World I ~ Brothers, part 2

.

Discounting the problems that he still had with walking properly, Naruto was having a wonderful time. It only took a single step outside of his rundown apartment for him to break out into the biggest smile he had expressed for years. Oh it wasn't perfect – the glares were back, along with the mutterings and hidden curses. Still, they only made his smile brighter.

That they were able to curse and glare at him meant that they were all alive – miraculously alive. That alone made his decision worth it, no matter the pains he experienced along the way.

He was so happy in fact that he skipped his way right on past the ninja academy and straight to the hokage tower, banking on it taking Iruka or one of the other teachers hours to realize that he wasn't skipping for a prank before they figured out where to search for him. Waltzing his way past the ANBU guards that have long since gotten used to the blond menace coming and going through some of the most heavily guarded chambers in the village as if he owned the place, Naruto slammed open the door to the Hokage's office.

"Morning Jiji!" he yelled out, and watched as the still-alive-and-kicking sandaime jerked in surprise, the orange book disappearing in a blur to his now untrained eyes.

"Ah – good morning Naruto, shouldn't you be in class right now?"

"Oh come on jiji, its boring! Iruka-sensei just keeps going on and on about history and theory and what not, and with him throwing chalk at me all the time I cant even plan out my next prank in peace."

Sarutobi just chucked at that, and Naruto felt another part of his broken heart slowly mend back together, his already bright smile just starting to appear within his eyes.

"Do you really think Iruka would teach you things that you would not need? Everything that you learn in the academy is…" he trailed off, having noticed that Naruto had stopped listening at around the third word or so.

"Alright – how about you go back to class before Iruka comes looking for you, and I can take you out to ramen in the afternoon?"

Naruto jumped up, instantly awake. "You got yourself a deal jiji!"

A single blink, and Naruto was gone – if he didn't know better Sarutobi would have thought the young trouble maker had learned shunshin from one of the countless games of chase-the-damn-brat that the ANBU tended to play.

Chuckling lightly at the child of his successor and wondering if hiraishin was actually a bloodline instead of a seal based technique that everyone thought it was, Sarutobi glanced around the office to make sure that he was alone before cautiously taking out his reading material. Contrary to common belief, there wasn't much a hokage had to do during peace time. Quite opposite actually. Ever since the fourth restructured the way all the paperwork was handled, the only thing left for the hokage to do was read over the summarized reports and trust his men to do their jobs.

For just that alone he had done everything he could to make Naruto's life better than that of his fellow jinchuriki – well, everything except kill anyone who looked at him crosswise, and had he done that there wouldn't be much left of the village.

Pausing for a moment in his thoughts, Sarutobi put his book away again and called for the head of the ANBU to meet with him – there was something off about Naruto's smile today, it just didn't seem to quite reach his eyes.

Perhaps it was time to get another pair of his best ANBU to discretely follow the kid and make sure no one had let their hate get the better of them.

.

. . .

.

"Was that really necessary kit?"

Naruto sighed, the bright smile he had worn moments ago dripping off his face to be replaced by just a slight curving at the ends of his mouth. He hadn't had much practice in wearing masks these past few – for him at least – years. Still, some things you just don't forget.

"I am not going to dignify that with a response. You know just as well as I do that Jiji is hokage first and foremost, with doting grandfather a distant second. If I act in a way that would not get on your nerves, we would be seeing the personal hospitality of the TI department first hand."

There was silence in his head, and then Kurama grumbled out; "Doesn't mean I have to like it…"

"Just because I do it doesn't mean I like it any more than you. Now close your eyes or something if you don't want to see my mask again – we are almost at the academy."

.

. . .

.

Iruka was pleasantly surprised to see the resident troublemaker appear in class after he called an end to lunch. He had already been checking his pockets for extra strength pills that he might need to catch up to Naruto after whatever stunt the kid decided to pull this time when he noticed the bright orange jacket that only one person in Konoha wore.

Deciding to not bring attention to Naruto's late arrival, Iruka opened up the class notes and continued the lecture about the Nidaime's accomplishments during the first great ninja war. Had his gaze stayed on the blond prankster for but a moment longer, he would have noticed tears dripping from his eyes before being quickly wiped away.

.

. . .

.

"Sasuke-kun! Where are you!"

Sasuke cursed as he stuck to the roof of the building just outside the academy and watched the veritable stampede of fangirls stream out after him – or more correctly put, his bunshin. The chance to redo everything was amazing – Kakashi was alive (along with just about everyone else), and Naruto was still… sane.

This was worth it; he repeated to himself. He had to endure. A moment later he felt his chakra construct disperse as the fangirls tried to glomp it.

"Sasuke, where did you go!"

"There he is! Hieee! Just look at what he is doing! So cool!" He didn't even need to look – he could tell it was Sakura just from her voice, even though he hadn't heard it outside his nightmares for over three years now.

Turning around and rushing away, Sasuke felt… glad – not happy, Uchiha simply did not do 'happy' – yes, glad that he had decided to risk it all on coming back.

There was a feeling between his shoulder blades that warned him that someone was watching him, but he disregarded it. What with the wolves after him, he doubted that it could be anything important. Not at this point in time at least. For now all he had to do was dodge his fangirls while not showing off any abilities above genin and acting out the role of the gloomy child he remembered from his first life. He didn't have to like it, but having been an ANBU commander at one point before Konoha went up in flames he knew better than most just what would happen to anyone who had a drastic personality transplant in a village full of shinobi.

His fame as the 'last Uchiha' wouldn't help him one bit – if anything it would guarantee a cell a few floors deeper.

Still, if he gradually dropped the act after befriending Naruto – or as was likely to happen have the kid interpret a nice gesture as a sign of eternal friendship – no one would bat an eyelash. There was something about the kid that made even the most unrepentant killers turn a new leaf or more often than not chuck out the old book and start a new one entirely.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Right… Now if only Sakura and Ino and all the rest of them got out of the fangirl stage and actually started training to become the kunoichi he knew they could be, his life would be perfect.

.

. . .

.

Naruto leaned back against the chimney he had been hiding behind. For a moment there he thought the Uchiha had noticed him, but that was just silly – no matter how powerful of a shinobi the bastard became in the future, at this moment in time he was nothing but a kid.

"Are you really going to do it?" Kurama's voice echoed in his head, and Naruto snarled back.

"Of course I am! Considering what he had done to you I am surprised you aren't howling out for me to end him!"

"… you do realize that he hasn't done anything yet, right? Besides – "

"So you are saying that if we went back before Konoha was formed and found a teenage Madara walking around you would just let him go?"

"Don't you-" Kurama's voice blazed with fury, but Naruto just cut him off before he could get into one of the rants against that bastard.

"Exactly! So don't try and be all understanding and forgiving now!"

True to his words, Naruto waited until he got his first look at the Uchiha before making a decision. He had expected it to be difficult – feelings of trust and betrayal, of brotherhood and loss warring against each other within his heart.

It wasn't.

The same old brooding look and uncaring attitude, the same disregard to anything non-Uchiha… He didn't even have to squint to see the old Sasuke in this younger one. Really – all that was needed was for him to grow a couple of inches (well, maybe a foot or so, but who is counting), strap a sword to his belt, and perhaps commit to a few minor clothing changes. Perhaps a couple innocent kills under his belt would also be helpful, but he wasn't going to let the bastard get those – not this time at least.

Still, all of that could have been disregarded if it wasn't for the eyes. Naruto knew eyes like that – he himself had them, no matter how hard he hid them.

The eyes of a killer.

"Hey Kyu, I know you said that no one but you can use the technique, but are you quite sure that no one else could have followed us?" He thought to his partner.

"Of course I am sure! Did you completely forget what I told you? Even among the biju I was the only one that had the strength to do this technique. You would need –"

"All right, all right. No need to get all technical and righteous on me. Its just that-"

"It's his eyes isn't it?"

Naruto chuckled, though there was little humour in it. The two of them knew each other more intimately than most lovers – a side effect of having their souls joined that he still could not classify as a blessing or a curse. Of course the fox would know just what it was that was troubling him.

Looking around to make sure that there were no shinobi hidden around who could spot him, Naruto sighed and opened his mouth to reply. It always felt better to voice his thoughts out loud instead of thinking them – it was difficult to differentiate whose exact thought it was if they were both conversing with their minds.

"Of course it's his eyes – I mean didn't you see them?"

He felt a thought coming from his partner and cut it off before it could even be heard (listened? Sometimes he found the human language so constricting). "That was rhetorical. Anyway – either he somehow managed to tag along with us, or… he had always been a killer, even before this life of ours turned us into one; the cursed seal just helped push it to the surface."

"… Kit, you remember that Sasuke had been dead for over a year in the original timeline, don't you?"

Naruto just sighed, and the last remnants of glimmer in his eyes that had taken root there when he had seen Konoha standing safe and strong again disappeared.

"I know kyu… I know"

.

.

A/N

Well, thats almost it for this world, only one more chapter to go. I might write longer worlds in, but for now there are several ideas I want to get off my mind so the worlds will be quite short. I am actually of two minds of whether or not to have Naruto (or Kurama) remember each world they pass through and thus connect the stories into one, or leave it as my original idea of each one being completely stand alone.

Leave a comment about what you think.

-Sai