Who are you, Kitsune?
As soon as Naruto arrived back with the squad, he gave himself a moment to listen in before announcing his presence.
Kasumi, that was the name of the Kunoichi with the dual blades apparently, was set to take the rear. She had a solid defensive and was well versed in genjutsu and kenjutsu.
Rasa, the tired and stern looking man, took the left, while Hikaku, the youngest out of the four with eighteen years old, as old as Naruto currently was, took the right.
Izuna, as the blonde half expected, took the front. He was the strongest and the one with the best eyesight out of the three of them, and therefore able to warn them of any oncoming danger that might appear in front of them. Not that he would need to, since Naruto would be able to tell, being a super sensor and all that.
Around them were a few samurai that belonged to the daimyo´s general guard, who would stand a little further off and guard the carriage as well, but they didn´t intervene with the Uchiha group´s formation.
It was then that Naruto finally took a step out of the shadows, unintentionally appearing behind Hikaku, and raised a hand to greet them.
“Yo, I´m back. I see you already discussed what you´re going to do.”
His voice promptly startled the Uchiha in front of him who whirled around with a shocked look on his face. Naruto could swear he saw a flash of red, but the sharingan stayed deactivated, only surprise was visible in those dark eyes.
Naruto sheepishly raised a hand in apology. He was too used to suppressing his chakra in order to hide from Kaguya, so the only times he did let his chakra leak, was when he was making a conscious effort to, like the time he´d talked with Shirogane or when he´d introduced himself to the Uchiha, as soon as he sensed them getting uneasy around him.
If Hikaku accepted the apology, he didn´t show it, but he started to settle a little and the tenseness in his frame disappeared.
Izuna stepped up now as well, followed by Rasa. Kasumi was at the side, listening, but had half of her focus on sharpening her weapons for the last time before the departed.
Already feeling the scrutinizing eyes of the clan heir on him, Naruto raised his hands in a placating way. “You can ask the question you want to determine what we do, but naturally, I can´t and won´t answer everything. Anonymity and all that, I hope you understand.”
Izuna just smirked, and this time he looked so much like Sasuke whenever the bastard was feeling cocky with him, that Naruto had to swallow the lump in his throat and make a conscious effort not to look away.
“So I´m assuming your identity is off limits then?” The answer was clear, but Izuna still asked and Naruto could clearly make out the curiosity and vague annoyance in the man´s chakra. Even the man behind him, Rasa, whose expression seemed uninterested, felt curious of Naruto.
The blonde wasn´t surprised. He had many people ask for his identity during missions. Most of his clients had asked him to take his mask off, or even just his name, but Naruto´s resolve remained. It was too early for “Naruto” to make an entrance. First off, he needed Kitsune to do the general work for him and befriend, or at least get slightly familiar with the clans, before Naruto took over in his plan to make peace. People didn’t trust other clans, and regardless of Naruto´s intentions or relations, the Uzumaki name would make things a little harder in some aspects.
“Exactly!” He said, voice chipper. Izuna just sighed, not having expected anything else apparently.
“A shame. I was curious to know who would be under the mask.”
At that, Naruto let out a laugh. For some reason, he found it extremely easy to fall into this casual type of banter with Izuna. It was like he was talking to a sibling of Sasuke, someone who was a little more levelheaded than his best friend, his partner was. He looked exactly like him, but acted and felt differently.
That was fine.
Naruto wouldn´t be able to stand it, would they be so incredibly similar, but this?
This was like a pleasant reminder. Like Sasuke would appear in Izuna´s place whenever Naruto felt nostalgic, whenever his memories threatened to drown them, but he was still enough of his own person for the memory not to be penetrating and hurtful.
It was nice. Especially because Izuna seemed to at least agree to acting polite for as long as his team and Naruto were stuck together.
“Believe me, most people are. But I´m afraid to say that it´s nothing special under that. Just a guy in a mask who wants to do some good.”
Well, rather someone who wants to save the world from ending, he thinks, but doesn´t say. Naruto felt no need to leave a trail of clues right now. The time were he asked for their alliance would come eventually. After all, they still had a long mission before them where they had enough time to talk about such things.
He didn´t miss how the wording made Izuna squint his eyes at him slightly, trying to get a read on what he was saying, or how Rasa and Hikaku both raised a questioning eyebrow at that, or even how Kasumi stilled ever so slightly, listening in, before putting her weapon away and joining her comrades at their talk, now invested as well. He didn´t miss it, but he ignored it in favor of speaking up again.
“So, what exactly do you need to know?”
There was a small pause where Izuna seemed to contemplate whether or not it was worth dwelling on Naruto´s wording even more or not, but he decided against it. Instead the smirk on his face vanished and was replaced by what Naruto called his “business face”. Nothing serious or threatening, but it was tense and serious enough to not be labeled as relaxed or easy going.
“What do you specialize in?” He asked, and Naruto once again didn´t miss the way Izuna´s eyes wandered over him, seemingly confused at the lack of weapons and armor.
Naruto simply shrugs, not all too bothered. He doesn’t mind the stares, he´d seen and felt worse as a child.
“While I can do both defense and offense, I specialize in offense. Ninjutsu, taijutsu and fuuinjutsu specifically. I´m… pretty average when it comes to the sword,” he admitted sheepishly. Kenjutsu wasn´t his strength since he´d never learned it, but during this time, everyone fought with at least some sort of weapon aside from kunai and shuriken. Naruto on the other hand only had those, and a single tanto stored somewhere in his storage seal, that he could use to induce his wind affinity in it. He rarely ever uses it, really, since his control over the wind nature is good enough for him to simply make a blade out of the wind itself, but it wasn´t like it took any space away.
He doesn´t mention that he can easily dispel any and every genjutsu, if any work on him at all. It would take something mangekyou level to even begin to put him under one, because his chakra was simply too dense and too massive to be messed with by simple genjutsu. And even then, it would take Naruto only seconds to realize and dispel it. He´d made sure of that, after the whole incident that turned the moon into one big rinnesharingan.
He loathed genjutsu and would rather not have a repeat of that, thank you very much.
Hikaku´s eyebrow quirked up and he tilted his head to the side, eyes narrowing a little, but in a more curious than malicious way. “Fuuinjutsu? You´re good with seals?”
Naruto nodded, contemplating to show off some of the seals on his arm, but decides against it. He simply gestured his hand a little. “Yes, I´m pretty well versed with seals. Barriers, traps, storage seals, protection seals, suppression seals and whatnot. The range is wide.”
Hikaku nodded, seemingly pleased with the answer. It was Kasumi that spoke up next, eyebrow raised question and maybe even a little arrogance. “What about genjutsu?”
Ah, that was the one he wanted to avoid, so Naruto simply shook his head, grimacing slightly under his mask. “Not my strong suit.”
She frowned, but didn´t add anything to it.
After a few seconds of silence where Naruto let his eyes wander over the team, they stopped on Izuna expectantly, waiting for him to choose what to do next. Naruto didn´t mind playing along. As a child, and even now as a young adult, he doesn´t necessarily like following orders. He´s used to storming in and not waiting for a strategic plan, since he mostly trusted his own instincts more than plans – unless it was a plan from Kakashi, Sakura or Shikamaru. Three of the smartest people he´d ever known. If they came up with something, Naruto would always do his best to follow it, which didn´t mean he actually succeeded most of the time, but that´s not what mattered.
Sasuke and Naruto had been similar in that aspect, really. Both of them too hotheaded to stay still for too long, and too ready to start a fight.
However, Naruto, over time, had mellowed out in that aspect. Especially once everyone had been killed and it was only him and the reanimated Senju brothers left.
Right now, if it meant less fighting and more working together, he would adapt and blend in.
That isn´t to say that if his instincts told him to intervene, he would definitely move and do his best to protect the people around him, even if that meant breaking the formation and straying from the plan.
“Anything else?” Izuna´s voice interrupted his thoughts and he looked back up at the man, hesitating only for a second before adding another piece of information with a sheepish rub at the back of his neck.
“Well, I´m also a sensor. I have a pretty wide range, so I will be able to make out any threat before they can see us.”
The word sensor makes Izuna narrow his eyes and he asked another question, this time a little sharper than before. “How wide is your range?”
Naruto considers lying about it, but it wasn´t like he had done that with the Hatake either. Them being Uchiha doesn´t change anything. Rather, because they are allies right now, being open and honest was the best course of action.
Naruto liked to brag about his abilities when he had been younger, but now he was a little more humble, knowing there were so many incredibly skilled shinobi out there that, even if they never reached his or Sasuke´s level of skill, were still incredibly strong in their own way.
So he didn´t brag when he said, “Around the land of fire? It goes further than that, reaching to the edges of the land of stone and the land of sand, but that´s where I usually start blending things out. Sensory overload isn´t a nice thing. It always gives me headaches.”
Utter silence.
Naruto could have sworn he heard Kasumi choke slightly and Izuna mutter something about “another freakish sensor”, so he laughed a little.
“I know my range is hard to prove, but I can guarantee that I will be able to tell when we will attacked. That at least is something of use.”
Hikaku lets out a dry laugh as well this time, catching Naruto by surprise. “Something of use is an understatement, really,” he says dryly, making Naruto look away sheepishly, but then he continues, this time much more open and curious than anything else. ”Is it natural? Your sensing ability, I mean?”
Well, Naruto is sure it is, sort of, with the Uzumaki genes of his mother and his father´s sensory talent as well, but he also had the unfair advantage of Kurama, who gave him emotional sensing and a widened range, as well as senjutsu, which also widened his range considerably, even when not fully activated, so it might just be a mix of natural talent, learned skill and a little bit of cheating.
Instead of admitting that though, Naruto simply hums. “I assume it´s similar to activating the sharingan? Focus widens my range considerably, but otherwise it´s muted. Everything becomes a little blurry and flat around the edges when I don´t focus. It´s natural, but I can train it, I suppose.”
Hikaku nodded, taking Naruto´s comparison in stride, and hummed thoughtfully. “Except deactivating it makes a shinobi´s sight go back to baseline for a normal person. What you´re implying is a constant sort of awareness instead. There´s only one other shinobi that I know of with a range that comes even close to that.”
Naruto knows who he´s talking about. “Senju Tobirama, right?” Tobirama´s range wasn´t nearly as big as his, but he too could, to an extent, sense emotions. During his time where he was reanimated in the fourth war, his range covered about two thirds of the land of lighting, but right now Naruto assumed it was a little less, since he had yet to reach his peak.
The spark of dark and agitated, borderline hateful chakra coming from Izuna ripped Naruto right out of his musing, and really, he should have expected that reaction from the man that absolutely loathed Tobirama. Trying to deescalate the situation, he flailed a little and turned back to Izuna.
“Ah – Is that all the information you need?”
Luckily, Izuna had a good control on his temper, unlike his brother, so he simply sighed and nodded.
“Yes, that will be all. You will be taking the front together with me, seeing as your offense and sensing is your strong suit. The rest stays as they are.”
Naruto nodded, having half expected that once. He was after all a front line fighter, it would only be smart to let him take the front. However, going by the way Izuna´s chakra carefully reached out to his comrades, Naruto had the creeping suspicion that he didn´t want to necessarily leave them alone with him. Out of the entire group, Izuna was the strongest, and going by the way his chakra felt grounded with protectiveness and reassurance, he felt that should Kitsune attack them instead, he would be the one to handle it best. Since Naruto also admitted that genjutsu wasn´t his strong suit.
Well it wasn´t like Naruto was planning on doing that anyways, so he let himself relax a little and spread his chakra around the area, hoping to ease the tension. It seemed to work ever so slightly, because he could feel the turmoil in them calm down a little.
His thought process was interrupted however when he could feel the narrowed eyes of Rasa on him, seemingly taking him apart, and Naruto cocked his head to the side in silent question, motioning for him to ask whatever was on him mind, since he could practically feel the slight confusion and suspicion in the man´s chakra.
Rasa took the invitation and shifted from one leg to another, narrowing his eyes a little. “You´re awfully open with your abilities, why is that?”
Naruto noticed the way Kasumi shot him a surprised look, and how Hikaku and Izuna both focused their attention on their teammate. Going by that, the blonde assumed that Rasa wasn´t one to ask question or interact with others often.
Naruto simply rubbed the back of his neck in a sheepish way, hoping that what he was going to say next wouldn´t make them even more suspicious of him or angry.
“Well, I do have some sort of insight about your abilities, so I thought it was only fair? Also, we´re supposed to work together on this, and that´s not going to work if we´re not being honest with eachother. I don´t expect any of you to tell me what you can and can´t do, since I can see why that would be problematic, but I don´t mind doing it myself. If I can contribute anything that helps, then I will.”
He wasn’t surprised when they seemed taken aback by his openness. He doesn´t take it personally either. As edo Hashirama told him, “Our time was a time of suspicion. No one outside your own clan could be trusted with anything more than a careful alliance. It´s why it was so hard to build Konohagakure in the first place. Had Madara and I not known eachother since childhood, and had we not shared the same dream of peace, I don´t believe it would have been as easy as it was back then. There would have been a lot more bloodshed, and the possibility of no other clan joining in in face of a tentative alliance was big.
It will likely take time for anyone to trust you, no matter how open you lay your cards. But do not give up, Naruto. Madara and I have always believed that if we show one another our guts, our deepest wishes and truest intents, then peace will be possible once again. I believe that if anyone can stay consistent and true to themselves like that, it will be you, Naruto.”
It seemed that only Hikaku was stuck on his wording in the first sentence, because he now narrowed his eyes as well and zeroed in on Naruto. “An insight on our abilities?”
Naruto groaned inwardly, trying to wave him off with a vague gesture of his hand. “Yes, sort of. I´m a sensor after all.”
“What does that have to do with it?” Kasumi asked, almost sneered, impatiently.
Naruto was still trying to convey what he was trying to say with his hands, but since they didn´t seem to understand, he sighed. “Sensing isn´t just for locating someone, you know? I can tell apart preferences of fighting styles. For example, I can tell if someone was more used to using ninjutsu, or if they relied more on genjutsu. Genjutsu specialists normally have this… thick and dense chakra, a little less than ninjutsu specialists, and have a tight control over it. Also, people more accustomed to genjutsu have more yin than yang chakra, naturally. Chakra of ninjutsu specialists is often just wider spread and looser than the other one.
Additionally, chakra natures have a distinct flair to themselves. Not only those, but kekkei genkai as well. A fire primary natured person feels different than an earth primary natured one. And then there´s those who have trained secondary natures as well that also feel different. Bloodlines too. A sharingan feels very heavy and electric. A byakugan, for example, doesn´t, even if both of them are doujutsu.
So unless chakra is actively suppressed, my mind just automatically registers things like that and stores them away. I´m not doing it on purpose, but trying to ignore the chakra signatures and their qualities is more effort than not doing it in the end…”
Once he realized that he was rambling, Naruto quickly cut himself off, letting the sentence fade out unsurely. The four of them just stared with a mixture of emotions varying from utter confusion, surprise, suspicion and maybe even a little bit of respect and fear.
Dammit, he hadn´t meant to overshare at all, but Naruto always had a history of oversharing literally anything with anyone. He could feel a slight embarrassed flush creep onto his face, only glad that the mask was covering it up, and hoped that the tips of his ears didn´t seem as red as they felt.
Before any of them could respond in any sort of way to his ramble on sensing though, Naruto quickly changed course and nervously turned his head to the samurai and the other guards taking in their positions.
“Oh man, would you look at that! We´re departing soon! I´ll go ahead and position myself then, alright? Great!”
With a quick burst of his chakra, Naruto was swiftly gone with the wind, avoiding to do any sort of damage control or answer any further questions.
Izuna was the first to snap out of it however, and he quickly shock his head, an exasperated and borderline annoyed groan escaping him.
“Right. Just – Kitsune´s right. We´ll be departing soon. Get to your positions.”
With one last long suffering sigh and a little sympathetic wince from Hikaku, Izuna shunshinned away as well, following to where he suspected Kitsune went, seeing as they were paired for this mission.
.
Wonderful.
Izuna disliked sensors. Their freakish ability to make out where somewhere was despite theit chakra being suppressed was a pain in the ass, frankly speaking – Yes, Tobirama was indeed a prime example for that. The amount of ambushes that failed on the Senju group whenever Tobirama had been with them was simply one too many.
Now, knowing what exactly a sensor can read out of someone´s chakra, Izuna dislike didn´t exactly lessen.
Somehow though, he doubted that Tobirama was able to deduce all that Kitsune had, probably unintentionally judging by the reaction afterwards, rambled about. Maybe on a smaller scale, but a sinking feeling in the Uchiha´s gut told him that even amongst sensor, Kitsune was a little different from most.
And that wasn´t even what struck him as an oddity first and foremost.
It was the fact that Kitsune had shown himself to not be hostile at all, even going as far as to sharing part of his abilities to a certain extent with him. Izuna liked to give the man the benefit of doubt and even sort of hoped that he didn´t tell them everything, because that would just mean that Kitsune was likely very stupid and, in fact, moronic just as the organizer described him, and Izuna wasn´t really keen on entrusting this mission to a moron, no matter to what extent.
Another thing that had struck him as weird was simply how bright the man was. He had felt kind chakra before, surely, from his family members, from mothers and brothers, swirling a little around lovers too. But this?
Chakra like this coming from an unknown, towards them?
The thought itself still made the hairs in the back of his neck stick out in a mixture of uneasiness and utter confusion, but he ignored it, keeping his face straight as he walked towards the masked shinobi, who stood off at the side and was chatting with one of the servants, who seemed entranced by what he was saying. His stance was open and relaxed and he showed no qualms with speaking to the woman who was so obviously staring at him with wide eyes that Izuna suspected he was either used to it, or just entirely dense to it.
Somehow, the clan heir doubted the latter.
“Kitsune,” he called out, knowing that the man had already noted his arriving but chose to converse with the woman instead. Only at the call of his name did the man turn, curious blue eyes now pinning his once again with that uncanny security and certainty behind them, something he still had to get used to.
The woman turned her head as well, and her mouth opened, likely to retort it was rude to interrupt their talk judging by the angry look on her face, before she recognized just who exactly had joined them. Her face paled and her eyes immediately flickered down to the ground. She didn´t have as much tact to keep the reaction to a minimum, but that was to be expected with civilians.
Izuna didn´t let his gaze linger on her any longer and turned back to the blonde instead. Any and all insecurity they had felt during their talk was gone now. The man had stopped flailing and his shoulders were back straight. Judging by his stance, once again because the mask hindered all view at his face, Kitsune was wearing a large grin again.
“Uchiha-san, I´m assuming we´re ready to go? This lovely lady just told me that all preparations on their side should be complete, right, Ume-san?”
The woman in question flushed brightly at being addressed directly by the man and only managed to nod in silence. She sunk even further into her own frame as she did, not quite able to look up and meet the face of either of them. Izuna frowned but took note of it anyways, nodding in return.
“That´s good to know. We´re leaving then,” he quipped back, motioning towards the carriage. To Kitsune´s credit, he didn´t do much in face of the commanding tone, except nod and follow, but not before throwing one last wave at the brown haired woman.
To both of the men´s surprise, the woman quickly reached a hand out, reaching for Kitsune´s sleeve and tugging at it lightly. It stopped the blonde in his tracks and he turned to look at her, head tilting ever so slightly to the right in silent question.
“S-safe travels, Kitsune-san. Please be careful.” Her quiet voice was just loud enough for Kitsune to hear, but Izuna, being a shinobi, could easily read her lips as she spoke. A curious eyebrow rose at the display and he faintly wondered just what Kitsune and this woman had talked about, seeing as she was an absolutely flushing mess around the man.
Kitsune on the other hand looked and sounded utterly clueless and unbothered about it, as he simply gently pried off her hand of his sleeve.
“We´ll be careful, Ume-san,” he reassured, voice soft and calming as his chakra leaked once again. Izuna, this time not being the one caught in it, marveled at the affect his chakra had on the woman. She seemed to instantly calm and almost melt into his hand, before he withdrew it and his bright laugh startled her. “Also, I told you to drop the san. I´m not one for formalities. Kitsune is fine.” Once again sobering up, he squeezed her hand one last time before letting go and falling into step with Izuna.
“I´ll make sure to protect the Lord, so no need to worry Ume-san!” He grinned back at her before turning and fixing his eyes back on the carriage. Izuna´s gaze on her only remained a split second longer, but it was long enough to see her face twist into a frown and her mouthing the words, “that´s not what I was worried about.”
Huh. Curious.
.
“So, what was that about?” Despite himself, Izuna somehow found himself making conversation with Kitsune as they started their journey.
His second squad was guarding the carriage with the daimyo´s daughter inside that was further behind them, and Hikaku´s squad, accompanied by himself and Kitsune, were guarding the one of the daimyo. They had set out only ten minutes ago and it had been fifteen minutes since that weird conversation. Soon, Izuna´s own hesitance was overshadowed by his curiosity and boredom. After all, as he had told Madara, this was only an escort mission. Izuna had enough fate in his team and in his own ability to fulfill this mission with zero causalities, even should there be difficulties.
Kitsune was walking next to him, staring ahead and seemingly lost in his own mind. Every now and then he could feel the man´s chakra pulse, as if to remind himself to keep his conscious with them in this mission, but even so, his body moved with zero inefficiency or problems, even with his head in the clouds.
“Hm?” The blonde hummed back in question, tilting his head just enough for Izuna to see one cerulean eye shine through the slits of the fox mask that held quite the reputation.
Izuna absently wondered why the man chose a fox, but shook the thought off.
“That woman. Did you know her?” He asked, clarifying his question.
It looked like Kitsune took a second to process that before his visible eye light up in understanding.
“Ah, you mean Ume-san? No, I wasn´t familiar with her. I just stopped by to ask about the situation and when exactly we would leave. She was nice.” That´s all he commented, though the last part was more hummed into the open than directed as an answer to Izuna´s question.
Izuna snorted lightly at that, making Kitsune hum in confusion, eyebrow furrowing together. “Well, she certainly seemed smitten.”
“Smitten?” The blonde returned, confused, looking back to where they came from even though they had long left that place.
At that, the ravenette just smirked, vaguely amused. “You didn´t realize?”
“No, why would I?” Kitsune asked him, genuinely confused, and the muttered a lot quieter, “smitten? Why would she be in the first place?”
“Well, seems he didn´t know. He must be dense, seeing as I didn´t even need a sharingan to see that, really,” Izuna thought, sighing to himself. Before the blonde could work himself even deeper into his confusion, Izuna simply waved him off.
“Nevermind. It wasn´t important then.”
Kitsune kept moving, but his gaze stilled on Izuna, regarding him for a few seconds longer, before shrugging and placing both of his hands behind the back of his neck in a comfortable position. The atmosphere was a little less tense with Izuna being amused at the blonde´s antics and Kitsune being relaxed, making the situation easier on the both of them.
Still, Izuna was on guard, regardless of being amused.
The man was still unknown with skills unheard of and an insight to his own abilities as well as those of his teammates, if what he said was true. Naturally, Izuna wasn´t exactly new to the scene, so most people knew of him and what he could do, but his teammates were another thing entirely.
Then again, with how the man could suppress his chakra, there was no telling if he had maybe watched their squads beforehand, knowing they would be on the same mission, and was simply bluffing to keep them on alert.
On the other hand, that didn´t make sense either.
Izuna sighed and resisted the urged to drag a hand down his face to fight of the oncoming headache. Normally, he thought with mild annoyance, Izuna prided himself with the fact that he was very good at reading people. Their intentions, their moods and whatnot. It´s why Madara mostly let him deal with problems that concerned directly talking to the clan or to other people.
Mostly to other people, really.
Unlike Izuna, Madara was not only intimidating most of the time simply because of his face – which, really, the first time their littlest cousin, Hikaku´s younger sister, Hikari, had looked Madara in the face and started full on sobbing because he looked so scary, Izuna had laughed his ass off for days. Being thrown into the koi pond had been worth it and he hadn´t ever let Madara live that one down – but he also became non-verbal most of the time when it came to non-Uchiha, his answers mostly consisting of “hn” and other short responses.
It´s not that he means any disrespect. Madara just doesn´t know how to communicate with people without being rude or potentially snapping, so he just keeps the communicating to a minimum, really. It was the easiest solution.
Luckily for the brothers though, Izuna inherited their mother´s social skill, meaning that whenever there were any social clan head duties, Izuna would take over. Madara had been trained harsher by their father in politics and strategy, and Izuna learned from Madara, so while he was decent, he wasn´t as good as his older brother in that aspect.
Still, this entire situation was sort of a blow to his pride.
Izuna knew how to read people based off of the smallest hints to find. Hell, he could naturally even read his brother, for all that people claimed he was rather stone faced and stoic at times, which he really wasn´t.
Still, this unknown shinobi with a mask on his face was a puzzle to him. Even with his emotions seemingly displayed openly in his chakra, which had already been startling enough as it was the first time he´d felt it, Izuna didn´t know what exactly it was about the blue-eyed shinobi that just rubbed him the wrong way.
He´d been nothing but easy, kind and agreeing so far. Still, Izuna was driven by a burning urge to know. No matter how dangerous snooping around seemed to be with this man, he just wanted to know what there was to know about him.
Not only such things like his name, his heritage, or where he came from, but something deep inside ached with the thirst of need to know what motivated this man, who he was as a shinobi, as a person, and what exactly he was hiding.
Sadly, it wasn´t like he could just turn and ask.
Well, he could, but really, despite being this open up to now Izuna rather strongly doubted that Kitsune would answer the questions he was burning to ask.
That did not stop him from asking anything at all though, because in the end curiosity, uneasiness and boredom overtrumped his uncertainty. He started off with easy questions at least.
“How old are you, Kitsune?” His voice cut into the semi-comfortable silence between them, but this time Kitsune did not turn. With his hands still clasped behind his head, his gaze kept at the front of the road. Slowly but surely, they were entering the forest area and were starting to make their way through the trees. The sun stood high, so the shadows the leaves provided would be a decent relief.
Kitsune hummed, showing that he heard but wasn´t inclined to answer immediately. “Why do you want to know?”
Really, that´s a stupid questions in Izuna´s opinion. He made sure to convey his thoughts with the deadpan look he sent the man, and eventhough he didn´t look to return the gaze, the slight twitch of his fingers told the Uchiha that the message was received.
He still turned to answer when Kitsune dragged the silence out, agreeing to play into the man´s conversation. “Well, Kitsune, no one really knows anything about you. It´s only understandable that I´m curious.”
There was a short inhale of air, like Kitsune wanted to open his mouth to say something, but decided against it last second. He then let out a groan and unwound his fingers from behind his head, dragging one down over his masked face.
“I was about to say curiosity killed the cat, but I heard somewhere that Uchiha – most of them anyway – have cat summons, and I feel like that might have come over as a threat.”
Silence.
Izuna couldn´t help it. He let out a short bark of laughter at the man´s reaction. What a weird thing to be worried about, even if it was understandable. Izuna wasn´t as stupid as to not recognize a metaphor for what it was, and Kitsune wasn´t leaking any malicious intent either that came hand in hand with threats, so he wouldn´t have taken it the wrong way. Still, it seemed the blonde was more careful stepping on landmines after the mention of that blasted Senju.
Once he´d calmed, he turned raised an eyebrow at him, even if the corners of his eyes were still crinkled in silent laughter. “That still didn´t answer my question.”
Kitsune groaned in playful exasperation. “You´re not going to leave me alone until I answer at least some of those questions I can practically feel pestering me, are you?”
Izuna, playing innocent like whenever Madara caught him spying or sneaking around somewhere he wasn´t supposed to, just shrugged. “Let´s just say our destination is quite far ahead. We have time.”
That promptly caused the man to grow again, but this time a little more withheld and to himself. Feeling the tenseness in the air, Izuna laid back off for a second, allowing the man to gather his mind during that time. While he was curious indeed, he knew that if the man absolutely refused any sort of approach towards him, that there wasn´t much he could do unless he wanted it to escalate into a conflict.
There was a pause, and then –
“Eighteen. I turned eighteen not too long ago,” Kitsune answered, voice much quieter and hollower this time. Izuna hadn´t even noticed how expressive even the man´s voice was, aside from his overall presence and chakra, until it had lost just that.
But not minding the tone of voice any longer, his wide and surprised eyes snapped to his temporary companion.
“Eighteen years old? That´s younger than I expected you to be.”
He´s as young as Hikaku, who, for all of his talent and genius, was still considered young in the clan´s eyes, especially in their ranks. While they didn´t hesitate to send him out for his skill was vital in battle and he was very much able to take care of himself, they did fret and hover a lot whenever the young adult ended up injured. For Kitsune – a young adult, and going by the wording someone who´d just barely reached adulthood – to be building a reputation alone with seemingly no attachments or clan whatsoever is quite the feat.
It didn´t make Izuna wonder where his family was. If they had been shinobi as their son had been, he could make an educated guess and was sure he was right.
There was a hint of sadness in Kitsune´s tone, but it was mostly overshadowed by the wry amusements that dripped from his voice as well, “Surprised?”
Izuna nodded, but didn´t add much else. He had yet to see what Kitsune could do, but going by what he heard from not only Kitsune himself, but also the general rumor mill, his skills were highly praised and, for his age, extraordinary.
Kitsune let out a measured breath and shoved his hands into his pockets. Now that Izuna took a closer look, the rather unconventional clothing was also something very odd about the fox-themed shinobi. No armor, safe for the thin mesh right above a simple undershirt. Izuna wasn´t wearing the same armor that his brother always wore, a heavy armor best suited for heavy hitters and extremely skilled shinobi, but instead for the tradition Uchiha armor, with the robe around him and the armor hidden underneath the layers. He was more one for technique and precision, rather than Madara´s refined brute force.
“You´re odd.” Izuna puts bluntly, somehow knowing the man won´t take offense, before adding, “and young. Too young to be making different clans aware of you without any backup, no?”
It was a challenge hidden as a question, and Izuna tried to see how far he could push before he was cut off. Kitsune still looked relatively relaxed at the onslaught of questions, but was slow with answering, hesitant in order to only give away what would let him stay protected.
Once again dancing around the question, the blonde tilted his head back, challenging the Uchiha heir right back. “Is this slowly turning into an interrogation?”
Izuna accepted, never one to back down. “And if it was?” he raised an eyebrow, raising to the bait willingly.
Kitsune only chuffed out a laugh. “Then I´d tell you that you´re curious for nothing. There are things I won´t tell you, no matter how much you pry. But I won´t snap at you either, because I plan to make this mission as pleasant as possible for all people involved. The only thing you´re going to be doing is testing not only your, but also my patience.”
A warning, but not a direct one ordering him to back off. Izuna pushed further.
“And if that was my goal? Testing your limits? What if I get you to break and tell me what I want to know about you?”
Silence.
Then, to his complete surprise, Kitsune suddenly burst out laughing. Loud enough for Hikaku and Rasa, who had taken the sides of the formation, to turn their heads to them. Izuna was half-sure that Hikaku had been listening in anyways, but now their attention was obvious.
Kitsune allowed himself to laugh a few more seconds, before once again stunning the Uchiha next to him.
His hand rose to the brim of his mask, gripping the chin and pushing it aside ever so slowly, enough to only barely see the edges of his face. Tan skin was revealed, along with the edges of a foxy grin. His teeth were flashing with fangs, like an actual fox, sticking out slightly at his side. Izuna could even make out to marks on his cheeks, although a third one hinted to disappear under the mask, that resembled actual whiskers.
The name Kitsune suddenly made a lot more sense, Izuna thought numbly while his heart rate subtly sped up at the display in nervousness.
“Well,” Kitsune spoke, grin never leaving his face and teeth flashing white. In that moment, Izuna felt his instincts flair, and despite the lack of malice radiating from Kitsune, only amusement and humor, Izuna felt like a prey eyed by a predator.
“Then I´d congratulate you for being the first to ever achieve breaking me, when even better men have tried, Uchiha Izuna.”