Senju's Heir

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Senju's Heir

~~Years ago, Konoha~~

"They're the ones that started it," Naruto grumbled, his lips pursed. "Stupid Iruka-sensei... Always taking everyone else's side..."

Naruto kicked a random pebble standing in the way, his face pouting furiously. He turned back to the road that led to the Academy and stopped just to stick his tongue out in their general direction. Finished with his petty attempt at retribution, he continued on his way to no particular place or direction.

Naruto sighed seeing the sky starting to lose its color, as if warning that darkness was not very far off. He groaned feeling his stomach start to rumble in protest, no doubt angry it had nothing to provide nutrients. He dug his hands into the pockets of his undersized shorts and pulled out whatever they contained. He sighed yet again seeing a mere three coins, eight coins short of a good meal at a dango shop.

Deciding he had no choice but to skip dinner -too lazy to hunt or fish-, Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets and decided to go for a walk.

After hours of pointless droning, Naruto came across a lake not far from the Uchiha clan's compound. He did not know how he ended up there, but Naruto ignored the reason in favor of exploring it. He ran his way to it and noticed that a small pier ran across the lake.

At the edge of said pier was Uchiha Sasuke, the kid he hated above all else in his classroom; even more than Iruka-sensei.

Naruto stopped himself from climbing the remainder of the hill keeping him from the lake moments after noticing Sasuke. Instead, he observed the boy as he sat at the edge of the small pier with obvious despair. He couldn't blame him, however, considering his clan had been massacred a short time ago.

From the rumors he had heard, his entire family had been killed as well, at the hands of his elder brother, no less. It was like something out of a horror story to Naruto.

...

Without his knowledge, Naruto's feet began to climb the remainder of the hill, until they were firmly standing atop a cemented sidewalk. His hands still in his pockets, Naruto's lilac eyes softened at the sight of Sasuke's hunched figure. He felt a pang in his chest which he couldn't very well identify, a sour and unpleasant pang that urged him to join him.

Before Naruto knew it, he had outstretched his arm and even opened his mouth to speak. But before saying anything at all, Sasuke turned, his onyx eyes red and puffy from crying. Feeling like a fish caught out of water, Naruto immediately brought his hand back to awkwardly scratch at his head, a sheepish grin across his face.

Not being in the mood to act social, Sasuke glared and turned away from the blond, his eyes returning to their original purpose of staring at his reflection. He innocently glanced over his shoulder to see Naruto's reaction and wasn't surprised to see him glaring in complete outrage.

Naruto mentally kicked himself for trying to -yet again- start a conversation with Sasuke. He marched his way across the sidewalk as his hands kept themselves busy in his pockets. Once he was sure they were both out of hearing distance, he peeked over his shoulder and found Sasuke doing the same.

Both boys immediately turned away from each other, deciding their pride was more valuable than a possible interaction. Feeling not so alone in the world, they smiled, the sun finally setting in the distance. For one of them, it was his first time smiling in weeks.

"Rasengan!"

"Chidori!"

The exact moment they reached the floor was the exact moment Naruto and Sasuke released their Jutsus. Destruction was forced to a higher tier of meaning as the wooden dragon exploded upon impact, dealing maximum damage with its mass alone. Then came the systematic booms of two destructive Jutsus colliding with flesh, dirt and grass, all in a split second of difference of each other.