naruto; confusion
Sasuke was acting weird, Naruto was sure of it. It must have been something to do with whatever happened while he was clearing his brother's room yesterday. He kept looking at Naruto every few minutes, almost as if he would disappear. Naruto thought he saw fear and panic in his eyes. Did he find something really bad? He wanted to ask but he knew Sasuke didn't like talking about his family most of the time.
But that didn't mean he could let his friend be disturbed all alone, so he tried making jokes to cheer him up. It did work per se, as in Sasuke would smile a bit with a strange look in his eyes and ....pat his head? Naruto wasn't a dog. But since it seemed to make him feel better than before, he put up with it. Not that he actually minded it, it felt nice, almost familiar.
"Ni-sama, why is the fish you catch always bigger than mine!?" Asura whined as they walked home with their catch. "Hm, it's because I'm older. Once you reach my age you'll be able to catch big fishes."
"Even bigger than yours!!?" bright eyes shone proudly, Indra patted his head, "Much bigger."
Another thing was his chakra, since they had started learning about chakra in their academy everyone's chakra had its own feel to it, some were warm, some calm, some felt angry sometimes, some sad. Sasuke's chakra was very crisp, like electricity. But whatever happened yesterday has made his chakra crisp and warm and sad and fond?. And it's so much. Naruto doesn't know what it means but since it feels nice so he supposes it's nothing too bad. But Sasuke is the first person to become his friend, who never badmouths him, and Naruto is going to be the best friend ever and make him feel better 'ttebayo!
-----
"... are you sure about that?"
"Yes."
"It is a big decision, surely you would need-"
"I've already thought about it Hokage-sama. I only wish to keep my own house and clan fortune. The rest of the houses in the compound may be sold to whoever wants them."
"I can understand that, but dissolving the clan? The Uchiha were one of the founding clans of Konoha, the name still carries respect within people"
"I know that, but I'm the last one of my clan, and I have no desire to have any children, so the clan will die out anyway" Sasuke was firm in his decision. He was the one who made this clan, he would be the one to end it. He could see that the Hokage was not pleased with his decision, he was ten after all.
"Fine, once you reach the rank of chunin I will give you official documents about dissolving the clan. The Uchiha compound will be open for sale as you desire once you become genin, you may change your decision anytime. I will not bring this up among the clan heads and elder council until then." The Sandaime said and he nodded in response, that was acceptable.
"Thank you for your time, I will take my leave." he gave a small bow before leaving the room.
Hiruzen watched with a grim look on his face as another ten-year-old was forced to grow up because of the harshness of Shinobi world. He would have to call Itachi to tell him about his younger brother's decisions. If only things were different.
----
"You what?" Naruto yelled when Sasuke told him what he had been up to after their classes.
"I told the Hokage about my decision regarding the clan. And I want to ask you if you're okay with it." Sasuke replied calmly, calm, how was he so calm, Naruto was going insane. He always talked about being an Uchiha with pride, took care of the compound because he wanted to honour the memories of his clanmates, so what happened, and wait, ask him-
"..What do you mean to ask me?" He asked because this was too much for a single day.
"Naruto, you live with me in the Uchiha compound, of course, I'll ask how you feel about it" Naruto was surprised, he didn't think Sasuke thought of him living there as anything more than a sleepover, a very long one.
"I-I'm okay with whatever you want to do, it's your place." He managed to say between all those feelings. "Sasuke..." he hesitated for a second, biting his lower lip, ".... did you find something in his room that bought on these decisions."
Sasuke shook his head, he couldn't tell him that he remembered his past lives and was actually a few thousand years old after all, and also his older brother. "No, I have been thinking about it for a while" nope, he could've never even dreamt of dissolving his clan before yesterday. "I want to start fresh, as Uchiha Sasuke, not the last Uchiha, Itachi's brother, clan head, or whatever I may be to others."
Naruto nodded, he could understand that, how desperately he had himself wished he could start new, without the glares and whispers this time.
"Okay, that's okay."
----
Naruto was really, really concerned. Sasuke was having more nightmares than usual, they always slept on their own futons, but in the same room, so he could hear him every night. He would wake up to the sound of his friend panting and gasping, murmuring names in his sleep, crying. Sasuke never cried. Never. Sometimes he would wake up on his own and his eyes would head straight to Naruto. He'd look at him in desperation and grief and take a long time calming down.
So he decided that he wasn't gonna let his best friend suffer in silence, because one the sun was up, Sasuke never mentioned the nightmares, so Naruto kept quiet. But even he knew this wasn't healthy. So the next time Sasuke woke up shaken and crying, Naruto slid into his futon and held his hand. Sasuke looked at him distantly for a few seconds before relaxing against him, "Thank you... Ototo"
Naruto was 100% sure he had misheard the last word, because what the fuck. He decided it was best to not dwell on it too much.
Soon it became routine. And slowly the bad dreams and thrashing reduced.
----
Itachi did not want to go to Konoha again, it was just too painful. Seeing old comrades, the academy where he learnt, the protectiveness of the trees, the empty compound, the lively streets, the familiar view of the Hokage mountain, he hated being there only to be stripped of it again. Because he wasn't welcome here, not the clan killed Uchiha Itachi. But the Sandaime had asked for him to come, and both of them knew the risks of that. So it must be important.
Sasuke.
His brain thought of his brother when he got the message, was he alright? was he safe? did Danzo mess around his brother? was he okay? but Itachi knew he could never be okay again, he had to become strong to survive, had to live with ghosts because of the mistakes of the godforsaken clan. His fist clenched involuntarily as he thought about the clan. If only they weren't so power-hungry and desperate for perfection. The clan would have broken his brother's spirit before he became a genin that way. They had already started too.
He checked once, twice, making sure that the Hokage was alone in his office before letting himself in, not in his Akatsuki cloak for once.
"Hokage-sama" he gave a slight bow, more of out habit than respect at this point.
"Ah, Itachi-kun, it's ...good to see you"
"What was so urgent? Is Sasuke safe?" he asked, directly getting to the point, he wasn't here to exchange formalities with him.
"Yes, he is safe. There have been some circumstances I need to inform you of" he raised a single eyebrow in question, a signal for him to go on.
"Your brother has made a decision to open the Uchiha compound for sale, I've stalled it till he reaches the genin rank, but I can't do anything after that if he is firm in his decision." the Sandaime spoke quietly, his chin on his hands.
Itachi was surprised, he never expected that, but then again, he didn't know the kind of person Sasuke was now. Maybe it will be better for him to be surrounded by actual people and not ghosts.
"I have no objections to that"
"I thought so, well, your brother has also decided to dissolve the Uchiha clan, he mentioned he has no intention of continuing his line, of course, I've held that off until he reaches chunin rank, but I can't force him, after all, he would have a hundred per cent affirmative from the clan seeing as....."
as they were all dead
Itachi didn't know what to say, Sasuke had been fiercely proud of being an Uchiha since forever, how much has he changed his brother...?
".... when did he tell you?"
"A year ago, I contacted you right after, but it was difficult to get a hold of you" he nodded numbly. He didn't know what to make of this, he didn't have any right to give his opinion, but he wasn't stupid enough to believe that the Hokage went through all that just to inform him.
"What do you think of this?"
"It won't look good for the village if one of its founding clans was dissolved, I was hoping you'd be able to change his mind" the Hokage's voice was grim but it didn't stop the anger from bubbling in him.
"And what do you want me to do?! Threaten him? Push him more?!" he snapped, Sharingan whirling, the man in question stiffened, but before anything else could happen he calmed himself.
"I'm going to pay my little brother a visit" he answered emotionlessly and lept out of the window as fast as he could. How much would the village take? Why did it only take and take and take and why was it never enough? Was Sasuke going to be another nameless leaf who didn't weigh anything when compared to the tree? No, he would make sure Sasuke grew strong, strong enough to live and survive. He was loyal to the Kohona that kept his brother safe. He would crush his heart once again and bear the anger and hatred on Sasuke's face to keep him alive. Safe