Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Of Gods and Mice ❯ Caring Doesn't Always Mean Love ( Chapter 2 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Zagger the Bloody Angel 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Drama / Suspense / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.07.2011 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.0K | Visits: 259 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Drama / Suspense / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.07.2011 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.0K | Visits: 259 | Status: Work In Progress
How long had he been doing this, every day? He honestly wasn't sure.
He had been assigned as a caretaker, a rather uninvolved one but a caretaker nonetheless, since he was six. He was now fourteen and had been an Anbu captain of over a year and had only recently started to get involved in his life. Yet before each day began he made sure everything was set and that there was an enforcer of his judgment to see that the day went as it should.
First hour, six to seven, make sure Naruto was up, bathed and fed for he no longer was in the orphanage thanks to how the other kids treated him. Second hour, make sure to have him focus on his chakra control for he had an abnormal amount for an eight year old. Then make sure he was on time at the academy at exactly eight.
Once class cuts out, take him home, if he has had another bad day and is not going to do something with his friends, Aburame Shino and Uchiha Sasuke. Make sure he's back home by five; six if groceries are needed. From five to six train physically with weight lifting, laps and other extraneous activities.
Have a healthy dinner made by seven and only serve ramen with chopped vegetables and cooked meat if he's had a bad day. Once he's finished and rested, have him sit and focus on his eyes to draw forth his latent abilities with Lord Hokage. Finally, read him a story or tell him about exciting missions as a bed time story. He seems to like those and it helps sleep at night.
And this was for regular school days, for he didn't consider the half day of school every Saturday to be a regular day... It just wasn't very effective.
Okay... He had to admit for the most part his schedule seemed to be a training schedule and it was. He allowed him free time since the academy ended at two to allow students to train on their own. But that was how he realized that Naruto was not liked by his peers, just like he was in the orphanage.
Itachi sighed. It seemed the elder generation had passed on their hatred for Naruto to their children. If they only knew that he was the child of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, their supposed savior, things would have been different. In essence it was true but in reality Naruto was the reason many more shinobi were not lost. They simply could not put their hatred aside to see that.
During the blonde's time in the orphanage the matron did his duty and took care of the boy. She didn't feel it was right to let him suffer but at the same time she did not feel he had earned his title as their savior. The boy did not willingly take upon this curse of his.
She watched over him, followed him and stopped any fights which sometimes broke out, she sometimes even used the Anbu guards there to threaten the kids to stop their abuse. And they did... But they simply found another way to abuse Naruto. Though looks of hatred that pierced into the boy's soul and did far more damage then their fists ever could.
He had the Third put Naruto in his own appartment when he was six, which was conveniently close to the Uchiha district and only a half mile from the Aburame's household. It suited Shibi well enough, Shibi and Mikoto came to over see him occasionally, making sure Naruto was taken care of. They may have been barred from adopting Naruto but they were far from being secluded from him.
The abuse had not stopped for the adults did much the same, sparing Naruto only glances of hate. They never tried anything for even those that didn't know better knew that swift action would be taken against them if they so much as raised a hand against him. It didn't take a genius to realize Sarutobi Hizuren was fond of the boy.
The necklace Naruto wore beneath his clothing was proof of this, the necklace was given to Hiruzen by his sensei, the Second Hokage. Senju Tobimaru told the Third Hokage that it was a gift to his brother, the First Hokage from the Rikudo Sage. This message was read loud and clear, people got the message that Naruto was under the Third Hokages care.
I believe in Uzumaki Naruto and I know he is destined for great things.
But back onto his original train of thought, Naruto's next problem came when he was enrolled into the academy. All the kids knew who he was thanks to their parents and even those that didn't joined the crowd in taunting, belittling and making fun of Naruto's skills despite his talent. Even the teachers made his day worse by giving him the same looks the villager's gave him or asking difficult questions, an academy student couldn't hope to answe.
Of course he quickly had those teachers sacked and they were replaced by others that were less... Spiteful. At least they weren't going out of their way to botch Naruto's learning. The main teacher simply bored the hell out of the kid and made it difficult for him to stay awake.
If he, Uchiha Itachi, struggled to sit through one of Iruka's lessons how was he to expect Naruto to do the same? Hell, the Aburame in the class couldn't keep his entire focus on the lesson! That was a huge indicator of how annoyingly tedious and downright infuriating his lessons were!
Back to the heart of the matter, there wasn't much he could do about the other children. He wanted to advance Naruto in a few years due to his skills being above the rest of his class and the two above him, but the Hokage strictly kept Naruto with his age group. He firmly believed that Naruto needed to stay grounded, as to not get a big head and think anyone was below him.
That he could understand. By jumping him a few class years ahead it could quickly make him arrogant in his skills and decrease his learning curb. It would also would make him an asshole to the other children... But that was beside the point.
So Naruto had to endure his treatment and seemed to being doing just fine. There were times he couldn't keep up his happy demeanor and became crestfallen but that was to be expected. Despite his cheery exterior there lied a door of sorrow and depression that when opened flooded his being.
Thankfully despite that the blonde was a rather rambunctious and jovial for an eight year old. He seemed truly happy no matter what was happened to him. There was no doubt that he was aware of the hatred but he seemingly shrugged it off without much thought. An attribute that Hizuren had mentioned was a lot like Tobimaru's.
A great aspect to have indeed. To keep one's cool despite the pressure around him showed the boy's poise... His control. He almost never faltered and even when he did Naruto did his best to continue forward, pushing through the troubles around him.
Even without his skills... Naruto was strong because of that. Instead of lashing out at his tormentors he simply hummed and acted like there was nothing wrong in spite of what injustice happened to him. A trait of a true savior indeed.
Hearing the door open, Itachi turned and put on a smile seeing who was with him. "Ah, Sasuke. What brings you here today?" Today was his day off and he was planning to personally oversee Naruto's day,
His little brother grumbled under his breath, standing off to the side of his blonde haired friend. "You told me you had the day off and since you're here normally I thought I could come too..."
Turning his attention to the blonde, Itachi could only shake his head. Naruto wore a bright orange shirt with a high but loose collar to cover his necklace from sight and a pair of khaki shorts. He had long given up trying to tell Naruto his favored color was a bad color choice for a ninja... Besides, he was still in the academy. He would learn soon enough.
Sasuke wasn't much better. He wore a dark blue shirt and pure white shorts and while they blended into their environment a little better... It still was a far cry to from what was decent camouflage. "Ah, I did, didn't I?"
"Itachi-sensei..." Naruto muttered, immediately focusing his attention onto the orange wearing blonde and knew something was out of the ordinary.
"What happened?" Itachi said, putting down the report he had been going over and sealing it away for now, and motioning for Naruto and his brother to sit.
Taking a seat, glad that his guardians had decided to get this set instead of any other for they were comfy, Naruto sighed before running his hand over his face. "Today was the first day we sparred... And I was matched with Kiba."
Itachi frowned. He knew why they were going over spars and the significance of the half seals but to match Naruto with Kiba...
At times they could be the best of friends but the very next they could be at each others throats. Their relationship was almost the stereotypical formula of a love-hate relationship. He would never forget some of the fights he had to break up because of the two... Was impossible.
"He was pressing me today about family." Naruto continued while Itachi mentally cringed, knowing that to be a sore spot for Naruto. "I tried to ignore it like usual but... I couldn't and when our spar started... I just let go and the next thing I knew I had to reactivate my seal."
"You released the Rinnegan?!" Itachi growled out while keeping his anger at the situation from flaring out and to keep Sasuke from digging for any further information about the eyes. "You do realize how serious this is?"
"I do... That's why I came to you first. I don't want the old man to be disappointed in me." Naruto said drearily it would hurt to have let the old man down for all the support he gave him.
Tapping his fingers along the table for a moment, inspecting the downtrodden blonde, Itachi simply nodded. "I see... While I'm upset that you couldn't keep it in check... but I believe I understand why. However I will know when I get the report later today."
"Report? Why would their fight be in a report?" Sasuke suddenly caught onto something that wasn't normal, at least from a caretaker's perspective.
Sighing for his brother was rather dense Itachi looked at the younger Uchiha and blandly stared at him. "I'm not Naruto's guardian, I'm his overseer. I'm here to look after him and train him in what I see fit. Naruto already knows this and this is why he came to me. That above all else is my concern."
Both Naruto and Sasuke flinched. Itachi was aloof and distant, even towards them. Neither could understand why but he had always been this way. He rarely ever showed any emotion and when he did it was scarcely ever positive. They never got to see the more playful side of the Anbu captain.
Shaking his head at the two, Itachi pushed his chair out and stood once he checked the time. "Well, are you two just going to sit here or do you want to train?"
Sasuke choked on the air for he hardly ever was allowed to train with his elder brother while Naruto nodded, enthusiastic as ever. Watching the raven follow the blonde to and out the door, leaving him to lock up, Itachi rolled his eyes before a slight smile slithered on his lips.
He wished he could have been liked them at times, without a care. How he envied them.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It was rather frustrating for Naruto to spar with Sasuke.
He knew he could beat his friend but there was a catch to it. He couldn't use the Rinnegan and that irked him. It was his trump card, why couldn't he use it when he needed to?
...Okay, he understood the lessons the old man taught him every day. He really did. The best assets to a shinobi was their secrecy. The more that was hidden the more advantageous it could be in a critical situation. It was best to get by with the bare minimum instead of showing off and revealing something that might have been able to save you later if others did not know about it.
That made sense. Having big and flashy techniques was fine and all but using them whenever and however was not. The best technique was the one properly applied to end a fight or change the course of a battle at the optimum opportunity. Just spamming powerful techniques over and over got rather lame and predictable...
A ninja could not be predictable. Surprise was a ninja's number one weapon.
And for that reason, he wore orange. What better way to surprise another enemy than by wearing colors unbefitting of a shinobi? It would throw them off and might give him that opportunity to immediately end a battle before it could start.
However none of this mattered in a spar where the person knew what you could do and could do it better! Sasuke was better at him in taijutsu. He had a much more impressive ninjutsu arsenal and he actually knew a genjutsu or two! Not to mention he could throw his kunai and shuriken slightly better than what he was capable of!
His Rinnegan would be the equalizer, what tilted the battle to his favor! Otherwise Sasuke outclassed him in every aspect of being a ninja outside of surprise! Like a rock to the face...
"OW!" Sasuke yelled out just as Naruto smashed a nearby rock into his cheek before using the opening created to punch him in the face again and again before finally being pushed off. "That was cheep! This is a friendly spar you loser!"
"Friendly or not we are ninjas, Sasuke." Naruto countered before taking a rather basic stance. "And as ninja we have to use anything and everything to our advantage to win... Like the rock I found to smash your face in. I could have kept on nailing you with it instead and ended the match right then and there."
Sasuke wanted to retort something, anything but... Naruto was right. How he hated when the blonde was right. It seemed like he was more shinobi capable than he was. He might have more talent than his friend but his friend was far more mentally prepared for the life he was accepting.
"Alright... That is enough." Itachi spoke from the sidelines, making notes from what he had seen to benefit both his brother and Naruto's training in the future. "Sasuke, mother wanted to see you before five and... It's five."
Wincing, knowing he probably wouldn't be getting any cookies any times soon, Sasuke sighed. He wanted to stick around and train with his brother and Naruto for longer. Sure the latter was annoying but... He was right more times than not. "Okay... Will you be home for dinner?"
"Maybe." Itachi shrugged for he wasn't going to give a definite answer before gazing into Sasuke's eyes.
At that very moment, Sasuke shivered. He swore he had to imagine what he just saw. The Sharingan... Didn't have another stage, did it? They documented everything about their doujutsu so wouldn't they record something like that?
Shaking his head, getting the sight of those strange eyes out of his mind's eye, Sasuke turned to Naruto and bowed his head ever so slight while his counterpart did the same. It was their way of saying they recognized one another but they wouldn't say it verbally. They had too much pride to ever say such a thing.
Watching his friend's retreating back, Naruto couldn't help but smile rather liberally. Sure they had their rough spots but they were genuine friends and that was worth everything to him.
But turning his eyes back to his elder brother, he couldn't help but frown. They were so different with barely any similarities. Both were quiet and always seemed to have a depressing manner. That was where the likenesses ended.
Sasuke while down trodden was rather upbeat at times when things were going well. He also didn't seem afraid to show that he was happy about something or if he was depressed. He could muster a compliment to someone after they out classed him in something, even if he was reluctant when he did.
Itachi... He was always cold. He never said a word outside of what he had to outside of one of his few playful or caring moments. He showed very few emotions that ranged from like to anger, annoyance and slight amusement. If he had done something well he would not compliment him but instead point out all the flaws.
He was a good teacher... That was about it. He could never be a great one because he simply focused on the technique itself and did not consider the person's feelings in the slightest.
It seemed Itachi noticed that he was staring and glanced back at the young blonde with a raised eyebrow. "What? If you are waiting on me wait a moment..."
"Why don't you care about anything?" Naruto narrowed his eyes and gazed into the Uchiha's Sharingan. "Why are so indifferent to anyone and everything? Sasuke is your own brother yet I've rarely ever seen you treat him any differently then you do with me. Why is that? Aren't you family?!"
Taking Naruto's bottled rage in stride, as if he was expecting such an outburst, the Anbu captain simply lowered his eyebrow. "Is that what you think?"
Growling at Sasuke's elder brother, Naruto felt ready to explode. Family was his breaking point for one reason and one reason only. He saw it as a sacred bond... One that forever linked people that care for one another together. And when someone didn't seem to care for such a bond and treaded on it like it was nothing, it set him off, for family was what he had been denied his entire life.
"Naruto... Caring doesn't always mean love." Itachi responded with narrowed eyes before taking a deep breath. "Sit... And I will explain to you why I am incapable of caring yet can still love."
While still seething, Naruto did as he was told and awaited the Uchiha's story. Something told him as he did, however, that he was going to learn something he could not handle.
Keeping eye contact with his ward, Itachi went into his story without hesitation. "My father is not a kind man from what you can tell from seeing Sasuke. Yet to me as a child... He doted on me like I was some sort of gift from the gods the very moment I showed unusual skills for someone of that age. He made sure I was well trained and by the time I was six I had graduated the academy. He was so proud..."
"One must ask though that if my father wasn't a kind man why would he treat me like such. The answer is simple to see but at that time I could not. I thought it was because he loved me that he gave me the finest training possible, would go out of his way to make sure I mastered everything possible. Yet he was always so firm... Making sure that I followed the letters of the law precisely."
"I was very confused and it took some years to sort out the mixed messages he was sending me. But even then it took something I cannot speak of for me to finally realize it was not love that he cared for me. It was for his ambition... His own greed that he cared for me as he did and not my brother or my mother." Itachi hissed out in a rare demonstration of emotion, hatred in this case.
"For you see, caring does not always mean love and you must understand that. Most people have a reason for things and while for a family it is suppose to be love... It is not always. And you must be careful of that so that no one can exploit you, Naruto. You are a wielder of the Rinnegan and descend of the Rikudo Sage. There are those that want to use you and you must not let them." Itachi finally settled down back into his normal demeanor while keeping his gaze with the eight year old.
There were a variety of emotions bubbling within Naruto throughout Itachi's story. Anger at his father, solemnity for the family, condolence for Itachi and finally wonder... Wonder why their mother didn't do anything about what was happening?
"I see you've already reached the question I have... And I don't know. But I will know soon enough." Itachi spoke catching a glimpse of his thoughts from just his posture and twitches of his facial muscles.
His words did not have the desire effect. He was still fumbling around on what to say or do about what was wrong in his personal life. It was his problem and he would deal with it, not that he had a choice any longer.
Swiftly closing the distance between them in a blink, Itachi kicked Naruto in the ribs and knocked him on the ground. "Get up. We have work to do."
Holding his ribs, not going to give his teacher the delight of hearing him in pain, Naruto simply glared at Itachi while he picked himself off the ground. The Uchiha simply looked amused. "Good... I'm going to give you what you need to create your own style in taijutsu by giving you certain points of my clan's own style."
"A counter style fits you best for you have five seconds between bursts and that could be the difference between life and death. So there are only two ways around it. Being able to counter your opponent during such time or being able to utterly destroy them in the first shot." Itachi explained before he slid into the basic stance of his style.
Waiting until Naruto stood on his feet and managed to slide into the academy's stance, Itachi's red eyes burned brightly. "Now come... I will make you an acceptable savoir yet!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Converting /tmp/phpx6yyMX to /dev/stdout
He had been assigned as a caretaker, a rather uninvolved one but a caretaker nonetheless, since he was six. He was now fourteen and had been an Anbu captain of over a year and had only recently started to get involved in his life. Yet before each day began he made sure everything was set and that there was an enforcer of his judgment to see that the day went as it should.
First hour, six to seven, make sure Naruto was up, bathed and fed for he no longer was in the orphanage thanks to how the other kids treated him. Second hour, make sure to have him focus on his chakra control for he had an abnormal amount for an eight year old. Then make sure he was on time at the academy at exactly eight.
Once class cuts out, take him home, if he has had another bad day and is not going to do something with his friends, Aburame Shino and Uchiha Sasuke. Make sure he's back home by five; six if groceries are needed. From five to six train physically with weight lifting, laps and other extraneous activities.
Have a healthy dinner made by seven and only serve ramen with chopped vegetables and cooked meat if he's had a bad day. Once he's finished and rested, have him sit and focus on his eyes to draw forth his latent abilities with Lord Hokage. Finally, read him a story or tell him about exciting missions as a bed time story. He seems to like those and it helps sleep at night.
And this was for regular school days, for he didn't consider the half day of school every Saturday to be a regular day... It just wasn't very effective.
Okay... He had to admit for the most part his schedule seemed to be a training schedule and it was. He allowed him free time since the academy ended at two to allow students to train on their own. But that was how he realized that Naruto was not liked by his peers, just like he was in the orphanage.
Itachi sighed. It seemed the elder generation had passed on their hatred for Naruto to their children. If they only knew that he was the child of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, their supposed savior, things would have been different. In essence it was true but in reality Naruto was the reason many more shinobi were not lost. They simply could not put their hatred aside to see that.
During the blonde's time in the orphanage the matron did his duty and took care of the boy. She didn't feel it was right to let him suffer but at the same time she did not feel he had earned his title as their savior. The boy did not willingly take upon this curse of his.
She watched over him, followed him and stopped any fights which sometimes broke out, she sometimes even used the Anbu guards there to threaten the kids to stop their abuse. And they did... But they simply found another way to abuse Naruto. Though looks of hatred that pierced into the boy's soul and did far more damage then their fists ever could.
He had the Third put Naruto in his own appartment when he was six, which was conveniently close to the Uchiha district and only a half mile from the Aburame's household. It suited Shibi well enough, Shibi and Mikoto came to over see him occasionally, making sure Naruto was taken care of. They may have been barred from adopting Naruto but they were far from being secluded from him.
The abuse had not stopped for the adults did much the same, sparing Naruto only glances of hate. They never tried anything for even those that didn't know better knew that swift action would be taken against them if they so much as raised a hand against him. It didn't take a genius to realize Sarutobi Hizuren was fond of the boy.
The necklace Naruto wore beneath his clothing was proof of this, the necklace was given to Hiruzen by his sensei, the Second Hokage. Senju Tobimaru told the Third Hokage that it was a gift to his brother, the First Hokage from the Rikudo Sage. This message was read loud and clear, people got the message that Naruto was under the Third Hokages care.
I believe in Uzumaki Naruto and I know he is destined for great things.
But back onto his original train of thought, Naruto's next problem came when he was enrolled into the academy. All the kids knew who he was thanks to their parents and even those that didn't joined the crowd in taunting, belittling and making fun of Naruto's skills despite his talent. Even the teachers made his day worse by giving him the same looks the villager's gave him or asking difficult questions, an academy student couldn't hope to answe.
Of course he quickly had those teachers sacked and they were replaced by others that were less... Spiteful. At least they weren't going out of their way to botch Naruto's learning. The main teacher simply bored the hell out of the kid and made it difficult for him to stay awake.
If he, Uchiha Itachi, struggled to sit through one of Iruka's lessons how was he to expect Naruto to do the same? Hell, the Aburame in the class couldn't keep his entire focus on the lesson! That was a huge indicator of how annoyingly tedious and downright infuriating his lessons were!
Back to the heart of the matter, there wasn't much he could do about the other children. He wanted to advance Naruto in a few years due to his skills being above the rest of his class and the two above him, but the Hokage strictly kept Naruto with his age group. He firmly believed that Naruto needed to stay grounded, as to not get a big head and think anyone was below him.
That he could understand. By jumping him a few class years ahead it could quickly make him arrogant in his skills and decrease his learning curb. It would also would make him an asshole to the other children... But that was beside the point.
So Naruto had to endure his treatment and seemed to being doing just fine. There were times he couldn't keep up his happy demeanor and became crestfallen but that was to be expected. Despite his cheery exterior there lied a door of sorrow and depression that when opened flooded his being.
Thankfully despite that the blonde was a rather rambunctious and jovial for an eight year old. He seemed truly happy no matter what was happened to him. There was no doubt that he was aware of the hatred but he seemingly shrugged it off without much thought. An attribute that Hizuren had mentioned was a lot like Tobimaru's.
A great aspect to have indeed. To keep one's cool despite the pressure around him showed the boy's poise... His control. He almost never faltered and even when he did Naruto did his best to continue forward, pushing through the troubles around him.
Even without his skills... Naruto was strong because of that. Instead of lashing out at his tormentors he simply hummed and acted like there was nothing wrong in spite of what injustice happened to him. A trait of a true savior indeed.
Hearing the door open, Itachi turned and put on a smile seeing who was with him. "Ah, Sasuke. What brings you here today?" Today was his day off and he was planning to personally oversee Naruto's day,
His little brother grumbled under his breath, standing off to the side of his blonde haired friend. "You told me you had the day off and since you're here normally I thought I could come too..."
Turning his attention to the blonde, Itachi could only shake his head. Naruto wore a bright orange shirt with a high but loose collar to cover his necklace from sight and a pair of khaki shorts. He had long given up trying to tell Naruto his favored color was a bad color choice for a ninja... Besides, he was still in the academy. He would learn soon enough.
Sasuke wasn't much better. He wore a dark blue shirt and pure white shorts and while they blended into their environment a little better... It still was a far cry to from what was decent camouflage. "Ah, I did, didn't I?"
"Itachi-sensei..." Naruto muttered, immediately focusing his attention onto the orange wearing blonde and knew something was out of the ordinary.
"What happened?" Itachi said, putting down the report he had been going over and sealing it away for now, and motioning for Naruto and his brother to sit.
Taking a seat, glad that his guardians had decided to get this set instead of any other for they were comfy, Naruto sighed before running his hand over his face. "Today was the first day we sparred... And I was matched with Kiba."
Itachi frowned. He knew why they were going over spars and the significance of the half seals but to match Naruto with Kiba...
At times they could be the best of friends but the very next they could be at each others throats. Their relationship was almost the stereotypical formula of a love-hate relationship. He would never forget some of the fights he had to break up because of the two... Was impossible.
"He was pressing me today about family." Naruto continued while Itachi mentally cringed, knowing that to be a sore spot for Naruto. "I tried to ignore it like usual but... I couldn't and when our spar started... I just let go and the next thing I knew I had to reactivate my seal."
"You released the Rinnegan?!" Itachi growled out while keeping his anger at the situation from flaring out and to keep Sasuke from digging for any further information about the eyes. "You do realize how serious this is?"
"I do... That's why I came to you first. I don't want the old man to be disappointed in me." Naruto said drearily it would hurt to have let the old man down for all the support he gave him.
Tapping his fingers along the table for a moment, inspecting the downtrodden blonde, Itachi simply nodded. "I see... While I'm upset that you couldn't keep it in check... but I believe I understand why. However I will know when I get the report later today."
"Report? Why would their fight be in a report?" Sasuke suddenly caught onto something that wasn't normal, at least from a caretaker's perspective.
Sighing for his brother was rather dense Itachi looked at the younger Uchiha and blandly stared at him. "I'm not Naruto's guardian, I'm his overseer. I'm here to look after him and train him in what I see fit. Naruto already knows this and this is why he came to me. That above all else is my concern."
Both Naruto and Sasuke flinched. Itachi was aloof and distant, even towards them. Neither could understand why but he had always been this way. He rarely ever showed any emotion and when he did it was scarcely ever positive. They never got to see the more playful side of the Anbu captain.
Shaking his head at the two, Itachi pushed his chair out and stood once he checked the time. "Well, are you two just going to sit here or do you want to train?"
Sasuke choked on the air for he hardly ever was allowed to train with his elder brother while Naruto nodded, enthusiastic as ever. Watching the raven follow the blonde to and out the door, leaving him to lock up, Itachi rolled his eyes before a slight smile slithered on his lips.
He wished he could have been liked them at times, without a care. How he envied them.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It was rather frustrating for Naruto to spar with Sasuke.
He knew he could beat his friend but there was a catch to it. He couldn't use the Rinnegan and that irked him. It was his trump card, why couldn't he use it when he needed to?
...Okay, he understood the lessons the old man taught him every day. He really did. The best assets to a shinobi was their secrecy. The more that was hidden the more advantageous it could be in a critical situation. It was best to get by with the bare minimum instead of showing off and revealing something that might have been able to save you later if others did not know about it.
That made sense. Having big and flashy techniques was fine and all but using them whenever and however was not. The best technique was the one properly applied to end a fight or change the course of a battle at the optimum opportunity. Just spamming powerful techniques over and over got rather lame and predictable...
A ninja could not be predictable. Surprise was a ninja's number one weapon.
And for that reason, he wore orange. What better way to surprise another enemy than by wearing colors unbefitting of a shinobi? It would throw them off and might give him that opportunity to immediately end a battle before it could start.
However none of this mattered in a spar where the person knew what you could do and could do it better! Sasuke was better at him in taijutsu. He had a much more impressive ninjutsu arsenal and he actually knew a genjutsu or two! Not to mention he could throw his kunai and shuriken slightly better than what he was capable of!
His Rinnegan would be the equalizer, what tilted the battle to his favor! Otherwise Sasuke outclassed him in every aspect of being a ninja outside of surprise! Like a rock to the face...
"OW!" Sasuke yelled out just as Naruto smashed a nearby rock into his cheek before using the opening created to punch him in the face again and again before finally being pushed off. "That was cheep! This is a friendly spar you loser!"
"Friendly or not we are ninjas, Sasuke." Naruto countered before taking a rather basic stance. "And as ninja we have to use anything and everything to our advantage to win... Like the rock I found to smash your face in. I could have kept on nailing you with it instead and ended the match right then and there."
Sasuke wanted to retort something, anything but... Naruto was right. How he hated when the blonde was right. It seemed like he was more shinobi capable than he was. He might have more talent than his friend but his friend was far more mentally prepared for the life he was accepting.
"Alright... That is enough." Itachi spoke from the sidelines, making notes from what he had seen to benefit both his brother and Naruto's training in the future. "Sasuke, mother wanted to see you before five and... It's five."
Wincing, knowing he probably wouldn't be getting any cookies any times soon, Sasuke sighed. He wanted to stick around and train with his brother and Naruto for longer. Sure the latter was annoying but... He was right more times than not. "Okay... Will you be home for dinner?"
"Maybe." Itachi shrugged for he wasn't going to give a definite answer before gazing into Sasuke's eyes.
At that very moment, Sasuke shivered. He swore he had to imagine what he just saw. The Sharingan... Didn't have another stage, did it? They documented everything about their doujutsu so wouldn't they record something like that?
Shaking his head, getting the sight of those strange eyes out of his mind's eye, Sasuke turned to Naruto and bowed his head ever so slight while his counterpart did the same. It was their way of saying they recognized one another but they wouldn't say it verbally. They had too much pride to ever say such a thing.
Watching his friend's retreating back, Naruto couldn't help but smile rather liberally. Sure they had their rough spots but they were genuine friends and that was worth everything to him.
But turning his eyes back to his elder brother, he couldn't help but frown. They were so different with barely any similarities. Both were quiet and always seemed to have a depressing manner. That was where the likenesses ended.
Sasuke while down trodden was rather upbeat at times when things were going well. He also didn't seem afraid to show that he was happy about something or if he was depressed. He could muster a compliment to someone after they out classed him in something, even if he was reluctant when he did.
Itachi... He was always cold. He never said a word outside of what he had to outside of one of his few playful or caring moments. He showed very few emotions that ranged from like to anger, annoyance and slight amusement. If he had done something well he would not compliment him but instead point out all the flaws.
He was a good teacher... That was about it. He could never be a great one because he simply focused on the technique itself and did not consider the person's feelings in the slightest.
It seemed Itachi noticed that he was staring and glanced back at the young blonde with a raised eyebrow. "What? If you are waiting on me wait a moment..."
"Why don't you care about anything?" Naruto narrowed his eyes and gazed into the Uchiha's Sharingan. "Why are so indifferent to anyone and everything? Sasuke is your own brother yet I've rarely ever seen you treat him any differently then you do with me. Why is that? Aren't you family?!"
Taking Naruto's bottled rage in stride, as if he was expecting such an outburst, the Anbu captain simply lowered his eyebrow. "Is that what you think?"
Growling at Sasuke's elder brother, Naruto felt ready to explode. Family was his breaking point for one reason and one reason only. He saw it as a sacred bond... One that forever linked people that care for one another together. And when someone didn't seem to care for such a bond and treaded on it like it was nothing, it set him off, for family was what he had been denied his entire life.
"Naruto... Caring doesn't always mean love." Itachi responded with narrowed eyes before taking a deep breath. "Sit... And I will explain to you why I am incapable of caring yet can still love."
While still seething, Naruto did as he was told and awaited the Uchiha's story. Something told him as he did, however, that he was going to learn something he could not handle.
Keeping eye contact with his ward, Itachi went into his story without hesitation. "My father is not a kind man from what you can tell from seeing Sasuke. Yet to me as a child... He doted on me like I was some sort of gift from the gods the very moment I showed unusual skills for someone of that age. He made sure I was well trained and by the time I was six I had graduated the academy. He was so proud..."
"One must ask though that if my father wasn't a kind man why would he treat me like such. The answer is simple to see but at that time I could not. I thought it was because he loved me that he gave me the finest training possible, would go out of his way to make sure I mastered everything possible. Yet he was always so firm... Making sure that I followed the letters of the law precisely."
"I was very confused and it took some years to sort out the mixed messages he was sending me. But even then it took something I cannot speak of for me to finally realize it was not love that he cared for me. It was for his ambition... His own greed that he cared for me as he did and not my brother or my mother." Itachi hissed out in a rare demonstration of emotion, hatred in this case.
"For you see, caring does not always mean love and you must understand that. Most people have a reason for things and while for a family it is suppose to be love... It is not always. And you must be careful of that so that no one can exploit you, Naruto. You are a wielder of the Rinnegan and descend of the Rikudo Sage. There are those that want to use you and you must not let them." Itachi finally settled down back into his normal demeanor while keeping his gaze with the eight year old.
There were a variety of emotions bubbling within Naruto throughout Itachi's story. Anger at his father, solemnity for the family, condolence for Itachi and finally wonder... Wonder why their mother didn't do anything about what was happening?
"I see you've already reached the question I have... And I don't know. But I will know soon enough." Itachi spoke catching a glimpse of his thoughts from just his posture and twitches of his facial muscles.
His words did not have the desire effect. He was still fumbling around on what to say or do about what was wrong in his personal life. It was his problem and he would deal with it, not that he had a choice any longer.
Swiftly closing the distance between them in a blink, Itachi kicked Naruto in the ribs and knocked him on the ground. "Get up. We have work to do."
Holding his ribs, not going to give his teacher the delight of hearing him in pain, Naruto simply glared at Itachi while he picked himself off the ground. The Uchiha simply looked amused. "Good... I'm going to give you what you need to create your own style in taijutsu by giving you certain points of my clan's own style."
"A counter style fits you best for you have five seconds between bursts and that could be the difference between life and death. So there are only two ways around it. Being able to counter your opponent during such time or being able to utterly destroy them in the first shot." Itachi explained before he slid into the basic stance of his style.
Waiting until Naruto stood on his feet and managed to slide into the academy's stance, Itachi's red eyes burned brightly. "Now come... I will make you an acceptable savoir yet!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Converting /tmp/phpx6yyMX to /dev/stdout