Chapter Text
It’s a little before sunrise when Naruto awakes, shaking his head to rid himself of faceless monsters and masked ninjas who seem to have hijacked his dreams since he’s arrived in this new world.
He slowly makes his way into the kitchen, this time not surprised to find Minato already seated at the dining table. Naruto guesses the Hokage is a natural early-riser, unlike himself – he’d never be awake without a hundred alarms blasting his ears off if it wasn’t for his nightmares doing the job for him.
“Morning,” he mumbles, going straight for the milk carton placed inside the fridge.
“Oh, good morning, Naruto,” Minato looks up, placing his glass of juice and waving at him in a decidedly dorky manner. “Did you sleep well?”
Naruto smiles tiredly at him, taking a seat at the head of the small table. “Do I look like I did?”
Minato chuckles, one hand carding through his messy bed-hair. It’s always odd to see him this way – domestic, harmless. Naruto’s yet to reconcile the Home Minato with the Hokage Minato. They’re poles apart.
Or maybe they aren’t and Naruto’s yet to realise that.
“Bad question on my part,” Minato admits, smiling wryly, “Want to talk about it?”
Naruto hums absentmindedly, shaking around the carton in his hand. He chugs some cold milk, before wiping his mouth. “Not particularly, no. But I do want to ask you something – if you, like, don’t mind?”
Minato waves an encouraging hand, finishing the last of his juice before standing up to wash it in the sink. “Go on. I don’t mind one bit.”
Naruto nods. “Well, then. What did Itachi show you last night?”
It’s very subtle but Naruto catches the slight tensing of Minato’s shoulders before he opens up the tap. With his back turned towards the genin, he responds, “Nothing of note. It was just some mission-related documents I’d asked him to submit to me.”
“Oh,” Naruto shrugs. “Boring.”
“Totally,” Minato turns, grins, and drops the wet glass in the drying rack nearby. “Now let’s get you some breakfast, alright?”
“Okay. But Kushina-san is going to be so mad at you again.”
“Exactly,” Minato fucking winks at him.
Naruto’s smile turns into a full blown grin. “You’re so dead!”
“What, you think Kushina can take me down? The Hokage of Konoha?” Minato asks in a faux-haughty voice, going around the kitchen and dragging out pans and ladles noisily.
Naruto snorts, watching him move around, buzzing like a bee. “Oh easily.”
Minato stops, turns towards him and holds eye-contact for a moment. “You’re right.”
Naruto laughs and it’s enough for Minato to consider his day made.
The Uchiha household works in interesting ways. Usually, the members won’t care one wit about what the others are upto as long as no one’s tainting their clan name and are part of the shinobi corps.
This distance and detachment wasn’t always a part and parcel of living under the same roof as that of Fugaku Uchiha – the current head of their esteemed clan.
In fact, once, a few years ago, Fugaku was so invested in the lives of his children that he couldn’t help but micromanage every aspect of what they did. It was controlling, invasive and everything a good parenting book warned its readers against.
Several arguments, threats of divorce, tensions within the clan and a couple wake-up calls later, Fugaku came to the profound realisation that he needed to change or he wouldn’t have a family to call his own anymore.
Change is abrupt sometimes. It’s a brick that comes hurtling towards you. But in his case, change is a slow-moving vehicle that needs excessive fuel and twenty sets of hands to push it forward.
Which is why he’s not the loving, considerate parent he wants to be for his children yet. He’s progressing, he’s trying but he’s still stuck in that phase of the in-between. He cares but he doesn’t know how to show it without being too over-bearing, too involved in Sasuke or Itachi’s problems.
He’s giving them room to breathe by making himself scarce. But in doing so, he’s become more or less an absent father.
Which is why when Itachi’s head is bombarded of thoughts he’d rather not fixate on, he doesn’t go to his father. He doesn’t go to his mother either (she’s too compliant when it comes to their father, always has been, and that bitterness still festers). He goes to his brother instead.
He knocks on Sasuke’s bedroom door, hearing a distracted “Come in,” as his cue to move inside. His brother seems busy gearing up for a mission or something – Itachi doesn’t know. He’s yet to catch up on what happened while he was away.
Itachi clears his throat. “So. Naruto’s back.”
Sasuke freezes, turns to face him. He drops the glove in his hand, and plops onto his mattress. “Minato-san told you?”
“Yes,” he sits by the door, on a huge rock that Sasuke had, for some reason, decided to place in his room. His brother’s instincts for interior decor had always been a little off. “I met that Naruto yesterday. Thought he was an enemy playing a cruel trick on me. I could’ve hurt him.”
“It’s not your fault,” Sasuke says with a knowing look, “I’d thought the very same thing. He’s... he’s a walking, talking, breathing reminder of someone we cared deeply for. I can’t think of anyone who’d react to such a situation with composure.”
Itachi cracks a small smile. “I’ll never get over my disbelief at how mature you sound nowadays.”
“Don’t sweat it,” Sasuke says, huffing, putting on the glove he’d dropped before. “As it is, most of the advice I give you? Yeah, it’s just me repeating stuff Sakura tells me.”
“Well, recognizing good advice and passing it on is also a part of growing up so I stand by my words.”
“Itachi, you flatter me,” Sasuke responds dryly, standing up and extending a hand towards him. “Walk me to the entrance?”
“Of course,” Itachi accepts the hand and they start walking through the long, winding corridors of their home.
“So, you gonna talk about what’s bothering you or am I just supposed to use our non existent brother-telepathy and read your mind?”
Itachi’s mind flashes back to the conversation he’d had with the Hokage last night. Some of the things said and discussed still bother him but he’s not sure he should be revealing those worries to Sasuke just yet.
He shakes his head. “It’s nothing. But if you’re curious, I’m open to checking that telepathy thing?”
“Funny,” Sasuke rolls his eyes. “But suit yourself. Heed my words though – there’s a mental breakdown oncoming for you.”
“Noted,” Itachi smiles. “I’ll be sure to come running to you when that happens.”
“Don’t bother. Chances are I’ll make it worse for you,” Sasuke replies, “Purposely.”
They’ve reached the gates by now and that’s where they part. Itachi’s got two days for recuperation so he’s going to use them to rest and roam around the district.
“See you later then,” Itachi says.
Sasuke nods but doesn’t walk out. He lingers for a bit before saying, “You said Naruto’s back.”
Frowning in confusion, Itachi nods, “Yeah, I did. What about it?”
“You said he’s back but he’s not. Our Naruto’s gone forever Itachi. This one, this shorter, younger Naruto’s here for the first time. It’ll help you to remember that.”
Sasuke sighs, patting his shoulder awkwardly before taking his leave.
His words stick with Itachi as he spends the rest of the day, adding to his conflicting feelings about this whole affair.
“Is that a dog?”
“No – that’s definitely a horse!”
“Don’t be silly Udon! Horses don’t have such proportions.”
“Will you two shut up?”
“Then it’s a pony! How in the world are you seeing a dog?”
“See, that floofy stuff is the fur, that’s the snout, that’s the tail –”
“That’s describing like a hundred different animals but go on.”
“–and those ears are literally dog-ears. How do you not see my vision?!”
“Konohamaru! Udon! Shut up!” Moegi huffs, ending her tree-carving with a last curly line made with her kunai. “For your kindest information, this is a goddamn sheep!”
“Yeah, no. I don’t see it.” Konohamaru says, squinting.
“Horse,” nods Udon, “Definitely a horse.”
Moegi throws up her hands in exasperation, stomping away from the duo currently adamant on annoying her.
However, she walks straight into Naruto – which might be an even worse situation than dealing with her obnoxious friends.
“Sorry,” she says, wincing and stepping away.
Naruto shakes his head, “Nah, that was both our faults. Don’t be sorry.”
Moegi smiles slightly. She doesn’t know what it is about this guy that makes her think he won’t harm her. He feels like a friend. (Maybe because he looks like the ghost of one.)
“Alright then. I’m not sorry for bumping into you. That’s better?”
“Yes,” Naruto says through a smile, “And for the record, I think your carving looks like a cloud– so you weren’t that off-the-mark.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Moegi says, turning away and walking back towards her two idiot friends. She watches Naruto settle under a tree on the opposite site, knees drawn up, head titled towards the sky.
“Hey guys,” she says. “Are you two done yet? Because I wanna talk about something.”
Udon stops the pretend-quarrel immediately and Konohamaru follows. They both wait for her to find her words and initiate whatever discussion she has in mind.
“I was thinking... we should make more of an effort to befriend Naruto. He’s a good guy, right?”
Konohamaru’s face loses all cheer and he glances at Naruto. He doesn’t speak.
Udon shuffles nervously on his feet, “Um, yeah. I, uh, I think so, too, actually. It’s not his fault he reminds us of our bro.”
They wait, then, because no decision their trio has ever made been complete without Konohamaru’s word, without his agreement.
“Okay,” he says, turning to meet both their gazes. Slowly, his lips curve upwards into a mischievous grin. “But only after I’m done drawing this orangutan!”
Moegi takes a look at the figure he’s pointing at, etched into the wood. “Konohamaru, I’m sorry but that’s a rat.”