some of the timeless old folks who did moving forms in the dawn light.

What could I have done differently? Could I have saved her? Could I have stolen medicine from the hospital? I would still have had to properly diagnose what the problem was. I may have been a nurse in my previous life, but I had had medical texts and references on hand then. A medic-nin could have saved her, but medic nin don’t work on civilians. Maybe I could have stolen enough money to buy it? It would have taken a hell of a lot more theft to pull that off than what I had stolen before. Plus, I had stolen from food stalls, it’s even harder to steal cash, which is normally much more well looked after. I would have had to have thought of a way to get a lot of money in a short amount of time. I wanted to blame myself, but I don’t think it would have really been possible. I needed three things in order to thrive. I needed money for food and shelter. I needed combat skills to protect myself. I needed secrecy to shield myself from those I might wrong, and creeps who prey on kids, like Shimura Danzō.

Chapter 4: Chapter 4

Chapter Text

September

I peeled my eyes open. The world was washed in a shimmery green film, and it was distorted, objects wavering in an eerie dance. I was seemingly weightless, floating in the thick green fluid. I tried to move my arms, but they were weak, and the tinted ooze proved enough to restrain me. My eyes followed a rubbery tube which was connected to a face mask, providing me breaths of cold air. Another tube snaked down my throat and into my stomach. My rousing caused a heart monitor to beep insistently. The sound attracted a person in medical scrubs, and long dark hair that flowed down his back like water. Above the medical mask were a pair of slitted snake eyes, golden in hue and surrounded by thick purple makeup, swooping down towards his nose. Even the green tint could not hide the intensity of his sharp gaze. He approached my tank with a needle the size of a caulking gun, lifting the top off of the container. "Don't worry." he said, peering down at me from above. "This will only hurt a bit."

I woke up screaming in my alleyway hideout, heart racing and throat wet. My cries had startled the local pigeons which were filling the air with their wings. I breathed in and out, trying to slow my racing heart. I tried to get back to sleep, but after a nightmare like that I couldn’t help the sense of dread that suffused my person. It was a long time after that that I finally fell asleep again.

***

I crawled my way out of my little home in the late morning, far too late for the breakfast rush, but early enough for lunch. With any luck, Teuchi would have some work for me. As I came up to Teuchi’s stall, I spied a pair of little orange legs kicking under the cloth divide. I ducked under it, and found a little kid at the stand; blond haired head turned from me, but the iconic orange jumpsuit made it obvious who it was. I entered the stall, walking up to the counter.

I knew that by working with Teuchi at Ichiraku’s I was bound to meet Naruto somewhere along the way. I just didn’t think Teuchi would purposefully introduce us. Naruto must have only recently met Teuchi, because his adorable blue eyes were clouded with wariness, and a great deal of hope.

“Akitsu! Come over here and meet my new best customer!” Teuchi shouted from across the street as Naruto ducked his head, until all you could see was his blond hair.

“I’m Akitsu, nice to meet you.” I didn’t want to scare him off immediately, but I didn’t want to get too close too soon. Befriending Naruto was sure to get me watched by ANBU. Still, that didn’t mean I couldn’t cheer him up a little bit. Here’s to hoping this doesn’t backfire on me.

Naruto’s eyes avoided mine as he reluctantly introduced himself. “I’m Uzumaki Naruto.” I ordered a bowl of pork ramen for myself and sat down not too far from the orange clad child. He was eating a seafood ramen with shrimp and a little fishy swirl thing. I pointed my finger at him in outrage trembling with feigned horror.

“You monster!” I exclaimed. His eyes flashed with hurt, and he flinched away. “You cannibal! How dare you eat Naruto!” He paused, and the hurt in his eyes turned into confusion, and then disbelief. I snorted with laughter.

“You should talk!” Naruto said, imitating my snort. Some of the wariness faded. “You’re eating pig, cannibal!” He danced around me snorting and pointing, his bowl in one hand. I stuck my tongue out at him and tried to pull down my eyelid, poking my goggle with my chopsticks. We collided in a spray of soup and limbs, slipping out of our high seats and crashing to the ground, our precious noodles hitting the floor. Naruto wailed as if the world was ending while I sat in a soupy mess. Teuchi grabbed us by the ears and led us to the area behind the stand. I chuckled; a full belly laugh the whole way there. Yes, this had been a good decision.

“Right.” He said. “You two are cleaning this up.” He pointed to the mop and bucket. Naruto and I cleaned up the noodles and mopped the floor while Teuchi watched gravely. Naruto kept giving me the stink eye. After we were done, we presented ourselves to Teuchi, and he pronounced us done. I turned to Naruto and bowed to him.

“Moushiwake-gozaimasen-desh*ta.” He snorted at my formality, and I continued despite the interruption. “Please allow me to buy you another bowl.”

“Warui.” Naruto responded. “But I will allow you to buy me that bowl.” Teuchi watched approvingly as we waited for our new food. As we ate Naruto continued to chuckle quietly into his bowl.

“Cannibal.” I ribbed him again once enough time had passed. He laughed. I snorted.

“Piggy.” I snorted again. I paid Teuchi the few bills I owed him. Naruto paid from his slim frog shaped wallet for his original meal. “Buy me another?” he wheedled.

“I’m not your Gama-chan.” I refused. He paused, then a realization passed across his face. He pointed at my goggles covering my face, dark lenses slightly protuberant.

“Gama-chan!” he laughed, pointing at me. I smiled politely at Teuchi and took Naruto by the collar into the street, forcing him into a headlock. As we wrestIed I began to rub his head. He slipped out of my grasp, outraged.

“Yamārashi!” I mocked him, pointing at his spiky hair, likening it to a porcupine. He caught a look at himself in the water fountain and charged at me. I ran, and we raced through the village, jumping over crates in alleyways, sliding between stands at the market, ducking under some workmen carrying logs. Naruto caught up with me, breathless at a local park. I was gasping for breath, hands on knees. “I surrender! Please stop before I lose my noodles a second time.” Naruto looked down at me with a snooty expression.

“That would be a tragedy.” He opined. He gracefully accepted my surrender. His happiness was belied by the giddy grin on his face.

“As an apology, I will give you a haircut, if you like.” I offered. I gave a toothy grin.

“Hey! Hands off the hair!” he said, raising his fists in a boxing stance mockingly.

“Fine.” I said. “See you around?” I offered him a fist bump, and he seemed confused. I took his fist in my other hand and bumped them together. He pretended not to watch me as I walked away.

***

I saw Naruto often in the next few weeks. Sometimes at the ramen stand, sometimes in the street, sometimes at the local park. We would wave as we passed. He saw me washing my torso in the fountain with a facecloth. Later that day I saw him lonely on the swings, listlessly dangling. “Hey, Porcupine!” I saluted him. Hope soared in his face at anything different than the cold indifference he got from the other kids and the moms at the parks.

“Hey.” he said feigning indifference. Without asking I moved behind him and began pushing him on the swing. Higher and higher he rose, laughing in the summer air. “Look how high I am!” he explained childishly.

As I pushed him as high as I could I yelled out “Underdog!” and ran under the swing as he reached the highest point of the parabola. He shrieked as I ran under his legs, and slowed himself down by dragging his feet on the ground. After a minute, he stopped. He looked at me expectantly.

“My arms are tired.” I shrugged.

“Thanks, Gama-chan.” He said. He hopped off, and I took a turn.

***

We became friends over the next month. He saw me stretching in the park one morning and watched me for a while. Around us was a group of middle aged ladies that always took this corner of the park for their own in the mornings.

“What’re you doing?” he asked, head tilted to the side like a puppy.

“Stretching.” I replied. “Cold muscles pushed hard can get hurt, and cold tendons can snap like cold rubber bands. Your body is the thing you own the most. It is your first tool, and your last resort." I looked around the park for one of the other residents. “O-basan?” I asked an older lady who practiced in the park, “Would you show my friend here your reverse bridge?” The fortyish woman bent over backwards body making an O shape, her hands on the ground, fingers pointing at her heels, only about 15 inches apart. Naruto looked impressed.

“I used to be a little more flexible, but I had an accident.” she explained. “I’ll be closer soon.” She went back to her workout, smiling as Naruto tried to do the same feat and failed utterly. “Tadpole!” she interrupted his efforts. “Walk first, then run. Do your exercises with Akitsu-kun here, and you may get there some day. The longest Journey?” she waited for me to reply.

“Begins with one step.” I replied. She turned to Naruto.

“The best time to plant a tree is fifty years ago. The second-best time to plant a tree is?”

Naruto screwed up his face thinking hard. “Today?” He guessed. She tousled his hair and pointed to me. We started going through basic stretches.

After that day Naruto showed up every morning. After a few days, the oldsters had become accustomed to Naruto showing up, but a few annoyed glances were sent his way. I directed him to quiet down a little. After we were finished, we stopped on the way home. “Naruto” I explained, “O-basan and the others do these things for two reasons.” He nodded along. “The first is to prepare and strengthen their bodies. The second is to make their souls quiet to prepare for the coming day.” He indicated he understood.

“I’ve been being quieter.”

“Yes.” I agreed. “Good job. But does this look quiet?” I pointed to his orange outfit. Naruto bristled.

“Ninja dress awesome!” I nodded along, but during our next meeting took him along on a trip to the local library. I was insistent that we could learn a lot about past shinobi there. We asked the twenty something librarian for some pictures of famous ninja. We got some pictures of the Three Sannin from before Orochimaru went rogue. Then I got a picture of some Genin from the last Chūnin exams. Naruto hmm’d. Then I asked the librarian of some pictures of snakes. I showed him pictures of grass snakes and rat snakes and then a coral snake.

“Why is the grass snake so boring?” I asked.

“So, it can hide?” Naruto guessed. I nodded.

“This coral snake is one of the deadliest known to man. A bite from it will kill you in half a day. Its colors are a way to say, 'Touch me and I’ll kill you'. Same thing with ninja. Orochimaru could get along with being a super feminine guy and having long hair because if you looked at him funny, he could kill about all the people in the world except maybe 12 to 30 of them.” Naruto looked at me, understanding in his eyes.

“I’m gonna be like the Hokage one day!” he vowed, metaphorical flames in his eyes.

“I believe you.” I said. “But until you get there, dress like a grass snake.”

“I can’t get nicer clothes!” he complained. “All the shopkeepers are mean and throw vegetables at me."

“I can help you.” I promised. No matter the excuse, it sat wrong with me that people could treat Naruto like that with no repercussions. No matter what, they were the adults in this situation.

I continued to run deliveries in the neighbourhood. There were a bunch of old people, full of stories. Some of the were retired shinobi. They often had mobility or vision problems, and seemed often to need help, and they seemed to always have a few Ryo to pay for a service. I became a regular helper for quite a few. They told stories about their lives. Hair raising stories about the fast and deadly existence they had lead. A few of them would tell stories about each scar.

I looked up some books on patterns of clothes. I found a pattern for a simple Gi. Before spending money on tailoring, I checked out local used clothing stores. I found several simple black Gi that some kid had grown out of, and some standard garments that went beneath them. I was able to find three outfits within Naruto’s price range. I had a needle and thread, and scissors, so back at Naruto’s apartment I was able to use my rudimentary skills to hem them to the correct length.

Naruto was so happy he hugged me and got cry-snot on my best clothes. Now angry jerks would only notice Naruto at twenty feet away instead of sixty. We got him some handkerchief type hats that kept his hair out of his face. I found a bargain bin turtleneck thing and nearly died laughing when Naruto pulled it up over his face so high it hid his face almost Kakashi style.

***

Fall was getting closer, and I felt like sh*t. The nights were colder and had dropped below freezing. I had woken up at dawn shivering despite my ten blankets in my hideaway. I lit a candle in the tea tin container despite my fear of fire and shrink wrapping myself in my plastic covered hovel. I ate some crackers and drained a bottle of apple juice. I drifted off, as still as possible, afraid of knocking over the candle.

The harshly lit walls of a cave assaulted my view, stone walls all around me, the shadows springing from the torchlight threatening to jump out and devour me. They danced across the walls like faces, the faces of forgotten children. Up ahead, a single desk stood out from the darkness, and in it sat an old man, one half of his body covered in bandages. I could feel him staring at me, hundreds of eyes pinning me in place. They rolled in their sockets, just out of sight, hidden my white cloth. He held out a single folder in front of him and addressed me. "Agent Squirrel, I trust that you will complete your mission adequately." Against my own will, my voice came out cold and dead. "Hai, Danzō-sama."

I woke up hours later, shivering from the cold. My head spun as I tried to sit up. A small racket was going on nearby, likely what had awoken me. Someone was poking around outside my alleyway. Hearing the large tile that I had used to hide the crack to my hideaway move, I readied my kitchen knife. I was sweating and dizzy, but if some thief came by, I was ready to stab them in the face.

A shadow fell on my green tarp. I was about to stab right through it when I smelled… Soup? Part of the tarp was pulled aside, and Naruto’s face was revealed. He had a paper bag in hand from the ramen stand. He looked wide eyed at me, and I stared back for a long moment.

“Aint’cha gonna invite me in?” Grumbling, I vacated half the space, ceding it to him. Naruto made himself comfortable in the small space, gazing without judgement. He handed me a take-out container of soup and a couple of utensils. He opened his own, and we ate in silence. His blue eyes watched me carefully as we ate, and as we packed the food away, he reached across and touched my forehead with the back of his hand. Resolve formed behind his eyes. “Right.” he said. “Grab your stuff. You’re coming with me.”

“Whaa?” I inquired.

“Grab your most important stuff. You’re going to sleep at my place." Naruto practically dragged me back to his apartment. He put me on the futon and disguised himself enough to get some packets of willow tea to drop my fever. His apartment was near the edge of the red-light district. As night fell it was a little busy with people going to work, young women kissing their children goodbye, leaving them with babysitters and grandmothers as they went to off.

On Naruto’s floor there were a couple of three-bedroom apartments shared by chattering young women prettying themselves up before work and arguing over who borrowed whose clothing. The apartment had an open kitchen, eating, and living room with a small balcony. The bathroom was small, and the bedroom modest. The sun shining through the south facing balcony window was nice, painting the threadbare walls in autumn colors. Naruto’s only futon was in the living room area. The plaster was cracked in places. The pipes knocked when Naruto filled the kettle, and it took a while for the water to run clear.

“So” I said blearily while the tea steeped, “how did you find me?”

“Ayame.” He answered. “When I asked where you were, she asked me if I was going to take you dinner and pointed out the alleyway.”

“That scheming minx.” I said, impressed. Naruto looked confused.

“Minx. Mink? Girl itachi? Are you saying she eats mice?” Naruto offered.

“I am implying she is clever and sneaky.” I explained. Naruto insisted that I sleep on the futon for the three days until I was better. He brewed me willow bark tea, kept me warm with piled blankets, and fed me packaged chicken ramen. When I was starting to feel less like complete sh*t I helped with basic chores, and found some sad vegetables in the back of Naruto’s refrigerator to chop up and add to his instant ramen. Naruto watched me clean the bathroom like he had never known the concept. His apartment had electrical lights and a working shower, although sometimes the lights flickered. Naruto’s wallet was threadbare as the end of the month was nigh.

“Akitsu” he said, “I have space, and you have money. Heyyyy?” he said, gesturing between us with his hands.

“Yes?” I agreed, trying to figure out what he was going to suggest.

“So maybe you can pay me to stay here, and I can have enough food?” Naruto offered. I perked up at the offer. It would benefit us both, though I hadn't expected to become involved with Naruto so soon, or so closely.

“That’s a great idea. We could talk to the girls next door and ask around to find out how much an apartment in the area costs.” I chimed in. Then I frowned. “I’m not sure that I can pay half though. Can we see if I can pay one third? Maybe I can help with cooking, and we can save some money that way?”

“You can really cook? That’s so cool!” Naruto exclaimed.

“Maybe I can teach you a little.” I laughed. Naruto agreed to give that a try.

Soon I had a second-hand futon of my own. We made sure to clean everything I owned in the basem*nt laundry area, because I wanted to make sure I didn’t bring any tiny visitors to the apartment.

Naruto’s money went further this month. I was able to buy groceries without the special ‘Naruto Tax’. I was able to teach him to cook sticky rice, and to grill vegetables and fish. “But I want ramen!” he whined. I made him look up the nutritional information, including the unhealthy sodium levels. I showed him pictures of diseased hearts that I had picked from a research paper in the medical section of the Library. He blanched, skin taking on an unhealthy pallor. I also showed him pictures of rickets and scurvy. He looked heartsick.

Naruto grabbed my ears and stared dolefully into my eyes. “Akitsu” he said, “life without ramen. Is it really worth it?” The junior librarian who had been helping us snurfled behind her hand.

“I’m not saying you can’t have ramen, Naruto, but maybe once or twice a week at Teuchi’s, and two Styrofoam cups a week?” I said, holding my hands up in the air in a placating gesture.

“Fine.” He stared at the floor like a sad puppy.

***

Naruto looked over my shoulder as I grilled a fish and explained. “And when it gets dark on this side you flip it over to get the next one. Hey, Naruto, could you check the rice for me?” Ever since I had moved in and started paying half rent, I had slowly been teaching Naruto how to make a simple dish of fish and rice. Even if he was never a good cook, he would still have something to fall back on. I had also tried to instill the importance of vegetables into him, but I think I know where I was going wrong with that one. At this point the only logic Naruto will listen to is ninja logic. “And now we add the peppers.” I said putting a quarter of peppers on the grill.

“Ew!” Naruto exclaimed “Vegetables are gross. Why do I have to eat them?”

“Remember the rickets, Naruto? The bendy bones? Remember scurvy, with the bleeding gums?” I could see the images flashing across his mind echoed in his face.

“Fine, fine.” He replied sulkily with his hands over his chest.

“Hey Akitsu” Naruto started off as we sat down for dinner, “are there any other things that are important to being a ninja that I don’t know? People don’t really tell me a lot of things.” He looked dejected at the thought, as if thinking about all the people that ignore him in his life.

“Well, what do you think ninja are like?” I asked in a calm tone.

“Oh, ninja are super cool! They fly through the air and fight with big swords and use magic catra jutsu!” He rambled off “I really want to be one when I grow up! Then I’ll become Hokage and no one will be mean to me no more!” I smiled at his enthusiasm. It was nice to see a child with a dream already in mind.

“You know I also want to become a ninja?” I asked with a grin on my face. “Well, I do happen to know quite a bit about ninja that I’m willing to share with you. Ninja do indeed perform jutsu with an energy called chakra. Chakra is our individual life energy. Some ninja wield swords, but not all of them, and ninja don’t really fly. They just run so fast and high that it looks like flying.”

By this point I was in full on lecture mode, but I was trying to keep it simple for Naruto’s comprehension level. “But do you know what a ninja’s most powerful weapon is? The answer is knowledge.” I answered with a grin.

“What do you mean! Does that mean I have to read books!? Books are lame!” Naruto said with a hurt expression on his face. I felt my heart soften. Although some people genuinely didn’t enjoy reading, I had a feeling Naruto’s dislike came more from the fact that no one had taught him how to read. I quickly went to explain my reasoning.

“Well, the more you know about your enemy, the easier it will be to defeat him, right? And if you want to get really good at using catra, I mean chakra, then you have to read a lot of books on the subject.” Naruto still didn’t look so sure, so I continued my explanation. “Hey Naruto, what do you know about the Hokages?” Naruto began to ramble off all of the facts that he knew. When he was finished, I started to speak again. “Well, everyone knows about the First Hokage and his legendary Mokuton. It was the most powerful Kekkei genkai in the land of fire. It’s what made his super powerful. The other Hokages however didn’t have any Kekkei genkai. The second Hokage was known as a really smart nin-jutsu creator. That means he learned so much about how jutsu worked that he made his own. The fourth Hokage was also like that. He studied the super difficult art of fuinjutsu, until he created his own seals that allowed him to teleport! Even the third Hokage is really smart. He’s known for knowing so much about everything that he didn’t need any special power or secret technique. That’s why his titles are God of Shinobi, and The Professor.” Naruto was now staring at me in open adoration, hooked to my every word. His blue eyes shone with excitement, and he bounced up and down in his seat.

“Studying is really that important?” He asked in a small voice. “Could … could you help me nii-san?” I was floored. Naruto was calling me his brother? But we had only met a few months ago! Was he really so starved for attention that he would latch on to the first kid to show him kindness? It seems I had underestimated how lonely Naruto was as a child. I had thought based off his behavior in the series that it wasn’t that bad, but I guess I misjudged his ability to cope. ‘Quick you’re zoning out! Answer before he gets upset!’

I rushed to speak. “Of course, I’ll help you. And… I don’t mind if you call me nii-san, nii-san.” I looked away in embarrassment only to be tackled in a big hug. Naruto’s arms wrapped around me and squeezed until my ribs started to creak. His face was buried into my chest, and tears welled at the corners of his eyes as he said, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, I promise I’ll work the hardest!” We sprang apart after the hug, pretending nothing big had happened.

Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Chapter Text

November

I watched over Naruto’s shoulder as he practiced his hiragana, a leaf twirling on my forehead and one on each palm. I had told him that I wouldn’t teach him how to access his chakra until he could read basic hiragana, but aside from a little whining this seemed to spur him on. With a clear goal in mind, a determined Naruto was a focused Naruto, and he wouldn’t stop until he could read flawlessly.

He still complained a bunch, but I could tell it was mostly for show. Naruto had never had anybody push him to learn, and I could tell he was enjoying it. “Good job, soon you will be trying out some of the chakra exercises I know.” I commented as I sent the leaves on my body spinning. Naruto perked up.

“Really?” His lips stretched into a grin as he dropped the pencil in his hand onto the table and left his work to focus on me.

“Yup. You’ll still need to practice reading and writing, but we can move on to some of the more informational books in the civilian library.” Naruto’s face fell in disappointment as he thought over what I had said.

“Not today.” he said dejectedly, biting his lip. “The Senior Librarian is in the Library on Saturdays, Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays and doesn’t allow me in. Besides, I can’t take any books out.” Just the fact that he knew the schedules of the librarians so well proved that he did care about books, even if just as something that was being kept from him.

“I think we can get you a library card.” I had found about the rules by going to a different library. You could get a library card with ID, or if you didn’t have ID, with a bill with your home address on it.

***

We went to the Hokage tower. Naruto was allowed in, and me with him. A civilian secretary recognized Naruto. She was very old, and the corners of her eyes crumpled up when she smiled. “Are you here to see Sandaime-sama? He is busy today.

“No,” Naruto explained “but I need some help with paperwork.”

“Mhmm?” she replied.

“Naruto needs proof of address to get a library card, but one of the librarians is being difficult.” Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Do you have a lease agreement? Maybe something signed by Lord Third, maybe?” I asked.

“Naruto, introduce me to your friend.” The bespectacled secretary said interestedly.

“This is Akitsu.” Naruto replied, “He lives in my neighbourhood."

“Pleased to meet you.” She said, and I responded to her with a small bow. We made small talk as she went through a filing cabinet. “It’s nice of you to help Naruto.” She said with a small smile on her face.

“Well, Naruto plans to be Hokage when he grows up, and he’ll need to know a lot to make that happen.” Her eyes crinkled with pleasure.

“Hachisuka Sukami.” she introduced herself. I bowed relatively low to her.

“Akitsu.” I replied. She took out a file with some papers in it.

“Naruto-kun, Akitsu-kun, I’m about to go on lunch. May I walk with you?” We nodded happily. What happened next will remain in my heart for years. We walked to the library. Ms. Hachisuka walked up to the front desk and rang the small bell there authoritatively. A young librarian who had previously been rebuked for helping us saw us, but the senior librarian walked waspishly out of the back room. The tension in the room ratcheted up as Ms. Hachisuka and the senior librarians’ eyes met. Several patrons noticed and failed to disguise their interest. “Please,” Ms. Hachisuka said in a clear ringing voice “issue this child a library card.”

“May I have some ID?”

“Right away!” Ms. Hachisuka replied, playing to the growing audience. “Let me get his Shinobi ID card. Oops. How about his Travel papers? Oops. He doesn’t have those.” During this time Ms. Hachisuka had palmed the librarian’s yardstick forgotten on the countertop. “He doesn’t have those, because he’s six!” the secretary yelled, smashing the ruler down flatly on the desk. The entire room jumped, and the junior librarian dropped her mug of tea to the ground, smashing it. Now there were fifty people watching.

“Please find here enclosed a bill with his name and address on it.” Ms. Hachisuka proffered the bill to the head librarian, whose eyes widened when she got to the end of the document with Sarutobi’s signature. The librarian opened her mouth to talk, but Hachisuka silenced her with s zip-it gesture. “Please issue him a card, now.” Ms. Hachisuka said in steely command. The head librarian leapt to comply. “The other child also” Ms. Hachisuka imperiously commanded, and the assistant librarian leapt to comply, helping me with the same paperwork. When the junior librarian asked my address Ms. Hachisuka calmly shut her down.

“Don’t subject the child to an impertinent quiz, dear, just give him the card.” The junior looked to the senior librarian, who acquiesced with a nod. A few minutes later our audience drifted away as we received our shiny new cards. As we left, I saw Ms. Hachisuka issue a quick hand sign to the head librarian which I interpreted to mean 'Silence’. Ten minutes later, we were out the door.

Naruto said in an awed voice “Hachisuka O-basan, you’re my new hero.” She pinked a little, and tousled his hair, sending us on our way.

***

We continued our morning exercises, and Naruto grew more limber, and strong. Helping out the working girls in our building got us some goodwill, and they were willing to help us when I asked if they could show us how to do make up. With different clothes and his whiskers disguised we were able to buy food at normal prices though we had to travel to do so.

We took a trip to the library. For Naruto we got a book about the Warring clans’ era, the history of the Five Shinobi Villages, some preparatory math, and a book about amphibians. I got a slightly higher-level math textbook, a slightly more advanced history textbook, and a book about the human body.

I couldn't help getting angry about this whole Hyūga thing. Maybe 400 clan members with the Byakugan, and maybe 50-100 of them fight? Those who weren’t main house did... what? Sweep the floors? Bookkeeping and Laundry? It was idiotic. There were maybe 300 walking talking MRI machines. I understand that the Mystic Palm Technique was energy intensive, and you could make an argument that that energy needed to be kept ready in case Konohagakure ninja’s lives were in peril, but really. A Hyūga could be both a doctor and frikkin radiologist. Better even. They could figure out what was wrong with a patient without opening them up, and deaths to infection were soooo a thing. Imagine a Hyūga spending 5 minutes walking through the obstetrics ward sorting out problems before they occurred. An MRI machine in my old-world cost millions of dollars. But, no, the high-class Hyūga had their relatives sweeping the tatami. If they had been around to help, maybe my mother wouldn’t have died. I wanted to do better.

I bought some locks from a second-hand store and tried to teach myself to pick them. It was hard, and I put it away after a while, promising to come back to it later.

***

Naruto sat on a pillow concentrating deeply, his tiny face scrunched up in focus. A brick sat quivering on his forehead, as if about to pop off. It had taken him around two months to find his chakra, but when he did, he had a bucket full of it. I was up to five leaves, but when Naruto tried that, the leaves would explode. Instead, I had created what I called the Brick Sticking exercise. He looked a bit ridiculous, sitting lotus position with an entire brick sat on his forehead, but if that was what it took to improve his chakra control then so be it. We could always work our way down.

I knew that ninja sent chakra through their bodies to strengthen their muscles. I knew that the Inuzuka clan could enhance their noses with chakra to facilitate tracking, but I didn’t know whether or not normal ninja could do that on a smaller level. I had tried out the muscle enhancement to lift up a big bucket full of water a couple days ago, and it was a semi success. I started, crouched, struggling to lift the bucket. I then added chakra to my arms and legs. It came out in a burst instead of smoothly. I smashed the bucket into the ceiling, denting it and showering us with water. Naruto gaped, pointing at me before we fell to the ground struggling with laughter. It was no Tsunade punching, but it was the first step that would come in useful, I’m sure. My arms were sore for days, and I might have pulled something.

Now it was time to try enhancing other senses. I sat down in lotus position on the blue-grey carpet of the living room, and carefully gathered chakra to my nose. I couldn’t go quickly and risk my face blowing up. I let my chakra slowly saturate my nostrils and took a deep breath. Immediately I was assaulted with a barrage of smells; the leftover fish in the refrigerator, the laundry detergent on Naruto and my clothing, the dusty scent of the carpet beneath me. I tried to concentrate on the smells outside of our apartment, the people, food, and plants, but it grew too muddled and blurry to take information from.

Well, that was definitely labelled a success. Next, I moved on to my eyes. I had known about my Hyūga heritage for a couple of years now, but life had been too busy to mess around with my eyes too much. Besides, I had been paranoid about having the Hyūga come down on me as soon as I activated them. Now would be the time to finally test them out. I let my chakra trickle into my eyes and focused on the threadbare curtains of our home.

Suddenly as if the world had been plunged into some sort of transparent plane of existence, where I could see everything in my vicinity. I could see the refrigerator behind me, but somehow the food inside at the same time. Walls were merely suggestions, and I could see into the lives of our neighbours, Tenshi from suite 6A was washing dishes while her cat weaved between her legs, Omaki from suite 6C was sleeping off a hangover with the lights off, the street outside was bustling with people, and I never knew there could be that many pests in one house! I turned my head quickly, and became dizzy, and fell to the carpet, the room spinning under me. It looked like it was time to start on those locks again.

***

Food was tough. Despite pooling our resources, Naruto would get hungry. The kid would be hungry an hour and a half after dinner. If given the chance, he would put away 5000 calories a day away. Of course, he had trouble learning when he was hungry. We fished in the Naka River. We hunted squirrels with slings. I thought about buying some bags of dog food for cheap calories, but that sh*t would mess him up for life. It was never quite enough.

We were by the banks of the river one day and had caught a small fish to cook with supper. While cleaning up our catch, Naruto stabbed his thumb with the fishing hook. We wrapped it at home with gauze and tape. While we sat around the flickering fire Naruto told me a story about the last time he had shared a fish with someone. He told me the story of how he had first met Sarutobi Hiruzen in the woods when he was young, and Naruto had been grilling fish and boiling mushroom soup over a campfire. Sarutobi had come across him, and he looked hungry, so Naruto had offered him some of his fish. Sarutobi had shared great stories about the wide world with Naruto, and about the past Hokage. Naruto gave him some of the soup before he left, and called him Jiji. Naruto didn’t see him for a month, because Sarutobi got sick, but ever since then Sarutobi has shared a meal with Naruto at least once a month.

The story made me a little sad to be honest. What kind of adult would see a child, hungry for food, but more hungry for affection, and give one at the expense of the other. Sarutobi was a shinobi. He could have caught his own fish, but instead he took Naruto’s. I didn’t talk to Naruto about it though. I didn’t want to upset him.

***

We woke up well rested, and I got up to make breakfast. Naruto was up shortly after, but when I went to change the dressing on his wound, it was healed. Not even a red mark. “Naruto,” I began, “That is really weird."

“What do you mean?” he replied.

“Naruto.” I explained, gesticulating wildly. "If I got a cut like that, it would take a week to heal, and maybe a year for the scar to be gone.”

“Huh.” Naruto said absently.

“Maybe your family has a blood limit?”

“What family?” Naruto lashed out angrily, the reminder of his orphan status bringing his mood down. I quirked my brow, it turned out the little sunshine child had some emo in him after all.

“I get that you’re angry, but you have or had a mother and a father. You didn’t pop out of a frikkin peach.” Naruto snorted out a laugh at that. Even he got the reference. “Weird abilities get nurtured from generation to generation, getting more powerful. Stabby bone people, weird eye people like the police, bug control. A Kekkei Genkai could literally be anything. If you have one, then your family must have had a long history. If we don’t know about them in Konoha, maybe they’re from far away. I bet your eating thing is a part of it.” Naruto was visibly excited.

“It could be Kanpekina saisei – Perfect Regeneration!” He ran around making garbage jutsu hand seals.

“No, I have a better name” I began; "Don'yokuna hitode no chikara - Voracious Starfish Power!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, Dragon ball style. Naruto began chasing me around the tiny apartment, flogging me with the dishtowel in his hand. After we calmed down, we agreed to keep researching who might have been his family.

***

We spent like one quarter of our time at the library. I got a small chalkboard so we could go over the math. We went through a lot of chalk, but it was cheap. Naruto got bored easily, but he got better. We did drills. “Akitsu,” he whined. “I know this stuff already.

“Naruto, knowing things isn’t good enough, you have to know them fast. Ninja have to make crucial decisions in less than a second.” I wrote down ten simple math equations with the board facing away from him. “Ten questions. If you get eight of them right, we’re done. If you take too long, I throw this sponge at you." It was hilarious. He got better slowly.

***

While we were reading at the library, I noticed that the Village hidden in the Whirlpools was totally absent in the book we were reading. That was creepy as all hell. 'Let’s erase our mistakes, and pretend they never happened.' WTF dude, how could people learn from history with it being erased all the time. That was some next level disappearing commissar sh*t. I spend time searching the used bookstores looking for old copies. Nothing.

One morning delivering ramen to an old guy in a wheelchair, I noticed under a potted plant, “History of the Shinobi world, Fourth edition Grade 1.” Holy crap! I wanted that. They were on sixth edition now. I looked with widened eyes at the old man in the wheelchair, one of his pant legs flopping empty. He noticed my gaze.

“Shinobi-san!” I avoided his eyes, bowing.

“I do missions behind a desk now. I’m no Shinobi.” he replied, his voice rough.

“Nevertheless, you have fought for the leaf, and been injured on our behalf. Thank you!” I bowed lower. He waved me off, scoffing.

“I’m Nanba Hotaka.” The old man said, looking at me approvingly.

“And I am Akitsu.” I replied.

“Are you one of those kids that wants to be a Shinobi?” He gave me a once over with a critical eye.

“Yes, Nanba-san. My brother and I hope very much to go to the academy next year. Could we borrow your book? We have been studying the one in the library, but we can only take it out of the library for a week. Also…” I let worry creep into my voice “I have heard rumors that they expect less out of graduates since the war ended. My brother and I wish to be excellent shinobi, and we have heard that they do not teach as much. I do not want to go out of the village unprepared.” I let my face reflect my worry. He thought for a while, then pulled the book from under the pot.

“You can borrow this. If you come back, I may quiz you on what you have learned. I also might let you borrow the next one if you do well enough. I haven’t opened it in ten years anyway. Just remember kid, if you are not completely dedicated to this life, back out now. Not everyone wants to retire like me, or not at all.”

“Thank you, Nanba-san.” I replied. “We will not fail you.”

The book was a gold mine. It made the newer textbook look like Dick and Jane. It contained harder math problems and ethical problems. It contained gory plates of the aftermath of botched jutsu. It contained descriptions of the elemental nations, and Kekkei genkai in each nation. It told the history of the First and Second Shinobi Wars. It contained information on the lands of Waterfalls, Snow, and Whirlpool. It contained information on basic chakra enhancement. It contained information about Konoha’s alliance with Whirlpool and their famous art of sealing. It mentioned the marriage of Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki as an example of the intermarriage between the clans.

“Uzumaki!” Naruto said. “That’s my name!” he yelled sharply. I did not roll my eyes.

“Maybe she is your great aunt or cousin or something. Maybe she is your second cousin twice removed. We should definitely learn more. But keep it a secret. Maybe you have enemies that are looking for you.” Naruto nodded his head sagely. It mentioned the Uzumaki longevity and large chakra reserves, and a propensity for fuinjutsu. Naruto fell asleep that night, happy to feel connected to something.

Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Chapter Text

December

Hidden under his ANBU Ikkaku mask, Genma Shiranui peered across the rooftop into the apartment window. Yup. The kid and his roommate were making breakfast. On his wrist was a metal bracelet that Kakashi had made years ago, a lovely bit of seal work. It took information from a matching bit of seal work hidden in Naruto’s right sandal. You wore the bracelet, and you got an alert if the shoe went outside the village, underground, or if a large amount of chakra was released in its vicinity. You could also send out a coded pulse and get a bearing from the bracelet to the sandal.

Sadly, it meant the kid’s winter boots had been stolen by some other member of the protection detail. Shinobi were by the rules supposed to do their own missions, but it was a rule more honoured in the breach. People traded duties all the time. ‘You do my gate watch, and I’ll catch Tora. You repair the training ground and I’ll do the admin work.’ It made Genma sad, that Orangewatch was one of the most traded duties, and held in low esteem. Genma thought it was probably due to Kakashi, who would trade almost anything to get out of it. One time Genma had seen Kakashi trade Orangewatch for toilet scrubbing duty, and others took their cue from him. Still Genma didn’t mind. Others might slack, but he would do his duty. It was annoying that with his mask on he couldn’t fiddle with his senbon. His dentist had been lecturing him again about putting anything metal in his mouth, but the first thing she did was root around in his face with a sharp metal hook, like some kind of pirate. He realized his attention was slipping. Orange was on the move, with his Shadow.

***

The morning sun illuminated the parkette where my tai chi group practiced, warming our bodies despite the cool air. We moved with some grace through the forms. Naruto could put his palms on the ground in a starting stretch. I was now a few inches away from getting my elbows to touch. Naruto and I had learned that to use strength usefully we had to keep limber. The motions of our exercises seemed to be designed to circulate a small amount of chakra through the body by its movements. These movements grew progressively harder though.

I spent more time with Nanba Hotaka. The one-legged retired Jounin often had an errand for me to do, and he was full of stories. War stories about the war against Rock, stories about shinobi life. I learned about the Sannin, Lady Tsunade, Jiraiya the toad sage, and Orochimaru. I learned about the famous Jounin of Konoha. Kakashi of the thousand Jutsu, Maito Gai, Anko Mitarashi, the Yellow Flash, and Sarutobi Asuma, one of the Daimyo’s guard. He told stories of guard duty and bad food, of disease and privation, of sleepless nights. I slowly found other retired shinobi living in the area, aged or infirm, some partially sighted. They became my favourite people to do small tasks for.

Naruto and I went out to the woods to practice our new skills. I told Naruto about the tree walking exercise I had heard about. I stressed that this was secret training, and that if we were caught, they might make us stop, and that then we wouldn’t be ahead of the other kids in the academy next year. He nodded faux solemnly. I pushed chakra to my eyes and beneath my goggles, veins popped out as my Byakugan activated, searching for anyone watching us. I talked about the point of the exercise, about making chakra come out of us, and stay together despite being exterior to our systems.

There was a light snow. Konoha didn’t normally get a lot of snow, but this year was especially cold, and it was really piling up. Naruto layered up with as many jackets as we could fit on top of each other, and found some gloves and hats at a store. Even with the gloves, my hands were cold. I put my hand to a snow bank, and I coaxed a little chakra to my hand. It came out in a burst, blowing the snow away as if in a burst of air. I laughed.

Naruto tried and blew a cone six feet long free of snow. I rolled my eyes as he grinned sheepishly. I reminded him to circulate his chakra slowly, calming himself with breathing techniques we had learned, and to open the tenketsu in his hand slowly, and slightly. He was rewarded with a burst half that size. Being able to see what was going on made everything much easier. By the time an hour had passed, I could keep a small glimmering of chakra in my hand, and Naruto could burst a cone clear of snow much smaller in size, about three feet wide. The goal was to learn to tree walk, or maybe walk on snow.

***

A few days later, Naruto and I were again working on our chakra exercises in the forest. We were sitting on some flat rocks by a stream, sitting lotus position, and working on the leaf twirling exercise. (Pebble twirling exercise in Naruto’s case. His leaves kept exploding or whatever). I had already checked for eavesdroppers or watchers with my Byakugan, and we were in the clear. I was wearing winter clothes, and a hat and my ever-present goggles.

“Naruto, try and keep the rotation of your chakra constant on the way to your palm. It’s sort of cranking, faster at one point in the circle. It makes your pebbles fly off because it is not centered.” Naruto cracked open one eye, then both, and stared at me seriously. He put his pebbles down and looked at me calmly.

“Akitsu, how are you able to tell all this? I can’t tell what is happening. Is this some sort of secret technique?” he asked me. I took a deep breath. I ... cared about Naruto. He wasn't just some character in a show to me, or a random person on the street. He was my brother. I needed to be able to trust him if I was going to change things. This would be the first step. It was now or never.

“No. It is a Kekkei genkai, and worse, a dojutsu.” Naruto’s face screwed up.

“I know what a Kekkei Genkai is, but what is a dojutsu?” asked Naruto.

“Mysterious eye powers like the Sharingan and the Byakugan are dojutsu. That I possess this power is a big secret, and a pretty big problem. If people find out I have it the Hyūga will freak, and will have me made part of their ‘family.’” I said making air quotes. Naruto avoided looking at me awkwardly.

“Maybe,” he said, “being part of a family wouldn’t be so bad?” he said tentatively. There was a long silence.

“Naruto, to make me part of their family, they would put a chakra activated death/torture glyph on my forehead, and then use it on me if I refused their orders.” Naruto’s eyes became wide, and his mouth opened with horror. “Besides,” I continued, “I have all the family I need right here.” There was a pause and then he tackled me in a hug, knocking me into the snow. I lay there for a few seconds. It was a little hard to see because some melting snow had gotten into my eyes. After a while I tried to put him in a headlock, and we wrestled for a bit. We separated, then put our outfits back in best order and pretended the hug hadn’t happened.

I brushed snow off the top of my head, a cloud of shimmering crystals showering down in front of my face. “So, don’t tell anyone, that is my big secret. Also, there is no point hating the Hyūga you’ll see, because they will not be the ones making decisions. It’s the oldest ones, hiding in their sh*tty compound who choose who gets branded and who doesn’t.” Naruto nodded wide eyed. We talked a little more about the founding of Konoha and how the original clans had rules that preceded it, and I talked about how the Hyūga did have some good reasons about being worried about eye theft despite their 90% bullsh*t answer.

“How could such a cruel thing be allowed to exist?” Naruto asked, and seemed seriously upset by the information. I suppose it would hurt to have your view of your village tarnished like this, especially for someone so optimistic, seeing the good in everyone.

“Old people suck. They have all the money and the power, and think they know everything. Worse, by the time young people manage to get some money, and power, they are often now the old people, who suck.” There was a long pause. “So don’t tell anyone about my secret, okay?” Naruto extended his pinkie finger and sealed his promise in the most sacred of ways.

“I swear.” Said he.

***

Naruto and I practiced in the woods every evening before dinner, trying to keep the chakra coherent when outside of our bodies. It had the annoying tendency to disperse into the air if you weren’t concentrating hard enough. I was proud to say that I was progressing more quickly than Naruto, but it was kind of discouraging that he could practice more than six times longer than I could. Our training was also made easier due to my Byakugan. Using it I was able to see what was going on with our chakra and provide feedback.

This was exactly what we were doing this morning, one and a half weeks into our training. The snow had fallen particularly heavily last night, and it piled up around the trees, covering the boughs in a blanket of white. Naruto was six feet up a tree when a bird distracted him. His chakra exploded from his feet. He flew back, hit another tree with his head, and then was buried when snow fell from that tree on his head.

I held my breath for a moment, worried he was hurt, but then he popped up like some sort of cartoon groundhog. I pointed and laughed at him, especially due to the confused expression on his face. His face grew stormy, and he gathered a snowball in his hands. It hit me in the shoulder.

“Oh! Game on hedgehog boy!” I responded, getting my own snowball ready. He hit me again before I could ready my missile, but I got him straight in the face! Naruto fell to his knees, face covered like some kind of snow monster. He put his hands into the snow, and I felt a push of chakra. A hundred pounds of snow were shoved away from his hands by the popping chakra, and I was knocked down by the snow and buried. We departed the woods laughing, to go home and warm up in the bath. I named Naruto’s new attack “Hands of the Yuki-Onna technique.”

By the end of the month Naruto had made a lot of progress. Both of us could externalize chakra consistently. Naruto could finally put chakra out of the bottoms of his feet without it exploding. He only occasionally blew the bark off the trees when he was surprised. I had managed to tease the originally rather gaseous chakra, into a long noodly appendage about six feet long. I didn’t have much control over it, but I could make it writhe around on the ground like a particularly energetic plumbers’ snake. I could make it appear from either hand but only one at a time. I couldn’t wait to see what I could do with it.

I still spent time doing errand in the area. Soup and cigarettes, Sake, and sugar. Nanba Hotaka, our retired Jounin neighbour had a rough time one week. It was the anniversary of a personal loss of his. He drank too much and told stories of some lost friends, some caused by rock nin, some attributable to bad intelligence, some to bad leadership. He was halfway to implying that a Chūnin in charge of a section of the border was "accidentally” killed by his own side when he realized to whom he was talking to and sent me home.

***

As we walked home, we passed a disturbance in the evening noise. Loud male yelling caused us to look down a street to the right of us. There a rock flew over a high stone wall. On the top running was a chunky orange cat. It yowled as it ran towards a scrawny tree. Another rock thrown by an unseen hand behind the fence hit the cat in the head, and it toppled off the wall into a garbage can. Naruto ran towards the injured animal. He cradled it in his arms, removing it from danger. We moved further along the alley way, and Naruto lay the animal on a flat rock and examined its injuries. Cleaning its head with a cloth and some bottled water revealed a nasty gash on its head.

“Look!” Naruto exclaimed. “It’s had kittens!” he said indicating its stretched belly and enlarged nipples. We wrapped its head in some simple bandages we have with us.

“Naruto” I said, “I’m going to run to our place and get some supplies. You try to figure out where the kittens are.” By the time I got back the cat was nestled in Naruto’s jacket. I cleaned the wound with a bit of alcohol and inexpertly gave it three stitches to close the wound. I would never have been able to do it if she was conscious. Looking around revealed nobody watching. I activated my eyesight and found no other injuries. It did however reveal a garden with a large water feature where the assault had occurred.

“Naruto,” I explained “It looks like she was trying to get something to eat from that guy’s ornamental pond.”

“What a jerk!” Naruto said, voice full of pity. “Throwing rocks at a mama cat. She was just hungry and wanted to feed her kittens. I found where she hid them.” He informed me. Naruto’s nose led us to her hidey hole, up on a neighbour’s roof, in a crack between houses hidden by broken pots. I had thought my wacky eye powers would have been more helpful, but there were 1000 things within 100 feet of me in this bustling city scape, and finding a few kittens was difficult.

Naruto on the other hand was very talented at scent enhancement. It let him follow the trail of the mother back to the hidey hole. Inside we could hear the tiny plaintive cries of the distressed kittens. Using my fabulous x-ray vision and my six-foot-long chakra tentacle I was able to maneuver Neko-obasan back into her protected nest. Next, I took out the small carton of milk I had stolen from a vending machine. I maneuvered a heavy bowl into the nest and then opened the milk carton, and poured some into the bowl, hoping the kittens would take it.

“Do you think they’ll be all right?” Naruto asked worriedly. He obviously identified with people who had had rocks thrown at them. “They need their mother to keep them warm. Maybe we can leave a fish for her to eat?” Naruto looked down across the road into the courtyard of the rock thrower. “I know where we can get some fish.” He offered. I thought about it. I hadn’t done any petty thievery since I had started doing deliveries in the market, but if there was anyone to steal from it was a rich asshole. I nodded. We climbed down unseen from the rooftop where we had helped the cat and went back to our base to plan our daring nighttime robbery.

It was now the dead of night. Naruto and I were dressed in dark clothes, with our faces hidden by scarves. We walked boringly down the back streets on our way to our target. My freaky eyes made it easy to find that the owner of the house was asleep in his bedroom, and his servants also. On top of the wall shards of glass were built into the mortar. I warned Naruto before he injured himself. We tree-climbed up the wall, and carefully climbed down the other side.

A few steps took us to flagstones which had been swept clean, probably by the servants. The middle of the pond was the only part not iced over. I could see an electrical cord leading to the side of the pond. It seemed a heating element kept it livable in the winter. Such a rich person surely had no need be to be so cruel. I put the bucket we had brought next to the hole. Using a plastic cup, I filled the bucket half full of water. I formed a chakra thread and let it slip into the hole in the ice. I could make the chakra thread sticky at the end just like the tree walking exercise.

The plan was to attach the fish to my thread and pull them up. The Byakugan let me see into the water underneath the ice. One by one I reached through the hole in the ice and pulled the fish out placing them in the bucket. Naruto climbed over the wall. I planned to pass him the bucket with my chakra, but I was not strong enough to do it by means of the thread. We almost dumped the bucket getting it over the wall and carried the bucket fifty feet away. There I cut off the head of a fish with a knife and brought the fish to the hideaway of our injured friend.

“Akitsu!” Naruto said worriedly. “We left some tracks in the snow. I think I should erase them.”

“Fine,” I agreed. Naruto climbed back over the wall, and carefully used his Yuki-onna no jutsu, pushing out with his chakra, and blowing the snow to destroy our footprints. We carefully high fived each other quietly and walked away with the bucket held between us by means of a pole. One hundred and fifty feet away, and black clad figure leapt down in front of us.

“Crap!” Naruto and I dropped the bucket the short way to the road, only a little water slopping out.

“You.” The imposing figure was only 4 foot tall, clad in a black shinobi outfit with a weasel mask, and armed. “What’s in the bucket.” He said flatly.

“Fish.” I offered. “We stole them.” He looked at me, then at Naruto, then at the fish.

“He throws rocks at cats!” explained Naruto. The masked figure looked at me for an explanation.

“We saw a mama cat get hit by a rock thrown from a courtyard. She’s unconscious, so we reunited her with her kittens in a crack between two buildings. He’s a rich guy who sucks, so that makes it O.K. We stole his fish, some for her and some for us.” I explained.

The pint size masked assassin shook his head at us before leaping up to the rooftops and disappearing.

We traveled through the dark city to a market where fish were sold. We beheaded the fish, and transferred our booty to plastic bags. We washed our hands with water taken from the local fountain, and returned to our apartment. I gutted the fish inexpertly with instructions from a book on survival. We stored all but one fish in the freezer. The last we grilled. It tasted a little muddy, but we were filled with satisfaction.

Chapter 7

Chapter Text

January

When food was scarce, we fished in the Naka River. We got some medical tubing from a pharmacy and made slingshots which we used to hunt squirrels in the forest. This was a new concept to Naruto, and he was impressed. We found out that we could make our steps quieter by making a film of chakra at the bottom of our feet. We called it our Snowshoe Hare no jutsu because we had used it to walk on top of the snow. We didn’t gain as many calories as we would like that way, as squirrels are pretty scrawny, but my keen eyes often led us to squirrel’s stashes.

I remembered something about North American aboriginals making acorn flour, and a survival book taught us how. It took an enormous time to shell, puree, rinse several times, dry, and grind the product, but as long as Naruto had food, he had boundless energy. He seemed to do fine on six hours of sleep. He concentrated better on his self-assigned schoolwork, and now that he knew about Uzushiogakure, he pushed to get better at writing and calligraphy in preparation to learn fuinjutsu.

I made headway on my lockpicking skills now that I had my dojutsu. Combination locks became easy. It was still a ways away from picking a good lock, but lots of people used crappy locks.

***

There was a snow festival, with coloured snow sculptures in some of the local parks. There were hot drinks, and restaurants sold hot pots and other savoury foods. Naruto and I clubbed together to get Hachisuka O-basan a gift. We stamped the snow off our boots and went up to the Hokage’s secretarial pool. Some of the ladies looked with suspicion until Naruto revealed the blue paper bag, and presented it to Hachisuka Sukami, the grey-haired lady who had helped Naruto and I get our library cards.

“Hachisuka O-basan.” Naruto and I chorused. “Please accept this gift in recognition of your bravery and kindness.” The old dame demurred at receiving gifts from children, but when we insisted, opened up the bag. Inside was a large white mug with snow monkeys painted on it. It was filled with a few small, dried winter fruits.

“I insist it be used immediately!” she declaimed. The circle of ladies made tea, and we all shared treats they had secreted in their desks. Sarutobi poked his head out of his desk, saw us sitting in a circle on borrowed office chairs. The ladies made to leap back to their desks, but Sarutobi intoned, “Carry on.” and we all laughed after he disappeared back into his office.

***

With many shared secrets our bond of brotherhood grew deeper. We did everything together. We had stolen together, practiced chakra exercises together, and hunted together. We grew a little more graceful, or at least a little less clumsy from our morning exercise. We were at the park where we practiced our flexibility exercises when Naruto grew a little restless.

“Akitsu, this is cool and all, but I want to learn something cool, something I can us to fight a bad guy someday.” From behind us came one of the older women who practiced with us almost every day.

“So,” she said derisively, “You are unhappy learning with us? You want to smack some bozos?” Naruto knew he had screwed up but didn’t know what to do.

“I am not unhappy learning with you O-bāsan-sensei, but I want to learn something I can use if I am attacked.” The group around us stilled and spread our creating a loose circle around the two. O-bāsan-sensei inclined her head in a regal gesture.

“I am willing to teach you something more useful in a fight.” She offered. “All you have to do… is hit me.” I snurfled into my hand remembering Morpheus and Neo, and then blanched as she directed a stony glare my way. Naruto did not know what was going on, but he knew he was absolutely screwed.

“But….” he hesitated “I don’t want to hit nice people; I want to stop bad people!” O-bāsan-sensei laughed, and the people in the class smiled.

“Don’t worry, child. You won’t hurt me.”

Naruto stood. He had the patience of mind to bow, and the old lady bowed back to him. He waited a moment, then shuffled forward and tried to punch O-bāsan-sensei in the shoulder. She leaned out of the way effortlessly, his punch missing by centimeters. He shuffled forward and tried again, more forcefully, but when the punch should have landed, she was just a titch away. Naruto grew less worried about hitting her and more about his own safety.

As he tried to pick up the pace a little, O-bāsan-sensei began to redirect his punches with brushes of her hands and trailing sleeves, her motions following the traditional movements of the exercises they did daily. Naruto overextended more than usual, and she slapped his right hand away with her left hand and brought her other hand around in a clockwise motion, grasping his wrist. She pulled him gracefully forward, past her. Dropping her hand grass low allowed her to roll him into a somersault that ended up with him face up with his hand in an uncomfortable joint lock as she stood again.

“Right.” She said as she released Naruto. He bowed to her as she addressed the class. “Back to first set.” she commanded. We all hastened to comply.

O-bāsan-sensei approached us after the class. “My name is Kawada Suteshi.”

“Thank you for your instruction, Sensei.” Naruto and I bowed respectfully.

“Tell me why you need to approach our exercises in a conflict-oriented fashion. You first.” She indicated Naruto with her sleeve. Naruto thought for a little while, and while he did so, Kawada-Sensei gracefully sat on a mat in the swept courtyard in which we had been exercising. We sat in seiza on the mats directly opposite her.

“Sensei,” he began, trying to grasp his words. “I have really enjoyed our lessons, and I am stronger and bendier than before, and better with my anger.” Kawada-Sensei nodded her head, and Naruto continued. “But I have people who throw rocks at me and stuff, and mean kids and adults punch me sometimes. Now I have Akitsu, and am doing better, and faster at running away, so it’s not so bad, but I want to make the world a better place, and for that I will need to fight sometimes.” She looked at him appraisingly.

“Do you not want to punch the stupid people who hurt you?” She asked. Naruto thought a little.

“I'm pretty sure,” he said ruefully “that even if I spent all day punching stupid people I would never finish. I wanna become Hokage, like Jiji, so other people like me would suffer less.” She turned her gaze to me.

“And you, Akitsu-kun?”

“I see all kinds of problems, and I want to make the world a better place. I want to show people the problems they ignore, and teach and help, and that will probably make some of them want to beat me up. I want to learn to fight so I can survive and thrive. Naruto and I are going to apply to the Academy next year, and we will need to be strong and fast. I would like to learn medicine, and the only way a kid from this part of town could do that is by becoming a shinobi.” She thought for a while, then reached forward and tousled our hair.

“You are such good boys. I will teach you Bunkai, or applications of the art I teach, called Sebunribāsutairu, or Seven River Style. We will spend a little time each class working on applications from now on. Now off with you!” she snapped. “I have to get to work.”

As the weeks went by, Kawada sensei showed us Bunkai, applications hidden in the kata we had learned, where a block or an evasion left an opponent open to a trip, strike, or pinch. Some were disorienting slaps, and some were less sparring moves and more dirty fighting. As we learned, the Bunkai seemed to magically slot into empty spaces in the kata we learned. We did partner work. Kawada-sensei explained a bit about the dirty techniques.

“These moves we discuss are meant for earnest fighting, in life-or-death combat. If you gouge a man’s eye, if he wasn’t your deadly enemy for life he is now. Don’t grab and twist someone’s testicl*s unless you plan to kill them immediately afterward. Do you understand?” We nodded, wide eyed. “Good. Now give me 50 pushups and 50 sit ups.”

***

The apartment that Naruto and I shared had no washer or dryer of its own, but the complex had communal machines in the basem*nt. Waiting for our clothes to dry, we listened to the local gossip.

“That place across the road had another blackout. Suki was telling me she had no power for four hours last week.” One woman said, laundry basket propped up on one hip, a babe sitting on the floor at her feet.

“The landlord is such a cheapskate.” Another replied. "I don’t know who does the work over there, but their electrician must be paid worse than ours!” They whispered behind their hands and gathered up the laundry.

Three days later, we were woken up by rippling orange light coming in through the balcony window. Naruto and I opened up the sliding door and were met by the sight of the building across from ours going up in a pillar of smoke. While I tried to decide what to do I saw a decision flash across Naruto’s face, and before he leapt to help, I said in a convincing voice. “Naruto, keep your chakra use discrete, or you’ll get us both killed.”

Naruto’s eyebrows lifted up in surprise, but he nodded his head. I had never told him the full reasons behind hiding our true capabilities, but he took my word for it. We climbed across our neighbour’s balconies, and across the street on a power line. The plastic covering was slick in my grasp from my sweaty hands. The fire had engulfed the two lowest floors, and people were trying to escape the flames. A man leapt from the third story, and a loud snap from his leg heralded a major injury. He began to crawl away. Two other people rushed over to support him, hobbling away at a faster pace.

We arrived on the 4^th floor where there was a woman with two small children, about two and three. Naruto extended his hands towards the woman, and she, desperate eyed, handed her elder child to him. I took the younger. I put the child on my torso and climbed sloth like under different clothing lines back across to our buildings. Female neighbours, worried, accepted the children.

Naruto and I climbed back for another go. I could see people from our building coming out with buckets of water from the pumps, splashing them around the first floor and putting out minor fires. As we got back, the flames began projecting out past the bottom of the balcony we were on in six-foot licking flames. As we stood up, the wires we had climbed on came loose and stranded us there, snapping with a sound like a gun going off, spitting sparks. It flung around like an electric eel, and people dodged out of the way shrieking. It landed in a puddle of water, left over from the efforts of the men and women trying to put the fire out, lighting the water up with electricity for a moment, before all of the buildings around us went out. The entire grid shut down, throwing us into shadows, the fires the only light available.

The fire was licking at our feet, and the occupants of the balcony we were on were trying to beat out the fire. Naruto and I stood on the side railings, and hopped the few inches to the ledge above us, grabbing it and pulling ourselves upwards. The man grabbed his wife around the hips and lifted her up to where the next level was. Naruto and I helped pull her up to the next level. As we completed that, the man arrived back from having ducked inside the house. He came level. back out wearing oven mitts and began the climb to our level. Naruto found a sturdy washing wire that was not yet on fire.

“Grab my belly, Auntie!” He commanded, as he climbed out under the wire. She did, and dangled, terrified, as Naruto sloth walked across the line, the 100 lb. woman dangling below him. I stared at him in awe for a moment. It was not normal for a six year old to carry an extra hundred pounds of weight on top of their own. I shook myself out of my thoughts. As I got ready to do my own crossing the cheap line I had chosen snapped with a twanging noise. Both our faces paled in the ruddy orange light. A few feet out of my reach, a line from a higher level dangled.

The man stood on the railing with me, and we held on to the wire together. It was slanted slightly upwards, so we couldn’t zipline across, but if we swung across, we would hit the wall at car speeds, and then drop unconscious to our deaths. I made sure his hands were on it, palms protected from the hot metal by his oven mitts, then connected a chakra thread to our end of the wire. I looped the chakra thread under the railing. I clapped him on the back unexpectedly, and cut the wire. He screamed, swinging across. My thread slowed his descent, stretching out under the strain, then snapping halfway across, causing him to slam too hard into a railing. But he kicked himself over, so he was alive, if injured.

I knew all the ways across at my level were gone, so I climbed up a level, and then another. I found a wire thicker than most, looped around two wheels to make it a rolling line. I prepared my hand with a buildup of chakra, ready to release it at a moment’s notice. I ran into the apartment, then out to the balcony, explosively launching myself into the air. I caught the line, and squeaked my way most of the way across, stalling halfway.

Thankfully, Naruto was there when I looked up, reeling me in the rest of the way. The girls renting that apartment gave us glasses of water, and wiped our sooty faces with damp facecloths, cooing and making a big deal about us. As they were about to lead us inside, shinobi arrived on the scene, gracefully dropping from the rooftops.

One wearing a Dog mask pulled off a manhole cover with his bare hands, and then did the weirdest thing. He started making hand signs at a furious pace “Ushu sari u ne…” like it had to be one hundred of them, and then a big water snake climbed out of the sewer, snaking through the burning building, crushing the fire in its coils. It wended its way all throughout the tower, until the dog masked shinobi released it. It turned back into water and leaked out of every doorway in the building. He then exhaled, and …slouched off as if the whole procedure was beyond boring. As the shinobi departed civilians began to pour out of nearby buildings and shelter, steering clear of the unsafe wreckage. They called out names, making an account of those that were safe, and sending the injured to the hospital.

***

Naruto and I tried to lie low for a few days, as I was afraid of being noticed by those in power, but the family we had saved made sure to come by and effusively thank us. Not too many people had seen my use of chakra, but I didn’t want to draw attention to myself unnecessarily. Thankfully, the family moved in with some relatives further away, so they were not in the area. Some of the working girls in our building had definitely taken notice. I directed their gossip towards the fires. Apparently, our landlord owned several other buildings in the area, including the one that had burned.

“Naruto,” I commented, after he and I had come up from the laundry room, minds filled with the women’s gossip. “I’m worried our building might burn down the same way. After all, it is owned by the same man. We should do some snooping.” He agreed readily. The idea of the apartment we lived in burning like the one across the street was terrifying. The next night Naruto and I, dressed in normal street clothes, went quietly down the stairs, passing laughter and gaiety in a noisy apartment on the way. I had the primitive picklocks I had gathered together hidden in a small foldable wallet. The lower area had some flickering lights, so Naruto had a flashlight, and I had a candle.

It was handy that the light nearest the electrical room was out, so Naruto stood silent vigil with me in the dark, as I activated my Byakugan. The lock was a better than usual one with five tumblers, and I spent a seemingly interminable time working on it. Eventually I filled the space partially with my chakra and held each pin in place after I had moved it with my primitive picks, and the metal door opened.

Naruto and I entered the room, closing the door behind us. Naruto turned on his flashlight, and I fumbled with the lid to the fuse box. I opened it and more than half the sockets in the fuse box were filled with copper coins, which glimmered in the half-light like shiny spider eyes. I furrowed my brows. Where there should have been proper fuses, some cheap bastard had used coins to save money.

Fuses are meant to melt if too much electricity passes through the wires. This prevents short circuits and fires from happening. If an object like copper coins were put in instead then the current would pass through without any fail safes. That was all well and good until they short circuit and set fire to the building. We closed the door, and snuck back up to our room, closing and locking the door behind us. I explained the problem to Naruto as we closed and locked the door behind us, sneaking back up to our room.

***

“Akitsu, how can we stop this guy?” Naruto asked. He was clearly upset, eyes wet and sad, but there was a glint of determination there as well.

“We need to find out which buildings are owned by this person in the area.” I offered. “Is this just our building, or a bigger problem?” I questioned. It was no wonder Naruto was upset. Hell, I was upset. People had died last week. We didn’t know many people from the building intimately, but the thought that people we would have seen around the market last week are now dead would shock him.

“We could ask the local baa-chan?” Naruto suggested. I congratulated Naruto on his simple plan, explaining that it was better than my plan of multiple break and enters. We asked around and were put in touch with an older lady who lived in the area named Yokota Eiko. Yokota O-basan had had some trouble with the landlord and had done a lot of research, more than any non-old person with a grudge could have had the time for.

She fed us cookies for an hour while she told us tales of this cheap landlord. She gave us a list of the 4 buildings in the area owned by Akagawa Kyoji. She had apparently complained about problems with lead pipes to the civil authorities, but by the time the complaint had worked through the bureaucracy, three years had passed, and the issue had been fixed. The complaint was then dropped. Great. Now we needed to get proof and get someone to listen to us.

“Didn’t that guy, I mean shinobi with the leg injury,” I thought out loud, “didn’t he have a camera in his apartment?" Naruto looked at me quizzically. “There is a man,” I explained “an injured shinobi who works a clerical job. He was the one who had an older first year shinobi textbook. I’ll ask him. His name is Nanba Hotaka.” Naruto was excited. The prospect of meeting a retired shinobi was appealing to Naruto, especially if he had helped him, even without knowing his status as village pariah.

I showed up at Nanba Hotaka’s residence with a steaming container of Ichiraku ramen the next day. I ran into him, hobbling up the stairs on crutches, as the elevator was out of order. He caught sight of me out of the corner of his eye.

“Hey, Ari no Ko. How’s it going?” Really, I thought. Ant-child? I guess with the goggles and high collar I looked somewhat like an Aburame. I narrowed my eyes at him, but he only laughed. “Get it?” He continued. “Because you’re always working, and because you have those goggles that make you look like an insect. It’s hilarious.”

“Such a nickname is illogical.” I replied stone facedly. “I have not six limbs, but four.” I replied while pushing my dark goggles higher up on my face with my index finger. He laughed out loud.

“Kid, you’re a riot. Nice impression. What’s in the bag?” he asked.

“A bribe,” I answered. He looked at me quizzically and I indicated the door to his apartment with my head. He invited me inside, and I explained. Five minutes later, he summed up.

“So, to prove malfeasance, you want to borrow my camera, break into the electrical rooms for four buildings, take photographs, and then what, deliver them to the KMPF?”

“Basically.” I replied with a confident smile on my face.

***

It took a week to get ready. Nanba san gave me some lessons on how to use the camera. I bought a roll of film from a shop across town with a note from my 'Dad' that was totally illegible except for the film code. That was far more believable than an elegant forgery.

First, I took a photo of the first building from an alley across the road, showing the address and the building. I then returned the camera to its special bag in the backpack. The sneaking into the buildings part of our plan was the easiest part of the operation, and it went off without a hitch. All you had to do to sneak into someplace you weren’t supposed to be to pretend you were meant to be there.

Now that Naruto no longer dressed like some orange tree frog, we just walked in after a resident. Next, we walked down the stairs. The laundry was in the basem*nt, on the other side of the building from the electrical room. To get into the electrical room we employed a little bit of lockpicking. The security was so bad at the first building that there was a combination lock. How ghetto was that. I knew for a fact that the Elemental Nations had much better locks than this.

Naruto stood guard while I worked on the lock for all of 45 seconds, the byakugan making the job simple and no one walked by in the time it took me to open it. We entered the room, taking the lock with me, making sure to not touch it without gloves on. I didn’t know if they had anything like fingerprint analysis here, but I had better not risk it. We closed the door behind us and took out today’s newspaper. I opened up the fuse panel. Naruto held the newspaper up from out of frame, and I took the photograph.

The second building was our own, so it was particularly easy. Front door, photo, electrical room, photo, fuse box, newspaper, photo, done.

The third building was fine. We were going past the laundry room, when an elderly lady saw us and called us over.

“Ryu, is that you? I need some help with my baskets.” She had a hunched back, and was squinting heavily.

“I’ll help, O-bāsan.” Naruto replied. He then toddled off to help her with her laundry baskets. I picked the lock without problem, took the photo with the newspaper, and was cleaning up by the time Naruto was back with messy hair, and a small tin of cheesy almond cookies. I gave him a judgmental look. “What!” Naruto said defensively. “She’ll probably tell the other baa-chan about how nice Ryu was helping her.”

The next day I padded the rest of the roll with some related photos.

***

The next part of our operation was much more risky. It involved sneaking our evidence into the hands of the Konoha Military Police without getting caught or revealing our identities. I didn’t think we would get in trouble for this kind of thing, but if we were to be caught now, not only would we be farther behind on stealth than we thought we were, but we would be suspected of similar behavior if we did something that could get us in trouble in future.

Naruto and I debated back and forth about where we could drop off the evidence, and eventually settled on a rooftop near the Merchant District. We knew that it was a common checkout on the military Police’s patrol around the town. While if the members of the Military police wanted no one would see them, they stayed in view of the civilians to boost morale. A lot of crimes could be prevented just by letting people know that a shinobi was standing by, either to save you from violence, or to stop and arrest you.

Not many people could gather the courage to rob someone if a shinobi was a roof over. We weighted down the folder we had stapled together to the roof of the building with rocks. This way the KMPF was sure to find it.

***

Two days later, Uchiha Fugaku was at his desk, going through some time sheets when he heard two of his subordinates talking softly outside his office.

“Take it in.”

“No, you take it in.”

“You developed it.”

“You found it.”

“Gentlemen.” He spoke in a clear carrying tone. “I invite you both into my office.” Two younger officers came in nervously. “What do you have for me?” he asked them.

“Uchiha-sama.” The first started, “An envelope was found on a rooftop where we often survey the market. Inside was a canister of film. A common type used by both hobbyists and the authorities.”

“Mhmm?” Fugaku encouraged him.

“I encouraged my fellow officer to develop the film.”

“Why would you do that?” Fugaku inquired.

“Fugaku-sama, the exterior of the envelope was marked with Top Secret.”

“Well, somebody has a sense of humour at least.” The younger officer passed a file to his superior, who went through the photos. Address, Electrical room door, Fuse panel with unsafe practices. Address, Electrical room door, Fuse panel with unsafe practices. Address, Electrical room door, Fuse panel with unsafe practices. Address, Electrical room door, Fuse panel with unsafe practices. The next photo was of a burnt out husk of a building, and the last four photos were of new graves. Fugaku examined the envelope and noticed inside the envelope written the name:

“Akagawa.”

***

Sasuke pushed the green peas around on his plate, stabbing them with the ends of his chopsticks. He ate them one at a time, but froze when his mother looked his way.

“Sasuke. Stop playing with your food.” Tou-san sent a disapproving scowl at him, and Sasuke’s chopsticks began to bring the peas and carrots to his mouth properly rather than play with them. If only nii-san were here, then the attention would be off of him, and no-one would care what he was doing anyway. Then again it was nice to get the full attention of his parents, and not be compared to Itachi constantly. Still, the only thing tou-san and ka-san talked about were politics, and the Konoha Military Police Force.

There were other Fire country police run by the Daimyo, but here in Konohagakure, they were the only police forces. Politics was boring, but he wanted to learn as much about the KMPF as possible. When he grew up, he would become a member for sure! Tou-san began to speak.

***

“Honey,” Uchiha Fugaku commented to his lovely wife demurely sitting seiza at their low table, “I had a recent case in the northeastern quarter, arson actually.” Uchiha Mikoto was paying careful attention by this point, focused on his word. “I think your old teammate’s son may live in the area.” he continued. Mikoto was surprised by the foray. “I was wondering if you might want to check it out, in an official capacity. The Commander would of course reinstate you at your old rank, part time if you wanted to do so.” Mikoto’s normally calm exterior displayed her interest. She paused for a few seconds.

“I thought,” she assayed, “that you wanted me to only be employed in my capacity as mother.” He paused in thought for a few seconds.

“That is very true, but Sasuke will be going to school in the next fall semester, and you will have more time on your hands. If you wanted, you could ease into it.” Fugaku paused to eat a morsel of food and take a sip of his tea. “The Commander has always been impressed with your discernment and attention to detail. You would be an asset moving forward. I admit that there would be some bumps here and there in our household."

Fugaku spoke of himself in the third person as the Commander to separate his duties and authorities, keeping his selves separate. There were in fact three persons. The Commander, the Clan head, and Tou-san. The Commander could not command Mikoto to pick up some takeout for dinner that night, but Tou-san might make a gentle request.

He began again. “The Clan head has no opinion on the matter, so it would of course be your choice.” Mikoto smiled gently.

“I think that I might visit the Commander in his office tomorrow and ask to be reactivated then.” Fugaku congratulated himself on being a husband sensitive to his wife’s needs and moods. It was best after all. Fugaku tried to not dwell on the fact that although he was a fine fighter and an able swordsman, he could probably take Mikoto only half the time. Fine, he admitted to himself, maybe five twelfths of the time. Mikoto seemed to be laughing behind her sleeve at him. Was he that transparent to her?

***

Mikoto thumbed through the report she had requested from the secretary. It had all of the details from the case of the fire, as well as the ‘Top Secret’ folder sent to them. They had all of the information about the fire it was possible to get. The ‘Top Secret’ folder helped to tie a lot of information together about the fires and past complaints from renters under Akagawa.

These complaints had never come to fruition before. For some reason according to the paperwork they always got stalled at the council level and when they were finally brought up no problems could be found with the apartments belonging to Akagawa. That was suspicious, but nothing that could not be attributed to bigotry and connections. It was well known that Akagawa Kyoji was old as dirt, and semi-close with two of the three civilians who sat on the Administrative Council.

The Hokage also favored Akagawa because he kept spaces open for young Genin straight from the academy. It was clear that this couldn’t be handled as a civilian only matter if they wanted anything to be done about it. If they let it run through normal channels, then it would be swept under the rug like all the other past complaints. They needed a way to cast this as a ninja matter, so they could investigate beforehand and send the evidence in afterward.

They would also need their own evidence, as the evidence sent to them would not be accepted by the council, not being taken by the police force themselves. Thankfully, they would be able to covertly take their own photos when the case got upgraded from civilian to ninja. To think that Akagawa’s habit of sucking up to leadership would be his downfall. With so many Genin living in his apartments they easily had the justification to classify this as a shinobi matter.

***

Sarutobi sat behind his desk, half hidden by the piles of paperwork. A small knock at the door heralded one of his secretaries, Hachisuka-san.

“Sarutobi-sama, your three o’clock is here.” She retreated and in came Uchiha Mikoto. She was clad in a Jōnin vest, and her left pauldron proudly displayed the KMPF fan inside a star symbol. She bowed precisely, and made her way to his desk, standing at attention, some folders on top of a box under her left arm.

“Mikoto-san! I am pleased to see you. I thought this was a social call.” He continued.

“Many thanks for seeing me so quickly Sarutobi-dono. No, I come here today as an officer of the law.” Mikoto stood before him not as the Uchiha Matriarch, or as a mother, but as he had seen her on the battlefield of the Third Shinobi War, cutting a trail through her enemies, firm and unyielding.

“You have been reactivated then. Congratulations.” The Hokage commended her. Sarutobi inquired with his expressive eyebrows, and she handed over a file folder to Sarutobi. The folder contained an opened envelope marked Top Secret, and a series of photos. Each set contained three photographs. First of each was the outside of a building, then a main electrical box, then an opened electrical box.

“These are photos of three buildings adjacent to the building that burned down. They are under the ownership of Akagawa Kyoji.” Sarutobi hmm’d. “A Genin was injured by smoke inhalation in that fire. Also, the Hokage’s office pays for another apartment there.” It was obvious between them that she was talking about Naruto’s apartment. Sarutobi gave her a questioning glance. “I recognized the bank code” she explained.

Mikoto handed over the second folder which showed the same main electrical boxes, all filled with shiny new fuses. “Who took the original photos?” Sarutobi asked.

“No one has come forward, but I expect it will be someone interested in a certain account. I tracked the film through batch number to a photography shop on the west side of town that caters to hobbyists. You might check with Hatake-san. Unless you think it was one of the residents?”

Sarutobi smoothed his beard. “It looks like they had gotten away with it in previous times though,” he commented, continuing “since they removed the evidence before we got our own proof.” Sarutobi sighed deeply, “It is very difficult for me to prosecute a man such as Akagawa, he has many connections on the Administrative Council.”

Mikoto eyed the Hokage shrewdly, “It is not as if some rich slum lord represents the needs of the populace. Hokage-sama,” Mikoto began, “they call you the professor, and renown you for the power of the people you have taught but be careful what lesson you reach today.”

Sarutobi’s eyes grew intense and hard. He did not know what prompted Mikoto to speak to her Hokage like that, but he would do her the courtesy of listening to her words. “Go on.” He directed.

“The lesson you will be teaching today, to a young child, who may one day grow into power, is that the poor are at the whims of the rich and the powerful, and that that power should be exercised without restraint.”

The room filled with oppressive chakra in the Hokage’s anger. Mikoto stood at attention, seemingly unaffected by it. After a moment she continued. “Here is the last piece of evidence." She handed the box to Sarutobi. The box was an evidence box, with the location it was taken from, timed, and dated. It was sealed with red tape. Sarutobi went to open the box, but Mikoto provided him with a pen, directing him to sign and take possession of the box legally. Sarutobi did so and opened it to reveal a jumble of used fuses, mixed with a fistful of copper coins.

Mikoto looked Sarutobi in the eye and spoke softly, but with hidden strength, “There have been thirteen separate complaints from residents in these buildings against Akagawa, including reports about lead piping, rats, and asbestos. All of these complaints came to naught. I think it’s time for this to end.” Sarutobi sighed, took a long draw of his pipe, and picked up his pen.

Chapter 8

Chapter Text

March

It was three weeks after we sent in the evidence file to the KMPF that we heard news of the investigation from Yokota O-basan. Our aged neighbour came knocking on our apartment door and brought us snacks to eat while we discussed the good news. Apparently, Akagawa had been questioned by the KMPF about the bad management practices in his buildings, and he had had his lease of the buildings revoked by the Hokage.

In Konoha technically all of the land belonged to the military, no civilians had permanent property. All the land was leased out, although you could make a lease for 100 years contingent upon certain requirements. Only Clans owned land, and that was with the stipulation that they serve and protect Konoha as ninja. Akagawa no longer had ownership of the land, and neither the buildings. The Hokage had signed over a new lease to a new company, of which all the previous tenants were now shareholders. We were going to elect a condo board, and then a president in order to help run things.

“Yokota O-basan,” began Naruto, hands warming on a hot cup of tea, “You should run for president. You know all sorts of things about this due to your years fighting Akagawa Kyoji.” Yokota-san blushed like a young girl, hiding her mouth behind the papers we were discussing.

“Naruto, you charmer. I just might!” she gushed, shoving more baked goods onto us, as if we were going to starve without.

It turned out that rents were not going to change for a while, as there were some upgrades that needed to be done. They were also going to rebuild the burnt down building with fines paid by Akagawa Kyoji. It seemed like things were looking up.

***

Naruto and I continued our morning exercises led by Kawada-Sensei. We grew in speed and flexibility, although we needed to do a good jog in order to warm up in the cold weather. We hunted squirrels, and acorns, and I did as many delivery jobs as I could manage starting a bit before noon. I helped Naruto with his math, and we worked through our language lessons.

I stared down from the trees on which I was perching. Below me was a deep but chilly waterway. I had had an idea of how to use my chakra strings to swing around like Spiderman, but If I had problems, then there would be the river. It was cold, maybe eight degrees Celsius? Down thirty feet below me, Naruto chanted.

“Jump. Jump. Jump. Jump. Jump! Jump! Jump!” I snaked a chakra thread across to the tree overhanging the waterway. Naruto has the towels and blankets I had prepared in case. “Jump. Jump. Jump. Jump. Jump! Jump! Jump!” I inhaled and exhaled on a count of 4, then hopped up, gaining six feet of height, and began my descent.

As I came back level with my starting point, great. Ten degrees down, great. At twenty, the pull was noticeable. At thirty degrees it was almost more than I could bear. At Fortyish or so degrees, my shoulders were screaming with pain, and I lost concentration, the chakra thread disappearing into thin air. I pounded into the middle of the frigid waterway in a huge butt flop. Under the water in a white froth of bubbles, I struggled towards the surface.

When I reached the surface, I was hit in the head by a branch with a rope on it. I yelled incoherently at Naruto, who had the decency to look ashamed. Then I started laughing, my belly hurting from the swimming, the water, and the shock. Naruto remembered, and threw the stick past me, dragging it to where I could reach. I let him pull me out. Now he was laughing.

“The look on your face! It was priceless!” I took the towel and started with my hair, then quickly jumped out of my pants and shirt. The March air nipped at my skin as I dried myself. Then I put on dry clothes. Naruto, no longer concerned about my safety, was laughing. “Your face was like this!” He put on a wide-eyed look of terror. “And then you hit the water like this!" He imitated my ass first spin, waving his hands in the air like an idiot.

“Har har.” I replied. “Let’s see your chakra thread, h-h-hot shot.” “Fine” he said. While I put on my goggles, Naruto concentrated, and a blob of chakra formed in his hand. While chakra was normally invisible to the naked eye, in large concentrations it glowed a light blue. I could see the blob on his upward palm. It wiggled and wobbled like a sphere of jelly. It extended four inches, then six. It was an inch and a half around. I began to mock him back.

“That’s not1 a chakra thread. That’s a chakra cucumber. A chakra Billy club. All men fear the Uzumaki Cucumber no Jutsu!” He began to chase me around with it while I yelled. “No! No! Please no! Anything but that!” Naruto chased back into populated territory. The senior citizens looked quizzically as I yelled “No! No! Not the cucumber jutsu!” As I ran panting through the streets back to our residence.

***

Mikoto sat on the engawa of her family home drinking a light herbal tea in the cool spring air. She had seen Naruto and Akitsu’s home while canvassing the apartments and had been impressed. Not many boys of that age would be able to keep up a level of safety and cleanliness without a woman around. They seemed independent, grounded boys who were… assigning themselves homework?

Sasuke was a bright child, but a bit of a mama’s boy. He had friends in the Uchiha district, but he had some preeminence among them due to his blood. It would be a good idea for him to have friends outside the clan. Mikoto herself had been a little sheltered until she got to school. Kushina certainly was a shock. She wanted to have the same sort of friends for her son. She knew a friendship with the two boys would be good for Sasuke, but there was no telling if they would become friends if left to their own devices. First impressions were everything and she was going to make sure that their first meeting was complementary.

***

Mikoto scanned the crowd for Naruto and Akitsu, Sasuke trailing behind her with a sullen look on his face.

She was taking Sasuke to a park close to Naruto and Akitsu’s apartment under the guise of helping him to expand his social connections. Networking was a skill all clan heads were in need of, and even as a second son it was vital. Sasuke complained, citing that everybody worthwhile was back at the Uchiha Compound, but she wasn’t having it. She might have failed Itachi, but by Izanami, this child was going to have a proper childhood. And that meant talking to people outside your family.

As they walked up to the park Mikoto scanned the crowd for Naruto and Akitsu, hoping that they would be here that day. She knew it was probable that they would be. From her time in surveillance of the neighborhood she had noticed that they spent every Tuesday afternoon at the park. They were gone most of the other times she tried to look for them, but she didn’t want to impose on their privacy more than she already had to check where they were going. This left the park as the only place she might easily waylay them with Sasuke in tow. The two boys were setting up a game of Contagious Tag.

Sasuke asked if he could play and was included in the game of ten kids. The Oni (Naruto) ran around nimbly, jumping in a few separate bounds to the top of the playground, while other children ran down the slides and poles laughing. Naruto caught a kid a little older than him, and now it was two kids chasing the rest. The two of them, with some planning managed to corner Sasuke in one of the tube areas. Sasuke conceded his capture with little grace, but they had fun capturing the other kids. Sasuke liked to hide in some hidden place and leap out when someone was driven close to him.

“Nice going, Kimura-gumo-kun!” Akitsu clapped Sasuke on the shoulder, jogging off to find the next victim. Sasuke looked towards his mother at the corner of the park, confused and a little dismayed. Sasuke jogged over to share his concerns with her.

“He called me Kimura-gumo-kun.” Sasuke said a little petulantly.

“Yes.” Mikoto replied. “The one with the yellow hair’s name is Naruto, but the other boy calls him Yamārashi, or Porcupine. Naruto calls Akitsu Gama-kun, or Toad boy,” Sasuke looked at Akitsu’s bulgy classes, and laughed internally. “They aren’t being mean; it is just a thing that friends do. Besides, a trapdoor spider is an interesting creature, and a good role model for one who wants to be a ninja.”

Reassured, Sasuke ran back to finish the game. The next game was a balance game on one of the playground features. There were two separate spaces. Two kids would climb on one of the two logs. Then they would each set out a hand and try to push, pull, or trick the other kid into falling off the log. If both fell, the one who fell last would continue. Win three times, and you would give up your place and join the line looping around. Sasuke was high in the rankings of kids staying up longest. Naruto did well but tended to fall for Akitsu’s tricks more often than not. After an hour and a half, the game started to break up. Mikoto approached, noting Sasuke’s reddened cheeks.

“Boys,” She began, “Sasuke and I were about to go for a warm drink. Would you like to come?” she offered. The boys shared a look.

“We wouldn’t want to impose.” Akitsu offered.

“Nonsense. It would be a pleasure.” Responded Mikoto.

“Thank you, Uchiha-sama, that would be nice.” They bowed, and Mikoto led them to a café a few streets away. “Keimu-san,” Akitsu began, referring to Mikoto’s police officer status, even though she was wearing civilian attire. “Thank you for your work in our neighbourhood. There have been big changes. We saw you talking to Yokota O-basan.”

“You might be mistaken.” Mikoto offered.

“No, I’m sure it was you.” Replied Naruto. “Also, you have two jitte in your obi.” Naruto explained. The jitte were a traditional law enforcement weapon.

Mikoto smiled and said in a pleased voice “How perceptive of you.” She called over the server and ordered four hot chocolates and a series of cookies. As the four of them waited for their orders Mikoto tried to strike a conversation, asking “So, do you go to school Naruto-kun, Akitsu-kun?”

Naruto’s head snapped up and he began rambling. “Not yet, but at the start of the next school year me and Akitsu are gonna sign up to the Ninja Academy and become awesome ninja dattebayo!” Mikoto smiled at the verbal tic, Kushina had had a very similar one that she couldn’t shake, no matter how hard she tried. It was good to see that just because Kushina hadn’t been there to raise Naruto didn’t mean that there wasn’t some of her in him.

“Oh, you want to be ninja? That means you’ll have to train really hard.”

Akitsu responded to her silent query. “We’ve been working on our agility in the forest nearby. It’s great for stealth and movement.”

“And squirrels!” added Naruto. Sasuke looked puzzled, and Mikoto was taken aback. “We eat them.” Naruto explained. There was a deathly moment of silence.

“How to you eat squirrels?” asked Sasuke, morbidly interested.

“Akitsu always tells me to close my eyes and pretend really hard they're rabbits.” Mikoto laughed out loud with an unladylike snort. She then looked around the room with a slightly stern gaze. Several of the café’s patrons looked away, guiltily, having been caught eavesdropping. Mikoto withdrew a small ofuda shaped piece of paper lay it on the table and tapped it with a glowing finger, setting up privacy seals.

“Food is expensive in Konoha, and squirrels are free.” Akitsu explained. “Plus, shinobi regularly live off the land on missions, so it’s a good plan.” Mikoto indicated understanding, but not necessarily agreement.

“I wouldn’t know much about that.” She continued. "The KMPF takes missions in Konoha, so I am usually home for dinner. Or at least breakfast.” she admitted. Naruto laughed behind his hand at this witticism. By this time, the children had mostly finished their drinks.

“Akitsu,” began Sasuke, looking briefly to his mother for approval. “I had a good time today. Could we get together soon?”

“How about Saturday morning?” suggested Akitsu.

“That would be great.” agreed Sasuke. Mikoto squeezed his hand gently under the table. He was doing so well.

“Sasuke,” Naruto began, “Do you have any clothes without the Uchiha crest?” Sasuke looked confused. Naruto explained further. “Akitsu has this thing about grass snakes and coral snakes and whatnot.” Mikoto raised an eyebrow. It was certainly not a koan she had heard before. “Akitsu exclaimed that Jiraiya of the Sannin can get away with looking like... Jiraiya of the Sannin, because he is an S-class Shinobi, but people like us do better looking a little more boring until we are that powerful.”

Akitsu jumped in. “Everybody will be paying attention to you if you’re running around in fancy clothes with your Mon. I don’t really like attention, and Naruto’s been treated badly. Do you think you could wear clothes without your clan crest while we play outside?”

Sasuke’s face puffed up and his cheeks reddened. “But how will I honor my Clan if I don’t wear their symbol?” he demanded. Mikoto inserted herself into the conversation.

“I think that would be a lovely idea. I can get you some sturdy play clothes fit for running around in the forest.” Sasuke harumphed but didn’t argue any further. With his mother’s decree the debate was clearly over.

“So, will we see you Saturday? We could meet up by the park.” Naruto said.

“I’ll be there.” Replied Sasuke. Once Mikoto paid for the hot chocolate and cookies they got up and left the Café with plans of meeting up again.

***

Saturday morning was quiet inside the apartment the two boys shared. Laughter echoed far in the distance as children played. Music drifted through an open window, and dust hung in the brilliant winter sunshine. Slowly the bolt to the front door turned, and then in stepped an aged baa-chan. It was obvious by the bucket and the mop, and the napkin covering her hair, that she was some sort of cleaning lady. She was talking to herself, a little litany of her thoughts absentmindedly. She closed the door behind her, locked it again, and then surveyed the apartment. It was, in actuality, Uchiha Mikoto under a henge. She had been curious about that comment about eating squirrels. She knew young boys were usually… Flexible with their inner stories.

The apartment was oddly clean. Mikoto stepped out of her geta which had kept her feet out of the street muck and snow, and out of the delineated square where outside shoes were kept. There were pegs by the door where there winter outside clothes were kept, empty now that the boys were gone. The room had recently been swept. She moved, still in her disguise, into the main room. The kitchen was to the left, and the bedrooms to the right, and the southern wall led through windows onto a balcony. Mikoto looked out on the empty blasted lot where the building had burnt down and shivered.

The main room had a futon and a kotatsu, which was covered with various papers. There were a series of math worksheets in two different handwritings, one impeccably neat, the other less so. Mikoto tried to guess who’s was who’s, but then realized their names were written in the leaf. Naruto’s had been carefully checked, and occasionally corrected, and adorned with little stickers of pandas, and tanuki and frogs. Akitsu’s were merely checked with a pen. Akitsu’s book was a couple grades ahead of Naruto’s though. She carefully replaced them in the same place she found them.

There were two sets of writing practice, that were more equal in skill. In fact, come to think of it, Naruto’s was shaping up to be a graceful, if not necessarily neat hand. There were four books from the Konoha Public Library number 4. These were history books, two survival guides, an old first grade ninja academy textbook, worn but in good condition, a book about amphibians, another about snakes, two adventure novels, and a book about nutrition.

There was a folded piece of paper in the middle of the nutrition book, near targets for different age groups. Next to it was a work sheet. Akitsu was listed at 2000 Kcal. Next to it was some math for Naruto tracking over a week, which seemed to indicate Naruto was putting away 6000 Kcal a day? Mikoto knew Kushina had always put away the food, but maybe it was a bloodline trait. Mikoto checked the return cards on the library books, and they had been out ten days, and needed to be returned in four more.

The kitchen was a cluttered one. There was a stove and a fridge, all of the usual mess associated with people cooking, but other than that there was a lot of activity going on. More than you would expect. There was a bin full of acorns, half full. 'Weird' She thought to herself. There was another of dried acorns. Mikoto smelled them and they smelled like they had been toasted. There was a crock pot on the table, plugged in and currently cooking. Mikoto opened it up, and there was inside, three headless furless squirrel bodies, innards removed, cooking in a nice broth including…sage … Onions… was that thyme?

Mikoto confessed herself surprised. Here was a pestle on the countertop, dusty with flour, and the fridge was half filled with tall Tupperware containers of what looked like sandy beach water. Mikoto opened one, and smelled it, and it smelled bitter, and a little pleasantly oily. There were also a few wan vegetables, some left over rice, and some soy sauce and other condiments, some eggs, and some ketchup. The lower bins contained some long-lasting vegetables like carrots, cabbage, and beets. On the next to last level there were some bags of brown flour, and a Tupperware container of… broiled carrots, it looked like.

Mikoto took out a small bag from her pockets and took a sample of maybe three tablespoons of the flour, shook the container to conceal her theft, and then exited the kitchen. The front hall cupboard contained extra clothes, obviously from the bargain bin, but well cared for with inexpert sewing. She moved down the hallway and found in the bathroom a half barrel that had been wrestled up here somehow. It was full of brackish sharp smelling water. Mikoto grabbed a stick on the edge of the bathtub and reached in to pull out a… squirrel skin from the grimy depths. 'Well,' she thought, 'Someone is going to ace the survival classes at school.'

Under the sink she found cleaning supplies, and a plastic bag full of cracked… nut shells? She pocketed a few and retied the bag with the same knot.

The bedroom had two futon placed side by side. Mikoto’s eyes jumped with suspicion, and she darted back to one of the futons. The small lap blanket there, glossy, and black, was made out of stitched together squirrel skins.

'Well,' Mikoto thought, 'That is a weird picture of two kids. They surely are getting their worth out of those library cards. Industrious, hardworking, studious.' she mused. 'Weird, but good.' Mikoto approved of the kids’ association with her family. She would have to have words with Sarutobi about their conditions later.

She left the house the way she came, locking the door behind her, and puttering her way out of the district, leaving no trace.

***

Sasuke, Akitsu, and Naruto cavorted in the park, playing follow the leader with the neighbourhood kids. One or the kids would do a challenge, and each of them would try that same challenge. If you muffed up the challenge, you would move to the back of the line. If you led for three challenges, back of the line. Jump across a sand pit, do a cartwheel, climb across the monkey bars. It was hilarious. Sasuke was usually in the front third of the pack, but Naruto and Akitsu were often in the lead. Akitsu excelled in flexibility challenges, like crab walking or that ridiculous reverse bridge thing he could do.

Naruto was almost as flexible as Akitsu, about the same as Sasuke. Naruto on the other hand could jump a few feet more than anybody. Sasuke took the lead after leading some challenges with skills involving throwing. Some random civilian girl Akitsu knew could walk on her hands ten paces. Everyone but her failed that one, and they lay about in a pile laughing. Sasuke was glad at that time that he was not wearing his clan’s Mon. It would be weird for an Uchiha to be laughing in a pile of civilian kids. He felt, what, lighter somehow?

“Akitsu,” He began, spread like a starfish on the grass. “How does that girl walk on her hands?”

“Ask her yourself.” He replied, lifting his head. “Kaku, Come over here please.” The slight girl with the chin length hair came over. Sasuke sat up and positioned himself in seiza, not wanting to be impolite. She sat down in front of him, making them level.

“May I ask,” Sasuke began, inclining his head respectfully, “How you are so good at hand walking?”

The girl replied, smiling brightly. “My mother worked in a travelling show doing acrobatics and a slack rope act when she was younger, but she is a classically trained dancer. I do a workout every morning with her before school. I'm not sure that I want that for a career though. I’m kind of interested in glassmaking, so I’m working towards getting things to help me get an apprenticeship.”

“That’s interesting.” Sasuke replied, before their attention was taken by another game.

One of the kids brought a bouncy ball, so they played a random made-up ball game for a while, involving goals, and passes, until lunch time came closer, and the group split up. The three friends walked away from the park, and Akitsu began in a singsong voice.

“Sasuke likes Kaku, Sasuke likes Kaku.” Sasuke leapt at Akitsu, who dodged and hid behind Naruto, still singing. Akitsu apologized, laughing, and Sasuke stopped trying to put him in a headlock. Suddenly Akitsu seemed to put on the mien of another person. “Young Sasuke, I apologize,” he said in a stentorian tone, “I did not mean to impede the Blossoming of your YOUUUUUUUUTH!” The entire street stopped and froze. Some looked about panicked and others hid their eyes reflexively.

“Akitsu, you are so random.” intoned Naruto. He rolled his eyes, glancing at Sasuke conciliatorily. Sasuke just nodded, completely dead faced.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Sasuke recalled, halting his steps. He held out a paper envelope to Akitsu. “Here is an invitation for dinner in two days. For some reason,” Sasuke intoned, “my mother likes you.” he said, looking down his nose at Akitsu. Naruto snickered at the put down.

Akitsu laughed. “We’ll put on our best clothes.” he said smiling.

***

Mikoto waved to the guards at the walls of the Akimichi Clan Compound as she daintily stepped up to the gates. They glanced between each other before motioning her forward and opening the gates for her. She glided past them, giving the guards a shallow nod before continuing up the winding path towards the Clan Head’s house. She had a friend to see, and it had been far too long.

She had not seen Chieko for anything other than stuffy official visits and obligatory parties in years, both women taking time to raise their respective children. A large part of the reason behind their continued separation was the isolation of the Uchiha by the Clan heads and Civilian Council members. After the Kyuubi attack, it had been voted on that the Uchiha Clan be moved out of their original compound and into the one they now resided in. That the new compound just so happened to be on the outskirts of Konoha and cut off from the heart of the Village didn’t seem to bother any of the other Clan heads.

The horrible rumors of an Uchiha controlling the Kyuubi had been circulating and the Konoha Council, being composed of the Clan heads of all Clans in Konoha as well as the civilian members/advisors to the Hokage, decided that it was best to be safe. The Uchiha thought it would be best to wait out the rumors before calling for their land back, but instead of the rumors lessening, they only continued to grow in volume and intensity. It was only now, after nearly seven years, that she dared speak to her once friend again.

She smoothed her kimono, a simple winter one that was suitable for talking with an old friend and knocked on the door of the house before her. She had chosen to forego her complex Uchiha matriarch formal kimono, as she knew that Chieko wasn’t one to prioritize formality among friends. As she was musing the door was abruptly pulled open, and Chieko was standing in front of her. A small flash of surprise came across her face when she saw Mikoto, but it was quickly hidden.

“Uchiha-san!” Chieko guardedly started. “What a pleasant surprise!” Mikoto looked down in embarrassment, at what was basically an indictment of their distance over the past years.

“You are very right.” Mikoto acknowledged the touch, bowing her head slightly. “I have allowed old friendships to lapse with the excuse of child rearing and clan business.” Chieko’s eyebrows jumped up at this frank admission, and they moved into the interior of the house, removing their slippers. Mikoto put on one of the pairs left for guests, and Chieko put on a kettle for tea while Mikoto waited at a low table, sitting seiza. Chieko soon returned and busied herself with preparing tea. Mikoto knew no woman could resist talking about her children, so Mikoto inquired after Chōji’s health and welfare, as well as his new younger sister, who was at one of his aunt’s houses at the moment. Chieko reciprocated, and Mikoto shared several stories of her own.

“I have begun working part time for the KMPF recently. It has been good to get out of the compound.”

“Really?” responded Chieko, refilling her old friend’s tea, “I would not think your husband would allow that.”

“There may have been some feminine wiles involved.” Mikoto said with an entirely inappropriate smirk. Chieko laughed wholeheartedly. Mikoto gathered her thoughts before laying her story out. “Also,” volunteered Mikoto, “There was a case I was interested in involving a suspicious fire in a part of our village near the entertainment district, and Fugaku indulged me. There was evidence left by an unnamed third party that implicated Akagawa Kyoji in a case of malfeasance. I, through proactive intelligence gathering, discovered that Uzumaki Naruto and his roommate were residents of one of the buildings Akagawa was in control of. I therefore invited him and his friend to have playdates with my son Sasuke. In doing so I discovered a great deal of negligence surrounding the two. I first noticed problems when Naruto mentioned a common dish they ate for dinner; squirrels from the surrounding forest.”

She could see as Chieko’s eyes widened, and her face became dismayed. Chieko was a mother first and a cook second. Most importantly, she was an Akimichi. They saw food, and the sharing of it, as the basis of society. The very thought of children being malnourished enough to actively seek out squirrels was unthinkable to her.

“Was the situation so dire? Does Naruto not get enough money for food from the Hokage? Sarutobi cannot have been so busy with administration as to forget to feed Naruto!” Chieko snapped at Mikoto, distressed. Mikoto shifted in her seat uneasily, looking mildly guilty.

“I must admit, I took the opportunity to break into their apartment and survey the situation myself. If what I gathered from their own analysis is true, then Naruto easily eats around 6000 calories a day. If this is a direct result of Kushina’s … Kekkei Genkai, then I cannot see how this was overlooked. By what their budget books say they are barely receiving what it costs to support two healthy children, and yet Naruto requires even more. Also, it appears that squirrels are not the only new food source they have discovered. I was hoping that you could reveal what you know about it to me.”

***

It was the start of the new week. Akitsu and Naruto were coming back from their morning yoga practice. As they were walking up the stairs to their apartment, they passed a pair of burly men carrying a crate. The men obligingly put it down on the second-floor landing in order to give the boys space to pass them. After Naruto had unlocked the front door and was hanging up his coat and was taking off his sandals, he was surprised to see the men walk up to their door. The men put the crate down and looked at the door plate.

“Right,” remarked the man, “three oh two. Are you Uzumaki?” Naruto nodded dumbly. The man handed Naruto a clipboard and a pen and directed him to sign on a space left for that. Naruto looked dumbly at the man.

“Sign it.” Akitsu hissed. Naruto obligingly put his character on the space provided and handed the clipboard back to the man. Akitsu asked them to bring the box past their front door, as it was too heavy for them to move on their own. They agreed jovially and put it in their front room, apologizing for the dirt they left on the floor. They handed Naruto a piece of paper on the way out, tipped their hats, and left. Naruto began looking for a way to open the heavy box, and eventually came back with a hammer and began to pry out the nails in the top while Akitsu read the Bill of Lading.

“Akitsu!” yelled Naruto. “Look! Eggs!” Naruto was holding up a crate of 36 eggs. “And Jam! And Flour! Sugar!” he yelled excitedly.

Akitsu continued, reading from the bill of lading. “And salt, and beef, and a ham, and three kinds of fruit, buckwheat flour and rice, onions, and some noodles. Oil and vinegar, and some dish soap.” By this time Naruto was actually inside the three-foot-tall box, popping up with straw in his hair.

“Who’s it from?” he asked Akitsu.

“Doesn’t say.” Replied Akitsu suspiciously. “The sender box and the payment information has been blacked out. Mysterious.”

“Very mysterious” replied Naruto rubbing his chin sagely.

“It looks like our benefactor wants to remain anonymous.” continued Akitsu. “Why don’t you have a quick wash, and I’ll make us an omelet.”

“Great! Thanks!" Replied Naruto as he ran off.

***

The next day we were due at the Uchiha residence. We had made sure our best - though threadbare - clothes were clean. I talked with Naruto about bringing a gift to dinner to show our respect for our hosts, and he decided to package up a basil plant that he had split and repotted a month ago. I had prepared some oatmeal and raisin cookies. (They were not raisins from my old life, but a fruit from the area. They were wrapped in a plastic container and wrapped with a purple napkin).

I gave Naruto a bit of a haircut, although he protested. “I don’t need a haircut. I’m fine!”

“You look like a bear” Akitsu replied. “Besides, taking care of your appearance before a meeting shows you respect the people you are visiting.” Naruto scowled but relented.

Naruto and I arrived at the gates to the Uchiha compound. Naruto removed his mask and head covering, so he looked almost respectable. Naruto handed a surprised shinobi our invitation, and we were escorted to Uchiha Fugaku’s residence. We arrived before dinnertime with plenty of time to spare. We walked up to the door of their house, Naruto nearly vibrating out of his skin in excitement or nerves and knocked on the door. There was a moment of silence as we waited awkwardly for a response.

Suddenly the doorknob turned, and Naruto and I were face to face with Mikoto in a white cotton apron over a simple yukata. Naruto and I bowed and proffered the gift we had brought, saying, “Thank you for having us.” She smiled as she ushered us into the hallway where we changed our shoes out for slippers and motioned for us to grab our shoes and follow her.

“I’ve just started on dinner, so you run right along and join Sasuke in the garden. Dinner will be ready in an hour, so I’ll call you back inside in time to tidy up before then.”

When he saw us, Sasuke waved, and we put on our shoes, sitting on the engawa which gave on to an interior courtyard. There was an elegantly leaning maple tree, and a few cherry trees. Sasuke was sitting on a blanket, sewing up a tear in a pair of pants.

“What’ve ya got there, Sasuke?” Akitsu asked as Sasuke had been trying to surreptitiously hide them.

“I cut a hole in these pants while I was practicing kunai skills outside of an approved area. Now my mother is insisting I fix them myself. ‘You won’t have a wife on campaign, Sasuke’ she says.” Sasuke rolled his eyes. All three sat cross legged around Sasuke’s chore.

“Maybe,” said Naruto, “later on you will learn some medic-nin skills and sew up people!”

“That’s something I am interested in.” admitted Akitsu.

The boys laughed as Sasuke threaded his needle but had problems getting the knot at the end. Akitsu showed him the trick about winding the thread around your pinkie, rolling it off and pulling it tight.

“I’m sure you’ll make someone a fine wife one day.” Sasuke informed loftily. Akitsu struck back.

“I won’t be the one getting married just because I’m hungry and can’t cook for myself. Everyone should learn these skills.” Sasuke was powerfully insulted and turned to yell at Akitsu, but Naruto laughing and rolling around on the ground pointing at both of them dispersed his ill humour, and he even smiled a little.

“Nice one, Akitsu.” he admitted. While Sasuke worked on his pants, Akitsu and Naruto grabbed something from the mending bag and worked themselves. The sock Akitsu was working on was serviceable, but Naruto’s sock was a little fugly. Sasuke looked at Akitsu’s work. He had chosen to fix a black sock with red wool, and now there was a red circle on the cloth, half an inch across. When Sasuke looked up again, Naruto had finished another sock, but Akitsu had taken some white wool and had added some white touches to the red circle, making a tiny Uchiha fan on the socks. Sasuke snorted, and Naruto laughed out loud, filling the courtyard with his mirth. Mikoto came to the courtyard to see what was going on, and Naruto snatched the sock to show it to her. Sasuke avoided their gaze while Mikoto laughed delightedly. Naruto was embarrassed and pleased when Mikoto tousled his hair.

“Dinner’s nearly ready.” She informed them.

They moved into the house from the courtyard, removing their shoes, and putting on some slippers that had been prepared for them. As the dishes were just being set on the table Fugaku came through the door and paused as he saw how many people sat there. He stiffly turned to his wife and gave her a look Akitsu was unable to decode. Mikoto smiled at Fugaku and replied sweetly.

“These are Sasuke’s friends dear, I invited them over for dinner tonight." Mikoto called upstairs “Itachi! Dinnertime!” There was a flash, and then Itachi appeared next to the dinner table.

“Itachi.” Fugaku said in a stern voice. “No shunshin in the house.” Itachi bowed quickly to his father.

“Yes sir.” Itachi responded, then froze for a half second, noticing Naruto and Akitsu standing there. “Greetings.” He bowed to them. “I am Uchiha Itachi. Welcome to our house.”

“Uzumaki Naruto.”

“Akitsu. We are friends of Sasuke-kun.” continued Akitsu. Mikoto invited them to sit down, and they sat at the table while Mikoto brought out a series of dishes. They all paused, then Fugaku clapped his hands. They all intoned “Itadakimasu.” And tucked in, passing the plates around. Mikoto kept unobtrusive watch on Naruto’s plate, pushing more vegetables on his plate. Mikoto inquired of their day, and Naruto and Akitsu talked about their morning exercises and their time playing in the park with Sasuke.

“Any luck hunting today?” Mikoto asked. “Actually, we skipped foraging today, because someone sent us some sort of care package.”

“Care package?!” exclaimed Naruto, “it was a care crate! It was so huge it took two men to lift!”

“Fine.” agreed Akitsu. “Care crate. Perchance, did you happen to order us a week’s worth of food, Uchiha-sama?” he asked politely.

This question directed to Mikoto elicited a slight widening of the eyes, then a soft smile and shake of the head. “No. It was not me.”

“If you do find, out,” Akitsu requested “I would ask that you let me know. I would like to thank them.” Mikoto agreed with an elegant nod. Naruto asked about Fugaku’s job, about the hours, and the different types of crimes in Konoha, and about the makeup of the forces. Naruto might not be a political force as of yet, but he sure knew how to carry a conversation. Fugaku took the time to answer patiently and received beaming smiles from Mikoto.

“Tell Fugaku-san about your plans next year, Naruto.” Offered Mikoto. Naruto was glad to regale them.

“We’re going to apply to the Ninja Academy next year. We’ve really been studying up.” Naruto said with a grin.

“Well,” said Mikoto, smiling innocently. “You’d really ace the survival portion of the classes.” Naruto gave her a thumbs up sign, and Mikoto laughed, the bell like sound hanging in the air.

***

After the boys had left, replete with food and stories, Mikoto and Itachi were washing the dishes in the kitchen. “Itachi. You paused for a second before I introduced you.”

“Hn.” He agreed noncommittally.

“What do you know of these children?”

Itachi paused in thought. “I ran into them one night on the way back from a mission.”

“Mhmm?” Mikoto encouraged him.

Itachi continued. “They were carrying a pole with a bucket between them. The bucket was filled with koi. Naruto said they stole them.” Mikoto opened her mouth in surprise. “This crime was excused by the fact that they were stolen from a man who threw rocks at cats.”

Mikoto looked at him with wide eyes. “Did you report it?” Itachi looked at her with an even, cool gaze.

“O-kāsan. I do not work for the KMPF. Stolen property is not within the scope of my duties.” There was a long pause. “Besides.” He continued. “The previous owner threw rocks at cats.” Mikoto laughed unselfconsciously and wholeheartedly, while Itachi hid his smiles amongst the dishes and suds.

Chapter 9

Chapter Text

June

The food delivery made our time management easier. We still spent a little time foraging in the woods, but we were less stressed, and it was more fun. That was good. because the local squirrels had begun to be skittish on hearing the whirring of my sling. Still, we practiced tour tree walking and stealth. We jumped over streams and played with rocks and sticks. They were childish games, and I lost himself a bit in life as a child, my quest for independence and power forgotten for an hour or two at a time.

***

Akitsu and Naruto became regular visitors at Uchiha Fugaku’s residence. Usually, it was Thursday nights. Mikoto was impressed with Akitsu’s ability to bake. They were not world class, but solid offerings for a young boy. Still, that level of patience was unusual for a child his age. Naruto had tried his hand a couple of times, but his baking could make a cat laugh. Sasuke and the boys played in the neighbourhood every other day.

One morning during breakfast, Sasuke asked his mother, “O-kāsan, am I stuck up?” Mikoto thought for a minute.

“Some think so. The Uchiha are proud, and a life in politics has made us reserved. We tend to keep our emotions close. We are aware of our gifts of course.” Sasuke nodded in agreement. “Civilians, and some clans show their true faces more than we do. They make friends easier I admit. I think it is fine to be reserved, but when I opened up to some civilian friends in school, I was definitely happier. As long as you don’t lord your position over your civilian friends, or your wealth, then you should be fine. Were you teased at the park?”

“The children got muddy in our group, and I got some on my face, and one of the kids laughed at a face he said I had made.”

Mikoto smiled. “It is okay to get dirty, but good to be clean. You will have to get dirty to do many types of work, like, cooking, or child rearing, or battle, so you should get used to a little dirt.” Sasuke nodded to himself, satisfied.

***

Mikoto was wrapping up some of her part time work at the office when a functionary walked in. He had a missive in hand. It was rather businesslike, and she relaxed a little when she saw it had none of the seals that would indicate a highly important status. The clerk handed it to her wordlessly. It requested a report about a police matter, and was addressed to her, Mikoto Uchiha, and it was from the Sandaime’s office, though not in his hand, which was a relief.

She had time to stop at a restaurant owned by the Akimichi to pick up some pastries because she knew Chieko worked in the building. Mikoto ate one of the dozen pastries daintily, and while she finished it, Chieko showed up. They passed a little time talking about the weather. Mikoto read the summons in Chieko’s presence, who nodded shrewdly. The two parted, Mikoto laughing, and waving like the good friends they had been becoming again even after their years apart.

Mikoto arrived in time at the Hokage’s office. Mikoto put the box of pastries on the Hokage’s secretaries’ desk, who smiled in surprise. She was ushered in, and Sarutobi dismissed his obvious guards.

“Uchiha-keiji-san, come in please." Obviously, it pleased Sarutobi to pretend this was a small police matter in her purview as an officer. The doors closed. And Sarutobi seemed to relax. “Mikoto-san, I have asked you to come, to answer your questions. It seems you have become close to Naruto-kun lately.”

Mikoto stayed at attention. “Yes, sir.”

“I thought I had indicated you were to remain distant from Uzumaki Naruto.”

Mikoto pushed back a little. “Do you have any questions about policing matters, Hokage-dono?” Sarutobi frowned at her verbal fencing and the room seemed to darken a little.

“Please answer the question, Uchiha-keiji-san.” He seemed unwilling to admit this was not a police matter.

“I was not aware a question had been asked. I would be honored to answer any questions, Hokage-dono.” She stared ahead at the seal behind his desk, admitting nothing.

Sarutobi sighed a little. “Please tell me about your what you found out about Akitsu during your investigations."

“Akitsu is a young boy born two weeks before the Kyuubi attack. He lived his life in the red-light district with his mother until she died when he was six years old. She was a prostitute, and the father is unknown. When his mother died, he disappeared before he could be taken to the orphanage and lived on the streets until he moved in with Naruto a couple months ago. He works as a messenger and delivery boy for a bunch of stalls in the market square. As Naruto’s rent is already paid for by you, Akitsu helps by pitching in for their groceries. He is resourceful, intelligent, and driven. He haunts the local library and devours books at a prodigious rate. He likes books about wildlife and history. He does well with mathematics and works to master the harder parts of written language. He is devoted to Naruto, and Naruto is devoted to him. They play in the local park with the children and haunt the forests together.”

Sarutobi paused to chew on the stem of his unlit pipe, musing. “I don’t like the boy, Mikoto.” Sarutobi admitted. “He feels like a spy, even though that seems ludicrous. I am thinking of separating them.”

Mikoto paused. “Sarutobi-dono, there is a question you have not asked.”

“Mhmm?” He indicated with the pipe that she should continue.

“You have not asked me what I have learned about Uzumaki Naruto.” Mikoto kept her expression cool. This was not a conversation that would be made better by emotions. Only logic could sway Sarutobi.

“By all means, illuminate me.” She could see in Sarutobi’s expression that he asked her out of courtesy. He did not intend to let her change his mind. She would have to impress on him just how bad an idea that was.

“Naruto was previously socially stunted and lacked several mechanisms which prevented him from making friends, particularly his lack of understanding of social cues and some rules. Naruto has learned these from Akitsu. He has been taught to blend in using clothes and hair dye which has enabled him to buy groceries without being discriminated against by the local merchants. Apparently, Naruto rescued Akitsu when the other boy was ill and freezing to death on the streets.” Sarutobi looked less certain now.

“Akitsu has put his library card to good use. He noticed that Naruto was perpetually hungry and did something about it. They pooled their money, and Akitsu taught Naruto to cook a few simple dishes. I found cookbooks in their home. Akitsu took out a survivalist guide and learned how to make and use a sling from parts he scrounged. The boys make a lovely squirrel stew apparently. From the same book he apparently learned how to gather acorns, dry them, grind them, soak them to remove tannins, and make a healthy flour. He learned about nutrition and vitamins. He tracked Naruto’s food consumption and did the math. Akitsu eats 1500-2000 calories per day, a normal amount for a healthy child his age. Naruto appears to need four times that.”

Mikoto’s mood turned even more somber. “I laughed at K- other members of that bloodline eating large amounts. I thought it was a gag, a joke. You bought Naruto eight bowls of ramen at a stand, and clapped him on the back, thinking it was a nice reminder of… others of his bloodline. Akitsu saw his appetite, his unhappiness, and figured out, I think, that the child had been crying at night around his hungry belly. Akitsu saw Naruto, when he was invisible to everyone else, and he was the first to do that. He also made Naruto’s world immeasurably better. If you separate them, you will damage not only the two boys, but irrevocably shatter your relationship with Naruto.”

Sarutobi became somber and regretful. “I would regret it, but it might have to be done, Mikoto.” It seemed she would have to try harder. Hit while the metal is hot so to say.

“Sarutobi-dono, may I speak freely?” Hiruzen nodded assent. “I think you dislike Akitsu because the boy is Naruto’s hero, and you remember that being you. Do you know what Akitsu is worried about?”

“I think you are going to tell me.” Sarutobi answered with a tired face. She felt a sort of twisted pride for having put that expression on his face. He had failed her best friend’s son. The least she could do for Naruto was stop Sarutobi from making it any worse.

“Akitsu noticed while he, and Sasuke and Naruto were bathing that Naruto lacks a vaccination scar. He’s a ghost in the system. How did he not get one at the orphanage? He needs a parent to take him to the hospital, but he has none. I would have adopted him, but you forbade it. Maybe his bloodline or condition might prevent him from contracting measles or mumps, but what loss to the world if he was disabled and became ill, or sterile? What loss to the world, Hiruzen? You are a brave and intelligent man, but you make decisions, and then fail to look at them again later. I can think of several enormous decisions you have made that you should have looked at again, but you haven't. You just keep travelling on the same path, like a mountain road, regardless of the consequences.”

Mikoto resumed her stance, waiting at attention, and fixed her gaze again on the seal of Konohagakure behind him on the wall. After thirty seconds of intense silence, she asked “Is there anything else Sarutobi-dono?” He gestured silently at the door, and Mikoto bowed, and left the room. The door closed behind her. Sarutobi sat for a second, reached for his lower right drawer, for a bottle, and then closed it firmly.

***

July arrived. Sasuke and the boys grew closer. They ran in the forest and swam in the local rivers. They played at the local parks with the civilian kids.

Sasuke arrived home around noon on a Saturday. Mikoto was home for lunch after working a half shift. She was startled out of the report by a slammed shutter and turned to find Sasuke huffily throwing his damp gi down on the floor. He was damp, his hair wet and his clothes dark with water, and his face was hot and red.

“Darling, Sasuke, are you alright?” He avoided her gaze, and puttered bout the room, rearranging things uselessly. Mikoto took his hands, leading him over to the table, and they kneeled together. “Tell me what happened.” She coaxed him. Sasuke grudgingly began his tale.

“We were playing ninja with the civilian kids and had gotten hot and sweaty. Naruto suggested a swim in a pond close by. The other kids agreed, and we all went to the water, and they took off their tops, and started jumping in. There was a rope Akitsu had hidden up in the boughs of the tree, and the children started swinging on it, and falling into the water.”

“Mhmm?” coaxed Mikoto. There was a long pause. “Were you shy about taking your top off?”

“Yes.” He admitted. There was a long pause.

“And then?” Mikoto asked, and then waited patiently.

“Then Akitsu hid his eyes, pretending that I was so white the sun off my skin was blinding him.” Mikoto lay her hand gently on his shoulder in solidarity. “Then,” continued Sasuke, “another kid pointed at me, and declared I was a snow spirit, and that I would freeze anyone I touched, and they all started running away from me.” Mikoto’s other hand covered her mouth. Sasuke suspected she was smiling behind it. She visibly composed herself.

“Sasuke, that was careless of them, and I am sorry your feelings were hurt.” Sasuke was grateful for her attention. Mikoto began to speak again, “Past a certain level you must overcome this shyness. I myself was shocked by the behavior of my teammates, one of whom would swim in the briefest of clothing, or in single gender situations, entirely naked. My face was red for hours.” Sasuke smiled at the thought of his mother, the unflappable pillar of his life, discomfited.

“If you left, you have given a clear signal, that this behavior is unwelcome. You can decide if the positives of this relationship outweigh the negatives. I hope you keep trying though.” Mother and son ate some cold noodles together. As she put the dishes in the sink, Mikoto saw Naruto and Akitsu coming up the path.

“Sasuke!” she called loudly. “Your friends are here!” Behind her she heard Sasuke’s feet pounding down the stairs, although he slowed before putting on his sandals. In the yard, she watched Sasuke meeting the two boys. Although she could not hear them well, some sort of apology was offered. Akitsu proffered a small bag, which Sasuke shyly accepted, which turned out to contain an inexpensive Amigasa, its straw construction meant to keep the sun off. Sasuke gave a scandalized look but put it on.

“Sasuke!” She yelled loudly. He started, turning back towards her. “It’s such a hot day, take your friends for some shaved ice!” Sasuke ran back to her, and she gave him a few hundred ryo to buy the expensive treat for him and his friends. Mikoto smiled as they ran off into the afternoon sun.

***

A few days later Naruto and I sat at our table eating breakfast. Our food was so much more tasty after we started receiving the mysterious donations. Before, meals were about getting as many healthy calories into Naruto as possible. Taste didn’t really matter. Now, though, we could afford to indulge. I took a delicate bite of the tender and juicy fish, savouring the flavour.

“Naruto,” I asked distractedly, picking a tiny fish bone out of my teeth, “should we invite Sasuke to our morning practice?”

Naruto thought while he chewed. He had finished his fish and rice, and was on to the fruit I had set aside for him. A real Hobbit he was. “I know you want it to be secret, Akitsu. Wouldn’t he have to tell his mom?”

“Well,” I answered, wracking my mind for a good excuse, “we’re not doing anything illegal. And clans have to be good at keeping secrets, because, like, clans, right?”

“Besides, maybe his mom won’t ask.” Naruto finished with momentum. Then he paused for a second and grinned. “Akitsu, what if he didn’t lie or hide? What if he just told his Mum ‘I’m off to practice secret ninja techniques in the forest with my friends!’”

“That would be awesome!” I laughed, brightening up. “Let’s do that. Not that we have to let him in on all of our secrets, but I think this one would be fine.”

“Good, that feels like the right choice.” Answered Naruto. He poured himself a glass of milk and downed it, sighing at the silky texture. He was sometimes confused why I was so careful about dating our milk, but I couldn’t help but remember the scene of Naruto drinking Chunky Milk™ in the Anime, and I doubted he would want to experience that.

“I’m not going to show him my chakra threads though. And you should keep your chakra club secret, too. A good shinobi should always have one more secret in reserve, after all." I grinned.

***

We invited Sasuke to come with us to the forest the next day after Seven Rivers Style morning exercises. Sasuke was curious, but we only told him we were there to practice. All three of us sat down in a triangle, knees close together.

“So, what are we here for?” Sasuke asked. He was wearing his unadorned play clothes, dark blue shirt, and dusty shorts.

“We’ve been working on our chakra control.” explained Naruto.

Sasuke frowned. “It’s dangerous to work on ninjutsu before you’re grown enough.” Sasuke said worriedly.

I spoke calmly, rebuffing Sasuke’s statement. “We’re not using jutsu, just control exercises.”

“We got a look at the current first year academy textbook,” Naruto jumped in, “and it’s really gotten stupider in the past years. They used to teach a lot more, and it’s been dumbed down a lot, so we’ve been starting early!”

“Can I see the books?” asked Sasuke, intrigued. I knew that he would likely be drawn in by the idea of secret knowledge, but most of all the idea that he would be taught less than Itachi. It was hard enough to catch up when Itachi was just a genius. Adding dumbed down textbooks on top of that would only compound the issue. I didn’t want to manipulate Sasuke, but I had grown fond of him in the short time we had been friends, and I wanted him to have all the advantages I could give him.

“Sure.” Naruto said.

I clapped my hands to get his attention, then sat in lotus position, hands on my knees palms up to the sky. “First let me show you what we’ve learned.” I placed a leaf on the centre of the palms of my hands, and focused chakra there. They stuck fast, and I spun my chakra like a corkscrew. The leaves began to twirl around, and then spin more rapidly as they gained momentum. “This is a basic chakra exercise taught in the academy. There are other ones, more useful to being a ninja, but this is a good level to start towards for now. We practice every morning for an hour, and then try to put some stuff to use running around the forest.” Sasuke seemed impressed. He leaned forward, watching the spinning leaves.

“Is it against the rules?” He asked, voice quieter than usual.

“Well,” I answered, grinning and spinning them faster, “nobody has told us no, not that we’ve asked. If your Okaa-san asks what we do in the forest, just tell her we practice our secret ninja skills, and jump around in the forest.”

We guided Sasuke in our morning meditation and showed him the leaf sticking exercise (Or the pebble sticking exercise for Naruto). We also showed him the tree walking we had managed. He was very impressed, and after seeing the two copies of the different textbooks, Sasuke agreed to keep our secret and train with us.

Sasuke was not some sort of genius, but he was a hard worker. By the time the month had finished, he had found his chakra, and was working on a leaf on each hand. His jumps became higher, and his running faster. In return Naruto and I got help from Sasuke and Mikoto-san on kanji, and calligraphy which particularly interested Naruto because of his association of fuinjutsu with the lost nation of Uzushiogakure. I thought that the passages that Mikoto-san chose were classical choices because of their antiquity and beauty, and links to the past.

***

On the first day of August Uchiha Mikoto entered the Konoha Shinobi Academy. She had not walked there but been carried in a litter by four Uchiha dependents and guarded by four yari warriors. She was not in full regalia, like a wedding or a peace proposal, but she was every bit the Lady Uchiha. She wore a kimono and obi of impeccable cut, a beautiful wig, and a tasteful amount of makeup. There was an ancestral sword in her obi. People had stared and whispered as the chair was carried down the street with her guards’ armor jingling in time with their staccato footsteps. She gracefully exited the palanquin, aware of the small crowd following her. She walked to the office in the dusty summer air and smiled kindly at the secretary there. This was a different secretary than the one that helped Naruto get his library card, Hachisuka.

“Greetings” said the secretary, wide eyed. Mikoto bowed her head slightly and proffered a small envelope of information to the functionary. “Admission form, check, health form, check, Recommendation letter?” Mikoto stared at her for a full five seconds while the other workers in the office slowly stopped everything they were doing, ending up in a still tableau.

“The Uchiha do not get recommendation letters” she intoned icily. “We give them.” The secretary swallowed nervously. “Yes, Uchiha-sama.” the woman replied. Then Mikoto produced a form acknowledging receipt of the forms.

“This is not a standard form.” The secretary commented.

“We use them all the time in the KMPF.” Mikoto continued. The woman nervously signed and initialed the form in several places, and Mikoto smiled sunnily. The woman relaxed a bit. Mikoto then reached into the breast of her kimono and pulled out more papers. The secretary looked surprised.

"These are for a boy, Akitsu. Admission form, health form, and a recommendation from Uchiha Fugaku.” The secretary’s eyes grew slightly surprised, but she processed the forms, and at Mikoto’s insistence signed the papers acknowledging receipt. Mikoto deigned to smile and tip her head slightly. Then Mikoto reached into the breast of her kimono a third time and produced a third set of forms.

“These are for a boy, Uzumaki Naruto. Admission form, health form, and a recommendation from Uchiha Fugaku.” The secretary froze for a second.

“But isn’t...” the secretary froze at a small application of killing intent from Mikoto.

“Yesssssssss?” Mikoto’s voice froze the secretary with her icy tone.

“Nothing, Uchiha-sama.” replied the secretary, shaking herself out of fear induced paralysis. The secretary took the papers, scanned them quickly and countersigned the papers acknowledging receipt with only a small tremor in her hand. Uchiha Mikoto gracefully nodded at the secretary’s service and secreted the receipts in the breast of her kimono gliding away gracefully back to her litter, where she was effortlessly born away in splendor by her servitors.

***

Iruka and Mizuki sat at a low table in the Academy, shuffling through the applications they had been given. It was only a month until the Academy started and that gave the ANBU enough time to perform background checks on the forms for the students to weed out any spies that might try their hand at an infiltration during peace times.

Iruka and Mizuki were using that time to grow familiar with the children entering their class. It was best to study their files thoroughly beforehand to avoid any nasty seating arrangements or histories between students. This was especially important in the clan heirs’ class, as you had to consider not just personal enmity, but also politics. Despite their relatively young age Iruka and Mizuki had been given the dubious honor of jointly teaching this year’s advanced class, which happened to have the clan heirs, or at least second in line, of nearly all of the clans in Konoha. It was sure to be a doozy.

Across from him Mizuki started from his chair, a look of shock on his face as he looked down upon the file in his hands. His face began to redden, and he hissed out between gritted teeth, “They gave us Uzumaki Naruto!?” He looked both pissed and incredulous. “Why would he be in our class? I thought we were going to be given the best and brightest, not the most troublesome!” He had a look of hatred as he spoke “I will not be teaching that brat anything if I have my way.”

Iruka looked closer at the paperwork and winced. “That might not be the best idea. It looks like the kid came with a full recommendation from the head of the Uchiha Clan. It would be a seriously bad idea to piss them off.”

Mizuki was infuriated. “Why would they recommend him! Do they not remember what he did seven years ago? Or do they just not care. I heard rumors that the Uchiha controlled the Kyuubi that night, but I never thought they could be true!”

Iruka’s eyes flicked up to Mizuki sharply and his voice snapped out. “The Uchiha are upstanding members of our village who keep our people safe and did so the night of the Kyuubi attack as well! Don’t let me hear anything differently from you.”

Mizuki put up his hands in a placating gesture as he quickly replied. “Of course, of course, no disrespect. It’s just if that isn’t it then why are they siding with him? Do you think he has them under some sort of genjutsu?” Mizuki said lowly in a conspiratorial manner.

Iruka let out a sharp laugh, honestly incredulous. “Hah! Are you honestly suggesting that multiple Uchiha, Genjutsu masters of Konoha, were fooled by a seven-year-old child? One with no training to speak of? And what are you talking about what He did seven years ago? He was a newborn baby, you idiot. Was he kicking down walls with his pudgy pudgy baby legs? You should shut your mouth before any more sh*t falls out.” Mizuki slammed the door, leaving the room while Iruka studied the prospective seating chart fiercely. He understood having a dislike for the child with so many bad memories attached to them, but the kind of blatant idiocy Mizuki was spitting was not only mind-bending, but ridiculous.

***

Naruto and I got up early in the morning for our entrance exam into the Academy, and prepared two simple bentos filled with rice, a boiled egg, and teriyaki squirrel meat. Yes, we had better food now, but we did that for old times’ sake. For the first day we had decided to make an impression with our wardrobes, though the actual first day would happen in September, and so had set out the clothes we wanted to wear before bed. Naruto was going to conceal his hair and whiskers with a mask and bandana Kakashi style, and I was changing my look with a breathing apparatus I had found.

Due to the weekly food deliveries, we had been getting from our mysterious benefactor money hadn’t been as tight and I and Naruto had been able to set aside some money for our shinobi gear. I still wore my goggles on my head to conceal my eyes, and a black bandanna to cover my hair.

Sasuke showed up to pick us up for the first day of school. Mikoto had been planning to show up, but when there came a knock at the door it was Fugaku who was waiting for us. We walked down the road, four abreast, and the community was taking notice. Fugaku looked quite the patriarch with a passel of youngsters walking with him. I could hear the buzz of gossip surrounding us.

As we grew closer to the school, tour paths coincided with two pale figures, dressed in simple clothes and with lambent pupilless eyes. The younger was a girl of the same age as ourselves, the older, about twenty. I recognized Hyūga Hinata from the anime I had watched years ago. Fugaku looked askance at the Hyūga retainer, and said in a voice soft but carrying, “Some of us have time for our children.” Before leaving like a stately ship in sail. I saw a look of pain pass across Hinata’s face and promised myself to sooth her hurts a little if I could. Fugaku hadn’t been planning to do this anyway and was just making a point on a political opponent. Hinata didn’t deserve to be caught up in their feud.

We arrived at the school and ended up in a crowd of around eighty other kids. We were separated by name and administered a test. I had been worried about the history and literature portions of the test, but with Mikoto’s help I think I did well on it. I totally crushed the math and logic section of the exam. When I exited into the school yard Naruto seemed to think he had done well too. I had no idea how he had passed originally without my and Mikoto’s direction.

***

The children were led out of the Academy into the bright sunshine.

Mizuki sensei, Iruka sensei, and a few other teachers were there administering the tests. Mizuki looked about the area, looking for the Uchiha brat that was starting this year. ‘The little maggot had everything handed to him on a silver platter, didn’t he.’ Eventually he saw the kid who was probably Uchiha Sasuke, talking to a short kid with blue eyes.

That kid had his face hidden with a Kakashi style mask and his hair hidden by a kerchief. The next kid over must be some sort of freak. That kid’s hair was spiky and dark brown, nearly black, but his face was hidden by bulky goggles and some sort of breather that covered his face from under his chin to his goggles. His feet were clad in bulky boots that went above the ankle. ‘What a try-hard.’ Mizuki mused internally, shaking his head.

The academy prospects did twenty laps of the track while being timed by Iruka.

That Uzumaki kid was a monster! He almost sprinted the whole way! The Inuzuka did well as did facemask-kun and the Uchiha kid. The Aburame kid and the Akimichi kid came in next, followed by the Nara and the Yamanaka kid. Lastly were some civilian kids and some kid with pink candy floss hair.

Mizuki and Iruka set up a chalk ring for taijutsu testing. The brats were supposed to run a few one-minute rounds to give the kids a chance to show what they knew. The early finishers had a chance to rest. Try-hard mask-kun was sharing some water with pink hair as they finished setting up. Try-hard-kun watched as the Inuzuka kid stepped up to the circle, bouncing eagerly. Mizuki let the kid show his moves, leading Inuzuka Kiba around the ring, throwing easy punches and blocks. He was strong, but a little slower than he should be, and Mizuki dealt him some stinging open-handed slaps when the kid overextended or tried to showboat. The kid had decent stamina though, and a good sense to exploit the openings Mizuki left on purpose.

***

Mikoto was happy that the sparring ring had been set up in the shade of the tree in which she was hiding. She had put on a henge of simple craggy bark to hide her in the foliage, trying not particularly hard to hide herself, but enough that civilians wouldn’t notice her. Akitsu looked up though, and she thought he saw her. This was confirmed when after Akitsu talked to Sasuke and Naruto, they looked up at the tree also. Mikoto had no idea where he had gotten that mask. Some retired shinobi’s wall perhaps? It looked like a piece from Rain, but the Village Hidden in the Rain was a recent development. Mist perhaps? Anyway. Akitsu walked up to the ring and bowed to the ring before entering.

“Kid” Mizuki said, “Are you expecting some sort of attack?”

“Always.” said the child in sepulchral tones. Half the class ooohed like that was something clever to say. “Sensei,” he said, his voice changed by the mask. “What are the rules here?”

Mizuki replied, “Leaving the circle means defeat. Other than that, come at me with everything you’ve got. You can’t possibly hit me unless you come at me with the intent to kill.” Akitsu advanced to a step and a half away from Mizuki and bowed.

Mizuki bowed back, and Iruka raised his hand, dropping it while shouting “Hajime!”

Mizuki stepped forward. The kid had started with his hands together in his wide sleeves. When Akitsu’s left hand came out, it was already throwing a dagger in a backhanded toss at Mizuki’s face. The Chūnin sort of Dempsey rolled under it, leaning in a little sloppily instead of dropping into a low horse stance as he ought to. This meant when Mizuki looked up, he received a shot of the bear spray the kid had been concealing in his other hand.

Mikoto stared in astonishment as Akitsu continued to empty the container into Mizuki’s face as the teacher screamed and clawed at his eyes. The kid even got some in his mouth. As Mizuki coughed, and cried, Akitsu stepped in and kicked Mizuki hard in the crotch with his heavy boots. The class watched in amazement as Mizuki fell to the ground in a fetal position, cradling his head in his arms. Akitsu stepped up, but his kick to the head was stopped by Mizuki’s arms, so the kid switched his next target to his teacher’s stomach, landing another heavy blow to his midsection.

***

Mizuki, realizing his measures were not helping, rolled backwards away from his tormentor twice, coming up with a dagger in a defensive measure, slashing out weakly in the direction of his assailant. “Matte!” cried Iruka as the children backed away in alarm from the knife flailing figure. As Iruka moved up, to calm Mizuki, the children were startled as a tree-colored figure fell out of the tree, snigg*ring, got to its knees, and then disappeared in a puff of leaves.

Iruka called over two of the assisting teachers, one to take Mizuki to the hospital and the other to take the place of Mizuki in the spars. “Children,” Iruka explained “I know what Mizuki sensei said, but the rules are no weapons, no jutsu, no genjutsu, no poison. Ring out ends the match. Try to score a hit, not maim your opponent.” Iruka turned to Akitsu addressing him. “I praise your initiative, but we didn’t really get a look at your taijutsu skill. Please go to the back of the line and try again.

Later Iruka visited Mizuki in the hospital where he was resting after having his eyes laved and his lungs treated for inflammation. Mizuki lay in his bed, miserable. Iruka brought him some bubble tea and some cookies to soothe his battered soul. “Really, Mizuki.,” he chided chuckling. “You can’t possibly hit me unless you come at me with intent to kill? Who do you think you are, Hatake Kakashi?”

***

Naruto and I spent the rest of the month happily. We trained, never missing a day of seven rivers practice with. I delivered food and made a bit of a secondary business helping out the Ojisan and O-basan. They had lots of little jobs to do that were occasionally paid for with ryo, and sometimes with sweets or baking. I always collected stories. I talked about how stupid and limited the current textbooks were, and how nobody paid attention to history anymore, and the often-curmudgeonly elders were always happy to chat.

I found out more about the previous war and picked up information on the clans who held Konoha. I asked a bunch of questions about Hatake Sakumo, and his fall from grace. It had bothered me in the bits of the show I remembered, that Sakumo, a war hero and veteran of hundreds of battles, became a social pariah after failing one mission. I got a workbook from a stationary shop and put together my notes on the clans, the modern ones, and the lost ones.

The Clans from their stories seemed to be more numerous and more powerful than today. My avid interest was much appreciated by the oldsters in the neighbourhood and was reflected in the positive attitudes of the merely adult people around me. I found out about Kakashi and his friend Maito Gai, learned stories about the Sannin and their disciples, the fall of Orochimaru and Tsunade, and the sort of fall of the Sannin Jiraiya. The oldsters were leery of sharing some of his reputation until I pointed out how close we were to the “Entertainment” district.

Kawada Suteshi kept us later after Seven Rivers Style class and continued with more bunkai. We engaged in more light sparring, getting lighter on our feet. It became harder to pin us down, as we danced and rotated away obliquely from attacks. Sure, a block was great, but instead, how about not being there at all? The faces in our class, young and old, became acquaintances, then friends. At one point some kids from the next neighbour over were harassing Naruto, when one of the local O-basan I had done chores for blindsided one of them, knocking the ten-year-old to the ground with her cane, and unabashedly putting the boot in. When the KMPF were apprised, several local people confirmed Naruto’s story, and wonder of wonders, an actual police report was filed.

In the forest, Naruto and I had firmly entered the territory of anime bullsh*t. Our long jumps and high jumps were getting closer to Olympic territory, further than should be possible with just muscles. My chakra threads were getting stronger, and although I could support my weight climbing slowly, I couldn’t swing from them.

***

Naruto ran up the stairs of the Hokage tower, for once not wearing his mask and bandanna. He was even wearing his old orange suit, for old times’ sake. This wasn’t a place where he had to hide. With a parcel under one arm and flowers under the other Naruto entered the area before the Hokage’s office. He approached Mrs. Hachisuka and presented the flowers to her.

“Naruto, you shouldn’t have!” She demurred.

Naruto replied, bowing with a look of admiration on his face. “You deserve it.” He was still grateful from when she helped him and Akitsu get their library cards. The other secretaries tittered as Mrs. Hachisuka went off to get a vase for the flowers. Naruto, a little bashful, waited bouncing slightly on his heels for Jiji to call him inside.

The secretaries in the pool outside the office looked at him with fond amusem*nt. It was the first day of the last week of August, and this time every month Naruto and Jiji had a meeting to catch up with one another. He hadn’t told Jiji about all of the things he did with Akitsu, about the byakugan, or the sneaking, or their training, but today he wanted to show him how much he had grown in the last year. Sarutobi exited his office, hatless today, preparing his pipe as they walked. The old man commented on the cloth wrapped package Naruto carried.

“I thought that I would pack us a dinner this time.” replied Naruto. “Because ramen is great for carbohydrates, but is usually high in salt, which can be bad for your heart.” Sarutobi faked looking attacked, mouth open, and Naruto laughed. “I need you to keep that chair warm for me for a few more years, Jiji.” Sarutobi reached out and tousled the young lad’s hair, and they walked on in silence for a little while. Naruto was always happy to see him, but his happiness seemed more genuine, deeper somehow. Hiruzen was abashed that he had not at that time noticed how fragile that happiness seemed in comparison to what it was now.

They turned right, down a minor road led by Naruto to a small municipal park, which was emptying of children as dinnertime came closer, and mothers called or rang bells for their children. In the low slanting sun, Naruto led the Hokage to a picnic bench, and opened up the cloth package to reveal two thermoses of tea and two bento boxes. They opened them up, revealing compartments of rice, tomatoes, pickled vegetables, some small crackers, and small strips of brown meat in sauce. They clapped and gave thanks, and dug in. The rice was fluffy and flavorful, and the vegetables crisp. Sarutobi recognized some edible greens from the local forest amongst the tomatoes, including bamboo shoots and young ostrich ferns.

“I see you are becoming quite the woodsman, Naruto.” Sarutobi ventured.

“Yeah, it's been great getting books from the library and trying things out. Akitsu and I spend a lot of time in any of the non-private wooded areas inside the walls. We've found lots of forest edibles, although we have been skipping mushrooms.”

“Very wise.” Replied Sarutobi. “Even seasoned mushroom hunters sometimes make deadly mistakes.” Naruto nodded sagely. “Did you get the chicken at a good price?” asked Sarutobi. Naruto giggled and hid his smile behind his hand.

“That isn’t chicken, It’s Chestnut Mouse. Tree Rat. The Konoha Bunny.” Sarutobi paused at the amusem*nt in Naruto’s voice, but took another bite, and savored the flavor.

“Nice preparation.” He commented. Naruto opened a new conversation.

“Someone has been sending me a care package every week. A big one, too! It has made feeding ourselves a lot less worrisome. Is it you, Jiji?” Sarutobi looked at Naruto sadly.

“No, it is not me, although I wished it had been.”

“Akitsu thinks it might be someone who knew my parents.” Naruto continued.

Sarutobi startled, quickly hiding the look of worry that crossed his face. He asked Naruto with a hesitant voice, “Why would he think that? Does Akitsu know anything about your parents?” If Akitsu was telling Naruto lies about his parents, or worse the truth, then it increased his chance of being a spy exponentially.

"Akitsu thinks my hunger and healing might be a Kekkei Genkai and says that those who have these bloodlines have known histories. I suggested Kanpekina saisei – Perfect Regeneration!” Naruto sulked a little. “Akitsu suggested Don'yokuna hitode no chikara - Voracious Starfish Power.” Despite himself Sarutobi laughed out loud.

“He doesn’t know anything about them, but we asked Mikoto-san if she sent it to us and she said no. Akitsu thinks that whoever sent the package to us learned about our situation from Mikoto-san and helped because they knew my parents.” Sarutobi calmed his racing heart at the explanation. Although a bit of a leap of logic, it was solid deductive work for a child. He was in fact probably right. Although one thing was bothering him. Sarutobi asked.

“If that is the answer he came up with, then why does he not suspect it to come from someone who knew his own parents instead?” Naruto thought for a bit.

“I haven’t asked much but I know Akitsu knew his mother. I don’t think they were a mystery to him. Besides, if they had close friends, wouldn’t they have taken care of Akitsu?” Sarutobi massaged his thin beard sagely while contemplating these answers. They sat in silence for many minutes as Naruto picked at his food, obviously in deep thought. “Jiji,” started Naruto, “Please tell me about my parents. I know you must have known them. You told me they died fighting the Kyuubi so you would have known their identities even if they were in ANBU or something. So much has been going on, and I keep learning new things about my lineage every day. I feel as if I have a hole in me, and that knowing about them might help fill that hole.”

The Hokage thought a bit. It was risky, too risky. Even so, he couldn’t leave Naruto with nothing. He would investigate on his own, and that had the possibility to bring disaster. Additionally, if Sarutobi denied him here he knew Naruto would slip out of his grasp forever. He would lose all trust in Sarutobi.

“The time isn’t right to tell you of your parents, but I will tell you about of the history of your clan if you promise not to investigate them anymore. It isn’t safe for these questions to be asked publicly.”

“I’ll hold off on my own investigation for a year, Jiji, if you give me some good information.” bargained Naruto with determination shining in his eyes.

Sarutobi sighed. "The Uzumaki came from a ninja village called Uzushiogakure, the village hidden in the Whirlpools. They were masters of the art of Fuinjutsu. They loved the sea and were far sailors and traders. Their Fuinjutsu art was advanced beyond all other villages, and even I do not know the full extent of what they were capable. Their art is set in the walls which surround us even now, only maintained, not understood. Many of their exalted lines had enormous chakra reserves and great longevity. You might live to be one hundred and twenty, or one forty, if accident or misfortune does not take you. They were our best allies, and we failed them in their hour of need. A coalition of villages, jealous and angry, amassed a sneak attack on their village that we only became aware of too late."

Sarutobi sighed in regret, his eyes staring at the horizon unseen. He began the story again, heavy hearted. "We rescued only the last few escapees. But the toll on the side of the attackers was massive, and almost destroyed their power for a generation. Some survivors settled here. We wear the symbol of their village on our jackets as a remembrance of their friendship, and of our failure.” Naruto hugged the old man, tears unabashedly running down his face. “Don’t make any plans of revenge, Naruto." the old man said, stroking Naruto's back. "The best revenge would be to learn, and grow, and have a big family, to show that the sacrifice to save those last refugees bore fruit.”

Naruto and Sarutobi each had a snow cone on the way home, holding hands like family. Sarutobi thought, as he wandered home afterwards, that that had gone surprisingly well.

***

Naruto talked with Akitsu before bedtime. He told his best friend about what he had learned about his family, and the history of Uzushio. Naruto told Akitsu about it being secret, and that Sarutobi had promised to tell Naruto about his direct family when he was more grown up. “Did he say anything about not telling me?” asked Akitsu. Naruto responded, “We’re family, we share secrets.”

Chapter 10

Chapter Text

September

School started a week later. Mikoto gave us each a present of a few outfits of sturdy shinobi grade material. We packed our lunches and were met by Sasuke and Uchiha Fugaku outside of our residence. We were definitely noticed by the populace in our little procession. Halfway there we met up with several Hyūga coming to the school from the Hyūga compound. Hiashi Hyūga walked with his daughter at his right hand, and his nephew a step behind him. Fugaku and Hiashi studiously ignored each other for the three blocks they walked together. I smiled at the weird little competition going on.

We arrived together at the schoolyard. The older children filed into their classrooms while the new arrivals waited and chatted outside. I saw several of the clan heads and their children. We all sat in the chairs provided, separated by an isle down which the Hokage walked to the podium. Sarutobi’s speech about the Will of Fire was practiced, but he made it new again with his passion for the subject. The children were sorted by teachers with clipboards. We were directed into our classes and chose seats. I chose a seat in the mid left near the windows, with Naruto and Sasuke in front of me.

I was wearing a high collared coat and my black mask, along with my aviator style goggles. I bowed before the other child in the class wearing dark goggles and a high collared coat.

“Aburame-tachi. It looks like we go to the same tailor. I invite you to sit with me today.”

“I am Aburame Shino.” The boy replied.

“And I am Akitsu.” Shino sat down next to me. Some of the girls who were near began moving away from the Aburame boy, having seen an insect crawling in his hair. “These are my friends, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto.”

“We have met.” Replied Sasuke.

“Pleased to meet ’cha!” returned a sunny faced Naruto, bowing slightly. “Why did you use -tachi instead of Aburame-san?” asked Naruto. I pitched my voice as low and sepulchral as I could at this young age and answered.

“BECAUSE HE IS NOT ONE MAN, BUT A MULTITUDE. ALTHOUGH I ADMIT, SO ARE WE ALL, ONLY LESS SO.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Please forgive my friend Akitsu. His manners are good, but he is a bit of a drama queen.”

“ALL NINJA ARE, AS” I pitched my voice more normally, continuing “as far as I can tell.” As the classroom slowly began to fill up, I weaved the story of seeing Hatake Kakashi come to the rescue, putting out an apartment fire with a Water Dragon Bullet technique, the elemental serpent smothering the fire in its winding coils. "Forty-Four hand signs. Can you imagine it?” Some of the kids around were paying attention to the conversation now. “Forty-Four hand signs. Naruto, what would you do if, as an adult ninja, you recognized someone one third of the way through a 44 hand-sign jutsu?” Naruto thought for a minute.

“Stab them?” he ventured.

“Or run away.” I offered. I noticed out of the corner of my eye, what looked to be a young Umino Iruka, walking through the door. I straightened in my chair, facing the front.

“Okay class,” started the kindly eyed teacher with the ponytail. An old scar travelled across his face across the bridge of his nose lending him an experienced air. “My name is Umino Iruka, or Iruka-sensei. This class is being co-taught by myself and another teacher named Mizuki-sensei. He is currently doing some administration, so you won’t see him in the classroom for a little while. Remember that he has the same authority as me.” He clapped his hands. “Now, please come up to the front of the class, and tell us about one like, one dislike, and one dream.”

The first student up in the front left keener desk looked like the pink haired offspring of a Scotsman and a candy floss machine. She wore fashionable clothes, not of shinobi grade materials. “I am Haruno Sakura. I like books and flowers. I dislike bullies and radishes. I want to become a great shinobi. Please take care of me.” She returned to her desk.

The next one up was a girl of slight stature mostly hidden in her buff coat. “I-I am Hyūga Hinata. I like dancing and the samisen and cinnamon buns, and pressed flowers. I dislike… bad things. I want to become a strong kunoichi and make my family proud. Please take c-care of me.” She spoke in a soft and quiet voice and stuttered occasionally. She seemed to have low self-esteem, and by the look of her father it wasn’t hard to figure out why. It must be awkward to grow up in such a stiff household.

Next up was a spiky haired kid in a hoodie with a puppy on his head. His eyes were slitted like a snakes, and he swaggered up like a delinquent. He turned snappily, head over his shoulder in a practiced move. I smiled at the affectation. “I’m Inuzuka Kiba. I like my nin-dog Akamaru,”

“Ruff!”

“and I don’t like snooty people who look down on my clan because they’re big stinky jerks. The snooty people, I mean.” I hid my face, pounding my fist on the table in silent laughter. The black-haired lad continued. “I want to become a powerful and wise ninja and make my family proud!” He ended his rant, fist to the heavens like a Shonen protagonist. He moved back to a relaxed stance. “Please take care of me.” He then held up his puppy, who yipped at the class. “Akamaru likes kind people, and bacon and bones.” The puppy yipped and growled some more. “He doesn’t like girls who wear perfume. It makes him sneeze. He wants one day to grow big and strong to rid the world of evil people. By eating them.” Iruka greeted this pronouncement with wide eyes and a disturbed smile, and Kiba went back to his seat, and sat down. He put Akamaru next to him, who picked up a no. 2 pencil in his mouth and watched attentively. By this time, I was silently crying, my head in the crook of my elbow.

After the introduction of a couple of glue eaters, up came a kid with black hair like a pineapple on his head. “My name is Nara Shikamaru. I like naps and shogi. I dislike loud people, and people too fond of drama.” His eyes may have flitted past the blond girls and Kiba. “My dream is to become an average shinobi, retire at forty, and die at the age of ninety. Please take care of me.” Well, Shikamaru certainly had his life figured out. If only he could survive long enough to live out his dream.

Next to introduce himself was a big kid who had red swirls on his cheeks. He walked up to the front of the class licking chip residue from his hands. “I’m Akimichi Chōji. I like my friend Shikamaru and my mother’s cooking. I dislike it when people think I’m dumb just because I’m big boned. I want to become a strong shinobi and master all of my clan techniques. Please take care of me.” He sat down and began to eat his chips again. From what I remember of Chōji he was a powerhouse but hesitated to use his power to hurt others. The problem wasn’t as big as Hinata’s, but he might have trouble in sparring.

As I was thinking, Yamanaka Ino stood up and proudly proclaimed at the front of the class “I am Yamanaka Ino, heiress of the Yamanaka clan. I like flowers and talking to people. I dislike winter and unfashionable clothes.” She then did a hair flip, resting her hands on her hips. “One day I hope to take over my father’s position as head of T and I.” It was obvious that she didn’t know the amount of work that endeavor would take. I rolled my eyes at her flashy manner under my goggles. “Please take care of me.” She finished.

Naruto bounded up to the front of the class like a ferret on crack. “My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen, wilderness survival, and my brother Akitsu. I dislike mean people and squirrel without sauce. One day I will become a fuinjutsu master, and then the Hokage!” I once more held my head in my hands in secondhand embarrassment. Why, oh why did Naruto have to mention the squirrels? Naruto walked back down the aisle smiling unselfconsciously.

My seatmate walked up next. “I am Aburame Shino. I like entomology and mystery novels. I dislike people who are cruel to bugs because of their ignorance, and loud people. I want to locate new strains of insects and add to the diversity of Aburame hives. Please take care of me.” He calmly walked back to his seat, ignoring the whispers that followed him. I passed him on the way back, “Yosh!” I offered, extending my hand for a high five. Shino paused, confused, and then obliged me.

I reached the front of the class and bowed slightly. “I am Akitsu. I like training, reading, and wilderness skills. I dislike small-minded people, ignorant of their own history, and inequality of opportunity. I want to be an excellent shinobi, and then learn iryo-nin skills. Please take care of me.” From the back of the class, I heard a soft “Nerd,” but ignored it.

Sasuke walked to the front of the class after me. “I am Uchiha Sasuke. I like family, tomatoes, and my friends. I dislike sweet things and bloodline thieves because they make people feel unsafe in their own homes, and everyone should feel safe in their own homes. My dream is to one day lead the KMPF like my father.” Akitsu saw Hinata’s back tense at the mention of bloodline thieves. The class was a little subdued after that.

There were more non clan kids. Was it bad of me to ignore them a little? I should make sure to watch that prejudice as we went on. There were too many names to memorize right now.

We did a class reading out loud, probably to assess the reading skills of the new students. I raised my hand after the class had finished the reading.

“Iruka-sensei, is there a Syllabus?” Iruka looked a little surprised that I brought it up.

“There is one, Bībā-kun, but there was a paper jam in the machine we used to print them, so I don’t have them printed out yet.” Iruka wrote on the chalkboard, outlining the course. The schedule had four periods every day. The first or second slot in the morning was always Physical Education. The other four slots were taken up with either Literature/Language, History/geography, and Math. Wednesday and Friday afternoons were blocked off. I asked why, and Iruka answered my question in front of the class.

“E.I.S.G. courses are run on those periods.” The class looked blankly at Iruka. “Espionage, Infiltration, and Social Graces.” The expressions of the students didn’t change. “It’s often referred to as Kunoichi classes.” Understanding flowed across the children’s faces. I raised my hand, waiting until I was acknowledged to ask my question.

“May I have a Student Handbook?” Iruka frowned and rummaged underneath his desk, coming out with a dusty box. He opened it up and brought out small burnt orange books. Iruka directed the leftmost student of each row to get eight books and they were all distributed. Students coughed as they brushed off the slightly dusty books. I noticed as I leafed through it that the book was published fifteen years ago.

“Right, familiarize yourself with the handbook, and we will see you tomorrow at oh-nine-hundred.” Iruka said as he gathered up his papers and ushered us out the door.

***

Naruto liked school. There were new friends to meet. There was some grumbling, but he always had me to back him up. The math was well within his abilities, and the literature/language course was interesting, with classical tales of adventure intermixed with poetry. He loved learning about the different lands around the Land of Fire. They covered bits of culture and economics in that course, and the origins of grudges between the nations.

The other kids were impressed with Naruto’s stamina. Sure, Kiba and Hinata beat him in the 100-yard dash, but the class was asked to do as many laps as they could in a half hour. Most of the kids started strong, then flagged, but Naruto just pounded out the kilometers at a fierce rate, never slowing. The other kids eventually collapsed on the lawn 25 minutes in, and Naruto was still almost sprinting away. I met eyes with Sasuke, and sagely intoned “Voracious Starfish Power.” The other kids looked confused, but Sasuke rolled his eyes, a reluctant smile on his face. The rest of the class accepted that it was a Thing. After that we did Academy Standard kata. The sensei would not be letting us spar for a while.

***

Wednesday came upon us quickly. As the boys filed out of the room, I ran to my locker and grabbed my bag, dashing into the changing room. I had told Naruto that I wouldn’t be coming with him after class ended, and not to wait for me. I came out of the changing rooms in an androgenous yukata and shinobi sandals. I walked up the stairs over to the door of classroom 2-6 and slid open the pocket-door, stepping in. The teacher was putting all of her papers in order while the class settled down. The teacher’s name was written out on the blackboard; Tsutsuji-sensei. Tsutsuji-sensei was a fortyish woman who walked with a cane. She had her hair up in a simple and graceful bun and wore a violet kimono with light green feathers upon it. She wore a small amount of makeup, enhancing her dark eyes and pale skin.

I slipped into the back of the class, trying to go unnoticed.

I failed when Ino turned around and pointed at me, shrieking shrilly in a grating tone, “What are you doing here? You’re a boy!” The other children around me muttered furiously.

I replied to her outburst in a calm voice. “Actually, in the student handbook it doesn’t specify that you have to be a girl to take E.I.S.G. classes.”

Ino flushed and turned back around to the front of the class waving her hand in the air. “Tsutsuji-sensei! Make Akitsu leave! He’s not supposed to be here!”

Tsutsuji-sensei looked up from her papers and began with a quirk to her lips. “He is, in fact, correct Ino. There is no rule saying that boys cannot attend the classes, although it has been a while since one has. What has it been, seven years?” She stood up from her desk and came up to the board. Ino muttered to herself unhappily. “Welcome to the class…” She waited for me in expectation, and I jumped in.

“Akitsu.” She nodded her head in approval.

“Today we will be going over in detail what subjects we will be covering in E.I.S.G. this year. Don’t expect to be in a classroom setting every day. Some classes will be spent outside, for example practicing tea ceremonies or looking for medicinal herbs in the woods. Our syllabus will contain etiquette, herbs for healing and poison, calligraphy, household skills, espionage, and intelligence gathering. You will all be required to learn an instrument and learn codes using mediums such as flower arrangements and embroidery. You will learn how to conceal weapons about your person in any situation.” The lesson that day was on the language of flowers.

“You will go in pairs out into Konoha and bring back part of a plant including a flower. You may not exchange goods or services for the flower. We will then look up the meanings of the flowers when you get back. You may bring two flowers, and we will press one for the class book. You will be graded on how interesting your flowers are. One of each pair, come to the front of the class to get an envelope.”

The girls in the class formed pairs within a few seconds leaving Sakura and I standing alone. I was surprised one of the slightly older girls had asked Hinata to be her partner before I had a chance to. I was also surprised to see Sakura alone. I guess that she hasn’t become friends with Ino yet. I broke the silence. “Come on, Haruno-san. I have a great idea for a flower, and I know where one is.”

“Be back in an hour!” Tsutsuji sensei yelled as we piled down the stairs. Sakura grudgingly followed me out into the schoolyard, and we got some distance from nosy Ino.

“So, Akitsu. What’s your big idea?”

“Belladonna. Nightshade. It is a deadly plant related to tomatoes. It is a medicine and a poison, and I think that Tsutsuji-sensei will appreciate it.” Sakura waffled a bit, making an unsure noise. “If you have a better idea, I would love to hear it. We’ll have to hurry though because it is a bit of a distance.”

“Fine.” Agreed Sakura. I led her at a fast jog, down two thoroughfares, and out to the forest. She was surprised that once she got there, she barely got her breath back before I pointed out the plant. It was a bushy plant with delicate purple bell like flowers, hiding in some bushes near a stream. Sakura cut off two of them with the scissors provided, and we put them into the envelope. Sakura seemed to be feeling a little resentful as we ran back as she was having trouble keeping up.

Some of the girls had brought back pretty boring stuff, Like chrysanthemums and daisies. Others had quite interesting show-and-tells. “Xiaoxia, that’s a potato flower.”

“I know sensei! It is one of the most powerful plants in the world! It is a plant that has won more wars than shinobi. After all an army marches on its stomach.” She held the flower aloft as if it were the answer to all things. “So do slugs, I suppose.” Sensei hid a smile behind her hand and chuckled.

“Are you saying slugs have won more wars than Shinobi?”

“I meant that slugs also march on their stomachs. Snails too.” I clapped a few times for the amusing girl, and Hinata joined in, and then Sakura and a couple others.

“Very nice, Xiaoxia. While the potato flower has no traditional meaning in the flower language, it does have a simpler message. There will soon be potatoes.” Said sensei approvingly. Sakura and I presented our Nightshade. I highlighted its medicinal properties, its deadly nature and its smorgasbord of hideous symptoms when ingested. During my exposition I noted Xiaoxia raising her hand in the back row and I acknowledged her.

“Yes, Xiaoxia, it is also related to the potato.” I gave her a thumbs up which she returned. “Also, the tomato.” Tsutsuji-sensei smiled and clapped her hands.

“Good job. That’s a very impressive plant you found. In the flower language it means silence or falsehood.” Sakura and I were rated as having the most interesting flower, and Xiaoxia was rated second.

***

As class let out for the day, I turned to see Naruto waiting by the front door for me. He had a package under one arm and was reading a book about basic sealing theory that Hokage-sama had given him. Naruto looked up from his book and waved with the hand holding the book. I jogged over to him and asked in a mildly bewildered tone “Hey, Naruto. Nice to see you. What’s up?” I certainly hadn’t expected him to wait for the three hours it took for classes to finish. Naruto smiled and gestured to the package under his arm.

“I went out for Ichiraku ramen and studied my sealing theory books. I brought you take out!” Naruto proffered the package which was warm in my hands.

“Ichiraku’s” I said reverently, smiling from ear to ear. “Thank you! You know you didn’t have to do that right?” Naruto shrugged.

“Well yeah, but I did it anyway.”

“I would high five, you” I commented, “but, soup!”

The two of us sat down near the swing close to the academy. I ate my food while Naruto swung idly and babbled enthusiastically about seals. As we were talking Naruto and I noticed Hyūga Hinata on the opposite side of the tree. As I finished my meal it became obvious that she was growing increasingly worried. Naruto and I exchanged a glance full of meaning. I nodded my head decisively, and Naruto started walking towards her.

“Hyūga-san, we’re going the same way as you. Can we walk together?” asked Naruto. This was not particularly true, but Naruto liked adventure stories and understood chivalric behavior. Hinata-chan was basically a princess. Hinata nodded mutely holding the string bag that her lunch was in in both hands. The three of us walked out the front gates together. We chatted about our day, updating Naruto on our plant project and the potato girl. Hinata hid her laughter behind her voluminous coat sleeves. “Hinata, you have a nice smile.” Naruto unselfconsciously told her. “You shouldn’t hide it.”

She laughed harder and thwapped his shoulder with an empty sleeve. We all laughed. We walked through the streets and passed through a nicer commercial area to a slightly sketchier area. Because of the almost semicircular shape butting up against the cliffs of Konohagakure there were often odd triangular bits. As we cut off through an area slightly off the main thoroughfare, we were sighted by a bunch of disreputable kids a couple years older.

They made their way to us, beginning to taunt Hinata. “Look at the freak!” they yelled, infringing on our personal space. “Weirdo” they taunted, pushing the three of us towards the alleyway. “Monster!” one yelled, picking up a stone from the ground and throwing it at Hinata, who dodged out of the way. It zipped past her, striking Naruto’s shoulder.

“Hey!” yelled Naruto loudly, stepping between Hinata and the bullies. He snarled, teeth bared, and into the silence he said surprisingly threateningly, “I’m the only monster here.” One of the bullies stepped forward, swinging wide at Naruto. Naruto took the fist on a raised elbow, and stepped in close, punching the kid hard in the jaw. That kid fell on his ass, crying, and Naruto kneed him in the face. On the other side of the fight, another kid stepped in, punching at me. I stepped back low, sweeping the leading arm away before grabbing that leading hand, pulling the kid further off balance, and back fisting him in the face, bloodying his nose.

***

Hinata was paralyzed for a second, mind whirling, as she watched Naruto-kun and Akitsu-kun fight back against the bullies. ‘I want to be their friend, not the damsel being rescued.’ As a second kid blocked Naruto’s punch, and punched Naruto in the stomach, something arose in her mind, and she gripped her string bag with her bento and thermos in it. As Naruto bent over from being punched, that bully was surprised by the bag’s contents, flail like being swung into his face at high velocity. It was glorious. Lacquered wood, leftover rice, and teeth flew through the air in a spray.

Recovered, Naruto sprung at the other two on his side. One of the three on Hinata’s side had managed to squeeze past and grabbed her right arm. Hinata swung into the bully’s grapple, feeding him an elbow to the jaw. She reversed the grab on her right arm, and rolled the stunned child into an arm bar, stepping in to strike at a ki point under his shoulder joint. He yelled as his whole arm became nonresponsive. Hinata drew back again and dropped an elbow into the locked joint. There was a nasty snap and the bully screamed hoarsely, eyes bugging out.

***

In front of Hinata, a second kid had grabbed me from behind. I clawed viciously at the kids’ eyes. The goggles impaired my peripheral vision, but I dared not activate my byakugan in front of Hinata. The kid leaned away from my furrowing nails, and I dropped into a horse stance, stabbing my fingers backward into the boy’s unprotected thigh. Backpedaling from that attack, the kid, still holding onto me, ran into a stack of empty crates. One of them fell from its perch and hit my opponent in the head. The last kid on my side of the alley ran away, as the head-struck bully fell to the ground. I turned back to see an airborne Naruto tackle a kid to the ground, clawing at him viciously, while the now crying child punched at Naruto’s kidneys.

***

The last kid was facing off against Hinata. He had caught Hinata’s sleeve, and was pulling her around by it, slamming Hinata into the wall. She shrugged off the blow, and her jacket, leaving the bully holding the bulky garment. Hinata stepped forward, and the bully blocked her leaping front kick. The kid was afraid, backing up, and blocked another punch with the hoodie. Hinata finally leapt at the bully, shoulder to torso. While the bully tried to tie her up in the sleeves, Hinata brutally struck with gentle fist strikes at the earth phase meridians on either side of the groin. The bully fell, legs useless, to the ground. Hinata leapt back, exultant, pumping with adrenalin and bloodlust. She could see why people became addicted to this if it felt this good. The kid began crying though, begging for mercy, and she stopped, stuttering to a halt. Naruto’s opponent was no longer fighting back, just turtling to lessen the mauling.

***

I exited the alleyway and calmed down Naruto. He may have lost control a little, and I needed to get this situation under control. “You!” I pointed to a passerby. “Fetch the police! You!” I commanded a passing off duty Genin, “Close off the other end of the alleyway and make sure nobody leaves that way or damages evidence.”

The bully that Naruto had been mauling complained. “That monster attacked me!”

Naruto flinched, stung by the comment now that the adrenalin was waning, but I rounded on the lot eyes blazing. “That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.” I was now almost yelling. “Is your dumbass story going to be that your six, older, bigger, and stronger friends were herded into an alley by half their number?” I pointed at a shopkeeper with an angry finger. “Think about what Hyūga-dono is going to do if you malign his daughter.” That shopkeeper blanched. By this time, a KMPF officer had arrived and cordoned off the area.

***

Later that day there was a meeting. All the children’s parents were being gathered. The head of the school was involved, and Iruka was there as our teacher. I briefly saw Mikoto outside, before approaching Sarutobi. I bowed low before Sarutobi fully kowtowing, and Mizuki snapped at me. “Begone child.” Sarutobi quelled Mizuki with a glance.

“What is it child?”

“Hokage-dono.” I began, “Everyone here save Naruto and I have their parents to speak for them. I ask that you allow Uchiha Mikoto to speak on our behalf. Others have clan, or money to speak on their behalf. We have none.” I remained prostrate on the earth; face hidden by the ground. Sarutobi’s eyes moved to Mikoto outside the room looking in. Sarutobi sighed wearily, and gestured to Mikoto, inviting her in.

Chapter 11

Chapter Text

Naruto and I woke up after our unplanned sleepover with Sasuke. Not much of a party, however. Someone’s Oba-san had come over to help and had made some soup and omelets. Mikoto entered and thanked her kinswoman. Fugaku looked up from his paper, and tea. “Well, dearest? What was the verdict?”

“The troublemakers have been suspended from school for a year. I pushed to get the parents investigated to figure out why their children were so… so… Incredibly stupid as to attack the heir of one of the founding clans! Hiashi tore a strip off them.”

Naruto piped up. “Hinata was so cool! She was all Watatatatata! Kapow! Secret Ninja art, Death touch 9000!” I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah.” I turned so Naruto wouldn’t see my frown. Why did Hinata attack like that? From what I know Hinata had not shown that kind of confidence in herself until the Pein arc. What had pushed her to change during the fight? And more importantly, was it a one-time event, or a long-term change?

***

Hinata sat in seiza on the tatami mat in her father’s office, waiting to be addressed. She had been summoned for a discussion with him by a branch member, but they had not mentioned what the meeting was about. She could hear the ‘what ifs’ spiraling through her mind, as she wondered why she could be in trouble. It was most likely that she would be criticized for her gentle fist form, or shy demeanor as she always was, but what if it was something different this time? Was it about the fight after school? It must be. Father must be disappointed that her subpar abilities had been shown to the world.

Her father put aside the piece of paperwork on which he had been working. “Hinata O-nēsan, I am sorry I have not had time to talk to you yet.” He was seated behind a small desk, kneeling. “I looked over the reports and was able to get a reasonably good idea of the order of events.” Hinata nodded mutely. “So, you were insulted, and bullied into the alley and then the bullies attacked Uzumaki-kun and Akitsu-kun.”

“Yes, O-tōsan.” Hinata replied, her heart sinking into her stomach.

“They were mostly ignoring you. You then snuck up on one of the party, and with your full thermos in its string bag, using it as an improvised flail, smashed his face in. He will be drinking from a straw for six weeks.” Hiashi picked up a different paper, and read some details, while Hinata shrunk into herself.

He continued. “Nice self-defense from the reverse grab. You then immobilized the arm with a jūken technique, and then proceeded to maintain the armlock and drop your elbow on his arm, breaking the radius.” Hiashi was now perusing an x-ray looking up at the shadowy image through the window’s light. “Explain.” Hinata straightened a bit, looking back, trying to dredge up the memory.

“Tou-san,” She began, “The enemy outnumbered us, and I needed to aid my companions as soon as possible. Although the arm had been immobilized, he was still combat ready. If I had not taken the extra moment, I might have had to spend five or ten more seconds before being able to come to the aid of my allies.” Hiashi smoothed his chin pensively, staring out the window while Hinata stared at the floor, trying to stop tears from coming to her eyes.

“I am well pleased with your actions, Hinata O-nēsan. Your use of an improvised weapon was most effective. If they hadn’t wanted weapons involved, they should not have thrown rocks. Your choice to decisively disable your attacker helped shake the will of the other combatants and prevented danger to your companions. Well done.” Hinata blinked, confused by the praise from her father. He… smiled at her? He continued. “Seeing as you have demonstrated a degree of responsibility, I am giving you a kunai to carry at all times.” He presented to her a knife in a well-worn sheath. She opened it to see the razor-sharp steel.

“Shouldn’t I use the jūken to defend myself?”

Hiashi smiled. “The jūken may be the ultimate tool, in hand to hand, but it cannot cut a rope, or skin a catch.” Hinata took the gift with both hands and concealed the weapon in the back of her Obi. Hiashi looked away again. “I am having a set of low-profile armor refitted to you. It is light and discreet but can be trusted to stop a slash from a dagger and will blunt stabs from anyone not Jounin level. There will be a fitting after school today.” Hinata stood, and bowed before her father.

“Thank you, O-tōsan.” He acknowledged her and indicated with a subtle toss of his head that she was dismissed.

As she was about to exit the room, he remarked idly, “You may continue to associate with your friends.” Hinata felt the urge to skip rise in her heart, but she moved quietly down the screen clad hallway. Her father had used the word out loud she had not even dared to say in her heart. “Friends!” Could it be?

***

The next day at school was wonderful. She greeted Naruto and Akitsu shyly at the gate, and endured Naruto’s effusive praise at her skills. “Your skills were very impressive, Hinata-chan,” Said Akitsu, “unlike someone I could mention.”

“Hey!” responded Naruto. “I did well!”

“You did do well on the first guy. Textbook, really.” Akitsu mimed Naruto’s boxer like competence, with the close in elbow block, and then the close in for the jaw strike. “It was the second guy I was thinking of. You lost it, leapt on the guy, bore him to the ground and mauled him. It was like Itachisutairu, Weasel style or something. Kawada-sensei would be a little disappointed.” Naruto looked at the ground moodily. “Sorry to be a downer.” Akitsu apologized. “You did really good.”

“Well.” said Hinata unthinkingly. Akitsu conceded the point, laughing. Sasuke came over from where he had been talking to Aburame Shino and bowed politely to the three. They chatted for a while.

***

After sign in they did morning exercises, learning academy standard katas. At lunchtime, the three were the center of attention from their classmates, and other classes in their year. Hinata was shy, avoiding the attention. Naruto was a little weirded out, a hesitant smile appearing. I took it in stride, trying to make light of the drama. I noticed that Sasuke was not joining the group and moved over to stand next to the moody boy. I could guess what was bothering him with only a cursory glance.

“Sasuke.” I murmured. “We’re not replacing you.”

“I knew that.” He replied moodily, glaring at me out of the corner of his eye. On his baby face, it just looked cute.

“Then why,” I continued, “are you here, arms crossed leaning against the wall. It’s practically Moody Uchiha Pose #1.”

“Hn.” responded Sasuke. I laughed out loud, attracting the attention of the group. “Attention, Moody Uchiha coming through!” Sasuke leapt at me, and we wrestled, trying to get each other in a headlock. Eventually we ended up in a stalemate, both head locking each other. “Sasuke, are we going to let go, or are we going to take this to the ground?” I asked in a strained and scratchy voice. “Your mom will give both of us hell.” The two of us counted to three and let go. We both straightened our clothing and fixed our hair as if the wrestling was never a thing, but when we walked back inside after lunch, we walked together.

***

Naruto and I were chopping vegetables together in our small kitchenette when I spoke, bringing up an idea that had been bouncing around my head since the first day of E.I.S.G classes. I had been raving about all the cool things we were learning in E.I.S.G., like poison and codes. I was excited for an in-class exercise where we would be trying to hide weapons about our persons. “I think you should join the E.I.S.G classes, Naruto.”

Naruto turned to look at me, confused. “What? I know you used a loophole to attend them, but why would I want to?”

I looked over at him from across the counter. “Naruto, it wasn’t just a loophole. The class was originally made for both genders, but during the Third Shinobi War they stopped enforcing attendance for boys.”

Naruto frowned thoughtfully. “Why? You seem to think that a lot of important things are being taught in it. If being sneaky and stuff is so important, why would you make it optional for more than half the class?”

I sighed deeply; I didn’t want to be the one to have to explain this to Naruto and answered as best I could. “Meat.” I answered. “The war was going on and on and standards dropped and dropped. Boys tend to be a bit stronger, so they taught them minimally, some kunai skills, a jutsu or two, and sent them out on the battlefield to be killed. The meatheads were never going to be running an infiltration mission, or code breaking, or diplomacy. The girls had better chakra control, so they got more scouting missions, medic jobs, and infiltration missions. After the end of the war, they just kept those standards low. Just like our Academy textbooks.”

Naruto frowned, his brow creasing in consternation. “That isn’t right. Children shouldn’t be seen as expendable.” He voiced softly. He shook himself from his moment, a gleam of steely determination entering his eyes. “Don’t worry, I won’t become like that. Tomorrow I’ll be joining you after class. And when I become hokage I’ll make sure that no more children will be sent out too early or used as jutsu fodder.”

I nodded in solidarity. “Well, if you plan to be hokage, then diplomacy and infiltration will be a must have.” Naruto started to ramble about all the things he was going to do when he became hokage, and I tuned him out a little, turning back to the vegetables. It was nice to see Naruto with a more defined goal, knowing some of the hardships of the Hokage position.

Suddenly something Naruto said came to my notice and I turned back to him. “Sorry could you say that again? I wasn’t paying attention.”

Naruto grumped a bit but repeated himself anyway. “I said, can we show Hinata the old Academy books? I want Hinata to learn with us.” I hesitated in my response, unsure of the right course of action.

“What about Sasuke? What will he feel about it?”

“I know Sasuke wants to be strong like his big brother, and by studying as a group we can cover all of our bases and grow stronger than if we were alone.” I hadn’t been planning on getting to know Hinata well despite the good that could be done in getting her out of her shell. It was just too risky. There was always a chance that I could somehow be discovered through her and forced into the branch house. Still, the game had changed. Naruto seemed hell bent on befriending her, and after getting to know her I could easily see myself being her friend. I would have to take a leap of faith.

“Sure,” I said. “We can make it our after-school study club. But we need to keep it a secret, or the adults might take our book away.”

“Right.” Responded Naruto.

***

At lunch that afternoon Naruto and I made sure to invite Sasuke and Hinata over to eat with us. To be honest it was mostly Naruto. I had gotten up to talk to them, but before I could begin to walk over, Naruto had run up to them, engaged them in a quickfire conversation, and somehow dragged them over to our table. I smiled under my mask, a normal cloth mask, not the breather one for combat or missions. Naruto was really quite good at social interactions that didn’t involve rank.

Soon we were eating lunch together, and when our pace had slowed to picking at our food, Naruto spoke up. “So, Sasuke, Hinata. I was thinking about how cool the older ninjas were, and how much they must have trained, and I got the best idea ever! I decided that we could make a totally awesome study group to train extra hard!” Naruto was visibly beaming behind his Kakashi style mask, eyes crinkling exuberantly. I took this pause in Naruto’s sentence to add my own ideas.

“It would mostly entail extra training with study of supplementary materials, if you are interested.” I left a little room after I spoke to allow them to mull it over a bit.

Sasuke looked thoughtful, and Hinata seemed hopeful, if a bit nervous. Soon Sasuke answered. “You mean the book, right? I’m sure my mother wouldn’t mind. She’s always happy for me to hang out with you, and the extra training will be the cherry on top.” Naruto grinned next to me and gave him a thumbs up.

After some thinking, Hinata, too, was on board. “I would like that. I’ll have to ask my father’s permission after school today, but he has approved of my choice in f-friends, and my interest in training.” Ah, so we were considered acceptable to socialize with the Hyūga heir? That was interesting information.

As we began to gather up our finished lunches and school supplies, we set up our next meeting. “If all goes well, then we can meet after school on Monday at our place.” I said.

“I’ll have to ask him if he approves our study club.” said Hinata.

We walked at a quick trot back to class, but Sasuke split from us before the door. He eyed us knowingly. “You’re going to the E.I.S.G. classes too, Naruto?”

Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Yeah, I’ve heard some wonderful things about them!”

“You’re welcome to come too, Sasuke,” I offered.

“Fine.” He rolled his eyes dismissively. I made it all the way up the stairs and into the classroom before we were stopped cold by Tsutsuji-sensei. She raised her eyebrow imperiously. “Welcome to class, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto. Please be seated.” she said amusedly.

The class dutifully spent an hour studying clothing styles of different regions, covering clothes, and footwear. The next part was more interesting. We were discussing methods of concealing weapons. The class was taken to a costuming room filled with clothes from different nations and villages, and on some tables, a variety of weapons. Tsutsuji-sensei showed us the many options, and the kids oohed and aahed at the variety of deadly weapons.

After half an hour, she informed us, “You will be allowed in groups of four into this room. You will be given fifteen minutes to choose a costume and put it on and secret a weapon about your person. You will then come out, and we will guess one by one where your weapon is. Each wrong guess will gain you a point.”

The first group included Ino and three other girls. Ino was dressed in the manner of a high-class woman, with a red kimono with a white and green under kimono peeking out at the neck. She had a traditional wig on, but no makeup. She minced into the room, and shyly peeking from behind her fan. I could have used my byakugan to find the hidden weapon, but I wasn’t going to use my freaky eye powers here to win in a kid’s game, even though I was kind of tempted to do so.

Ino did a little walk in a circle. One of the girls guessed “A Knife in her obi?” Ino shook her head modestly, and Tsutsuji-sensei added a point to Ino’s total.

“A steel hairpin?” Guessed another. Ino shook her head demurely while Tsutsuji-sensei added another positive check to her total.

Sasuke guessed, “Something with the fan.” Ino nodded her head as if shyly and began to mince out of the room.

“Nice one, Yamanaka-san!” I cheered, and Ino looked back perplexedly as she left the room. She doesn’t seem to like me very much. I don’t really know why, I don’t think I have done anything to warrant her suspicion, and I won’t allow personal bias to get in the way of a possible friendship. I want all of the Konoha 12 to survive into adulthood.

One of the other girls had hidden a weaponized kanzashi in her hair, and another got more points than she should have because of Naruto yelling out “Knife shoes!” Soon it was Naruto’s turn. When he returned, he was dressed as a janitor, with a low conical straw hat, and a broom. He walked out sweeping at the ground. It took three tries for the students to guess the broom, and Naruto helpfully made a show of removing the kunai from the bristles.

I cheered for Naruto as he walked back to our table and took my own turn. I wanted something that could blend into a crowd, that nobody would question meeting on the road. I had to become truly inconspicuous. A simple brown top, brown pants, and a hat to keep the sun off my head. A spade in my right hand finished the ensemble. No one would be suspicious of a plain farmer. The children spent a few minutes guessing at different parts of my wardrobe, while Sasuke thought over what he knew of me. Suddenly, he smirked. “Sensei, the spade is a weapon, is it not?” I smiled widely, and Tsutsuji-sensei nodded approvingly.

“Indeed, it is. It is a tool and can function as a weapon. Remember never to underestimate people. Anything can be a weapon in the hands of someone who looks underneath the underneath."

“Tsutsuji-sensei?” I asked as the class exited the classroom in a gaggle of happy voices. “Your cane. Does it conceal a blade? Or maybe a blowpipe?” The woman smiled cryptically.

“That would be for me to know, and for you wonder about.” she answered. As I walked out, she reached up to the chalkboard and added a few checks to my tally.

***

As the four friends filed out of the room at the end of the day, laughing about the class and their plans, Yamanaka Ino glared balefully at their backs. This was supposed to be her time to shine. She was supposed to walk in the room and dazzle everyone with her skills, making kunoichi classes her territory. Instead, those boys had come where they didn’t belong, and trampled on her plans. She hated it. “Why couldn’t they leave well enough alone!” She swore internally. She would find some way to make them back off.

***

I turned on the lights in the apartment, setting my shoes aside at the door, and beckoning our guests inside. Sasuke and Hinata entered, changing into their indoor slippers, with Naruto following just behind them. We chatted for a while as we set up our notebooks at the dining room table. I went up to the bookshelf and pulled out Perspectives on the Shinobi world, Fourth edition, Grade 1, setting it in the middle of the table. Naruto opened the book to page 247, The section covering the First Shinobi War.

The book covered the reasons behind the war; competition over resources, and tensions created from political conflict, Madara’s demand that Iwagakure be subservient to Konoha merely one example. The book said so in a more friendly way, talking about Madara extending an offer of friendship to Iwa, but it was obvious to me that it was an unbalanced treaty, and downright insulting.

Then came Senju Hashirama’s decision to disperse the tailed beasts to the Great Villages to promote balance, for a charge of course. He basically kidnapped all the other Biju after Madara’s enslavement of the Kyuubi and sold them to the highest bidder. Just goes to show that even the greatest of historical figures have their own flaws. This brought an end to smaller wars, but large scale conflicts continued to escalate, until Hashirama himself was killed in battle. Thus, Senju Tobirama became the Hokage and led Konohagakure into the First Shinobi World War. Unfortunately, Tobirama died to the Kinkaku Force on an attempt to make peace with Kumogakure, and Sarutobi Hiruzen was named his successor.

The war ended thereafter, and though an armistice treaty was signed, it took a heavy toll on the Five Great Shinobi Villages. At the end of the war, a memorial stone was set up to honour those who died in battle for the sake of the Village.

We had been covering two chapters every week or so, and the homework also. Each of the chapters was double the size of the chapters in the sixth edition we were using now in class, and there was double the homework. Fortunately, the homework generally retained the first questions in the sixth edition the rest of the class used, so we only had to do double the homework, not triple. Still, we now had four people working, and we complemented each other. Sasuke was good at literature, and Hinata was well versed in history. Naruto found math pretty easy at this level, and I was good at organizing and keeping them on task.

The book club had been meeting for a month or so, three times a week. Hinata had gotten permission from her father to attend the meetings, and Sasuke always came with a bento packed full of snacks by Mikoto-dono. We had to initially explain to Hinata that we had to keep the book hidden to avoid it being taken away from us. Hinata had been confused as to why the senseis would take away a textbook. Naruto had explained why to the best of his abilities.

“Well, I mean, they must have revised it for a reason. If it is no longer the official book, and has so much information redacted, maybe some of this information is supposed to be secret or covered up?” Sasuke’s eyes widened, and Hinata nodded her head in agreement. Sasuke covered his mouth with his palm and took on a thinking pose.

“What would they need to cover up that could be in an Academy book?”

I jumped in calming the group. Even though that sentiment had some truth to it, it wasn’t the whole truth, and I didn’t need these clan heirs jumping to sedition so soon. “I think that this is like the E.I.S.G. classes being deemphasized for males. In the middle of the Third Shinobi War, they needed more shinobi quickly, so they dropped standards. They just haven’t bumped them up because of …laziness?”

They seemed to take that explanation at face value, although they were appropriately outraged at the concept. They had been thoroughly trained in patriotism, and weakening the general power of your forces long term was far from patriotic.

***

Naruto and I had begun the chakra exercises that we had learned from the book with Sasuke and Hinata. We showed them the exercises contained in the book, and what we had learned. Hinata was impressed with what we had achieved without supervision.

“These are things every Hyūga is taught. These aren’t clan techniques, so I won’t get in trouble for showing you.” She showed them some of the similar exercises she had learned at home. Sasuke was still behind compared to the three of them, but I placated him.

“In a few years, a month won’t make much difference. The difference will be in how diligently you practice and how long.” I was happy that Hinata was willing to give us help on our control exercises, enabling me to keep the secret of my eyes from Sasuke and Hinata.

Back in the present we had begun to read through the chapter on the Third Shinobi War, comparing the sixth edition to the fourth.

“I still can’t believe how little history this book actually covers.” Said Hinata, uncharacteristically irritated. “Look at this! This battle is covered in four pages in the sixth edition. It is a paragraph in the new edition.” She raised her hand to smack the table in anger but set it down in a calm ladylike manner.

“That’s not all.” I added, almost infuriated. “Look at this bullsh*t. ‘Hatake Sakumo failed in a covert mission assassinating a noble of Earth Country, and the Third Shinobi War started.’ What a crock of sh*t.” The other children looked at me with some confusion and alarm.

“Akitsu,” asked Naruto, holding his hand out with the air of a hostage negotiator, “I don’t quite know what you’re so upset about. Not that I’m disagreeing, I just need to know more.” I calmed down a bit. There was no reason to scare anybody while teaching this lesson.

I ripped out a page of my notebook and started scrawling on it. “Correlation vs. Causation. Here we have a sentence ‘Naruto ate a piece of Dango’” I pointed at the snack Sasuke had brought and that Naruto was eating, “and ‘across town, a baby died.’ You don’t have to say a thing happened because of another thing to make ignorant stupid people assume causation. There is causation, where something happened because of something else, and correlation, where something happened at the same time but not related. You can have common cause, where the same cause causes two other things. Like, a good sunshiny summer causes red apples, and plentiful rice yields, but there is always going to be some idiot who will try to prove that red apples cause high rice yields.”

Sasuke indicated with his chopsticks that I should go on, and Hinata smacked his hand with her fan. “No pointing with your chopsticks, Sasuke-san. It is rude.” I continued my tangent, glad to get this off of my chest. “A Nation is made up of hundreds of thousands of people, each with their own wants and desires, and no one man can start a war. Even if Hatake-dono failed an assassination and this led to a war, there were reasons for the conflict. I bet if I could look into this, I could find something big, about iron prices, or crop yields, or sickness that made one side weak.” I threw my pen down, and sat back down at my seat. “Sorry for blowing up, I just care a lot about this kind of stuff.”

Sasuke nodded seriously, followed by Hinata and Naruto. We properly dug into Sasuke’s bento.

***

Our group met three or four times a week to do homework. We had Mikoto help us run some light sparring against each other as sparring without an adult present was against the rules. We got a little faster and learned more about each other’s style. Hinata became happier, and her rosy cheeked laughter echoed often in our presence. Hinata had shown interest in Naruto and my supplementary styles, and we had introduced her to Kawada Suteshi. She had early morning training three days a week, but she managed to show up at least two times a week, and enjoyed the time spent there.

***

It was November already, and the class was excited to be able to spar for the first time with each other. We had been allowed to practice self-defense drills with each other, and one point sparring exercises, but this was the first more real chance we had to test ourselves. The spars happened outdoors, under the same tree as last time. Iruka sensei had Mizuki helping to referee. As of now, he stood against a tree, glaring out at us from behind light blue hair.

“Right, class.” Iruka sensei began. “We are sparring this afternoon. The fights will be three points. A standard strike landed to a valid target is one point. The spar can also end with submission or ring out. Ability to land a strike on a vital point may also immediately end the match. No eye gouging, no biting - I’m looking at you, Kiba.” He looked at me for the next part of his sentence. “No weapons, no irritants, no poisons, no Kekkai gekkai, no dogs, no crows, no summons, no food.” Mizuki as well sent a stink eye at me, and I rubbed the back of my head. Perhaps I shouldn’t have made a mortal enemy out of one of my teachers before the first day of class had even started.

Iruka looked confusedly at his list, shook his head, and continued. He approached me and began to pat me down. He looked at me, in my full get up, mask, goggles, and my kerchief hair thing. Iruka pulled my sleeves up to reveal some homemade strength weights that I was wearing, made out of stitched canvas with some copper strips, mostly on the outside of my forearms. Iruka raised an eyebrow at me, and I replied. “Strength weights, Sensei.”

Iruka sighed and continued his exploration and found similar weights on the front of my shins. “You really shouldn’t be using weights this early; it’ll stunt your growth.” He murmured. I shrugged. Iruka also checked around the back of my waist for hidden weapons and found a supplementary elasticized belt there. I quietly spoke in Iruka’s ear. “It’s a sport cup, sensei. I’m not looking forward to being kicked there.” Iruka rolled his eyes and concluded his inspection.

The first session was Xiaoxia and Sakura. The two, at Iruka’s instruction, bowed to him, and then each other and fell into stances. Xiaoxia screamed at Sakura as she advanced, and Sakura flinched, closing her eyes for a half second. Xiaoxia took the opportunity to move into Sakura’s guard, and pushed her out of the ring, tumbling hard into the grass. Both Sensei blew their whistles, and the match was stopped. Xiaoxia jumped a little at her victory.

“You have no form!” Sakura commented a little petulantly as another girl helped her up.

“I have no form, but you have no passion!” replied Xiaoxia. Both girls had to be reminded to re-enter the ring and make the seal of reconciliation.

I remarked to my friends, “That kiai worked against Sakura but would not have worked against most of the girls. Hinata would have dismantled her.” Hinata colored but smiled. Naruto agreed.

The next bout was Ino against a civilian girl that I had failed to learn the name of. Ino was good with some high kicks that put the girl off her game, although the civilian managed to label Ino with a strong hit to the kidneys. Ino won three to one.

The next match was Hinata against a tall civilian girl, good looking and slender in a blue yukata. She had four inches on Hinata. Those inches were unfortunately no help. Hinata managed the space between them deftly, the girls kicks missing her by inches, slipping in and out of range. The girl kicked a little too slowly, and Hinata slipped into range, grabbing the leg at the knee, and punching the girl in the solar plexus. The girls momentary stunning at the blow let Hinata grab her opponent’s collar, and step in and hook her right leg. Rather than letting the girl fall to the floor and smash her head, Hinata held on to the collar and let the girl down slowly enough that she wasn’t hurt. The girl raised her hands in defeat as Iruka-sensei and the Mizuki stopped the fight.

They made their way to the center and made the seal of reconciliation. They made their way off the ring, Hinata praising the girls’ strong kicks. “Gotta build up my stamina and speed, I guess.” The girl replied, a little flushed, whether from the fight or the praise, I didn’t know. “Can’t leave a leg out there too long, right?”

“Mm.” replied Hinata nodding. “You need to work a bit on distance control. You were a bit static. Watching Akitsu will show you what I mean.” The two girls sat down together, chatting.

Two civilian girls were up next and had a pretty close match while us boys chatted amongst ourselves. Hinata shushed us and convinced us to pay attention.

Next up was a match between Akimichi Chōji and Nara Shikamaru. Shikamaru didn’t do a great job defending himself, and Chōji won the match fairly quickly. I quietly muttered unhappily to Naruto while the two friends formed the seal of reconciliation. “He could have at least tried, Naruto. He stole a chance to learn from Chōji as well as himself. The second is kinda sucky, the first is a real jerk move.” Some of the class lowly agreed with me as Shikamaru walked a little ways away to have a nap. I seethed inside a little. From a story perspective, a lazy genius was an interesting character. In real life, however, it was aggravating to see someone with so much potential fail to go anywhere.

The next bout had Naruto and I facing off. We laughingly approached the ring, relaxing. We bowed to Iruka-sensei, formed the seal of confrontation, and moved back to the starting lines. Iruka shouted “Hajime!” Naruto and I were constantly in motion, little stutter steps as We tried to maneuver and control the distance. Naruto threw a fierce kick, and I spun out of the way, blocking low, leading Naruto off balance. I continued the twirl with a spinning backfist that would have floored Naruto except that the shorter boy rolled forward out of the way and popped up facing back the way he had come. I quickly closed to pin him against the ring edge with a series of punches, but each was blocked, and counterpunches were slipped. Naruto dodged under my punch, and I grabbed him in a headlock. Naruto grabbed me in a headlock as well, and we danced around a bit, trying to push each other out of the ring, or grab each other’s belts for a suplex.

“Matte!” Iruka paused the fight to deliberate. He called it a draw and sent us back to our seats on the grass after we did the seal of reconciliation.

Our class whispered in a complimentary way about my block/dodge, and Naruto’s graceful roll, although Hinata chided us for the wrestling, claiming that we should use the technique we learn, not play like pigs. “Don’t do that again, you two, or I’ll find a mud wallow for you to fight in.”

The next fight was a match between Inuzuka Kiba and a civilian boy with a yellow bandana. They ran into the ring and made the seal of confrontation impatiently. When Iruka called “Hajime!” Kiba wasted no time falling into a low stance and rushing towards the other boy. Bandana boy quickly brought up his arms in a guard, sending an ill formed punch to Kiba’s face. Kiba shook off the blow and tackled the boy to the ground. After Kiba had Bandana boy pinned, he proceeded to beat him about the head and shoulders until Iruka called the match. Kiba bounded out of the ring, jumping up and down in victory, and Iruka had to remind him to go back to make the seal of reconciliation.

Shino and Sasuke stood across from each other in the ring. Making the seal of confrontation, they bowed and dropped into stances. Iruka called “Hajime!” and they moved. Sasuke shuffled in closely, and threw a left-hand jab, twisting his hips to lend power to his blow. Shino turned his body to the side, letting the punch fly past him, and retaliated with a punch aimed for the ribs. Sasuke’s left elbow came down in a guard, knocking Shino’s hand to the side, and swung his right leg around in a kick. It impacted Shino’s side, knocking the air out of him. Before Sasuke could press his advantage, Shino recovered, and threw a kick of his own. Sasuke blocked the blow with his right leg, then shifted into a front stance, aiming a punch to Shino’s solar plexus. Shino grabbed Sasuke’ wrist with his left hand, pulling Sasuke’s body in for a right elbow to the stomach. Sasuke moved through the pain and wrenched his handout of Shino’s grip, grabbing his shoulder, putting his leg behind Shino’s, and sweeping his legs out from under him. As Shino lay on the floor, gasping for breath, Sasuke struck down with a needle punch stopping an inch or two above Shino’s throat. Iruka and the other sensei blew their whistles, calling the match. Sasuke pulled Shino up to his feet, and they formed the seal of reconciliation. Shino stared creepily at Sasuke’s retreating back as they left the ring.

In the second round of the spar, I went up against Kiba and soundly won. Ino lost to Chōji after her style proved to be too weak against his natural muscle. Hinata was matched with Xiaoxia, and landed three blows in quick succession. In the last bout, Naruto and Sasuke faced off. It was a hard-fought battle, but Naruto had a habit of losing his form when pushed into a corner, and Sasuke took full advantage of that.

***

Kiba walked back to the grass after his match in a daze. He couldn’t believe he had lost. He had come into the academy knowing that he would rise to the top of the leaderboard. He would prove his worth as top dog, but instead of victory, he got his ass beaten. It wasn’t fair! He had been training for over a year! The goggles kid had to be cheating somehow. He didn’t even have a clan to train him, and he had managed to beat Kiba. He had to prove himself, and to do that he would need to beat Akitsu’s smug face. He clenched his fist, sharp nails pressing against the skin of his palm.

***

Later Shino approached the group of Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke, and me as we were leaving the school. “Hello again.” Called Shino. We collectively turned his way, smiling and nodding towards him and falling into step as we walked. “I want to join the thing you have.”

I looked at him confusedly. “Who says we have a thing?”

The bug boy continued; what expression I could see of him calm. “You communicate a lot through looks and glances. You fight like you know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I don’t care if it’s an after-school group or an underground child fighting ring. I want in.” Naruto and I shared a meaningful glance, and I gave him an almost imperceptible nod. I then looked at Sasuke and Hinata, who looked at each other silently, and then shrugged subtly. “Yes,” interrupted Shino. “Just like that.” Naruto and I looked at each other for a second.

“Fine.” I spoke aloud, projecting confidence. “Come hang with us today.”

Shino and the group of friends hung out at Naruto’s and my place and worked on the evening’s homework. It being the last day of the week, we said we wanted to get ahead of the homework a bit. We passed a friendly, but subdued time, knocking off the questions in our textbook. Then we agreed to get together on the next morning for a workout.

***

The next morning, they met together in park near Naruto’s house where the group of five kids and twelve adults besides led them through a long series of stretches. One of the younger adults started to ask a question, and was shushed by the leader of the group, an adult woman of poise and grace. Shino liked her a lot. The group worked soundlessly for twenty minutes, doing increasingly difficult stretches until even Shino, who had done a lot of work with his family, had occasional muscle tremors. They then did some warmups, including jumping jacks and some sit ups. Shino noticed a few appraising glances from Akitsu, who seemed to approve. Hinata also watched him occasionally, although she was mostly concentrating on her own, very graceful moments.

The older woman clapped her hands and indicated that they had finished. She spoke quietly into the silence, saying, “First Form please.” The group started working on a kata with which Shino was unfamiliar. Slow sweeping movements in low stances echoed some of the dodges and blocks his new friends had performed in their fights. The group split into three groups of roughly six. Shino ended up in a group led by a senior student appointed by the sensei, a young woman of perhaps eighteen. They wore no common uniform or symbols of rank but worked together with purpose. Naruto was in Shino’s group, but Akitsu and Hinata’s group appeared more advanced. Shino had three quarter learned the first kata before the sensei clapped forty-five minutes in.

The group stopped and began drinking water and chattering to each other in the warm orange light. Sensei walked up to them and Hinata introduced them. “Aburame-san, meet Kawada-sensei.” Both bowed, Shino lower.

“Thank you for your instruction, Kawada-sensei.” The woman returned his second bow, turning afterwards to Naruto.

“Kumite training today, Uzumaki-kun?”

“Thanks sensei, but we’re doing stamina training today!” Naruto responded chirpily. They then drank some water, and Naruto led them for a jog along the village’s walls.

The only people on the walls were a few ninja on watch, and Maito Gai and his young black-haired disciple. He was a boy a year above them in the Academy. Gai-san smiled at them as they passed on the wall and called out to them in his strong tenor one word, “Youuuuuuuth!” which Shino’s companions echoed in varying levels of enthusiasm. Shino thought that this cult he appeared to have joined was quite pleasant. They were odd and enthusiastic but did not grate on his nerves as many others did. His legs burned and he had a stich in his side before they slowed and walked past the Hyūga compound.

“See you in an hour and a bit, friends!” said Hinata before walking past stony eyed gate guards who eyed them with impassive glares.

Naruto indicated that they were going to reconvene at his and Akitsu’s residence. Shino said he would see them soon, and dragged himself home, quickly scrubbing and having a cold soak in the Ofuro, before grabbing a second breakfast. He was again at Naruto’s residence, clean, scrubbed and fed before the morning had finished.

When he knocked on the door and was welcomed in, all four of them were there. Hinata had made tea, and they sat around and had a cup in a style that would be casual, were It not for the fact that Hinata served it with grace and dignity. Shino accepted the tea with gravity, and they drank together in a moment of silent communion.

“Shino.” Began Akitsu. “I found at the house of a friend a copy of the textbook we used, fourth edition.” Akitsu brought it out and laid it on the table. “Compare it to the sixth edition.” Shino looked at the old book. It was almost 75% larger, with expensive color plates in some sections. There were a few gory illustrations describing safety concerns. The chapters were longer, and there was twice as much homework. There were in the sidebars Shino noticed helpful tips, and there were every so often chakra exercises that Shino was not familiar with.

“We believe that the book was made simpler to graduate more shinobi of less quality when the last war was at its highest.” Hinata jumped in, “We thought about the possibility of enemy action, but it looks like it has not been changed back to due to either inertia or simple incompetence.” She looked mildly uncomfortable in speaking lowly of authority figures.

“This is our secret.” continued Naruto, is eyes boring past Shino’s dark glasses. “We are studying the old textbook alongside the sixth edition, doing twice the homework, in the belief that we will make better shinobi.”

Akitsu began again, “Will you study with us, and keep our secrets, only answering direct questions about the book from your parents or clan elders, or lawful authority?” Shino finished his tea and agreed.

Chapter 12

Chapter Text

November

A week after Shino joined our ranks, Iruka set the class a task in Literature and Composition. “You have a week to write a piece on something you are passionate about. It can be in an essay format or written as if it were in a newspaper. After you are done you will put your articles in one newspaper for the class.” As soon as Iruka stopped talking the room erupted in whispers. Everyone began making ideas for their newspaper article in earnest. Iruka had given them the first period to come up with a basis. My group of friends and I immediately got to brainstorming. We had a club meeting after school. We would go over the assignment in more depth there.

I knew what I wanted to write about. It had bothered me for years, how despite professing rules such as “look underneath the underneath” the people of Konoha seemed to take everything at face value. They were like sheep. Despite the danger behind this action, I wanted to make people think. This was only the tip of the iceberg of what I wanted to say, but it was still enough to get me in serious trouble if I wasn’t careful. Which was why I needed to make sure that I never once said anything to indicate I had more than public knowledge.

If I wanted this to change anything, and also keep myself away from T&I I would need to somehow make it public. I had just the plan. I put pencil to paper and began my rough draft.

***

The latest book club meeting was going well, we were going over our plans for our articles. Sasuke was the first to explain his project. “I’ve noticed that despite how much the KMPF does for the civilians, not many people recognize that. A lot of people hold the Uchiha in disdain for perceived slights and blame us in part for the Kyuubi attack because we lost few members in the attack. In reality, this is because we were focused on civilian evacuation, but nobody seems to care. I want to make an article that lists all of the crimes the KMPF have solved this month. Hopefully, this will rekindle people’s faith in our Clan.” We all clapped enthusiastically. I was very excited. I honestly had no idea what to do about the Uchiha Massacre, but this seemed like a step in the right direction. Besides, Sasuke was being so mature, and that in itself was a victory.

Shino spoke up next. “My article will be rather boring in comparison. I am writing about the common bugs in Konoha, and how to identify them. I want to show people that bugs are not creatures to be afraid of out of hand.” I thought that was an admirable goal. An interesting read as well.

“You might want to add how these bugs affect daily life, such as pollination and dye production!” I piped in. Shino nodded his head in acknowledgement.

Hinata was a bit hesitant to tell her idea, but with a little prodding she told us about her article. “I want to do a piece on the different traditional dances of Konoha and her festivals. It would make me really happy to see people take more interest in our culture and festivities outside of old families.” She turtled into her hoodie and motioned for Naruto to speak.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly and started talking. “Well, food has always been important to me, so I’m going to write an article about the benefits of proper nutrition. It’s going to include information on how to calculate your nutritional needs, the dangers of rickets and scurvy, and what vitamins you can find in different foods.” I found myself smiling. It seemed that Naruto had taken my lessons on nutrition to heart.

When my clubmates turned to me expectantly I explained my idea. “I want to write about one of the most famous heroes in Konoha’s history.” Naruto and Sasuke looked exited as they both started rapidly guessing who it was going to be about.

“The first Hokage.” Sasuke guessed. I shook my head.

“The fourth!” Naruto yelled out.

I shook my head again, and said, “The White Fang.”

Hinata hesitated before saying, “The same White Fang that you rant about, sounding eerily close to treasonous?”

“Maaayyybee?” I squeaked out, sounding high pitched. Hinata closed her eyes in exasperation, and then turned to look him in the eye seriously.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” Naruto broke the tense silence, bringing attention to one of the problems with the idea.

“Hey, but won’t writing about that reveal our fourth edition?” I shook my head.

“Everything I’m going to be saying can be found in the sixth edition.” Sasuke looked at me worriedly.

“Okay then, be careful.” Shino pushed his glasses up in acknowledgement, not saying a word.

“Don’t worry, I will be.”

After they finished their other homework, they split up for the day, and went their separate ways. I began to think about the structure of my essay. The title would have to something striking…

***

Her son’s study group met at the Uchiha compound later that week so Mikoto could help them with their sparring. Afterwards she had them in for cookies and juice. The friends were enthusiastically talking about their articles, and Mikoto touched her chin pensively.

“Sasuke” she started, “there are some Uchiha resources I could make available to you. We keep a printing shop in the old district that we still use. I will show it to you if you wish.” After their snack, the children followed her to the Old Uchiha District. It was a largish area downtown, with some beautiful traditional buildings with carefully maintained pathways and hedges and other large shops and businesses. While they had been forced to relocate after the events of October tenth, they had managed to keep ownership of the small print shop, and permission to maintain it. They still stationed guards outside, and she greeted them, asking after their families while the children waited behind her. Once pleasantries had been completed she asked one of them to retrieve the key to the printing building. He retrieved it for her, and she led her boy and his friends to a half stone building, traditional except for some more recent renovations. Flicking the light switch on, there was revealed a cluttered room full of bottles and wood and chisels. The centerpiece was a printing press, of gleaming brass.

“We have this for notices among the Uchiha community and other documents that are often used. We could do a pretty professional job with that we have here.” The children were very excited. The clansman who usually ran the printer showed them how the printer worked. Either the image was reverse cut out of a block of hard wood, or there was a system of writing out text on a sand table in reverse and carefully pouring lead over the text to make a positive impression. She ran a simple stamp of a wanted poster used by the KMPF. They oohed and aahed as the clansman hung the drying product.

Akitsu bowed to Mikoto in thanks. “Thank you for this opportunity, Uchiha-sama. I will make Iruka-sensei aware of your generosity.” She tousled his hair affectionately, and they concluded their tour and locked up.

***

Iruka nodded to the guards at the gate of the Uchiha compound as he walked up the path. They waved him through, likely knowing of his meeting with Uchiha-sama. She had invited him over to discuss with him about the Academy, and a proposal. He graciously accepted her invitation. He straightened out his formal yukata. It was not one he wore often, as he was rarely invited to anything highbrow, and for anything official he was more likely to wear his uniform. Still, it was fancy enough for a meeting with Uchiha-sama for a talk as informal as this. He knocked on the door and proffered a lacquered box to her bowing. “Thank you for having me.” Uchiha-sama received him and let him in. After settling down for tea, they talked about her son’s progress in the Academy, as well as the progress of Naruto and Akitsu. She brought a plate of elegant confections to compliment the tea. She Then, as the conversation was winding down, she brought up a new topic of interest.

“I have heard of the assignment you gave your class, and I wish to help. The Uchiha own and operate a printing press, and it would be my pleasure to be the one to print the class’s newspaper.”

Iruka smiled, pleased. The academy budget might be larger for the main class of the year, but it still was not exactly extensive. Finding a printer and getting permission to use it was going to be troublesome, so Mikoto-sama taking care of that would truly take some weight off his shoulders. “How much would this cost?”

Mikoto waved her hands dismissively. “Having the print facilities set up means we mostly need paper and ink. We can easily absorb the cost for fifty copies. We will need to look at the sizes of each article, of course.” They deliberated a few more details, and then parted amicably.

***

Early in the morning, I was running along the inside wall of Konoha. As I saw Gai-san speeding along, running on top of the wall, I called out to him. “Maito-san!” I shouted. “May I have a moment of your time?”

Maito Gai looked at me, matching speeds for a minute. “I will talk to you after my morning run at Training ground Nine, then!”

I puffed beside him, catching my breath before speaking again. “This is a matter of some delicacy, Maito-san. A more private venue might be more important.” I returned.

Gai stopped and stood in thought for a second. “Is this a matter of the heart then? Are your feelings burgeoning, my young sapling? I have seen your jogging partner, young student, you aim high!” I paled and waved my arms flailing.

“No!" I yelled out, internally screaming, ‘She might be my sister! Or at least my cousin!’ I regained my bearing and explained further. "It is about a project for school. I need some information. How about the park close to that training ground?” Maito Gai agreed.

“Very well. I will meet you near the picnic tables there.” Then Gai sped off. I continued on to do the rest of my lap.

***

Forty-five minutes later I was prepared with my notebook at a picnic table in the park. Gai walked up and gave me his signature sunny smile. “Tell me young one, about your scholastic efforts!” I composed myself to better convince him to answer my questions.

“Our group was given a writing assignment, and one of the prompts was to write about their hero.”

Gai pointed at my facemask with a meaty finger. “You have chosen to write about Kakashi, the Copy nin then?” he inquired, booming.

“Although I have great respect for Hatake Kakashi, it is his father, Hatake Sakumo, the White Fang, that I wish to write about.” Gai thought about this for a while I silently waited.

“I am not sure I should help you.” Gai said in an unusually quiet voice. “Hatake Kakashi is my best friend and rival, and I fear this would disturb him.” It appears that I would have to work harder to convince him than I thought.

I waited a few seconds, then spoke. “Maito Gai, I am a student of history, and I want to become and analyst and work under the Jounin Commander.”

“A Worthy Dream!” chortled Gai.

I continued. “Humanity is often like sheep on a forest path. They look directly in front of them, but they do not look up, nor look behind. They do not notice the signposts in front of them, and if they did, they would not remember them. Thus, they make the same hurtful mistakes over and over again. History is a torch we raise into the dark night to push back the fear and ignorance in order to make better tomorrows!” I realized I had jumped up on the picnic table and was brandishing my notebook like an imaginary brand in the air. Embarrassedly, I sat back down, smoothing my haori. Did Gai have some sort of reality warping field?

Gai had his hands over his heart in a pose of wonder. He resumed a more normal pose, and I began again. “The White Fang was a Jounin level ninja. I’m sure he saved Konoha over a hundred times, yet he failed one mission and is blamed for a war. By not telling this story, the same troubles could happen to a hundred other unfortunates, abandoned by the populace as worthless when they fail once. For the sake of these other people, your comrades, I ask you to crack open the vault of your mind and disclose your knowledge!” Gai nodded his assent, tears flowing freely.

***

Kiba stood in the academy training ground, punching a log over and over again. It irked him that he lost nine times out of ten against Akitsu, Naruto, or Sasuke. They almost never lost to anyone except each other. Shino had now joined them in that as well. It was infuriating. So here he was. Punching logs like an idiot. It wasn’t very productive in the short term, but he couldn’t fully use his clan styles in spars, because there were chakra modifications that allowed the Inuzuka to fight on all fours and Kaa-san and Hana-nee chan had told him that he wasn’t ready to learn any advanced taijutsu or chakra techniques! How fair was that? They said he had to learn the basics first. Ugh.

Lost in thought, he didn’t notice the presence behind him until they spoke. The voice was high pitched and cool. “Hey Kiba-san. Defeat stings, doesn’t it.” Kiba turned around in surprise, and then his face morphs quickly into anger.

“Whaddya want Ino!” he growled. Ino smirked at him and leaned up against a tree.

“I want what you want. To show those teacher’s pets up. Now I know that they have been soundly beating your ass in the ring,” Kiba snarled at the mention of it. “and I can’t say that I like those boys showing me up in Kunoichi classes. So, this is what I propose. We team up.” Kiba snorted at her, and she raised her hand to stall his immediate response. “Just think for a moment. It’s easier to train with a sparring partner, and I need to beat them in academics. Everyone knows that teaching someone else is the best way to hammer in knowledge. I could tutor you in academics, while you tutor me in physicals.”

Ino waited for Kiba’s response with bated breath. As much as it grated on his nerves, Kiba knew they could help each other. He huffed in annoyance but nodded unenthusiastically. “Fine. But I better see improvement.” He then began to smirk sad*stically. “Well then kohai, it seems we’re in the training grounds. Lesson one. Let’s run until we drop.” Ino sweat dropped, but seemed to steel herself, and looked back at him with spiteful determination.

“Bring it on!” She paused for a second. “Wait. Not senpai and kohai. More like nations with an alliance. A temporary alliance. I’ll be leader in academics, and you’ll be the leader in taijutsu and conditioning.” Kiba swelled up with anger, and it looked like he wouldn’t take the deal, but he thought for a second and deflated a bit.

“Deal.” He growled. They shook hands. Then Kiba took her for a ten-kilometer jog after which she nearly puked.

***

The Assassination of Hatake Sakumo.

Hatake Sakumo was a Jounin of Konoha and held fame that was said to rival even that of the Sannin. A remnant of a proud clan of Konohagakure. Veteran of a thousand battles. He had a long career of thirty-seven years. He completed a total of 57 D ranked missions, 4725 C ranked missions, 2213 B ranked missions, 1346 A ranked missions, and 319 S ranked missions. We do not know how many unclassified missions there are. He, during missions, surely saved the lives of fellow Jounin hundreds of times, and the lives of Chūnin an uncounted number. He saved the life of two different Fire Daimyo, one twice, and was honored by the court. He was offered a position as one of the Twelve twice, but respectfully declined, although reasons are not known why. A famous sword granted by the 11^th Daimyo of Fire hangs in the office of the Hokage, as Sakumo had no need of it as he wielded his family’s White Light Chakra Sabre. Assuming approximate modern estimations of pay per mission, and an approximation of 50% mission pay taxation that would assume he earned for Konohagakure an approximation five hundred and eighty-seven million Ryo, used for schools, hospitals, infrastructure, and artificial support of low food prices in Konoha. Konoha, its shinobi and civilians owed him a great debt.

The History of the Shinobi world, Sixth edition Grade 1 contains one sentence about him. “He failed in a mission in Iwa, and the Third Shinobi War started.” We assume the mission was classified, as it is not in Jounin Archives.

What is “known” about the mission is that sacrificed the mission to save his teammates. This was a classified mission. How did this become “known”? If he failed in a mission, then it is very reasonable for the Hokage to discipline him, possibly by reducing him in rank, adding additional onerous duties like leading a genin team or other options. But when he came back, he was subjected to abuse and ridicule by greengrocers and the sons of streetsweepers. Everybody knew. Everybody. If Hatake Sakumo had been a terrible man, as they suspected, he would have snapped, and cut off the faces of a thousand civilians, or set Konoha ablaze. They knew he was a valid target for their spite specifically because he was a good man. I would argue, that mathematically, those with the moral authority to criticize him would be the Hokage, or someone else who had brought five hundred and eighty-seven million Ryo or more into Konohagakure’s coffers personally.

The people who knew about the mission would have been the Hokage, his councilors, and the person who paid for the mission. How did this become accepted truth? We do not know. Was this enemy action by spies we did not discover within our beloved village, or internal politics? It would have taken an organized effort to so quickly poison the environment with a whispering campaign, with agents working freely within our city, and compliant or pliant accomplices. If such a group was never detected, or caught, are they still operating within our borders now? What further manipulations have occurred?

We do know that Hatake Sakumo was on the clan council, and spoke often, voting, I hope, wisely. Since then, the seat on the council has remained cold. The city has lost the wisdom provided by Clan Hatake.

***

Mikoto’s cup of tea hit the floor as she wandered through the gaggle of children in her household, waking her from her reverie. The children looked up from their work wide eyed.

“Akitsu-kun, what do you mean to cause with this article? I thought you were trying to attract the attention of the Jounin Commander, not the head of T&I!” Akitsu rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

“I swear, I didn’t mean to be that critical.” Mikoto rushed everyone except Akitsu out of the room. She pinched her brow, maybe there was still time to fix this.

“Akitsu, how many people have seen this article, exactly?” She asked, hoping it was a small enough number to cover up.

“About twenty-four. The entire class read it.” f*ck, Mikoto thought.

“You mean the class full of politically savvy clan heirs? And about twelve other civilians.” She said in a deadpan voice. Akitsu grimaced at her description of events.

“Yeah.”

Mikoto sat down on a nearby chair and looked Akitsu in the eye. “There were two courses of action in a situation like this. The first was to destroy the article and make sure nobody knew of it. Especially not anyone in positions of power. With the number of influential people who have read this, however, that does not remain an option. The only other course of action it to get this article out to as many people as we can, as quickly and quietly as we can. That way, whoever you will have pissed off will have no choice but to leave you alone, or risk confirming your theory to the entire population.” Akitsu was visibly nervous, fidgeting with the edge of his gi.

“I’m sorry!” He blurted out. “I wanted to make a difference, but I didn’t think this fully through. It kinda came out more accusatory than I meant.”

Mikoto placed her hand on Akitsu’s shoulder gently, guiding him back out to the other members of the book club. “Sasuke, Shino, Hinata, Naruto. Today I will need your help. I showed you the printing press, and today, with my clansmen we will be using it to make as many copies of this newspaper as we can.” She glanced down at Akitsu. “I’m going to have to ask you to take a step back from this Akitsu-kun. It’s simply too dangerous to have you out in the open right now. You will need to stay in the basem*nt of the house when we go to the old district, okay?” Akitsu looked slightly constipated but nodded dejectedly.

Mikoto sent word for Itachi and asked him to send a crow to Fugaku. All it said was, Dinner will be a little early today, if you can make it. Mikoto sat with the children around the table, as they marked and reviewed the newspaper submissions. Akitsu and Hinata critiqued spelling and sentence structure, and Mikoto adjusted awkward grammar and run on sentences. By four thirty, Fugaku had arrived home for an early bite, intimating it was a special date with his wife, and being apprised of the situation. By 5 o’clock the blocks were being cut by talented Uchiha craftsmen. The children and Mikoto retired for a sleepover at the Uchiha household. At five in the morning the children, shadowed by Uchiha ninja began dropping off copies at the local libraries, the grocery stores, the coffee shops. Mikoto dropped by the houses of the various heads, leaving ten at each. She dropped off one hundred in the Jounin lounge, and fifty at the central building that served the Uchiha as meeting place/Recreation center. At seven thirty she stopped by Umino Iruka’s house with fifty.

She rapped smartly on his front door and was greeted by a red nosed Iruka with a large mug of tea in his hand. “Good morning!” She said sprightly. “Here are the copies of the children’s newspaper.” She dropped them in his confused hands.

“Uchiha-dono? You printed them already? I hadn’t even marked them!”

“Well,” explained Mikoto “Sasuke said he tried to give them to Mizuki sensei yesterday and asked if they could be printed. Apparently, Mizuki said ‘Do whatever you want, brat.’” Iruka’s face froze for a second. Mikoto continued. “I took the liberty of editing and marking them. Take my penciled in marks as a suggestion though. I know how busy teachers are.” She waved happily, and a second later was leaping her way across the rooftops.

Ninety-six seconds later, Iruka’s mug of tea smashed to the floor of his small kitchen.

Chapter 13

Chapter Text

November

As the sun rose over the roofs of Konoha, people awoke, ready to start their day. Normal routines all over the city, however, were interrupted by the newspapers scattered all over town. Everywhere you looked, they were pinned up on walls, and signposts, and inside establishments. The contents of these newspapers were not, at first, shocking. There were articles on dog care, curry recipes, and fashion. It was the last article in the paper that stopped people in their tracks. The Assassination of Hatake Sakumo. It was inflammatory, it was very close to treason, and … it made all too much sense. Why did everyone know about Sakumo’s mission? They didn’t have a good answer to that. Some looked at how they, angry and scared at the start of the war twenty-two years ago, had blamed it on a man that had given his all for Konoha, and felt shame. Some other people, in their forties, looked back at what they had thought then, and rather than looking at the fact they might have been wrong doubled down on that feeling and decided to hate Sakumo more, and also this child for questioning them like that.

Those on duty in the Jounin Lounge drank their morning tea, or coffee in some cases, and the place was abuzz with speculation. How had the knowledge of the mission spread so fast? Some thought it was foreign spies. Those who knew about ROOT immediately thought of Danzō Shimura as he and Sakumo had butted heads often. The biggest question was, where had this kid gotten his information from?

It was talked about in the hair salons and the schoolyards. It was talked about by merchants leaving the city with a few copies tucked away.

***

Kakashi woke up with Gai knocking on his door. He opened it up and Gai slunk in. “Hello, my Eternal Rival. Lovely day isn’t it.” Gai was avoiding his gaze, looking anywhere but him. “I brought you a muffin and coffee to break your fast this lovely morning.” His voice was rather subdued, actually. His eyebrows were doing something weird. Kakashi took a large bite of the muffin on the kitchen table. chewed while stirring the coffee with the wooden stick and washed it down with a full half of the hot coffee. He glared at Gai balefully.

“What have you done Gai.” Gai looked like an ashamed dog who had been in the trash.

“I may have helped a youthful student write a report on his hero, your esteemed father, by doing some research and finding statistics. Nothing dangerous, mind you, just mission ranks, and non-confidential stories. But his framing is somewhat controversial.” Gai provided the student newspaper which Kakashi read silently. “I had been avoiding bringing it up with you, because I know your father is a complicated subject. But the child convinced me that many others would suffer if we did not look frankly back at our history. He showed such perceptiveness and youth. I may have been carried away.” Gai bowed low in apology, tears flowing freely. Kakashi finished his muffin in two large bites, and patted Gai on the back comfortingly.

“I forgive you, Gai.” Gai stood up and manhandled him into a hug, then put him down. Kakashi summoned some dogs to guard his home and said. “Come on Gai, let’s go see the Hokage.”

***

Mikoto sat in a high-class tea house with the matrons of the major clans of Konoha. She had quickly hired their largest room. The Hyūga, the Aburame, the Inuzuka, the Nara, the Akimichi and the Yamanaka were there in their finery. They were generally the mothers of the children in her class, although the Hyūga sent a baa-chan, a very elderly lady. Many less well-known clans were there, such as the Izuno Clan and Fūma Clan. Even the Shimura clan’s nominal eldest female was there, the sister of Shimura Danzō’s deceased wife. Mikoto had thanked them for their swift response to her invitation. She had shown them the newspaper, and then the current academy textbook. They were gravely concerned with the threat to the children’s education. When two ANBU had shown up to ask her to come to see the Hokage, she had coolly addressed them. “Is this an invitation? Or am I being arrested?”

The ANBU Cat and Bunny looked at each other and back at her and answered. “It is an invitation.” The ANBU stood awkwardly, looking between her and the throng of ladies, as if scared to disturb them. Some people, if exposed only to violence for too long, didn’t know how to act in a more civilized setting.

“Well then ladies,” she gestured to the assembled mothers and grandmothers, “let’s go.”

The entire delegation of, as she thought of them The Konoha Matron Political Faction, grabbed their babies, purses and baby bags, canes and hats and began to proceed to the Hokage’s office. It was quite the spectacle. Their procession towards the tower was noticed, and they gathered more watchers and well-wishers. Their speed was limited by the Hyūga matron’s short legs and cane. One of the ANBU ran off and hired a litter for her. The old dear thanked him kindly and patted his wooden masked cheek in thanks. The baa-chan climbed up, and then invited Mikoto to sit with her. Now Mikoto really looked like a visiting head of state, and the festival nature of their travel grew. Mitsuharu Ainu, the head of the pediatrics wing and previous head of the Konoha Hospital walked next to Mikoto, and they began conversing. Ainu was a spry med nin of eighty-three, and sharp as a senbon. Mikoto gracefully gave up her seat to Ainu-baa chan, and explained the goings on of the day, the educational crisis, and the inflammatory news article.

They arrived as a group and overwhelmed the two Chūnin guards. They looked at each other in panic, as they were swept along in the large group. Refreshed by her litter ride, Hyūga-baa chan was able to make it up the stairs, and they arrived at the doors to the Hokage’s secretarial pool before his office. There was no place to fit them, so the group ended up being shuttled to the largest meeting rooms which were adjacent. Mikoto insisted on seating Hyūga-baa chan in the most comfortable chair, but they saved another next to her for their esteemed Mikoto-kun. Kakashi and Maito Gai arrived, but Maito Gai blushed and hid his face as Akimichi Chieko began to breast feed her second and youngest child. Women from the secretarial pool began bringing in extra chairs from the adjacent meeting rooms to seat the assorted mothers. Gai rushed to help, in order to avoid his embarrassment. The secretarial pool began making pots of tea and bringing extra cushions for the pregnant women.

Into this chaos arrived Sarutobi Hiruzen, Hokage robes sweeping dramatically behind him.

“Mikoto-chan, I had hoped for a private chat with you.” The several baa-chans twittered in disapproval.

“Surely, he should have noticed that she is here as a clan representative, not as his friend. I mean,” said one, “Look at the hair!” Hiruzen was taken aback and tried again.

“Uchiha-sama, may we have a private talk?”

Mitsuharu Ainu rebuked him. “This meeting is about school standards Hokage-sama. This is a matter very close to our hearts.”

Mikoto continued for her. “We as the Konoha Matron Political Faction feel that it is important for our voices to be heard.” Somebody whispered in Mikoto’s ear. “Fine. The Konoha Matron Political Alliance.”

“This is not the place for educational reform.” began Sarutobi, attempting to redirect the conversation back to its intended path.

“Then a fine job they have been doing so far, Sarutobi” spoke Inuzuka Tsume, posture far more aggressive by nature than that of her fellows. “They had ten years to fix this sh*tshow, and all they’ve done as far as I can tell is sit on their asses collecting salaries. Time during which you have been sleeping at the wheel.”

“Inuzuka-sama, mind your tone.” spoke Sarutobi coldly, “or I will have you removed.” A small amount of killing intent entered the room, and immediately Akimichi Chieko’s youngest began to wail, and all the assembled began to upbraid Sarutobi for his outrageous behavior. ‘It’s like being assaulted by a group of clucking hens.’ he thought. Sarutobi was swamped and confused. “Inuzuka-sama. I will apologize, but please conform to decorous speech, and I will do the same.” Another baa-chan next to Sarutobi patted his hand in an approving and patronizing manner.

Sarutobi signed. “There may have been a security breach, and this needs to be investigated.”

“What security breach?” asked Mikoto. “That Hatake Sakumo existed? The number of his missions is no sort of secret. The disrespectful way he was treated was no sort of secret, much to Konohagakure’s shame. The mission rates are well known to any ninja who asks at the mission desk or asks an uncle or brother.”

“The mission lists are exact!” railed Sarutobi, trying to keep composed in front of the unexpected audience.

Maito Gai stepped forward, eyes looking to neither side, hands at parade rest behind his back. “The mission lists were exact, Hokage-sama, because I provided the information.”

“Why did you do so Maito-san?” asked Sarutobi, deflating minutely and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“The boy, Akitsu, asked politely. He wanted to know about his hero, and he was given this task by his lawful superior, Umino Iruka. I judged the request not secret or sensitive, and helpful to a most youthful student.” Sarutobi looked as if he was one second away from chucking away the hat and tearing out his hair.

During the previous duration Iruka and Mizuki had arrived at the meeting, sneaking in the back. “Who allowed this student project to be completed.” Iruka stepped forward, mimicking Gai’s parade rest.

“I assigned the project. I was due to collect it, and mark the articles, and arrange for the printing with Uchiha Mikoto-sama, but I was ill yesterday.”

Mikoto spoke next. “The unexamined, unmarked articles were handed to Uchiha Sasuke by Mizuki-sensei, the assistant teacher.”

Mizuki spoke, stung. “I am not an assistant teacher! I am a teacher who was assisting! I have credentials!” Sarutobi rolled his eyes.

“Apparently because Iruka was home ill, Uchiha Sasuke asked Mizuki what to do, and Mizuki said ‘Whatever’ and passed him the packet of articles.” Sarutobi began to grind his teeth together. Mikoto continued. “Seeing as the inflammatory article had been seen by a host of loose lipped children, I thought it best to publish the article.”

“The boy may be some sort of sleeper agent, a spy.” offered Sarutobi. It was one thing to have a spy spread confidential information, but to have the wife of a Clan Head assist in that security leak was bad.

“No, Hokage sama. I researched him when he came into the orbit of my child. He is registered as being born in a Konoha hospital to a woman of the reed district. He bears a standard vaccination scar. He is well known to the local library, and I have here list of books he has taken out and read in the past year.” Mikoto passed the list to Tsume, the Hyūga-baa chan, up the line. She passed another to the other matrons for them to examine.

Mikoto continued. “You will see he has a keen interest in Herpetology, Anatomy, young adult fiction, Nutrition, Philosophy, Chakra theory, Cooking, History, Geography, Obstetrics, Early childhood development, Mathematics, the writings of the sages, and others. He hopes to complete a shinobi career and retire to provide better health care to ‘vulnerable populations’ in Konohagakure. A laudable goal as his mother died of disease.”

The assembled mothers clucked in sorrow at the saying things like “What a dear!” and “Such a kind heart.”

“His only black mark, such as I am aware, is that he hid from the KMPF and chose to live on the street for three months of a year rather than being put in an orphanage. Why he was so afraid, I have no idea.” She spoke dryly, making casual eye contact with Sarutobi.

“Still,” continued Mikoto. “This has presented us with a wonderful opportunity. It is time to move forward. We, the Konoha Matron Political Alliance, request that we be allowed to fix this horrible situation. We propose a new group to revamp the textbook be created. We propose a group of nine members, made up of the next head of the Konoha School, two emissaries of publishing companies, myself and six members of the KMPA. Our leadership will serve nonconsecutive four-year terms, voting our own members from among female childbearing or adopting women of Clan membership. Our leadership will be forbidden from holding positions on other councils.”

“Your proposal intrigues me.” Said Sarutobi. He thought to himself ‘That would be one thing off my plate I haven’t had time to look at. It has been badly done, and it might help heal the rift between the Uchiha and the rest of Konoha.’

He decided to go with the flow. “Present your charter to me on Monday, with a delegation of your elected members, and I will possibly ratify it.” The assembled women smiled gracefully and thanked him, and began to move out of the room, shaking hands with the Hokage and each other, and Gai, and Kakashi. The last of the women to leave was Mikoto. Sarutobi had a thought. “Why Mikoto-san, did you say the next head of the school?”

“Because” Mikoto replied, “You are going to fire this one. Unless he has been pushing for years to revamp the system and been stymied at every turn by an obstreperous bureaucracy, in which case you should give him a raise and a pat on the back. Maybe jump the pay scale for the position to Jounin if you have problem finding talent. But that is not my job, Hokage-dono.”

Sarutobi was left with Kakashi, Umino, Mizuki, Cat, and Bunny. “Mizuki,” began Sarutobi, “Did you really tell Uchiha Sasuke ‘Whatever? Do what you want?’”

“Yes, Hokage-sama.” replied Mizuki, sweat pouring down his face.

Hiruzen continued. “You will have your pay suspended until you have completed forty-five D ranks. Begone.” Mizuki left quickly. “Umino Iruka.”

“Yes Hokage-sama?” Iruka looked disturbed by his co-workers quick dismissal, nodding quickly.

“I am entering a commendation in your records. If you continue in the way you might expect a pay raise.” Iruka bowed and left.

Sarutobi turned to Maito Gai, a little stiff. “Maito Gai. Thank you for your hard work and youthful endeavor. You have been a shining example to our young students. If you have any questions about politically sensitive subjects, please apply your questions to Hatake-san, Umino-san, or even me. Let us get together for practice soon. Thank you.” Gai left slightly subdued.

“Kakashi” spoke Sarutobi. “Take three days’ vacation. We look forward to seeing that the next edition of our schoolbooks will have a more nuanced approach to the tragedy of your father. Perhaps you should start filling that seat with your seal on it in the council chambers. Come see me in the next week when you have gotten a chance to assimilate all this.” Kakashi left, meeting his best friend in the hallway.

***

The week after the newspaper caper was tense. The newly formed KMPA had been taking the Academy by storm, going over the entire sixth edition book, before deciding to completely throw it out. The new consensus was to use the fourth edition, and revamp it with recent history. It had, over this time, also become common knowledge how this book came to the attention of the KMPA. Everyone knew that the so christened ‘Book Club’ had been using an early edition book for a month now.

Sakura was angry. She had met Akitsu before, and he had seemed like a nice boy, but that shouldn’t make him immune to the rules! He and his club had been showing a better understanding of the curriculum for weeks, and sometimes she couldn’t find information like that anywhere in the book. Then she found out that they went and used an old, discontinued book, that the sensei never approved. She understood that the sixth edition was found to not be up to par, but they never got punished for bending the rules. They never even … shared the information. Sakura shook her head, determining to do something about this dilemma herself. She had to confront them.

Sakura ran after Akitsu as he left the classroom for the day, calling out to them to stall them. “Akitsu-san!” He stopped in the hallway and turned to her. Akitsu co*cked his eyebrow and questioned her.

“Sakura-san, do you need anything?”

Sakura nodded her head, and asked, “I want to talk to you in private. Could we meet behind the school?” Akitsu hesitated, then nodded.

“Yeah. I can do that.”

Five minutes later Sakura was staring across from the boy, who was waiting for her to speak. She took a deep breath to collect her thoughts and asked the question that had been burning in her mind for the past couple days. “Why did you cheat?”

Across from her, Akitsu startled, caught off guard. “W-What? What are you talking about?”

Sakura opened her mouth to respond, her fists clenched. “From the very first day you’ve ignored the rules. Not all of them were written, but we all knew they were there. Just like we all knew that the taijutsu spar at the entrance exam was supposed to be weaponless, we were supposed to be learning from the book our sensei gave us. I understand that you did not find the material adequate, but that is not our decision to make! If the book was going to be changed it should have been by our sensei or another authority figure!” Sakura paused her speech to catch her breath before continuing on.

“Instead of going to a teacher with your problems, you flouted the rules, and did your own thing. All that meant was that it took all the longer for the problem to be fixed, and our education suffered in the meantime! Instead of taking this as a chance to improve the system, you made sure that only the people you chose got to have that knowledge. And the worst thing is that you weren’t punished at all!” Sakura wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, only to find it a little wet.

Akitsu’s mouth hung open in shock. It opened and closed like a fish for a few moments, until he finally spoke. “I understand how you feel. Looking back on it, it does feel kind of selfish of me to hide the book from the rest of the class. We were afraid that it would be taken away from us, but I understand if you don’t accept that excuse. As to the other things you talked about, like getting the book changed by our sensei?” Akitsu paused and shook his head. “I have little faith that that would have happened. There’s simply no system in place to suggest solutions like that in Konoha, at least none that work. I mean, the book hadn’t been changed in ten years. The only reason it was changed now was because the clans were pushing for it. If I hadn’t impressed Uchiha-sama, then it’s likely the book never would have been changed. I got notice from Uchiha-sama because I pushed, and pushed, and wriggled around rules.” He exhaled tiredly.

“Can we go over here, and sit down?” Sakura agreed, the feeling of righteous anger leaking out of her. They sat on the moss under a willow tree, both facing away from it in a triangle. “Can you keep a secret for me, Sakura? From anything other than a direct question from your parent, or someone appointed by the Hokage?”

Sakura thought about it. “As long as it doesn’t hurt anybody.”

“Promise.”

“Fine,” she said, “I will keep the secret you are about to tell me unless asked by my parent or a superior lawfully appointed by the Hokage.”

“Good.” He said. His voice assumed a far-off quality lighthearted and reminiscent. “My mother lived for art. For movement and music. She was kind, and graceful. She was an artist. Women artists of her type hope for powerful patrons to fund their passions, so they can bring the beauty they see inside to the world. Women of that life trade favors." He looked in Sakura’s eyes and was not surprised to find shock there but pleased to see sympathy.

He drew a line in the dirt with a stick, a forking branch. “Some people tell a story, that we live in a web of worlds, and each new choice, breaks off a new world. On one choice, your dad forgot your mom’s wedding anniversary, and was angry at him. In that world, you were conceived a month later. You still have the same hair, by the way, but your name is Sakumo, and you keep it shorter. You’re a bit of a scrapper, because you get in fights with boys who tease you about it. Get it?”

“I think so.” answered Sakura.

“So, this,” he drew a straight line, “is the me who follows rules and worries a lot about what people think. When his mother died of the white plague, he lost any mementoes of her after being thrown into a Konoha orphanage.” He split that line into three lines. “This one died of disease last winter. This one was sold into a child trafficking ring.” He ended those lines with an x. “This one showed up at the academy without friends, in threadbare clothes, with a skinny lunch. He did badly in the fitness tests and did not get into the class with the clan heirs. He probably looks at them with sad envy. Sakura thinks he is a weird poor kid with glasses. His clothes are as thin as paper, and Ino, with her money and pretty clothes probably calls him a loser and a weirdo when he walks by.” Sakura hid her face in dismay.

“This one over here is me.” He said branching a path off from before entering the orphanage. “He worked hard getting a job delivering ramen and fetching cigarettes and booze for the locals in his area. He earned tiny amounts of ryo helping old baa-chans take out their garbage, and shift their groceries, for which he was paid sometimes in ryo, sometimes in smelly candies, and sometimes in delicious cookies. He lived in a box in an alleyway for a few months, and got sick in the winter, and was helped by a hungry Naruto. He hunted squirrels to feed Naruto’s ravenous appetite. One time, he stole five expensive koi from a rich man’s pond in the middle of the night and ate them.” Sakura laughed out loud, scandalized. “He’s a little rough around the edges, but he likes who he is, and has won friends.”

Akitsu pointed to the ex’d e out lines. “These guys, the me’s who trusted adults to fix his problems, they are most of them dead, in a pauper’s grave with not even a marker. This guy is miserable. So, what we are left with, is me, pushy, untrusting of adults, and weaselly.” There was a pause in his story, and they sat for a second before Akitsu spoke up again. “I thought about inviting you, you know? I was thinking of asking you to join our book club in a month or two.”

“Really?” said Sakura.

“Yeah.” He said. “But I worry a bit. Ask around. Your mother or any Kunoichi will tell you that a woman has to work twice as hard to get half the recognition. You didn’t seem to be working that hard. You see Rock Lee at the practice yard for an hour every morning practicing his taijutsu and hitting that log over there.” They walked over towards it, and he showed Sakura the bloody imprint of Lee’s hands on the wood a quarter of an inch deep. “By the time he graduates, his knuckles will have fractured and healed hundreds of times, welding themselves into a seamless hammer of bone. He is going to be a taijutsu monster. You seemed to be … drifting a little. Also, you hang out with Ino a little too much for my tastes.”

Sakura rounded on him, hands up. “What is wrong with Ino, you jerk!” Akitsu held his hands up placatingly.

“My mother was like a gentle swelling sea, filling those around her with strength and confidence. Naruto’s the same kind of person that way. You don’t get the rough edge of Ino’s tongue often because you are her friend, but Ino seems like the kind of person who runs around with a hammer looking for those nails that stick out.” Sakura was angry but couldn’t deny that. She turned away, conflicted. “I was going to offer you a deal.”

“What deal.” asked Sakura. “Tell me!” she badgered him.

“The deal was going to be this. ‘Forty sit ups in a minute, forty pushups in two minutes, five k in under half an hour, and you could join our club.”

“Dammit, I’ll do it,” she said, feeling righteous anger fill her. She would do that, but it wouldn't be because of him! “But I don’t care about your sh*tty club!” Then she hid her red face in her hands at her unladylike behaviour.

Akitsu laughed. “Do you get in trouble for using bad words at home?”

Sakura huffed. “I am supposed to be a lady.” Akitsu gently took her hands and encouraged her to look at him.

“Sakura.” She coloured at his touch. “Kunoichi are not ladies." He enunciated. "They murder people for money. They set fires that destroy property and livelihoods. They flirt with skeezy old men and steal secrets from them when they are drunk. They may, on occasion, act like ladies when it suits them to do so.” He released her hands which she withdrew from his as if burned. She stood up and punched him in the shoulder. She knew that as a Kunoichi she would have to do some unsavory things, but he didn't have to lay it out so starkly! Besides, people like Uchiha Mikoto and Ino manage to be ladylike and Kunoichi at the same time.

“Many thanks for your wisdom, Oh Great Dragonfly Sage.” She said, sarcastic and biting. He looked at her confusedly, and she pointed at him aggressively. “Duh! You look all weird and bug eyed with your goggles, and the ties of your headband are too long. The ends stick out on both sides parallel to the ground like dragonfly wings. Also, you talk like an old man.”

Akitsu immediately took on the stooped posture of an old man and intoned in a wheezy voice. “Close the circle at the feet of the master. You have come to me to ask me to be your guide along the path of Enma-fu. Let us now join our voices in the universal harmony and meditate.” It was obvious to her that all talk of real wisdom was over now. She came at him hands raised. “Ah! You shall be one of the lucky few students to experience so much Enma-fu in so little time.” As she advanced on him, he began to poke her in the ribs and abdomen, dancing away from her halfhearted counterstrikes. He began to assume ridiculously low poses, and make dramatic sweeping motions with his fists, and ridiculous monkey noises. “Haruno-san, Learn the first precept of Enma-Fu. You cannot defeat what you cannot catch.”

He spent a minute running around in circles just past her reach, until they had attracted a dozen or so watchers. Sakura began to be more than a little angry. She threw a punch too hard, and Akitsu gracefully swept her down into a roll, Sakura popping up dizzily. Akitsu danced back, putting his back to a swinging sign that read “Administration.” Sakura wound up and swung at Akitsu’s face, and hit the sign, sending it swinging. Sakura walked around in a circle holding her bruised fist and stifling curses. “Second precept of Enma-Fu. Anger is a weapon only in the hands of your enemies.” Akitsu jumped and ran across the top of a fence, pursued by Sakura. He ran into a nearby practice field, pursued by twelve children and Iruka sensei.

Akitsu stood in the middle of a muddy patch. Sakura figured it was a few inches deep based on how Akitsu’s feet were barely muddy, but when she leapt forward with a mighty right hook, she slipped and fell face first into two feet of mud. “Third precept of Enma-Fu. Do not wrestle with a pig in a wallow: Not only will you lose; you may find out he actually likes it.” Sakura, enraged, picked up a fistful of mud, and got him right in the face with it. It degenerated into a mudslinging match, and after a minute, Sakura was less angry and actually laughing. Akitsu was laughing too.

Chapter 14

Chapter Text

November

“Alright class, gather round!” Iruka yelled, standing in the middle of the field. “Today we will be doing a survival exercise, and you will be using all of the knowledge taught to you in the last few days. The point of the exercise is to camp in these woods overnight. You will only have access to the tools you currently have on your person. You have the entirety of the day to prepare out here before you go to bed.”

The class had been taking lessons in the wooded area closest to the Academy for the past couple days. Iruka-sensei was teaching them all about wilderness survival techniques. He had taught them how to identify native plants, which ones were poisonous or good to eat. He had taught them how to build shelters and traps. He also taught them fire building/fire safety.

“Split up into groups of five and start gathering resources. I’ll be here if a problem arises, but remember, if I help you, your grade suffers.” Everyone scrambled to form groups with their fellow classmates. By the end of the rush Akitsu was paired with Sasuke, Xiaoxia, Naruto, and Fudo Kato, the boy with the yellow bandana. Iruka directed each group to form a circle and assess their tools.

Iruka came to each group to take notes on what each had. Right. “Group B. What do you have as tools?”

Fudo Kato said, “I have my shovel. And my kunai.” Iruka looked at him strangely. “What?” The boy defended himself. “It’s the shovel I used to kill the bandit who threatened my parents.” The boy’s classmates looked at him, wide eyed. “I also have a ham sandwich, some paper, my canteen, and some bear grease for my drum.” Fudo looked proud of himself standing across form Iruka.

“Really? Your shovel?” Iruka queried.

“It’s his emotional support shovel, sensei.” Akitsu replied.

The group took a minute to decode that and moved on. Sasuke was next. “I have a first aid kit, a magnifying glass, some matches, a kunai, thirty feet of ninja wire, and a candy bar. And my canteen.” Iruka nodded approvingly. Xiaoxia was next.

“I have my kunai, a string bag of potatoes, a snack, a water jar, a hat, and some needle and thread.” The group looked at her oddly. “There’s a seam I have to sew up.” Xiaoxia explained. Iruka moved on.

“Naruto, what do you have?”

“I have a kunai, my slingshot and twenty shot, ten feet of string, a camp knife, flint and steel, a whetstone, an apple, a canteen, my survival handbook and a bento in my backpack.” Iruka looked at the group.

“Why do you all have canteens?” Iruka asked suspiciously.

Naruto began to explain their reasoning. “You talked about wearing good shoes today before we left class yesterday. We thought we were going on a hike, and you always need water on a hike.”

“Good judgement, thinking ahead, awareness. Right.” Iruka applauded them. “Akitsu, you?” The boy emptied his pockets in a pile, listing the items as he went. “I have my canteen, a whistle, a small mirror, a kunai, a whetstone, thirty feet of thin rope, thirty feet of fishing line, three fish hooks, and some matches.” Iruka saw that the boy had wrapped some rope around his waist under his baggy pants. “If you can start a fire without those matches, I will give your team an extra point.” The group nodded in agreement.

***

As soon as the group got to our clearing in the forest, Naruto took charge. “Okay, what we need to accomplish before nightfall is to make some shelter, gather or hunt food, and find a source of fresh water. Good. Who wants to gather edible plants?” Both Xiaoxia and Kato volunteered. “Hmm. We don’t have enough people for both of you to go. Would one of you rather gather firewood?” Kato assented. “The things we have left are building a shelter and the campfire.”

“I would like to take care of the fire.” Sasuke responded. I smiled and raised a fist in the air. “Well, I guess I’ll build the shelter then!”

“If it is okay, I’ll hunt for squirrels?” The group nodded in agreement and Naruto pulled out a slingshot from one of the pouches on his belt.

After our brief discussion, the group split ways. Sasuke began to gather large rocks to build the base of his firepit, and I the branches and leaves I needed to make a lean-to. I also made use of my length of rope as the spine of our shelter. I tied it carefully and made an A shaped canopy of boughs hooked on with their last branches. The shelter didn’t need to be anything special, due to the mild weather, so once I was done, I subtly searched for signs of water with my byakugan.

“Sasuke, I’m going out to find some fish. You okay here?” Sasuke hn-ed in assent. I ran down the shortest trail to the river, and when I got down there, took out a wound-up fishing line and hook out of one of my pouches. I spent around half an hour catching fish for everyone in my group, albeit I did cheat with my bullsh*t eye powers. I procured some large leaves, wrapped the fish some in clay from the riverbank, and then wrapped them in leaves. I carried them back in my canvas backpack.

Sasuke had tried for a fire drill, worked on it for an hour, said “f*ck it,” and used my matches. I asked for a big fire to create lots of coals for the fish, but Sasuke told me we would need more wood if that was the case, so we spend another half hour gathering firewood. Iruka returned, inspected our camp, and provided bedrolls and a pot. He graded us on our preparation, noted Sasuke’s missing match, and moved on. Naruto came back with three squirrels, and offered them to Sasuke, Xiaoxia and Fudo to skin and clean. We shared out the bit of food we had, Naruto showed them the chapter on how to skin an animal, and they did an okay job. The fire had burned lower. We coated the fish in clay and we used the shovel to bury the fish in the coals. We roasted the squirrels on wooden spits and waited for them to cool. Fudo made a hole hidden in the bushes near the camp for the necessary and used his shovels now sharp edge to make a bench to sit on. Naruto made sure no one would wipe their bums with poison ivy.

After a bit we had set up a blanket as a table. Xiaoxia chopped up some of the potato and onion she had and made a hash, greasing the pan with a bit of Fudo’s bear grease. We ate some with our mess kits, and by the time we were finished that, enough time had passed that the fish was cooked. We let the hardened clay cool a little and broke open the clay, feasting on the fish inside. It was heaven. I did feel a little bad that we hadn’t eaten the squirrels Naruto had gone to the trouble of catching.

I caught Naruto’s attention. “Do you think that Kiba’s dog would like these squirrels?”

“That would be cool onii-san.”

“Let’s get his attention and see.” I lifted my face away from the firelight into the dusky sky. The stars were coming out one by one. I cupped my hands around my mouth and began to howl. Naruto joined in; long howls interspersed with small yips. Xiaoxia and Fudo joined in. Our noise rose into the night, and soon thin howls from nearby, and then a chorus from what I thought was the far off Inuzuka compound. Soon the yips came closer, and Kiba and Akamaru came into our clearing. Kiba was scowling.

“Heyyyy! Inuzuka-kun! How has your evening been going?” called out Naruto.

“Fine.” answered Kiba. Things were obviously not fine. “Why have you been howling like idiots?” I snurfled into my sleeve. “What?” Kiba yelled at him. Akitsu laughed further. “What!” Kiba was now infringing on my personal space.

I responded somewhat unwisely. “Are you saying that when we howled like idiots, an Inuzuka showed up?” Now Kiba was really angry about a half a second away from taking a swing at me.

Xiaoxia quickly stepped between the two boys and rushed out an offer. “We were calling you because we had some leftover squirrel, and we were wondering if Akamaru might like some.” She held her breath, waiting to see if Kiba would deescalate. Thankfully, he seemed to be willing to talk.

“We’re supposed to be finding food on our own.” He said in a grumpy tone.

“Well, yeah.” Naruto piped in. “But this isn’t a test for Akamaru, so he should get food whether you find any or not. He’s a growing puppy!” Kiba reluctantly nodded.

“Alright, but only if Akitsu apologizes for being an ass!” He grumped, glaring at me. I nodded and bowed shallowly. I felt bad for making fun of Kiba. No matter if I wanted to insult him, I should have left his family out of it.

“I apologize for insulting yourself, and your clan Inuzuka-san.” Naruto handed one of the sticks with a skinned squirrel on it to Kiba, who handed it to Akamaru. They waited in awkward silence as Akamaru ate the squirrels, until Akamaru started barking, and Kiba hesitatingly translated.

“Akamaru says that it was really tasty. Thanks.”

Xiaoxia piped up before Kiba could leave the clearing. “I can show you where there are some wild onions, Kiba.” Kiba nodded.

Still feeling bad, I threw myself into the search as well. “I can show you the place I found fish, and you can use my hook and line if you like.” Kiba nodded and left with Akamaru and Xiaoxia. He came back with an armful of onions and left with three fish. At the end of the exercise, our group was the one with the highest grade.

***

It had taken a week for the populace to get over the shock of the Sakumo article, but when they did, they realized that it wasn’t the only worthwhile article there. Some were interesting, or informative, but none more so than the article written by Sasuke Uchiha. It was a list of all of the crimes solved by the KMPF over the last month, and it was surprising for many. Nobody had realized how much the Uchiha actually did for them daily. Some people got a new appreciation for the Uchiha. They saw how despite their aloof nature, the Uchiha were the shinobi most down to earth in Konoha. They were the shinobi who spent the most time with civilians, and paid attention to the civilians’ problems. They were smiled at more often in the street. The report of a child kidnapping foiled by the red eyed guardians was particularly well received. There was also a humorously long list of workaday crimes like littering, drunk and disorderly, and pickpockets stopped.

***

I walked with Naruto to the Hokage tower. It was the monthly time for my best friend’s Ramen with the Hokage. I was totally tagging along. We were let in the front door by a Shinobi who noted the date. We were made to wait while someone checked upstairs whether I was allowed. Naruto and I were early by almost 45 mins, and we spent a while playing a childish card game outside the Hokage’s office until Naruto got fidgety.

Hachisuka Sukami, the kindly woman who had helped us with our library cards, came by to offer us tea, explaining that the Hokage was running late in a meeting, and would be some extra time. “Could we maybe have a tour instead, Hachisuka-Obaasan?” I asked.

The secretary looked at the clock, and Naruto’s hopeful puppy dog eyes. She tousled his hair and said, “Fine.” We already knew the secretarial pool. The secretary showed us around the mission desk, the photography lab, the non-classified archives, and the meeting rooms. We were shown the cafeteria. I was pleased that we were not shown the door to classified archives. That would have been monumentally stupid. No system that showed toddlers where they could find classified information was an intelligent one.

Away from the Hokage’s office, where there were probably Hyūga ANBU, I felt safe enough to briefly examine the world around me with my byakugan. No one could see, of course, because of my customary goggles. We were shown Heat and Electrical in the basem*nt, and the printing press that was used to generate forms and announcements. There was a shiny new printing machine that the secretary showed us. It was such a great improvement over the old one, she showed us the old press to contrast the two. The room with the previous machine had not been used in a year but was kept as a backup. The room was dimly lit by a single slim window, all covered in dust. The main printing room on the ground floor was busy with ten people working, keeping the administration filled with forms and notices. We were shown the loading docks where supplies for the tower were brought in. Once we had seen everything, we returned to the waiting area for the tail end of the Hokage’s meeting.

***

Back at the office, Sarutobi came out, and greeted the boys kindly. “Do you want to come to lunch with us, Akitsu-kun?” Sarutobi asked.

“Thank you Hokage-dono, but I just came to keep Naruto company until you were ready.” He held out his knapsack, explaining, “I have to return these books to the library, or I will get a fine! Have a great time!” He left them as they reached the ground floor. Sarutobi looked at Akitsu speculatively as he ran off. ‘He really does seem very devoted to Naruto.’ He thought. ‘He really doesn’t seem to be trying to cause chaos. Does he even notice, or is this normal for him?’

Sarutobi had a nice lunch with Naruto at their favorite ramen stand. Even if he couldn’t do much for Minato’s son, at least he could do this.

***

The five friends still met at my and Naruto’s house. The curriculum was being supplemented with badly printed pages. Naruto was working on his pebble rotating exercises on both hands. Hinata was more advanced if less powerful. She was doing a leaf rotation exercise on each hand and trying to add another on her forehead. I was not revealing my chakra threads but was trying to work on the chakra points on the soles of my feet, trying the leaf rotating exercise there. My friends were very impressed at my ability to hold leaves to my forehead nigh-indefinitely. I was thinking of starting to wear leaves under my clothes once I figured out how to access my other tenketsu. I know that Hyūga are supposed to be able to open all of them at once. Sasuke had succeeded on the leaf sticking exercise on two hands and was trying to learn the leaf rotation exercise. Shino was trying to catch up to Sasuke, although there were many other things the Aburame knew.

That afternoon in E.I.S.G the class was all aflutter. Today was the day we were going to choose an instrument. We had a chance to experiment with the various traditional instruments. Naruto chose the Shakuhachi, the traditional bamboo flute. Hinata had gotten permission to bring her Shamisen. She had an expensive instrument she brought with her but kept the one she had inherited from her mother at home, safe. Sasuke chose the Biwa, as he had inherited a good instrument from an uncle. Shino chose the drums, an option not many of the girls were interested in. I spent a long time, but chose the Koto. I thought the 13-string lap harp was a fascinating instrument. Maybe I could translate some western tunes later?

“The Koto is for girls, dummy.” Ino commented disparagingly. I just met eyes with the Tsutsuji-sensei and rooooollled my eyes.

***

I sat late at night in my room, a chalkboard sitting in my lap. I needed to straighten out my thoughts, and goals. I had been acting on a plan when I wrote that article, but it wasn’t a well-formed one. My original plan for my life, formed when I was a young ‘civilian’ child who had just found out where I was born, was to be unobtrusive; pass completely unnoticed on my path to become a shinobi. Once I found out about my heritage, that only became more important. I would do everything in my power to avoid gaining the attention of Danzō, Orochimaru, or any other organization that would be interested in an unsealed Hyūga, like Hidden Cloud.

After I made friends with Naruto, that plan went down the drain. He wriggled into my heart, and I couldn’t abandon him like everyone else in his life had. If I wanted to be friends with Naruto, and also keep safe, then I needed to change my tactics. I started by befriending Uchiha Sasuke. To be honest, meeting and befriending him hadn’t been my plan when we first met, but I wasn’t one to let an opportunity pass. If I wanted to stay out of ROOT, then I needed to be noticed by the right people. No one could disappear me if I had Mikoto-dono looking after me.

I also employed this tactic when entering the Academy. The clan heirs would be excellent allies to have on my side. I also… didn’t want to see them get hurt. They were good kids, even Shikamaru to an extent, and I didn’t want them to die when things start to get serious. They all survived in cannon, but for all I know my presence would shake up a lot of future events. The best way to protect them is to make sure they can protect themselves.

I needed to make a list of what I wanted to accomplish before I made anymore hasty decisions. Alright, this shouldn’t be too hard.

• Delay the Uchiha massacre by making them more accepted by the populace.

-This shouldn’t be too difficult. With public opinion of the Uchiha rising after Sasuke’s article, Danzō wouldn’t feel safe enough to order their execution on schedule. This would give me more time to come up with a permanent solution. That had been a lucky break, and all Sasuke’s effort.

• Kill Danzō, or get someone else to kill Danzō.

-Some way to contact Tsunade? Get her on Danzō’s trail?

-Dance on his grave.

• Make sure Naruto and our friends aren’t weak by the time they graduate the academy.
• Get Hinata enough confidence that she takes over the Hyūga Clan and ends the use of the caged bird seal.

-Hide my parentage at all costs. Reveal of my parentage is on the table if and only if it helps Hinata in this, and only to her.

• Learn Medical ninjutsu. Both traditional, and low chakra surgeries.
• Revolutionize medical imaging using Hyūga techniques to save thousands of lives.
• Look into possibly creating the idea of an unbiased press.
• Reunite Tsunade and Tenzo, and Naruto and his Tsunade-baa chan.

The first things I would focus on were delaying the Massacre and learning the foundation of medical studies. The Massacre was coming up, and I had no way of knowing if Sasuke’s article and all of my other actions would be enough to stop it from happening. I also needed to acquire competency in printing skills. I took out a damp rag, and having memorized the list, wiped it clean.

***

Next day Mikoto waited patiently outside the Hokage’s office. She was dressed as an Uchiha woman of no particular distinction, her clothes simple, though of high quality. She waited patiently until a secretary conducted her into the busy office, The Hokage greeted her warmly, and she bowed low in his presence. He acknowledged her gratefully.

“How is the new edition going, Uchiha-sama?” he asked pleasantly.

“Please call me Mikoto-san.” She sat in the chair indicated. It was the nice chair, the comfy chair, as opposed to the hard backed cushionless chair Sarutobi sometimes made supplicants sit in.

She began, “We are doing very well in the revisions. Much of the plates still existed in the storage rooms of the publishing house. We are therefore ahead of schedule. I came here to ask permission for a different thing,” Sarutobi inclined his head, indicating she should continue. “Sasuke’s class has indicated that they are interested in doing another broadsheet. We would do one next month perhaps. This time, it would be looked at by Iruka, and you for… political review to avoid the previous awkwardness. We would have a lot of lead up time as we would have more than twenty-eight days to get ready.” Sarutobi massaged his beard sagely, thinking about it, while Mikoto stayed silent, and demure.

“I will give my permission.” Hiruzen said affably, and Mikoto smiled. “Please have the articles brought to me before any engraving is done.” Mikoto smiled and bowed her head gracefully in reply. “Is there anything else?” Sarutobi asked.

“No, Sarutobi-dono. Thank you for your time.”

After the confirmation of the project Iruka was brought on board, and the children were given three weeks to write their reports. Mikoto had taken a small leave from the KMPF to lead the effort of revamping the schoolbooks, approved by Fugaku, of course.

***

I stood across from Uchiha Ichiro in the busy printing shop run by an Uchiha. I bowed low, before I spoke. “Uchiha-san, my class is the one doing the newspaper project, and I would be very grateful if I could take this as an opportunity to learn the workings of a printing press.” Ichiro thought for a while, then nodded. His quick acceptance of me likely had something to do with how Mikoto-sama favored me. Ichiro welcomed me into the workshop, out of the brisk air. There were two Uchiha, one half Ichiro’s sixty years, and one roughly half of the age of the second. Ichiro’s second in command grunted in greeting, raising his eyes for but a moment.

The youngster twice my age looked up at me and handed me his broom. “Kaki, right?” I asked. The youngster nodded in agreement. It was common in some trades or dojo for the most junior student to have the sh*ttiest jobs. It wasn’t abuse, although it could be, it was a test of someone’s ability to put the work in, and their commitment to learning. After I had swept the floor and dusted some shelves, I had been shown the different grades of paper, and kinds of ink.

Most of the work in the shop was done with simple black ink, as they were usually doing one-color forms. They did some forms used by the Uchiha involved in administering the clan. They occasionally did maps and art which used three colors. Masters did works of art with five to nine colors, but there were probably twenty in all the nations who were at that level. Here they did good workmanlike labor, although Ichiro was allowed to do his own work after Uchiha business was done.

For most jobs, a slab of Iroko or ironwood was marked with the required text, and the unnecessary parts were cut away shallowly with chisels. The writing was very hard as the print to be used was required to be backwards in order to be able to be stamped right way around. Occasionally for very large jobs, they would use a stamped hardened sand block, bound together with a bit of watery glue, and carve the shapes out of the sand carefully, and then molten lead was poured in to take the shape of the required stamp. I, with my knowledge of my previous life knew that the thousands of characters in Kanji were likely the reason that moveable typing machines were never developed.

I worked out a deal to spend a couple hours three times a week helping out and learning the various systems. I was afforded options to operate the press when work had been prepared, to ink the form, and use the ‘Devil’s Tongue’ to lower the assembly to press the platen and press the paper against the form. It took a while for each print to dry.

Ichiro gave me some opportunities to try to make my own form, but with normal wood instead of Iroko wood. Firstly, it was cheaper, and secondly, it was less likely you would suffer a mishap with your chisels and cut yourself or sever a finger. I wondered if there was a way to cheat with ninja magic bullsh*ttery. Chakra threads? Wind chakra? Aburame termites? Eye lasers? I was sure I could find some way to make the process faster.

***

My other project for the month was to start on the road to being prepared for medical ninjutsu. I wanted to learn the conventional battlefield healing, as well as my own brand of healing. With the byakugan making MRI machines, CAT scans, and X-rays obsolete, we could save money and resources. I also had a hypothesis about the mixture of chakra threads and chakra scalpels. Chakra scalpels could cut through muscle and bone without cutting the skin, minimizing the risk of infections. With a chakra thread I could perform keyhole surgery on civilians, as the chakra costs would be low. I was passionate about the subject, as in my past life, I had been a nurse.

'He stood in a large room with rectangular tables set up at increments throughout the room. The foot long tiles covering the floor were teal green and speckled. The room was lit by those large rectangular fluorescent lights, set into acoustic tiling. They emitted a low-grade annoying hum. It was his old ninth grade science classroom. Students around him cut into the frog laid out in dishes on the dissection table, gloved hands holding scalpels. The teacher stalked between the groups, making sure everyone was focused, and no one tried to stab one another. The students that weren’t doing the dissection were filling out their worksheets, writing about the inner organs of the frog. He would fill in his sheet later once he was done with the dissection. His sketch was artistically done. He had a good eye and had spent a lot of time drawing as a child. He was going for a sort of Vitruvian Frog thing. The circle around it and the light coffee wash he used to brown the paper got him a laugh from the teacher later.’

‘It was Friday afternoon, and he had a last year chemistry class. It was a double period, and the sound of cicadas droning drifted in through the open window. This year they had learned atomic weight, atomic structure (S, P, D, F shells), and element classification. They had learned lab safety, and stoichiometry. There had not been as much lab time as he had wished, but they had melted glass tubing and titrated solutions. They had learned log scales of acid and bases and why not to mix household chemicals. He had sweated blood on the hard course and managed a 74%. If he had been able to make a 90%, he might have been able to become a doctor.’

‘An old, abandoned warehouse was being used as an illegal rave location, when the building collapsed, injuring the young men and women inside. They were quickly moved to the closest hospital, his hospital. As the ambulances started to arrive, he was assigned to triage, and began to sort through the horde of people, assigning them to different sections of the hospital. The severely injured were rushed to the E.R. while slightly less serious cases were given first aid and put on the waiting list. He diagnosed some of the people with simple concussions, and gave them shock blankets, telling them to wait until all of the priority cases were dealt with. Many of the patients had broken bones. The last category were deceased. As a nurse he could not certify someone as dead, but he separated those who fit the criteria into a separate area. The signs for those were pretty unmistakable- Decapitation, lividity, transection, or incineration. Those were taken care of last. That had been a sh*t shift.’

I needed to get a medical book out of the library and judge any differences in the body brought on by chakra. A good idea of med-nin procedure would be essential, such as how and when they used chakra techniques. I hadn’t thought about my past life in a long time. At first, I had convinced myself that I was making a new life for myself, and I needed to throw myself fully into the future instead of wallowing in the past. But maybe, maybe I had been lying to myself. Maybe I just ignored it because it hurt to think about the life I left behind.

OMAKE:

I shot up in my chair, turning around frantically to glance at the clock. Had I been sitting here for two hours?!? Drooling like an idiot? Had I just experienced… the fabled Naruto style flashback?

Chapter 15

Chapter Text

December

It was after school, and the Study Group were meeting at the Uchiha household. Sasuke and Naruto removed their shoes at the door and put on some slippers. There was a pair for each of them. Naruto’s slippers had hedgehog faces on them and mine had dragonflies. It warmed my heart to know that the Uchiha had welcomed me and my friends into their home. Mikoto was sitting at the kotatsu reading some papers. Sasuke bowed slightly to his mother. “Okaa-san, may we join you?” she nodded, and the children sat down around the table, bringing out their homework.

“Mikoto-sama, I finished my assignment.” I started. “You said you needed to proofread it before I could send it in to Iruka-sensei.” Mikoto nodded and accepted the papers. It had been a week since the report had been assigned, and I already had a working copy. I just needed Mikoto to clear it for political tension.

As Mikoto read through the paper, her eyebrow started twitching slightly. She sighed, and put the paper face up on the table before her.

The article favored mixing other clans into the KMPF. It lauded the Uchiha for the wonderful job they had done. It then detailed how useful it would be to have an Inuzuka to track stolen property, or lost children, or finding illegal substances. It talked about how useful it would be to have a Hyūga looking through walls to find crimes happening behind closed doors for anti-smuggling operations. It mentioned how handy it would be to have Yamanaka available for police interrogations. There were plenty of other good ideas. It advocated opening up applications to the other clans.

“This is an interesting article, but I don’t believe it is something that should be out in public at this time. I need you to write about something that is in no way political.”

I lowered my head, obdurate. “But it’s a really cool idea.” I said, disheartened. It didn’t make any sense that the KMPF would only be made up of one clan, limiting themselves. More diversity would be better for everyone.

“Come with me to the garden” she invited, and we spent a few minutes getting our shoes, and going to the enclosed garden away from the ears of others. Mikoto started. “It is not a topic reasonable for a young man of your age to comment on. The Uchiha were given this job, the policing of Konoha, by the Second Hokage. Uchiha still get assigned missions, when our talents fit them best, and in wartime, but we are often overlooked otherwise. We are also not given leadership positions in Konoha’s hierarchy. For example, you will not find an Uchiha Jounin Commander, or head of T&I. My husband and many of the other Uchiha would see this as an attack on their persons, and in fact their livelihoods. Do you mean them to go hungry?” I lowered my head, ashamed.

Mikoto continued. “I am not angry. Most children have elders to go to for wisdom, to keep them from making mistakes. I hope you will come to me for guidance, and wisdom.” I quietly thanked her, subdued.

“Also, you advocate having Yamanaka mind walkers to interrogate suspects. This is the worst idea ever. It is reasonable to have a Yamanaka in T&I look into the mind of a shinobi we strongly suspect of having done a criminal act. If we began to use this on civilians who have cheated on their taxes, or stolen something, there would be riots, or families would simply leave Konoha.” My heart sunk lower, and my gaze also. I myself had always been afraid of the Yamanaka seeing into my mind, and it shamed me to think I had suggested such a thing with so little thought. “Do you yourself not have private thoughts that you would prefer your friends, or the authorities, not know?” Mikoto used her fan to raise my eyes to hers. “I do not resent your questioning heart,” she soothed “And I may have answers to your questions.” She continued. “Do you have any other ideas for another article?” By now we had come back to the engawa and were putting on our indoor slippers.

***

River stones crunched under my feet as I ran alongside the river. I found the perfect hiding spot with my byakugan, crouching in a bush that was close to a squirrels nest. I studied them intensely with my eyes, watching the flow of their chakra inside their chakra system. Like us, they had physical and spiritual chakra, but in minute amounts, and it was not an open system. One of the benefits of the byakugan was that you didn’t have to cut something up to look at its insides. I was exploring the differences in biology between animals from my world, and the animals from this one.

I activated my byakugan, looking deeper inside the squirrel. Maybe there was an organ that produced chakra? Hmm. All I could see was the chakra system. That was certainly a biological system, but it didn’t produce the chakra. Nowhere I looked was there a chakra producing organ. So, where does it come from?

'Could chakra be generated at a cellular level?' I thought. 'Maybe in the mitochondria or something. Or maybe it’s like magnetism and electricity. Electricity moving through a wire generated a magnetic field. Maybe blood moving in a circuit creates chakra the same way.' Diagrams floated through my head. A circle of squirrels in a little centrifuge spinning at 5000 RPM. 'No. Bad Akitsu.' I thought. 'The g forces would crush them.' Maybe I could observe a dialysis machine and see if the chakra flow followed the movement of the blood? How to get the blood to move faster. Maybe I could give Naruto twenty espressos? 'No. They don’t have espresso here. They might have coffee though. Maybe from the land of Rivers? Would that much caffeine cause Naruto a heart attack? He would be fine even so, due to his ‘Guest’ but I wouldn’t want the Kyuubi angry at me later. Maybe just ten cups?'

***

Later that week Akitsu provided his new article to Mikoto.

Logical Fallacies. We often encounter bad arguments used by people trying to change our opinions. I hope to cover the 15 most occurring fallacies in the next weeks.

The False Dilemma Fallacy

This common fallacy misleads by presenting complex issues in terms of two inherently opposed sides. Instead of acknowledging that most (if not all) issues can be thought of on a spectrum of possibilities and stances, the false dilemma fallacy asserts that there are only two mutually exclusive outcomes.

“Iwa attacked us during the last war. We need to kill every last one of them. If you don’t agree with me, you are obviously a traitor.” This person offers only two options and wants you to choose one. What if you only want to kill some of the Iwa ninjas? Or want to just maim all of them, or force them to pay reparations? Or what if we have another more pressing enemy and you just don’t want to poke that particular bear at this moment? You can reply “False Dilemma fallacy. There are many more options and viewpoints other than the two simplistic ones.”

Or: “This family has several traitors in them. Either we kill them all, or they get away with everything!” No. This is a False Dilemma Fallacy. You are trying to stampede me into one or two options. How about instead we 1) only punish the guilty or 2) punish them all with something other than death or 3) probe to see if someone else is manipulating them.

Knowledge of the common fallacies can help us see underneath the underneath, and resist being manipulated by friends or alleged allies.

Mikoto finished reading the article and put it down. “Well, this is technically not a political essay, and I suppose it fits the requirements of the assignment. It is pushing it, a bit, but I’ll let this one slide.”

***

Akitsu and his friends worked on their homework while Mikoto looked on from the kitchen. Itachi walked in from the outside, changed into slippers, and walked into the kitchen. He gathered some leftovers, wrapped them in a flat piece of bread, rolled it up, and began eating. His eye fell on the sheets of paper left on the countertop, and he began reading. A few minutes later, his sandwich was still in his hand forgotten as he finished the short article. The last page was a bibliography. Itachi flashed his Sharingan on each page and put it back exactly where he found it. ‘I’ll look up that book in the library later.’ He thought to himself.

***

Mikoto talked with some of the ladies of the Konoha Matron’s Political Faction. They were soaking in the hot springs. It had become a regular thing every week or so. Akimichi Chieko and Hyūga Chie. Yamanaka Miki approached, her pale skin becoming rosy in the heat. Nearby Nara Yoshino and Aburame Kochou were listening. “So,” began Chieko, mopping he brow with the facecloth from her head. “How are the kids?”

“They’re great” replied Mikoto. “Lots of time at my house. It is great having the kids over so much. Sasuke used to be kind of lonely. But not lately.”

Hyūga Chie began, “I have heard they are going to do a new newspaper, despite the political nature of the previous one.”

Mikoto nodded. “Yes, it was allowed to proceed as long as the articles are thoroughly examined before the final print. The Hokage wanted to make sure that no more sensational exposés make it into this edition.”

The women around her nodded, lolling their heads back against the edge of the springs. Mikoto inhaled deeply, breathing in as much of the humid air as she could. When she felt she had enough, she continued the topic at hand. “Akitsu-kun, the boy who wrote the original Sakumo article, brought a draft for his new one for me to look over. He had the sensational idea to open the KMPF to all of the clans. This, however, would never work. Nearly all of the Uchiha shinobi work within the KMPF, and rarely get other missions. We would be laying off our own people if we attempted this, and I doubt they would have much luck getting work through the mission office.”

There were alarmed eyebrows around the Onsen, some wanting to know more, and others doubting the validity of her prediction. She frowned, a look of consternation crossing her face. “Not eight years ago, after the Kyuubi attack, we were relocated to the new district because Sarutobi was afraid we would betray him. How much longer do we need to be kept away? This decision was made in a state of emergency when attacks from both inside and out were a threat. All too many organizations would be all too happy to strike in a moment of weakness. But surely, this emergency has passed? Have we not proven ourselves?”

The women looked around each other, as if afraid to speak out. Then, an old leathery voice belonging to Hyūga Chie echoed around the Onsen. “I wholeheartedly agree. The Uchiha are one of Konoha’s Founding Clans. To treat them so badly for so long is shameful. The clans made the village, not the other way around. To punish so many on a mere supposition is rank folly.” The other wives, hearing the Uchiha’s not quite mortal enemy reflecting negatively on the Hokage’s actions raised eyebrow, looking at each other in accordance.

***

Mikoto was in the administration building, building a timeline for a criminal who had tried to steal some commercial secrets. Depending on how long he had been in Konoha, there were different things to worry about. If he had been lingering, it would probably be to meet a contact or arrange a sale. She presented her ID to the desk clerk, and rather than spending a portion of an hour reading through the records, merely laid out the eight pages, and flashed her Sharingan, implanting the information indelibly on her memory. Inside her mind, with the supersensory powers of the Sharingan running, it was like slowing down the clock to a crawl. There on the third page was the entrance time of the criminal, one Matsunaga Gihei. Good. He had been there for only a day, so maybe his business had been simple and done. Mikoto stood up to return the papers to the clerk, before pausing in place, Sharingan flashing dangerously. ‘Wait a second. That name, I could have sworn he was dead.’

Mikoto gathered up the files and sprinted through to the other side of the building where the Hokage’s Office was located. She stopped abruptly in front of the secretary, putting on her most commanding voice. “Hachisuka-san, I have some vital information that must be seen by the Hokage as soon as possible. Is he available?”

The secretary flinched back in surprise at her abrupt entrance and nodded checking her timetable. “Yes Uchiha-sama. He does not currently have any meetings. You may go up.”

Mikoto climbed up the winding stairs to the Hokage’s Office at a rapid pace before slowing down at the door. No need to rush in and set off the trigger-happy ANBU. She reached up and knocked gently on the door, waiting for Sarutobi’s confirmation before stepping inside. “Welcome Mikoto-sama, what brings you to my office today?” Sarutobi said in a kind Grandfatherly voice. Mikoto shifted the files from under her armpit to her hands and answered his question.

“Hokage-sama, while I was investigating the path of an infiltrator through the Village, I noticed the name of a merchant mentioned in passing. He had nothing to do with the infiltrator, but I had remembered his name. Chisaka Hiroshi was a merchant who had a good relationship with Konoha and traded here often. However, I remember reading reports about his death six months ago. I had memorized them with my Sharingan. I believe this man to be another infiltrator and came to tell you of the discovery as soon as possible. I do not know what his actions may be, but I thought it was better to be safe than sorry.”

Sarutobi lipped his unlit pipe absentmindedly. “Tenzo.” He spoke. An animal masked ANBU appeared, kneeling on one knee on the carpet. “Assemble a team of your peers. Go heavy in case this is someone’s heavy hitter. Neutralize them within two hours. I will have a place prepared for them in T&I.”

“Shikan Uchiha.” Sarutobi addressed Mikoto again. “Thank you for your diligence and quick thinking. You are dismissed.” Mikoto bowed and exited the room. She would probably never know what happened after that… unless she spent some time at a bar where Jounin tended to hang out. Hmmm…….

***

Kiba stood across from Shikamaru in the ring, seething in anger. He had already laid one hit on him and Shikamaru didn’t even seem to be trying. He dodged, evaded, and made halfhearted ripostes. Kiba’s face pulled into a snarl, and he rushed forward to finish Shikamaru. “Take this!” He punched Shikamaru in the solar plexus. Shikamaru still stood, hunched over, his breath stolen. Shikamaru waved his hands dismissively.

“Maa, I guess you got me.” He croaked. “Whatever.” Kiba couldn’t believe this. Here he was trying to get stronger, and this guy just sat here, not even trying to pretend that he was giving any effort. Worse still, he was ruining the chance of all of his sparring partners to advance as well, no one would learn anything from fighting him.

In anger Kiba stepped forward, grabbed his opponent’s hair, and kneed him in the face. Shikamaru’s nose broke with an audible crack, and blood began gushing from it as he stumbled from the ring. Iruka blew his whistle, and Iruka’ new assistant rushed in and grabbed Kiba from behind. Kiba pulled his lips back, showing his fangs. “Do you honestly think that in real life an enemy will just stop attacking because you gave up, or they completed the goal they came for? If this was real life you would be dead! When you become a ninja, are you just going to curl up and die?” Kiba kept struggling as Iruka led Shikamaru out of the ring for first aid. The class was chattering amongst themselves, gossiping about their bout.

“He really should have stopped.” opined Sakura.

“Should he?” asked Akitsu. “Shikamaru was still in the ring, still conscious, still standing and had not formally surrendered.” It was odd to have someone like Akitsu agree with him, but it was nice to have someone on his side of the argument.

After Shikamaru was sent to the nurse’s office and Iruka had given the class a lecture on restraint against comrades, Kiba asked Iruka if he could have another opponent. “Sensei, I promise I won’t go overboard. I just want to fight someone who will fight back. If I don’t then I’ll never get better!” Hinata, with a small amount of hesitance, raised her hand. Iruka thought for a moment, then approved.

Hinata and Kiba bowed as they stepped into the ring and formed the seal of confrontation. They backed away to the starting lines, bowed again, and then took fighting stances. Kiba ran forward and punched towards Hinata’s center of mass. Hinata blocked with a knife hand, only for Kiba to wrap his palm counterclockwise and to grab her forearm with his sharp nails. His clawlike fingernails scraped on the metal mesh under her jacket, catching and making tears in the fabric. Hinata swung her hand out with lightning speed and clapped his ear, stunning him for a moment. Hinata took that opportunity to grab his head in the crook of her arm and throw him over her hip.

Kiba went down hard, his back impacting the ground with a ‘thumph’. Hinata hesitated for a moment, and Kiba made use of her hesitation by kicking upwards from his position into her stomach. Hinata was rocked back, and bent over at the force of the blow, gasping for air, and Kiba rolled to his feet. By the time he had gotten to his feet, Hinata had composed herself, and resumed a fighting stance.

Kiba and Hinata faced across from each other, even in strikes. They eyed each other for weaknesses while simultaneously trying to hide their own. Kiba could feel a ringing in his left ear, and Hinata was still visibly out of breath. Kiba grew tired of waiting, and executed a high jumping kick, head high at Hinata. Hinata crouched down, raising her hands in an x block, arms crossed at the wrist and palms extended outward. She caught Kiba’s foot with her hands, pulling him off balance. Kiba fell to the ground, catching himself on his hands in a sort of wheelbarrow position. Kiba moved his other leg to attack, and Hinata threw his leg to the side, kicking out as he rolled away. Her sandal clad feet caught his shoulder, and he bounced up out of his roll, favoring it slightly.

They could both feel the pressure of the fight, both having hit twice. Hinata rushed a forward strike, likely attempting to end the fight swiftly. Kiba blocked and grabbed the wrist of her right hand, pulling past him, opening up her offside, and made a powerful jab to her kidneys. Hinata stumbled past him, yelping in pain and surprise. Iruka’s whistle ended the match, and they turned to each other and made the seal of reconciliation. As they passed out of the ring, she commented in a low voice, “Thank you for the fight, Kiba-san. It was a good one.”

***

My friends and I watched as Yamanaka Ino mostly dismantled a clanless girl. Naruto was a little agog. “What is going on?” the blond asked.

“Distance control” I replied. Shino, Sasuke, and even Sakura listened closely.

“Yes.” Replied Sasuke, taking up my explanation. “If you are a half step out of range of a kick, you only have to lean back to cause it to miss. Look at all the little steps she is making, the switch kick that creeps up on the girl without her noticing. The girl misses a punch, and Ino leans away, then back in, then counterstrikes.”

“We’d all better work on that.” I added in.

“Right” agreed Sakura and Shino, nodding their heads.

After the match, I approached the girl who had been Ino’s opponent. “I am Akitsu. I apologize that I have not learned your name.” The girl scrubbed her face with the sleeve of her haori.

“Okita Kirari. Please take care of me.” She bowed slightly.

“I wished to let you know, that although you were defeated, you are not bad at taijutsu. Where Yamanaka Ino defeated you was a particular skill, distance control. By maintaining advantageous distance between you, you were defeated. Do you have a taijutsu teacher outside of school?” Kirari shook her head. “I can show you a bit during class,” offered Akitsu. “Or there is a group that practices Seven Rivers Style at dawn every morning in a park near the east fountain.” The girl looked interested. “It starts with stretching and building strength, but there are combat applications also.”

Kirari smiled. “I will take you up on that. Thank you.” She bowed and left.

***

Naruto showed up at the Hokage's office later that week. Sarutobi took a few minutes out of his day to chat with the boy and have some tea. "Jiji!" Naruto crowed. "I finished the book!"

"Is your calligraphy up to scratch then?" Naruto avoided Sarutobi's eyes.

"It's getting better," he extemporized lamely.

"That's nice." said Sarutobi. "I have some more books on this subject, and you can start on the next one as soon I make sure you know the first."

"But I wanna learn real sealing, Jiji!" the boy whined.

"Naruto. Have you seen Uchiha Sasuke's new Great Fireball jutsu, and chakra conducting katana?" Naruto's eyes lit up, eager.

"No?"

“What about Hinata's Sixty-Four Trigrams Strike?"

"No," replied the boy confusedly.

"Good." replied Sarutobi. "We don't teach first years Jutsu or give them weapons beyond kunai and shuriken." Naruto sighed, and Sarutobi tousled the kid’s blond locks. "I know, Naruto. I remember feeling the same way when I was your age." Naruto sighed, mollified. "I will," promised Sarutobi “find you a fuinjutsu teacher when you are ready."

"I'll hold you to it, Old man." Sarutobi chased the boy out of the meeting room they were in.

***

Iruka stood, drinking his tea quietly while looking out the window of his classroom. His class was working quietly on an essay. He took this moment to de-stress a bit. His class was so driven, but they were mentally taxing to teach. Don’t get him wrong, he loved his students. Any teacher would be proud of their progress. They were, however, rambunctious.

His eyes fell on the other first year classes doing their kata and sparring practice. They seemed uninspired… kinda beige? He turned towards his new teaching assistant Matsunaga Akemi. “Take the class for an hour, Akemi-san. I need to check something out.” Akemi nodded, and Iruka exited the classroom, and proceeded to the training fields where the other classes of the year were practicing.

They were doing the standard kata. It was okay he supposed. He walked out among the other classes, watching them spar. They were almost cookie cutter children. Sure, Academy standard was fine, he supposed, but they were really sad. Some of the children had the fire inside, but it was maybe one in six, or eight. Why was his class so much better? A bunch of them were clan kids, and that explained a lot, but the others had improved a lot recently.

Sasuke was talented, and Kiba had something to prove. Recently Ino had stopped worrying about lip gloss so much, and had really been hitting the practice post. He had also seen her working with Kiba, which was the most f*cked up friendship he had ever seen. Some sort of alliance of spite. Hinata had improved by leaps and bounds as well. Akitsu was one of the kids at the heart of the struggle, tied to some of the other kids with bonds of friendship.

Iruka walked back inside, and up to the windows looking down on the schoolyard, pensive.

“Hey!” Iruka’s heart leapt in his chest. Akitsu had crept up on him, hall pass in hand. Akitsu looked out to see what Iruka had been looking at, and Iruka’s gaze followed his. “Checking out the firefly children, huh?” Iruka turned on him.

“Akitsu!! That term is extremely pejorative! Where did you even hear it?”

Akitsu stared out at the field lost in thought. He spoke up in a quiet voice, tone more serious. “There are a bunch of retired shinobi, by which I mean crippled, near where I live. I met a bunch of them doing deliveries.” Iruka looked confused. “You know, ramen, cigarettes, booze.” Iruka tried to hide his scandalized face at the second two. “They always have time to talk.” Akitsu continued “In fact it’s hard to shut them up. But they’re founts of wisdom. They told me about how the average age for a new chunin in the last war was two months, the lifespan of a firefly. Hence: Firefly children.”

“Akitsu.” Said Iruka sternly. “Those statistics are the Leaf’s shame and failure. They are what we seek to rise above. We already have enough friction between the civilians and the Clans. You will not poison the minds of your friends with such unworthy thoughts. If I hear those words from their mouths, I will suspect you.”

“Hai, sensei.” Said Akitsu, subdued now, nodding in submission.

“Off with you. Back to class.” Akitsu jogged back to class, and Iruka proceeded more slowly. ‘Hmmm.’ He thought to himself. Weekly visits from retired personnel. Like a living library. That could work, as long as they didn’t spread too much pessimism. He would talk to Mikoto and then the school principal about that idea.

***

The next meeting of the book club was spirited. We all sat around the round table at Naruto and my apartment, with our books left forgotten spread around the table. “Did you see that!” Naruto exclaimed, forgetting to keep his voice down to indoor levels. “Kiba was crazy! He was like ‘kick, punch, you’re not fighting back! Then he and Hinata fought, and it was so cool.” Naruto calmed down a bit from his enthusiastic recounting of events. “You did really awesome as well Hinata! I could tell that you almost had him there.”

Hinata’s face lit up with a blush. “Thank you, Naruto. I’m glad that our extracurricular training Is paying off. I was caught off guard with Kiba’s claw attack.” Sasuke nodded across the table at her. “Yeah, I noticed you were wearing armor. Where did you get it?” Hinata smiled shyly, a flower opening to the sun. “It was my mother’s. Father gave it to me after the fight with the bullies.”

Shino pushed his sunglasses further up on his nose. “Yes, mesh armor is excellent for shinobi work. It provides protection without sacrificing mobility.”

“Yes,” she replied. “It does.” Hinata turned her face to me. “Thank you for inviting me to study the Seven River style. I find the flowing motions easier to execute than much of the gentle fist.” My face turned introspective. ‘Hmm. Maybe I can help Hinata on that path earlier in this life.’

I put a smile on my face and told Hinata my idea. “Maybe after you master Seven Rivers and the Gentle Fist you could create a modified Gentle Fist style that better suits those with a different build. It would help not only you, but other clansmen in the future.” Hinata looked surprised at that idea and voiced her questions.

“But do you really think that I could create my own style?”

“I’m sure that with years of experience and training you can make all sorts of innovation.”

A look of determination crossed Hinata’s face. “If I make my own style, therefore increasing the power of the Clan, then I am sure the Elders would see me as worthy.” I smiled to myself. ‘It’s always nice to see a plan come together.’

“Hinata,” began Naruto, “You are worthy. Basic dignity and respect are the birthright of all thinking beings. I know, because Akitsu told me so.”

Shino rose his eyebrow. “What sort of literature have you been reading Akitsu?” All the while Hinata beamed.

I picked up my pen and shifted my notebook in front of me, grabbing the attention of the others. I opened the Academy book to a page about one third through the text. “Alright, since we all know the absolute basics of chakra manipulation, I was hoping to cover some chakra theory.”

The chakra used in jutsu was a combination of physical and spiritual chakra; otherwise known as Yin and Yang. Everyone had a different ratio of Yin to Yang, which depended on everything from birth to body type, to lifestyle. Some clans had styles based off Yin or Yang release, and genjutsu and medical ninjutsu were considered a Yin release. Both techniques involved the user injecting their chakra into the affected person and making their immune system ignore it.

In genjutsu your chakra attacked the sensory organs through the brain, and through that formed the illusion. Medical chakra worked similarly. If you didn’t mould your chakra correctly the body would see the chakra as an invading force and fight you as you were trying to heal them. You had to slip past the defenses so that their chakra wouldn’t fight yours.

I looked up from my book, seeing my friends industriously writing their notes. “So,” said Naruto. “Healing and Genjutsu and weird Nara stuff is Yin release?”

“Hn.” Replied Sasuke.

Hinata continued the line of questioning. “And Fire and Lightning and Earth and Water and Air are…. Nature Release.”

“Right.” Said Shino.

Hinata giggled a little, her hand covering her mouth. “Well, that’s next year’s homework done.”

“How is Nature Release different from Sage things?” Sasuke interrupted.

“Ask the Toad Sage,” I commented. My friends looked at me blankly, obviously not getting my reference. I gave them a Cheshire smile and raised my arms in the air dramatically. “He is the man who has no enemies in the North, South, East or and West. Not even in the Heavens!” I began to circle my head in a swooping motion. “He is one of the Sannin!” I began hopping on my right foot in a playful manner. “The White-Haired Frog Tamer! Even crying babies would stare in awe! The Great Jiraiya! That is Him!”

They all looked at me blankly. “You are so random.” Shino said in a monotone.

“Come on, guys. Jiraiya?” I said again. “One of the three Sannin? Tsunade, Orochimaru and Jiraiya? Gasp!” I said out loud, actually saying the word gasp. “The Three Sannin are the students of the Sandaime Hokage, and the heroes of the Second Shinobi War. Hanzo the Salamander gave them their name when they managed to survive against his attacks. They each learned to summon one type of animal. Jiraiya summons toads and became a sage under their tutelage.” I left a pause in my lecture, allowing the others at the table to finish writing their notes.

“I think that the difference between Sage arts and Nature release is in how you get the chakra. In nature release you mould your own chakra into one elemental type, usually the one you are most in tune with. A sage connects with the chakra of the world around them and draws it inside them. Apparently, you turn into a statue if you screw up. So don’t try that at home, kids.” The other children looked oddly at me due to the strange idiom.

“We can put that off until we are close to Jounin.” Said Sasuke. The others nodded.

It was the first week of January, five months since the start of term, and so much had been accomplished. I had joined the E.I.S.G., fought bullies with Naruto and Hinata, and convinced both Naruto and Sasuke to join the E.I.S.G. I had started the book club, invited Hinata to practice Seven Rivers Style with us, and written a controversial essay about the White Fang. I had learned how to use a printing press, gotten the Academy books revised, and Mizuki suspended from his teaching position for a few weeks. I had a heart to heart with Sakura, went on a camping trip, and had a tour of the Hokage Tower. I chose an instrument, began my medical studies, and wrote another essay that Mikoto shot down. I made theories about chakra, wrote the false dilemma fallacy article, and creeped out Iruka with my knowledge of the shinobi lifestyle. Life had already improved drastically and would hopefully continue to do so in the future.

***

Iruka exited the administration building with a list of names of retired Jōnin in hand. It had taken a half an hour wait to be inserted into the Hokage’s schedule, as info about personnel was classified. It was, however, worth the wait. He had seen how Akitsu lit a fire under his acquaintances, and the secret to his drive was firsthand knowledge. It was one thing to hear or learn about the shinobi wars, and the ninja life, and quite another to hear about it from people who had been there. He had a new plan to extend the club’s work ethic to the rest of the class, by having retired Jōnin come in as guest speakers. Yes, this would be wonderful.

Chapter 16

Chapter Text

Time skip - three months - April

Shikamaru stared out at his classmates from the back of the room, head down on his desk, pretending to be asleep. Although he did like using the time to nap, lessons had gotten a lot more comprehensive lately, and he couldn’t afford to miss them. Besides, with how chaotic this year had been, he needed time to think to himself most of all. Many things had changed recently, and all of those changes managed somehow to link back to one boy. Akitsu.

There had been visits by Retired Jounin to pass on their experiences. It was a great success. Each week, a different retired Jounin came by to give a talk about life as a shinobi, and even share stories about some non-classified missions they were on. After that they held a question-and-answer session. One week there was a talk about Yakuza suppression in Tanzaku Gai, involving spy craft and message drops, and finally a lightning raid. Another told about the guerilla warfare during the last war on the border of the Land of Earth.

The popularity of the Uchiha Clan had been steadily increasing with the monthly coverage of arrests that they were now printing. Stories about the arrests of purse snatchers, murderers, drunk brawlers, and for illegal dumping, served to boost public opinion of the Sharingan Clan. Gossips wagged about the low-grade competition between Uchiha Fugaku and Hyūga Hiashi. The patronizing politeness and sly jabs were standard between the two, but the fact that they were happening outside the school yard and at the class bake sale made their feud so… prosaic, like bitchy moms. This had made them more approachable and weirdly popular.

Shikamaru had watched each of his classmates had improve in leaps and bounds, thinking more strategically, hitting harder, and with more technique. Akitsu’s club had improved especially in chakra control. Another notable improvement was Ino and Kiba. They seemed a lot closer than before the Academy, and their skills were on another level. Ino was becoming an aggressive, practical fighter, and Kiba thought things through before taking action.

Shikamaru had been watching Akitsu since the start of the year. It was hard not to notice him. A clanless orphan with no background walks into the Academy and immediately gains a following of the most physically and politically powerful children in the village? That is suspicious. Even more so that he seemed to not only gain the favor of Hyūga-sama but was sponsored by the Uchiha. Either he was a skilled social climber, or an enemy spy. Shikamaru refused to be caught up in his web.

He had been watching Akitsu for months, waiting for him to slip up, and leak his motives. He needed to be patient, find a crack in his armor, figure out the spider’s game. Yet, months passed, and the mask of the perfect friend and studious schoolchild never wavered. It seemed that it was time to take his concerns to his father.

***

Shikamaru dropped off his backpack in his room when he got home, before heading straight for his father’s office. Nara Shikaku was a very busy man, what with being the Jōnin Commander. As Jōnin Commander, he allocated resources. This meant that he decided which shinobi are sent on high level missions, and how all team cells are put together. He also looked over normal resources such as armor, kunai, and rations. During war time he also functioned as a General, making and executing battle strategies. He was a busy man.

It was one reason that Shikamaru had avoided going to him for help before. The other was that it was customary for Academy students to sort out their own problems between one another. It was seen as practice for later life. It was only when a situation escalated that teachers or parents stepped in.

As Shikamaru explained his predicament, his father sat with his hands folded under his chin, a look of concentration on his face. When Shikamaru had finished, Shikaku began to speak. “Shikamaru, the path to climb the ladder of success is tough, and often distasteful, but it has to be possible. If there was no way to win that game, then people wouldn’t play. Instead, they would flip the board. To avoid revolution, we must make it possible for people to climb the ranks. Besides, being politically savvy isn’t a crime.”

Shikamaru screwed his face up. “Yeah, but that’s not my problem with it. If Akitsu was just some civilian social climber, I wouldn’t care. But he’s not. He gathers important people to him like honey, and expertly manipulates them. Social climbing is a skill, but I have never seen him slip up, make a mistake. He plays people like he’s been doing it for years, when I know he only started before the academy.”

Shikaku suddenly leaned in, a curious gleam in his eyes. “Are you telling me… that you think he’s played this game before?” He pushed his glasses back up on his nose. “Now that, would truly be interesting.”

***

It was after dinner on a weekday. Sasuke’s friends were over, doing their homework, and the sound of pencils scratching on papers filled the room. ‘How the world has changed,’ Mikoto thought. She sunk into a momentary trance, reaching out with her chakra to feel the world around her. Sasuke was a banked flame behind her, flaring occasionally. Her old friend’s son Naruto was a relentless swirl of movement.

The Hyūga’s restless waters were echoed by her kinsman hiding in the tree in the courtyard. ‘To benefit from that kind of protection’ she thought ‘would usually cost 10,000 ryo an hour, and here we are getting it for the price of some math homework.’

Aburame Shino’s chakra felt granular, like the multiplicity he was. Upstairs she felt Fugaku’s flickering fires. After a moment she felt him become aware of her and reach back. Apparently, he could feel that she was at peace, because Fugaku’s attention turned away. It was sad that dropping to this level of concentration left her almost helpless, otherwise an exercise like this would be an unparalleled jutsu. ‘I suppose,’ She mulled to herself, ‘this is what it would be like to be a Hyūga.’

Behind her she felt the chakra of Akitsu spike in irritation. Mikoto brought herself back to full consciousness and put down the dish she was drying. She walked into the room where the children were gathered around a low table, smiled, and picked up the piece of paper Akitsu on which he had been working. It was in the format of the monthly newspaper the school had continued writing. Mikoto’s eyes skimmed down, the article, eyes widening in surprise.

Local Pineapple Head wins Math Contest.

A local boy whose hair looks stupid won a recent Mathematics contest. The slacker kid was presented with a shiny plastic medal by the school principal while his peers rolled their eyes during the school assembly. Locals are sure that he will one day excel in his career as a shinobi, on any mission that does not involve lifting more than ten pounds, climbing a wall, jogging more than half a kilometer, or fighting anyone more dangerous than an eight-year-old with a pointy stick. It is expected that in the future years he will, should he miraculously make Chūnin, win the silver shovel, and then the golden shovel award.

Mikoto turned her attention to Akitsu who had been attempting to retrieve the page while she read it. She led him out into the courtyard, indicated that her son and his other friends should stay put, and closed the shoji behind them. Realizing they were now alone, Akitsu ceased trying to recover his paper, and she began dressing him down.

“Akitsu, were you really trying to get this into the paper?” She said sternly.

“No, Uchiha-sama.” He replied, admonished. “I was just blowing off some steam.” He replied, eyes downcast.

“I knew he was not part of your circle of friends, but do you really dislike him so?” she asked.

“Absolutely.” Akitsu replied, eyes flashing defiance. “I wish he would just quit or something. Take up tax law. Farm. Whatever. Just not near my friends.”

Mikoto looked over the letter again. “Akitsu, I thought you knew better than to make unnecessary enemies.”

“Sorry Uchiha-sama” the boy replied less sullenly.

“Akitsu, you may not know this, but I sponsored you to school. Otherwise, you probably would have been accepted, but without my word you would not have been put in Sasuke’s class with the other clan heirs. Other civilian children have a portion of their wages deducted each year until the cost of their schooling is paid off, but yours have been paid in advance, all years. If you cause trouble with another clan, it will fall on me.”

Akitsu blanched and dropped to the ground, and performed the full dogeza, touching his head to the ground. Mikoto was surprised. Akitsu was generally a little formal around adults, but she was aware he was at ease with his friendship group, although he did not go so far as to use yobisute and abandon honorifics with anyone except Naruto.

“Up.” She commanded him. When he looked up again, Mikoto was kneeling on the grass in a relaxed, poised manner. “I can see some of the roots of this problem, Akitsu.” She began, eyes searching his face. Akitsu avoided her gaze. “He has a large support group, which you used to lack. He is wealthy, and until recently, you felt the bite of hunger.” Akitsu twitched, trying to suppress his reaction, but Mikoto was veteran of battles and politics, and could read him easily.

“But he just won’t try.” Said Akitsu. “He’s been offered a golden platter, but he’s like ‘Nah, I’m too good for that.’ I hope they apprentice him to Maito Gai.”

Mikoto laughed despite the serious conversation and hid her face behind her hand. “The bit with the shovel awards is shameful though.” Mikoto alluded to the gallows humour of a mythical Silver Shovel award for having ten shinobi under your command die, and the Golden shovel award for one hundred deaths.

“That sort of talk is hurtful and unnecessary, and injurious to morale.” she continued. “Where did you even learn such rude expressions?”

“People talk around children like they’re furniture, Uchiha-sama.” He answered. “And pain meds run out.” Mikoto thought about the NMC Jounin, the non-mission capable ones that had been brought in to teach the younger generation about shinobi culture and resolved not to continue that line of questioning further.

“I shall talk to Nara-sama about this conflict. Have you shown this to your friends?”

“No, Uchiha-sama.” He replied.

“Good.” She said, raising him by his hand and walking him to the small fountain in the corner of the courtyard. “I shall think on some appropriate punishment for your indiscretion.” She said. “Hold still, you have some dirt on your forehead.” and she wiped the dirt of with a kerchief and some water from the fountain. “Back to your friends now.” Akitsu scampered back, dirty footed, to his friends.

***

I lay awake in bed, tossing and turning as I tried to find a position that laid my body and mind to rest. Still, I couldn't help my mind from wandering to the conversation from that morning. Mikoto-sama had said that the Uchiha Clan was sponsoring me. That... wasn't something I had known. Hell, I hadn't even guessed. I had thought that I had gotten into the clan class on brains, like Sakura. Perhaps Sarutobi had put me there to give Naruto a friend close by.

Being sponsored by the Uchiha changed everything. I wasn't a clanless nobody anymore - not that I thought I could stay that way, being Naruto's friend and all. I was now in the thick of the political intrigue of Konoha. That had been my plan, but I hadn’t expected it to go this far. If anything, at least this meant that I wouldn’t be easily 'disappeared'.

Unfortunately, this also meant that anything I did would link back to the Uchiha. If I became a missing-nin, or was implicated as a traitor, that would affect their standing. And if I was caught inciting sedition, then Danzō could very easily turn that onto the Uchiha Clan, as an excuse to be rid of them. It would be all too easy to rile the civilians up in that kind of political atmosphere. And even if I hadn't gotten attached to the Uchiha, with their stuck-up attitude and emotional constipation, I would hate to see all that I had worked for be torn away after everything that I had done to build up the Uchiha's reputation.

On the slightly less serious hand was the issue of my parentage. If it came out that the Uchiha Clan was sponsoring a child born of the Hyūga Clan, then all metaphorical hell would break loose. Or possibly literal, you never know. It was likely that the Uchiha would fight to keep me, citing that the fact that I was living on the streets meant that the Hyūga had abandoned me. The Hyūga would likely try to fold me into the clan as a branch member, claiming that the Uchiha were trying to commit line theft. It would be a sh*t show of epic proportions.

All of this could wait for tomorrow to think about, if only I could get to sleep.

***

Uchiha Mikoto walked up to the checkpoint at the gates to the Nara compound. She had sent a note to Nara Shikaku requesting a short meeting at his convenience. That had turned out to be the next morning. The phrasing and hanakatoba she had used implied motherhood and reconciliation. She was garbed in a modest kimono with only two layers, dressed as an Uchiha mother but not as Lady Uchiha. She provided her invitation to one of the two guards at the gate and was escorted up the gravel path to the home of Nara Shikaku and Nara Yoshino.

She was greeted at the gate to the house by Yoshino. “Good morning, Mikoto-san! Please come in for some tea.” Mikoto was very pleased by the greeting. Yoshino was dressed simply and had responded to Mikoto’s low key missive with motherly overtones by graciously keeping the meeting simple and low key. The most careful response would have been to have been greeted with a three-hour tea ceremony with five layers. Instead, She was led out into a simple room with the shoji open to the engawa and then the garden. Shikaku was there, reading some sort of report, which was slightly rude of him, but he quickly put it away. There was a low table in the room with a few snacks, and a tea set.

“Please be seated, Uchiha-sama,"

Mikoto demurred, "Only Uchiha-san today, please."

Shikaku and Yoshino sat, and Yoshino made tea, in an informal style, and offered Mikoto a cup. "Oh, Nara-san should have the first cup. He has been so kind, rearranging his schedule to meet me so quickly."

"Oh, no!" pushed back Yoshino. "It has been wonderful to have him up a little early this morning. I have quite enjoyed our unaccustomed time together." Yoshino was teasing her husband and inviting Mikoto in on the joke. Mikoto smiled and accepted the tea.

"You are much too kind, Nara-san." She thanked Yoshino.

They spend a few inconsequential minutes discussing the weather and drinking tea. As all three finished their cups, Mikoto opened up the conversation. "I wanted to arrange a meeting between us, because I have become aware of some friction between one for whom I have become responsible, and your son."

"I am also aware of this issue." replied Shikaku. Mikoto inclined her head in understanding. "I had hoped that by increasing our, and their understanding of each other, we could head off problems in the future.” Shikaku inclined his head in agreement.

Shikaku began to outline his view of the situation. "Shikamaru sees Akitsu as a child who has shown up from seeming nowhere and made friends with the sons and daughters of powerful people. He sees a child with a relentless drive, and an unfailing, kind mien, who spars with particular competence, but when knocked down, praises the improvement of the one who knocked him down. Shikamaru thinks 'No one is that unfailingly nice.'"

Mikoto responded "There is another explanation that shinobi will often overlook. It is called integrity." Shikaku nodded, conceding the point.

Shikaku ventured again. "The boy holds himself above schoolyard quarrels, like a sage. He responds to personal attacks with amused grace and condescension."

Mikoto spoke again. "I have heard Akitsu when he thought no one was listening, bemoan having to deal with 'this playground bullsh*t.'" She explained further. "The boy grew up in the Reed District. He has previously said that adults talk around young children like they were furniture. He also has spent a lot of time running errands for n.m.c. Jounin and has culturally assimilated to some of their attitudes, some positive, some negative. He has alluded that incomplete pain medication may cause tongues to be less guarded than they should be." Yoshino’s eyes softened in sorrow, and Shikaku let out a heavy sigh. "Akitsu has in the presence Iruka-san used the expression ‘Firefly Children’ and is aware of the alleged Silver Shovel award bruited about in certain circles." Both Nara froze for a second, concealing their sorrow.

Yoshino poured more tea to cover the awkward silence, as all three composed themselves. They consumed their second cup silently, observing the buds on the trees in the courtyard.

Shikaku spoke again. "Do you have any insight on the dislike he holds for my son?"

Mikoto nodded. Against tradition she stole Yoshino's empty cup, placing them side by side. "Until recently, Shikamaru and Akitsu's lives had the greatest of disparities. Shikamaru has a loving family:" She poured a small amount of hot water into Yoshino's cup. "and Akitsu had none." She carefully poured a small measure of nothing into her own cup, symbolizing Akitsu. "Shikamaru had sturdy clothes, and abundant food," she said pouring another measure into Yoshino's cup "and Akitsu scrambled to find soup." Mikoto poured a very small measure into Her own cup. "Shikamaru had a fine house in a private compound." She filled Yoshino’s cup another third, "and Akitsu lived in a box in an alleyway." Yoshino's eyes filled with horror, and she covered her mouth, and Shikaku’s mouth tightened.

"Nevertheless, Akitsu is not jealous of Shikamaru-kun. Akitsu now has shelter, friends, and family of a sort. But he is exasperated. The other children are growing by leaps and bounds, and Shikamaru is.... not. The other children are excited to spar. Kiba's eyes glow with excitement when he talks about fighting Akitsu. Ino talks about how much she wants to punch Naruto's face. Inuzuka Kiba actively despises Shikamaru because when they fight, Kiba learns nothing. Inuzuka Kiba is brash, physical, co*cky, and insecure. He is very different from Akitsu who is calm, intellectual, and wise, but they have so much more to speak about than either of them does to Shikamaru.”

Shikaku breathed a sigh. "Thank you for this useful information." The three began to rise and finish their meeting. Shikaku mentioned offhandedly "Do I need to prepare for Akitsu-kun to become Hokage?"

"Not at all" replied Mikoto. "That is Naruto-kun's dream. Akitsu-kun wants to apprentice to you, Nara-san."

Shikaku and Yoshino watched Mikoto walk down the street led by a Nara guard until she passed out of sight. They talked for a long time after she was gone.

***

I sat in class listening to Iruka present a lecture at the front of the class. We had already covered this content in the club, and I felt confident enough that I wouldn't worry about messing up my notes. Instead, I focused on Iruka's lips, trying to parse the words from the form of them. To use my eyes to the fullest, lip-reading was an essential skill.

It was also one of the first steps in my goals. This skill was needed to learn the henge, without tipping off the teachers about my knowledge. Right now, jumping grades was the last thing I needed. I would use these five years of education to push my skills to the limits, only going into the field when I felt that I was ready.

The next step of my plan required money, but what with the Academy stipend, and the deliveries from Akimichi-sama saving them money, I had a fair bit put away. Once I had everything I needed, the real game would start.

***

Shikamaru came home at the end of his school week. He removed his sandals and dropped his backpack in the hall. "Hello, Shika-kun!" Yoshino greeted him warmly. “Your father is waiting for you in his study.” Shikamaru, a little apprehensive, shot a look towards that area of the house and made his way to the shoji, where he tapped quietly.

"Enter." came his father’s voice.

Shikamaru opened the door and sat on the tatami in front of his father’s low desk. It was a little odd that his father was home this early. Sensing tension, he sat seiza in front of his father and bowed. Shikaku returned the nod abbreviatedly.

"I have been looking into the dynamics of your class and the issues of your relationships with your classmates and Akitsu in particular. It has been very instructive. I have come into a lot of information to impart to you.”

“I will start with a metaphor. Shikamaru, the Aburame exist in a state of symbiosis with their insect colonies. Heightened states of fear or anger elicit physical changes in the blood which affect their colonies. Thus, the Aburame learn to moderate their emotions. This has been noticed, and the story occurred that they do not feel emotions. If you go outside Konoha, this is accepted as the truth. Thus, an observation, turned into the story, has become the ‘Truth’ as known by most of the world.”

“I have spent many hours on patrols, in trenches the Third Shinobi War. There during the long hours of danger and privation I acquired the soldier’s skill to sleep anywhere, despite distant explosions. This is a common skill among long term veterans. At one point the single exit of the bunker I was in was buried by an explosive tag. We had no earth-nin. Knowing I had limited air available, I chose to reduce my air consumption by inducing a sleep state. When they dug me out six hours later, it took me a while to rouse myself. My Taichou opened the way with an earth jutsu after an attack had been driven off. Worried I was dead from lack of air, he shook me. In the presence of four other shinobi, I said “Just five more minutes.’”

“Thus, the legend was born. I generally work eight to ten hours a day. During times of crisis, I have worked eighteen hours a day. If I am to be able to do that I need to be somewhat rested during the ‘normal’ days. When you were a child, I often went to work at four in the morning so I could be done by one and come home to spend an afternoon nap with you. But that was enabled by sacrifice on my part. Your mother, of course, teased me about my habits, and that is one of the private jokes between us, but I had not realized you really thought this was the truth. For this I apologize." Shikaku bowed low to Shikamaru, who cringed with mortification, sputtering. "Nevertheless, I put in long and hard hours in school and at home on my road to Jounin, more than can be counted.”

“Your classmates think of you as lazy. They say, 'Why is he here if he is just going to sleep?' They think that maybe your seat could be better taken with a civilian." Shikamaru began to defend himself, but his father shut him down.”

“Shikamaru, I know that there is tension in your classroom. Ino and Sakura dislike Ami, and she dislikes them back. Sakura dislikes Akitsu, but he is friendly towards her. Sakura dislikes Fudo Kato, but he is not injured by her lack of regard. Xiaoxia likes Fudo Kato, and dislikes Sakura. Ami dislikes Shino, who is immune to her dislike. Kiba dislikes Akitsu, and wants to punch his face in, But Kiba likes Naruto. Chōji is generally well liked. But." Shikaku’s voice became more serious. "Everybody dislikes you. Except Chōji, who has become socially isolated by his loyalty to you. Kiba looks forwards to sparring with Akitsu, because Kiba learns something each time they fight. Kiba is sharpening himself like a knife on a whetstone when he fights Akitsu, but nobody learns anything when they fight you."

Tears ran down Shikamaru’s face as his stomach filled with sorrow. “Still, we have a way forward. I have talked to the principal of the school, and I have had you moved to class 1C. There will be new children there, and you will eventually make friends. If you improve in the future years, you might be eventually put back with class 1A, but not next year." Shikamaru wiped his tears and nodded. "I will spend some time with you on conditioning and taijutsu, and we will fill this deficit." Shikamaru nodded. "I don't think I need to say this, but do not blame Akitsu or anyone else for this problem. Even if he was Orochimaru's clone son snuck into Konoha to subvert the clan children, that would be the Hokage's problem, neh?"

"Yes father." acceded Shikamaru.

Shikaku leaned down, putting his hand on Shikamaru’s shoulder. "I am not saying to stop your friendship with Chōji, but back off for a while so he can make new friends."

"I will give him time to make new friends, Otou-san." answered the boy.

"Now that is done, there is some work you and I need to do with the herd before dinner." Father put his son in a headlock and led him out into the April afternoon to spend some time working together.

Chapter 17

Chapter Text

May

Uchiha Mikoto and Fugaku walked through the streets. They were garbed in fine fabrics, but lower key than ceremonial garb. People in the street remarked as they passed by, and Mikoto smiled and nodded back. “Relax, husband, you are not going to an execution." Fugaku smiled back stiffly at some of the civilian villagers and nodded his head in careful greeting at a passing retired shinobi who was a weaponsmith.

"Probably not." he muttered back; his smile unmoving from his face.

They knocked on the front door of the Sarutobi compound. They were greeted by a smiling housekeeper. This was only appropriate as Sarutobi Hiruzen's wife Biwako had passed away many years before. The round-faced cheery woman kept up a lovely patter about how happy she was to have them visit, and how nice it was to open up rooms not used in a while. Mikoto knew from her files that the manager of the house had been Hiruzen's son Asuma's wet nurse many years ago. Mikoto carefully opened her ki senses to the world and felt the tickle of chakra presences nearby.

They proceeded through the house, shoes in hand, to an interior garden, where they were left by the housekeeper. Fugaku and Mikoto observed the interstitial garden which was a space between the house and a tea house. The area showed some lack of care in the recent years, repaired with new wood. Mikoto indicated some new flowers thriving in a stand of old. "Anata, look at this new growth. Things are really changing in this garden, aren't they?" Fugaku examined the new growth in the garden, pausing to examine her deeper meaning. "There have certainly been some changes here.", he agreed. "I hope the gardener continues to improve this valuable treasure." They took their time to appreciate the garden and washed their hands in the gurgling stone washbasin.

The married couple climbed the stairs to the tea house. Passing under the low entryway, they found Sarutobi Hiruzen. "Welcome, Honored guests. Thank you for coming at my request."

Fugaku and Mikoto dipped their heads. "The pleasure is all ours, Sarutobi-sama." In the alcove was a small arrangement of bamboo (Loyalty, Steadfastness) and Iris (Hope). A famed piece of calligraphy was hung behind the floral arrangement.

Sarutobi and the Uchiha spent a good hour together. They discussed the weather. Sarutobi made tea. They discussed the flower arrangement. They drank tea. They discussed the scroll of calligraphy, penned by Uchiha Madara himself. They ate a small arrangement of seasonally appropriate amuse bouches. They drank tea. They discussed the latest goings on at the Konoha Academy. He thanked them for the honor of having their second son named after his father, Sarutobi Sasuke.

'What a cunning fox' thought Fugaku. 'An hour and a half we have waited, while he puts the screws to us, waiting to come to the point. Masterful.'

'Wonderful' thought Mikoto. 'Hiruzen has put so much time and effort into this, to show he values the Uchiha. Neither has he hidden his weaknesses, showing us the truth of his decreased clan. He has left them on display in order to invite trust. He has not let a hint of whatever advantage of concession he seeks to come forward to dilute this message. Masterful.'

"Uchiha-sama." Hiruzen finally began. "The office of the Hokage is constantly on the edge of being overwhelmed, and the difficulties of marshalling seven secretaries, and ensuring their safety and informational safety is exponential." Fugaku nodded serenely, and Hiruzen continued. "During the past few months, the organizational excellence, and not incidental applications of the Sharingan have saved, according to my estimates, four lives and one hundred and thirty hours of work time, at the expense of a third of that." Mikoto smiled softly and snuck a glance at Fugaku, who noticed and smiled back.

"I would like to offer a position working in my office to Uchiha Mikoto." Sarutobi took a sip of tea.

Fugaku spoke softly, steel in his voice. "You want Lady Uchiha to be some sort of secretary?"

"No." replied Sarutobi. "I want to employ her as my assistant." Fugaku was a bit taken aback, then smiled, looking at his wife.

"I, of course have no objection, but it would be up to my lovely wife. " He smiled as he took her hand in his in a kind proprietary manner. "She would of course be missed at the KMPF." Mikoto smiled.

"We all must make our sacrifices for Konoha, I suppose." She said.

"I was thinking Jounin D Pay." said Sarutobi.

Mikoto laughed prettily. "I already get that Sarutobi-sama. I was thinking Jounin B." Sarutobi made a show of thinking about it. "The position does require enhanced reliability, and I will not be getting mission pay." Sarutobi made a dissatisfied face, thinking hard, and Mikoto came up with a compromise. "How about I accept Jounin D, but at the anniversary date of one year, I am automatically jumped to B. unless I have proved unsatisfactory."

"Sansei desu." said Sarutobi agreeing. "How soon can you start?

***

Cheers and laughter rang through the air, children in their new yukata ran through the streets taking care not to run into any of the carts lining the roadway. The smells of takoyaki and yakisoba drifted on the breeze, catching under the noses of passerby, and leading them to the origin of the scent. Up on the roofs of Konoha civilians and ninja alike raised paper lanterns into the air, watching as they floated into the night sky like a new milky way.

The Rice-Planting spring festival had finally come around, and it was celebrated with enthusiasm. The Rice-Planting Festival was celebrated all over the Elemental Nations no matter the size or industry of a village. Konoha itself did not produce any rice in the many fields surrounding its forests. Those fields went to producing vegetables and fruits which spoiled quickly. Rice stored extremely well and could be transported all over. Thus, the entire Elemental Nations depended on rice. It was the reason The Land of Rice Fields had remained out of any Shinobi War so far. Although if rumor held, then it had recently been renamed the Land of Sound and had established a shinobi village of its own; Otogakure.

Hinata followed a step behind her father, in the lavender yukata patterned with a swarm of tiny white butterflies. As the Hyūga Clan Head, Hiashi had to make an appearance at the festival, so that all of the civilians could see that the Hyūga still stand strong and proud. Especially proud. Otou-san was dressed in a very formal five layered Kimono. Not even the Hokage would wear clothing of that level of decadence, even though he had the status to.

At every fifth stand Otou-san stopped to buy a small sample, and taste test. This was to symbolize that the Hyūga will break bread with the rest of the village. Hinata took small bites each time, so as to conserve room for a larger meal later on. She would be meeting up with the other members of the book club for dinner at Ichiraku ramen before the night was over.

Out of the corner of her eye Hinata caught sight of a boy in a festival mask staring at her. He wore a white kimono of fine make, tied with a black obi. A pale green sash was tied at his right shoulder. He twitched slightly as she laid her eyes on him, but then her attention was pulled away by her father offering her another piece of food from a stand. When she turned to look back, he was gone.

***

Hinata was the last club member to arrive at Ichiraku ramen, due to her PR duties. I sat at the booth on a tall stool, sipping my broth and quietly listening to the surrounding noise. Traditional music floated on the air as chopsticks and sandals alike clacked out a staccato rhythm. It was nice to just be here with my friends, enjoying life without stressing about school or the trials we would face down the road.

It was as Hinata and Shino were caught up talking about the possible application of kikachu in farming, that I felt a tingle on the back of my neck. It felt as if I was being watched. I looked around the street but didn't see any eyes on me. The feeling hadn't gone away. I surreptitiously turned on the Byakugan and started scanning around me. My range had grown over the years. It had started off at around 20 meters, but with training I had managed to extend that to 40 meters.

I focused on the people in a 40-meter radius around me, picking out ninja and civilian based on the size of their chakra. One person that stood out was a boy in a white kimono and festival mask. The first thing that set him apart was the size of his chakra. It was enormous for someone who must have been my age or slightly older. The second was his entirely lacking any f*cking eyes whatsoever. Behind the festival mask that concealed his face, were empty eye sockets. As I began to inspect him more closely, the boys head turned marionette slow towards me, face dead on as if he could see me despite his lack of eyes. His sockets stared through three buildings; empty gaze set straight on me. In my shock I switched the Byakugan off, my eyes again limited to seeing normally. I lurched forward, drawing the attention of my companions. I managed to convince them that I was fine, and returned to thinking about what happened. When I checked again, he was gone. Who was that boy? Was he important?

***

I was yanked rudely from the arms of sleep at the sound of glass shattering. my eyesight sharpened with preternatural clarity. A rock had broken the living room window. As more rocks fell near the bedroom window, missing, I rolled out of bed and grabbed my kunai holster as another rock shattered my window.

"Naruto!" I yelled. "Danger!" I pulled on the breathing mask that had been set on my bedside table. I saw outside and three levels down on street level four adults throwing rocks. One of them brought out a lighter and the others brought forth some gas filled bottles. I readied myself, waiting for a moment. They flew at the same time. One flew through the living room window, setting the closed curtains on fire.

Through concrete and steel, I saw the second fly up in a lazy arc ready to soar through the window. When it arrived, I was there, and caught it in my hand like a water balloon at a picnic. Unhindered by the smoke, I took two steps to the window, opened one half, and threw the flaming bottle down at the group. It smashed into a figure readying another bottle. That unfortunate soul, doused in flaming oil, dropped the new missile he was preparing, dousing another’s legs in flaming liquid who began shrieking as he tripped over the bottles, spreading the fire further. It was like clowns. If clowns were on fire.

Naruto had run into the living room in his pajamas and frog hat. The thing he decided to remove from the fire was the fire. He grabbed the curtains which were on fire and tore the rod off the ceiling. Naruto grabbed the curtain rod, wrapped the flaming blankets on it, and threw it out the window onto the road below. I grabbed a kunai, a real one, not a flimsy school one, and wrapped its grip and ring in a chakra thread. Quickly checking to see that no Shinobi had shown up, I threw/guided the dagger through the air into the leg of the remaining assailant not on fire, who shrieked and began to limp away.

Across the neighbourhood, faces were popping out on balconies. A working girl, hair in papers walked out to the street, and a late-night worker rushed into the area. A reveler, left over from the Festival the night before, came around the corner of the alleyway brandishing a bottle at the arsonists.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Save that arsonist for T&I!" The reveler chased after the arsonist. Naruto beat out the remaining flames with the kitchen rug, while I searched for other assailants. I found two men, with clubs with nails in them, attempting to move nonchalantly away.

'I really want to chase them,' I thought, 'But rushing out into the night would be too competent.' I settled for memorizing their faces and chakra as they casually walked away at a fast clip into the night, bats hidden under their coats. Neighbours exited the buildings, putting out the pitiful charred wretches. The late-night reveler had, together with two other late arrivals, tackled the unburnt arsonist, and a local matriarch bandaged the sobbing man’s leg.

***

Ten minutes later, there was a knocking at the door. "Who is it?" asked Naruto.

"Konoha Jounin." responded the voice. Naruto was about to open the door when I motioned him not to.

"Slide your ID under the door, please." There was the pause, then muttering. A Shinobi ID card slid under the door, with a picture of a man with spiky white hair whose face was hidden by a mask. One of his eyes was hidden by his Hitai-ate. I examined the figure through the door with my Byakugan. It did not appear to be a henge or a clone. I passed the ID back under the door. "Thanks."

"I need to make sure you're fine, and not under duress or anything." said the voice on the other side. "Open the door." I rolled my eyes, and Naruto opened the door. Hatake Kakashi slouched into the room, hands in his pockets. He froze for a second seeing the goggled, gas mask clad, dagger wielding child in blue pajamas with the duckies on them. "Kid, take of the mask, please. Why do you have it on?"

"I think they are amazingly comfortable." I replied, grinning under the mask. "I think in the future everyone will wear them."

"Kid...." said Kakashi annoyedly.

"They're amazingly useful." I gestured towards the still smoky apartment. Kakashi glowered threateningly. "Otouto, meet Kakashi Hatake, the Jounin that stopped the fire across the way last year."

Naruto brightened. "The one with the watery dragon?" he said.

"Yes, that one."

"Sweet!" Said Naruto.

I nodded then, and Naruto brought them back to the previous topic. "Akitsu has a couple theories about that jutsu. The first is that it was made as some sort of wall breaching jutsu."

"That's a good theory." Agreed Kakashi, abandoning the thread. "What's the other theory?"

I replied myself. "I think most shinobi are massive drama queens, and it was part of some dick measuring contest. I mean, what was it, thirty hand signs?"

"Forty-Four."

"Wild" responded Naruto. Kakashi's eye narrowed, focusing back on me.

"What happened here?" Kakashi tried to get back on track.

"We'd rather wait for the KMPF." I said.

"Look kid, if you didn't do anything wrong, then you've got nothing to fear." Kakashi tried to convince them.

***

"...and then the kid laughed at me, Gai, he laughed at me." Kakashi said, putting his beer down on the bar of the Jounin lounge they were frequenting. "He pointed, too."

"Akitsu-kun is a fine boy." replied Konoha's Green Beast. "It is true that you were there of your own will."

Kakashi took another swig of his beer. "The KMPF did show up, and he 'declined to answer questions without an adult present.' He asked for Uchiha Mikoto. That put the KMPF on their best behaviour."

"Would you have not wanted a parent there if you were a child?" asked the smiling white toothed Jounin.

Kakashi mumbled into his beer. "He's just weird, that’s all."

The man with the bowl cut asked: "What is being done with the perpetrators of the attack?"

"Three are being kept in a hospital burn ward, and the last one in T&I while they figure out if this was a targeted attack, and if so, by whom." Kakashi stuttered to a halt in the middle of his train of thought. “sh*t.” Kakashi dropped his beer. “It was Hound that put out the fire! sh*t!”

***

The next day I was in class. We were doing a history class. A secretary came by and handed a note to Iruka sensei. The class looked at each other, whispering. Iruka sensei read the note. “Akitsu, you have a short meeting with the principal.” I grabbed my bookbag and walked down the quiet halls with the secretary. I was taken to a meeting room near the principal’s office. I was pleased to see Mikoto waiting for me in her Jounin uniform, wakizashi at her side. She must have come straight from work. The other person in the room was obviously Shikamaru’s father. He also wore the gunbai which symbolized his rank as Jounin commander. That told me this was something serious, although the fact that this was happening at school soft pedaled that a bit.

“Nara-Dono.” I bowed to him. “Uchiha-sama.” She smiled kindly. “I am sorry to have disrupted your day.” I removed my face mask. The room had a desk I would call western style with four chairs. I pulled out a seat for Mikoto, and she sat, and I sat next to her while Nara Shikaku sat. The secretary left the room after the Jounin Commander declined tea.

“This is in relation to a conversation you had after the arson attempt last night.” I nodded genially, trying to project an air of not being worried due to complete innocence. “You had a conversation with Hatake Kakashi where you implied a certain person was ANBU Hound.”

“Oh my gosh! Kakashi!” I exclaimed. “I didn’t even realize!” I shook my head like I was waking up. “Can I have a moment?” Shikaku paused for a second, letting me take a second. I spent the second to close my eyes and concentrated on the world around me. Mikoto smelled of the eggs with chives we had had for breakfast, and a little of weapon oil, and a hint of the soap she used. I was pretty sure it was her. I had pointed out Kakashi to Naruto as the one who put out the fire across the road last year with the Great Water Dragon Jutsu without realizing he had been wearing ANBU gear.

“Akitsu-kun.” Shikaku spoke evenly. “Will you tell me why you think Hatake Kakashi is ANBU Hound?”

“Yes, sir... May I rise and explain?” The Nara nodded. “I am going to enter this door. When I do, please tell me who I am.” Mikoto turned as I exited out the door and composed myself.

I moved into the room in a low wide stance, arms at 90⁰, mouth in a wide eager smile, hair jouncing as I moved my focus around the room, flashing from point to point.

“Maito Gai,” said Mikoto. I flashed her a thumbs up, cheesy smile on my face.

I went out again and altered my stance. I took small demure steps, my hands hidden in my sleeves. I bowed, and entered the room, only taking a moments glance with a shy smile at Shikaku. I avoided looking at either person in the room, always looking at least 45⁰ away from them. I kneeled on the ground in the corner.

“A Courtesan.” said Shikaku.

I flashed him a brilliant smile and then thought again and hid my smile behind an invisible fan. I stood carefully, arranging my kimono so I did not cause impropriety, and exited the room.

I put on my mask and came again. Standing tall but with a slouchy swagger, a bit of a hip roll. I caught sight of Shikaku, and eye smiled at him and sketched him a nonchalant two finger salute. Then I leaned up against the doorjamb and pulled out my student handbook. I turned a page, and then giggled softly.

Shikaku broke the silence. “Hatake Kakashi.” He intoned.

I giggled again, high pitched. I raised a finger indicating he should wait. Turned another page, and then put the book away nonchalantly in my back pocket. I approached the table and sat down.

“I apologize, Nara-sama. I had seen the ANBU at a fire scene, and seen Hatake-san, and made the link. I didn’t really remember that that had been an ANBU at the time.”

“You are saying you recognized him by his stance and mannerisms?”

“Well partially.” I responded. “He is a singularly tall man, with white hair which was not hidden by a hood. And the language of his movement is distinctive.” Shikaku indicated I should continue.

“Maito Gai-san’s stance indicates forthrightness and eagerness for challenge. The courtesan’s stance communicates a self-effacing nature, with flashes of ‘true emotion’” I made air quotes here. “shining through to make human contact. Hatake-san’s slouch is the most aggressive slouch I have ever seen. It says ‘I’m so much faster than you, I don’t need to be in a stance to kill you. I don’t even care.’ In fact, I would translate it as, ‘f*ck around and find out.’”

Shikaku exhaled slowly, nodding slightly.

“Also, there is the thing.” I continued. “I am aware of his summons from gossip. ANBU Hound? Are those who named them super convinced they are so much smarter than everybody? Is Mitarashi Anko ANBU Snake? Is Uchiha Itachi ANBU Weasel? Because that would be absurd.” Shikaku’s nostrils flared slightly. I figured it was time to back off. “I just hope these conventions do not continue across the board.”

“These are interesting theories.” answered Shikaku, “But you must learn, we in Konoha simply do not go around trying to figure out who ANBU agents are. You are a smart child but acting the way you did could imperil one of Konoha’s agents, and if we people generally acted this way it would definitely lose lives.”

I bowed my head low. “Moushiwake gozaimasen.” I gave the most abject of apologies. “It will not happen again.”

Shikaku spoke again. “Further breaches of these rules would negatively affect perception of your reliability.” I bowed a second time. “I will leave your punishment to Uchiha-sama.” He rose, and so did we. He exited the room.

After he left Mikoto casually mentioned, “Someone will be doing a lot of wood chopping over the next two weeks.” I nodded assent, chastened.

Back in the classroom, Iruka continued his lesson. I knelt at the door until he nodded and granted me admittance. I slipped back into my seat. “Naruto, can I catch up on your notes?” I muttered in a low voice.

“Sure.” He replied in kind. “What was that about?”

“Tell you later, at home.” I answered.

***

In the yard at recess, the group of Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, Shino, and I were walking towards our favourite tree. On the way over we heard Ami whispering to her coterie.

“I heard that Akitsu murdered a bunch of people.”

I stopped dead. Ami was actually pointing while whispering loudly behind her hand. I whispered “Prop me up” to Naruto, who nodded, went to one knee, and planted himself. I stepped lightly onto Naruto’s shoulders, who stood up, raising me above the crowd. I cupped my hands around my mouth and pointed at Ami boldly. “BEHOLD!”

“BEHOLD WHAT!” Kiba yelled back. Everybody was paying attention now, coming closer, interested in the little spectacle.

“Kiba, you know that thing in a manga where the protagonist has a secret power?” I asked. Anime was a tradition that had originated in Japan long before most thought, and that trend was found here as well.

“Yeah.” Replied Kiba. “Maybe he’s a natural fire user and can set people on fire with just his mind, or his shadow is alive and malicious. Awesome sh*t!” Kiba was gesticulating wildly.

“And his heroic resolve stops him from murdering people.” I added in.

“Lame.” Said Kiba, drawing out the word.

“Yeah.” I agreed. “There’s always some kid who keeps trying to put them down, to show them for the monster they really are.”

“I hate that twat!” Kiba agreed.

“Right. Ami-kun thinks that I am a remorseless killer, and here she is, in a schoolyard literally pointing at me; Rude much; and saying in my presence that I am a remorseless killer. Can anyone point out the flaw in that?”

“Yeah!” said Kiba. “If you were a remorseless savage killer, you would take your revenge on her!”

“No, I wouldn’t.” I answered, voice dropping softly. The schoolkids approached eager to hear. “If I was a hideous monster, I would set it up so that when she skipped home from school one day, she would sit down for her after school snack. She would notice a heavy coppery smell. Then the door to the pantry would slowly creep open, to reveal her mother hanging from a meat hook with her eyes gouged out, and her mouth sewn shut.” Ami’s face blanched. Most of the children leaned away.

“So, either I am 1) An innocent person, Ami is torturing for personal gain,” I raised one finger “or 2) A dangerous psycho that she is poking, likely to get her family slaughtered.” I sighed dramatically. “Sadly, I do not have a secret Kekkei Genkai to set people on fire with my mind. Alas.” I put the back of my hand on my forehead. Some of the kids around us giggled. Shino, Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata had formed a cordon between themselves.

“Don’t be too hard on Ami. It is likely that whoever passed this information on to Ami, probably wanted negative results to fall on Ami, causing her family to either lose face of be murdered while incurring no negatives themselves. Kiba?” I questioned, “What do you do to an immobile bear you think is dead?”

“Poke it with a long stick.” Kiba replied with a very ‘duh’ voice.

“Right.” I confirmed. “And if it isn’t dead, do you get destroyed?”

“Nope.” Said Kiba, grinning. “It destroys the stick.”

I hopped down, and my friends began to walk towards “our” tree. Kiba fell in with us. “Did something actually happen?” he queried.

Naruto chimed in. “Some civilians tried to set our apartment on fire.”

“I wondered about the smell.” Said Kiba, wrinkling his nose.

“Naruto was great.” I said. “He decided the most important thing to carry out of the apartment was…….” I paused here for effect. “The fire. He tore down the curtains that were on fire and threw them into the street.” Naruto looked pleased.

“What did you throw?” asked Kiba.

“I caught one of the incendiaries and threw it right back at one of the guys with the bottles. Got him right in the face, he dropped his bottle, set another guy on fire, who tripped over the box of bottles. It was like, a comedy routine, but with people on fire.” Kiba laughed into his fist. “I got a guy running away in the leg with a kunai. He didn’t even bleed out.” I finished up my story, changing tracts. “Thanks for wingmanning for me back there, Kiba.”

“I hate the people in stories like that.” Replied Kiba.

“We are going after school for an ice. Can I buy you one?” I asked.

“We aren’t friends, dickbag.” snarled Kiba, losing the genial manner.

“Nevertheless, I acknowledge debt.” I bowed, not too low.

“Go f*ck yourself.” riposted Kiba.

“I understand. We are not friends.” I said sadly, removing my head cover. I took a deep breath, dropping into a horse stance, fists at my hips. “We are Eternal Rivals!” My hair stood up thrashing in an unseen wind.

Kiba ran away, cursing and trying not to laugh, while the schoolyard watched the Drama. Off in the distance there was a faint echoing “Youth!!!”

***

On the way home, eating their ices, blueberry mouthed Hinata leaned a little closer to Akitsu. “Akitsu-kun, how did you do that thing with your hair?”

Akitsu reached over and lay his hand on the top of Hinata’s head. She could feel his chakra against her scalp and opened her byakugan. “Reach out, and find the crown chakra point.” She, eyes closed followed the feeling to the appropriate point, and pushed against the foreign chakra she could feel there. Her hair briefly flew up, then collapsed back messily against her head. She had done work opening other chakra points before, but had never activated her crown tenketsu. “Good. Now pulse it.” Hinata reached again, fumbling at using the new point. She managed to find it again, but only seemed to be able to push once a second, causing not the hurricane wind effect Akitsu had, but it to flop spasmodically about. “Aaargh! Ika no Ke Jutsu! Squid hair technique!” he said, running around in circles.

Hinata threw the remains of her blueberry ice at his face, hitting directly. “Imoto. How could you!” He couldn’t really do puppy dog eyes with his goggles on, but it was obvious he was trying.