Forever

I'm pretty happy with this chapter. I edited it, and for once I didn't cringe when I went to upload it. I hope you like it. Thanks for all my reviews so far they are my motivation.


Chapter 6

Naruto hadn’t seen Shino in over a week. He’d made sure of it. The Hokage offered him several options for accommodations but he ended up just staying in the Hokage’s personal guest suite. He didn’t plan on staying long enough to acquire anything and the room he was in had a place to sleep, that was enough. His days were spent training, somewhere different each time. He took care to not destroy or rearrange the terrain too much. It wouldn’t do to scare the locals. Several Shinobi had challenged him, but he’d refused. He wanted to train them first before he wiped the floor with them.

At night he sorted and catalogued the Hokage’s personal library so that copies could be made of the appropriate jutsu’s and not the forbidden ones. The Hokage was little help at all since he was to busy reading the books to sort them. Though the nights were long and quiet they were anything but boring. On his third day of paper shuffling he noticed he had a visitor. He never saw the visitor, and the shinobi was quite talented to have managed that. Four days of being spied on turned from slight annoyance to indifference, and after a week, an interesting game of tag. Naruto didn’t try too hard since the game would be over if he caught the lone figure that stalked him, and that would take all the fun out of it.

After two weeks of being in the village, he found himself once again sitting in the small office he’d been given, sorting through several generations of elemental training notes. He skipped wind since he would take anyone with his affinity as his own student, and went through compiling notes on the other four so that the shinobi he’d chosen to teach could do so without him hovering every moment. He was just about to start the list of level one fire jutsu when he felt his stalker coming closer. He smiled to himself as he felt them shift from one shadow to another. He gave no other indication that he’d noticed he wasn’t alone.

“You aren’t as good as everyone keeps saying you are.” His stalker said as he stepped from the shadows.

Naruto didn’t look up from his paperwork when he answered. “And I was actually starting to enjoy your attempts at stealth. You’ve been spying on me for over a week, my feelings were almost hurt that you didn’t make yourself known sooner. I guess I shouldn’t assume I’m more interesting than I am.”

Naruto held back his need to smirk when the other bristled at being caught out. He knew it was enough to not give whoever it was his full attention, and he didn’t want to make enemies.

“You knew I was here and yet you said nothing… did nothing. You let me this close to you without even looking up, but you don’t know who I am. Shouldn’t you at least measure me up before you insult me with indifference?”

Naruto made a show of pushing his papers aside and let out a deep breath before he lifted his eyes… and froze. There standing before him was Sasuke, no older than sixteen and glaring at him with blazing hate filled eyes. He’d not seen that look since he was very young and deep down in his psyche the child in him winced.

“Sasuke…” Naruto whispered with barely a breath, but it was heard. Dark eyes widened and shock covered unchecked features, breaking the spell Naruto had been under. His Sasuke would never have revealed so much especially at this age.

“How do you know my name?” The boy asked, and Naruto closed his eyes to relieve the strain of looking into that young beautiful face anymore.

“I didn’t. You look just like my Sasuke, the father of your clan. He was my closest and oldest friend.”

The silence stretched and Naruto, even in all his years of self imposed exile had never imagined that he’d be faced with this. He could deal with it though, this wasn’t his Sasuke.

“So you really are what they say you are.”

Naruto looked up then and noticed the subtle anger behind the curiosity. “You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”

The boy sneered at him and came closer. “I don’t suppose it is since you are giving us back our jutsu. What bothers me is what you did while you were Hokage…”

Naruto didn’t know what to say to that. He’d been Hokage for over twenty years and he’d done many things during that time. To attempt a guess could take a very long time, but he suddenly had a feeling he knew exactly what he’d done to make this young man so angry.

“How old are you?” Naruto asked and saw red fire erupt in those eyes for just a moment before he blinked it away.

“I’ll be seventeen at the end of the month. Not that it matters, I have to be eighteen to be Anbu… a whole year more of my talent wasted on simple missions.”

Naruto nodded, it was just as he’d thought. “So it’s my laws you don’t like?”

The tension rose exponentially and there eyes stayed locked on each other for a long drawn out moment. Naruto didn’t know whether to be impressed or irritated at the challenge in them.

“I graduated the academy when I was eight and earned jounin rank when I was twelve. I’ve been jounin longer than most of the Anbu in service right now, but still I can’t submit an application because I’m not old enough. I don’t know what things were like in your time, but in this time I’m needed, but the law…”

Naruto stood then and faced the boy on equal terms. “…is necessary still.” He finished for him. His own temper took a moment to quiet, but he knew that anger would not help this young man understand why the law was put in place and why it was still needed.

“When I was a child there was a boy that graduated the academy at seven and was captain of Anbu at thirteen. Things were asked of him that should never be asked of someone so young, but they were, and he was equal to the task… at least they thought he was. Later it became obvious that even though Itachi was talented and capable, he was too young to handle the situations he was thrown into and it eventually destroyed him. I would not have that happen to you. I learned from this village’s mistakes and took the necessary steps to ensure it wouldn’t happen again.

“As a member of this village you have every right to question me and even challenge me, but what you don’t have the right to do is judge my decisions without knowing why I made them. Anbu is different from being a regular shinobi. Most think it’s more prestigious and more respected, but that’s not how I see it. I look at it as a necessary evil. There are jobs that need dealing with that have to be anonymous, and those shinobi benefit from the anonymity, but those jobs, though sometimes are more physically dangerous, most of the time simple require a more mentally capable shinobi.

“From the way you are acting right now, if I were Hokage I wouldn’t accept your application even if you were eighteen. Anbu are asked to do things that even adults have difficulty dealing with, would I have been a good leader if I’d gone on allowing children to do it. I witnessed first hand what that can do to someone so young and when I became Hokage I did something about it.

”So let me ask you this Sasuke Uchiha… could you kill your best friend in cold blood right now if I asked it of you? Could you kill your mother or even your father if it was for the good of this village? Those are the kinds of missions Anbu go on. Could you handle that kind of blood on your hands?”

Sasuke just stood there staring at him. Naruto was relieved to see understanding in his eyes now and allowed himself to relax. The boy was smarter than he’d let on and for that Naruto was grateful.

“You said Itachi…”

Naruto nodded and sat back down behind his desk, but kept his eyes on Sasuke. “Yes, as Anbu captain he was ordered to destroy his own clan. They were planning a coup on the village, and Itachi was sworn to protect the village at any cost. He killed them all, leaving only his younger brother, Sasuke alive to carry on. Can you imagine being told to destroy everything you’ve ever known for the sake of the village? I know I couldn’t have done it, even now I don’t know that I could make that decision. There’s more to Anbu than a mask and prestige. It’s a sacrifice that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, but we need them and those that are noble enough to serve should be honored, but you need to understand what earns them that reverence.”

Sasuke nodded then, and Naruto was hopeful that he would think over that kind of responsibility well before committing to it.

“So you didn’t make the law because you thought younger shinobi weren’t capable, but because you didn’t want the weight of that responsibility to break them.”

Naruto nodded again, “Exactly.”

Sasuke was more relaxed now and was leaning against the door frame, his arms and legs crossed casually, but his eyes sharp as ever.

“Should I assume that Nodoka is your father?” Naruto got a glare and a nod before continuing, “Then you’ve probably heard what I’m doing here…” Another nod with a bit more interest this time. “Have you been tested yet?”

“Yes,” and he stepped forward while pulling something from his pocket. Naruto watched intently as two slivers of paper were laid down on the table before him. Sasuke slid them together showing that they matched perfectly along one side, and Naruto smiled.

“Wind.” Naruto was happy to know he’d have someone to teach himself though he wasn’t too thrilled since it was a boy that thought too much of his ability and had a slight chip on his shoulder. Naruto wondered for a moment how long it would take to put this kid in his place. “You know that’s my affinity right?” Naruto asked and enjoyed the unchecked emotions that ran over the other boy’s face. Shock was first and then suspicion. He settled on smug which didn’t give Naruto any confidence at all. Arrogant shinobi were the most difficult to teach since they thought they knew everything already, but it was better than not having any students at all.

“I was wondering if anyone was the same as me. I haven’t met anyone in the village whose paper reacted the same way mine did. I worried for my training.”

Naruto dug through the papers on his desk until he found his own personal jutsu journal from his youth and held it out for Sasuke to take. “It is a rare affinity, but I was able to find a good teacher when I started. That is my personal journal from my original training with wind. Read it carefully and ask any questions you need, but don’t skip ahead. Patience and work are the only way to achieve mastery. It should take you a few weeks, but you should be able to complete the first step.”

Sasuke took the book and flipped to the first page. His eyes moved over the page drinking in the words before looking up again. “How long did it take you?”

Naruto sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. “A few days… but I’m different. I used clones and I have enough chakra to maintain them for a very long time. You will be on your own doing this so it will take longer.”

“I can make clones. You have to make one to graduate the Academy.”

Naruto just shook his head. “It’s not the same. My clones are solid, real. They are able to fight for me as well as speak.”

Sasuke just gaped. He’d never heard of solid clones and he wanted to learn how to make them. “Teach me how to make solid clones and then I can learn faster. It will make teaching me easier.”

“It’s a forbidden jutsu that I learned by accident. I might teach it too you if I feel you’ve matured enough to learn it but for now you need patience. I will teach you everything you could ever need to know about wielding wind chakra. We have plenty of time.”

Sasuke looked irritated, but resigned. Naruto was encouraged by his ability to recognize what he needed to do to achieve his goal. Restraint at his age was not a common characteristic. It is a sign of a good leader, and he was sure that Sasuke dreamed of taking his father’s place one day. Naruto imagined he could see his dreams playing out if the boy listened.

“So… since wind element is so rare it must mean it’s more powerful then the others.”

Naruto had to think for a moment about how to explain it properly. “No. The element doesn’t determine the strength of the shinobi. We are no more powerful because of our affinity than any other shinobi, but because we are so rare we are more valuable.”

Sasuke looked confused. “How are we more valuable if we aren’t more powerful?”

Naruto pulled another book from his desk. This one was a thick tomb from long before his time. He flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for and spun the book around for Sasuke to see it. There on the page was a circle diagram with the five elements place evenly around it, and the arrows of the circle pointing clockwise.

“Each element has an element that enhances its power and one that defuses it. There are many lightning users out there that are very powerful. With so few to challenge them they can do a lot of damage without much risk. When I was young, wind users were coveted because they were able to fight in such instances. Even a weaker wind user can defeat a more powerful lightning user if they are smart. All the others seem to balance themselves out so we tend to be more valuable because of the imbalance.”

Sasuke read a bit more on the page and then turned to the next. “I don’t understand. I’ve seen several shinobi use wind jutsu before, how can we be so rare if they can do that?”

“That is a good question, but one that you can most likely answer for yourself. Are you, a wind user, able to do earth jutsu or fire jutsu? I know your father must have taught you at least one of the Uchiha family techniques. Anyone can use any element to a certain extent, but to use a jutsu that is in tuned with your element makes it all the more powerful. It also gives you the ability to develop new jutsu because of that deep connection. This is one of the things you will be able to observe if you watch the others while they train.”

“What do I need to do?” Sasuke asked, allowing the excitement to show on his face. Naruto found it endearing and wondered for a moment if his Sasuke would have been like this if he’d been allowed a healthy childhood.

“You will need to find a quiet place in the forest. Take a leaf in your hands and use just your chakra to cut it. Be patient and use your head, it won’t be easy but you will do it. Come back to me when you’re done and we can begin.”

“Can I take this with me?” He held up Naruto’s journal.

“Yes, but be careful with it. It’s very old, and part of it contains an S ranked jutsu that you will never use. I’m not trying to insult you by saying that, I only need you to understand that when I used it before I went through Sage training, it nearly killed me, and would have if I wasn’t able to heal the way I do. It will kill you if you even attempt it, but that is something you won’t come to for a long time.”

Sasuke nodded, and turned to leave, his nose buried back in the book before he made it out the door. Naruto allowed himself one last smile before he set back to work. It seemed he had one more element to add to his list.


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