"NARUTO! You did it again! How many times do I have to tell you to stop skipping class for your rude pranks?!" Umino Iruka yelled as the mentioned youth scowled, arms and legs tied up to prevent him from running off. Many of his classmates snickered.
There wasn't a student in the academy who didn't know Uzumaki Naruto, the infamous prankster and class clown, as well as the dead last.
Meanwhile, in the far back right next to the window, a young brunet sat, sighing helplessly as she gazed down at her brother. She had a sleeveless high neck black shirt and black tights. Over that, she swore a beige short dress with wide neckline which ended right in the middle of her thighs. Her long dark brown hair was pulled with into a braid which wrapped around her head like a crown, held together by a dark purple ribbon.
"Are you sure you two are siblings?" On of her desk mate asked, his mouth quite full of a handful of chips he managed to sneak in.
"Yeah,"
"Could've fooled me." Her other desk mate commented with a sigh of his own.
"Please don't insult my brother." Uzumaki Mito asked while her eyes turned back to the scroll was reading right before the interruptions.
"It's hard not to." Nara Shikamaru stated.
"Yeah," Akimichi Choiji chimed in. Mito sent a light glare to her best friends, one without any real heat, but it was enough for the boys to switch the topic.
"You still experimenting with that seal?" Shikamaru inquired as he recognized some familiar characters in the girl's notes. He barely knew a thing about fuinjutsu. Mito had tried to explain it before, and despite the Nara's high intelligence, he could barely grasp the concept. But he could still recognize some similar characters and patterns the girl was using.
"Yeah, there isn't much research done with what I am trying to do so it's been prodding at nearly everything. It's also not like there is a lot of notes and it either." Mito said.
"Mumm..." Shikamaru trailed off. He knew for a fact he would never have the patience to do the same work Mito is doing.
Finally, it was the end of the day and students began making their way out of the classroom. Mito bid her friends farewell before falling into step beside her brother. Naruto didn't hesitate to grab her big bag from her before swinging it over his shoulders.
"Careful, there's some ink bottles in there."
"I know and I am." Naruto waved her off. Mito rolled her eyes as the two began making their way back to their small apartment. Naruto chatted the entire way while Mito only give a few comments here and there. The walk was nearly an hour as their apartment was quite a distance away but both had gotten far used to it.
"Graduation's next week."
"I know, I know."
"Who do you think you'll be with?"
"As long as it's not that tense, I'm fine with anyone." Naruto huffs.
Mito warily smiles. She couldn't ruin the surprise. She couldn't tell him that he was predetermined to be placed in a team that would become the center of hurricanes after hurricanes. She couldn't tell him that his destiny was greater than anyone else. She couldn't tell him she knew what he would go through, his pains and his sacrifices. She couldn't tell him she knew, and that she couldn't tell him or prevent every single bad thing that would happen to him.
She wasn't always Uzumaki Mito. She was once Reina Hanamov. Reina was an orphan, born in the streets of Russia. Soon after, she was found and picked up by some underground traffic ring. She grew up in that hellhole for 10 years before she was finally given a chance. However, that chance came at the price of many of her close companion's lives. Even then, the place she left that hell for was simply another hell. She was treated no more than a tool, a weapon one could use whenever. By 14, she had lost count of how many lives she had taken with her own hands. The blood she shed had stained her hands until she can't wash them off anymore. Her only solece, her only light salvation in that dark world was Hiro, her little brother.
She had taken him in under her wing and he had worship the ground she walked on. He was not only her partner, but also her family. The only family she had ever known. It was because of him that she strived to live better.
Thus she began to plan a way for her and Hiro to leave the organization. However, they didn't make it a week after escaping that they were caught. The price of their treachery was their lives.
The last thing she saw as Reina was Hiro.
The first thing she saw as Mito was Naruto.
Mito couldn't say she didn't saw Hiro through Naruto, but she wasn't cruel enough to place Naruto as a substitute for Hiro. They were complete opposites anyway.
Hiro was subdued and quiet, likely from how he was raised. Naruto, however, was outgoing and ambitious, despite the things he had endured in his early years.
She could tell the difference between them. Nonetheless, they were both her younger brothers. She had failed to protect Hiro, give him a better life. Mito swore she wouldn't fail Naruto. Even if she had to do what she despised the most. It didn't matter that she considered quite talented at it.