Look Underneath
Title: Look Underneath
Genre: Friendship/Family/Romance
Pairing(s): USUK
Word Count: 6,630
Rating/Warnings: 12/15, swearing, mentions of death
Summary: Naruto!AU. Arthur is asked to train Alfred in the art of genjutsu. A connection is made. Done for the ' I'll Make A Man Out of You' prompt.
"You will not take a genin team?" The Sandaime Hokage asked politely but Arthur still kept himself stiff. There were requests and then there were requests. To turn down a request from the Hokage was almost unheard of.
"With all due respect, I don't think that my teaching skills are up to taking on three impressionable genin. Maybe I should start a little bigger and a little more able to handle everything. Besides, I know you want me to take Sasuke's team and I think that would be unfair on the other two team members." Arthur was firm on this point, he knew that the Hokage wanted him to be Sasuke's sensei to help steer him away from the path of vengeance. Arthur was working on that, but more in Sasuke's personal life than anything else. And he would always favour Sasuke over the other two teammates and that was just a breeding ground for resentment in the team, which was the last thing any team needed, and especially Sasuke.
"I am not going to sway you on this matter, am I?" The Hokage asked with wry amusement. He did not seem too annoyed at the disruption to his plans (and Arthur knew that he had plans, every good Hokage did) and so he must consider his back-up plan just as good.
"No, sir, you are not." Arthur relaxed slightly when it looked like the Hokage was going to let the matter drop but there was a good reason that Sarutobi Hiruzen had been made Hokage. He knew how to mislead and to box someone into a corner so they did what he wanted while still thinking it was their idea.
"But I think that this request will be right up your alley." Arthur stopped himself from showing any emotion at the cheerful tone that the Hokage used. There would be no getting out of this one. "A chunnin, who is jounin level in taijutsu, wants to practice against someone who is genjutsu specialist. I want you to help him to recognise and resist genjutsus."
"I'm sorry, I must be hearing things. You want me to spar with this chuunin and help to train him. Not that I'm against people expanding their training but why doesn't the chunin come to me directly? Why is this going through you?" This was very unusual to have such a request go through the Hokage. Normally, ninjas would go and find the person they wanted to learn from and either bribe, blackmail or exchange skills for the training.
"The ninja in question mentioned it in passing to me. He has had no luck with Kurenai, I think she is wary of another taijutsu specialist after she helped Gai train and I thought of you as our other resident genjutsu specialist. You are Konoha's best."
"You're wrong," Arthur said slowly as he processed this information. The Hokage raised one eyebrow in a silent question. "I am second to Uchiha Itachi." When they were younger, they had sparred together and Itachi used to help Arthur develop his skills. It had been a little humbling at first that a boy four years younger than him could teach him anything about genjutsu but Arthur quickly got over the fact and tried to learn everything he could.
"Uchiha Itachi is a missing nin. It would not be a good idea to praise his skills so easily." The Hokage's warning was heard and Arthur nodded. He knew that the Hokage had more secrets than anyone in the village but Arthur trusted him like he never would the other Council members. They were so far above the ninjas that they could control them like pawns with no remorse whatsoever, no longer able to faces to the list of names on the memorial stone, while the Hokage met and knew each one of the ninjas that he controlled. It made him more careful about human life, something that was not the Council members priority. For this, Arthur could trust him with his suspicions on what happened on the night of the Uchiha massacre.
"You know of my thoughts, Hokage. There is no reason to speak them out loud." The Hokage nodded and the tension in the room started to drain at Arthur's concession. They moved on to more pleasant topics.
"The chuunin in question is called Jones." Arthur thought that was a strange name, but since his was 'Kirkland', he really could not say anything. "He lives one floor up from Uzumaki Naruto."
"Sasuke's little friend?" Arthur asked, his eyebrows shooting up. Living in the same building as the Jinchuuriki, not many ninja or civilians chose to do that. Last time he had gone to that building, half the flats had been empty. A few members of ANBU lived there, taking advantage of the isolation and Arthur knew that Mitarashi Anko lived there as well, pretending that the rooms surrounding hers were empty because of Naruto rather than her.
The Hokage nodded and Arthur wondered about Jones. He was chuunin so, according to some circles of ninja, he was duelling with death by living right above the Jinchuuriki. Either he did not believe the rumours, or he was unforgivably arrogant, or a complete idiot. For Arthur's sake, he hoped it was the first one.
"He is on a mission right now, but he will return by tonight. If you could introduce yourself tomorrow morning, it will allow him time to relax after his mission," the Hokage said and Arthur smirked. He had agreed to the request from the Hokage but he would do things his way.
"I will take your advice into account," Arthur replied. It was another way of saying that he was going to listen and then go ahead and do what he wanted anyway. It seemed like the Hokage understood the hidden meaning for he gave Arthur a look before returning to his paperwork. Arthur took this as tacit agreement and dismissed himself, flying out of the window towards Jones' lodgings. He had enough time to get acquainted with the flat before Alfred returned home. A good first impression was essential.
***
After completing the mission, seeing one of his teammates get injured and reporting to the Hokage, not necessarily in that order, Alfred was completely exhausted. He was perfectly happy to just go home and collapse into bed for about a week. He used his last little bit of chakra to get outside his building as fast as he could.
"Hey, Alfred! Were you just on a mission?" Naruto was as excitable as ever and normally Alfred would be happy to chat and pass on some of his wisdom to the younger generation but collapsing in the hallway was not something he wanted to do and it would leave Naruto with a bad impression of his skills.
Still, he mustered up a smile for the excitable little Academy student. He didn't seem to get a lot of those. "Yeah, I was. Listen, Naruto, I really exhausted so I'll tell you everything I can tomorrow, okay?" Naruto looked downcast but Alfred knew he understood. He would treat the boy to ramen tomorrow to make up for it.
He climbed the stairs at a slow, civilian pace and managed to make his way into his apartment, avoiding the traps as he did so. He yawned as he set the coffee maker to quite late the next morning and then froze as he felt a foreign chakra in his living room. It most definitely was not there before so either it had come in without Alfred knowing or it had been hidden so well that he had not picked up on it.
All this thinking happened in a split second and Alfred turned to threw a kunai at the intruder. The sight of a Leaf headband tied on the stranger's arm stopped him from letting the next kunai fly but he still kept it up and ready to use if need be.
"Who are you and why are you in my home?" Alfred demanded, trying to sound like he was not completely shattered and out of chakra. Asking nicely for enemies to come back when you were feeling more rested never worked. He remembered when he had tried that with Genma-sensei. Genma had chased him all over the village.
"Your traps were easy to get through. You avoided them when you came in, even in your exhausted state, so you even realise that there are holes in your traps, yet you do nothing to fix them. Laziness, maybe?" The stranger sounded like he was mocking Alfred and his grip tightened on his kunai. The intruder was sitting in his chair (his favourite chair) and he had not even considered Alfred a big enough threat to reach for his weapons.
"You still haven't answered my questions," Alfred replied, willing himself not to get riled up.
He could swear the universe hated him or something. He knew that he had told Matt that he wished a potential boyfriend would just drop into his lap because he didn't have time to find one but that had been a joke! Couldn't the universe take a joke? Even though potential boyfriend was very nice-looking, even his eyebrows had a certain kind of charm and why on Earth was he thinking the intruder into his home as potential boyfriend material?! He really was exhausted.
The worst thing was that the intruder was smirking at him, like he knew his thoughts. Bastard. "That'll work," Alfred muttered to himself and the stranger tilted his head, the look on his face openly curious. He was obviously putting it on for Alfred since any ninja worth his salt could hide his emotions at least a little bit.
"What will work? Are you thinking up an attack plan, Jones?" The man sounded so amused at this that Alfred debated attacking just to relieve some of his anger but then the saner, less sleep-deprived part of his mind spoke up.
"I was thinking that called you 'bastard' would work until I knew your real name," Alfred replied honestly. His muscles were starting to scream in protest at the long, long day and he could not be bothered to play word games with this bastard.
"My parents were married when they had me." This random statement threw Alfred a little before he realised that the man was responding to his insult.
"I answered your questions, so answer mine."
"This isn't a game, Jones. I don't have to do anything." There was a double meaning behind those last words but frankly, Alfred did not want to try and unravel it. "But, I do have somewhere to be and as fun as this, I probably should get to the point."
"The point would be nice," Alfred agreed, letting his body relax marginally but still kept the kunai raised.
"My name is Kirkland. I have been informed by the Hokage that you are looking for a genjutsu expert to spar with so you can learn to defend yourself against them. Now, I know that I am not the best there is but I am good and since Kurenai is unavailable, we are stuck with each other. If you would like to learn, I will be at Area Seven at eight thirty tomorrow morning. I will be there for half an hour, if you are not there in that time, I will leave and will not look back. Do you understand?"
Thoughts were running through Alfred's mind at the moment. They ranged from the angry (did the Hokage think he was some kind of kid that needed help training?) to the inappropriate (Kirkland looks really hot in a stern sensei kind of way) to the completely bewildered (why did Kirkland even agree to this) but after a few seconds, his mind cottoned on to the fact that Kirkland had asked him a question and was starting to look a bit irritated at the lack of answer.
"Yes, I understand," Alfred replied, still slightly stunned. Kirkland nodded once and disappeared from sight completely. Alfred did not put his kunai down until five long minutes had passed and there was no sign of Kirkland lurking in a corner somewhere. That had to be one of the weirdest experiences of his life. And did he say that he was a genjutsu expert?
Knowing that his day off tomorrow was officially cancelled, Alfred felt strangely happy about it.
***
The next morning, Arthur saw Sasuke to the Academy, after the usual protests of him being too old to have his guardian do that, and went on his way to Jones. He was early, it was only eight o'clock but it would give him time to lay the genjutsus before Jones arrived. He had to look underneath the underneath, as Kakashi was fond of spouting at every opportunity, and spot the genjutsus. It would also give Arthur a chance to see how far along he was.
Jones appeared five minutes early, looking tired but excited. His emotions were better hidden than they were last night but they were still obvious to whoever looked hard enough. Arthur felt slightly guilty about telling him everything yesterday when Jones was completely exhausted but then Jones started to look around the training ground, staying completely relaxed as if training had not even started yet and Arthur's guilt vanished. He had a lot of work to do.
He created a clone that appeared behind Jones. "First lesson, find the genjutsu." Jones spun around, taking a kunai as he did so, much like he did last night. The clone dispelled but Jones stayed on his guard. At least the boy wasn't completely hopeless.
What followed was an extremely boring few hours for Arthur. Jones came no closer to finding where he was or even discovering a genjutsu unless it came up and attacked him and Arthur was thinking that he had better get mission pay for this. Or at least a favour in return to be used whenever he wanted because he was definitely not giving up this much of his time for free.
Eventually, Jones found him at the base of the tree where he had sat down, wanting to enjoy the sun's rays. Arthur had watched dispassionately as Jones had looked at him, triumphant at last. He did so hate to break Jones' bubble. Actually, that was a lie. He greatly enjoyed it.
"Tell me, Jones," Arthur said casually and it pleased him that Jones' smug look disappeared to be replaced with a more wary one. So, he was learning about Arthur already. "Do you know the meaning of the words: eyes, chakra and dispel?" Jones knew Arthur was up to something, you could see in his eyes, but he could not figure out what. He nodded though, playing along and Arthur decided that he liked Jones. "Then, next time, please feel free to use any and all of these words when you're trying to find a genjutsu."
Jones got a stubborn look in his eye and Arthur hoped he would argue with him. Then he could show Jones exactly how good he was at genjutsu. He stood by his words to the Hokage, Itachi was the best genjutsu expert there was, but he was a close second. He and Kurenai frequently sparred and more often than not, it would end up in a tie, both of them panting from chakra exhaustion and ending up resorting to taijutsu. To Arthur's surprise, the look in Jones' eye faded and he just nodded.
"That is interesting," Arthur said, staring at Jones. Jones flushed pink and Arthur thought that was very becoming on Jones' face. A moment later, he pulled back from that thought, not wanting to analyse it at all.
"What's interesting?"
"Jones, we have a long way to go," Arthur said, ignoring the question. It would be hard to explain anyway. Itachi always said that the strangest things interested him and Sasuke had backed up his brother's opinion.
"Don't call me Jones," the boy said seriously and Arthur cocked his head to one side, curious about this sudden change. "Call me Alfred."
It was an odd request but there was no reason it could not be honoured. "Fine. Alfred, we have a lot of work to do. Read up some more about genjutsus, recover your strength and meet me here the same time tomorrow." Arthur stood and started to walk off the training grounds. He had some errands to run before he went to meet Sasuke after the end of Academy. He had also promised Sasuke that he would show him another genjutsu.
"Wait a minute," Alfred shouted and Arthur halted, looking over his shoulder. "Can I call you something else?" It was obvious what Alfred was hinting at and Arthur blinked. Normally someone waited to be offered that courtesy but Alfred just jumped straight in without any forethought.
Alfred confused him slightly. He was loud when he should be quiet, emotional when he should be blank and needy when he should be distance. What was wrong with the boy? As a matter of fact, what was wrong with him in the fact that he did not want to refuse outright? He could not say yes, he had barely known Alfred for a day but he imagined the look on Alfred's face if he said no and it stirred his stomach slightly.
"When you can detect the genjutsu at a speed which I'm happy with, then you can change the way you address me," he replied eventually before leaving the training grounds altogether. A reward if Alfred chose to look at it that way. Maybe it would motivate him.
When Arthur picked up Sasuke from the Academy, his thoughts were focused on Alfred and what sort of training they would do tomorrow, if Alfred managed to find the genjutsu within the morning. Sasuke, the annoyingly perceptive kid he was, picked up on this.
"What are you thinking about, Arthur?" He asked back in their home, as they started to make dinner. Or rather, Sasuke made dinner and Arthur oversaw. It was obvious that he had waited to say this until it was just the two of them and no distractions. Arthur did not like lying, especially when it was not part of his job, and he tried to avoid it whenever possible.
"I have agreed to train this chuunin in how to battle against a genjutsu master. I am thinking about what I will teach him tomorrow if he can overcome the first hurdle." Sasuke looked surprised. Arthur was not known for being social, apart from at the bar where everyone was his friend after a few drinks, and this was obviously something new. He also looked displeased but Arthur was confused as to why.
"First hurdle?" His question seemed reluctant and he scowled at the tomatoes he was chopping as if they had wronged him. Arthur was completely mystified. Then again, Sasuke did that to him frequently, but not as much as his friend, Naruto Uzumaki. Well, Arthur said friend, but he was more like hated rival. Like him and Francis.
"Find the genjutsu," Arthur said and Sasuke smiled unwillingly. He was familiar with that hurdle, it had been a popular game for Arthur and Sasuke after the massacre.
"Poor chuunin." Sasuke was solemn but Arthur, having known Uchiha all his life and been friends with Itachi for years, could see the smile trying to pull the corners of his mouth up. He did not smile as much as he did before the massacre but Arthur could hardly blame him for that.
After saying that, Sasuke seemed uninterested in the topic so Arthur let him be. They ate supper in a comfortable silence before they settled down on the sofa for their usual night ritual.
"What story do you want to hear tonight?" Arthur asked, staring up at the little glow-in-the-dark dots they had added to the ceiling to resemble the stars outside. If they could not live in a place with a roof they could lay on all night, then they would have to improvise. At least, that was how Arthur explained it to Sasuke. The truth was that he had been trying to draw post-massacre Sasuke out of his shell and mapping the night sky had acted as a distraction quite well.
"I want to hear a story about Itachi," Sasuke said softly and Arthur drew a breath in sharply. Ever since he had screamed at Sasuke to look underneath the underneath, to not take Itachi's words at face value and actually think for a moment about the boy Itachi was before, Sasuke had asked about his brother on a regular basis. He seemed to be running through something in his head and it was taking him a while to process. Arthur did not mind, the memories were painful but happy at the same time.
Arthur tried to think of a story that Sasuke would like and that he had not already heard before. He could not think of one, so instead he told Sasuke something that not many people knew about Itachi.
"Itachi was a pacifist. He saw violence from a very young age and that is how he activated his Sharingan. After that, no matter how much his father pushed him to join ANBU or how many missions he went on, he still wanted peace. Itachi was a very good ninja, but it destroyed him inside to be so." There was stunned silence from Sasuke.
"That is why you are so sure... about Itachi... and - and that night," Sasuke whispered to the ceiling. Arthur said nothing, letting the silence speak for itself. This fact, that had been known by Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Mikoto as well as himself, had been guessed by a few others. Itachi had been naturally secretive and it had been hard to pry even his favourite colour of him, let along a belief that went against everything they as ninjas had stood for.
"I think that Itachi was lying that night. I think he was lying to protect something infinitely more precious. You and the safety of his home. Protect from what, I do not know." Arthur almost shrugged but then remembered that he detested the gesture and it was useless here considering that Sasuke could not see him.
"Arthur," Sasuke said softly, "that is my new ambition. I want to find out the truth about what happened that night. Whether Itachi was lying or telling the truth, I need to know."
"Join the club, Sasuke," Arthur retorted. "Even if he was lying, Itachi will die to protect that secret. And if he does, that secret will die with him. You're going to need help."
"That's what I have you for," Sasuke replied, with the arrogance that the Uchiha was so known for. Arthur restrained himself from throwing a cushion at Sasuke, like he had done frequently with Itachi. At least with Sasuke it would actually connect, while Itachi always dodged with a slightly confused smirk.
"Don't be stupid, Sasuke. You're going to need more than me. You're going to need allies and that is what you have your team for." Arthur could almost picture the face Sasuke was making now but he would wait to see the face Sasuke made when he got news about who was in his team. Arthur had heard a little rumour and knew that it would be a team he could count on, even if they drove him up the wall sometimes. Arthur had that with Francis and Elizabeta. Maybe he could bribe Iruka to take a picture.
***
Alfred surprised him the next morning when Arthur arrived at his usual early time and he could sense Alfred already there. The boy could sense that there was no genjutsu anyway around, at least he had that going for him, but he was tense, as if Arthur was going to pop out of the trees at any time. That would be fun to do, but maybe some other time after Alfred had been lured into a false sense of security.
"Hello, Alfred," Arthur greeted with a smile. "Are we wide awake this morning?" The glare was unusual on Alfred's face but it was fun to get a reaction out of him. "Alright, I see that you are eager to get down to business, so let's start. Find the genjutsu."
Arthur dispelled his clone from where he was up in the tree and he almost laughed at the face that Alfred made as he realised that he had been fooled again. The boy immediately started searching for the genjutsu. Even from yesterday, there was a noticeable difference. He was still charging everywhere, a habit that Arthur tried to discourage with genjutsus about tar pits, but he was actually doing some constructive searching for the genjutsu. Recognising genjutsus was coming along, resisting them was the next step.
Arthur cast a genjutsu as if Alfred saw a glimpse of green jacket out of the corner of his eye and turned to face it. The jutsu took him in the opposite direction from Arthur but he realised quicker than Arthur thought he would and came charging straight back. For a moment he stood there, looking thoughtful and then he started towards the same tree where Arthur was. Still cautious, still hesitant but growing more confident as he walked forward.
Quickly, Arthur cast a genjutsu to make it look like the world was shaking before Alfred's eyes and then cast a water jutsu to disguise his movement. Part of the thing of recognising genjutsu was recognising when something was not an illusion and reacting accordingly. The steam was real and could potentially hurt Alfred, or at the very least, make him uncomfortable.
It looked like he figured this fact out quickly and carried out a wind jutsu to blow the steam away. Luckily, Arthur had moved as soon as the steam had covered his hiding place and so he was on the other side of the clearing when Alfred was done. Instead of walking forward like Arthur expected him to do, continuing on his path, Alfred stopped and thought for a moment before looking around the clearing. He looked in Arthur's direction and a smile lit up his face. It seemed like he had found the genjutsu.
They had already been at it for two hours so Arthur deliberately copied his position for yesterday, relaxed against the trunk of the tree as Alfred dispelled the genjutsu.
"You have now upgraded from horrific to terrible. Well done." Arthur's words were meant to sound sarcastic but they came out a lot more admiring than he wanted them to be.
"A speed you're happy with?" Alfred hinted and Arthur blanked for a moment on what he meant before remembering the words from the previous day. The boy had memorised them?
"No," Arthur said flatly and Alfred looked downcast, like a cowered puppy. It was a horrible sight to see. "Closer than yesterday but still no." Arthur eventually conceded some of his thoughts, comforting himself with the fact that Alfred would be put through his paces this afternoon. "At least we didn't waste the whole morning doing it so I can actually teach you something else."
"Ooo, what is it? Is it that fire genjutsu that you used on me? Or maybe that tar-pit one? Or the shadow one? I have the idea of adding more shadows to it so it freaks people out even more!" Arthur was taken aback at Alfred's enthusiasm but found it almost... endearing. But he was not going to think about it now.
"Why don't we start on dispelling higher-strength genjutsus and then work on chakra control? If you get the hang of both of those, then I might consider teaching you a genjutsu." Arthur thought he was being perfectly reasonable so when Alfred pouted - pouted- at him, he scowled back.
"You're not going to teach me any genjutsus?" Alfred asked, the disappointment plain his voice. It was strange; Arthur wanted to teach him genjutsus straight away and make him do chakra control exercises for a month at the same time. Sympathy and irritation warred with each other.
"I was told that you need to learn to recognise and defeat genjutsus, not learn any yourself. Until I know your chakra control, I won't be able to know how good you are at genjutsu anyway," Arthur answered as calmly as possible. He felt like his voice was controlled and calm. "If you don't want to do that, I guess you can have fun learning genjutsu without a teacher." Arthur made like he was about to stand and Alfred put his hands in a 'wait' gesture.
"I'm sorry! Don't go, I want you as my teacher." Alfred looked so thoroughly panicked at the thought of Arthur leaving, that Arthur felt a warm feeling in him that made him want to smile and go and have dinner with Alfred.
This warm feeling had to be stopped. Maybe working Alfred until he dropped would do it.
"So, chakra control. How good would you say yours is?" Arthur moved on with the subject, pointedly not dwelling on Alfred's answer. Alfred hesitated and then sat down, a few feet in front of Arthur. Arthur raised one eyebrow but made no comment apart from this.
"Erm, okay I guess. It's not one of my strengths and I haven't really focused on it that much." Arthur smiled what he knew was a creepy smile. Alfred shivered at that smile.
"Have you ever done tree climbing or water walking?" Alfred looked a little confused and Arthur's smile widened. "Perfect."
***
This was it. This was his breaking point. From here on out, he didn't care whether some great big ninja used a genjutsu to sneak up on him and stab him in the back. That could not be more torturous than doing genin-level chakra control exercises that apparently his sensei had forgotten to tell the team about and finding that he was completely rubbish at them.
He dragged his way back from training, completely knackered as if had spent the morning with Gai and his little mimic, Rock Lee. At the moment, he felt like he could just lie down in the street and fall asleep, no matter how dirty or uncomfortable it was. And it was very dirty, he was pretty sure that he had seen the dead body of a rodent decomposing back in the middle of the street.
"Hello, Alfred!" Haruno Sakura, much too perky for his mood, greeted him as she walked down the street. It was his own fault for not going at ninja speed over the rooftops.
"Morning, Sakura." He finished the sentence with a yawn, although he tried to cover it so she would not think he was being rude. Anko had cleared him of that idea very quickly. He had no idea where she had got the snake from and he really did not want to know. Ever.
"It's afternoon, Alfred," Sakura pointed out kindly. Alfred nodded, not really caring at the moment.
"Got a new genjutsu teacher. Likes me to work hard." The perverted part of his brain (completely Kiku's fault) piped up with suggestions for other things that Kirkland likes to work hard at. He quashed it ruthlessly. "So, how was your day at the Academy?"
"It was the same as usual. But our Final Exam is coming up soon and I'm so excited!" Sakura squealed and Alfred wavered as his eardrums took a beating. "I hope I'm on a team with Sasuke!"
"Yeah, me too." Sasuke had to be on a team with at least one girl and Alfred personally thought it would be hilarious if the boy got a girl that had one of the worst crushes on him. Sakura smiled at him gratefully before her expression turned worried.
"But, Alfred, about Naruto. He still can't produce a viable clone yet and without that he can't pass the exam." Sakura had come a long way from when she was insulting Naruto at every turn. After Alfred had caught her doing that, he had called her high, screechy voice 'annoying' and left her tied to the top of the tree for an evening. Somehow she had become friends with both him and Naruto from that, even though Alfred was not quite sure why. But then, Sakura's closest girl friend was Yamanaka Ino and they fought all the time.
"Hey, I'll work on it with him. Where is he now?" Alfred asked, resigned to not getting that nap he wanted. Sakura looked less worried and Alfred smiled at the girl. She was sweet, if a bit of an obsessive person (mostly with one certain Uchiha) and now that Naruto was one of her friends/rivals, she would look after him.
"On the Academy training grounds, last time I saw him." Alfred nodded, thanking the girl before disappearing off, heading straight towards the Academy. Naruto was very obsessive about training and liked to wear himself out to the point of exhaustion. He was worse than Alfred himself because he only had two modes: on and off. On mode meant he was hyperactive and loud, off mode normally meant he was unconscious, asleep or so exhausted that he was unable to move.
True to form, Naruto was there collapsed on the ground, with his arms and legs spread-eagled and looking up at the sky.
"Final Exam, huh?" Alfred said as he sank down onto the grass next to Naruto. Oh, it felt very comfy. Probably not as comfy as his bed would be but it was definitely better than the dirty street.
"Yeah. How am I going to pass when I can't even do the clone jutsu?" Alfred could not think of any magic words that would help, nothing would make it better apart from knowing how to do the clone jutsu. But Naruto sounded so defeated and something in Alfred rebelled at that happening, so he decided to focus on the second issue rather than the first.
"Then we had better get to work." Alfred's voice was firm as he could make it. He never doubted Naruto; this time around he would graduate and become a ninja. Naruto turned his head to look at Alfred, eyes squinted against the sun and light reflecting off his goggles.
"Do you really believe so?" Naruto sounded so hopeful and Alfred was glad that he was able to relieve his worries.
"I wouldn't say if it wasn't true." They stared at each for a moment and then a large, toothy grin appeared on Naruto's face.
"Then I guess I have a new awesome teacher. It's not fair that someone like Sasuke gets his own guardian that teaches him all these cool jutsus. I want to learn some cool jutsus too!" Naruto was coming dangerously close to whining and Alfred held up his hand for silence. It was obeyed instantly.
"Let's just focus on passing the exam, okay?" Alfred joked, putting his hand down to show that Naruto could talk if he wanted to.
"Okay!" Naruto agreed brightly before he bounced up with his inexhaustible chakra reserves. Alfred pulled himself up with a groan. He definitely was not getting that nap, was he?
***
Arthur was quite impressed. It had been weeks and Alfred was still going, still returning to each practice and gaining steps every day. Kurenai had remarked on it once when it was another case of 'find the genjutsu'.
"He is very determined, isn't he?" She had asked as she stopped to ask Arthur if he would come with her to the new teashop that had opened. He had refused, due to training and recommended that she took Asuma instead.
"Yes, he is," Arthur had replied, unable to believe that Alfred continued to surprise him each and every day.
"He reminds me of that blonde Academy student, the Uzumaki kid." Kurenai's voice was steady, portraying none of the hatred and fear that civilians felt towards Naruto. However, she had lost a sister to the Kyuubi attack so there was no way of knowing how she really felt towards him.
"The one who is going to be Hokage?" Arthur asked casually. He had heard about him from Sasuke and had overheard him at a ramen stall in the middle of Konoha. He was another reason he told Sasuke to look underneath the underneath. Ninjas like Naruto, and Alfred to some extent, always got underestimated and that is when they would rise to defeat you. Arthur had learnt his lesson about that.
"You sound sure about it." And Kurenai sounded amused. Arthur shifted slightly, getting restless as he saw Alfred getting close to his hiding place.
"I'm not sure that he can do it, but at the same time, I'm not sure he can't do. We'll just have to wait and see." Kurenai had given him an amused smile before disappearing without another word. She was right though, Alfred and Naruto had a lot in common.
Now it was two weeks after that conversation and Arthur had just put the genjutsu over the entire arena. Alfred had located the last genjutsu very quickly yesterday so Arthur had set up a large area genjutsu and then laid several smaller genjutsus underneath. He watched from a safe distance as Alfred unravelled each one and dispelled it. His form was perfect and he dispelled each genjutsu with practiced ease, the chakra control needed coming more naturally to him now than it did.
It was a strange sort of feeling, the pride of a teacher watching their student surpass even their expectations. It was remarkably like every time Arthur taught Sasuke another genjutsu and he would pick it up astonishingly fast, even without the Sharingan. Sasuke was gifted, but in a different way to Itachi. Arthur told him this often, hoping to make sure that he understood it completely before he went around comparing himself.
Of course, what he felt towards Alfred was very different from what he felt towards Sasuke. Sasuke was a younger brother to him, someone he would protect, even from Konoha itself if he had to, but with Alfred, it was something very different, but almost as strong. It was not bad different, but it was strange and unusual. Arthur did not know what to think.
As he mulled over his feelings (a foolish thing to do in the middle of training), Alfred reached his hiding place and dispelled the last genjutsu with a triumphant shout.
"I did it! I found you! That has to be my fastest time yet!" Alfred crowed and Arthur looked at his watch. His eyebrows shot up; Alfred had completed that in twenty minutes. He was right, that was his fastest time and definitely up to scratch.
"Alfred," Arthur said, drawing Alfred's attention away from the cheering and towards him. "Please call me Arthur." For a moment, Arthur thought that Alfred had forgotten the promise Arthur had made and this made him feel strangely hurt and disappointed. But then, Alfred's face had split into a wide grin that seemed to attract sunlight to him and he was pulling Arthur up into a hug and it was brilliant.
"Arthur!" Alfred yelled, laughing after he did so. Having no idea what he was laughing up, Arthur waited patiently until he had finished. Alfred stared down at him with intense blue eyes. "Would you like to go somewhere to eat with me?"
"Yes," Arthur answered without thinking, a crime for any ninja worth his salt. Alfred did look very happy and the training as far as recognising and defeating genjutsus was finished. It would be nice to be Alfred's friend.
Yes, I like the thought of Arthur and Itachi being best friends. And Alfred and Naruto uniting to show everyone what they're made of. I would have done some more research into genjutsu if I had more time and I wasn't falling asleep on my feet. Enjoy!
Genre: Friendship/Family/Romance
Pairing(s): USUK
Word Count: 6,630
Rating/Warnings: 12/15, swearing, mentions of death
Summary: Naruto!AU. Arthur is asked to train Alfred in the art of genjutsu. A connection is made. Done for the ' I'll Make A Man Out of You' prompt.
"You will not take a genin team?" The Sandaime Hokage asked politely but Arthur still kept himself stiff. There were requests and then there were requests. To turn down a request from the Hokage was almost unheard of.
"With all due respect, I don't think that my teaching skills are up to taking on three impressionable genin. Maybe I should start a little bigger and a little more able to handle everything. Besides, I know you want me to take Sasuke's team and I think that would be unfair on the other two team members." Arthur was firm on this point, he knew that the Hokage wanted him to be Sasuke's sensei to help steer him away from the path of vengeance. Arthur was working on that, but more in Sasuke's personal life than anything else. And he would always favour Sasuke over the other two teammates and that was just a breeding ground for resentment in the team, which was the last thing any team needed, and especially Sasuke.
"I am not going to sway you on this matter, am I?" The Hokage asked with wry amusement. He did not seem too annoyed at the disruption to his plans (and Arthur knew that he had plans, every good Hokage did) and so he must consider his back-up plan just as good.
"No, sir, you are not." Arthur relaxed slightly when it looked like the Hokage was going to let the matter drop but there was a good reason that Sarutobi Hiruzen had been made Hokage. He knew how to mislead and to box someone into a corner so they did what he wanted while still thinking it was their idea.
"But I think that this request will be right up your alley." Arthur stopped himself from showing any emotion at the cheerful tone that the Hokage used. There would be no getting out of this one. "A chunnin, who is jounin level in taijutsu, wants to practice against someone who is genjutsu specialist. I want you to help him to recognise and resist genjutsus."
"I'm sorry, I must be hearing things. You want me to spar with this chuunin and help to train him. Not that I'm against people expanding their training but why doesn't the chunin come to me directly? Why is this going through you?" This was very unusual to have such a request go through the Hokage. Normally, ninjas would go and find the person they wanted to learn from and either bribe, blackmail or exchange skills for the training.
"The ninja in question mentioned it in passing to me. He has had no luck with Kurenai, I think she is wary of another taijutsu specialist after she helped Gai train and I thought of you as our other resident genjutsu specialist. You are Konoha's best."
"You're wrong," Arthur said slowly as he processed this information. The Hokage raised one eyebrow in a silent question. "I am second to Uchiha Itachi." When they were younger, they had sparred together and Itachi used to help Arthur develop his skills. It had been a little humbling at first that a boy four years younger than him could teach him anything about genjutsu but Arthur quickly got over the fact and tried to learn everything he could.
"Uchiha Itachi is a missing nin. It would not be a good idea to praise his skills so easily." The Hokage's warning was heard and Arthur nodded. He knew that the Hokage had more secrets than anyone in the village but Arthur trusted him like he never would the other Council members. They were so far above the ninjas that they could control them like pawns with no remorse whatsoever, no longer able to faces to the list of names on the memorial stone, while the Hokage met and knew each one of the ninjas that he controlled. It made him more careful about human life, something that was not the Council members priority. For this, Arthur could trust him with his suspicions on what happened on the night of the Uchiha massacre.
"You know of my thoughts, Hokage. There is no reason to speak them out loud." The Hokage nodded and the tension in the room started to drain at Arthur's concession. They moved on to more pleasant topics.
"The chuunin in question is called Jones." Arthur thought that was a strange name, but since his was 'Kirkland', he really could not say anything. "He lives one floor up from Uzumaki Naruto."
"Sasuke's little friend?" Arthur asked, his eyebrows shooting up. Living in the same building as the Jinchuuriki, not many ninja or civilians chose to do that. Last time he had gone to that building, half the flats had been empty. A few members of ANBU lived there, taking advantage of the isolation and Arthur knew that Mitarashi Anko lived there as well, pretending that the rooms surrounding hers were empty because of Naruto rather than her.
The Hokage nodded and Arthur wondered about Jones. He was chuunin so, according to some circles of ninja, he was duelling with death by living right above the Jinchuuriki. Either he did not believe the rumours, or he was unforgivably arrogant, or a complete idiot. For Arthur's sake, he hoped it was the first one.
"He is on a mission right now, but he will return by tonight. If you could introduce yourself tomorrow morning, it will allow him time to relax after his mission," the Hokage said and Arthur smirked. He had agreed to the request from the Hokage but he would do things his way.
"I will take your advice into account," Arthur replied. It was another way of saying that he was going to listen and then go ahead and do what he wanted anyway. It seemed like the Hokage understood the hidden meaning for he gave Arthur a look before returning to his paperwork. Arthur took this as tacit agreement and dismissed himself, flying out of the window towards Jones' lodgings. He had enough time to get acquainted with the flat before Alfred returned home. A good first impression was essential.
***
After completing the mission, seeing one of his teammates get injured and reporting to the Hokage, not necessarily in that order, Alfred was completely exhausted. He was perfectly happy to just go home and collapse into bed for about a week. He used his last little bit of chakra to get outside his building as fast as he could.
"Hey, Alfred! Were you just on a mission?" Naruto was as excitable as ever and normally Alfred would be happy to chat and pass on some of his wisdom to the younger generation but collapsing in the hallway was not something he wanted to do and it would leave Naruto with a bad impression of his skills.
Still, he mustered up a smile for the excitable little Academy student. He didn't seem to get a lot of those. "Yeah, I was. Listen, Naruto, I really exhausted so I'll tell you everything I can tomorrow, okay?" Naruto looked downcast but Alfred knew he understood. He would treat the boy to ramen tomorrow to make up for it.
He climbed the stairs at a slow, civilian pace and managed to make his way into his apartment, avoiding the traps as he did so. He yawned as he set the coffee maker to quite late the next morning and then froze as he felt a foreign chakra in his living room. It most definitely was not there before so either it had come in without Alfred knowing or it had been hidden so well that he had not picked up on it.
All this thinking happened in a split second and Alfred turned to threw a kunai at the intruder. The sight of a Leaf headband tied on the stranger's arm stopped him from letting the next kunai fly but he still kept it up and ready to use if need be.
"Who are you and why are you in my home?" Alfred demanded, trying to sound like he was not completely shattered and out of chakra. Asking nicely for enemies to come back when you were feeling more rested never worked. He remembered when he had tried that with Genma-sensei. Genma had chased him all over the village.
"Your traps were easy to get through. You avoided them when you came in, even in your exhausted state, so you even realise that there are holes in your traps, yet you do nothing to fix them. Laziness, maybe?" The stranger sounded like he was mocking Alfred and his grip tightened on his kunai. The intruder was sitting in his chair (his favourite chair) and he had not even considered Alfred a big enough threat to reach for his weapons.
"You still haven't answered my questions," Alfred replied, willing himself not to get riled up.
He could swear the universe hated him or something. He knew that he had told Matt that he wished a potential boyfriend would just drop into his lap because he didn't have time to find one but that had been a joke! Couldn't the universe take a joke? Even though potential boyfriend was very nice-looking, even his eyebrows had a certain kind of charm and why on Earth was he thinking the intruder into his home as potential boyfriend material?! He really was exhausted.
The worst thing was that the intruder was smirking at him, like he knew his thoughts. Bastard. "That'll work," Alfred muttered to himself and the stranger tilted his head, the look on his face openly curious. He was obviously putting it on for Alfred since any ninja worth his salt could hide his emotions at least a little bit.
"What will work? Are you thinking up an attack plan, Jones?" The man sounded so amused at this that Alfred debated attacking just to relieve some of his anger but then the saner, less sleep-deprived part of his mind spoke up.
"I was thinking that called you 'bastard' would work until I knew your real name," Alfred replied honestly. His muscles were starting to scream in protest at the long, long day and he could not be bothered to play word games with this bastard.
"My parents were married when they had me." This random statement threw Alfred a little before he realised that the man was responding to his insult.
"I answered your questions, so answer mine."
"This isn't a game, Jones. I don't have to do anything." There was a double meaning behind those last words but frankly, Alfred did not want to try and unravel it. "But, I do have somewhere to be and as fun as this, I probably should get to the point."
"The point would be nice," Alfred agreed, letting his body relax marginally but still kept the kunai raised.
"My name is Kirkland. I have been informed by the Hokage that you are looking for a genjutsu expert to spar with so you can learn to defend yourself against them. Now, I know that I am not the best there is but I am good and since Kurenai is unavailable, we are stuck with each other. If you would like to learn, I will be at Area Seven at eight thirty tomorrow morning. I will be there for half an hour, if you are not there in that time, I will leave and will not look back. Do you understand?"
Thoughts were running through Alfred's mind at the moment. They ranged from the angry (did the Hokage think he was some kind of kid that needed help training?) to the inappropriate (Kirkland looks really hot in a stern sensei kind of way) to the completely bewildered (why did Kirkland even agree to this) but after a few seconds, his mind cottoned on to the fact that Kirkland had asked him a question and was starting to look a bit irritated at the lack of answer.
"Yes, I understand," Alfred replied, still slightly stunned. Kirkland nodded once and disappeared from sight completely. Alfred did not put his kunai down until five long minutes had passed and there was no sign of Kirkland lurking in a corner somewhere. That had to be one of the weirdest experiences of his life. And did he say that he was a genjutsu expert?
Knowing that his day off tomorrow was officially cancelled, Alfred felt strangely happy about it.
***
The next morning, Arthur saw Sasuke to the Academy, after the usual protests of him being too old to have his guardian do that, and went on his way to Jones. He was early, it was only eight o'clock but it would give him time to lay the genjutsus before Jones arrived. He had to look underneath the underneath, as Kakashi was fond of spouting at every opportunity, and spot the genjutsus. It would also give Arthur a chance to see how far along he was.
Jones appeared five minutes early, looking tired but excited. His emotions were better hidden than they were last night but they were still obvious to whoever looked hard enough. Arthur felt slightly guilty about telling him everything yesterday when Jones was completely exhausted but then Jones started to look around the training ground, staying completely relaxed as if training had not even started yet and Arthur's guilt vanished. He had a lot of work to do.
He created a clone that appeared behind Jones. "First lesson, find the genjutsu." Jones spun around, taking a kunai as he did so, much like he did last night. The clone dispelled but Jones stayed on his guard. At least the boy wasn't completely hopeless.
What followed was an extremely boring few hours for Arthur. Jones came no closer to finding where he was or even discovering a genjutsu unless it came up and attacked him and Arthur was thinking that he had better get mission pay for this. Or at least a favour in return to be used whenever he wanted because he was definitely not giving up this much of his time for free.
Eventually, Jones found him at the base of the tree where he had sat down, wanting to enjoy the sun's rays. Arthur had watched dispassionately as Jones had looked at him, triumphant at last. He did so hate to break Jones' bubble. Actually, that was a lie. He greatly enjoyed it.
"Tell me, Jones," Arthur said casually and it pleased him that Jones' smug look disappeared to be replaced with a more wary one. So, he was learning about Arthur already. "Do you know the meaning of the words: eyes, chakra and dispel?" Jones knew Arthur was up to something, you could see in his eyes, but he could not figure out what. He nodded though, playing along and Arthur decided that he liked Jones. "Then, next time, please feel free to use any and all of these words when you're trying to find a genjutsu."
Jones got a stubborn look in his eye and Arthur hoped he would argue with him. Then he could show Jones exactly how good he was at genjutsu. He stood by his words to the Hokage, Itachi was the best genjutsu expert there was, but he was a close second. He and Kurenai frequently sparred and more often than not, it would end up in a tie, both of them panting from chakra exhaustion and ending up resorting to taijutsu. To Arthur's surprise, the look in Jones' eye faded and he just nodded.
"That is interesting," Arthur said, staring at Jones. Jones flushed pink and Arthur thought that was very becoming on Jones' face. A moment later, he pulled back from that thought, not wanting to analyse it at all.
"What's interesting?"
"Jones, we have a long way to go," Arthur said, ignoring the question. It would be hard to explain anyway. Itachi always said that the strangest things interested him and Sasuke had backed up his brother's opinion.
"Don't call me Jones," the boy said seriously and Arthur cocked his head to one side, curious about this sudden change. "Call me Alfred."
It was an odd request but there was no reason it could not be honoured. "Fine. Alfred, we have a lot of work to do. Read up some more about genjutsus, recover your strength and meet me here the same time tomorrow." Arthur stood and started to walk off the training grounds. He had some errands to run before he went to meet Sasuke after the end of Academy. He had also promised Sasuke that he would show him another genjutsu.
"Wait a minute," Alfred shouted and Arthur halted, looking over his shoulder. "Can I call you something else?" It was obvious what Alfred was hinting at and Arthur blinked. Normally someone waited to be offered that courtesy but Alfred just jumped straight in without any forethought.
Alfred confused him slightly. He was loud when he should be quiet, emotional when he should be blank and needy when he should be distance. What was wrong with the boy? As a matter of fact, what was wrong with him in the fact that he did not want to refuse outright? He could not say yes, he had barely known Alfred for a day but he imagined the look on Alfred's face if he said no and it stirred his stomach slightly.
"When you can detect the genjutsu at a speed which I'm happy with, then you can change the way you address me," he replied eventually before leaving the training grounds altogether. A reward if Alfred chose to look at it that way. Maybe it would motivate him.
When Arthur picked up Sasuke from the Academy, his thoughts were focused on Alfred and what sort of training they would do tomorrow, if Alfred managed to find the genjutsu within the morning. Sasuke, the annoyingly perceptive kid he was, picked up on this.
"What are you thinking about, Arthur?" He asked back in their home, as they started to make dinner. Or rather, Sasuke made dinner and Arthur oversaw. It was obvious that he had waited to say this until it was just the two of them and no distractions. Arthur did not like lying, especially when it was not part of his job, and he tried to avoid it whenever possible.
"I have agreed to train this chuunin in how to battle against a genjutsu master. I am thinking about what I will teach him tomorrow if he can overcome the first hurdle." Sasuke looked surprised. Arthur was not known for being social, apart from at the bar where everyone was his friend after a few drinks, and this was obviously something new. He also looked displeased but Arthur was confused as to why.
"First hurdle?" His question seemed reluctant and he scowled at the tomatoes he was chopping as if they had wronged him. Arthur was completely mystified. Then again, Sasuke did that to him frequently, but not as much as his friend, Naruto Uzumaki. Well, Arthur said friend, but he was more like hated rival. Like him and Francis.
"Find the genjutsu," Arthur said and Sasuke smiled unwillingly. He was familiar with that hurdle, it had been a popular game for Arthur and Sasuke after the massacre.
"Poor chuunin." Sasuke was solemn but Arthur, having known Uchiha all his life and been friends with Itachi for years, could see the smile trying to pull the corners of his mouth up. He did not smile as much as he did before the massacre but Arthur could hardly blame him for that.
After saying that, Sasuke seemed uninterested in the topic so Arthur let him be. They ate supper in a comfortable silence before they settled down on the sofa for their usual night ritual.
"What story do you want to hear tonight?" Arthur asked, staring up at the little glow-in-the-dark dots they had added to the ceiling to resemble the stars outside. If they could not live in a place with a roof they could lay on all night, then they would have to improvise. At least, that was how Arthur explained it to Sasuke. The truth was that he had been trying to draw post-massacre Sasuke out of his shell and mapping the night sky had acted as a distraction quite well.
"I want to hear a story about Itachi," Sasuke said softly and Arthur drew a breath in sharply. Ever since he had screamed at Sasuke to look underneath the underneath, to not take Itachi's words at face value and actually think for a moment about the boy Itachi was before, Sasuke had asked about his brother on a regular basis. He seemed to be running through something in his head and it was taking him a while to process. Arthur did not mind, the memories were painful but happy at the same time.
Arthur tried to think of a story that Sasuke would like and that he had not already heard before. He could not think of one, so instead he told Sasuke something that not many people knew about Itachi.
"Itachi was a pacifist. He saw violence from a very young age and that is how he activated his Sharingan. After that, no matter how much his father pushed him to join ANBU or how many missions he went on, he still wanted peace. Itachi was a very good ninja, but it destroyed him inside to be so." There was stunned silence from Sasuke.
"That is why you are so sure... about Itachi... and - and that night," Sasuke whispered to the ceiling. Arthur said nothing, letting the silence speak for itself. This fact, that had been known by Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Mikoto as well as himself, had been guessed by a few others. Itachi had been naturally secretive and it had been hard to pry even his favourite colour of him, let along a belief that went against everything they as ninjas had stood for.
"I think that Itachi was lying that night. I think he was lying to protect something infinitely more precious. You and the safety of his home. Protect from what, I do not know." Arthur almost shrugged but then remembered that he detested the gesture and it was useless here considering that Sasuke could not see him.
"Arthur," Sasuke said softly, "that is my new ambition. I want to find out the truth about what happened that night. Whether Itachi was lying or telling the truth, I need to know."
"Join the club, Sasuke," Arthur retorted. "Even if he was lying, Itachi will die to protect that secret. And if he does, that secret will die with him. You're going to need help."
"That's what I have you for," Sasuke replied, with the arrogance that the Uchiha was so known for. Arthur restrained himself from throwing a cushion at Sasuke, like he had done frequently with Itachi. At least with Sasuke it would actually connect, while Itachi always dodged with a slightly confused smirk.
"Don't be stupid, Sasuke. You're going to need more than me. You're going to need allies and that is what you have your team for." Arthur could almost picture the face Sasuke was making now but he would wait to see the face Sasuke made when he got news about who was in his team. Arthur had heard a little rumour and knew that it would be a team he could count on, even if they drove him up the wall sometimes. Arthur had that with Francis and Elizabeta. Maybe he could bribe Iruka to take a picture.
***
Alfred surprised him the next morning when Arthur arrived at his usual early time and he could sense Alfred already there. The boy could sense that there was no genjutsu anyway around, at least he had that going for him, but he was tense, as if Arthur was going to pop out of the trees at any time. That would be fun to do, but maybe some other time after Alfred had been lured into a false sense of security.
"Hello, Alfred," Arthur greeted with a smile. "Are we wide awake this morning?" The glare was unusual on Alfred's face but it was fun to get a reaction out of him. "Alright, I see that you are eager to get down to business, so let's start. Find the genjutsu."
Arthur dispelled his clone from where he was up in the tree and he almost laughed at the face that Alfred made as he realised that he had been fooled again. The boy immediately started searching for the genjutsu. Even from yesterday, there was a noticeable difference. He was still charging everywhere, a habit that Arthur tried to discourage with genjutsus about tar pits, but he was actually doing some constructive searching for the genjutsu. Recognising genjutsus was coming along, resisting them was the next step.
Arthur cast a genjutsu as if Alfred saw a glimpse of green jacket out of the corner of his eye and turned to face it. The jutsu took him in the opposite direction from Arthur but he realised quicker than Arthur thought he would and came charging straight back. For a moment he stood there, looking thoughtful and then he started towards the same tree where Arthur was. Still cautious, still hesitant but growing more confident as he walked forward.
Quickly, Arthur cast a genjutsu to make it look like the world was shaking before Alfred's eyes and then cast a water jutsu to disguise his movement. Part of the thing of recognising genjutsu was recognising when something was not an illusion and reacting accordingly. The steam was real and could potentially hurt Alfred, or at the very least, make him uncomfortable.
It looked like he figured this fact out quickly and carried out a wind jutsu to blow the steam away. Luckily, Arthur had moved as soon as the steam had covered his hiding place and so he was on the other side of the clearing when Alfred was done. Instead of walking forward like Arthur expected him to do, continuing on his path, Alfred stopped and thought for a moment before looking around the clearing. He looked in Arthur's direction and a smile lit up his face. It seemed like he had found the genjutsu.
They had already been at it for two hours so Arthur deliberately copied his position for yesterday, relaxed against the trunk of the tree as Alfred dispelled the genjutsu.
"You have now upgraded from horrific to terrible. Well done." Arthur's words were meant to sound sarcastic but they came out a lot more admiring than he wanted them to be.
"A speed you're happy with?" Alfred hinted and Arthur blanked for a moment on what he meant before remembering the words from the previous day. The boy had memorised them?
"No," Arthur said flatly and Alfred looked downcast, like a cowered puppy. It was a horrible sight to see. "Closer than yesterday but still no." Arthur eventually conceded some of his thoughts, comforting himself with the fact that Alfred would be put through his paces this afternoon. "At least we didn't waste the whole morning doing it so I can actually teach you something else."
"Ooo, what is it? Is it that fire genjutsu that you used on me? Or maybe that tar-pit one? Or the shadow one? I have the idea of adding more shadows to it so it freaks people out even more!" Arthur was taken aback at Alfred's enthusiasm but found it almost... endearing. But he was not going to think about it now.
"Why don't we start on dispelling higher-strength genjutsus and then work on chakra control? If you get the hang of both of those, then I might consider teaching you a genjutsu." Arthur thought he was being perfectly reasonable so when Alfred pouted - pouted- at him, he scowled back.
"You're not going to teach me any genjutsus?" Alfred asked, the disappointment plain his voice. It was strange; Arthur wanted to teach him genjutsus straight away and make him do chakra control exercises for a month at the same time. Sympathy and irritation warred with each other.
"I was told that you need to learn to recognise and defeat genjutsus, not learn any yourself. Until I know your chakra control, I won't be able to know how good you are at genjutsu anyway," Arthur answered as calmly as possible. He felt like his voice was controlled and calm. "If you don't want to do that, I guess you can have fun learning genjutsu without a teacher." Arthur made like he was about to stand and Alfred put his hands in a 'wait' gesture.
"I'm sorry! Don't go, I want you as my teacher." Alfred looked so thoroughly panicked at the thought of Arthur leaving, that Arthur felt a warm feeling in him that made him want to smile and go and have dinner with Alfred.
This warm feeling had to be stopped. Maybe working Alfred until he dropped would do it.
"So, chakra control. How good would you say yours is?" Arthur moved on with the subject, pointedly not dwelling on Alfred's answer. Alfred hesitated and then sat down, a few feet in front of Arthur. Arthur raised one eyebrow but made no comment apart from this.
"Erm, okay I guess. It's not one of my strengths and I haven't really focused on it that much." Arthur smiled what he knew was a creepy smile. Alfred shivered at that smile.
"Have you ever done tree climbing or water walking?" Alfred looked a little confused and Arthur's smile widened. "Perfect."
***
This was it. This was his breaking point. From here on out, he didn't care whether some great big ninja used a genjutsu to sneak up on him and stab him in the back. That could not be more torturous than doing genin-level chakra control exercises that apparently his sensei had forgotten to tell the team about and finding that he was completely rubbish at them.
He dragged his way back from training, completely knackered as if had spent the morning with Gai and his little mimic, Rock Lee. At the moment, he felt like he could just lie down in the street and fall asleep, no matter how dirty or uncomfortable it was. And it was very dirty, he was pretty sure that he had seen the dead body of a rodent decomposing back in the middle of the street.
"Hello, Alfred!" Haruno Sakura, much too perky for his mood, greeted him as she walked down the street. It was his own fault for not going at ninja speed over the rooftops.
"Morning, Sakura." He finished the sentence with a yawn, although he tried to cover it so she would not think he was being rude. Anko had cleared him of that idea very quickly. He had no idea where she had got the snake from and he really did not want to know. Ever.
"It's afternoon, Alfred," Sakura pointed out kindly. Alfred nodded, not really caring at the moment.
"Got a new genjutsu teacher. Likes me to work hard." The perverted part of his brain (completely Kiku's fault) piped up with suggestions for other things that Kirkland likes to work hard at. He quashed it ruthlessly. "So, how was your day at the Academy?"
"It was the same as usual. But our Final Exam is coming up soon and I'm so excited!" Sakura squealed and Alfred wavered as his eardrums took a beating. "I hope I'm on a team with Sasuke!"
"Yeah, me too." Sasuke had to be on a team with at least one girl and Alfred personally thought it would be hilarious if the boy got a girl that had one of the worst crushes on him. Sakura smiled at him gratefully before her expression turned worried.
"But, Alfred, about Naruto. He still can't produce a viable clone yet and without that he can't pass the exam." Sakura had come a long way from when she was insulting Naruto at every turn. After Alfred had caught her doing that, he had called her high, screechy voice 'annoying' and left her tied to the top of the tree for an evening. Somehow she had become friends with both him and Naruto from that, even though Alfred was not quite sure why. But then, Sakura's closest girl friend was Yamanaka Ino and they fought all the time.
"Hey, I'll work on it with him. Where is he now?" Alfred asked, resigned to not getting that nap he wanted. Sakura looked less worried and Alfred smiled at the girl. She was sweet, if a bit of an obsessive person (mostly with one certain Uchiha) and now that Naruto was one of her friends/rivals, she would look after him.
"On the Academy training grounds, last time I saw him." Alfred nodded, thanking the girl before disappearing off, heading straight towards the Academy. Naruto was very obsessive about training and liked to wear himself out to the point of exhaustion. He was worse than Alfred himself because he only had two modes: on and off. On mode meant he was hyperactive and loud, off mode normally meant he was unconscious, asleep or so exhausted that he was unable to move.
True to form, Naruto was there collapsed on the ground, with his arms and legs spread-eagled and looking up at the sky.
"Final Exam, huh?" Alfred said as he sank down onto the grass next to Naruto. Oh, it felt very comfy. Probably not as comfy as his bed would be but it was definitely better than the dirty street.
"Yeah. How am I going to pass when I can't even do the clone jutsu?" Alfred could not think of any magic words that would help, nothing would make it better apart from knowing how to do the clone jutsu. But Naruto sounded so defeated and something in Alfred rebelled at that happening, so he decided to focus on the second issue rather than the first.
"Then we had better get to work." Alfred's voice was firm as he could make it. He never doubted Naruto; this time around he would graduate and become a ninja. Naruto turned his head to look at Alfred, eyes squinted against the sun and light reflecting off his goggles.
"Do you really believe so?" Naruto sounded so hopeful and Alfred was glad that he was able to relieve his worries.
"I wouldn't say if it wasn't true." They stared at each for a moment and then a large, toothy grin appeared on Naruto's face.
"Then I guess I have a new awesome teacher. It's not fair that someone like Sasuke gets his own guardian that teaches him all these cool jutsus. I want to learn some cool jutsus too!" Naruto was coming dangerously close to whining and Alfred held up his hand for silence. It was obeyed instantly.
"Let's just focus on passing the exam, okay?" Alfred joked, putting his hand down to show that Naruto could talk if he wanted to.
"Okay!" Naruto agreed brightly before he bounced up with his inexhaustible chakra reserves. Alfred pulled himself up with a groan. He definitely was not getting that nap, was he?
***
Arthur was quite impressed. It had been weeks and Alfred was still going, still returning to each practice and gaining steps every day. Kurenai had remarked on it once when it was another case of 'find the genjutsu'.
"He is very determined, isn't he?" She had asked as she stopped to ask Arthur if he would come with her to the new teashop that had opened. He had refused, due to training and recommended that she took Asuma instead.
"Yes, he is," Arthur had replied, unable to believe that Alfred continued to surprise him each and every day.
"He reminds me of that blonde Academy student, the Uzumaki kid." Kurenai's voice was steady, portraying none of the hatred and fear that civilians felt towards Naruto. However, she had lost a sister to the Kyuubi attack so there was no way of knowing how she really felt towards him.
"The one who is going to be Hokage?" Arthur asked casually. He had heard about him from Sasuke and had overheard him at a ramen stall in the middle of Konoha. He was another reason he told Sasuke to look underneath the underneath. Ninjas like Naruto, and Alfred to some extent, always got underestimated and that is when they would rise to defeat you. Arthur had learnt his lesson about that.
"You sound sure about it." And Kurenai sounded amused. Arthur shifted slightly, getting restless as he saw Alfred getting close to his hiding place.
"I'm not sure that he can do it, but at the same time, I'm not sure he can't do. We'll just have to wait and see." Kurenai had given him an amused smile before disappearing without another word. She was right though, Alfred and Naruto had a lot in common.
Now it was two weeks after that conversation and Arthur had just put the genjutsu over the entire arena. Alfred had located the last genjutsu very quickly yesterday so Arthur had set up a large area genjutsu and then laid several smaller genjutsus underneath. He watched from a safe distance as Alfred unravelled each one and dispelled it. His form was perfect and he dispelled each genjutsu with practiced ease, the chakra control needed coming more naturally to him now than it did.
It was a strange sort of feeling, the pride of a teacher watching their student surpass even their expectations. It was remarkably like every time Arthur taught Sasuke another genjutsu and he would pick it up astonishingly fast, even without the Sharingan. Sasuke was gifted, but in a different way to Itachi. Arthur told him this often, hoping to make sure that he understood it completely before he went around comparing himself.
Of course, what he felt towards Alfred was very different from what he felt towards Sasuke. Sasuke was a younger brother to him, someone he would protect, even from Konoha itself if he had to, but with Alfred, it was something very different, but almost as strong. It was not bad different, but it was strange and unusual. Arthur did not know what to think.
As he mulled over his feelings (a foolish thing to do in the middle of training), Alfred reached his hiding place and dispelled the last genjutsu with a triumphant shout.
"I did it! I found you! That has to be my fastest time yet!" Alfred crowed and Arthur looked at his watch. His eyebrows shot up; Alfred had completed that in twenty minutes. He was right, that was his fastest time and definitely up to scratch.
"Alfred," Arthur said, drawing Alfred's attention away from the cheering and towards him. "Please call me Arthur." For a moment, Arthur thought that Alfred had forgotten the promise Arthur had made and this made him feel strangely hurt and disappointed. But then, Alfred's face had split into a wide grin that seemed to attract sunlight to him and he was pulling Arthur up into a hug and it was brilliant.
"Arthur!" Alfred yelled, laughing after he did so. Having no idea what he was laughing up, Arthur waited patiently until he had finished. Alfred stared down at him with intense blue eyes. "Would you like to go somewhere to eat with me?"
"Yes," Arthur answered without thinking, a crime for any ninja worth his salt. Alfred did look very happy and the training as far as recognising and defeating genjutsus was finished. It would be nice to be Alfred's friend.
Yes, I like the thought of Arthur and Itachi being best friends. And Alfred and Naruto uniting to show everyone what they're made of. I would have done some more research into genjutsu if I had more time and I wasn't falling asleep on my feet. Enjoy!