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Naruto knocked on the door, very excited for the nine-year-old he was, entering when he was permitted in, only to notice the look on his father’s face, and he knew why, knew exactly what made his father look at him like that. His smile fell off his face, looking at the floor of the Hokage’s office, “Dad, I-” Naruto started meekly, not liking the way those eyes so similar to his stared at him warily as if waiting for him to spurt tails and attack just like what happened to his mother.
“Naruto, I’m busy,” Minato stated, and Naruto flinched slightly, slowly walking toward the desk to set the slip of paper on the desk, upside down so his dad wouldn’t see it. Maybe he’ll be proud and happy and finally come home at night and they could have dinner together. But all he got was a quiet sigh, “Naruto, I don’t have time for your drawings.”
“But, dad-” Naruto was cut off by a knock at the door and his father’s curt ‘enter’, he was hoping just this once Minato would just smile at him, and congratulate him. Uchiha Itachi came in, seeing the scene of Naruto standing before the Hokage’s desk, eyes trained on the floor as if there was something interesting on it, and he thinks he knows what was going on.
“My apologies, Hokage-sama, I hadn’t realized you were spending time with your son,” The jounin stated with a shallow bow.
“No worries, Naruto was just leaving,” Minato didn’t even look at the blonde boy, and no, it wasn’t as he suspected, surely the hokage hadn’t forgotten or had not not been notified. So why wasn’t he happy for his son?
“But, Dad-” Naruto was once again cut off.
“Naruto, I’m busy,” Minato cut him off, leaving Naruto to snatch the letter and slowly slump out of the room, being stopped by Itachi’s call.
“Naruto-kun, congratulations,” Naruto paused at Itachi’s voice, oddly filled with pride and joy as if Naruto was a part of his family, “I look forward to working with you in the future.”
Naruto grinned, “Thanks, Itachi-san, I hope we work well together.” Naruto ignored his father’s questions in favor of leaving as his father had originally wanted.
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Naruto’s nose twitched, looking to see another pair of shoes in the genkan, and ran to jump on the man, earning a snort, but Kakashi let him hold onto him as he held the slip of paper in front of his masked face. Kakashi had to lean back to actually read the words, but when he managed, he ruffled his hair, “I’m proud of you, did you show Minato-sensei?” Naruto’s grin fell as he hopped down, slumping into a chair at the table.
“He pretty much kicked me out, especially when Itachi-san came by,” Naruto huffed, letting his head fall on the table, “Why does Dad hate me? I was only a baby.” Kakashi was the last person who should be trying to pick up the pieces of this child’s broken heart, but he wasn’t willing to let someone else step on the shards anymore, not even his sensei.
“Naruto, your father doesn’t hate you, it’s hard to look at you sometimes because you look so much like your mother, only with your father’s coloration. You even have her personality. And what happened wasn’t your fault, the fox hadn’t even been put inside you yet, the villagers and ninjas alike are wrong to hate you for something you couldn’t even attempt to control,” Kakashi turned the stove off, kneeling next to the boy, running a hand through his hair in the same way his father used to do when Kakashi had a panic attack or mental break down.
“Then why doesn’t he care,” Naruto asked, Kakashi opened his mouth but quickly shut it, knowing that the smart boy Naruto was, he’d instantly find another counterpoint with perfect accuracy, so it wasn’t like he could just say whatever came to mind.
“Help me with dinner,” Kakashi instead said, standing, he really should have waited a little longer before going to Naruto and his sensei’s home, his entire body aching from his latest mission after taking a needless blow that broke more bones than he thought he even contained. Naruto, the perceptive boy he was, caught the slight grimace, clicking his tongue.
“Sit,” Naruto commanded, pulling out the chair he had just been sitting in, pointing at it until Kakashi sighed and complied. Naruto ran off, and however the young blonde managed to get him to listen was beyond him, especially since he knew Naruto was grabbing the first aid kit. It might be because he knew that if he didn’t allow Naruto to do it, then the boy would tie him down and fetch a med-nin, who would most likely admit him to the hospital, into the high-flight risk wing considering his past of escaping the dull place. At least with Naruto, he would be able to leave soon after if he desired to. Naruto came back with the first aid kit and his sealing supplies, at Kakashi’s raised brow, Naruto explained, ”Remember when I said it would be useful if seals could heal not only the person wearing it, but the seal itself, I’ve been working with a medic-nin, and well, it’s only a prototype, but it works really well.”
“I’m assuming your father hadn’t approved of it,” Kakashi silently questioned, raising a brow when Naruto lifted the back of his shirt, Kakashi tensing slightly when the cold ink touched his back, the thin brush gliding against his scarless back.
“He approved, he just didn’t read the part that I was involved in it,” Naruto admitted, using a weak wind jutsu to dry the ink before placing chakra into the seal. Kakashi had expected it to use the subject’s chakra, in this case, his own, but no, Naruto’s chakra was balanced through the seal and filling him, slowly healing the wounds.
“It’s using your chakra, not mine,” Kakashi stated the obvious, knowing Naruto will start to rant about one of his favorite subjects and rant Naruto started.
“Yep,” He popped the ‘p’, “We are trying to figure out a way for the seal to absorb chakra from the one it is placed on and push it back into the person as if being healed from an outside source, that’s why it’s still in the experimental stages. See when we first started, we had a basic plan and started off where we knew that a healing seal would be necessary and so we started on that, but as it turns out, it was more difficult to make a healing-based seal than it was to make a chakra balancing seal. So from there, we made the seal have a containment system that would allow the seal time to heal the person over time, but that failed because the seal's instruction got jumbled and it forced the user to be injured more easily oddly enough.” Kakashi stopped listening as Naruto rambled.
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Naruto had nerves bubbling in his chest as he met with his new team, smiling brightly as he entered the room, and it took him several seconds longer than it should have to realize they were all glaring at him. He wasn’t late, even if he was the youngest in the room, he knew that he had written down the right time and he was in the right place. So why were they looking at him like that? Did he do something without knowing? “Think the Hokage gave him special treatment?” Naruto was no stranger to whispers, especially when people were so obviously talking about him, “Or maybe his father wanted him out of the house after he murdered his wife.” Naruto had to admit that one hurt, having nightmares of his father saying that very thing, but he didn’t let himself be scared off, he had a right to be there, a right he earned with hard work and time. “I bet that he begged to graduate.” He can’t even get a full sentence out in front of his father, the third had to sign Naruto’s genin slip because they both knew Minato surely wouldn’t, too focused on the work he has. He doubted that Minato even knew about his academy days and the progress he had made in the two years that he was in the academy.
Naruto sat in the middle of the classroom, not knowing who his teammates were so he couldn’t sit next to them, “No way, I bet he threatened Hokage-sama, you know, to do the same thing he did to his wife.” Naruto tried to ignore it, especially when someone walked in, the familiar form of Itachi walking in, seeming so out of place. He held three files and Naruto narrowed his eyes to confirm his suspicions as everyone else giggled about the hot Uchiha.
“Fukuda Momoi, Kagami Riku, Namikaze Naruto,” Naruto slumped as Itachi listed off the names, knowing his father most likely intervened and set the Uchiha prodigy to watch over him, maybe even give reports to him, just to make sure Naruto doesn’t make a mistake. He stood, following the group, recognizing the path to the roof, making him wonder if they were going to meet there or if they were going to just use the roof to jump to the next few and meet up somewhere else. Much to his relief, they stayed on the roof. The three genin sat on the steps as Itachi stood before them, “Introductions will go as follows, first, your name, second, what you wish to do if you become a genin,” Naruto looked at him with suspicion in his eyes, “Third, one word that would describe you.”
“If?” Naruto repeated, “If would insinuate that the graduation exam wasn’t the final test, which means that there’s another.” Itachi blinked, not necessarily taken aback, the files had stated how intelligent Naruto was, but he hadn’t expected his words to be broken down, especially so fast and so easily.
“No way, we passed fair and square,” Momoi hissed from next to Naruto, looking down at him, “Don’t cause trouble.”
“He’s not wrong,” Itachi spoke, making the two twelve-year-olds snap their gazes off Naruto to stare at him. “So to speak, you must impress me enough to even bother teaching you. There’s a reason pre-genin are sent back to the academy after the graduation period, not many are able to pass. Now, shall we continue with introductions?”
“Uzumaki Naruto-”
“That’s not your last name,” Riku barked, interrupting Naruto.
“I wish to help people, and one word to describe me would have to be gregarious,” Naruto continued as if Riku hadn’t said anything.
“So we’re just going to bypass that he is lying about his name,” Momoi sighed, Itachi already knew that the likelihood of this team working out was rather low if this hostility continued.
“Uzumaki is his last name,” Itachi held open the file that had Naruto’s legal name, which just so happen to be Uzumaki just like his mother.
“To be fair, you did call me by my father’s name, so it’s not too farfetched for them to assume that I wasn’t being honest,” Naruto muttered, but let it go as he smiled, “Shall we continue with the introductions?” Naruto repeated, looking at his teammates.
“Fukuda Momoi, jounin, and intelligent,” Momoi crossed her arms, side-eyeing Riku.
“Kagami Riku, I want to be an ANBU or special jounin, and I would have to say that awesome describes me,” Riku grinned, pointing at himself with both his thumbs.
“Idiot,” Momoi mocked under her breath, but then smiled, “Your turn sensei,” she fluttered her eyelashes, and whoever thought it was smart to put a fourteen-year-old with a twelve-year-old girl was wrong, clearly Momoi already had a small crush on their sensei.
“Uchiha Itachi, protect those I care for, fastidious,” Itachi easily said, “now, matters of you guys possibly passing, I want you to meet me tomorrow at eight AM sharp at training ground 14, I’ll explain the rest there.” He then disappeared into a murder of crows, shocking the three, Momoi squeaking and jumping up, Riku leaning back to avoid the mass of feathers that erupted from the birds, while Naruto snatched a feather from mid-air. Itachi hadn’t used a summoning jutsu from what Naruto could see, of course, Itachi was years ahead of him at the moment and could have used it without Naruto noticing, but Naruto knows seals, and there would have been an interdimensional seal somewhere, and since there wasn’t… interesting.
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Itachi watched as the three stared shocked at the murder of crows, raising a brow at the look Naruto had while he stared at the feather he had caught, seemingly understanding something that the other two hadn’t, “He truly is a smart boy.”
Itachi snorted, “Yes, I look forward to seeing the extent of his seemingly vast strengths,” Needless to say, Itachi was actually looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brought them.
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Naruto sighed, chopping up the vegetables, Kakashi side-eyeing him because he hadn’t once complained about the vegetables, the work, or the silence. “Something on your mind, kid?” Kakashi dared to ask, looking at Naruto again, “Naruto,” Naruto snapped his eyes to Kakashi with a hum, “Something on your mind?”
“Oh, uh, is it… is it possible to have a summons that doesn’t take blood or a summoning seal?” Naruto asked, “From what I understand, summons require blood to be shed and a series of hand signs, but there are cases that don’t require the hand signs, but that’s after years of performing the jutsu and still shows a summoning or interdimensional seal. Is there something missing in my information?”
“Ah, there are special cases, especially if the summons chooses its summoner, the bond behind summons and summoner is stronger, and possibly gives the summoner a bloodless and sealless contract that wouldn’t require one to do even the hand signs in the beginning,” Kakashi answered, smirking under his mask; of course that’s what Naruto noticed earlier, he didn’t know what else he suspected.
“I see,” Naruto nodded as if the information thrown at him hadn’t confused him, “So did Itachi-sensei’s crows choose him?”
“I’m… not sure,” Kakashi hadn’t known the circumstances behind Itachi’s summoning abilities, but he guess it would explain quite a bit.
“It’d be sad if they did, considering what crows mean,” Naruto mumbled, and Kakashi hadn’t thought about it, but with Itachi’s nickname, it kind of made sense.
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Naruto slumped to the ground, knowing he probably shouldn’t have been so early, the seconds ticked by and he couldn’t help but pull his notebook out, always carrying it around with him, never knowing when something would inspire him, and this one just so happened to contain the healing seal that he and the medic-nin had been working on, Hyuuga Kaimen was the only medic-nin in the village that would take up the offer of working with him on the seal, so when they started to get together, they both had their own notebook and traded it on a weekly bases. Now they just meet up every other day when Kaimen is in the village, and usually only for an hour or so, mostly to talk about the progress of the trials and see if there’s any way to improve it. Which hasn’t really happened as of late since they both were kind of stump on how to use the chakra of the one the seal had been placed on.
Momoi walked over, pulling him away from his work to say a cheerful, “Morning,” to her before going back to his work, watching her peek at what he was working on. She clearly didn’t understand what was going on as her golden eyes rolled and she slumped next to him.
“Morning, how long have you been here?” She asked, leaning back on her hands.
“Uh, about two hours, I don’t really know,” Naruto jumped when she smacked him over the head, no one had ever dared to do that before, and he wasn’t under any illusion that it was out of the kindness of their hearts. He rubbed the spot completely confused; it wasn’t hard by any means, but the action itself had shocked him more than anything.
“You could have been sleeping, gathering your strength, but you decide to arrive two hours early to something scheduled at eight, are you stupid?” Momoi lectured, and Naruto has been lectured plenty of times, but there was something different about this, and he couldn’t tell what it was.
“No? I’m just used to getting up at five in the morning, I used to train at least an hour before I went to the academy, it helped me focus,” Naruto admitted without thought, hearing her snort before she realized he was serious.
“Your dad help with that,” Momoi sneered until she saw the sniff that Naruto gave her.
“I haven’t seen my dad outside the office for literal years, he doesn’t listen when I talk, simply sends me away, even when I had actual news like my graduation,” Naruto huffed, standing to stretch his arms above his head, “Enough of my sob story, Where’s Riku-san, It’s getting quite close to eight and Itachi-san likes punctuality.”
“You know Itachi-sensei personally,” Momoi asked, half expecting Naruto to be happy about it or brag, she wasn’t expecting Naruto to shake his head.
“No, I only know him because,” Naruto trailed off, not sure how to explain the times he had spent waiting outside his father’s office to ask if he’ll be home that night or if he’ll train with him or if he’d help him with his homework. He was always sent away after the four-hour mark, but Itachi would ruffle his hair sometimes as he passed by or pass him a candy. “It doesn’t matter, I don’t really know him.”
“Know who?” Riku called as he yawned, looking like he just crawled out of bed, scratching at his stomach, his short black hair a mess of knots, and Naruto could see a stick literally hanging out of it. “What?”
Momoi sighed, pinching the bridge of her thin nose, “Must you always embarrass the class?”
“Oi, at least I’m here on time,” Riku complained, crossing his lean arms, green eyes darting between both Naruto and Momoi.
“Oh, you set the bar so high,” Momoi retorted sarcastically, pursing her full, pink lips, sharpening her high cheekbones.
“Morning, Riku-san, you have a stick in your hair,” Naruto interrupted their bickering just as a kunai came flying passed them, landing in the center of them, a tag, that Naruto knew wasn’t real, attached to the hilt. Momoi and Riku jumped away, warily waiting for an explosion that wasn’t going to come. Naruto took the tag, flipped it, and frowned, “All it says is ‘follow me’, nothing else.”
“So that’s our test? To track him down, that’s not much of a test,” Riku snorted, stick still in his hair.
“No, it really is, think about it, Itachi-san had been in the field since he was about seven or eight, is from a clan known for blossoming geniuses and he’s classified as a genius among the geniuses. If he doesn’t want us to find him, we won’t,” Naruto looked at Riku, seeing the horror slowly increasing on both his and Momoi’s faces as the hairs on the back of Naruto’s neck started to rise. Naruto dived forward, rolling on the ground to see what they were dealing with, and there was a black mass shaping into what could be called a human form if not for the disproportionate height and how one side seemed too small compared to the other. Momoi was the one to throw a kunai at it, signaling to her what exactly was going on.
“Kai,” she shouted, hands together in the ram, the being disappearing as if it never existed, “A genjutsu? Okay.”
“He is an Uchiha, it’s not all that surprising so we should expect more genjutsu,” Naruto sighed, standing, “We should get a move on it, who knows how much time he plans on giving us.” Naruto looked at the spot the original kunai had dug into the ground figuring out the angle to start with.
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It had taken them nearly seven entire hours to find Itachi, having plenty of traps ranging from genjutsu, clones, basic wire traps, seals, ninjutsu, everything Itachi could have thrown at them, and still had a few wild goose chases. Itachi raised a brow from the rock he sat on, flicking a kunai into a target a good seventy feet away, joining the group that had been thrown there throughout the hours. Naruto kept his eyes on Itachi, half expecting this to be another genjutsu but Momoi’s test several seconds before stated otherwise. So now they were hidden behind the thick shrubs, Itachi definitely knew where they were, but he didn’t move as if testing their patience, and they stayed hidden for another hour before it finally got to Riku, Naruto was about to jump out if Riku hadn’t, kunai drawn, waiting for the fight that was definitely about to start. Sweat beaded on their foreheads when Itachi stood, Naruto swallowing past the lump in his throat, “Just you?” Itachi asked, Naruto freezing completely as dark eyes flittered over his hiding spot, he wasn’t sure if he even breathed. He hadn’t even activated his sharingan, and Naruto knew he wouldn’t be able to do anything, he would be killed, destroyed; he vaguely wondered if it was the same feeling if he faced his father.
Naruto stayed crouched even when Momoi stood to back up Riku, even when they started getting the shit beat out of them, it wasn’t until Momoi landed on the ground, fighting to get up that Naruto snapped out of it, Riku had already passed out, far too close to Itachi’s feet; Naruto was going to have to get creative.
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Itachi would admit to being disappointed that Naruto was frozen, stuck in his hiding place, even as Momoi and Riku gave it their all, when Naruto finally stood, shaking like a newborn fawn, it was rather pathetic. He had expected more from the boy, even as he took a deep breath, clearly calming himself. Then he was moving, hands moving through signs, another deep breath, and Itachi didn’t need the sharingan to know the jutsu the boy was planning to use, his mother had been known for her devastating water jutsu, so when he spat out a massive amount out water that was similar to a funnel of water, Itachi was prepared to use his fire jutsu. He had thought he would use the steam to attack him, but then all three genin’s chakra signatures were moving farther from the clearing and Itachi smirked, understanding he had just been played like a well-tuned instrument.
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Naruto quickly placed the seals on both Riku and Momoi, channeling chakra through the seal with practiced ease, though doing both at the same time had been difficult. His clone popped out of existence, giving him the memories of the completed seals that would launch several wires at anyone that tried to go over them. He had caught Kakashi once or twice, even when his sharingan was active, so he had little doubt that it would catch Itachi. At least, he hoped. Maybe at least slow the teen down by catching him off guard. Riku snapped up, eyes snapping to Naruto, “What the hell? Weren’t you going to back us up?”
“I’m-” Naruto started, but quickly shut his mouth when he saw the glare pointed at him, so full of betrayal, “I don’t know what happened to me.” Naruto was still shaking.
“Leave him alone, he’s just a kid,” Momoi murmured, “Why didn’t you tell us that you could heal?”
“I can’t, it’s the seal,” Naruto pointed to the seal on each of their chest, “It takes chakra from an outside source and balances it to perform medical ninjutsu. Just about anyone with a grasp on chakra control can do it.”
“You’re good with seals?” Riku grinned, “Do you have a seal for paralyzation? You know, to stop your opponent from moving, even for a short time?” Naruto tapped his chin before pulling out his notebook and started to draw.
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It really hadn’t taken long to find them, sitting there like little ducks waiting for their parents to come to pick them up, it would be cute if they weren’t supposed to have traps and a basic awareness. He suspected they didn’t know he was there, but the beading of sweat on their necks and the way Naruto swallowed said otherwise. They started running and run fast they did, Naruto ever so slightly trailing behind the other two, something that was on purpose, Naruto was faster than that. There was blood dripping from Naruto, and it took him a second to realize that Naruto suffered from a wound on his leg, which was probably the reason for his slow pace. Itachi continued to stalk them, watching them carefully, running right through a small clearing, Naruto’s hand digging into his wound, splattering blood on the ground in a wide arch as he let his hand fly, seals activated and wires snapped out catching Itachi by the foot, forcing him to jump to the ground. “Riku,” Momoi called, her palms slamming to the ground, lines sprouting from around her hands.
“Got it,” Riku called as he circled Itachi who snapped out of the wire already having a plan of escape if the lines that Momoi created hadn’t started to light up, Naruto’s chakra surrounding him from every direction, a ringing filled his ears, and then it was over, a kunai pressing against his throat from three directions. He shouldn’t have underestimated the three. They all know that such a trap wouldn’t stop Itachi but he held his hands up regardless, Riku and Momoi dropped the kunai instantly as Naruto completely collapse to the ground, eyes rolling back, and he was out. “I guess healing us completely, keeping the wound from healing, and powering up the seal was a bit too much for him.”
“He did what?” Itachi blinked, not sure he heard right, picking the boy up.
“Well, after Naruto grabbed us, he placed seals on us that healed us by using his chakra, created the two seals, one to keep the wire trap seal hidden and the other to paralyze you. But we realized the concealing ones needed something to release them and since they were made from blood, and we didn’t want to risk something like sweat deactivating the cover, Naruto found that blood would work well. It wouldn’t surprise me if he felt it was some sort of atonement for leaving us to fight you on our own. So we set it all up but then realized that it would look weird if one of us grabbed a kunai while running and stabbing ourselves, so Naruto took the initiative, keeping the cut from healing at much as possible, we waited for you, and you know the rest,” Momoi explained, grinning as they saw the horror in Itachi’s eyes. “Doesn’t that mean we pass?”
Itachi stared at the two conscious pre-teens, eyes threatening to twitch, “You pass,” Itachi almost mumbled, looking down at the unconscious boy in his arms, sleeping peacefully. He almost can’t wait to tell Kakashi about his discovery. Though he was sure that the man had already known, or probably watched this entire encounter, he wasn’t sure. Shisui would be thrilled to learn that his new genin had the potential to beat even him someday, and he was honestly looking forward to seeing the day that these three chaotic kids kick his ass.
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Two months into being their sensei, he was already regretting it, understanding why jounin would fight to not be put into the bucket, why they would fail their teams even if they were able to pass their test. Kakashi had, once again, failed his team, and Itachi was, dare he say, envious. Not exactly envious, but something close. Now the problem wasn’t the whining or the begging or the demanding, it was the missions, being practically demoted to D-ranks and having nothing else to do but watch three genin that barely get along do whatever mindless task they had was about exciting as watching paint dry. Itachi likes to think he is patient and calm in every situation, no matter how drooling or time-consuming, but, being a genin-sensei, was wearing him thin, and not even the bi-weekly extreme training he does with Shisui is enough to get rid of that itch. So when they were granted their first C-rank, thank you, lord third, Itachi could have kissed Izumi. She might have let him. He should look into that.
So the night before their departure, Itachi made sure that all his genin had everything they needed and didn’t pack anything unnecessary. He was more concerned about Riku packing that old pot that he brought to their overnight training session than he was worried about Momoi bringing hair supplies or makeup or Naruto bringing his extensive sealing supplies collection. At least Naruto’s extra items could come in use. Momoi’s not so much, but at least hers wouldn’t be the size of a large wok and sounded like a bunch of pans banging against each other. He hoped.
Thankfully, no one brought unnecessary items that would weigh them down. Well, nothing he could see. Naruto was the second one to show up at the meeting place, nodding at Itachi sleepily, Momoi third, and Riku, Itachi sighed, was late. Now Itachi knew of the boy’s situation so it was harder for him to get out of the house, but to be over thirty minutes late was starting to press on his nerves. “Sorry,” Riku panted, “the triplets refused to go to daycare, and the twins forgot their bentos.”
“Oh, can we go play with the triplets when we get back,” Naruto begged; Itachi half suspects that it was because he didn’t want to go home to an empty home like he usually did.
“Please do, they beg for you,” Riku sighed, pulling a leaf from his hair, typically from the triplets snatching things and seeing how much they could put in the dark hair without Riku noticing.
“I signed us out, let’s get moving,” Itachi stopped the conversation before it went too deep.
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Itachi should be satisfied by how simple the mission was, especially with three genin who had never been outside the village before and looked at everything like they had never seen it before. They hadn’t even left Fire country, so they quickly got bored with it, which was both a blessing and a curse, it meant that they stopped asking about their surroundings but started asking about his first mission outside the village and it wasn’t a pleasant memory. Something that Naruto picked up on and redirected the conversation to something else, thankfully. But, with the mission being too easy, meant that they were going to have to go back to D-ranks. Mindless work. Which he wouldn’t mind every once in a while, but nearly every single day, he could only handle so much.
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“Why don’t you bring your team here, Itachi?” Mikoto had asked, not knowing Itachi could already see all the trouble they could cause in literally an hour, and quickly shut it down. Naruto alone would be bad enough because he was sure that he would instantly clash with Sasuke, but Momoi who was prone to be argumentative, and Riku who was typically late to most outings. And with his father being as stiff as a taunt wire, he didn’t think it would end well. His refusal had lasted until his mother had given him what he likes to call the “mother’s gaze” a mix of sass, demands, and pleas. He soon found that Naruto and Momoi were thankfully very courteous, Riku was at least on time, and things seemed to be going well. Until it wasn’t, he wasn’t exactly sure what happened, but his father had said one thing about Sasuke’s performance, and Naruto snapped, letting out all the frustrations from his own situation out on Fugaku. At first, the silence had been tense, and nearly unbearable, and they waited for the clan head to say something, but he merely smiled. Smiled. That was never a good sign. Or so he had thought, Fugaku patted Naruto’s head, “You are just like your mother, stubborn as her as well,” the man had said.
“You-” Naruto broke off into a confused mumble, “You know my mother.” That led Momoi and Riku to see the destruction Minato had done to Naruto in a poor attempt to heal his own pain. Sasuke had begged to join them for some of their training sessions, Naruto tag-teaming with him, begging alongside him, and Itachi had almost wished they hated each other. There just wasn’t any winning for him, was there?
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Sasuke’s first time joining them finally satisfied something in the group, Naruto had always ended up teaming with a clone or Itachi himself, but with Sasuke, there was a chance that allowed him to watch the group without wasting chakra to send clones to Naruto. And that led to him stopping the major fireball, which Naruto amplified with wind chakra, from destroying half the training ground, getting himself two pouty nine-year-olds. And that led him to now, watching with no small amount of horror as Naruto and Sasuke combined attacks and made something stronger than Itachi was capable of doing by himself. It drew people to the lake to see the source of the fire, even Fugaku had stopped by, eyes wide and clearly surprised especially as the ball only seemed to be getting larger as Naruto and Sasuke found a balance.
He wasn't sure where the man had gone, but he knew Sasuke hadn’t known he was even there. When the Hokage himself popped onto the dock, watching the two nine-year-olds create something the size of the fox demon itself, eyes widening as he was met with Kakashi standing to the left of Itachi, Shisui watching from a tree back on the shore; if he had a bag of marshmallows, no one commented. Fugaku and Minato stood shoulder to shoulder watching their boys. Neither of the boys seemed to realize they were being watched by their fathers until they collapsed and the two men joined them on the edge of the dock, Naruto’s blue eyes held more hope than they ever had as he leaned into his father’s side.
Itachi wasn’t sure what their future held, but he had a feeling it was going to be chaotic and full of messes, but if they ended like this, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. And if he saw Naruto and Sasuke holding hands, no he didn’t, and neither did anyone else.