Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Duality ❯ The Cross-dressing, Deviant Double ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Duality

Series: Naruto

Rating: R Overall.

Pairings: Naruto/Sasuke, Sai/OMC.

Disclaimer: Naruto © 2002 Masashi Kishimoto / GE / Viz Media / Shounen Jump, et al. This is a work of fan fiction and in no way done for profit.

Summery: Sasuke’s first mission back from Orochimaru and he’s still attacked by cross-dressers and really big monsters.

Warnings: Original characters. Yaoi. Crack. Lots and lots of crack. Pseudo-angst?

Notes: Sekai, like Sasuke, is named after one of the ten Sanada Juyushi. It’s a reference to Samurai Deeper Kyo. As is his wardrobe.

Haruko is referencing FLCL. I think it means ‘spring child.’

Yume means ‘Dream’ and is not from an anime specifically, it just ties into her power.

Kain has a western name for a reason. I’ll let you know what it is as soon as I figure it out myself.

Saburo was named by Yhaun and means “third son.”

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Chapter One: The Cross-Dressing, Deviant Double

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His stomach aching for food reminded him he was still human.

Sometimes, Uchiha Sasuke wondered. Then little things like this would happen and he’d remember.

Unpacking the bento Sakura had given him, he sat underneath the shade of a tree to eat. It had been nearly a month since he’d turned against Orochimaru, helping Naruto and the others defeat him. In that time, it had been touch and go, but things had more or less settled into a modicum of stability. Things couldn’t ever go back to the way they had been before, but that suited Sasuke just fine. He wasn’t thirteen years old after all.

The person whose trust he hadn’t had to earn back was, surprisingly enough, Naruto’s.

Sasuke smiled, since he was alone and no one could see it. He’ll never change. He’s still the same.

One minute they had been frantically fighting each other, worse than it had been three years previous. The next they had ganged up on Orochimaru, who had been watching the battle from nearby. They had looked into each other’s eyes, and Naruto had known—had seen the truth in his heart. It had been something truly beyond explanation, yet it had happened all the same. And now, the idiot blond expected things to go back to how they’d been.

The fact that he was accepted back so readily, forgiven so easily, Sasuke was eternally grateful for. More than he could ever say. He had no regrets about the path he’d chosen, save one. But it hadn’t been an issue after all.

Even so, Sasuke didn’t want things to go back the way they’d been. Naruto may not have changed at all, but he had.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Naruto had changed a little. He’d grown a little taller, had gotten a lot stronger, and…

Sasuke sighed and quickly finished his meal. This was not the time to be thinking about that.

This was his first mission since being taken off the almost-solitary confinement he’d been under since returning to Konoha. (Which he supposed was fair punishment, considering he’d expected a whole lot worse. While he did have some people’s scorn and contempt for his betrayal, the current Hokage seemed to be withholding judgment for the time being. Hence his current mission.)

This was to prove himself. He had been given a message to deliver to the Sand’s Hokage, Gaara—recently recovered from his run-in with the Akatsuki months prior—on his own. No one was watching him. Sasuke could figuratively feel everyone collectively holding their breaths to see what he would do as he’d left. It had basically been a ‘get out of jail free’ card, he supposed. Tsunade was giving him the opportunity to run off again if he so chose. Kakashi had remarked, “If you love something, you set it free. If it’s really yours, it’ll come back.”

Sasuke snorted. Naruto hadn’t liked it much. He’d wanted to tag along, reminding everyone that the Akatsuki were still out there, probably alluding silently to the fact that Sasuke had yet to go after his brother.

“Don’t worry,” he’d told the idiot before turning to leave. He hadn’t waited for Naruto’s reaction, but he didn’t think it had made the blond ninja feel anymore confident about the situation.

It wasn’t his job to comfort Naruto’s insecurities. He had to work that out for himself. Right now, Sasuke had his hands full just taking care of himself.

Not that it stops you from wishing you could comfort him, a treacherous voice in his head reminded.

Fuming quietly, Sasuke repacked his bento box and prepared to continue his journey home. Of course he’d contemplated, momentarily, just forgetting it all and running off instead. But it was more amusing to return just to piss all his critics off.

He prepared to head back into the trees when his senses flared. It seemed he wasn’t quite as alone as he’d thought. Silently, he reached up to touch the pommel of his katana, Kusanagi. (Having discarded Orochimaru’s signature outfit, Sasuke was now clothed in normal shinobi wear. Still, he kept the katana, having grown used to its presence after three years of training with it.)

“Come out,” he said in an uninterested tone. “My mission was really boring and I could use the entertainment.”

Someone giggled above him. Sasuke twisted around but couldn’t immediately identify the source. He activated his Sharingan in response.

“Oh, so that’s the Sharingan,” said the voice, sounding both pleased and fascinated. “It really glows too! That’s very pretty.”

It wasn’t a voice Sasuke was familiar with, and it sounded neither feminine nor masculine. The fact that the person knew what the Sharingan was didn’t impress him much either. The comment about it being ‘pretty’ was definitely irritating though. This guy’s got a death wish. “I said come out!”

“Of course.” The wind picked up for a moment, and seemingly out of thin air jumped a young woman. She was pretty in an exotic fashion, with her brown skin and shoulder-length black hair. She wore a short blue dress, common and designed for fighting, with a pair of small black shorts underneath. Her smile was a mix of anticipation and amusement. “Hello, Sasuke-kun. I’ve waited a long time to meet you.”

This, too, did not perturb him. Being Orochimaru’s ‘favorite’ had made him a target before in the past. Sasuke smirked. “Nice genjutsu.”

Her smile grew. “Oh? What gave it away?”

“It’s too strong. You’re putting too much energy into it.”

“Hmm.” She pouted thoughtfully. “I hadn’t noticed that before, actually.” She smiled again just as quickly as her pout had appeared. “Thank you! Those eyes of yours are very useful.”

Sasuke gripped the handle of his katana tightly. If she thinks being friendly is going to make me lower my guard, she’s dead wrong. “Who are you? I only ask because I’d like to know the name of the person I’m about to kill.”

She giggled again before bowing formally. “I am Haruko. Nice to meet you.” She stood up straighter, the anticipation returning to her eyes. “Shall we begin?”

Not waiting for his answer, she pulled out a talisman and yelled, “FIRE!”

Sasuke dodged the resulting fireball easily, unsheathed his blade and came at her. A talisman user? I didn’t think they existed anymore…

She dodged, curving her body in the air unnaturally, and attempted a kick at his head with surprising speed.

Sasuke caught her leg and swung her at a nearby tree, which she hit and left a satisfying dent on. She rolled when she hit the ground and landed on one knee, coughing up a small amount of blood.

She smirked at him as she wiped her chin. “You don’t disappoint.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he finally saw it. Though it was invisible to the naked eye, the girl actually had talismans covering her entire body. “You shielded most of the impact.”

She stood back up with a grin. “It still broke through though!” she told him cheerfully, as if encouraging him.

The boy grunted and returned her fireball from earlier. “Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!”

Haruko jumped at the last minute, rolling to the side and getting back on her feet quickly. She gazed at the now smoldering plant life quizzically. “Wow… That’s good. I’ll have to pull out the big guns now.” She put her hands together and actually performed a jutsu, one of which had no name. “Ha!” was all she said. (1)

Sasuke watched as the chakra swirled around her form, growing steadily. The currents were not coming from her body, nor from the talismans, but from the surrounding plant life.

Is she… pulling in life energy and converting it to chakra?

She attacked quicker than before, matching his speed perfectly—something that even Naruto had trouble keeping up with now. Her fighting style was simple and, like him, she used a series of kicks primarily. He landed blows, but most of the impacts were blocked by the talismans and she could keep going. Her own hits were nothing spectacular though. It was almost like she was trying to wear him down.

Or is she just not fighting seriously? He wondered, watching her smile.

She was enjoying this.

Tired of playing this game, Sasuke finally got in a substantial blow. This time when she hit a tree, she didn’t get back up. The sudden surge of chakra drained away as quickly as it had come and she coughed, no longer grinning.

Now let’s see what you really look like. Sasuke brought his hands together and dispelled the genjutsu.

The dark skin gave way to a paler, more golden tone. Brown hair inked away to blond. Instead of dark brown eyes, deep blue eyes stared up at Sasuke. Eyes he knew very well.

“Naruto?!”

She—no, he, the breasts had been a part of the illusion as well—grinned cheekily at him. “Do I look like Naruto?” he asked, seeming amused once more.

Sasuke looked more closely and immediately saw the differences. The body beneath the blue dress was more slender than Naruto’s, less muscular. The blond hair was also longer than Naruto’s, to just above the shoulders. But it was the same type of blond, the same blue eyes, and the same face!

“Who are you?” Sasuke demanded angrily.

The boy laughed, suddenly looking more nervous than before. “Ah, I’d love to tell you, but it’ll have to wait. We have company.”

Sasuke felt the strong surge of chakra just before he finished speaking and turned around part way, just in time to see a gigantic crab break through the trees. Its black, beady eyes fixed on the blue-clad boy. Sasuke recognized a summoned beast when he saw one. But who had summoned it? Not the blond boy, he’d been watching him, unless he had done it beforehand. It didn’t seem likely given how afraid he had suddenly become.

“YOU,” boomed the giant demon crab.

The Naruto look-alike gave a frightful squeak. He was terrified. “Hey there, big fella. I don’t suppose it’ll do any good to say I haven’t eaten anything in the past two days, would it?”

“NO,” said the crab. “MY MASTER HAS FINALLY GIVEN ME PERMISSION TO DEVOUR YOU, AND THAT I SHALL, ALONG WITH ANYONE THAT’S WITH YOU.”

Sasuke growled quietly. My first mission since Orochimaru and I still get attacked by cross-dressers and really big monsters. If there was a god, Sasuke knew he was being laughed at right now.

“Aw, come on!” shouted the boy in a dress, looking truly frantic now. “At least give me a head start! This is unfair!”

“HOLD STILL, DINNER. IT WON’T HURT. MUCH.”

Its massive claw came crashing down and met nothing but dirt.

“You saved me.” The boy blinked as Sasuke sat him down some distance away, bewildered.

Sasuke cursed softly. “Don’t let it go to your head.” He brought his hands together, fingers moving swiftly in the familiar gestures.

The blond smiled widely, knowingly. “It’s because I look like him, right?”

“Shut up.”

“That’s so cute!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Sasuke’s summoned snake appeared before them then. It was Manda, the boss snake, favored by Orochimaru.

“OHHH, IT’S THE BOY WHO KILLED THAT ASSHOLE OROCHIMARU,” said Manda when he caught sight of Sasuke crouching on the ground. “HEH. WELL, WHAT DO YOU WANT? I’M BUSY.”

Sasuke snorted. “See that big crab behind you? Kill it.”

“OH FINE. BUT I WANT TO EAT THAT LITTLE BLOND RUNT AS PAYMENT.”

“That’s fine,” Sasuke readily agreed.

The blond in question’s jaw dropped. “OI! I’m standing right here!” He sulked, defeated. “This is unfair. No matter what happens, the outcome is the same—I’m still someone’s dinner.”

“You should have thought of that before attacking me,” Sasuke snapped.

The boy pouted at him.

He and the boy watched the two gargantuan beasts battle, the blond giving an amazed whistle that was nearly lost in the commotion.

Then, something else unexpected happened. The resulting battle shook the earth as the snake and the crab grappled, disturbing a previously unknown cavern deep below the ground. Its foundations gave way and the earth fell underneath the two boys. Neither had time to react and went tumbling down.

-

Far above in the air, a tall, lean figure watched the two disappear into the ground. He waved his hand and the two fighting beasts were gone as well.

The man smirked darkly. “Well played, my apprentice.”

-

Sasuke managed to grab the blond again on the way down. They landed in an underground stream and were immediately caught up in the current. The other boy was unconscious—his head had knocked against something on the way down—and Sasuke grudgingly kept his head above water so he wouldn’t drown.

He wondered irritably to himself why he was helping someone who he’d been fighting with just moments before.

Because he wasn’t trying to kill me, his mind immediately reminded. And if he dies now, I won’t find out what the hell all this is about.

It wasn’t because he looked like Naruto.

Not at all.

The stream slowed down and opened up to a brook that flowed out of the mouth of a cave. Crawling out, the blond boy flung over his shoulder, Sasuke looked around to get his bearings. Thankfully he didn’t appear to be too far from Konoha. He was racing through the trees in a matter a seconds.

-

Uzumaki Naruto was pissed off.

Mere words were insufficient to describe his rage.

Already he had run into three people—Shikimaru, Kiba, and Neji—all with the same story.

Shikimaru had been first. “Oi, didn’t Sasuke just take you unconscious to the hospital? And what was with the dress?”

All three said they saw the same thing.

Kiba had laughed, loudly.

“I didn’t think Uchiha went in for pranks,” Neji had added. “Seems rather beneath him. Did you do something to piss him off again?”

“No!” Naruto had cried, and frankly he didn’t care if he had.

Sasuke would pay for this!

Damn it, I’m the only one allowed to pull pranks, Sasuke! You jerk!

So he raced toward the hospital, leaving a long trail of dust in his path. Of course, just to make it worse, he ran into Sai on the way, who was confused to see him already out of the hospital.

“I never WENT to the hospital!” Naruto complained, then amended, “At least not lately. Definitely not today! That bastard is trying to make me look bad in front of everyone!” To think, he’d actually been hoping Sasuke would return and not run off again; now he just wanted to kick his ass. “What are you doing anyway, Sai?” In fact, he hadn’t seen a lot of Sai since Sasuke had returned and Naruto wondered if he had gone back to working with the ANBU.

“I came to see if you remembered to tuck your penis in,” Sai explained matter-of-factly. “It was a really small dress.”

“What is it with you and penises?! Never mind that, I’m gonna KILL Sasuke!”

Inside the hospital they ran into Sakura, who had come running as well when she’d heard the story, afraid that Naruto and Sasuke had been fighting again (and, yes, she was a little curious about the dress part). Naruto filled her in on the truth as they made their way to the room the nurse pointed them toward.

Sakura frowned. “So, Sasuke-kun created a shadow clone of you, put it in a dress and bought it here just for a prank? That doesn’t sound right… Besides, Sasuke-kun wouldn’t want to make himself look bad, since his actions are still being monitored.”

“I’m gonna KILL him!” Naruto announced again, and Sakura and Sai had to hurry to keep up with him.

They found the Uchiha leaning against the wall outside the room. He didn’t look surprised to see them walk up (though there generally wasn’t a lot of expression on Sasuke’s face these days anyway).

Naruto reared on him, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. “WHAT THE HELL, SASUKE?! WHY ARE YOU TELLING EVERYONE THAT YOU DRAGGED ME TO THE HOSPITAL, UNCONSCIOUS AND WEARING A DRESS?!”

“I didn’t,” Sasuke replied nonplussed, gripping Naruto’s wrists lightly and pulling them away from his shirt as the blond let go. He pointed toward the door he was standing beside. “You have a cross-dressing, deviant double.”

The other three ninja peeked inside to see the blond sleeping peacefully in the hospital bed, his head wound bandaged and undisturbed by Naruto’s shouts. All three saw the likeness.

“It’s uncanny,” Sai murmured.

“Who is that?” Sakura asked, turning back to Sasuke.

He shrugged. “Hell if I know. He attacked me for no reason, and then we were both attacked by a giant crab. He passed out and I brought him with me.”

“…A crab?” Naruto repeated, staring at him with wide eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that. You summon frogs and I summon snakes. What’s so different about a crab?”

“But… it’s a crab…”

Just then, the Fifth Hokage came strolling in, trailed closely by Shizune. Tsunade spared them all a glance before her gaze fixed on Sasuke. Under the circumstances, she didn’t mention that she was glad he’d come back home after all. “Report,” she said instead, tersely.

Sasuke nodded and started from the beginning.

-

He dreamed of the same thing he dreamed every night.

Smiling faces of people who were glad to see him. People that he loved and who loved him in return.

-

Shizune came back with the written report done by the medic-nin who had treated the blond boy.

“Minor abrasions to torso, arms, and legs,” she summarized. “Heavy bruises on his back. Head injury, no concussion. And drained chakra.”

Tsunade looked at Sasuke. “I assume that’s from your fight.”

Sasuke nodded apathetically. The condition of his attacker left him unconcerned. “That chakra conversion technique increased his normal capacity, but it must leave him incredibly drained when it’s deactivated. It’s possible that if he used it too much, it would leave him drained completely.”

“And he’d die right?” Naruto asked, eyes wide from all that he had heard.

“Yeah,” Tsunade answered, nodding soberly. “That’s a heavy drawback. As for the contents of his bag,” she added, “there isn’t much to go by either.” Along with weapons, blank talisman paper, and other necessities, there were two change of clothes—another blue dress with a longer skirt and an ordinary shinobi uniform.

“Other than he’s a deviant,” Sasuke said, eyeing the blue dress distastefully.

Then Kakashi chose to make his entrance, walking up to them and giving a customary wave. “Yo.”

“You’re late,” Tsunade told him, though there wasn’t much feeling behind it. Hatake Kakashi was always late.

After he was caught up on the situation, the masked ninja looked in on the sleeping boy as well. His one visible eye looked a little surprised. “Hmm…” He turned back to the Fifth Hokage. “You don’t think…?” Glancing at Naruto quickly, he left his question hanging, figuring she would catch his meaning.

Tsunade shook her head slowly, a troubled frown on his face. “I don’t know what to think right now.”

“There’s one way to find out,” Kakashi said after a moment’s thought. “The kid had a birthmark.”

“Huh?” Naruto spoke as Kakashi walked closer to the sleeping boy. “What’s going on? What are you doing, Kakashi-sensei?”

“Just confirming something.” On the blond’s left side, Kakashi turned his arm slightly and lifted up the sleeve of the dress. Underneath, in the juncture between the armpit and chest, was a small, circle-shaped birthmark. Kakashi’s visible eye widened in shock. “No way…”

Tsunade didn’t need to ask if that was the birthmark Kakashi had been talking about. “Well how about that. Jiraiya always said that body you found was a fake…”

Kakashi nodded silently. After all this time, he’s come back?

“What? What?” Naruto asked excitedly. “What’s going on?! Who is that guy and why does he look like me?”

“There’s a strong family resemblance, huh?” Kakashi remarked casually, as if what he was saying wasn’t the startling revelation for Naruto that it was.

Naruto stared up at him. “… Huh?!”

“It would appear that this guy’s your dead big brother,” said the gray-haired man.

“My… My big brother?” Naruto’s voice grew small. He’d never been told anything about his dead family, let alone the fact that he’d had a brother. A brother that clearly was not dead at the moment. He stared at the figure in bed, speechless, a strong, nameless hurt building in his chest. A longing for something he’d thought he’d never really have. But he was still confused, another part of his mind wanting to disbelieve the entire thing. “What the hell are you talking about?!”

Kakashi tried to calm Naruto down. Sakura glanced at Sasuke to see what he thought of all this, only to see a hard look in his eyes, as if he were just barely reigning in on his anger. Sakura knew he was thinking about Itachi and swallowed worriedly.

Before anything else could be said, however, the sleeper slowly awakened. Blue eyes fluttered open gradually and looked at the ceiling blankly. Then, he spoke, voice slurred from slumber.

“… Should I look for missing underwear first, or missing organs?” he asked.

“Eh?” Naruto returned.

“Sometimes people wake up to find that their organs have been removed without their knowledge and sold on the black market.” Slowly, the boy sat up and yawned, stretching languidly. Then he opened his eyes again and saw everyone standing in the room. His gaze stayed on Naruto, those similar blue eyes widening.

“Oh geez,” said the boy, and he flopped back onto the mattress with a pained expression. “I finally see him, after all this time, and the first thing I say to him is something weird! I totally suck.” He pouted.

“You’re Sekai, right?” Kakashi asked, though his suspicions had already been confirmed. Now, to find out where the kid had been all this time since the night the Kyuubi attacked…

The boy blinked at him inquisitively, sitting up once more. “Yeah. How did you know?”

Kakashi smiled. “I met you when you were very little.”

“Oh! Sorry, I don’t remember you.” Then the blond looked at him more closely. “A masked man, huh? You must be Kakashi.” He beamed widely and giggled. “You’re cuter than I thought you’d be.”

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow, a “deer caught in headlights” expression on his face, visible despite the mask. “…Cute?”

The blond nodded cheerfully. “I like older men though, so I’m not really surprised.”

Sasuke snorted. It figures that the one I definitely don’t want is the one I’d have a better chance with. “Can someone explain what the hell is going on?”

“Yes,” Sai spoke up. “We’re all rather in the dark at the moment.”

Sakura and Naruto nodded, chorusing, “Yeah!”

“Ah, sorry. I’ll explain,” the blond answered, blushing. He smiled at Naruto shyly. “Hi. My name’s Uzumaki Sekai. That’s what I should have said to you earlier.”

Naruto’s eyes were wide, still processing what he was being told. “So… you’re my…”

Sekai nodded, beaming wider in pleasure. “I’m your older brother.”

“Really?!”

“Really really. A thousand reallys.”

Then, Naruto found himself unable to doubt what he was being told. For some reason, he couldn’t help but believe the other blond. There was just such sincerity there in his eyes and voice. It was true that he had been fooled by people before, but that was when he was twelve. He was sixteen now and felt he knew better.

Naruto looked at Kakashi again. “Why didn’t anybody tell me?!”

“Oh?” Kakashi scratched the back of his head. “Well, I thought you knew.”

Realizing he was being teased, tears actually formed in Naruto’s eyes. “But… But…” Tsunade and Kakashi had both known. How could they have kept this a secret from him for so long? All his life, he’d never known he might have a real brother out there, somewhere.

“Hey.” Sekai reached and took Naruto’s hand in his, squeezing firmly, giving the younger boy a large, comforting grin. “It’s alright, okay? No worries.”

Naruto smiled back slowly, like the dawn rising. The feeling in his chest surged. No matter what was said or how suspicious everyone was of him, from that moment on, Sekai was endeared to him from this show of kindness.

Sekai’s smile faltered slightly, eyes downcast. “And… I’ve wanted to say this too for a long time, so please hear me out,” he spoke softly. “I thought you were dead with mom and dad. That’s what he told me. And I believed him. I suppose you could say that I was too young to know any better, but the fact remains that because I did, you grew up alone. As your big brother that, to me, is the biggest failure of my life. It’s my deepest regret.” He met Naruto’s gaze again, smiling sadly. “But I want you to know that since the first day I heard about you, I’ve loved you. And I’m very proud of you.”

Naruto stared. “You’re… proud of me?” He thought he might really cry this time.

Sekai nodded readily. “More than anything. You’ve become a great person. I know our dad would be proud too.”

“Dad?”

“Sheesh, they didn’t tell you that either? The Fourth Hokage.”

“Eh?!” That great ninja had been his father? Naruto could hardly believe this either. At the same time, his mind was avidly taking all this new information in, with more intensity than he took in jutsu lessons. This just seemed more important than that. It was something that, deep down, he’d always craved to know. He’d just never had the courage to ask before.

Kakashi nodded, amused. “It’s true.”

“WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?! KAKASHI-SENSEI!”

“Ah, well… It has a little to do with why Sekai-kun has been missing for so long, I would think.”

Sekai nodded. “That makes sense. You didn’t want Kain to figure out that the Fourth had two children. At least not before security could be raised.”

“Who’s Kain?” Naruto asked.

“An enemy of our father,” Sekai answered. He still had hold of Naruto’s hand and smiled warmly when the other blond drew closer to the bed to sit beside him. “Let me start from the beginning. If you’re confused then say so, ‘kay? Not that I really need to tell you that.” He laughed a little. “It was a little while after you were born, I guess. My memories are kind of fuzzy from back then; I was only two years old.”

“So you’re just two years older than me?”

“Yeah. I’ve always been small though, so we’re probably about the same height. Anyway. It was on the night the Kyuubi attacked. Mom had died in childbirth with you, Naruto-nii.”

“She did?” Naruto asked weakly, suddenly mourning the woman he’d never known and who had given her life to bring him into the world.

Sekai nodded sadly. He’d been living with the grief for a long time. It was worse for him though, since he had known her and still remembered her a little. “I was alone at the Hokage tower. There was so much commotion, people running around yelling orders, complete and utter havoc. The nurse was watching you. Nobody noticed me leave.

“I guess I must have been afraid, so I went looking for dad. I probably didn’t understand what was going on, only that everyone was fighting. So I ran toward the battle. It was then that Kain grabbed me. When I woke up, he told me that you and dad were both dead, that he’d saved me.” Sekai shrugged. “I was even grateful at the time, because I believed him.”

Naruto frowned, seeing that look of guilt on the older boy’s face again. “It wasn’t your fault. You were just two, right? I would have believed him too.”

Sekai didn’t answer. Instead, he looked at Kakashi. “I don’t know what happened after that. Only that dad sealed the Kyuubi inside of Naruto.”

Naruto’s jaw dropped. “You know about that?!”

Sekai flushed at his loud question. “One thing at a time. We need to tell the story in order.”

“That’s probably true.” Kakashi’s eyes were narrowed suspiciously. It was one thing to know who all of them were, but Sekai seemed to have an unordinary amount of familiarity with them all. There was more to this than they were hearing. And if he was raised by Kain… He can’t be trusted. “When all the commotion died down, the nurse looking after you began searching for you frantically, but she was unable to find you. I searched and found the body of a small child, dismembered and burned. It was too badly damaged to be identified, even by smell. But even so, it was too convenient. The Third sent out a larger search party, but Kain’s trail was long gone.”

Sekai nodded, eyes suddenly hard. “He wouldn’t have left it to chance that you could follow. That’s the kind of guy my master is.”

“So, what happened after that?” Naruto asked.

“Well, we kept traveling for a long time, never staying in one place for very long. Eventually we settled down in this little shack in the Water Country and he began training me to be a Talisman user.” He smiled slightly. “I don’t know very many jutsu. He did that on purpose, I guess. So that I wouldn’t be stronger than him in case I ever found out the truth. Anyway, one day Kain just up and left. I was alone for days and just when I began to think I’d been abandoned, he returned with Yume.”

“Yume?”

“Kain calls her a Dream Seer, though that’s probably not its real name. She has an incredibly strong kekkei genkai—she can see things in her dreams. Things that are happening a far, far distance away. As long as she has someone connected to the event taking place, she can see just about anything. Kain had found her lost and alone, cursed and thrown away by her own parents. Apparently her bloodline limit is a recessive trait, something that her village thought of as a bad omen. I guess Kain thought she’d be a valuable asset though.”

Kakashi and Tsunade exchanged a glance, both thinking the same thing. The girl Yume’s bloodline limit sounded like a variation of the Byakugen, but they’d never heard of it. That made them even more suspicious. It wasn’t impossible, just unlikely.

“Yume and I grew up together. She was always my only friend. No matter how strict or cruel Kain was, she was the one bright spot in the world.” Sekai’s face softened as he spoke of the girl in question. “Then one day, she began dreaming about you, Naruto-nii.”

“She did?” Naruto blinked, surprised.

Sekai smiled and nodded. “That’s how I know all about you. That’s how I knew you were alive. That’s how I knew everything Kain had said was a lie. When I confronted him, Kain laughed and told me the truth—that at the time he’d taken me just to draw dad to him for one final battle. But then he’d heard that dad had died and so he’d decided to get his revenge anyway—by teaching me and making me the heir to his techniques.

“I was fifteen then, and still weak. But I swore that I’d get stronger, so that Yume and I could get away from him. We only devised our escape strategy recently.” That hard look came back to Sekai’s eyes. “And when I’ve surpassed him, then I’ll avenge myself. I’ll avenge the life he stole from me. The life I should have had with you.”

Naruto felt something settle in the pit of his stomach, like a dead weight. Sekai’s words and anger reminded him a lot of Sasuke’s need to kill his brother. He looked at Sasuke to see him staring at Sekai with a blank expression. He wondered what his teammate was thinking about. Was he sympathizing with Sekai’s feelings?

Slowly, Sekai’s expression relaxed. He sighed heavily as if pushing his anger out of his body. “I… I’ve heard everything that’s happened to you for the past four years, Naruto-nii. Since you became a genin. I’ve cheered and cried for you every step of the way. So, I already know you pretty well, yet you don’t know me at all. If there’s anything you want to know, just ask.” He smiled cheerfully at Naruto.

Naruto smiled back, just as widely. “Yeah! I will!”

Sekai looked around the room again. “I know all of you too.” His eyes landed on the grey-haired jounin. “Kakashi-sama.” Kakashi’s eye twitched at the honorific. Sekai went on. “The super cool Tsunade-sama and her assistant Shizune-san. The cute one with pink hair is Sakura-chan.”

Sakura blushed and smiled politely. “Yes!”

“And I’ve already met Sasuke-kun.” Sekai winked at him, and Sasuke’s eye twitched in response. “Then last but certainly not least, Sai-kun.”

“Ah, please don’t use an honorific when addressing me,” Sai said, not missing an opportunity to form new relationships. “Speak as familiarly as you want with me.”

Sekai pouted. “But –kun is familiarly for me.”

Sai looked uncomfortable with that. The book he’d read hadn’t covered this possibility. “Oh…”

Sekai giggled and glanced at all of them again. “It’s very nice to finally meet all of you.” Then he seemed to remember something and frowned at Sasuke. “Hey, you’re not still gonna feed me to your snake are you?”

“Depends on how annoying you get,” Sasuke replied tonelessly, bored with all this meaningless talk.

Sekai pouted again. “So mean.”

“You were gonna feed Sekai to your snake!?” Naruto demanded, his anger at his friend returning quickly.

Sasuke shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Why, you—”

“Now, now, you two,” Sakura interjected. “I’m sure Sasuke-kun was just kidding.”

“No, I wasn’t,” Sasuke replied, glaring right back at Naruto.

“You! Stay away from my brother!”

“Believe me, that’s going to be my strategy.”

“So mean,” Sekai said again.

“Deviant,” Sasuke shot back.

“Evil kitty.”

Sasuke stared. “What?”

“What do you mean ‘what’?” Sekai smirked. “You look like an evil kitty.”

Naruto laughed, tension releasing from his body. “He’s right! He’s right!”

“Both of you idiots shut up!” Sasuke yelled, thoroughly losing his cool.

Sakura’s fist clenched as if she were trying very hard not to hit both Naruto and Sekai for insulting her Sasuke. Sai looked confused, not knowing how to respond to this situation. Kakashi was just amused.

“Okay, enough,” Tsunade broke in, tired of the banter. “As amusing as this is, Sekai still needs to recover his strength. You can visit with him later, Naruto.”

Naruto sulked and got off the bed to follow everyone else out of the room. At the door he paused, looking back at the other blond nervously. “Hey…”

Sekai smiled, just as hesitant to see Naruto leave. “I’ll be here when you get back. Promise.”

“… Can I call you ‘aniki’?” Naruto asked, swallowing thickly.

Sekai was startled at first, but slowly he smiled again, looking like he wanted to cry now too. “That would make me incredibly happy.”

Naruto grinned as bright as the sun. “Yeah! I’ll see you later, Aniki!”

Sekai watched him go before settling back down in bed. He didn’t go back to sleep right away, but he did lay his head down on the spot where Naruto had been sitting, a peace he’d never known settling over him.

TBC. Are Sekai’s words true, or is his kind smile and flirtatious attitude masking hidden malice? And what kind of prank are the brothers planning to pull on Jiraiya?

1. Ha = Wave. Which you might know already if you’re a DBZ or Yu Yu Hakusho fan.

Endnotes: This is sort of exploring the duality in Naruto and Sasuke’s natures. And apparently I couldn’t do that without giving Naruto an older brother too. Heh. Well, given that an original character is so important to the story, I hope he doesn’t come off too Sue-ish. If it makes you feel any better, I’ve more or less perfected the art of the Anti-Sue. More or less.

Sekai calls Naruto “Naruto-nii” because it’s cute. And it’s a sign of how he differs to his younger brother, thinking that Naruto is the stronger, more dominant brother. It’s improper use of Japanese, but it makes sense to him.