Crossroads (A Naruto Fanfiction)

Baby Brothers

Two weeks after Sasuke started being tutored, I made a habit of sitting in his sessions. Father decided it was best not to coddle Sasuke and hired an Uchiha who had graduated from the civilian school to teach him shortly after his third birthday. Apparently she had been top of her class back then and I joined as I was curious to know how well Sasuke was doing. I was left entirely unimpressed. Sasuke's tutor would click her tongue every few minutes without explaining what had made her tick and left Sasuke anxious and overthinking every little action, which resulted in more mistakes. Not to mention she forced Sasuke to rewrite a single letter over and over just because she didn't like his handwriting. She never smiled nor praised any of his achievements.

It was obvious to see that Sasuke had the makings of a very smart child. He grasped the alphabet in a surprisingly short amount of time for a toddler who had only began learning a little over a month and the only reason he had not moved on was due to the tutors fixation on his handwriting. She, a teacher, held him back. What a joke. I explained all this to Father when I couldn't take it anymore.

Thankfully, Father took my observations seriously enough to make time for Sasuke and check his progress. I could tell Father noticed how easily the alphabets came to him, but he was slow with writing each one as if to make sure every line came out perfect. When Sasuke anxiously presented his finished work, Father looked it over and spared me a brief glance. "How long have you been working on the letters, Sasuke?" He asked.

My baby brother lowered his head as if he was already prepared to be scolded. Damn tutor was ruining his self confidence. "S-since the first day." He spoke quietly, his lisps clearing some of my irritation for how adorable he sounded.

"And since when have you memorized these?" Father motioned to the alphabets.

Sasuke stumbled over his words as he tried to form a proper response, but being the toddler that he was, he struggled to explain many simple things even when he understood them. So I answered for him, [I noticed he had grasped them from before last week.]

"I see that you stand corrected, then. Sasuke should have already begun to learn formulating words." Father said as his voice switched to an octave lower. I was happy to know he was just as nonplussed as I was. "You are progressing more than I expected. For now, make sure you keep the letters memorized until I hire a new tutor."

Sasuke seemed taken aback as he blinked up at Father with an open mouth. With a curt scolding about his expression, Sasuke and I left Father's study with a lighter heart. Once we reached our bedroom, I let Sasuke sit on my lap as he hugged me tightly. He muffled his sniffling into the crook of my neck and I rubbed his back reassuringly. "Thank you." He whispered. I nodded against his head to show I had heard him. Of course Sasuke had to be one observant boy to know I had prompted Father into acting. Smarts definitely ran in the family, though I wasn't sure about myself. I didn't know how to compare my IQ, but I believed most of it came from my older mentality.

"Did Father mean it?" Sasuke continued. "Am I doing good?"

I pushed Sasuke by his shoulder so we could look at each other face to face. I gave him a pointed look and forced enough strength to grit out my response, "You are." My voice was coarse and I swallowed down the cough that threatened to escape from the effort. The last time I tried to speak was last year when I finally decided on how I would repay Kakashi for when he had created sign language for me.

He treated the day of his birthday as just another training day. When I finally recovered from my laps around the private Uchiha training grounds, I stopped him from leaving and forced out a "Thank you" to him. There was nothing I could think of other than to show my sincerity for how much I appreciated what he did for me.