Chapter 21
The only reason it took so long for them to figure out how to get Sasuke home was Kaja. She kept rejecting every reverse summoning circle that her siblings and even her father drew.
“No!” She screeched, “We have no idea what world that would actually send him to!” She yelled a lot but Sasuke didn’t mind. Naruto was louder and his mother was very similar when protective instincts kicked in. He listened in half heartedly while sitting on his perch surrounded by his new flock. One basan was showing him how to groom the back of another.
“Do you think they’ll ever make up their minds?” Aoi, a blue bird that let off a cold aura mused and pecked at a crooked feather in his wing.
“Don’t worry too much,” Taki reassured. “They're always like this.”
After at least another two hours of arguing, the two oldest summons decided the circle was as good as it could get. “I’ll go with you to make sure it works,” Kaja decided. She flew to his right side and sat on the ground.
Sasuke said his goodbyes and eagerly stepped into the circle Fushii and Kaja put so much work in. Maybe he could get them to write it down so he could ask his mother about it. “This should take you back to the cave near your village,” Fushii explained.
Some of the larger basan flew around the circle and Sasuke felt their chakra flare as the seal activated. The bright light caused him to close his eyes tightly and he felt the same weightless feeling that brought him here before the light eventually faded and gravity took over.
“aaaAAHH,” It might have been only a short distance but the fall was still terrifying. “Oomf,” He hit the ground and quickly rolled to his feet. Looking around, the cave was familiar yet wrong, darker than when they accidentally activated the scroll. Though, this time he did have a bit more luck with his search. “Naruto!” The blond boy was snoring away near the entrance of the hideout. There was a ball of fur sitting in his lap but it was too small for him to make out what it was.
He heard wings flapping above him as he sprinted over to his friend. Sasuke worriedly asked Kaja “Is he okay?”
When she entered his line of sight to check on Naruto, Sasuke looked puzzled for a few moments. She had shrunk. That was the only way to describe it. While in their world, Kaja was easily double his size, here she was no larger than one of Shisui's crow summons. “What happened to you?” She didn’t seem distressed but he shouldn’t assume. There were way too many things to worry about.
“Don’t worry about me,” she patiently answered while sitting on Naruto’s chest to listen to his breathing. “You don’t have enough Chakra to maintain my larger form yet so I chose a smaller one to help you adjust. You're welcome.” Sasuke felt that it was probably sarcasm but he’d have to ask Naruto later. “He looks fine, just asleep. Chances are he returned before you and wanted a nap.” She pecked at Naruto’s cheek before flying up and settling on Sasuke’s shoulder. “I’ll make sure you boys get home safe before I return. I can already tell the two of you will be trouble if I leave you alone too long.” Sasuke didn’t think he was that bad, maybe she just meant Naruto, but he would gladly accept the extra help.
“Hey, I’m here, you can wake up now,” Naruto didn’t move an inch so he started shaking him. Not that it worked, the boy could sleep like the dead if he wanted. “Heyyyyyyy!” He tried again louder and the furry thing in Naruto’s lap twitched and resettled. Getting annoyed, Sasuke had enough and performed a small water jutsu Tekka had taught him when they were setting up the village. He couldn’t make anything large but he was able to create a ball of water and dumped it straight on Naruto’s dumb head.
The blond and fuzzball spluttered and flailed while Sasuke's annoyance evaporated into glee. He snickered as Naruto’s eyes scanned the room and landed on his assailant. He looked mad before realizing who it was. “Sasuke, you're alright!” He went from sitting up to next to Sasuke so fast, he thought it could only be a teleportation jutsu. Both summons made sounds of protest at the movement but that didn’t deter the energetic boy.
“I told you he was fine,” a little orange fox stretched at Naruto’s feet. As if he wasn’t just yeeted in the air in Naruto’s mad dash to get to Sasuke.
Sasuke looked at the creature and back at Naruto. “You too, huh.” He gestured to Kaja. She was being awfully quiet but Sasuke didn’t push the issue. He was shy at times too.
“Yeah,” excited, Naruto introduced “This is Mikan, he’s going to be my partner.” Naruto scooped up the grumpy animal and presented it to Sasuke.
Since he had manners, he introduced himself. “Hi, I’m Sasuke Uchiha. It's a pleasure to meet you.” He even threw in a small bow. He gestured to Kaja “This is Kaja. She and her flock agreed to be my summons.” His own excitement was dulled by how tired he was. “We might want to head home. We were gone for a while,” he suggested reasonably and the two chatted about their experiences as they walked towards the exit.
“It was super cool.” Naruto was talking with his hands. His little fox walked alongside him but when he tried to pick him up again. Mikan dodged the grab and huffed. “I went to Kitsume Mura and met a whole bunch of foxes. We played for a while and they said they liked the way I smelled. Even though a village in the whirlpool county had their scroll, they didn’t have a current contractor so they said I could be theirs”
Naruto’s voice echoed off the walls as he chatted about what happened. Sasuke felt his shoulder relax more as he learned Naruto didn't face much danger. “I wonder why the seal activated?” Naruto pondered.
Sasuke explained what the summon had told him about the seal but neither could explain why Naruto glowed as well. The two were so engrossed in their conversation, they didn’t notice they had exited the cave. That and one other thing. “Why’s it so dark out? We were only gone for a few hours.” Naruto complained and squinted his eyes. Sasuke activated his Sharingan so he could see ahead.
Before he could shoot the other a sarcastic remark, he felt his family’s frantic chakra coming straight at them. He almost hid behind Naruto as he spotted his mother and brother sprinting towards them. Before they knew what was happening, Mikoto had wrapped her arms around both of them. She was screaming and crying at the same time. “Where have you two been? Your chakra disappeared and we thought someone had snuck in the village!”
She was patting them down and Sasuke absently noted Shisui appeared in the clearing as well. They looked at the ground in shame. Mikoto, now that she was assured they were in fact not injured, started lecturing them hard. Sasuke knew better than to argue so he looked at an interesting stone on the ground and waited out the storm.
Once it was finally over, Sasuke tried to explain. “We were technically still in the village. We were just….” He looked at Naruto for help. He didn’t want to make anyone angrier and the blonde was good at this stuff. Naruto took the hint and started rambling about his adventure.
Sasuke thought he was doing a great job but the looks of horror on Itachi and Shisui’s faces made his stomach twist wrong. At some point, the summons made a hasty retreat, now that the kids were back home. When Naruto finished his tale, Sasuke added some details about what happened to him. Which didn’t take nearly as long to explain.
The wrong feeling evaporated when his mother only looked exhausted and put her head in her hand. “What am I going to do with the two of you?” She then looked up, so Sasuke supposed he shouldn’t answer that. She laughed a bit before turning to Itachi, “Go tell the others we found the boys in the caves. Just say they got lost or something. We’ll sort everything out later.”
Just when he was finally relaxing, Mikoto turned back in their direction and he froze. He didn’t recognize that tone but he could tell he didn’t like it. “I do believe I promised you a conversation today. It may help you understand what happened.” She grabbed their hands and brought them home. Dinner was awkward with her staring so intently at them but she is a ninja.
She waited patiently and silently as they ate. They were finishing cleanup when Sasuke noticed Itachi and Shishui were back and standing near the back wall of the kitchen. “Sit.” Mikoto commanded. She didn’t sound mad, so Sasuke only hesitated a moment before he sat next to Naruto.
“You mentioned that Naruto’s stomach lit up when you were teleported right,” she motioned towards him so Sasuke confirmed that was true. “This is something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a while but the timing never seemed right.” Sasuke had never seen his mother hesitate like this and it was scaring him a bit. “Remember when I told you about your parents and I said there were two secrets that were kept from you.” She spoke directly to Naruto.
“Yeah, I remember.” Naruto was still examining his stomach where Sasuke said he saw the light.
“The second thing is about this.” Mikoto reached over and molded Chakra over Naruto’s stomach. It was a common practice among families so the tickling sensation wasn’t too odd. The glowing seal that appeared out of thin air was an unwelcome surprise. “It's a seal that your parents put on you when you were born.” she explained. Naruto was tracing his seal and looking curiously towards Mikoto.
“Naruto, Sasuke. What did they teach you about the Kyuubi in school?” A bit off topic but Naruto answered. Sasuke would have but it felt important that Naruto lead the conversation. It was his secret, after all.
“They taught us that a giant fox demon went crazy a while ago and killed a bunch of people. The fourth Hokage gave his life defending the village in that fight.” Naruto’s face was scrunched up, like he was trying to remember the lesson.
“That’s only partially right.” Mikoto went into teacher mode. It was easier on her to be clinical as she explained something that would destroy this kid's self identity. “The Kyuubi wasn’t a demon, it was a spirit that was part of the land long before people moved to Konoha. For a long time, people worshiped it like a god.”
“They eventually grew fearful of it and sealed it inside a person. That person was known as a Junchirki and they would house the spirit to stop it from harming humans. When you were born, someone damaged the seal on your mother and the Kyuubi rampaged.”
Sasuke’s mouth popped open. Naruto seemed to be in shock so he clarified for both of them. “So Naruto’s mother was a Junchiriki?”
“Yes,” Mikoto was looking straight at Naruto. “That night, the village blamed the Uchiha for the attack and we lost both the fourth Hokage and Kushina.”
“Why did we get blamed?” Sasuke was offended at the very idea.
“Well, with our advanced Sharingan, it would be possible to control the nine tailed spirit and they needed someone to blame. Minato, the fourth Hokage, resealed the spirit into his son.”
Naruto startled like Mikoto slapped him. His hand jerked away from the seal in disgust and he demanded. “What?! WHY?” He looked like he was about to cry.
“Oh sweetie, I could never guess what he was thinking that night. And when the third Hokage took over, he made a law that kept anyone from revealing your parentage and seal. Shortly after that, he moved the Uchiha to that corner of the village.” Her face looked distant and scary before she quickly changed it back to peaceful. Even Sasuke could tell how much effort it took. “His orders forbade us from even talking to you.” She reached out and cradled the silent blonde. “I’m so sorry.” And Sasuke could only watch helplessly as his mother started to tear up a bit.
“I don’t understand, why would he turn me into a monster?” Naruto started. Before anyone could correct him, he continued, standing up in his distress. He got louder as long forgotten questions about the years of loneliness and senseless abuse became an uncomfortable and distorted picture. “Is this why they hate me so much? Does everyone know? They're scared I’m going to hurt them or go INSANE?” He pulled himself from Mikoto’s grasp and was heaving. His tears were flowing freely now. “Is that why you brought me here?” He looked fearful now. “To CONTROL a MONSTER!” He cried out.
Sasuke tried to reach him but Shisui beat him to it. The older boy got so close to Naruto, the younger had to back up a step to keep their noses from colliding. “NOOOO! Don’t ever think that.” Naruto was stunned speechless and Shisui took his chance. “After everything that’s happened, do you really trust what the village has to say? Wouldn’t that mean you believe they were right in calling all of us traitors? And Sasuke didn’t even know about it or could he do anything, does that mean he deserves to be treated as a traitor just for being an Uchiha?.” Sasuke was startled at his inclusion but took his chance to hold Naruto’s hand in comfort. Naruto firmly shook his head. “Then you don’t either.”
Naruto looked at their interlocking fingers in shock and Shisui took the opening to hug the two of them close. “You are not a monster. You are the boy that saved my life. Or do you think so lowly of me that you would believe I would live with a monster? It only shows how much the village wronged you. This says nothing about you and everything about them.”
Sasuke wasn’t sure how long they stood frozen in time. It was long enough that Naruto had stopped crying and was holding Shisui back. Sasuke tried to pull away from the hug and felt Naruto tug on his hand from beside him. The blonde chuckled at the look on Sasuke’s face. He was doing this just to mess with him. He shot him an impressive stink eye and that finally broke through to his friend.
Like the sun coming out from behind the clouds, the Junchiriki started laughing. Sasuke didn’t see what was so funny but it didn’t take long before he was chuckling along. “You really don’t think I’m a monster?” He sounded small and that was wrong.
“How could I ever think that? You're just Naruto.” Sasuke tried to answer and hoped his intentions came through better than his words.
“However,” Mikoto manifested right behind them and put a threatening hand on each shoulder. “That doesn't mean the two of you aren’t in big trouble. You scared us half to death!” Sasuke almost wanted to go back to the monster conversation.