The Ways We Lie
Summary: The idea was simple enough. A political marriage between an Uchiha and a Namikaze would easily begin repairing the relationship between those two nations. The problem lay between Sasuke and Naruto. And the lies between them.
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Prologue: Built on Lies
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The sun cast a yellow shadow over the awaking village. Trickles of people were up and about even before the sun rose in greeting. Light chatter and stifled yawns could be heard on the stone paved roads. It was a simple village with nothing more than a school house, a meeting hall, a public mill, and dainty wooden houses. Surrounding the village, green fields shined as the light illuminated the morning dew and stretched to the east as far as the eye could see. Like clumps of white cotton, herds of sheep grazed on the tender shoots.
A lush forest lay to the west where the sun disappeared every evening catching the last rays of yellow and orange. Lying to the north, a crystal lake greeted the morning sunshine with shimmers of reflected light. Rocky mountains loomed in the south where the goats and snow leopards made their homes. To the east, the green fields extended into the rising sun.
Right in the middle of the forest, the lake, the mountains, the ever reaching fields and, of course, the village was a piece of elevated land. Upon the land, a castle stood. Its guard towers reached toward the sky and its large door immovable like the mountains behind it.
Any military personnel, from foot solider to high general, would agree that it was built in the worst strategic place in that area. Some speculated that at the base of the mountains would have been best. Others argued it should have been built back facing the lake. Most just said that it should have been in any place but upon that easily accessible hill.
Yet, no army could boast that it managed to charge up that easily accessible hill. They didn't stand a chance. Well, at least no human army did.
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"Kyuubi-sama."
He hated his title with a passion of a thousand suns. Yet it was a title his father had bestowed upon him. A title his father bestowed upon him with great pleasure and pride.
"Your Highness Kyuubi."
His father had a few screws loose. Then again, with the amount of times mother hit him, it was a wonder he still dared to peep. It was probably hereditary. The loose screws, not the perverseness.
"Your Royal Highness Kyuubi the Second!"
You see, his brother was pretty messed up too. Taking a liking to a tomboyish princess from the mountains. A human princess. He had a couple of loose screws for prostrating himself at her feet whenever they met.
Nothing fit of the crowned prince, but alas, their whole family had some loose screws.
"Naruto!"
His Royal Highness the Second Prince Kyuubi II of Konoha, Namizake Naruto, jerked from his stupor. His arm, originally supporting his chin, slipped from under him causing him to crash into the table. Face first.
"Arg…" the blond grumbled into the smooth mahogany. He completely missed his thick cushiony textbook and scraped the tip of his nose against the pages. Today's subject of terror and torture:
History of Demons and Humans
Naruto snorted as he looked at the yellowed pages. It was more like the "Few-Thousand-Years-Outdated History of Demons and Humans Slaughtering Each Other but at Different Paces."
"Namikaze Naruto," his frustrated tutor began. Naruto flinched. Whenever Iruka-sensei addressed him like that, it meant he was in for a long rant and possible grounding. "It's important that you understand the history between demons and human! While you're not the crowned prince, your father still expects you to become a diplomat or someone of the sort!"
His Majesty the King Hermit, Namikaze Jiraiya, was considered an oddity among the demons. The old demon believed in peace between demons and humans. He signed several alliances with neighboring human villages. Personally visiting them from time to time, leaving the duty of running their small kingdom to the hands of his wife, Tsunade.
But after several hundred years of threats, the old king settled down on his castle upon a hill. So that particular task had been delegated to the crowned prince, the Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato. And that's how his brother met that insufferable tomboy, Uzumaki Kushina. The princess of the mountains.
"…have been in conflict with the Uchiha clan ever since! Naruto, were you even listening?"
Dressed in scholarly robes of white and red lining, Umino Iruka looked quite intimidating for a merman. His tail transformed flawlessly into legs with webbed toes and his gills disappearing into the collar of his black shirt. Iruka tied his hair back into a ponytail whenever he left the water and the magic ring on his pinky kept him looking more human than fish.
Iruka was young but contained a vast resource of information. From the talking fish of the far away ocean to the fire eaters of the Uchiha claimed lands to the sand monsters of the deserts, Iruka knew about them all. All the younger demons only a couple hundred years would crowd around the merman to listen to the stories of these exotic demons and savage humans.
Naruto still requested a story or two at times. Not that he'd ever admit it.
"But we've always been in conflict with the Uchihas," the blonde prince complained only to be broken off by a yawn. He adjusted his orange overcoat which had been slipping off his shoulders. The silky insides of his orange undershirt and blue pants reminded him of his equally bright sheets. "They are the only 'demon hunters' left amongst the humans."
"Yes, ever since the time of the founders of this kingdom, the Uchiha clan had always been neck and neck with us," Iruka nodded in agreement. He tapped the board and a swish of water wiped off the previous markings. Picking up a new piece of chalk, the tutor began lecturing again. "During the reign of the First King, Hashirama, the leader of the Uchiha clan made a pact with the younger brother Kyuubi the First, Tobirama."
Naruto felt his eye dropping as the sunlight filtered in through the velvet curtains from the window next to him. No wonder he was spacing out. His tutor had yelled at him for the whole night.
For a second time, the prince's face fell. This time it landed on the old textbook. His drool blotted out the small picture of Uchiha Madara.
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"Sasuke-kun."
He really liked his name. Because he was the second son, he didn't have a formal title or anything fancy like that. While he was still the second son of the head family, the burden was less compared to his brother.
"Sasuke."
His brother was always to be hailed as His Excellency or His Most Revered Excellency. Since they had no monarchs in their lands, their father and mother were just hailed by the unisex Your Worship.
"Uchiha Sasuke."
He really thought his brother was admirable. Taking off for the sea coast to make peace with those water monsters and even bringing one back. The treaty was pretty beneficial to their lands. Not that those talking fishes didn't benefit. War didn't start, did it?
"His Nobility Uchiha Sasuke!"
Uchiha Sasuke, the Second Son of the Main House of the Uchiha's, redirected his attention to his exasperated tutor. Quickly he stopped copying down the notes from the board and adjusted his scroll to the right line.
Hatake Kakashi stood behind a pile of scrolls with his visible eye hidden behind his hand. Dressed in a green yukata, a black face mask, and a black cloth eye patch across his left eye, his tutor was quite casually intimidating. If that made any sense. Kakashi's silver grey hair stuck up quite rebelliously in one direction and his lone brown eye peeked at Sasuke from behind the man's hand.
"Sasuke, what I'm going over today is very important," Kakashi said with a sigh. He tapped the board gently where a blocky title stood out:
The History of Humans and Demons
Sasuke almost snorted at the euphemized name. From what the scrolls said it was more like "The History of the Uchiha Clan's Campaign Against Demons and all Non Human Entities" or maybe even "The History of All Demons Conquered by the Uchiha Clan, Now Condensed Emitting All the Slaughtering Descriptions."
His father, Uchiha Fugaku, was a very traditional man. He believed in keeping humans and demons apart. There was no use to try understanding demons who wouldn't try to understand humans. The two species have been too different to begin with. As a young man, he fought in the Third Great War between man and monster.
But his mother, Uchiha Mikoto, believed that change was needed. She advocated peacemaking and diplomacy between humans and demons. In fact, it was her idea to send his brother, Itachi, off into various demon kingdoms as a diplomat. Her goal was to achieve universal peace.
"…with your brother, so it's important that you understand this stuff. Are you even paying attention?"
No he hadn't been, but now he was. Sasuke gave his tutor a peculiar look. All that these scrolls had been highlighting was the decline of demon clans because of the Uchihas. Nothing that would help him in any diplomatic arena.
Like he could hold a conversation with the Snake ruler, Orochimaru: "Oh yes, we have been killing your kind since the beginning of time. Your skins make the greatest bags."
"Now don't give me that," Kakashi sighed looking even more exasperated than before. Sasuke had to pity the man. Uchihas were horrible students. With their genetically passed on photographic memory and stubbornness, Uchihas possessed superior self learning skills that made teaching one an absolutely horrid experience. "Your clan has actually recorded many customs of the demons that they've extinguished."
"And it's important that you understand them Sasuke," another voice interrupted as the fusuma, paper sliding doors, opened. "Kakashi-san, Sasuke's not giving you too hard of a time is he? My younger brother is not a morning person."
Uchiha Itachi walked into the messy room where the class was taking place. His indigo yukata was the exact color and style as Sasuke's. With his hair still wet at the edges and cheeks flushed, the elder looked as if he just walked out of the bath not too long ago. His bare feet padded softly against the tatami flooring.
"How was the ocean?" Kakashi inquired politely as the elder made his way next to the younger. Itachi seated himself comfortably beside Sasuke with his legs tucked neatly under him. Sasuke wiggled a bit to make himself more presentable but settled back to crossing his legs in front of him.
"Unimaginable," the oldest Uchiha said almost happily. Sasuke had to sigh at this. His brother loved traveling. It was 'unimaginable' to think of his ever drifting older brother settling down and manning the house. "I never thought that something would rival the sky in vastness. Living on a landlocked piece of land for most my life, I couldn't even begin to imagine what lies beyond the sea."
"Brother, how were the demons?" Sasuke asked eagerly completely cutting Kakashi off before the tutor could speak. If anything, Itachi could tell stories. Before his diplomatic responsibilities came to be, Itachi had been Sasuke's tutor. Teaching him of the wind monsters of the hills, the puppet makers of the deserts, and the merpeople of the crystal lakes, Itachi was the one who spurred his interest in the other species. "How are they different from merpeople? Why don't they get along with merpeople? Didn't you once say that—"
As Sasuke continued to press his older brother with questions, Kakashi made his not-so stealthy exit. Leave the brat to the brat of an heir was his thought. With an uncharacteristic squeal, Hatake Kakashi skipped to the roof of the Uchiha compound to enjoy the newest addition to the Icha Icha Paradise series.
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Uchiha Fugaku loved his wife. Don't get him wrong. He would have never gone through with a marriage unless he loved his partner. He absolutely adored Mikoto. Her pacifistic ideals and far reaching goals were awe inspiring. Her actions to attain the results she wanted were admirable. But one of her beliefs bothered him to no end:
The end justifies the means.
Especially when one of the means was arranging a marriage between their son and a demon prince. The fact they were both technically male didn't bother him as much as the fact it was that demon's son.
There were several reasons why the Uchihas didn't get along with the Namikazes. One was obviously historical.
Their founder, Uchiha Madara, had enslaved the First King's younger brother for power going against all conditions of their original pact for power. As a result, the Uchihas got a demonic power, the Sharingan, and the Namikazes along with their demon allies started the First Great War.
There were many more reasons, each of them ranging from economic gain to cultural differences to personal pet peeves.
The main one, at least for his generation, was Namikaze Jiraiya. God, how Fugaku could not stand that perverted man.
The last Namikaze who stepped foot in the Uchiha lands had the galls to peep on the female Head of House. Namely, Fugaku's mother.
It's been thirty years since then, but still, he couldn't forgive that disgusting toad.
"I refuse! Itachi will not marry some perverted crowned prince."
"Dear, who said anything about Itachi? I was talking about Sasuke."
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Namikaze Naruto, the Second Prince Kyuubi the Second of Konoha, was bored out of his mind. The council began as usual. Various diplomats came with news from their own kingdoms and proposals of greater trade and what not. Since it was the Centennial Council, Naruto couldn't sneak out of it.
He sat next to his brother stiffly as the lace of his collar scratched against his neck. The Centennial Council was a pain. The royal family was forced to dress properly, lace, frill, sword, and all as they sat in sweltering heat listening to various reports about agriculture, internal improvements, and foreign investments. He scratched his whiskered cheeks and stifled a yawn.
After falling asleep in the morning during Iruka's class, his escort, a lazy deer messenger, Nara Shikamaru had marched the prince into his room for a quick shower and bound him into thick velvet and silk garments. His current attire consisted of an orange vest underneath his stifling red coat with turned back cuffs embroidered with gold. His white silk shirt peeked through his vest but his large coat smothered most of his body. White stockings were pulled over his black breeches and his square toed shoes of black shined underneath the sun and candle light. To make the experience even worse, a sparkling sapphire jewel lay heavily on his neck. The crowned jewel of his mother's lineage.
His lazy blue eyes surveyed the scene playing out before him. From his elevated seat at the front of the long hall, he could observe all two hundred fifty nine officers, ministers, judges, court officials and diplomats that packed themselves at the sides of the red carpet. The rule was that each demon would start from the end of the red carpet, walk up to the stairs, get down on one knee and present their report.
This process would repeat until each two hundred fifty nine demons and non human entities were happy with the king and queen's response to their report. A pain in the ass if you asked Naruto. Yet his brother, Minato, leaned in to hear more of the report that the diplomat of the Desert Nations was giving.
Ah, his shining brother. The Konoha Yellow Flash. So studious and bright and strong. A genius that is only found once every few thousand years even among the Namikazes. Dressed in dashing white satin with red embroidery, Minato was a ball of light at the end of the red carpet.
The only thing the brothers shared was their human looks. Baby blue eyes and yellow blond hair. In their original forms, Naruto was a fox of all red-orange while Minato was a large sparrow with two yellow strips down his back. It was not uncommon for a union between different species to create vastly different offspring. In fact, it would have been strange if both of them were toads or slugs.
Back to the original topic, they hardly shared any similarities in personality. Maybe sheer determination and drive but other than that, they were polar opposites. While Naruto was loudmouthed and driven by emotion, Minato was quiet and analytical. His brother never made a move or said a word without proper reasons behind it. It had been several hundred years since Naruto heard his brother raise his voice…
"I refuse! I will not consent to an arranged marriage!" his brother voice echoed in the brightly light hall.
Naruto snapped out of his musing. Did he miss something important?
"Minato, my son—"
"I thought you gave permission for my engagement to Kushina?"
"Minato, sit down. Who said anything about you? We were talking about Naruto."
Apparently he missed something of astronomical importance.
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Uchiha Itachi didn't know how to break the news. While he was eloquent and persuasive during his diplomatic exploits, Itachi had no idea how to explain to Sasuke their mother's newest idea.
How do you explain to your younger brother that your mother has decided to abandon you in a demon castle? Not just any demon castle, but the one of your clan's greatest rivals. Not only that, but mother was hoping that said younger brother would get along with the prince of that castle because said younger brother was going to marry him to create a political alliance. Oh but wait, you're not supposed to tell your brother anything about the arranged marriage just about going there and abandoning him.
If he thought that talking to the puppet masters of the Deserts were frustrating and complicated, dammit, right now, he'd rather go back and have another chat with Sasori who was almost a puppet. He'd even go back to the canyons and challenge that psychotic religious vampire Hidan to another death match, the only known form of communications those vampires knew.
"Brother, are you even listening to me?" his younger brother pouted. At sixteen, the younger boy still reverted to his eight year old temperament whenever they were alone. Itachi smiled and took a deep breath.
How difficult could it be?
"Sasuke, do you remember what I've told you about the demons of Konoha?"
"The Namikazes?"
"Mother was speaking to me about a diplomatic expedition to their land…"
At the worst, Itachi was sure he could use his Sharingan to subdue the younger boy. Not that they'd need to go so far. Sure, Sasuke had their mother's explosive temper but he'd listen to reason right?
"…and she wanted you to come with me."
Ah, even the famous Demon Ambassador Uchiha Itachi cowed at times.
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"…and she wants one of them to live with us for an extended period of time."
Namikaze Jiraiya smiled slightly.
Ah, even the infamous Konoha Yellow Flash Namikaze Minato cowed at times.
Watching his sons from a crack in the ceiling, he almost burst out laughing when his oldest seemed to gather his courage to speak about the arranged marriage only to lose it right in the middle of his sentence. Both Jiraiya and Tsunade agreed to leave the explanation to Minato. No matter how the eldest son chose to explain it, they would play along.
"Wait, they why was the old hag talking about a marriage or something?" his youngest counted with weary eyes.
"You know, its old terminology for alliance. Basically, she wants you to get along with the Uchihas," Minato said knowledgably. They had changed out of their official clothes and were clad in simple shirt and loose pants. Naruto had stuck to his trademark orange and blue while Minato wore a green shirt with black pants. "They probably referred it as such because of the Centennial Council. You know how some of those old demons probably haven't seen the light of day since the last council."
"Haha, you got that right," Naruto laughed, completely believing the intelligence of his older brother. Minato seemed to breathe a breath of relief that only Jiraiya saw. "So the whole deal is for me to get along with whoever's coming to live here? That's what the whole commotion was about? Old terminology for sure. Damn, how long has Mom and Dad been alive? You're what? Two thousand five hundred and six?"
"Four. And you're only eight hundred and sixteen," Minato smile and ruffled his younger brother's hair. "Still a growing fox."
"Growing or not, I'm starving! The council lasted four hours longer than the last time," Naruto complained. "Let's go get some ramen!"
Jiraiya waited until the two boys left the room before retreating to his own chambers still chuckling. This little white lie might make things easier now. If anything, Naruto hated other people making decisions in his life. An angry Naruto meant a destroyed castle and wiped out village population. So right now, they were choosing to avoid the confrontation.
But later they might regret it. Minato might regret not telling Naruto the truth. Jiraiya might regret even agreeing to this arranged marriage. Tsunade might regret ever mentioning it. But that was later.
"He didn't, did he?" his beautiful wife asked as she entered their private chambers.
"Nope, in this aspect, that boy takes after me," Jiraiya laughed as he seated himself next to the writing table.
"Cowardliness?"
"Nope, loose screws."
Because only someone with loose screws would delay for the ultimate confrontation, which would definitely cause mass destruction.
---
The idea was simple enough. A political marriage between an Uchiha and a Namikaze would easily begin repairing the relationship between those two nations. Soon trade would flow as Konoha had some of the riches mines and cheapest agricultural products and the Uchiha lands had some of the most skilled weapon makers and technicians.
It would be a beautiful relationship of one providing raw material and the other providing services.
Both Uchiha Mikoto and Namikaze Tsunade came to the agreement long ago through private correspondence.
The problem was who.
The Uchiha heir, Uchiha Itachi, was a no go from the Uchiha's perspective. It was amazing that the boy was allowed to travel to these demon countries. Marrying a demon prince was something even the most liberal of Uchihas couldn't accept.
The Namikaze's Crowned Prince, Namikaze Minato, was a no go from the Namikaze's perspective. It was amazing that the demon population accepted the demon's human girlfriend, Uzumaki Kushina. An Uchiha would be pushing it too much. Not to mention, Tsunade was unwilling to break such a wonderful relationship.
That left Uchiha Sasuke, the second son, and Namikaze Naruto, the second prince. A stubborn brat who took after his father and a loudmouth idiot who took after his father. And neither said fathers got along very well.
Both female heads of house agreed:
They must request the marriage themselves for it to happen. If in one month nothing happens between the two boys, they were to return to their lives none the wiser about this arrangement.
But Tsunade had this habit of forgetting things after drinking. Luckily her eldest was sharp enough to cover this quickly with Naruto, but it led to another problem.
Rumors were allowed to formulate with the other demons at the Centennial Council. Other than military force, rumors were the second easiest way to ruin a kingdom. Especially in the wrong hands.
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"An arranged marriage between a Namikaze and an Uchiha? You haven't heard wrongly have you?" a hiss accompanied the inquiry.
The candlelight on the walls flickered sending shadows slithering across the stonewalls. A white mass rested contently on the cool floor, yellow eyes closed and long tongue flicking out occasionally.
"No, Tsunade-sama herself had said it."
There was a rumble of discontent from the white scaly mountain. The coils of the white snake shifted ever so slightly revealing that the white mass was indeed a living creature.
"What is that slug woman thinking? Did she forget all that hatred between us and the Uchihas? Did she forget about her own younger brother who died in the hands of those disgusting Uchihas?"
"It's been a thousand years since then, since the Second Great War."
"A thousand years has boggled her mind no doubt," a pregnant pause. "But this would be a great chance to get a specimen."
The mound began to shrink and shape into something more human like.
"I think it's time that I go catch up with my 'closest friends,' no? We who were titled the Three Sages."
From the center of the stone room where the large white snake once rested, a man pale as the moon itself slowly stood. Large cracks of its backbones echoed throughout the room as it began to straighten itself. One gleaming yellow eye could be seen from the slick curtain of black hair.
"Orochimaru-sama, you're still weak—"
"Send word to that pathetic toad. Let us leave for Konoha tonight."
The diplomat of the Snake Kingdom, Yakushi Kabuto, bowed once more in resignation.
"Yes, my lord."
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A/N: Well, here is my attempt at a full NaruSasu story instead of the little snippets I've been doing. This idea was originally not for a Naruto fanfic but because I saw such potential in a Narusasu story, I had to adjust it to the Naruto fandom.
Not much happened this chapter, but I kind of wanted to establish the relationships that the main characters had with their immediate surroundings. I'll get to secondary characters later but these are probably the characters you'll be reading about the most. (okay, maybe not Fugaku as much but you get the idea)
I'm a bit nervous though. This is the first story in a while that I've totally leapt off the rails of the canon and constructed a complete AU with no relations to the ninja Naruto world. I hope it doesn't suck too much.