Chapter 17
Sasuke woke up to Naruto shaking him harshly. “Wake up, wake up.” The dark haired boy looked out the window to see a dark sky and began rolling over when Naruto started shaking him harder. That by itself wasn’t too alarming but the fact the other boy sounded scared and pleading made him almost head butt Naruto in his haste to get up.
“What’s goin’ on?” His words were still a little slurred but Naruto’s shoulders sagged in relief so he figured the idea got through.
“I don’t know but Shisui’s back.” Naruto was looking more concerned and Sasuke understood why. Shisui wasn’t in a huge rush so he shouldn’t be coming back so late in the night. He should be sleeping wherever he had made his camp.
“Where is he?” Sasuke questioned and the other boy pulled him out of bed. Sasuke didn’t think to be embarrassed as he was drug in his pjs through his house.
“I heard someone banging on the door earlier looking for your dad. They talked for a few minutes before him and Itachi both ran out of the house. I don’t know where they went.” Naruto’s fingers were bruising Sasuke’s arm but he didn’t mind right now.
“Alright, let’s try the doctor first. Then the shrine.” Sasuke felt bad for the look that crossed Naruto’s face at the mention of the doctor.
“Do you think, maybe, he’s hurt?” He turned away. They were stopped in the kitchen now. The same one that felt so warm earlier when they were talking was now cool. Sasuke’s toes curled into the cold floor as he looked at them and answered.
“I don’t know,” Naruto looked like he was about to cry. “But let’s not get too worried until we know for sure, okay?” It came out more like a request than Sasuke wanted.
Naruto looked him in the eyes “Okay.” The two started putting their shoes on when they were both stopped dead in their tracks but a throat clearing behind them.
“What are you two boys doing up?” Mikoto questioned. She had the mom look on her face that meant business and the two boys looked at each other.
Naruto was the first to break the silence. “Is Shi-nii going to be okay?” His voice sounded so small that the mom look quickly faded into a different one altogether.
“Oh, what did you hear?” She walked over and sat on the floor in the middle of the two and hugged Naruto.
“I heard someone coming in saying Shisui’s back but they didn’t sound happy and then Itachi and old man Fugaku left really quick and I don’t know what’s going on and Shisui is family now, he said so, so he can’t disappear or get hurt and I don’t know what’s going on and ….” Sasuke only caught part of what Naruto was saying because the boy started crying halfway through but apparently his mom had a Naruto translator because she nodded along and held him. She glanced down at Sasuke and he knew he should probably be quiet for a moment. Naruto didn’t just sound scared but terrified.
“Of course your family. Shisui isn’t the only family you have now.” She nodded towards Sasuke. “He’ll be okay. He just ran into a bit of trouble on the way back and had to tell Fugaku about it quickly. I’m sure he’ll be by in the morning to tell you all about his adventures.” Apparently the stories the older boy had been telling Naruto weren’t exactly a secret.
Naruto wasn’t crying as hard now but he was still tense as Mikoto held him. Sasuke didn’t know how long they sat on the cold floor but his legs were cramping before he heard his mother call his name a little louder than the comforting words she was giving Naruto.
“Sasuke dear, I think he’s asleep.” Sasuke looked and Naruto was in fact breathing deeply with his eyes closed. His shoulders had loosened at some point and he was dead weight against Mikoto. “Please take his shoes off.” She gestured to his feet and Sasuke did what he was told. He also took off his own shoes and only stumbled slightly when he stood up to help his mother off the floor.
She let out a long groan before she walked back to Sasuke’s room with the other boy in her arms. “You two try to get some more sleep. I’ll make sure he sees Shisui tomorrow. Just make sure he stays calm. She pulled up his shirt and looked worriedly at Naruto’s stomach. Sasuke couldn’t see what it was from where he was behind her but her eyebrows furrowed when she looked.
He waited for her to tuck them both in the bed and leave the room before he rolled over and pushed Naruto on his back. Naruto slept like the dead most of the time so he wasn’t afraid to wake him up when he lifted his shirt, expecting to see some sort of wound. What he wasn’t expecting was to see some sort of seal.
It was the most complicated seal Sasuke had ever seen. His mother taught him how to do storage seals when they left Konoha but he wasn’t sure he could name most of the designs woven into the one on Naruto’s stomach. As he watched, the seal began to fade back into his friend's skin. Fascinated, Sasuke waited until it was completely gone before retucking Naruto.
It was still late but he knew he wasn’t going to get back to sleep. With his mother in the house, he wouldn’t be able to sneak out to train or go to the library either. There was no lock on the library door so anyone could come and go as they pleased. It was decided to do it this way because Shinobi kept odd hours. The bakery also left wrapped goods on the racks at night so anyone who wanted them could have them while out on patrols.
He looked around the room thinking about what he could do. He didn’t want to just sit and look at the wall until everyone else got up. Luckily it was only about 3 am so he shouldn’t be too tired for the next day, or is it later in the morning. He shook his head and looked at his bookcase in the corner of the room. He did manage to keep some books, mostly academy books and some of the fiction his mother had copied for him. In the bottom corner, he looked at those scrolls the librarian gave him. It felt like an eternity since he lied to the woman. He hoped she didn’t get into too much trouble for loaning them to him because a late fee would be the least of his problems if they were caught now.
He got out of bed and walked over to his desk with one of the scrolls. He turned on his desk lamp and held his breath as he looked at his bedroom door. No matter how many times he stayed up, his mother sensed he wasn’t in bed and usually caught him. Not this time however. She must have been really tired from all the chaos. He unfurled the scroll and his eyes went wide.
It was nothing but gibberish! Well, not really but it felt like he was looking at another language. Was this even Japanese? He put the scroll down and looked around the room again. He waited until he thought he was more awake and looked again, still odd but not as bad as his first look. It kinda looked like the stuff on Naruto’s stomach but not really. It looked different but the lines squiggled the same way.
He decided to take it one line at a time so he covered up everything except the first line of words and was surprised it was actually words he could read. With all the other stuff mixed in, he didn’t see it at first. Reading through it, he got excited at the idea. Apparently the woman noticed how many sealing scrolls he was borrowing and gave him a scroll on summoning. It didn’t look like a specific animal contract but it was an explanation on how to summon.
His eyes were moving so fast that he was sure he must have activated his Sharingan as he read. He winced at the thought of the chakra drain but didn’t think any further on it as he was sucked into the scroll. He spent the next few hours trying to go through the scroll. He didn’t understand all of it but he did get some of it.
Most clans and other Shinobi used specialized scrolls, usually passed from teacher to student, to summon specific animals from their homes to negotiate with the animal. It was the safest method because some of the summons wouldn’t be amenable to meeting humans or listening to their order. This scroll mentioned it as a prelude before going into detail about how to summon an animal to suit a shinobi’s needs when they didn’t know what would work best with them. If there were several, they would go to the one that would fit their current need the most. There was no limit to how often the circle could be used.
Sasuke could see why it was dangerous. It took a lot of chakra and a really complicated seal. You also had to use a huge space just to draw this circle. From what he could tell, the jutsu would read about you ,somehow, and send a message out into the worlds about what kind of master you would be. If the animal was interested, the summoner would teleport into the animal's world for a while to negotiate.
“Seems like a good way to be eaten?” Sasuke mused as he rubbed his eyes. The sun was beginning to peak over the horizon so it would be time to get up soon. He was taking a final look at the seal to see if he could draw it when he heard his mother’s door open and froze. Her footsteps echoed down the hall and stopped at their door. Luckily for him, she didn’t open the door before she continued on her way.
He flushed in shame when he remembered why he was awake to begin with. Shisui! Naruto! He didn’t think twice about jumping out of his chair and running back to his friend's side to wake him. Naruto would be mad if he went off on his own to find out what was going on. His mom probably didn’t even know yet.
For once, Naruto didn’t argue as the two got ready as quickly as they possibly could. Sasuke didn’t think they would be going to class today so he didn’t bother cleaning up his desk before they headed to the kitchen. “Good morning.” Sasuke managed and Naruto was almost vibrating next to him.
Mikoto didn’t mention the early morning to either boys but just returned their good morning. She accepted their help with breakfast and Sasuke noticed she only laid out three plates. “Did father and brother come home last night?”
“Sorry, boys.” She genuinely seemed upset. “I haven’t heard from either one of them yet. I’ll send word to the school and you two can wait with me here for news. How does that sound?”
That sounded horrible but Sasuke didn’t want to get in the way and didn’t know how he could help so he agreed. The two ate and were ushered out of the kitchen. Sasuke didn’t know what his mom was planning to do but she shooed them away before they could offer to help clean up.
Having nothing better to do because they couldn’t leave, they went back to Sasuke’s room. He explained the scroll to Naruto and , of course, he wanted to try it out as soon as they could. He hesitated when he saw the seal work but didn’t say anything. They spent the next hour talking about different animal contracts they had heard about and what would suit them best.
They were almost completely calm when Sasuke felt someone approaching the door. He didn’t recognize it but it was headed straight for their house. Naruto noticed him tense up and stopped talking. They both tumbled out the door and towards the kitchen entrance. Mikoto turned her head slightly to let them know she saw them but she didn’t tell them to leave and the other uchiha, one of Sasuke's cousins, had already started giving her a report.
“He’s going to live and everything got approved but he was attacked several times on the road. Mostly bandits but that last group was different. They didn’t have headbands on but Shisui said they fought like Konoha shinobi. They almost killed him.” He clenched his teeth.
Sasuke didn’t understand. They were doing everything they were supposed to and weren’t breaking any rules. Why did Shisui have to be hurt and Naruto have to look like he was about to cry all over again. “Why would they do that?” He couldn’t help but ask. His cousin startled, guessing he didn’t know Sasuke that well and thought he would remain silent.
“We don’t know for sure,” He answered honestly.
Sasuke could smell the BS from where he was, “but you have a really good idea, don’t you.” He sounded angry and straightened himself up. His cousin did the same.
“I don’t know if I can say?” He said it like a question and looked over to Mikoto, torn between how much he could say to the children. With a resigned sigh, she motioned him to tell them and sat down at the table. “They may have been trying to swap out the messages so we thought we’d failed at getting our charter.” Sasuke made a questioning noise but didn’t quite know how to voice it.
Mikoto helped. “If we can’t legally start a village, it opens us up to attack from the 5 great nations so they can harvest our eyes.” She shuddered at the words. “They may have thought to scare us enough for us to return to Konoha for protection as well.” Sasuke wasn’t sure why she shuddered again in the second sentence. “Anyway, where is Shisui now?”
“He was being looked over by Touga earlier. He was awake and asking for Naruto.” Finally some good news. “Touga said he should be fine for more visitors.” Sasuke guessed his father and Itachi would be waiting for them.
His cousin and mother looked at him surprised when he mentioned bringing them all a late breakfast though. They didn’t have time to put anything fancy together but after his cousin left, Sasuke helped her cook while Naruto chattered away. He must have been feeling better now that Shisui was going to be okay. It didn’t take them long at all to head out towards the hospital.