Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Two Brothers ❯ Fun with Paints! ( Chapter 2 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Armina Skitty 
Let's head back in time to see how our boys spent their free time. Uh-oh!
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Adventure | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 02.22.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 4.4K | Visits: 698 | Status: Completed
Let's head back in time to see how our boys spent their free time. Uh-oh!
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Adventure | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 02.22.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 4.4K | Visits: 698 | Status: Completed
Chapter 2
A.N.: This is a mega ‘what if’ scenario… again. I seem to like these kinds of scenarios. This was dually spawned from when I read the manga flashback scene when Naruto went to the playground to play with the other children, only to watch sadly as the parents took their children away. I wanted to glomp and reassure him so bad right then… so I made a chara and story line to do it for me! Heh, heh...
The next scene that made me think up this story was during the Sasuke/Naruto battle flashback scenes; after Sasuke’s clan was killed he went off to grieve/pout/sulk on the pier where he first gained his father’s praise and he catches Naruto looking at him. They both snub each other then, but both smile afterwards, clearly thinking ‘I’m not alone in being alone’. What if, instead of snubbing each other, one goes to talk to the other so they don’t have to be alone? What if, after that, they decided to live with each other, so that they are even less alone? This story combines those ‘what if’ scenarios.
Finally, the first chapter is a kind of ‘this is where I’m coming from’ chap. It sets up the story and background so that the next chapters won’t have you guys going, ‘Eh? Say what now? Where’d this come from?’ I’m going to be doing childhood scenes, and I’ll probably be jumping around, a lot. If/when I go back to the ‘current’ timeline (ie: when Sasuke and Naruto graduate and join cell 7) I’ll proceed in the standard way, but for the childhood scenes, it’s going to be when the idea hits me and what age I feel would work best with the prank. For example, the following chapter occurs when the boys are seven years old, the next chapter after this will happen when they are ten. I might then go to the present and do a little bit of plot and skip the fluff, I don’t know yet. Anyway, enjoy the cute childish fun of a failed prank!
“’Cause Stick-In-The-Mud-Ebisu will look good in colors.” Naruto answered as he balanced the can of bright magenta paint on the trip board he and Sasuke had rigged. Naruto’s simple answer brought up an image in Sasuke’s mind of the stiff-neck covered in magenta, chartreuse and neon orange and blue paint. The dark-eyed child sniggered and conceded defeat, that image was the reason he had agreed to be look-out for this stunt in the first place.
He sobered and quickly opened his book on beginner-level jutsu seals as a small group of Chuunins passed by. That was the signal for Naruto to lay low until they passed. Sasuke sighed as they passed by. Even though he had agreed to this, this prank was not what Sasuke had had in mind when he’d bugged Naruto to snap out of his mood yesterday. Yesterday had been the 10th, the first year anniversary of Larania’s death. Naruto had spent the entire day moping in front of her grave stone. The other boy had spent the day keeping him company, but even respect for the honorable deceased had not been enough to keep Sasuke from getting bored. So he had spent the entire time pestering his fair-haired friend about his depression.
He’s boring right now. I thought he was the village trouble-maker. I thought he’d be trying to get me to help him in some terrific pranks. I thought we’d have a lot of fun, Naruto trying to prank, me trying to stop. But instead he sits and sighs all day, and sulks whenever I try and get him to do anything! Sasuke pouted at the thought and then looked up at a muffled exclamation.
“You okay?” he called.
“Yeah, the can slipped a little and pinched me.” Naruto called down in an insulted tone. Just then Sasuke heard the sound of people coming and hissed for Naruto to be quiet as he opened his book again. He would have been better off jumping up to join his adopted brother; the two who walked up the path were the Dreaded Pester Girls, Sakura and Ino.
“Oh! Sasuke-kun!” Sakura exclaimed.
“Sa-suke-kun!!” Ino cooed and wasted no time in glomping the object of her affection. Ack! Girl Cooties! Sasuke thought in alarm as he flailed, trying to get away. His alarm was deepened as Sakura puffed up in indignation and tried to drag her Sasuke away from that Ino. The dark-eyed boy then began a desperate struggle to get away from the two.
Abruptly though, the struggle ceased when Sakura let go suddenly, causing Sasuke to fall on top of Ino who let go in surprise. He took advantage of that and leapt off and away from the Pester Girl and stared at Sakura, who was pointing up at the thing that no one else until then had noticed; Naruto and his paint-drop rig.
“Oh, what are you doing?” She cried out, ignoring Ino’s protests of rough treatment. “You’re going to get into trouble!”
“Not if you don’t say anything!” Sasuke retorted as Naruto looked down at the two girls in panic. “Go away, you’re interfering! We don’t want you here!”
“You’re helping him?” Ino cried in horror, “Sasuke, how could you?”
“Easily,” he snapped back angrily, “Shoo! Go away! Go play with flowers or something! You’re in the way!”
“No!” Sakura exclaimed, causing both Ino and Sasuke to stare at her in shock. Sakura flushed at the attention, but pursued her agenda, “I can’t let you, you’ll get in deep trouble, helping that Naruto. I-“ she paused, rallying her courage, “I’m going to stop you!”
With that, she leapt up to the bottom-most branch and climbed her way up to where Naruto was. The blonde boy looked extremely panicked and confused, this wasn’t supposed to have happened! Sasuke was supposed to have diverted all attention down to him, the good studious boy studying his seals and away from Naruto at his work.
“No, wait, stop!” He cried out, trying to prevent Sakura from ripping up hours of hard work and planning. It had taken a lot of time last night for Sasuke and him to design a hidden rig that would spill the paint without dropping the cans. Naruto didn’t want to hurt anybody, just get a laugh out of their embarrassment. He also didn’t want to get caught at it, so this rig was special since it could be tripped at a distance. And now Sakura was trying to rip it apart!
Sasuke leapt up, followed by Ino, but both for different reasons. Sasuke was trying to help Naruto preserve their rig, but Ino was fighting both with Naruto and with Sakura, trying to get Sasuke’s attention focused on her. Needless to say, things dissolved into an all-out brawl as the four seven-year-old Ninjas-in-training each tried to pursue their own goals. That’s when the branch, weak already from being strained by the rig and an active child moving around on it, started to give way.
At first the children didn’t notice, then the branch gave an almighty protest at the weight and movement by letting out a loud groan. The children stopped all activity, which allowed them to hear the next noise, a loud pop; followed by a series of snaps. Right on the heels of the snaps came a deafening crack! With that declaration, the branch gave way entirely, spilling the four children and the many cans of paint onto the ground. Which was a steep slope. With a cleared road right beneath them. That led straight into the heart of the Konoha market area.
“WAAHH!!!” the four cried as they tumbled uncontrollably down the road along with the paint cans. People scattered right and left, hastily getting out of the way of the startling mass. Fortunately for the health of the four children they didn’t tumble for very long and the cans somehow missed hitting them. Unfortunately the thing that stopped them was a market stall, which was owned by the crankiest and most unforgiving old couple in Konoha. When Sasuke was able to get his eyes to focus and his aching head to comprehend what he saw, he noticed the fact that the couple didn’t seem too thrilled with the fact that their stall was now the brightest and most imaginatively decorated stall on the market street.
“Uh-oh.” Naruto said.
“Yeah.” Sasuke agreed.
“I told you’d get in trouble!” Sakura said in a frightened voice.
This task was rendered even more difficult by the fact that he couldn’t bring himself to be angry at them, the couple who’s stall they had ‘improved’ had been a continuous thorn in his side. Immovably conservative, they refused to change their ways and protested any and every change that was made to the village and further refused to bring their market stall up to code.
So, in fact, Sandaime was thankful of the rather, ah, colorful children before him; their actions were going to force that obstinate, pig-headed, rock-brained couple to fix their stall or have the most imaginatively colored one on the market street. I just wish the boys had picked colors that were more complimentary. It was rather amusing really, how the colors seemed to have chosen the person it flattered least to splash the most. Chartreuse made an ugly highlight in Naruto’s already bright hair, magenta cast an unflattering contrast on Sasuke’s fair skin and dark hair. Neon blue and neon orange fought for dominance on pastel complexioned Ino and Sakura. Their appearance, in spite of the colors, was exceedingly comical and unbearably cute. But that only made Sandaime’s task of scolding and punishing them all the more difficult.
I believe that I’ve frowned sternly at them long enough, he thought as even the defiant Sasuke dropped his eyes in fearful submission. That was another interesting facet, how the four children’s demeanor shadowed at their personalities. Naruto was guilty and resigned; he’d been here before and had been scolded and dismissed as unimportant. He was clearly expecting more of the same, but didn’t want the others to suffer it. Sasuke was angry, defiant, and shamed; angry at the girls, defiant towards the Hokage and shamed at the mess that had been made of a quiet probably innocent prank. Sakura was scared and even more guilty than Naruto; this was all new to her, but she clearly felt that the reason the four of them were here was her fault. Ino was just confused and terrified, but then, she wasn’t as intelligent as the other three. Not that you could tell that Naruto is smarter than she is from their grades. But the complexity of his pranks makes up for that.
“What do you children have to say for yourselves?” Sandaime finally growled.
“It’s all his fault!” Ino screamed immediately, pointing at Naruto, who seemed to expect as much.
“It is not!” Sasuke cried back, just as loud and three times as furiously. “If you two hadn’t messed things up-!”
“Enough!” Sandaime rumbled threateningly. Sasuke and Ino shushed, Sasuke flushed with anger, Ino pale with fear. “Naruto, Sakura, have you anything to say?”
“It’s all my fault.” They chorused. They glanced at each other and Naruto motioned for Sakura to continue.
“It’s my fault.” She repeated soflty, “If I hadn’t been so foolish, none of this would have happened. I shouldn’t have tried to do what I did, I made a mess of things.”
Sandaime nodded, “Naruto, you’re turn.”
“It’s not Sakura’s fault,” Naruto mumbled, “it’s mine. It was my idea. I asked Sasuke to help me, even though he didn’t want to. If he hadn’t been there, the girls wouldn’t have tried to stop me. It’s my fault everybody’s here.”
By this point, Sasuke was practically prancing with the need to say something. Sandaime motioned for him to go ahead, least Sasuke explode.
“Neither of them are at fault!” He stated firmly, “I’m the one who tried to get Naruto to do something, I pestered him about it all day yesterday!” Sandaime sneaked a quick look at the calander and noted that yesterday had been the first year anniversary of Larania’s death. Sasuke continued, “All Naruto asked me to do was stand lookout for him, nothing more! If I’d done my job right, the girls won’t have seen Naruto and they wouldn’t have made such a mess of things! If Naruto is at all at fault, then I’m just as guilty and should be punished the same as him!”
The current Hokage looked at Sasuke with no little pleasure. The child was flushed and defiant, glaring at the Third, daring him to try anything. Sasuke was determined to protect Naruto, a thing that astonished and deeply touched the other boy, judging by the look on the blue-eyed child’s face. For a while there, I was afraid, what with all that had happened to him… Sandaime turned his mind back to the matter at hand. ...that fear is no longer a concern.
“You are all equally at fault in this matter, and will be punished equally.” Sandaime said. He had decided on what to do with them the moment he had received the report of the matter. He had called them here to see if there was anything more he needed to do. No worries on Naruto and Sakura, I’ll need to keep an eye on Sasuke and I’ll have to have a word with Ino’s parents to have them teach her responsibility. "Naruto, you spawned the idea. Sasuke, you encouraged and abetted Naruto in this. Sakura, Ino, you made this mess worse by trying to interfer physically instead of getting adult help or trying to talk the boys out of it.
“Your punishment is quiet simple, and I think you’ll agree that it’s appropriate. You will undo the damage you made with this debacle by repairing the damaged stall.” He paused as the children slumped in relief. With all the fuss, they feared that they would receive far worse. Then Sandaime dropped the other shoe, “You will do this under the direct supervision of the owners of the stall.” The children’s faces fell a mile, that couple was notorious for their hatred of children. “Be grateful it isn’t worse, there was a ‘request’ that you be flogged for this.”
Little wonder who had requested the flogging. But now that he’d filled them with fear and dread, time to lighten the mood a little. “Naruto, Sakura, I’m proud of you for trying to assume full responsibility. That will stand you in good stead in the future.” The two named perked up a little. “Sasuke, I’m also proud of you for your immediate defense of your friend, that will also stand you in good stead.” The dark-eyed boy straightened and looked up a bit.
“Now you girls, go get yourselves cleaned up, unless you want to start a new fashion trend.” He finished lightly. Sakura giggled a little and Ino affected horror at the thought that paint splatters could be a fashion trend. “Boys, I’d like to speak with you a little more.” The girls exited, looking worried for Sasuke's sake, and the boys approached the desk nervously.
Sandaime regarded the boys, feeling a little shame himself, especially on Naruto’s behalf. The day that Larania had adopted Naruto, she had confronted the Hokage with the very real possibility that the boy could become an even worse threat then Kyubi had been if he was continually treated in the way he had been. The phenomenal power of the demon with a human mind directing it; it was clearly a terrible weapon, one that could be used for Konoha, or against it. And one that cannot be coerced into use, only requested. And the village seems determined to turn Naruto completely against us.
Only Larania had clearly seen past the demon to the lonely little boy that Naruto truly was and was willing to love him. That was also a thing that she had shoved in Sandaime’s face. But she is dead now, retrieving another of the village’s precious resources, and one that could also be turned against us through neglect. Ever since the Massacre, Sandaime was fearful that Sasuke would suicide out of grief. Larania’s actions had canceled that fear, but brought out another; that without parental direction Sasuke would go rogue. That fear was still valid, even more so now that he spent all his time in Naruto-the-prankster’s company.
Or rather, it had been, until the carefully crafted blueprints of the rig Naruto had tried to make yesterday had been brought to Sandaime. It had been made with safety in mind, only the paint would have been allowed to fall, not the cans that held it. A truly harmless prank.
“I’m curious as to what you two were trying to do.” Sandaime said, bringing out the blueprints that had been taken from the boys’ home. “This is a very well thought-out structure, it’s amazing that two seven-year-old boys made it.” He smiled at them, trying to invite confidence. They need adult attention. They need to know that at least one adult likes them and wants to spend time with them. Even if I cannot spent much time caring for these two, so long as they know that I want to, they should respond. And they deserve to have attention paid to them.
The two glanced at each other, Naruto optimistic, Sasuke cautious. Naruto bounced closer. “We were going to give Stick-in-the-mud Ebisu more color.” Naruto smiled oh-so-innocently. Sandaime lost the battle he’d been fighting this entire interview and burst out laughing. Naruto grinned and giggled, Sasuke looked torn between laughing as well, and being scandalized. One look from Naruto caused him to giggle along as well.
“Very clever you two.” Sandaime approved, “You made a rig that would, ah, just brighten Ebisu a little without hurting him and from the looks of the remains it would have been ready by the time he was due back from his mission. And he may even have been tired enough to be unobservant, which would have made this prank successful!” The boys beamed at the praise. Naruto was practically wiggling like a puppy that had been petted instead of being beaten like it was expecting. In some ways, that was a true metaphor. Sasuke still looked slightly scandalized.
“Still,” Sandaime continued, “it would be nice if you turned that cleverness to your grades.” The boys wilted. “I have your reports here. I know that both of you have had completely reasonable cause to allow your grades to slip, but you both should be recouping them by now.”
Until Larania had entered Naruto’s life, his grades, to put not to fine a point to it, had sucked. With her expectations and praise, the blue-eyed boy’s grades had risen to above average, a shock to everyone but her. With her death, he had reverted back to the way he had been. Sasuke was mimicking that decline, only since he had had perfect scores, being the first in his class; his decline was even more disheartening.
Sandaime was hoping to reverse that trend. “I know that Mizuki isn’t the best at describing techniques, so if you have any questions I could help you with…” Sandaime trailed off, leaving the table open for the boys. They both looked stunned; this was the last thing that they expected. Sasuke took advantage first, asking about the Bushin no Jutsu technique. Sandaime helped clarify it for them until he was called away for “very, very boring” paperwork that was piling up. He smiled as he watched the highly animated young boys leave; phase one in recapturing the two was a complete success. And they deserved every bit of time and attention he could give them.
The children had come just after dawn, were given a brief food and rest break at noon and were sent off at sunset with dire warnings of what would happen if they were late tomorrow ringing in their ears.
Sasuke was burning for some kind of revenge well before noon.
“We have to get them back somehow!” he growled to Naruto in a low voice, making sure he wasn’t overheard. Naruto nodded, he’d been thinking of a way to get at that woman from the moment she started playing favorites.
“I think I have something, but we'll have to be careful.” He assured Sasuke. The plan Naruto had was going to hinge on whether or not they could acquire certain books. He wouldn’t soon forget how pleased the Hokage had been with them over the fact that the paint prank was essentially harmless. Naruto would do anything to get that kind of praise again. So the idea Naruto had was designed to scare the snot out of that bitchy woman, but leave her unharmed.
“What’s your idea?” Sasuke demanded, eager to begin. Naruto whispered his plan to his oath-brother, Sasuke argued that “couldn’t we get something that would at least give her a rash?” Naruto stayed firm on his no-harm rule and Sasuke eventually agreed. What they had planned shouldn’t get them into too much trouble, while what Sasuke wanted to do might get them severly punished; again.
“But we’ll have to wait until a week after we’re done working.” Sasuke added.
“Why?” Naruto asked.
“That way there will be less to connect us to it, and she won’t be expecting anything.” He explained, “She’s probably on guard for anything from us, but if we wait awhile, she’ll drop that guard.” Naruto nodded, it made perfect sense for him. “Now, how much money do you have, we can start now.”
One white-haired Jounin with his headband slanting over one eye quickly excused himself with the excuse that he had to be sick. The real reason was so he could laugh. The woman was pitching a fit for no reason, all the snakes were non-venomous, and the spiders and scorpions were all of a kind with very weak venom; all the creatures were completely harmless. When he reported this later to the Hokage, the old man nearly laughed himself sick and told the young Jounin to go fetch the boys so he could praise them on their caution and beat them for wasting time. Kakashi arched a brow, and gestured for the young Chuunin at the door to bring in the perpetrators. The two had given themselves away by being too close to the scene and too jubilant over the results.
“You two!” Sandaime growled in mock threat.
“Yes?” the two replied in mock innocence from where they dangled like puppies in Iruka’s hand. The three adults couldn’t help but laugh over the them. Trouble they might be, but damn were they cute!
A.N.: This is a mega ‘what if’ scenario… again. I seem to like these kinds of scenarios. This was dually spawned from when I read the manga flashback scene when Naruto went to the playground to play with the other children, only to watch sadly as the parents took their children away. I wanted to glomp and reassure him so bad right then… so I made a chara and story line to do it for me! Heh, heh...
The next scene that made me think up this story was during the Sasuke/Naruto battle flashback scenes; after Sasuke’s clan was killed he went off to grieve/pout/sulk on the pier where he first gained his father’s praise and he catches Naruto looking at him. They both snub each other then, but both smile afterwards, clearly thinking ‘I’m not alone in being alone’. What if, instead of snubbing each other, one goes to talk to the other so they don’t have to be alone? What if, after that, they decided to live with each other, so that they are even less alone? This story combines those ‘what if’ scenarios.
Finally, the first chapter is a kind of ‘this is where I’m coming from’ chap. It sets up the story and background so that the next chapters won’t have you guys going, ‘Eh? Say what now? Where’d this come from?’ I’m going to be doing childhood scenes, and I’ll probably be jumping around, a lot. If/when I go back to the ‘current’ timeline (ie: when Sasuke and Naruto graduate and join cell 7) I’ll proceed in the standard way, but for the childhood scenes, it’s going to be when the idea hits me and what age I feel would work best with the prank. For example, the following chapter occurs when the boys are seven years old, the next chapter after this will happen when they are ten. I might then go to the present and do a little bit of plot and skip the fluff, I don’t know yet. Anyway, enjoy the cute childish fun of a failed prank!
~*~*~
“How did you talk me into this again?” Sasuke asked the figure perched high up in the tree that the child was leaning against.“’Cause Stick-In-The-Mud-Ebisu will look good in colors.” Naruto answered as he balanced the can of bright magenta paint on the trip board he and Sasuke had rigged. Naruto’s simple answer brought up an image in Sasuke’s mind of the stiff-neck covered in magenta, chartreuse and neon orange and blue paint. The dark-eyed child sniggered and conceded defeat, that image was the reason he had agreed to be look-out for this stunt in the first place.
He sobered and quickly opened his book on beginner-level jutsu seals as a small group of Chuunins passed by. That was the signal for Naruto to lay low until they passed. Sasuke sighed as they passed by. Even though he had agreed to this, this prank was not what Sasuke had had in mind when he’d bugged Naruto to snap out of his mood yesterday. Yesterday had been the 10th, the first year anniversary of Larania’s death. Naruto had spent the entire day moping in front of her grave stone. The other boy had spent the day keeping him company, but even respect for the honorable deceased had not been enough to keep Sasuke from getting bored. So he had spent the entire time pestering his fair-haired friend about his depression.
He’s boring right now. I thought he was the village trouble-maker. I thought he’d be trying to get me to help him in some terrific pranks. I thought we’d have a lot of fun, Naruto trying to prank, me trying to stop. But instead he sits and sighs all day, and sulks whenever I try and get him to do anything! Sasuke pouted at the thought and then looked up at a muffled exclamation.
“You okay?” he called.
“Yeah, the can slipped a little and pinched me.” Naruto called down in an insulted tone. Just then Sasuke heard the sound of people coming and hissed for Naruto to be quiet as he opened his book again. He would have been better off jumping up to join his adopted brother; the two who walked up the path were the Dreaded Pester Girls, Sakura and Ino.
“Oh! Sasuke-kun!” Sakura exclaimed.
“Sa-suke-kun!!” Ino cooed and wasted no time in glomping the object of her affection. Ack! Girl Cooties! Sasuke thought in alarm as he flailed, trying to get away. His alarm was deepened as Sakura puffed up in indignation and tried to drag her Sasuke away from that Ino. The dark-eyed boy then began a desperate struggle to get away from the two.
Abruptly though, the struggle ceased when Sakura let go suddenly, causing Sasuke to fall on top of Ino who let go in surprise. He took advantage of that and leapt off and away from the Pester Girl and stared at Sakura, who was pointing up at the thing that no one else until then had noticed; Naruto and his paint-drop rig.
“Oh, what are you doing?” She cried out, ignoring Ino’s protests of rough treatment. “You’re going to get into trouble!”
“Not if you don’t say anything!” Sasuke retorted as Naruto looked down at the two girls in panic. “Go away, you’re interfering! We don’t want you here!”
“You’re helping him?” Ino cried in horror, “Sasuke, how could you?”
“Easily,” he snapped back angrily, “Shoo! Go away! Go play with flowers or something! You’re in the way!”
“No!” Sakura exclaimed, causing both Ino and Sasuke to stare at her in shock. Sakura flushed at the attention, but pursued her agenda, “I can’t let you, you’ll get in deep trouble, helping that Naruto. I-“ she paused, rallying her courage, “I’m going to stop you!”
With that, she leapt up to the bottom-most branch and climbed her way up to where Naruto was. The blonde boy looked extremely panicked and confused, this wasn’t supposed to have happened! Sasuke was supposed to have diverted all attention down to him, the good studious boy studying his seals and away from Naruto at his work.
“No, wait, stop!” He cried out, trying to prevent Sakura from ripping up hours of hard work and planning. It had taken a lot of time last night for Sasuke and him to design a hidden rig that would spill the paint without dropping the cans. Naruto didn’t want to hurt anybody, just get a laugh out of their embarrassment. He also didn’t want to get caught at it, so this rig was special since it could be tripped at a distance. And now Sakura was trying to rip it apart!
Sasuke leapt up, followed by Ino, but both for different reasons. Sasuke was trying to help Naruto preserve their rig, but Ino was fighting both with Naruto and with Sakura, trying to get Sasuke’s attention focused on her. Needless to say, things dissolved into an all-out brawl as the four seven-year-old Ninjas-in-training each tried to pursue their own goals. That’s when the branch, weak already from being strained by the rig and an active child moving around on it, started to give way.
At first the children didn’t notice, then the branch gave an almighty protest at the weight and movement by letting out a loud groan. The children stopped all activity, which allowed them to hear the next noise, a loud pop; followed by a series of snaps. Right on the heels of the snaps came a deafening crack! With that declaration, the branch gave way entirely, spilling the four children and the many cans of paint onto the ground. Which was a steep slope. With a cleared road right beneath them. That led straight into the heart of the Konoha market area.
“WAAHH!!!” the four cried as they tumbled uncontrollably down the road along with the paint cans. People scattered right and left, hastily getting out of the way of the startling mass. Fortunately for the health of the four children they didn’t tumble for very long and the cans somehow missed hitting them. Unfortunately the thing that stopped them was a market stall, which was owned by the crankiest and most unforgiving old couple in Konoha. When Sasuke was able to get his eyes to focus and his aching head to comprehend what he saw, he noticed the fact that the couple didn’t seem too thrilled with the fact that their stall was now the brightest and most imaginatively decorated stall on the market street.
“Uh-oh.” Naruto said.
“Yeah.” Sasuke agreed.
“I told you’d get in trouble!” Sakura said in a frightened voice.
~*~*~
Sandaime had accomplished many things in his long years. He had successfully attempted many difficult tasks, things that others would have called impossible. Little fazed him, he knew that he just need to calmly focus on the task at hand, dissect it mentally, piece by piece and proceed appropriately. But right now he was terribly afraid he would fail at his current task: keeping a straight face and not laughing at the four paint-splattered children presented before him.This task was rendered even more difficult by the fact that he couldn’t bring himself to be angry at them, the couple who’s stall they had ‘improved’ had been a continuous thorn in his side. Immovably conservative, they refused to change their ways and protested any and every change that was made to the village and further refused to bring their market stall up to code.
So, in fact, Sandaime was thankful of the rather, ah, colorful children before him; their actions were going to force that obstinate, pig-headed, rock-brained couple to fix their stall or have the most imaginatively colored one on the market street. I just wish the boys had picked colors that were more complimentary. It was rather amusing really, how the colors seemed to have chosen the person it flattered least to splash the most. Chartreuse made an ugly highlight in Naruto’s already bright hair, magenta cast an unflattering contrast on Sasuke’s fair skin and dark hair. Neon blue and neon orange fought for dominance on pastel complexioned Ino and Sakura. Their appearance, in spite of the colors, was exceedingly comical and unbearably cute. But that only made Sandaime’s task of scolding and punishing them all the more difficult.
I believe that I’ve frowned sternly at them long enough, he thought as even the defiant Sasuke dropped his eyes in fearful submission. That was another interesting facet, how the four children’s demeanor shadowed at their personalities. Naruto was guilty and resigned; he’d been here before and had been scolded and dismissed as unimportant. He was clearly expecting more of the same, but didn’t want the others to suffer it. Sasuke was angry, defiant, and shamed; angry at the girls, defiant towards the Hokage and shamed at the mess that had been made of a quiet probably innocent prank. Sakura was scared and even more guilty than Naruto; this was all new to her, but she clearly felt that the reason the four of them were here was her fault. Ino was just confused and terrified, but then, she wasn’t as intelligent as the other three. Not that you could tell that Naruto is smarter than she is from their grades. But the complexity of his pranks makes up for that.
“What do you children have to say for yourselves?” Sandaime finally growled.
“It’s all his fault!” Ino screamed immediately, pointing at Naruto, who seemed to expect as much.
“It is not!” Sasuke cried back, just as loud and three times as furiously. “If you two hadn’t messed things up-!”
“Enough!” Sandaime rumbled threateningly. Sasuke and Ino shushed, Sasuke flushed with anger, Ino pale with fear. “Naruto, Sakura, have you anything to say?”
“It’s all my fault.” They chorused. They glanced at each other and Naruto motioned for Sakura to continue.
“It’s my fault.” She repeated soflty, “If I hadn’t been so foolish, none of this would have happened. I shouldn’t have tried to do what I did, I made a mess of things.”
Sandaime nodded, “Naruto, you’re turn.”
“It’s not Sakura’s fault,” Naruto mumbled, “it’s mine. It was my idea. I asked Sasuke to help me, even though he didn’t want to. If he hadn’t been there, the girls wouldn’t have tried to stop me. It’s my fault everybody’s here.”
By this point, Sasuke was practically prancing with the need to say something. Sandaime motioned for him to go ahead, least Sasuke explode.
“Neither of them are at fault!” He stated firmly, “I’m the one who tried to get Naruto to do something, I pestered him about it all day yesterday!” Sandaime sneaked a quick look at the calander and noted that yesterday had been the first year anniversary of Larania’s death. Sasuke continued, “All Naruto asked me to do was stand lookout for him, nothing more! If I’d done my job right, the girls won’t have seen Naruto and they wouldn’t have made such a mess of things! If Naruto is at all at fault, then I’m just as guilty and should be punished the same as him!”
The current Hokage looked at Sasuke with no little pleasure. The child was flushed and defiant, glaring at the Third, daring him to try anything. Sasuke was determined to protect Naruto, a thing that astonished and deeply touched the other boy, judging by the look on the blue-eyed child’s face. For a while there, I was afraid, what with all that had happened to him… Sandaime turned his mind back to the matter at hand. ...that fear is no longer a concern.
“You are all equally at fault in this matter, and will be punished equally.” Sandaime said. He had decided on what to do with them the moment he had received the report of the matter. He had called them here to see if there was anything more he needed to do. No worries on Naruto and Sakura, I’ll need to keep an eye on Sasuke and I’ll have to have a word with Ino’s parents to have them teach her responsibility. "Naruto, you spawned the idea. Sasuke, you encouraged and abetted Naruto in this. Sakura, Ino, you made this mess worse by trying to interfer physically instead of getting adult help or trying to talk the boys out of it.
“Your punishment is quiet simple, and I think you’ll agree that it’s appropriate. You will undo the damage you made with this debacle by repairing the damaged stall.” He paused as the children slumped in relief. With all the fuss, they feared that they would receive far worse. Then Sandaime dropped the other shoe, “You will do this under the direct supervision of the owners of the stall.” The children’s faces fell a mile, that couple was notorious for their hatred of children. “Be grateful it isn’t worse, there was a ‘request’ that you be flogged for this.”
Little wonder who had requested the flogging. But now that he’d filled them with fear and dread, time to lighten the mood a little. “Naruto, Sakura, I’m proud of you for trying to assume full responsibility. That will stand you in good stead in the future.” The two named perked up a little. “Sasuke, I’m also proud of you for your immediate defense of your friend, that will also stand you in good stead.” The dark-eyed boy straightened and looked up a bit.
“Now you girls, go get yourselves cleaned up, unless you want to start a new fashion trend.” He finished lightly. Sakura giggled a little and Ino affected horror at the thought that paint splatters could be a fashion trend. “Boys, I’d like to speak with you a little more.” The girls exited, looking worried for Sasuke's sake, and the boys approached the desk nervously.
Sandaime regarded the boys, feeling a little shame himself, especially on Naruto’s behalf. The day that Larania had adopted Naruto, she had confronted the Hokage with the very real possibility that the boy could become an even worse threat then Kyubi had been if he was continually treated in the way he had been. The phenomenal power of the demon with a human mind directing it; it was clearly a terrible weapon, one that could be used for Konoha, or against it. And one that cannot be coerced into use, only requested. And the village seems determined to turn Naruto completely against us.
Only Larania had clearly seen past the demon to the lonely little boy that Naruto truly was and was willing to love him. That was also a thing that she had shoved in Sandaime’s face. But she is dead now, retrieving another of the village’s precious resources, and one that could also be turned against us through neglect. Ever since the Massacre, Sandaime was fearful that Sasuke would suicide out of grief. Larania’s actions had canceled that fear, but brought out another; that without parental direction Sasuke would go rogue. That fear was still valid, even more so now that he spent all his time in Naruto-the-prankster’s company.
Or rather, it had been, until the carefully crafted blueprints of the rig Naruto had tried to make yesterday had been brought to Sandaime. It had been made with safety in mind, only the paint would have been allowed to fall, not the cans that held it. A truly harmless prank.
“I’m curious as to what you two were trying to do.” Sandaime said, bringing out the blueprints that had been taken from the boys’ home. “This is a very well thought-out structure, it’s amazing that two seven-year-old boys made it.” He smiled at them, trying to invite confidence. They need adult attention. They need to know that at least one adult likes them and wants to spend time with them. Even if I cannot spent much time caring for these two, so long as they know that I want to, they should respond. And they deserve to have attention paid to them.
The two glanced at each other, Naruto optimistic, Sasuke cautious. Naruto bounced closer. “We were going to give Stick-in-the-mud Ebisu more color.” Naruto smiled oh-so-innocently. Sandaime lost the battle he’d been fighting this entire interview and burst out laughing. Naruto grinned and giggled, Sasuke looked torn between laughing as well, and being scandalized. One look from Naruto caused him to giggle along as well.
“Very clever you two.” Sandaime approved, “You made a rig that would, ah, just brighten Ebisu a little without hurting him and from the looks of the remains it would have been ready by the time he was due back from his mission. And he may even have been tired enough to be unobservant, which would have made this prank successful!” The boys beamed at the praise. Naruto was practically wiggling like a puppy that had been petted instead of being beaten like it was expecting. In some ways, that was a true metaphor. Sasuke still looked slightly scandalized.
“Still,” Sandaime continued, “it would be nice if you turned that cleverness to your grades.” The boys wilted. “I have your reports here. I know that both of you have had completely reasonable cause to allow your grades to slip, but you both should be recouping them by now.”
Until Larania had entered Naruto’s life, his grades, to put not to fine a point to it, had sucked. With her expectations and praise, the blue-eyed boy’s grades had risen to above average, a shock to everyone but her. With her death, he had reverted back to the way he had been. Sasuke was mimicking that decline, only since he had had perfect scores, being the first in his class; his decline was even more disheartening.
Sandaime was hoping to reverse that trend. “I know that Mizuki isn’t the best at describing techniques, so if you have any questions I could help you with…” Sandaime trailed off, leaving the table open for the boys. They both looked stunned; this was the last thing that they expected. Sasuke took advantage first, asking about the Bushin no Jutsu technique. Sandaime helped clarify it for them until he was called away for “very, very boring” paperwork that was piling up. He smiled as he watched the highly animated young boys leave; phase one in recapturing the two was a complete success. And they deserved every bit of time and attention he could give them.
~*~*~
The next day found the four mischief makers at the ‘Rainbow Colored Stall’ as it had been called since the debacle yesterday. The couple was… less than popular with their neighbors. The two old-timers greeted the boys with fiercely scowling faces and the old woman immediately began to brow-beat them, then turned around and poor-babied the girls. The old man scowled and brow-beat all four of the children as they worked. They had to tear down a lot of the old rotted wood, replace it with new and repaint the entire structure a drab, dark brown-gray.The children had come just after dawn, were given a brief food and rest break at noon and were sent off at sunset with dire warnings of what would happen if they were late tomorrow ringing in their ears.
Sasuke was burning for some kind of revenge well before noon.
“We have to get them back somehow!” he growled to Naruto in a low voice, making sure he wasn’t overheard. Naruto nodded, he’d been thinking of a way to get at that woman from the moment she started playing favorites.
“I think I have something, but we'll have to be careful.” He assured Sasuke. The plan Naruto had was going to hinge on whether or not they could acquire certain books. He wouldn’t soon forget how pleased the Hokage had been with them over the fact that the paint prank was essentially harmless. Naruto would do anything to get that kind of praise again. So the idea Naruto had was designed to scare the snot out of that bitchy woman, but leave her unharmed.
“What’s your idea?” Sasuke demanded, eager to begin. Naruto whispered his plan to his oath-brother, Sasuke argued that “couldn’t we get something that would at least give her a rash?” Naruto stayed firm on his no-harm rule and Sasuke eventually agreed. What they had planned shouldn’t get them into too much trouble, while what Sasuke wanted to do might get them severly punished; again.
“But we’ll have to wait until a week after we’re done working.” Sasuke added.
“Why?” Naruto asked.
“That way there will be less to connect us to it, and she won’t be expecting anything.” He explained, “She’s probably on guard for anything from us, but if we wait awhile, she’ll drop that guard.” Naruto nodded, it made perfect sense for him. “Now, how much money do you have, we can start now.”
~*~*~
One week after the four children had finished repairs on the stall, which now finally was up to code, but still looked terrible, a high shriek rang through the air. A number of young Ninjas ran towards the source of the scream and burst into the residence of one of the most cantankerous old couples the village held. There, in the bedroom was a sight designed to horrify even the most hardened of Jounins. The old, fat, ugly woman was standing in the middle of a huge pile of live snakes, spiders and scorpions; in her underwear.One white-haired Jounin with his headband slanting over one eye quickly excused himself with the excuse that he had to be sick. The real reason was so he could laugh. The woman was pitching a fit for no reason, all the snakes were non-venomous, and the spiders and scorpions were all of a kind with very weak venom; all the creatures were completely harmless. When he reported this later to the Hokage, the old man nearly laughed himself sick and told the young Jounin to go fetch the boys so he could praise them on their caution and beat them for wasting time. Kakashi arched a brow, and gestured for the young Chuunin at the door to bring in the perpetrators. The two had given themselves away by being too close to the scene and too jubilant over the results.
“You two!” Sandaime growled in mock threat.
“Yes?” the two replied in mock innocence from where they dangled like puppies in Iruka’s hand. The three adults couldn’t help but laugh over the them. Trouble they might be, but damn were they cute!