Chapter 15
Sasuke forgot all about the crystal rock and the door they found when his brother led him over to the firepit in the middle of the village. It was decorated all over with the tomoes that the Sharigan was made out of and pinwheels. There were fans all over as well. “Congratulations on your Sharingan.” His father was the first to greet him.
“I know it took a while, but we’ll make it worth the wait.” Mikoto promised and Sasuke was swept from his brother’s side into the chaos. Everywhere he turned, people were telling stories and laughing. There were small fires everywhere and Sasuke could smell the sharp odor of alcohol.
Everyone was congratulating him and wanting him to show off his new eyes to them, even though he was sure a lot of them had already seen them. It didn’t matter when they had traditions to uphold. Naruto stayed at his side the whole afternoon. It took no time at all for them to be around the fire.
Surrounded by his family telling their history was one of the best nights of his life. A lot of the others were also talking about how Shisui was leaving right after the party to go to the Daimyo to request their charter and name. After he returns, they will start going to the other villages to get support and find out about the local shops.
They told stories deep into the evening. Sasuke didn’t remember falling asleep. He noticed more and more of the other kids disappearing as the night grew darker. He remembers the warm spot on his shoulder where Naruto was slouched against him drooling. He vowed to wake the boy up early the next day in revenge.
He was so warm and content listening to his brother's story next to him that he didn’t notice when he joined his friend in the dream world. He woke up the next day to his normal greeting from his mom and breakfast for four. Mikoto and Itachi were already up. Naruto was in the room Sasuke just left. Most mornings Fugaku wasn’t with them, but he never failed to show up for dinner no matter where they were having it.
“It’s kinda like a promise that he won’t get wrapped up in politics again.” Mikoto explained over breakfast. Sasuke was just happy his father was home every night. “Go wake up our house guest.” Mikoto requested. Sasuke thought about last night and the best way to wake his friend.
He ran back to his room and yelled at the top of his lungs “RAMEN!” He ran away quickly but heard Naruto flail and fall into the floor before he started running towards the kitchen, without even changing out of his PJs.
“WHERE!” Naruto yelled just as loud when he entered the kitchen. Sasuke got a clear view of the bewildered faces of his mother and brother and the almost savage face of Naruto from his hiding place beside his eating spot. He busted out laughing at the chaos. Maybe Naruto was rubbing off on him.
It didn’t take Mikoto longer than a single look before she hid her smile in her hand. Itachi only took a beat longer before he chuckled. It seemed a little forced but he told Sasuke he would try to show more emotions to others.
“Ehhhhhh!” Naruto looked about ready to cry and Sasuke felt bad for tricking him. After all, they wouldn’t have anything more than instant ramen for a couple more days and even then, Mikoto thought it was junk food and refused to have it most of the time.
“Go wash your face dear and come have breakfast.” Mikoto took pity on the boy. “That wasn’t very nice.” She observed as Naruto trudged to the bathroom.
Sasuke shrugged. “He deserved it,” and it was kinda funny. He knew better than to say the second part out loud. Naruto was forgiving though and they went through a routine day. Since yesterday was the party, they had the morning off again. They did have to go to class after lunch though so they couldn’t explore like they did the day before.
“Why don’t we get some training in?” Itachi offered. With Shisui out of the village, he was going to be a bit lonely anyway.
“Sure!” Sasuke was excited. He was training some with his brother but that was usually Itachi showing him something and then sparring with Shisui while Sasuke practiced. It could get fairly boring.
“We could go to elder Kogoro to learn some things.” Fugaku gave permission for Sasuke’s Sharingan lessons to start so he would need to learn the history behind his birthright. Of course Fugaku would start his physical education but tradition was clear the elders were the only ones qualified to teach the history behind it.
“Can Naruto come?” Sasuke was pretty sure he would fall asleep if he was by himself. Before Itachi could answer, Mikoto chimed in. “Why not,” she said mildly with a look towards her oldest Sasuke who couldn't read the expression yet. “Naruto is family too and it could be useful to know.”
So off the trio went to learn. Itachi didn’t say much more than a mild greeting before leaving the two boys at the shrine to check out their mainstreet. Unlike Konoha, the shrine and other important locations weren’t put off to the side but in the main part of the street with the tanner and butcher.
It took a few minutes for the two to settle in front of the elder but he was patient. Sasuke was becoming a bit famous for calming down the unruly children at the school, so it didn’t take long.
“Unlike many lost kekkei genkai, the Sharingan has managed to maintain a detailed history of where our gifts come from and what they are.” Kogoro explained and pointed to a large stone in the shrine. “This is the Uchiha stone. What you see now is our most basic history. The dragons of old blessed the Uchiha with powerful eyes because they saw us as their equals in combat.” Sasuke felt like his history might make a good bedtime story but figured that would make the elder mad. Naruto was sitting at rapt attention beside him.
“They fought for a long time in a bloody war before peace was achieved and we received our blessing.” Here he activated his Sharingan and gestured for Sasuke to do the same. Sasuke gasped a bit at the bright lettering that he could now see. Kogoro gave him time to adjust. “Unlocking different levels of the Sharingan gives us more knowledge on how to use it.”
“Unfortunately,” he looked at Naruto, “only those who have a Sharingan can read past the basic knowledge. Its a powerful Jutsu to protect our clan secrets. Now Naruto, I know that you don’t have a sharingan.” The blond boy’s shoulders dropped a bit. “That doesn’t mean that you don’t need to know this. You are one of us now and should never doubt that.” Naruto was paying close attention now.
“Right now, most of what you see should be family Jutsu at your level. As you can see, the fireball jutsu and our cleansing fire jutsu are here.” There wasn’t a lot of extra information but Sasuke figured that was because he hadn’t really started training yet.
“How do you know dragons even existed.” Naruto asked. While Kogoro tried to explain to Naruto about why the school in Konoha refused to teach this, Sasuke let his mind wonder a bit. He knew that it wasn’t Konoha’s fault, they just weren’t allowed to know certain things. So usually they didn’t bother with the rest. That and they didn’t want to offend the other clans by teaching it wrong.
It was a shame though that Naruto couldn’t see the jutsu. Sasuke wasn’t sure if Naruto could even do a fireball jutsu but he should at least be able to see it. An idea hit him and he pulled out a couple pieces of paper. He figured it was fine since Elder Kogoro was still talking to Naruto about some of the other clans. He didn’t like that some actually put seals on babies but they weren’t as civilized as the Uchiha so ignorance can be forgiven as long as they are learning from it..
He was very careful in writing out the information on the slab as closely as he could. He had to squint once or twice to make sure he could see what he saw. Kogoro glanced towards him before finishing up his explanation to a now satisfied Naruto.
“Here,” Sasuke felt like he should whisper like he was in class. He passed his page to Naruto. “Those are the Jutsu he was talking about.”
“Normally we don’t write down anything from the stone. Some of our more advanced jutsu are highly coveted and could be stolen easier if we put them on paper, but perhaps…” He looked thoughtfully at the two.
“Is that so bad?” Sasuke asked. Always the good student.
“We don’t want anyone stealing our secrets or jutsu, like our cleansing fire is only for funerals but other people may mishandle it.” He could have said it differently but figured that was the best explanation for kids.
“But doesn’t everyone see different things,” Sasuke waited for Elder Kogoro to nod before he continued. “So how do we know that the important stuff is on there if only one or two people are allowed to see it.”
“You are right to a point, some history has been lost with time.” That and there were fewer mangekyou than ever before, not that he would explain that to them. “Perhaps you're right though, maybe we should compare what we see.” He made a mental note to gather the different stages of Sharingan and compare notes. They could destroy them after so nobody else would know what they said.
Sasuke preened at the praise. “Although for now, maybe it would be better for you two to get some lunch. Don’t you have class soon.” Sasuke yelped a bit and looked up at the sun’s position.
“We’re gonna be late.” He exclaimed and drug Naruto back to the house. Mikoto wasn’t there but she did have some sandwiches made for the two boys. Sasuke didn’t think he breathed as he inhaled his food and they ran to the school.