บท 50: Uchiha and Uzumaki (I)
Timeskip!
Sasuke is now 6 while Itachi is 11.
______
His brother had always been there for him, there was no denying it. The same could be said about his parents as well, of course, or at least about his mother. His father had not as much time for him as they did, but Sasuke couldn't blame him for that; his father was an important man with many duties, after all. Still, it was Itachi that he usually came to for help.
To this day, there had never been a problem Itachi couldn't solve. When he was younger, he thought his brother was perfect, that there was nothing he couldn't do. Now that he was older, he knew that that couldn't be the case. After all, nobody was perfect, not even Itachi. However, no matter how long he thought about it, he simply couldn't find anything that he wasn't perfect at!
Ninjutsu? Nope. Genjutsu? Nada. Taijutsu? Don't be stupid. But these were all shinobi arts and he was a bloody prodigy in those, so that wasn't surprising. Something else, then.
His calligraphy? Nothing less than art. Cooking? He cooked for him whenever their parents weren't home and while not as good as their mother's, it was still great. Playing shōgi? The only person he knew who could match him was Shisui.
No matter how hard he thought about it, no matter how long he observed him, Itachi simply didn't seem to stumble. He moved forward without any trouble in the world, leaving nothing but perfection behind in his wake.
When Sasuke was younger, he looked up to him for it and bragged about it to the other children when the clan came together for one reason or another. Now that he was older, he still looked up to him, but he couldn't deny that there was also a bit of jealously in his heart. Not much, and he would never openly admit it, but it was there.
Nonetheless, no matter how frustrating it was at times to see how Itachi solved every and all problems with ease, he couldn't hold it against him. After all, he took so much time from his schedule to just play and train with him when he could do other things, even bringing him along when he met his friends. Looking back, it was really embarrassing to know that baby-him must have annoyed them quite a bit even if nobody had ever complained. Not even Izumi whom he had shown nothing but open dislike ever said something. Quite the opposite; she seemed even more determined to talk to him every time they met!
Sasuke had long since decided that girls were just weird like that. What his brother liked about her, he couldn't say, but no matter how often he told him to stop seeing her – why would you want to play with a girl? - he never listened.
Haku and his mother were exceptions, of course. But they were special, so there was that.
Right now, though, he would accept even Izumi's help, for he had no idea how he could help his brother.
They were currently on the graveyard, with Itachi arranging flowers on the grave in front of them –in a beautiful muster of red and white because of course he could do that as well- while Sasuke just stood awkwardly a few feet away from him. He threw a quick glance at the gravestone, the name "Akihito Tanaka" staring back at him, before looking back at his brother.
It wouldn't be right to say that he looked sad, but there was definitively something about him that made him appear… sober? Was that the right word? No doubt most people wouldn't even notice, but he had watched Itachi closely for all his life and could see little things like that.
And no, it wasn't weird that he watched him whenever he could. It was not!
His brother's sensei had died nearly one and a half years ago, but Itachi still visited the grave regularly. He usually didn't accompany him because he found it uncomfortable to watch his brother when he was like that, but he was six now. Almost an adult. Itachi helped him all the time, it was only fair he helped him as well.
"Nii-san?" he said, inwardly patting himself on the shoulder for making his voice not sound like a whine. "Are you alright?"
Even his smile didn't look as bright as usual. "Of course, Sasuke." He rose from his kneeling position, holding a hand out for him to take. "Shall we go?"
Under different circumstances, he wouldn't have taken it. He was too old for holding hands like a baby. But this was for Itachi, not for him. He could hold his hand if that made his brother feel better, that was the grown-up thing to do. Besides, there was no one else here that could see them anyway.
Just today, he told himself. And only until Itachi feels better.
Sasuke tried to listen to the speech, he really did, but it took all he had to stay still without fidgeting or appearing too stiff. Hopefully Hokage-sama isn't saying anything important, he thought. Otou-san would be disappointed if I failed a test because I didn't pay attention on my first day!
He couldn't even ask someone else because that would give away that he hadn't listened. There was no way he would confess that to anyone, not in a thousand years. I guess I will just cross my fingers and hope that nothing happens.
Time flew by and suddenly he found himself saying goodbye to his family before his first day at the academy would begin.
His father gave him a smile and a pat on his shoulders before reminding him to live up to the exceptions bestowed upon an Uchiha and telling him that he believed in him. Quick and simple.
His mother was an entirely different matter, however.
She fortunately didn't fuss as much over him as other parents he could see from the corner if his eyes, but it was still annoying.
"Do you have everything?"
"Your lunch? Shuriken? Kunai?"
"Listen to what your teachers tell you."
"Make some friends."
"Don't cause any trouble."
"Don't worry, I'm sure you will do just fine."
He brushed her hand away from his head where she tried to 'fix' his hair. "Kaa-san, stop it!"
She chuckled into her fist. "Are you sure? Because-"
As always, it was Itachi who saved him. "Give him a break, Okaa-san. You worry too much."
"He's right, Mikoto," his father added. "Sasuke will be alright, so give it a rest."
She sighed before nodding her agreement, even if it appeared somewhat reluctant. "Alright, alright, I will stop." She turned back towards him with a soft glare. "I better don't hear about you forgetting anything or causing trouble, though."
He nodded dutifully. "Of course, Kaa-san."
"Just be yourself and you will be fine," Itachi said before chuckling at the face he made. "I know that sounds like something that everyone says, but believe me, it's true." Then, before he could react, Itachi poked him on the forehead. "Now run along or you will miss your first class."
He scowled at him for a second while rubbing his forehead before turning around and running towards where all his classmates were heading, waving goodbye with one hand without turning around as he did so.
He was joining the academy at last. Maybe now will I finally be able to catch up with Nii-san.
Sasuke was one of the last to arrive in the classroom. He would have been embarrassed about that, but this time was an exception as it meant there weren't many places left to choose from. That might sound like something bad, and usually it would be, but this time was, again, an exception.
Just like Itachi had told him, he could already see some of the girls looking at him with wide eyes. It weren't the "hordes of fangirls" Shisui had conspiratorially warned him about last week, but even one of them was one too many. Had he arrived earlier, he was sure some of them would have tried to sit next to him. With only a few places being left, though, there was nothing they could do as he sat down in the second row next to the window with the place to his right being already occupied by a blond boy.
"Hey there!" the boy greeted him with what his mother would call a thousand-watt smile. "My name is Naruto. What about you?"
"Sasuke Uchiha," he said, slightly thrown off by how straightforward the boy was before feeling awkward all of the sudden. The boy had introduced himself with only his first name while he had said both his first and last name. Now, his father had always told him that it was a sign of pride in your clan to introduce yourself like this, but his mother had also told him that it was rude to do so if your counterpart didn't do it either. It had something to do about how many people didn't have a family name, he thought. Had he already messed up?
The other boy, clueless to his thoughts, just continued to beam at him. "Uchiha? Wow, that's so cool! Your family has these crazy red eyes, right? Can you show me?"
Is he trying to be rude because I was rude as well? he wondered. Is it that what he's doing? Sasuke somehow didn't think so. Maybe he was just overthinking things? "Ehm, no," he said, sounding unsure even to his own ears. "I don't have them yet. They're called Sharingan, by the way."
"Sharingan," he repeated to himself before turning back to him. "And when do you get them?"
"I don't know, that's kinda different from person to person."
"Oh…" He seemed oddly saddened by that. However, that mood didn't last long, and hardly a second later he was already back at beaming at him. Honestly, Sasuke was starting to believe that boy didn't even know how to be anything else than a yellow bundle of happiness. "No matter! Will you show them to me when you got them?"
"…sure?"
"Great!"
"Alright, calm down everyone!" their teacher's voice sounded through the room, saving him from continuing this weird conversation. "I know the first day is exciting, but we're about to begin now! You will have enough time to get to know each other later, I promise."
Their sensei was a man of average height and build. He had brown hair that he kept in a ponytail, dark eyes, and a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose. He also wore the standard Konoha shinobi outfit, complete with a forehead protector, sandals, and the same flak jacket Itachi and his father had as well.
"My name is Iruka Umino and I will be your homeroom teacher from this day on. You can call me Iruka-sensei. As today is your first day, why don't we start with a short introduction?"
Sasuke listened closely as his various classmates introduced themselves, intend on remembering all their names by the time the day was over. It would be way too embarrassing if he needed to talk with one and didn't know how to call them…
A few of his classmates were people he already knew. Even if he hadn't met all of them, his father insisted that he should know the various clan heirs in Konoha. However, the majority of the classroom consisted of strangers.
They had started with the introduction from the back of the room, so he, who sat in the second row, needed to wait relatively long for his turn. Ignoring the queasy feeling in his stomach, he stood up with as much confidence as he could muster and quickly introduced himself. He was proud to say that his voice sounded more bored than nervous, making him stand out compared to most of the people that came before him. However, even he couldn't compare to the boy that sat next to him.
Rather than just standing up, he jumped to his feet and slammed his hands on the table in front of him. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm gonna be the strongest ninja in the entire village, dattebayo!" He said the entire thing with what was quickly becoming his trademark smile.
Sasuke's first thought was 'There is no way he can become stronger than Nii-san', shortly followed by 'Wait, so he does have a surname?'
There were some snickers around the room, but Naruto didn't look bothered by it. Even Sasuke had to smile at the enthusiasm, though he doubted he could ever fulfill that dream.
Iruka-sensei needed a few minutes to calm the room down again, but he was sure the man only needed that long because he was just amused as the rest of them.
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