Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Colourless Vanity	By : Cepheus Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1743 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Approach
- 2-Offer
- 3-Understand
- 4-Departure
- 5-Meeting
- 6-Truth
- 7-Control
- 8-Burning
- 9-Observing
- 10-Forming
- 11-Forcing
- 12-Portraying
- 13-Organizing
- 14-Honing
- 15-Entering
- 16-Bruising
- 17-Admitting
- 6
- 7
- 8
Edited: 13/09/2014
Cepheus: I must thank all my readers for the support you’ve given to this fic. I hope the edited version will still be in your hearts just as the old one was. Also, I’m glad you people like Anko, as she will be a recurring character for a while. Her training with Naruto starts only in a week, though.
Also, I promise you all more action in the future :D
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“Talking”
‘Thinking’
–Flashbacks, memories, dreams–
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                                                                                   Colourless Vanity
                                                                                   Chapter 07: Control
The ANBU headquarters were, size-wise, incredibly big, and possibly even bigger than the training grounds Team7 had been allowed to use while under Kakashi’s tutelage.
There were at least three different fields that he could see, each one with different characteristics, so that they could challenge shinobi to give their best. Everything looked professional and well-kept.
From where he was standing he could see one terrain with soft, dry soil, probably to train ANBU to use the ground itself during combat practice, and another terrain, not too far from the first, which was more of a swamp, with wet soil and puddles. He wondered who was tasked with keeping the grounds in perfect condition, and then he wondered who fixed the used training grounds at the academy and those scattered around Konoha that all ninja used.
Still, it looked efficient and that was all it was needed from training grounds, especially since only the ANBU were allowed to use them.
Hyoo had asked him and his future team-to-be to leave the room as he discussed privately with Anko, the crazy woman who was apparently going to be his teacher and personal trainer for the following month, and Naruto still had to shiver at that.
That woman was crazy, yes, and totally manic, but she was genial nonetheless, and also scary. He wondered what kind of stuff he would learn from her.
Naruto sighed deeply, focusing on the trees in front of him. Iruka and Raidou had offered to give him a tour of the headquarters, including where his room was located, but Naruto had politely declined, managing to find an open window to slip out from, and had then climbed on the roof of the building, where it converged with the training grounds.
He needed some time alone to think about stuff, about what Itachi had said, about ANBU, about Konoha, and he couldn’t even have a walk around or he might get caught in a trap. The roof was the best place to be.
Curled up a bit on himself, Naruto wondered what would be of him from now on. Everything was moving quickly, and he had just been let into a huge secret, even bigger than Kyuubi’s one, and he had not been allowed time to come to terms with it all. Now, he had some time for himself, and he knew that if anybody needed him, he would be easily found where he was sitting anyway.
Seeing Iruka as part of the ANBU was weird, because he couldn’t associate his image of Iruka –a nice, gentle teacher– with what he knew of the ANBU, but since he had seen more emotion within those ranks today than in all his life before, maybe he could also admit that Iruka was hiding his skills, not his personality. If someone like him could kill under orders, then that was just what was asked from shinobi.
Besides, Iruka was still Iruka. Naruto would never feel any less respect for the man, not even if he defected (and that was maybe something Naruto should keep for himself, not that Iruka would ever become a missing-nin).
Raidou was… not really a surprise, everything considered. He was so quiet, so silent, and Naruto really wanted to know more about him, not just because they were going to be teammates once Naruto passed his test, but also because he had the chance to, and he liked Raidou, or what he knew about him at least.
Last but not least, Itachi.
That was obviously the hardest part to swallow down, because Naruto had been until then convinced that Itachi was at fault for everything, and that Sasuke, while his methods were not the right ones, had every right to want revenge. Naruto himself had promised him that if there was a way to help, he would.
Now he had to change his own approach to the situation, because the way he could help was… not the way Sasuke might want him to.
Naruto and Itachi had met only a couple times overall, and he could not say he knew the man in and out. He didn’t. And aside for Kyuubi, Naruto had nothing remarkable in himself that would make Itachi remember him, unless he counted his whole sob backstory, which would be a pretty embarrassing way to be remembered, really.
But now he was one of Itachi’s underlings, and soon to be part of his ANBU team. So in a way, Itachi now would consider him part of… his family, just like the other ANBU members.
It was unsettling, especially considering that his real family was no more, and that the only one left hated his guts.
The first time Naruto had met him, it had been before meeting Tsunade, at a lousy hotel in the middle of nowhere. Itachi had seemed imposing, far too strong (and that feeling was still there, even if they were on the same side now), but Naruto now wondered if he had stalled on capturing him until Jiraiya had arrived to save the situation.
But then there had been Sasuke there too. He had heard that Itachi was chasing Naruto, and had wanted to finally face his brother. What had happened afterwards had been painful to watch for Naruto, and he was still confused as to how that counted as brotherly love, unless Itachi had done it to keep his cover going, and to strengthen Sasuke’s hatred once again.
Naruto was not an experienced ninja. Compared to people like Tsunade, Jiraiya, even Kakashi, he had not lived enough as a shinobi to be able to judge others, and even if he had, he wouldn’t.
But even at his age, there was something he had quickly learned –nobody was exempt from mistakes.
One could be the strongest ninja, or the one with the biggest raw skill, and yet they could still mess up.
Jiraiya had allowed Orochimaru to leave and then had left himself instead of gritting his teeth and not giving up. Itachi had decided on the path that his little brother would take, and the results had been nothing like he had hoped.
Yondaime… Yondaime had wanted Naruto to become a hero for his sacrifice, but instead had sent him down to be hated for all his childhood.
And yet, they were all strong, capable ninja. One of the three Sannin, the fourth Hokage, an ANBU at thirteen.
Skills meant nothing in terms of mistakes, and that was… good to know.
It meant that Naruto was allowed to mess things up as he grew up, because everybody made mistakes. It was… human to believe in something and still be wrong. It was also important to remember that. No straight path of only victories could lead to greatness, but a path filled with mistakes made you learn and grow from them.
If one didn’t mess up on the way, how could they learn? Naruto never learned from other people’s mistakes, only from his own. It was a better lesson than always winning, and that was also why not becoming a Chuunin had given him more progress than passing the exam.
He wondered if that was what people meant with growing up, then decided it didn’t matter. In the core he was still Naruto, and his values hadn’t changed yet, even if he could see more now, and understand a greater scope of things.
The one thing that had changed was only one –before, he had needed to be loud in order to be seen. If he didn’t scream, if he didn’t make himself out to be a clown, nobody would look at him. nobody would care.
Here… he was noticed. People paid attention to him. Considered him when making plans.
He had no need to be loud and flashy.
‘It’ll be hard to get used to that,’ he snorted.
He wanted to ask Itachi a lot of things. Things about his family. Things about the parts of his truth that he was not allowed to reveal yet. Things about his relationship with Sasuke, things about his parents. Did he remember them with love?
But he wouldn’t. Naruto valued privacy, and it wasn’t his place to ask.
His thoughts reverted back to Sasuke. Itachi’s words, but mostly what hadn’t been said, were still ringing in his mind. He had to fight the temptation to run back to the village and explain everything to his friend, make him part of this secret bigger than himself.
But of course he wouldn’t.
He couldn’t tell Sasuke. The truth hurt, in a way.
What kind of friendship could there be when he had to hide something this important from his best friend?
“Naruto-kun?”
Snapping out of his train of thoughts, Naruto found a pair of charcoal eyes staring down at him; it was different, looking at Itachi only to see him clad in a normal ANBU attire instead of the usual Akatsuki cloak.
Another thing to get used to.
“I… Itachi,” he started, but then hastily corrected himself, “I mean, Itachi… Itachi-san”. A formal way of calling the older shinobi felt foreign and strange on his lips, but using just the other’s name without a suffix sounded offensive to Naruto’s ears.
This was something else he had to get used to… showing respect to a former enemy.
Itachi looked at him, apparently perplexed, then shook his head. He shuffled down until he was sitting next to Naruto on the rooftop, and looked ahead. “Formality does not suit you, Naruto-kun. It would feel perhaps better if you referred to me as your captain, or if even that is too much, forgo the suffix”.
Naruto nodded to himself, muttering Itachi’s name a couple times to try out how it felt, then he shrugged. This felt somewhat unreal. He was sitting next to Itachi as an ally, when the day before he had been perhaps one of his biggest foes… but it wasn’t as uncomfortable as he feared.
“Are you going to stay in the ANBU until you retire?” he asked, the words out of his mouth before he could think better. “Will you ever come out to Sasuke?” then he stopped, realising that this could be part of those questions he was not allowed to ask.
“Probably until Sasuke is strong enough to face me on his own, and kill me,” Itachi replied seriously, but when Naruto peeked at him he noticed an upwards twist of his lips.
Was that some sort of joke? Or did Itachi gain reassurance from thinking that one day Sasuke would kill him? Was that a way for him to take the guilt for his actions and receive what he felt was the rightful punishment?
It was not a reassuring thought, and Naruto felt the ghost of a squeeze in his lower stomach. He could not think about it, not now, so he pushed it down and resolved to forget about it.
“Sasuke… he has started to change. He is growing stronger physically, but… you were what made him change. You ended up mattering to him, and that was why he listened to your words. This is why he’s still in the village, and not with Orochimaru,” Itachi continued after a brief pause. “One day, maybe, he will be able to stand on his own, and I will tell him the whole truth”. ‘It was thanks to you that it might be possible. Maybe I won’t need to die by his hands to reveal him the truth, and if that means I have been given another shot at life… then so be it’.
Naruto fidgeted slightly, looking away again. “Sasuke will get stronger, and so will I, but… I don’t think we’re going to get to the point where we can be a threat for you,” he shrugged.
It wasn’t empty praise. He meant it.
There was a huge discrepancy between himself, Sasuke and Itachi. No matter how much the two of them could train, tease each other and push the other to get stronger, Itachi was on a different level.
He was the genius, the kid who had graduated at 7 from the academy, who had become a Chuunin at 10, and then an ANBU at 13.
Naruto was 12, almost 13, he had barely passed the academy test, he had failed the exam for Chuunin, even if for his age just being mentioned to take it was apparently a huge deal, and he didn’t feel like he was going anywhere.
He didn’t feel bitter about it, though. He accepted that there would always be people more gifted than he was, and it meant that he just had to train more, fight more, to get there. It didn’t mean he would never get there at all.
Itachi let out a sort of huffing sound, and belatedly Naruto realised that was almost a laugh, and felt himself smile. Itachi did look way better showing his amusement than before, being all emotionless and blank.
He wondered if this was Itachi’s definition of peace.
“Strength means different things for different people, Naruto-kun,” he replied, still somewhat smiling. “I was talented as a shinobi, but I just went along with my family’s expectations for me for a long while. I started to think about what I was doing only after I joined ANBU, when I learned to look ahead. In Akatsuki it felt just like going back in time, only it was a deadlier game of cat and mouse, and then my skills at planning were the ones that mattered the most, not my physical strength, or my eyes”.
Well, Naruto couldn’t usually read between the lines, but this one was obvious enough for him to get as well.
The ANBU had been the only place Itachi had felt he could be himself. He had learned from there where he hadn’t from his own family, and that said… a lot of things about the Uchiha. And about Itachi.
The ANBU had not demanded anything from Itachi that he wasn’t willing to give, and in a way, they had given him more respect than his own father.
Naruto sighed and looked down in front of him, at the edge of the roof and the ground below. He would not butt in and tell Sasuke anything, of course. It was not his place. This was between Itachi and Sasuke, and it would take as long as it would take. Naruto could only try so much to make things smooth, but it was all on Sasuke now.
Three years while Naruto was ‘away with Jiraiya’ for Sasuke to learn from Konoha, from Kakashi, from everybody, and then Naruto would see if he could aid the process. There was a lot to live for, even for Sasuke, and revenge did not mean sacrificing all he had left.
He would grow on his own as well in the meantime. Naruto wasn’t going to mess up (or if he did, he would learn from that, too), and maybe he would be worth of being called teammate for real.
“Will you… will you teach me how to be strong in the right way?” he asked quietly, not looking at the older shinobi as he spoke.
Itachi’s eyes flickered to him, surprised. “Why me?” he replied. “I have been on the enemy’s side for so long, I don’t think I’m qualified to teach you that”.
Naruto blinked, then sought out Itachi’s eyes and held his gaze without breaking contact. “You returned,” he simply said.
That was what mattered.
Itachi’s soft, clipped laugh echoed around them, a sound that had been unheard for a very long time.
“Yes,” he commented, smiling wryly. “That I did”.
                                                                                   …–…–…–…
After Naruto and Itachi had fallen into a companionable silence, it hadn’t taken long for Hyoo to seek them both out, if only to show Naruto around after he had finished his meeting with Anko.
“Naruto-kun, I will allow you some time to explore on your own while you are not training, as long as you pay attention to the fields around the compound. You will be given a map of the traps and the jutsu deployed in the surrounding area tomorrow, and you’ll have to memorize it,” Hyoo said as he led Naruto through another one of the building’s corridors. “While Poison Claw will not start your training until the end of the week, your personal training will start today already, so you won’t be allowed much time to get acquainted with the place for now”.
Naruto nodded eagerly, trying to keep himself from sowing too much excitement at the news that he would start training right away.
Well, they were ANBU, and even if they were allowed time to rest that did not mean they had to grow lax.
“Where am I going to stay then?”
Hyoo smiled under his mask. “ANBU headquarters are equipped with bedrooms and areas for members to stay for the night if they are in need of it. You will get to keep a room for three years, which is longer than usual, but yours is a special case. Please feel at ease there, as nobody will bother you there unless strictly necessary”.
This part of the headquarters looked less like an official building and more like an ancient family dojo, and Naruto looked around, curious.
The corridors were larger than before, and there was more light coming from outside rather than from internal illumination, and the doors were not made of metal but of wood, simple sliding panels without decorations aside for a small symbol at eye level.
He had the feeling that he would get lost if he had to memorize all these corridors, so he hoped that he could at least travel outside on the roof to get where he needed, as it would take him a while to get used to this place.
As it was now, he wouldn’t even know how to return to the common room by himself…
“Your things have been already taken to your room, unpacked and unsealed,” Hyoo continued in the same voice. “Itachi will stay in a room close to yours, as he also will reside inside the headquarters just like you, so if you ever find yourself in need of some information, refer to him if I’m not around. Well, but don’t bother him too much”.
Naruto nodded, though he was feeling a bit disappointed. Of course it was stupid to think that someone as busy as the ANBU commander would focus too much on a simple trainee rookie, with all the things he had to do, so even that small feeling was pushed away after being recognised for what it was.
Hyoo had already given him enough attention so far. The rest would be in his hands.
As for trusting Itachi, the thought was still felt foreign and yet not as strange as he had expected at first; he was growing used to Uchiha senior, or at least he hoped so.
“Here we are,” Hyoo pointed to a simple sliding door on the left of the corridor. “This is your bedroom. There is a smaller kitchen in case you want to fix something quick for yourself, just head left down the corridor and turn right twice… it will be the door with a sakura tree painted on it”.
Hyoo continued to speak, detailing to Naruto where the common bathroom was, and that he had a personal toilet in the room, then where he could find some other things, like the laundry room and the way back to the common room, but Naruto was having some problems remembering all those indications, and his brain simply shut down.
Damn, he’d forgotten where the kitchen was, already!
“Well, that’s all I can think about for now,” the commander pressed one hand on Naruto’s shoulder and then nodded. “You can take it easy for this hour, and when you are ready just knock on Itachi’s room. He will help you with the first week training until you’ll go under Anko’s tutelage for the rest of the month”.
With a last squeeze, the Panther disappeared from sight without a sound.
He remained standing in the corridor for a couple seconds, blinking as he tried to recall where the kitchen was and failed, and then he pushed open the door of his room and stepped inside with a sigh.
One thing he had noticed was that unless someone else was around, the place was silent.
Before, the silence had always felt a bit too heavy for him. He lived alone, so whenever he left his team to return to his apartment, he was alone, and not even his optimism was much company if he felt lonely. It didn’t happen all the time, but it was there, almost tangible, and Naruto did not deal well with negative feelings. He didn’t want to acknowledge they existed, either.
The silence in the ANBU headquarters was a nice silence, though. He was aware that he was not alone, because he was surrounded by other people and he would only have to reach out to talk to them, and they would pay attention to him, maybe reach out back.
This new silence wasn’t an oppressive one, and that was… a nice change.
He would have wanted to knock on Itachi’s door right away, but something told him that leaving the man some time for himself would be nice, and besides he wanted to explore his room.
What greeted him was a plain old-styled room, the kind one would find in old houses. The colours of the walls and the tatami on the floor were warm, though, and soft under his feet as he kicked his shoes to a corner. The walls were made of wood, and he brushed one hand on them, marvelling at the high quality. His house had cement walls and floor, and it always felt cold, especially during winters because it was hard to heat up, and he wondered if he would have the same problem being here.
There was a huge window on the wall opposite from the door, with an opening on the forest and on the training grounds. That was one thing he would miss from his old apartment –his windows all showed the village, which was always nice to look at. He guess he’d have to get used to this.
On his right there was a double wall-encased armoire, which probably had his futon (it would be cool to sleep in one for a while, he only owned a bed because it was cheaper) and possibly some of his clothes. He checked to make sure, and was both satisfied and disappointed to see that the change of clothes present inside was of the same variation as the ANBU outfit he had on.
No trace of his orange and while he had expected it, it was still sad. Man, he missed his flashy clothes.
Something familiar caught his eyes –there it was, his favourite lamp carefully placed on a small coffee table under the window, and when he looked around some more, he realised there was one of the paintings from his apartment hanging on the wall, and also all his photos, their frames replaced and new. Iruka had been quick with that.
Finally, there was a desk and a couple of chairs in a corner, next to a small door which probably lead to the toilet.
The room was smaller than his entire apartment, of course, but that had to be expected, and it still was nicer.
As he moved closer to the desk, he realised there was his sleeping hat placed on the back of a chair, and he blushed immediately at the thought of the ANBU members seeing it. He shook his embarrassment away though –this was a gift from Iruka, and he wouldn’t stop using it just because others might find it stupid.
His eyes fell on the photos, grateful they were once again fixed up. There was the obvious one with Team7 in it, Kakashi and Sakura the only ones smiling in it, and then there were older ones –Sandaime and Iruka standing behind a very young Naruto in one, and one with Tsunade slamming her fists in both Jiraiya’s head and his own. Ouch, that had hurt. One with Naruto and Gamakichi at the festival, busy eating ramen, and one of Iruka with his own parents that was Naruto’s treasured one, because Iruka giving it to him made him so happy.
But those were not the only ones anymore. There was one with the ‘Rescue Five’ team he had taken before ‘leaving with Jiraiya’. They weren’t really five though, as there was a disgruntled Shino as well, looking disappointed he hadn’t been there for the mission… Naruto snickered. There was one with only the girls, because Sakura had thought she wouldn’t allow the guys to beat her to this friendship thing, so Sakura, Ino, Hinata and TenTen were proudly smiling at the camera. There was even one of Neji, Lee and TenTen by themselves, because Lee wanted into the fun and wouldn’t be dissuaded.
His eyes lingered on each of them, only to stop on Sandaime’s face the longest.
The man had known about Itachi, and the Uchiha massacre, and he had tried so hard to prevent it but the Council had moved over him. If Naruto wanted to be a good Hokage, he’d have to be wary of the council, unless they died or left the position to someone younger, but even then he wouldn’t know who to trust, and that was not a nice thought.
He had never thought that politics could be this messy, and that the Council could even go against the Hokage’s will. He would need to learn about that too, and he wasn’t really looking forwards to that.
Hyoo had said that he would not need his trainee ANBU outfit unless he wanted to visit Konoha, so he quickly took it off, and went to check what kind of choice he had for other clothes. The orange was not present, yes, but that didn’t mean he had no clothes.
There were brown and grey clothes mostly, and some dark green too, and most of them looked pretty new and of good quality, which made him happy.
He chose a pair of simple brown pants, and then a grey shirt with long sleeves. As he put it on, he realised there was a small pouch inside the right sleeve for senbon or other small things, and he smiled at that. He strapped his kunai bag back around his side and the other one around his leg, and hesitated staring at the mask, then decided to leave it in the room –he was the only trainee around and all ANBU knew who he was. If there were problems he would just come back to pick it up.
Checking himself in the mirror inside the closet, he decided this new look wasn’t as good as the orange had been, even though he did look more… ninja-ish this way, which was of course a good thing. But these clothes fit him better, and maybe he was just a little bit hung up on the orange to really appreciate the change, that much he could admit.
He didn’t really have much to do by himself since there were no books and he had no idea how to go back to the common room, so he left and stood in front of Itachi’s room, thinking that if he started his training now he would at least fill up a bit of his time.
He readied himself to knock, but before he could do that the door opened on its own, and Naruto instinctively took a step back, finding Itachi looking down at him.
“Ah!” Naruto chuckled nervously. “Ummm…”
Itachi lifted one eyebrow. “Are you ready to start?” he asked.
The teen nodded, blinking owlishly at Itachi’s own change of clothes; he was dressed casually, but both the shirt and the pants had the stem of the Uchiha clan on them in a corner.
Naruto wondered whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, then resolved not to care about it, as it wasn’t his problem.
“Well then,” Itachi nodded, walking out of his room and motioning for Naruto to follow. “From now on, I expect your full attention. You can chat with me when we are not training, but otherwise you will follow my orders without fail”.
Naruto nodded, but when Itachi did not turn around, he spoke up, “Yes, Itachi…-sensei”.
“I will have to be blunt with you,” Itachi continued, apparently satisfied with his reply. “Up until now, the one good thing you’ve had on your side was your stamina”.
Instantly, Naruto wanted to protest, feeling slighted about Itachi’s casual words, but then stopped and bit down on his tongue to keep himself from replying, especially after Itachi looked at him with a stern gaze. Itachi was not finished, but he had demanded full attention from him.
Naruto, who had become used to Kakashi and Jiraiya’s training method, which consisted in getting some hints thrown at him before he was mostly ignored in favour of dirty books or ‘research’, was now suddenly aware that with Itachi things would be way different.
Itachi led the teen outside of the main headquarters, apparently having no problem navigating the place, and walked to one of the furthest training grounds behind the compound. During the whole walk he kept silent, and Naruto followed his example, humbled.
Once they got there –it was one with what looked like normal soil and grass, not dry but not sludgy either– Itachi motioned for Naruto to sit down on a nearby fallen log.
“Your chakra control is, unfortunately, ridiculous,” he spoke up, direct and without mercy. “Your knowledge of simple jutsu is basic at most, and the only technique you use in battle is mostly useless because you are not aware of how much chakra you waste on it”.
Naruto accused the hit with a flinch, but had to face the fact that Itachi was saying the truth.
“Your concentration is also subpar –you only show interest when learning potentially powerful techniques, but you lack the patience needed to go through every basic detail, thus making your learning approach sloppy at best, dangerous at worst,” Itachi continued, staring him down. The weight of those eyes on him was… impressive. “And your taijutsu lacks strength, precision and control. You do have a good speed, but it is barely above average”.
The tone of Itachi’s voice was that of someone reading through a groceries list, and it hit Naruto right in his self-esteem, which dropped quickly to the ground.
Itachi–sensei truly was heartless when pointing out (in various degrees of detail) someone’s weaknesses, but it was needed.
“Of course, I cannot put the entire blame on just you. You have been hindered during your academy years by teachers who taught you wrong stances on purpose, and ignored your questions,” Itachi’s eyes turned cold, “and later on, both of your teachers disregarded the idea to teach you the basics again. That was their mistake, as they should have known better, but it is not an excuse for your behaviour. You could have tried to teach yourself what you lacked the moment you saw you were being mistreated, but you did not think about it”.
Naruto winced again.
Itachi-sensei was right. Yes, at the academy he had been mostly ignored, questions going unanswered, efforts on his part wasted. When Iruka had appeared, it was too late for him to reach his classmates’ level and no one had any intention to teach him what he had missed, and nobody had even thought about it. Naruto included.
Kakashi-sensei and Ero-sennin both had been disappointed for his lack of knowledge on the basics, but none had taken time to fill the holes up when needed.
But Itachi-sensei was right, it was mainly his own fault. Instead of only doing the minimum required, boasting off a strength he didn’t have, he should have worked hard on his own, to show everyone he wasn’t a waste of time and space.
He had only ever practiced the way teachers had taught him, and while not understanding his chakra amount had led him to mess up the Bunshin Jutsu, he could have tried to get books to read on it, instead of just stubbornly continue to do the same thing over and over.
When he saw his taijutsu was keeping him unstable and his hits were weak, he should have tried to find scrolls on it, or used weights, but he hadn’t. He had ignored it to focus on something else.
“One good thing you have is your massive chakra reserves,” Itachi concluded, his tone slightly softer. “Few ninja before have shown such a high amount of raw chakra potential, and this is your salvation. Thanks to that, we will be able to fix your poor academy background”.
Naruto frowned, and looked down.
Massive chakra reserves, huh?
It wasn’t his own. It was Kyuubi’s chakra added to his own. Once again the only good thing he had was the damn fox’s power.
“Everything I do comes from that asshole fox!” he punched the log, frustrated. “Without him I would be nothing, and I wouldn’t have left the academy to begin with…”
He couldn’t even stand the idea, and he felt anger build up inside him.
Itachi slowly shook his head. “Kyuubi has nothing to do with your own chakra, Naruto-kun. Your reserves are different from the demon’s and they are also separated. The fox’s chakra is enormous, but I am not talking about that now. You have a chakra amount that very few can compare to, without the aid of the demon inside you”.
Naruto stared at him in surprise, his rage vanishing. “But… how can you say that? Every time I was in danger, I resorted to asking the Kyuubi for his aid because I couldn’t do it on my own!”
“That’s because you are still young and very much untrained, and you waste your chakra easily and quickly,” Itachi countered. “I would like you to think now. Has there been one instance where you used your own chakra consciously, rather than that of the beast you host?”
Naruto focused hard on the past, but he couldn’t find what Itachi was talking about. Ever since knowing of the demon, that was the chakra he had used for everything when in danger. Ever since breaking the seal, in Nami no Kuni…
Oh.
The seal had cracked during his first C-rank mission, but there was one thing before then, a time where he had used his own chakra to do something big… the night he had found out about Kyuubi. He had taught himself how to do the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!
At the time, he couldn’t have possibly used Kyuubi’s power, and that meant…
“I see you found one,” Itachi nodded, satisfied. “For your information, a person with chakra pathways can create Bunshin the way you make Kage Bunshins, and that’s it. The amount of required chakra is split between yourself and the clones, and that is why a healthy, strong Jounin like Kakashi can only create two. The fact that you can manage to make a massive amount, even while tired… isn’t that clear proof of your insane amount of chakra?”
Naruto blinked, surprised at that. He had never thought that much about why the scroll was kept away from prying eyes, especially because the first jutsu had been quite easily to do, with next to no hand–seals and not much concentration required.
He had managed to learn that with only a bit of training and reading the scroll, where a normal Bunshin was impossible for him.
“As of now, you used Kyuubi’s chakra consciously or not five times in total,” Itachi counted on his fingers, “in the Wave country, where the seal cracked, twice during the Chuunin exams, once against the Shukaku vessel, and as I have been told, once against my own brother”.
Naruto bit his lower lip, nodding quietly. He knew Itachi had nothing against it for that time, but it still made him tense up.
“The reason that you couldn’t manage a single Bunshin, whilst you can create hundreds of Kage Bunshin is that the basic version requires a ridiculously small amount of chakra but it takes a lot of control to spin it the right way, and Kage Bunshin requires less control but more raw chakra, which you do have. You can feed as many physical clones as you want, but a simple Bunshin is still impossible for you”.
Well, that was the first time someone had taken some time to explain it to him. He wondered if by learning more control over his chakra system he could get to have a better grasp of even the simpler jutsu.
“Controlling the amount of chakra you give to your clones, even unconsciously, would allow you to decide how strong each clone can be, making one harder to dispel than just with one weak punch, but having more control could help you with the level of power you infuse in all your jutsu, making it possible to use the same to incapacitate someone or kill them, depending on your will”.
Eh, that would be helpful. He had a hard time focusing on how strong his Rasengan could be, but he hadn’t thought he could fix it with more control, honestly. He’d just thought it would get fixed with more practice of that single jutsu.
Itachi smirked. “And this is why we will be working on controlling your chakra flow for now. until you have learned this, we will not be doing anything else, as it would be too dangerous,” Itachi stretched his shoulders. “Once you see how much easier it becomes to cast a jutsu if you dictate the flow of chakra, you will be able to store your energy and use it when you need an extra boost”.
Naruto smiled, reassured by Itachi’s words. He could remember Kakashi scolding him for how he was wasting chakra compared to Sakura, who had a smaller reserve and knew how to administrate it, but Kakashi had never truly explained how he could prevent the misuse either, just expecting that Naruto would understand once he got it pointed out.
“Kakashi–sensei said that no matter how much chakra I use, I still waste half of it,” he muttered.
“He’s quite right –so just think how much you could do without running out of energy,” Itachi nodded. “Any other shinobi forces just enough chakra if they want the jutsu to work, you pour an indiscriminate amount into it and the jutsu works, but it is too wild and could potentially harm you or your allies in a fight”.
“But how am I going to learn that?” Naruto looked up at Itachi, curious. “And what about the demon chakra?”
Itachi smirked a bit. “Stand up and lift your shirt,” he ordered.
Naruto’s cheeks dusted red and he glared at his captain. “What?!”
Was Itachi a pervert like Kakashi and Jiraiya? Were all his sensei going to be like that?
Itachi stiffened and let out an annoyed huff. “I need to seal Kyuubi’s chakra from yours so you will be forced to work only with your own –mould some chakra and let the seal appear”.
Naruto grimaced in embarrassment for his misunderstanding but nodded, doing as he was told; the spiral flared on his belly, surrounded by the familiar seal of kanji, and Itachi lifted his right hand up.
He pressed the middle and index fingers together, then the ring and the pinkie, and shifted the thumb downwards, curling all fingers to mimic a three-fingered claw; chakra started to concentrate from his body into his hand, making the tips of his fingers glow.
Once the required chakra was ready and burning and his hand was tingling with power, Itachi twisted his hand around with his thumb upwards, and slammed it hard into Naruto’s stomach.
“Fuuinjutsu: Shiba Sanguoufuuin!”
Pain flared up inside Naruto and he gasped out, robbed of his breath, as what felt like a hand took a hold of something inside him and pulled, stretching and ripping it from him. His legs gave out underneath him and he fell on the ground, panting hard.
He instantly felt like something was missing from him, and though he did not see it, the spiral tattoo on his body blurred, then he distinctly felt his energy being drained towards it, absorbed by the seal and leaving his body. Then he realised it was not his chakra but Kyuubi’s demonic one that had been stored inside his body and was now leaving it, sucked inside the seal.
Right when the energy suction finished, and the pain lessened, three kanji appeared around the seal, and Naruto glanced down at it, wheezing.
“What… what the hell was that?!” he coughed, standing up again.
Itachi observed his reaction; Kyuubi’s chakra had been mixing with Naruto’s coils already, and he wondered, not for the first time, what Yondaime’s seal meant for the Jinchuuriki. It was by far the most complex and complete of all the ones he had seen.
“That was a sealing technique similar to the one Orochimaru was reported using on you during the second Chuunin exam,” he replied quietly. “Instead of ripping the demon’s chakra away from you in a way that would be detrimental for your health, disrupting your control, this one simply creates a barrier that prevents you from using it”.
With a small shiver Naruto nodded. He remembered the other seal Orochimaru had placed on him, and how painful Jiraiya’s method of removal had been. For a moment he wondered if the demon’s chakra was supposed to mix with his own so much that cutting away the source made him feel weaker already, then decided he really did not want to know the answer.
“So… now what?” he asked instead.
Itachi walked to one of the nearby trees and selected a big, flat leave from one of them, returning to Naruto and concentrating a bit of his chakra on it; once the leaf was coated with it, Itachi did a half-sign with one hand and offered it to Naruto.
“Err… what do I have to do with this?” Naruto blinked, slightly put off.
“Your current assignment is to stick this to your forehead and use your chakra to hold it in place,” Itachi explained. “The leaf has to float exactly three inches above your skin. I coated the leaf with my chakra, so you might find it more difficult to hold it in place, but this also means you’ll have to use more chakra than in the leaf training you did at the academy”.
Naruto stared at Itachi and the leaf with a sour look. He truly hated that exercise, it was almost the same as what Iruka had made him do when he was younger. It hadn’t worked back then, but he trusted Itachi to know what he was doing.
He had to do it –basics were important, he got that now.
“Start,” Itachi ordered.
Naruto sighed, then stared upwards and pressed the leaf against his forehead; slowly, he concentrated his chakra, and with a bit of strain, he directed it towards the leaf. He soon understood what Itachi meant –the leaf was surprisingly heavy, and using just a little bit of chakra wouldn’t cut it.
He fought against the leaf’s pull, straightening his back and pushing some more chakra into it, then too much, just to keep it a few inches above him.
It was hard. Hell, harder than mastering a powerful jutsu, because this was monotonous and boring, and that made Naruto want to do –keeping a leaf above one’s forehead shouldn’t be as hard as learning a technique and yet for him it was.
Naruto felt his chakra bubble up against the edge of his mind, demanding to be used, and fought against it; this was the result of his lack of training, and he would focus and work until he won the battle.
He was completely concentrated. He could do this. Focus…
And then chakra flared up at his side and a wave of fire rushed towards him.
“Hey!” he yelled, moving away and barely evading the attack.
As he did so, his concentration wavered and then shattered, and his chakra exploded out of control; much to his chagrin the leaf, instead of flying away from him due to the burst of chakra, slipped out of his control and slammed painfully on his forehead, making him slip and fall gracelessly on the ground.
Looking up and massaging his forehead, Naruto glared up at his new sensei. “Wha… what the hell was that?! Were you trying to kill me?!”
“Just controlling your chakra in one place will not advance your training, Naruto-kun. You have to split your attention on your surroundings as well, and keep yourself aware for possible dangers. Which in this case was my fire attack”. Itachi smirked.
Naruto swallowed and shook his head –it seemed that while Itachi was no pervert, he was possibly a sadist. ‘Damn, he’s really going at it,’ he thought.
“Never thought about something less dangerous, sensei?” he asked, mostly sarcastic.
Itachi’s smirk simply widened.
“Well, I could, but would that really help develop a reaction to danger? Your body will only react when it feels there is something harmful coming your way, so anything less would be only indulging you,” he said. Then he appeared thoughtful. “I guess you could choose between my fire and dangling from a branch upside-down, but I warn you that keeping chakra flowing in two opposite parts of your body requires even more concentration”.
Naruto winced at the thought, picturing himself falling face-first from a tree and deciding that he would just as well try his luck with Itachi’s fire jutsu instead –they looked less dangerous overall.
“I… aah, I guess fire isn’t as bad, haha,” he laughed, failing to sound convinced.
Despite his obvious dislike for either choice, he knew that Itachi was right even now. Naruto always learned better when he was under pressure, which was possibly not as good if there was no danger around.
Itachi’s smirk, to Naruto’s eyes, looked quite sadistic as the two got up and Naruto placed the slippery, heavy leaf on top of his forehead once more.
“Here we go” the ANBU captain warned.
Naruto groaned.
                                                                                   …–…–…–…
Tsunade stared down at the youngest Uchiha with eyes narrowed in displeasure, wishing him to stop being so stubborn.
He was standing in front of the Hokage desk, flanked by two ANBU, and looked unrepentant and cold to her, even though she could see the tension in his shoulders and arms as he crossed them, his fingers white in an attempt to keep this closed off appearance.
This defiance wouldn’t do him any good if he needed to learn to behave, but this was something he would need to understand on his own.
The Council had finally decided what to do about him and his attempted betrayal and defection, and had called Sasuke there so that Tsunade would pass on the judgement.
Sasuke had done a number of grave actions in the past few weeks –he had fed a curse seal with his anger, he had hurt a Konoha nin (even if the Council cared nothing about Naruto and did not consider him irreplaceable, he was still a ninja of Konoha, and Tsunade had still the last word on that), he had planned with an infamous missing-nin about leaving the village and if Naruto hadn’t taken him back, he would have successfully defected.
Tsunade would have put down her foot against him if Naruto hadn’t interceded for him, and even then her first impulse had been to seal off Sasuke’s chakra for good and banish him from the village (as opposed to her first idea, that to just kill him or cut his hands off, which had been abandoned once Hyoo had introduced his secret folder to her), but the Council had voted against it, wanting to keep their last Uchiha in the village with the possibility to pass off his skills to the next generation.
The Council also had no idea that Sasuke was no more the last Uchiha in the village, but Tsunade was in no mood to tell them anything about Itachi’s return, especially considering they had been so happy to send him off. She had no doubt that at one point they would find out –they had their own spies in the village, a notion Tsunade was aware of and disliked, even though she could use that against them if needed be.
In the end, Tsunade was also aware of something else –Sasuke was going to accept his punishment with his head held high, and he would do it because he wanted to atone to his mistake.
She might not have known what Naruto and Sasuke had talked about during their fight, but she knew how to read a person, even someone like Sasuke. Tsunade was no rookie, and she was not twenty anymore.
On his own, Sasuke was keeping his mind carefully blank. He was aware that this Hokage cared about Naruto, and that she might not like him, but he knew nothing of her aside for that.
He hoped she would be righteous, just like an Hokage was expected to be, but he also knew that the Council would be on his side, and for just this once in his life, he was grateful for that, rather than disgusted.
If he was going to change, no matter how hard that would be for him, and how much he resented that notion and how much he just wished he could do whatever he wanted, he knew he was wrong, and he knew that he needed this chance.
Tsunade cursed at herself. Despite her dislike for this teen in front of her, looking so defiant and yet to worried, all she could see was a boy who still did not know that he had been cheated of his childhood for nothing. And yet, it was either that or death, and no child… no child deserved to die that young.
She knew that personally, after all.
Because of that, she would pardon a child’s actions, rather than a capable shinobi’s faults, and even if she would not absolve him for what he did, she would not ruin his life.
One day, Sasuke would find out the whole truth, and hopefully by then he would be ready. For now, his decision to stay in Konoha willingly after talking to Naruto seemed to be a good step in that direction.
She was doing this for Naruto, though. Because he had faith in Sasuke.
“Uchiha Sasuke,” she started, voice cold. “You have tried to defect and leave the village to join one of the most powerful enemies of Konoha. You attacked with intent to kill a loyal Konoha shinobi, and four other ninja risked their lives against the enemies sent to retrieve you”.
Sasuke did not look away and nodded, taking responsibility for his actions without words.
“Had I been allowed to apply martial law, you would have been sentenced to prison for life, or worse –have your chakra sealed away forever,” Tsunade noticed with a bit of satisfaction that this made Sasuke’s perfect mask slip a little. “You are lucky, because your name is what kept you from receiving this verdict”.
He swallowed, but felt a surge of hope.
“You need to understand, Sasuke, that you do not deserve any privilege above any other shinobi. The Council might love you, but their love is merely towards your skills, and what your name implies. I look at you and see a person just like any other, and that is how I will treat you. You are nothing special, Sasuke, unless you want to become so, and then this is not the right way to show it”.
He nodded at that, and inwardly thought about Naruto, and about how his words had been almost the same. How Naruto had drilled it into him that neither of them was a genius, but they could work hard, and that would mean the same thing in the end if they did not try to cheat.
Sasuke wanted to confront his demons on his own, with his own skills, and know he was doing it by no other help except his own power.
“Naruto has interceded for you, Sasuke, and I hope that you will consider this a blessing and not an insult,” she concluded, bracing herself to finally give him the verdict.
Sasuke accepted the words for what they were. Naruto had once again showed him what being a friend meant, despite all that Sasuke had done to him.
Naruto was a real friend, and Sasuke was not scared to admit this to himself anymore.
“Uchiha Sasuke,” Tsunade’s steely voice snapped the teen out of his thoughts. “Your sentence is as follows. The curse mark on your neck will be monitored and another set of seals will be placed on you once you have fully healed. In a month’s time you will be placed under one Special Jounin’s care in order to learn how to keep your anger under control and to learn how to prevent the seal from influencing your thoughts. You are forbidden from taking any mission above the rank D, and you will not be allowed to leave the village’s borders unless in company of a certified Jounin or higher ranked shinobi of Konoha and my personal permission,” she took a deep breath, then continued. “You will be forbidden from participating to the Chuunin exams, or any higher ranking test, for the next two years, and will be monitored by ANBU for the next six months at least to make sure your allegiance towards Konohagakure no Sato is still in place. Pending the ANBU’s thoughts on this, the length might be increased”.
Sasuke felt the tension snap inside him, and visibly relaxed, relief flooding him like an overwhelming wave. Even if such a punishment was heavy on his pride, he knew he could have received harsher ones, and he was grateful to be let off with just that.
If he had to admit it, he wouldn’t have wanted to take the Chuunin exams while Naruto was not there anyway, because his friend was what pushed him forwards, and always had been, and Sasuke wanted to try and do the same for once. Maybe thinking less about himself would make things change, or help them along.
As for the ANBU, well… he was not going to protest. A little less privacy was the lesser sacrifice in order to confirm his honesty at least. The truth was, Sasuke was not loyal to Konoha, but he had promised he would try to chance his approach, and staying was the first step.
If he would not grow to at least respect this village, everything would be in vain. And he would learn how to be loyal, if not to the place at least to the people who were worth it.
“Do you understand, Sasuke?” Tsunade asked, glaring at the teen.
Sasuke nodded, showing some emotion on his face for the first time since he had stepped into her office, determination rolling from him in waves.
“Yes, Hokage-sama,” he stated.
As for the genin chores, he would do each of them and learn how to be patient. He would control his own behaviour, and calm down, and that would benefit him. rushing into things was always more of a Naruto thing, and yet Sasuke had shown an incredible amount of impulsive behaviours in the past weeks.
He wondered if it was due to the curse mark, and if being in presence of the only other shinobi in Konoha who had a similar seal would aid him in controlling it.
He knew that meant Anko, and while he wasn’t exactly happy about it, if it helped with the stress he would do it.
“You’re dismissed,” the Hokage waved him off, nodding in satisfaction.
Sasuke nodded and left the room in silence; the moment the door closed behind his back, Hyoo moved from the dark corner he’d been hiding into and bowed to the Hokage.
“It does seem like he’s more subdued now, does it?” he asked, the smirk noticeable in the tone of his voice.
“Well… Naruto has a way with people,” she replied vaguely, with a fond smile. She was one of those people, after all. “Given some more time, maybe the Uchiha kid will turn out… if not fine, at least a little more adjusted”.
Hyoo nodded, agreeing with her.
Naruto’s disposition to help others was indeed a valuable gift, but it was about time someone returned the favour and helped him.
Smiling, he left the Hokage room –his headquarters awaited his return.
                                                                                   …–…–…–…–…–…–…
Cepheus: that’s it for now! Review?
The jutsu Itachi used is a creation of mine, using the Goguoufuuin Orochimaru used in the Forest of Death and twisting it up a bit.
Glossary:
Tatami – typical floor found in old Japanese houses. It is also a measurement method (rooms are described by how many tatami mats they can hold).
Futon – Japanese bed which is comprised by a mattress with covers and a pillow, which can be conveniently rolled up and placed in a cupboard when not in use.
Fuuinjutsu: Shiba Sanguoufuuin – ‘Sealing Technique: Bind Three-part Seal’ blocks one of two different sets of chakra in a body, or a cursed–seal chakra, and prevents all infiltration of enemy chakra inside the sealed person. It can also prevent using the blocked chakra and in some cases prevents the bearer from feeling it at all.
Shiba – comes from shibaru ‘to bind’.
San – three.
And if anyone wants to know, the three kanji on the added triangle were:
Stone (ishi) 石
Put (to place) (o–ku) 置(く)
Strength (tsuyo–sa) 強(さ)
- 6
- 7
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