...Where Naruto and Seina rescue Sasuke from the Uchiha compound (chapter 8)
"Seina… Could you teach me to fight like you, with the katana?"
"HEY! Me too!" yelled the loudmouth Naruto, making his eardrums ache painfully.
Seina sighed. Sasuke glanced at her from the corner of his eye, more nervous and uneasy than he wanted to admit, but even he had to accept his feelings. As much as he hated to confront them… He didn't want to ask for help, never had, not since he did what he did. He remembered the times he'd childishly called out to his nii-chan, begging him to play or train with him, and the countless times he had been rejected. Especially as the massacre loomed closer. It was as if—
"Okay. I don't know how much help I'll be, but we can practice."
He nodded. He muttered a curse when his shoulders relaxed involuntarily after not being rejected.
"When can we start?"
"We can practice tomorrow after the mission. Where do you live? We could train somewhere closer to field 33 that suits us both."
"I live at the Uchiha compound," he said, before he could think of his response.
Seina stopped walking. He realized a couple of seconds later, when he noticed how the atmosphere had changed perceptibly from friendly to… horrified? Sasuke looked over his shoulder at his teammates, raising an eyebrow. He saw their clearly horrified expressions with some surprise.
"Why?"
It was then, hearing Seina's blunt question, the fear in her voice, that he realized what they were thinking. He looked ahead to avoid facing them for at least a few more seconds. He'd been living in his nightmare house for so long, with no one giving a damn, that he'd… accepted the situation he was living in as normal. Now, seeing the horror on the faces of the Uzumaki siblings, he was surprised to realize that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't as normal as he thought.
"That house is the only thing left of my family," even though it tore at his soul every time he saw his parents' bloodstains on the floor.
"No. No, no, no…" Seina was muttering aloud, probably inwardly too, he imagined.
"It's late. We should head home."
He began walking again, cutting off Seina. He felt their stares on his back as he did his best to leave them behind, blending into the crowd. His hands, buried in his pockets, clenched tightly as he understood what he was doing. He slowed his pace, now far from Seina and Naruto, as he realized he was a complete coward. Incapable of facing many things, more than he liked to admit.
"Sasuke!" came the shout of the annoying Sakura, who ran toward him. "Wait, Sasuke!"
He melted back into the crowd, pretending he hadn't heard her. He didn't want to talk to anyone, least of all one of his idiotic fans. If he couldn't even face Seina, someone he genuinely appreciated for being so real despite everything she, and Naruto, had gone through… how could he look Sakura in the face without spitting at her out of anger? She had no idea what it was like to lose her family at the hands of her brother, no idea what it was like to be alone, to feel the pressure and the gazes and the expectations of a village because you're the last living member of a famous clan, no idea what it was like to return to your only home day after day and see your family's blood on the floor… No idea what it was like to know you couldn't leave that house, despite the pain in your heart, unless you wanted to hand over your lands to the village and lose the last thing you had of your family, even if it was stained with their blood.
Sakura was innocent. He wasn't. He didn't just, sometimes, hate her for pestering him; he hated her because she had no clue who he really was or what he was going through. She only saw his looks, his surname, and thought he was the most exciting thing in the world.
"Pathetic. She's pathetic," he hissed inwardly as he approached the entrance to the Uchiha clan's compound.
He didn't lower his gaze as he spotted his house, taking large strides to open the door and lock himself inside. He didn't glance to the left, where the living room could be accessed from the entryway, and climbed the stairs to his room with his breath coming in short, turbulent bursts from all his negative emotions. He closed the door behind him. Once he looked around his room, free from memories of that night, he calmed down. There was no blood here. Just a bedside table next to his double bed, a chair in the corner, and a terrace with glass doors where he occasionally sat to look at the dark, comforting sky. He collapsed onto the bed, eyes shut, trying to forget his moments of weakness.
"Damned Seina…" he murmured against the covers, though there was no malice in his tone.
Seina had been a big surprise to him. He didn't know why, as he had known her from a distance for years, but they had never interacted. In the academy, he hadn't paid much attention to anyone, preferring to be alone so he didn't have to fake being happy or see the smiling faces of his classmates, which only reminded him that he had no reason to smile. Something that always put him in a foul mood.
His biggest concern had been passing all the exams and tests, and when the time came, praying that he wouldn't be teamed up with Sakura, Ino, or one of the other crazy girls. When he found out Seina was the kunoichi on his team… he had to admit, he felt relieved. Very relieved, to be honest. The little he knew of her was that she couldn't care less about him. Seina cared about her younger brother and her friends. In that order. Even he, who always looked away, knew how much she loved her brother. Only an idiot wouldn't have noticed. And a part of Sasuke hated Naruto for it. Why did that idiot get an older sister like her, and he was stuck with the bastard? Why!?
Sasuke Uchiha was jealous of Naruto-the clown-Uzumaki. No one would have believed it. The worst part was, he couldn't hate Naruto because, ironically, he was one of the few people who had suffered as much as he had. Ironically, the fact that he couldn't hate him for a valid reason made him hate him even more. Yeah, he never said he was entirely sane.
"Damned Seina…" he repeated, remembering how she had offered him that bento that reminded him of his mother.
He remembered how she had teased him on the rooftop, how she had laughed in his face when they first fought together and she had outsmarted him by deducing Kakashi-sensei's intentions, how she had bartered with him, pulling him into her team during missions. Around her, Sasuke felt like Sasuke the younger brother again, but strangely… his heart didn't ache. Seina wasn't Itachi.
Curiously, around her, Sasuke was beginning to feel like he belonged somewhere again, even if it was just a genin team. Seina, and Naruto, had accepted him. They had made room for him in their sibling dynamic within the same genin team. He knew, though it was hard for him to admit, that few people would have done the same. Few people had the maturity, at 11 or 12 years old, to act that way.
He knew it was all because of Seina. Everything was because of Seina. She was the one who had broken through the icy shell around their jonin sensei's heart with a few words and a hug. The one who knew how to act when a jonin with over 20 years of experience and over 15 years as a ninja broke down from trauma. The one who knew what to say to her brother to make him listen and interact with him without resentment. The one with the emotional intelligence and maturity to understand how Sasuke felt without him even opening his mouth and, incredibly, knew how to navigate those turbulent waters without unintentionally hurting him. Sasuke wasn't stupid, young yes, but not stupid.
Seina was ahead of all of them. It was obvious, and yet, he didn't feel jealous of her. He wasn't quite sure why. Maybe because she didn't have an arrogant attitude like many others would have had with her capabilities. A new kekkei genkai… He snorted. He should have known. He couldn't even imagine what Seina was capable of with her almost divine powers, and he said almost divine because there was no other way to describe them. How the hell did she do it? What was she capable of? What were her limits?
For the first time in a long time, he felt something more than apathy, rage, or hatred. Since being placed on that team… he was starting to feel things he hadn't felt in a long time. Positive feelings that gave him hope. For a while, he didn't want to cling to it, didn't want to think about that budding hope, but it was like a leech. Impossible to shake off. At first, he was angry that his world had been shaken, but then… he found himself sitting on his terrace, looking at the sky, and not thinking about killing Itachi but about seeing his team again, whether to train or go on a stupid D-rank mission.
He got out of bed feeling utterly exhausted from all the introspection. He didn't feel like going to the kitchen or making himself food that tasted awful, but he had to. He walked down the stairs, avoiding looking at the living room, and then entered the kitchen when he heard some knocks on the door. He froze, standing still like a statue, thinking he had imagined it. As if reading his mind, they knocked again, this time harder. What the hell…?
"Sasuke! Open up!" shouted Naruto.
He was shocked to hear his teammate's voice. He hesitated for a second about whether to open the door or not, taking a few steps before stopping again until he remembered how he had run away like a coward hours before. With renewed determination, he resumed his walk and opened the door, unable to hide his surprise at seeing Naruto and Seina standing there, both with determined expressions.
"What are you doing here?"
"We came to get you," Seina said, as if not willing to accept anything else. "Here."
She handed him something she had been holding. Sasuke took it, not entirely understanding what was going on, but when he saw what it was, a lump instantly formed in his throat. It was a photo of his parents at their wedding, smiling and full of life, looking at the camera. He didn't know how long he stared at that memory of his deceased parents, their expressions so different from the ones they had when he found them dead.
"We want you to come with us. Home."
"What?" he asked, completely confused.
"We're not going to leave you alone, Sasuke! So, forget about it!" Naruto shouted, snapping Sasuke out of his daze. So that was it.
"Dobe, you don't even know what you're talking about," he replied, but he couldn't put the usual insulting tone in his voice like he always did. All he wanted was to go back to his bed and cry alone over the photo of his parents.
"Yes, we do," Seina suddenly said. He looked at her, surprised again. "We went to speak to the Hokage. We know what's going on. Please, pack your things, come with us, and trust me. This land will remain yours until you decide otherwise, not a second before. I give you my word."
They stared at each other for a while. Sasuke couldn't believe it. Did they really know? His stomach churned as he realized his team knew exactly what was happening. He also felt ashamed for being so weak, unable to escape his situation on his own. Still, when he looked into Seina's eyes, he saw no pity; only compassion and understanding. Could he trust her? Could he risk the little that was still intact within him? His heart pounded painfully as he considered the different paths ahead of him. He could refuse their help and remain alone in a house he wanted to escape from; nothing would change, except that he would have rejected his team out of fear of what might happen. On the other hand, he could accept their help. He didn't know what would happen next, but he wouldn't be alone, and he wouldn't be a coward. Sasuke didn't want to be a coward, he hated being afraid, but, above all, though it was hard for him to admit, he didn't want to be alone.
"Alright," he said, even before he had finished weighing the pros and cons with himself. "Give me 15 minutes."
Sasuke went back inside, his legs trembling. He didn't even know what to take and what to leave behind. In the end, he stored the essentials in a few scrolls: clothes, memories, bathroom items… He didn't have much, so it didn't take long. He came out after strapping his new weapon to his back. Sasuke didn't know what would come next, but he watched closely as Seina used one of her special jutsu.
"Fidelio."
If he hadn't been staring at the Uchiha compound walls, he wouldn't have believed it. They had disappeared before his very eyes. He blinked, wondering where they had gone and why he couldn't even remember the name of- of-... Seina handed him a piece of paper.
"Here. Read this."
Sasuke read the address, stunned, and saw the walls reappear before his eyes, as if they had always been there. Was it some special jutsu or an illusion?
"Wh-what is this? Genjutsu?"
"No. It's a technique that hides something under a secret. I'm the keeper of that secret, and I'm the only one who can tell others where your property is. Essentially, it's like I've placed everything in a pocket dimension that only I can grant access to."
"So, does that mean no one knows where the c-c-" Why couldn't he say it!?
"You can't say it. Only I can. Now, no one, except the three of us, knows where it is. So, no matter how hard they try to confiscate this land, they won't be able to because they won't even be able to find it. Not even by searching for the address in the registry. Every trace has vanished."
Sasuke couldn't believe it. He just couldn't. Seina had solved his problem with a single damn jutsu with her new kekkei genkai. Oh, how he would love to see the council's faces when they realized they couldn't do anything to take his family's compound. He felt his lip tremble as he imagined the colossal outrage of those old men. He couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face until it turned into a laugh, and then he couldn't stop laughing.
"Let's go. I'm starving."
"Have you eaten dinner yet?"
"No. I wasn't hungry," he admitted.
They walked for a while until they reached Seina and Naruto's house. When they stopped in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by grass and trees a bit farther off, he realized the house must also be under the same jutsu. Seina shared the secret with him, and with eager eyes, he watched as the three-story house appeared before him out of thin air.
"Come on in. You're home, teme."
"You can take one of the rooms on the third floor for yourself. That floor has a large bathroom, and you'll have it all to yourself. Decorate the room however you like, it's yours."
Sasuke walked slowly, examining the good-sized entryway, the large kitchen with an island followed by a dining table, and the living room beyond. He saw some closed doors on the first floor, unsure where they led. When he went upstairs to the second floor, he saw four closed doors, likely Seina and Naruto's rooms and the bathrooms. The third floor had four more doors, all closed. He opened the first one, raising an eyebrow at what seemed to be a weapons room/medical station. Another door revealed a large bathroom with two sinks on either side, a shower, a bathtub, and a toilet. The other two doors were identical bedrooms. They were furnished, but it didn't look like anyone had lived in them. He chose the room on the left. It didn't really matter since both overlooked the backyard.
That night, Sasuke came down the stairs again, hesitantly, but both Seina and Naruto accepted him in silence without saying anything more. He couldn't say it aloud, but even he had to admit he was happy to be with his team.