Naruto : Uchiha : Chapter 6
"I see…" he said in affirmative. He knew of the child's scorn but he could implement that the child be treated fair in every possible way.
For which there was his decree in place, but he could not make them accept him, that only came with time. He had even tried to adopt the child by himself but the clan laws he himself had placed once had stopped him.
Oh the irony, his own laws working against him now.
...
But there was nothing he could do. He did belong to the most royal family of the Uchiha clan with the most noble of their bloods. There was no doubt in anyone's minds that he would one day inherit their pride and joy, their kekkei genkai in his eyes too. It was his birthright after all.
That was the very reason he had been rejected in the first place. The fear of their bloodline's purest form falling prey to an outsider, a Senju no less was a risk the Uchiha clan wasn't willing to take.
It had always pained his heart that he was the very reason why he had been orphaned in the first place and how little he could do for the boy without making it look personal. The power of the Hokage came with several restraints.
Not showing favoritism to a single individual being one of them.
He had known his mother for quite some time. A nice woman, belonging to a small shinobi family without any fame and marrying into the most strongest families of the leaf. Even after her husband's death, she hadn't kept even an ounce of animosity or ill-will towards him personally.
Both sat in comfortable silence, with Tobirama's conflicted amber eyes gazing over at the waterfall in front of them with a glance holding a hint of solemnity in them.
"It's a nice dream…" he said, in barely above a whisper but loudly audible to the blonde child sitting by his side, clearly enjoying the calm serenity of nature all around him.
"Now I can go to the Academy and become a shinobi, then one day I'll be Hokage, the first Uchiha to be one, believe it…!"
Tobirama watched the child in fascination. Never before had he seen a child belonging to the Uchiha clan proclaim the dream to lead their village and become acknowledged by everyone with such fire and passion.
They were raised up in an environment to always pride themselves in their old ways. Especially, their mightiest Sharingan.
But this boy was different.
Different from all those that came before him.
Different from Izuna.
Different from Madara.
Almost purely out of instinct, he raised his hand. His large hand covered the boy's small head gently. Naruto's curious and wide baby blue eyes looked at Tobirama with all the innocent confusion in the world, the child was no doubt confused by his action.
"I believe you." he said simply. His voice holding no emotions in them like usual, the ever stoic voice of Tobirama Senju. He watched those azure eyes widen even more than they usually were and his features suddenly became hesitant and nervous.
Naruto hadn't expected him to say that. His voice was so firm, so confident. He couldn't even decipher an ounce of doubt in his words.
It made a warmth envelope his chest like never before. He truly sounded like he believed him. The first one ever aside from his mother to believe in him and not outright laugh or send a snide remark at him.
Tobirama ruffled his hair gently and looked straight, not seeing the boy glance at the man every now and then in a new found nervousness shining in his eyes.
Naruto couldn't understand the man. How could he believe in his dream just like that? He didn't even know him.
"Say…" his soft voice rang in the comfortable silence. Tobirama gave no signs of hearing him but Naruto could feel his complete and rapt attention on him.
The man by his side was so mysterious.
"How can you believe in my dream so easily? You don't even know me." he asked in childlike curiosity. Tobirama sat in silence for a few moments, as if pondering on the words of the child.
However he wasn't. He knew the answer to the child's question the instant it left his lips. No, he was instead pondering on the nature of his words.
They weren't put forth like a normal child his age would. His voice was innocent and childlike, but he knew for these were the moments in one's life. The questions' of man's childhood that forged the path he would no doubt endure for the rest of his life.
"I know you." he said stoically, chucking a pebble in the lake in front of him. The pebble bounced a number of times, the ripples echoing in the water as if rippling with the weight of the words he was considering at the moment.
"For I know everyone in this village." he continued in his emotionless voice. For some reason, Naruto could feel the happiness the man no doubt felt as he was uttering each and every word even though his face portrayed none.
"Every elderly, man, woman, child, family, place…" he continued on not noticing the blonde's curious eyes glued on his face from the side.
Tobirama turned his glance down on the lake's water, his own reflection staring back at him. A leaf fell over it, rippling apart the mirror image.
"For I am the stem that holds it's leaves, fruits and branches up, even in the mightiest of winds. For each and everyone in this village is a part of me, my responsibility." he said making Naruto's face turn to one of realization.
Tobirama smirked ever so slightly at seeing the dawning face of the blonde and turned his glance to him.
Naruto could feel himself drawing into the man's powerful and intense eyes. They held such confidence, such fire in them. He couldn't help but feel respect for the man he had just met.
His mother always used to say that one glance in a person's eyes was all it took to assess his heart. And for the first time, today he found her words to be true.
He respected the man, but from this point on he looked up to him.
"For I am the Nidaime Hokage of Konohagakure no sato. The Shadow that protects this village from the fiery rays of the skies." he said stoically. His voice had such authority in it that it made Naruto's hair stand up for a moment.
Naruto looked down to the water and flailed his dipped feet gently in the water. He smiled, watching the fish inside tickle his toes softly getting a few giggles out of him.
Tobirama himself watched on in pure curiosity. The boy's calming presence was inviting fishes over to him, he glanced back to see a couple of deer grazing the grass softly. It was strange, they should no doubt scour off as soon as they see a human.
His eyes turned to the giggling blonde by his side. His eyes softened momentarily, the boy's innocence was contagious. He was so naive yet content with all that he had.
But that didn't stop him from dreaming for more.
That was the drive that intrigued Tobirama to the boy. For, at that moment he wished himself that the boy would stay true to his words and one day come to him for his position.
For the time being though…
"Kyaaa!" the blonde yelped and fell down into the lake with a small splash. Tobirama retracted his hand from where the blonde once used to be and looked at the dripping boy glaring at him heatedly. He only showed one response to him though.
He merely raised an eyebrow.
It seemed to infuriate the blonde boy even more when he pointed an accusatory finger at him.
"You did it on purpose, didn't you?" he asked heatedly making Tobirama's eyebrow shoot up a bit more.
"I have no idea what you are talking about…" he lied smoothly. Years of being a political and militaristic leader had honed his deceptive skills to the utmost precision.
"But how will you become a Hokage, when you can't even save yourself from falling into a lake?" he asked stoically, though the underlying mirth of playfulness wasn't lost to the blonde haired Uchiha.
He fumed and almost had steam coming off of his ears. That stoic voice was getting on his nerves and he was lying too! It wasn't fair!
SPLASH…
"Ahahahaha….!" the blonde laughed and giggled, holding his sides when they started to hurt a little.
Tobirama's eye twitched in annoyance. He brought a hand up to his face and brought it down slowly. The dripping droplets collecting in his palms and falling down his dripping form harmlessly.
He merely glanced at the boy stoically, the blonde boy who had the nerve to splash water at him of all people! It was truly amusing and utterly surprising to him.
He watched the boy double over in laughter and slap the water with his hand, mumbling incoherent jokes pointed at him and then laughing at him.
It would have been an adorable sight, had he not been the one who was currently dripping that is…
"You do realize that you just splashed water on a shinobi who is renowned throughout the elemental nations for his unparalleled mastery over the Water element?"
His stoic voice rang throughout the clearing. The blonde's adorable giggles ceased and he watched on Tobirama's towering form, cowering a bit.
"And that too while you were standing in the middle of a lake full of water itself." he pointed out a brought the obvious. Naruto couldn't help but gulp and watched the surrounding water bodies a bit nervously. They looked quite scary now…
"Now now we can settle this peacefully like adults…" Naruto tried to negotiate with a sheepish chuckle and Tobirama's eye twitched dangerously at his stupid excuse.
"Well that will not be possible…" he reasoned in a sudden calmness that Naruto took as a queue to run.
"SINCE YOU'RE NOT AN ADULT! NOW GET BACK HERE!" he shouted and formed a couple of water whips in his palms. The blonde yelped and ran throughout the clearing, trying to pry off those dangerous looking whips with skillful and last moment dodges.
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