Chapter 5
The day Naruto turned four months old Keigo started training again.
Three months of resting was enough to send him walking on the walls with boredom. The remaining pain from the chest wound had disappeared the month before and the general tiredness was gone.
That morning he was awakened by three fingers resting on his shoulder.
Kakashi.
The skylights above his head showed the sky was lightening, dawn had just passed.
"In five minutes you must be ready to come to breakfast" Kakashi whispered trying to not wake the sleeping baby next to me.
"Bring Naruto too" then he walked down the stairs.
Keigo still confused by sleep didn't have time to process the sentences before he left.
Naruto hadn't even moved during the visit.
Kakashi was waiting for him at the table with Obito, some bentos with cold rice and eggs on the table in front of them and one in front of an empty seat.
Keigo's chair .
He settled down with the sleeping baby tied to his chest and began to eat.
"This morning you're coming with us to meet the hokage and train" Obito began to explain after finishing his meal.
They dropped Naruto on their way to training field seven.
Uchiha Mikoto was a new addition to Keigo's weekly routine. She was a late friend of his mom and she also had a baby Naruto's age. Once a week Keigo would drop his brother to the wife of the Uchiha clan head to have some time for himself and let Naruto play with someone his age.
The journey was faster once they left the child and could travel over the rooftops but the training ground was already occupied when they arrived.
Keigo's dad, the hokage, was surrounded by his guard, all wearing Anbu masks except for one who was quickly recognized.
"Dad, genma-sensei, uhh... other dudes" Keigo waved.
"Very clever of you, Namikaze, as always" Genma-sensei replied.
Genma was one of his many teachers, as well as his favorite, during Keigo's short time at the academy. During the war period all active shinobi were required on the battlefield and none could be spared to teach pre-genin full time so anyone injured enough to have time away from the front lines was forced to serve as a teacher.
Genma had been his sensei for at least two months.
"Today you're gonna start taijutsu and endurance training with Genma today Kei" his dad was now talking to him.
Keigo was both excited and apprehensive about training, he was happy because he could start again after his injury but at the same time he remembered his teacher's sadistic streak during the exercises in the courtyard.
His thoughts must have been written on his face at the smirk Genma gave him.
"Come on daydreamer, no more looking out the window for you" his sensei taunted him.
"Better than watching your face all day" Keigo replied saltily.
But Genma-sensei wasn't wrong, during the inside lessons Keigo spent all his time looking at people outside the window or daydreaming. He never looked at the blackboard.
"You got a spitfire on your hands Yondaime-sama" Genma laughed.
That afternoon while resting, Keigo found himself satisfied with his general physical condition, he had managed to stand up to one of the best jounin of the leaf and his speed had not decreased too much.
He could still sustain the old nickname of red flash prodigy.
Still having energy to burn he decided to go for a walk with his little brother tied to his chest as always.
The air was starting to warm up as spring approached and this brought a greater turnout on the streets of the village.
The shops were still all open even if only for a little while and Keigo was having fun seeing all the things the stalls could offer him.
He could feel many stares directed at both him and his brother belonging to both the civilian population and low-ranking shinobi, thinking it was because they were the hokage's sons he didn't pay much attention to it.
A mistake he will never forget.
His walking had taken him to a more remote part of Konoha and seeing that he was lingering he decided to take a shortcut through some alleys to get home faster. His father was making an effort to come home at least every night to eat with his kids and Keigo would not disappoint him by leaving him alone.
The tiredness he had accumulated since that morning was starting to make itself felt and, not paying attention to his surroundings, Keigo lost the tail he had gathered.
In a moment of distraction he turned into a dead end. When he turned to go back he noticed the small crowd that had gathered at the entrance to the alley and was now blocking his way.
"Hello?" Keigo tried.
He was met with hateful looks and words spat at him and his brother.
"DEMONS" The crowd was now chantin as they got closer and closer to the two children.
Keigo didn't know what was happening but he knew he had to protect Naruto with all his strength.
He watched with wide eyes as a pair of men broke away from the group of civilians and approached him armed with sticks and bottles.
He was surrounded on three sides by buildings, the only way out was blocked, and Keigo still hadn't tried using chakra since that night, so climbing the walls was out of the question. In the alley there was only a large dumpster.
While he was thinking of an escape route, an hit to the head caught him off guard.
The unexpected slam knoked him to the ground, blood already dripping from his temple.
Crawling with difficulty he dragged himself into the corner between the wall and the dumpster to protect himself.
He couldn't fight back with his precious burden without risking getting him hurt, so he curled up around his little brother, his back facing his attackers and ready to take all the hits.
In that moment Keigo didn't feel like the prodigy everyone had told him he was.
The crowd wasted no time, Keigo felt the shots raining down from all angles, his back, his ribs, his head and everything that was exposed was a target.
Little Naruto had begun to cry hysterically and Keigo could only moan in agony in response.
'How could they do this to us', Keigo thought, 'we're kids, we just wanted to go home to dad'.
As a last resort his body began to gather chakra to unconsciously protect itself, only he wasn't quite ready for all the power the fox had brought with him when he was sealed away.
His little body couldn't bear the amount of chakra flowing through it.
The explosion of power sent his attackers into the walls.
Now that he no longer had to protect Naruto, Keigo fell to his side exhausted and injured.
The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was the appearance of a platoon of anbu and the running towards him of a masked subject with familiar strands of silver hair.