Capítulo 8: Chapter 8: Of Perverts and Fangirls
Onyx colored eyes studied their surroundings as their owner walked throughout the Uchiha compound. They took every inch of detail, every building, every face, everything. Of course, they were also on the receiving end of a dozen of other stares as well. Not that it mattered anyway. Nothing was going to spoil this experience.
Sasuke had an usual small smile as he walked through his family compound. It had been a long time since he had last seen it so filled with…..life. Before coming to this time period anyway. He had already been living with Kenshin and his family for a total of two days. Needless to say, they had gone by too fast. In those two days, Sasuke had been acquainted with his future father. The boy was already showing the exact same attitude and personality of the man he would become. It was a deja vu for Sasuke. As for his uncle, well, the young boy reminded Sasuke of Naruto more than anything. The boy was the exact opposite of Fugaku. Or of any Uchiha really, including Kenshin. There was just some sort of light radiating from the boy, something which also reminded Sasuke of Naruto, that no one else had. It went without saying that he still didn't know how to act around the boy. At least, for the moment. As for Kenshin, the man was also another oddity to Sasuke. To a lesser extent than Kazuki of course. The man was just…..different. Sasuke couldn't find any words to describe it.
Shaking his head slightly, Sasuke continued with his stroll around the compound. It was something the now eight year old had done since he had moved to the compound. He wasn't quite sure why he did. Maybe just to reassure himself that all of this wasn't a dream. That it was reality. That he wouldn't snap out of whatever trance he was in and find the compound deserted. That would be a nightmare come true.
The young Uchiha's mind then wondered to a particular topic that he had been made aware of by Kenshin the previous night: the academy. Apparently he was due to enroll along with his father and uncle, with said uncle having had the "privilege" of skipping a few grades. Sasuke didn't know if it was because Kazuki actually had the skills already to skip a few grades, or if it was simply because of politics. Either way, he knew he would find out eventually. And a small part of him was hoping it was the former. Another part of him, though, was cursing at the fact that he had to go to the academy again. As far as Sasuke was concerned, the place would only be a waste of time. He knew he had other things that he needed to take care of. Like Danzo. Even if it his clan was alive, he knew that there existed dangers to its existence. And as far as dangers went, Sasuke rated Danzo as the top one….ok, so maybe it had something to do with his own grudge that he held against the man for using Itachi like he had. But Sasuke knew he shouldn't be thinking about revenge at this point. He owed the Sennin that much at least, even if he had agreed to this whole ordeal for his own reasons. He had already agreed to help Naruto anyway.
The thing that bothered Sasuke the most about this particularly problem, however, was the Sandaime. As far as Sasuke was concerned, the man was extremely naive. In the two days that he had stayed with the Uchiha, Sasuke had gone back throughout the couple of days to retell all that he knew of the future with a lot more detail. And what ticked Sasuke off the most was the fact that he saw the stubbornness in the Hokage's eyes when he told him what both Danzo and Orochimaru did in his own time, especially Orochimaru. Needless to say, Sasuke wasn't happy with that. The only reason he had even told the Sandaime about his and Naruto's purpose for being here was to further help them, not to hinder them. Maybe he would have to be a bit more forceful with the man. After all, the Sennin had told him and Naruto to deal with things in their own way. Sasuke didn't need any more encouraging than that. But he supposed he would deal with that tomorrow before he would have to attend the academy for the first time in five years…or was it something like forty? Whatever. The Uchiha wasn't going to worry about the specifics.
The young Uchiha turned his gaze to the horizon, seeing the sun on its path to descending across the sky. It was getting late all right. He needed to return if he wanted to arrive in time for dinner with his grandfather and the others. Turning back, Sasuke made his way back to the clan head's designated home, the exact one he had lived in during his original time.
On his way there, the boy was subjugated to even more stares, something which was already starting to irk him to no end. While he understood why they were doing it, it didn't mean that it wasn't starting to become annoying.
'Is this what Naruto had to deal with?'
Probably not. There weren't any sing of hatred in the eyes that were watching him. Only curiosity with a few suspicious ones. Naruto probably had to deal with a lot worse than this. It really did put things into prospective for Sasuke a bit more. But he pushed those thoughts aside. If there was one thing that Sasuke would never do was pity Naruto. To Sasuke, that would be worst than insulting him. And it mainly had to do with the fact that Naruto had never pitied him. So he was willing to return the favor.
Reaching the main house in the compound, Sasuke entered without making too much of a noise. Walking inside, Sasuke was about to find either Fugaku or Kazuki to see when exactly dinner was going to be when a peculiar sound reached his ears. Waiting for a few more seconds, Sasuke heard the sound again. And he recognized it immediately. Someone was training outside. Making his way to the back of the house, Sasuke expected to see either Fugaku and Kazuki, hoping that it would be the latter so that he could see some of the boy's skills. After all, this was a different time period. One where a war was raging on. Sasuke knew that Konoha would be extremely tougher with their training regiments in the academy than in his own time.
But to his surprise, it was neither Fugaku nor Kazuki. Instead, Sasuke came to the sight of seeing a young girl about his age that he hadn't seen before throwing shuriken to several straw dummies laid out in front of her with extreme accuracy. A few seconds later, Sasuke recognized who the girl was: it was his future mother. But what was she doing here? As far as he knew, his mother wasn't part of the clan head's family. Then again, he wasn't entirely sure from which family his mother had come from. After all, he had only been a small boy at the time of the Massacre. Such things tended to not worry him at the time. Ah, the ignorance of youth.
Observing her for a few more moments, Sasuke could see something else with the young girl: anger. Realization dawned upon him. She was training because she was angry about something. But he wondered what that could be. Curious, Sasuke took a step forward towards her, no longer caring if he was silent or not. A second later, he learned that it was a mistake. Instantly dodging to the left, Sasuke's eyes widened as a shuriken passed right next to his cheek, embedding itself into the wall behind.
'So fast!'
Sasuke's gaze met his mother's furious ones. "Who's there!?"
Sasuke held his hands up. "It's just me. My name is Sasuke, the boy who just recently arrived here. I'm sure you've heard about me."
The boy saw a flicker of recognition in his mother's eyes, making him confirm that she had indeed heard of him. He didn't know if that was good or not.
Narrowing her eyes, she asked, "So what are you doing here?"
Sasuke shrugged at that. "When I came home, I heard someone training. So I thought that it would help to kill some time if I observed whoever was practicing before dinner time."
The girl looked at him for a few more moments before turning away from him, making Sasuke sigh in relief. He had forgotten how scary his mother could be when angered. Still, he wondered just what got her in such a foul mood in the first place. After a few more moments of silence, Sasuke decided to do just that.
"So….." he began slowly, "what are you doing back here? I've never seen you here before."
The girl didn't turn around to face him nor did she say anything. Sasuke was left to only staring at her back, and after a few moments of plain silence he started to wonder if she was ever going to answer him. He was about to ask her again until she finally turned to face him with a look on her face that Sasuke couldn't decipher.
"I came here with my father today….."
'Now we're getting somewhere,' he thought. "For?"
The girl glanced at him for a few moments, trying to determine whether to answer him or not. Sasuke realized that whatever it was that her father came here to do today, it was really bothering her. After a few more moments, the Uchiha girl sighed.
"He came to arrange a marriage between me and some boy named Fugaku."
Sasuke's eyes widened in realization. But something else she said also caught his attention. "You mean you've never met him before?"
The girl shook her head. "Of course not! If I actually liked him, do you think I would be angry right now! I haven't even spoken a single word to him yet….."
Sasuke remained silent for a few moments, his mind processing what he had just learned. First, it was that his mother was smart for her age is she already knew what marriage was. Most kids around this age had absolutely no idea what that entailed. Second, and this was more daunting to him, it was this mother in his own time had married his father without really loving him. Thinking back, Sasuke tried to remember anything that would solidify this thought. But he couldn't find anything, especially since he hadn't really paid any attention to his parents in that regard. Then again, maybe it was just the thoughts of this current girl, and not the ones of his future mother. Maybe his father ended up making her fall in love with him. At any rate, Sasuke knew that he would now find out.
Looking at the girl, Sasuke tried to find the right words to what he was trying to convey. "You shouldn't try to dismiss it so easily," he said at last.
The girl turned her gaze to him again. Seeing he had her attention, he continued, "I mean, you haven't even met him yet. Maybe you'll find him to be…..good for you. All I know is that maybe you should give this a chance first before making any conclusions."
The young girl narrowed her eyes at him, making Sasuke take an involuntary step back. He didn't know why, but it made him uncomfortable to be on the receiving end of her stare. Matching her gaze, however, Sasuke saw that the girl was judging him. But judging him for what, he wasn't quite sure. Maybe he had said the wrong thing. But it wasn't entirely his fault. After all, he wasn't all that great when it came to romance. He had never once found any of the girls that he had grown up with interesting despite the opposite being true about some of the girls that had grown up with him, or rather most of them.
After what seemed like an eternity, the girl finally let her gaze drop. "You do have a point….." she muttered, making Sasuke sigh silently in relief. Thank freaking goodness. But then her look of defiance returned full force. "That doesn't give them any right to decide my future. I don't care if I'm an Uchiha or whatever. I want to make my own decisions based on my self. No one else."
Sasuke merely stared at his future mother, unable to comprehend the fact that he was having this conversation with an eight year old girl. He had never known that his mother had felt this strongly about this issue, although in his mind he did have to agree with her. But a part of him was still dumbstruck. Not that anyone could blame him. But he now also understood what was bothering her the most: the fact that her entire life was being chosen for her. It was what making her angry the most at the moment.
The girl then shook her head, turning away from him. "Forget it. I'm pretty sure you don't understand what I'm talking about. Just like the others….."
Sasuke's ears perked up at that. But before he could answer, his grandfather, along with another man that Sasuke didn't recognize, came walking to them from one of the other rooms.
"Ah, Sasuke," began Kenshin, a look of surprise, "I didn't know you were home already."
"I just got here," Sasuke answered honestly, silently glancing at his mother who was now staring at the training dummies.
Kenshin nodded in understanding. "I see. Well then, it's best if you prepare yourself for dinner then. It'll be ready shortly."
Sasuke simply nodded, glancing at his mother one last time before walking back inside the house. Looking back one final time, however, the young Uchiha saw both men how made their way to his mother, no doubt to talk to her about this marriage ordeal that he had just found out about.
Turning back to the house, Sasuke resumed on his way, silently vowing to help his mother in this ordeal in whatever way he could. One thing that he did confirm from the strange and random interaction with the girl, though, was that he had a very unique mother.
Sarutobi couldn't help but sigh as he stared at the streets below to the village that he had sworn to protect. It was early morning with only a handful amount of the civilian population already on the streets, ready to start the activities of the new day. Not that it would last long. Soon, the streets would be crowded with people, just like with any other day.
But the Sandaime Hokage wasn't thinking about that at the moment. No, his mind was currently on the young Uchiha who had mysteriously shown up in the village about a week before just like he had been for the past couple of days. Although it wasn't right to say "mysteriously" at this point since he had been told by said Uchiha as to how he had gotten here in the first place. And with that thought, the Hokage felt another headache threatening to appear.
His sudden anxiousness was due to everything that Sasuke had told him about what the future held, or more specifically the not so great aspects. Some of what Sasuke had told him had surely put him at ease,though, like how Konoha would win this war. Even without the specifics, Sarutobi had felt a wave of relief hit him. Of course, he hadn't been too thrilled to hear how a third Shinobi War would ensue. But at least he knew that Konoha was meant to come on top of that one too.
All of that, however, paled in comparison to hearing just what exactly his student would turn to become. And by student, he was obviously thinking about Orochimaru. He had always felt a sense of accomplishment when it came to Orochimaru. After all, Orochimaru was certainly gifted. So it was only natural that he felt proud at having been able to nurture those talents. But with what Sasuke had said to him, maybe he hadn't done such a great job at nurturing those said talents. Of course, part of him was rejecting what Sasuke had told him, claiming that it had to be false. The man knew it was irrational to think like that, but he couldn't really help it. His mind just couldn't comprehend that one of his precious students could be able to do such things. His shinobi side screamed at him that he was naive.
In other words, he was extremely conflicted.
Hearing a knock at the door, Sarutobi turned away from the window and walked up to his desk, already knowing who was at the door. After all, he had called for him this morning.
Sitting down, Sarutobi said a simple "enter" and waited for his guest to enter.
that. So be it then. He would just have to take care of some things on his own, after all. Without a word, Sasuke turned around and made his way to the door. He had nothing more to say nor was he in any mood to talk with the Hokage.
"There is just one thing that I did want to tell you, Sasuke-kun."
With his hand on the doorknob, Sasuke stopped in his tracks. But he did not turn around.
Seeing this, Sarutobi continued. "The clan head of the Uzumaki will be arriving here sometime tomorrow evening to discuss their participation in the war. I did tell you how they have agreed to help us right?" Getting only silence, the man carried on. "I just thought you would want to know beforehand."
Without responding, Sasuke walked out of the room.
Seeing the door close, Hiruzen released a massive sigh. Well, that hadn't gone like he had expected. It seemed as if Sasuke was already regretting informing him of his plans. Not that Sarutobi could blame him. But he was still sure that Orochimaru could be diverted of the path that transformed him into the shinobi that Sasuke had come to know. There was still time. He was sure of it.
'Now then, I guess I should start watching Danzo more closely.'
It was going to be another long day for him.
Sasuke was in the process of berating himself as he walked through the now crowded streets of the village. He had lost control, just like he had feared he would do eventually. While he had agreed to help Naruto and the Sennin, he still couldn't stand the five Kage. As far as he was concerned, they were a major part of the problem which needed to be taken care of. Otherwise, whatever else they did would be meaningless.
To him, the Kage were nothing but insignificant. They did nothing but add even more hate to the world of the shinobi. But he also had a personal grudge against the Sandaime, as well as Danzo and the two other elders. And he knew that it was clouding his judgement. But it was also the first time in a while that Sasuke had even bothered to restraint his hatred. In the past, he would have been in the process of trying to take over Konoha, forcefully if need be.
'And here I thought I was over all of this...'
Sasuke frowned, stopping in his tracks. This whole predicament was giving him a headache. Being in the presence of the Sandaime had worked him up even more than he had intended.
It was then that a distinct sound reached Sasuke's ears. It sounded like…giggling? Yes, that was it. But that was odd. Looking around, Sasuke realized that he had unknowingly walked into the hot springs area located in the village. Now he was even further away from the academy. But he didn't particularly care. He had been dreading going back to the academy since the moment he had found out that he had to go anyway. It wouldn't really cause anyone any harm if he was a few minutes late. Or an hour for that matter.
Walking further inward to the hot springs, Sasuke was quick to pick out a distinct figure up on one of the rooftops, peeking down at the hot springs. Seeing the long white ponytail, Sasuke quickly realized who it was.
'Jiraiya…..'
Naruto's teacher. From what he remembered, Jiraiya was also the one who had found him and brought him to the hospital. So he still hadn't returned to the battlefield then. Smirking, Sasuke had a sudden spark of inspiration. Oh well, he needed to blow off some steam anyway. And he had nothing better to do at the moment.
Up on the rooftop, Jiraiya was having the time of his life. At first, he had been obstinate about returning back to the war front as soon as possible. He had only wanted one, maybe two, day to rest. After all, the Uchiha boy that he had found wasn't his priority. Nor had he thought much about the whole encounter. But then his sensei had told him that he wanted him to stay for a few extra days so that he could be present for the battle plans that were going to be made with the Uzumaki clan head tomorrow. He had wanted to argue, but one order from the Sandaime and he was out the door. At the moment, however, as he continued to gaze upon the young women relaxing down at the hot spring, he knew that he had made a great choice at staying. Oh, how he had missed this sight so.
Now, if only he could go down there and join them. That would be a dream come true. If only-
His mind stopped in the middle of its fantasizing as he saw one of the women that he hadn't spotted before pointing up at his position. Blinking, Jiraiya tried to understand his situation. Had he just been spotted? No, there was just no way! Civilian women couldn't possibly pick up his presence. Now, a kunoichi perhaps. But still. He was certain that there were no kunoichi down there. So then what? Maybe she was pointing at something else? Yes! That had to be it. There was no need to panic.
A shriek later, though, which was followed by another and another made him start to think that maybe he had been spotted. When the women began to throw things at him, he knew that the cat was out of the bag.
Down below him, Sasuke smirked as he heard the commotion happening above him, deactivating his sharingan. Now he knew why Naruto enjoyed pranking so much. It was definitely more entertaining that he had first expected. The smirk on his face got bigger when he saw Jiraiya fall to the ground in front of him, hard.
Jiraiya groaned a moment later, his face stinging in pain from the bucket that had hit him a second before. He didn't know how, but the female species somehow became extremely more powerful when they were enraged, even if they weren't a shinobi. Scientists should definitely look into that and see if they could harness that power or something.
Standing up, Jiraiya sensed a new presence which he hadn't detected until now. Turning around, the perverted Sennin was greeted to the sight of a young smirking Uchiha. But it wasn't just any regular Uchiha. It was the same boy that he had found less than a week earlier.
"So how did you enjoy my gift?"
The man tilted his head to the side, not understanding what the boy was talking about. A moment later, his eyes widened to saucers in realization.
"That was YOU!?"
Sasuke chuckled. "You got that right. I told one of the girls that just got here to tell the others what you were up to. You saw the end result." He didn't need to know that it was, in fact, one of Sasuke's clones. Best the man didn't know that he already knew how to use chakra.
One of Jiraiya's eyebrows twitched. Did kids have no manners for legends these days or what?
"You little….."
Sasuke shrugged. "You had it coming to you. I mean, get some shame already."
Jiraiya was a second away from strangling the kid in front of him. "What kind of Uchiha are you, anyway?" he said, obviously perplexed at the non-arrogant attitude of the boy in front of him. Maybe because he was still young?
Sasuke snorted in his mind at that. "I don't know what you're talking about," he answered. "I just saw a man who needed to be taught some manners. That's all."
Jiraiya studied the Uchiha in front of him. Something was definitely different about this boy than the rest of his clan. It reminded Jiraiya of Kenshin and his younger son, Kazuki. Maybe he needed to ask the Sandaime more about the boy. Even if he didn't know it, Jiraiya was starting to be intrigued by Sasuke.
Crossing his arms in front of him, Jiraiya said, "Is that any way to treat the person who saved your life, eh?"
Raising an eyebrow, Sasuke had to admit he was caught off guard. He hadn't thought that Jiraiya would tell him that he had saved him. Then again, it wasn't like it was top secret information. So he shouldn't be too surprised about it anyway.
Sasuke merely shrugged at that, causing Jiraiya to twitch. Seriously, the brat was so infuriating!
"What are you doing here anyway?" Jiraiya asked, getting his twitch under control. There was just no way he could let an eight year old get under his skin! He was one of the three Sennin dammit! If only he realized that it had already happened. "Aren't you supposed to be at the academy?"
Sasuke let out a sigh at that. Ah, the academy. He was supposed to be there already, wasn't he? "I was on my way but I got lost in thought….."
Jiraiya perked up at that. Now that sounded interesting. "Thinking about what exactly?"
Sasuke stared at the man in front of him, silently weighing his options. On one hand, telling Jiraiya anything could be problematic to him in the future. Sasuke knew that the man was extremely smart, even if he did act like an idiot most of the time. But another part of him was considering telling him in small detail what was currently troubling him. After all, Jiraiya had been Naruto's teacher in their original time. He was also the person who influenced Naruto the most. Sasuke knew that he could get something out of asking him. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for either. Just something.
Getting his thoughts under control, Sasuke began slowly, "Since I'm starting the academy today and on my way to becoming a shinobi, I was just thinking about the shinobi world as a whole."
Now this was really starting to interest Jiraiya. "That's a deep thought right there, boy. Now why would you be worrying about something like that at your age? You haven't even graduated yet."
Shrugging again, Sasuke answered, "I guess I like to think through things before I go through with them. I mean, I don't want to go through the academy only to find out that being a shinobi isn't what I want. I don't want to waste my time."
There was a sudden respect in Jiraiya's eyes at hearing that. Chuckling, he said, "You do have a point there. And? What are your thoughts about the shinobi world we're in?"
Sasuke's gaze traveled to the sky above them, a faraway look in his eyes. "I think it's flawed. I think it has to change."
Jiraiya leaned in interest. "And how would you like to change it exactly?"
Sasuke's gaze returned to Jiraiya. Here, he hesitated. In the end, he decided against telling him his idea. "I don't know exactly," he lied. "I just know that with the way things are, things will never get better in this world."
Jiraiya stared at the young Uchiha in front of him, his gaze studying him and searching for something. But Sasuke didn't know what exactly the man could be looking for.
Then, he smiled. "You're certainly right about that. Recently, I've been feeling the same way too. You could say it's almost like my task to do so. But unfortunately, I don't have an answer to that yet. But one day, I hope to find it. And when that happens, I hope to take my first step in changing this world for the better."
Naruto suddenly appeared in Sasuke's mind. So, Naruto had arrived to his answer on his own, had he? A small smile fell upon Sasuke's face. He had been feeling agitated with his confrontation with the Sandaime. But talking to Jiraiya had helped him, just like he had hoped for. Even if it was only in a small aspect. In a way, Sasuke felt like he was talking to Naruto.
"Thank you."
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "For?"
Shaking his head, Sasuke began to walk away, intending on finally heading to the academy. "Nevermind. Oh, and thanks for saving me. I'll pay you back in the future somehow," he said, throwing a wave behind him.
Jiraiya merely waved back, staring at the boy as he walked off. Well, the young Uchiha boy had certainly piqued his interest all right. It was the first time that Jiraiya had felt that someone truly understood what he was trying to do. Chuckling, Jiraiya turned the other way and jumped up to the rooftops with the intent of finding another one of the hot springs where he could continue his "research." But as he made his way from rooftop to rooftop, a sudden thought crossed his mind.
'I never got the brat's name.'
Sasuke's good mood didn't last long, though. Standing in front of his new classmates, he felt one of his eyebrows twitched. His ears picked up the sound of giggling from the many different girls in the class. It seemed like no matter the time, fangirls still existed. Great, just great.
Scanning the room, Sasuke's gaze lingered on a few individuals, his eyes widening slightly in interest. A blond boy, who reminded Sasuke of Naruto, stared back at him with bright blue eyes. It didn't take long before Sasuke recognized him: he was the future Yondaime. Sasuke also recognized both his father and uncle in the mix of the classroom sitting together. His father had an annoyed look on him, no doubt because Sasuke had shown up late. Oh well.
But in particular, Sasuke picked out his mother who was sitting in the back of the classroom. She was staring back at him with a look full of interest. Their strange encounter from the day before flashed in Sasuke's mind. He still needed to figure out just what all of that was about.
Sasuke then realized that the instructor was waiting for him to introduce himself. Looking back at the group of boys and girls, Sasuke knew that the several years ahead of him wouldn't be too boring, after all.
"I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I hope we can get all get along."
To be continued.....
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