Chapter 2
8 Years Old
"Yes! C'mon Nii-san! We're gonna be late!" shouted Naruto, already standing outside waiting for his brother.
Today was the first day of Academy. The Hokage had finally let them enroll after months of begging. What took so long? One simple question: 'Why do you want to become a shinobi?'
While Ken got the Hokage's approval at once, it took Naruto a long time to realize there was more to being a shinobi than just 'cool and flashy jutsus'.
Ken's answer had been, "Because I want to protect my brother; the only way to do that is to become and stay as strong or stronger than him. And with him wanting to become Hokage, I'm going to have a hell of a time keeping up."
The Hokage was very pleased to see how confident Ken was in his brother's abilities and how he held no doubt at all that Naruto would one day become Hokage.
Naruto's answer had been, "I want to be the strongest Hokage ever and protect all my precious people!" Short, but concise. It would be easy to laugh at and dismiss, had it come from any other child, but the sheer determination in his eyes was enough to leave both Ken and the Hokage breathless for a few seconds.
Getting back on track, today was the first day to Academy and Naruto was just short of exploding with energy as opposed to his clam, collected, and a little sleepy counterpart. Ken had to stay up late last night to make sure everything was in order. Naruto was asleep and that was when his CANSOFCOM Commander mode turned on. It had looked as if he was preparing for a high-risk mission.
Ken got his bag and walked out of their home, locking the door behind him. Honestly, the lock wasn't even needed as no one in the whole village save for the Hokage and a few ANBU ever wanted to go anywhere near the 'Demon's Residence'. "Sure, Naruto. Let's go," Ken said, his face showing a small smile and reached up and ruffled Naruto's hair. That habit hadn't particularly worn off and Naruto loved the attention. Every nanosecond of it.
Their trip to the Academy was a novel experience. This was the first time in months that the two had walked down the streets without a henge and the looks they got were… not nice. While Naruto kept humming happily and walking with a bounce in his step, Ken could tell he knew about the glares directed at them. Naruto was merely choosing to ignore them. In the back of his mind, Ken fervently prayed to whatever deity existed that the Academy teachers would be unbiased and wouldn't sabotage their education. Sadly, it seemed like no deity loved them enough to give a shit.
Naruto and Ken walked through the entrance of the Academy and into the classroom, all the while ignoring the glares, sneers, and the whispers. Ken sighed. Man, what the fuck? No kid is supposed to have a childhood like this. Naruto deserves so much better. Hell, they're lucky he hasn't turned into a homicidal psychopath yet! Ken thought as they sat at the second last bench in the classroom.
Somewhere in Suna, a boy with red hair – much like Ken's – sneezed, accidentally triggered his Sand Coffin and killing the man. "Uh… oops?" he said as he turned around and walked away.
Class began shortly after, as the teacher walked in and introduced himself. "Good morning, everyone! My, my, it's so nice to see so many new faces here! My name is Iruka Umino, and I will be your homeroom teacher for the next four years. Now, why don't we go around the class and hear everyone's name?" he pointed to a girl with pink hair, "Why don't you start, and we'll go towards the left."
The pink-haired girl stood up shyly and spoke, "H-Hello, my name is Sakura Haruno." And she quickly sat down again. Hmm… Looks like a civilian. Hopefully, she understands what being a soldie- shinobi is all about, Ken thought to himself.
The girl beside stood up. Ken watched as her long blonde hair flowed, "I'm Ino Yamanaka, of the Yamanaka clan!" The mind techniques clan, huh? That's pretty damn dangerous. I'll have to stay away from her… or I'll have to get close to her, then seduce her, and then learn the secrets to become immune from her techniques. Can't have her finding out about me, He eyed her cautiously.
A few civilians introduced themselves before the turn came for another clan heir. "Kiba Inuzuka, of the Inuzika clan, and this is my partner Akamaru!" he exclaimed as the small puppy poked it's head out from under Kiba's hood and yipped. Interesting… the human and dog can actually understand one another. Ken had read books about their abilities but seeing it in person was a completely different thing.
A plump boy next to him rose. "Choji Akimichi, of the Akimichi clan!" and she sat down again, going back to munching on his chips. Converting calories to energy… Damn, if we had this secret on earth, there'd be no fat people! Ken snickered at his own thoughts and received a questioning look from Naruto.
The next boy stood up… not. He was sleeping. On the first day. Less than half an hour into class. Ah! Ken thought, the Nara clan. I know they're lazy as fuck, but seriously? This is too much. But they're all geniuses, huh? Gotta be wary of that one. Shikamaru finished his introduction, much to his chagrin and went back to dozing off.
A few more civilian introductions later, the boy that Ken had been eyeing curiously spoke. "Sasuke Uchiha." Oh… so that's him. Damn, I guess getting your whole family killed by the one person you look up to can do that to you. Though Ken had seen Itachi Uchiha a few times and he didn't seem like a psychopath in the slightest. Hell, if anything, I'd say the man was a pacifist if my observation skills aren't diminishing. Ken's observational skills were on par with that of Sherlock Holmes and that had been one of the main reasons why he had never failed once on any infiltration missions in his past life.
Sasuke's introduction was also followed by squeals of delight and thirsty looks from many of the girls in the class and Ken gaped for a second. Immediately, he shut his mouth and pondered, Riiiight. I guess they are at that age where they find mysterious and cold boys attractive. Well, shit. Seducing the Yamanaka is going to be a bit hard with this. He turned to speak to Naruto to inform him to not say too much in his introduction but was surprised to find him glaring at the
Uchiha. Ken understood why Naruto was feeling that way but thought it best to break him out of his habit of wearing his emotions on his sleeve.
"Calm down, bro. He's not like that on purpose. He just got his whole clan killed by his brother." Ken said in a low voice throwing a sympathetic look towards Sasuke. Though he didn't really feel anything for the little Uchiha.
"Yeah, but that still doesn't give him the right to be disrespectful of our sensei," Naruto said with a glare directed towards Sasuke.
"You're right and I completely agree; but as of this moment, it's none of our business. Now, as I was planning to tell you, don't say a lot during your introduction. Only your name and one other insignificant detail. Remember what I taught you about the most important rule of being a shinobi?"
Naruto nodded. "Secrecy and deception are our left and right hands!" he said in a whisper. Ken smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair in reply.
"Good job!" Again, Naruto smiled brightly.
Next, a boy with a long coat and sunglasses stood up. "Shino Aburame, of the Aburame clan." And sat back down. With all that Ken had studied, he had found the least information about the Aburame clan. Only that they had colonies of bugs inside their bodies.
It was finally their bench's turn. The beautiful girl with the pretty eyes stood up shyly and spoke, "H-Hinata Hyuuga, o-of the Hyuuga c-clan." And she quickly sat back down.
Naruto stood up next. "Naruto Uzumaki!" he exclaimed out loud. "And I'm going to be the future Hokage 'ttebayo!" And he sat back down. The class was a bit silent as they weren't exactly sure how to react to that.
Before anything could happen, Ken quickly introduced himself. "Ken Uzumaki. Naruto's older brother." He said with a practiced disarming smile. With that, all introductions were finished, and they finally began class.
10 Years Old
In two years, Ken had managed to redesign the whole concept of "guns" and had come up with something that could be used without gunpowder. The design and structure of a common revolver had been extremely easy, and he had finished that within 6 months. What took him the most time, was redesigning the cartridge (the primer, the propellant, the bullet). As an Academy student, he didn't have access to gunpowder. Hell, he didn't even know if it existed. Even if he wanted to find out, there was no way he could ask the Hokage. The Hokage would be even more suspicious.
Why 'even more' you ask? A simple mistake on Ken's part. What was the mistake?
Mathematics.
It was incredibly stupid of Ken to just assume that just because they had the same number system here, that they'd also have the same advancements in mathematics. His assumptions had been flipped upside down when he had solved a math problem using advanced calculus derivation techniques. The principal of the Academy and the Hokage had called him in and asked him to explain what he had done and how he had gotten such a precise answer. Of course, they didn't believe him when he said he just made up the techniques he had used but it wasn't like they could prove otherwise. Though Ken did have to go through the whole explanation multiple times before they got it. His thoughts then had been: Well, shit. Guess I just 'invented' advanced math here, huh?
Now we find ourselves back at the original problem. How to propel a bullet at speeds of over 800 m/s? Well, a typical cartridge has a primer, which ignites the propellant, which generates an incredible amount of gas, which in turn propels the bullet at speeds ranging from 2000 km/h to 4500 km/h. Ken thought 3000 km/h would be a good enough speed. So now, the problem came up. How did this world use explosives? Right… Fuinjutsu… Fucking hell, I'm gonna have to learn a whole new programming language all over again.
And that's how Ken found himself in Konoha's Shinobi Archives looking for books about seals. He found some very basic introductory ones and checked them all out. This was going to be a long night.
It turned out that learning sealing techniques wasn't really that hard. Mostly because the concepts were so similar to object-oriented programming, and Ken, being a computer engineer, knew a lot of programming languages. Within a week, Ken had finished up three volumes of sealing, so now he officially knew how to make storage seals, explosion seals, and chakra suppression seals. He wanted to learn more, but all the high-level knowledge was forbidden to civilians. Hell, the only reason he even got three volumes was because the archivist knew how close he was to the Hokage.
Hmm… How do I get access? Should I sneak in…? Nah… They'll find out way too easily. I can't possibly hope to hide from ANBU. At least not at the level I'm at right now. Can't ask Jiji cuz then he'll ask what I'm trying to do… Ken thought back to all the lessons he learned from his time in his past life. Politics… Equivalent Exchange. I guess I can try that…
"Morning, Jiji!" Ken called out as he walked into the Hokage's office. Hiruzen looked up from his paperwork and immediately smiled upon seeing Ken's face.
"Ah, good morning Ken-kun. How are you doing?" the Hokage asked.
"Meh. What about you?"
"Oh, you know how it is. Paperwork, paperwork, and oh! Look! More paperwork!" Hiruzen grumbled. Ken laughed hard, seeing one of the most shinobi to have lived cursing out mere paperwork. "Well, what can I help you with?"
"You see, Jiji, I already finished the first three volumes of Fuinjutsu theory. It wasn't that difficult, so I tried looking for more, but I can't find any anywhere. Can you please help me with that?"
The Hokage blinked. "You… finished the first three volumes?"
"Uh-huh!" Ken nodded innocently. He felt bad about manipulating his Jiji like this, but it was necessary.
"And you found it easy?" Hiruzen asked again with a raised eyebrow.
"Yep!" Ken smiled and nodded once more.
"Wow. Well, that's very impressive Ken-kun. But the reason you can't find any more volumes is because access to them is restricted to only chunin and above." The Hokage explained.
"Oh…" Ken said lowly and looked extremely downtrodden.
"But," the Hokage started again. "If you can pass the Level 3 Sealmaster exam, I'll allow you access to volumes 4, 5, and 6. How is that?"
Ken looked up disbelievingly. "R-Really, Jiji? You'd let me?" he asked with hope in his eyes. Please don't change your mind! I don't wanna use underhanded methods! Ken thought.
"Of course, Ken-kun. The next exam will be held two weeks later. Do you think you'll be prepared by then?" asked Hiruzen.
"Hell yeah! I could write it right now even!" Ken exclaimed. He truly was overjoyed. This way the gun might just be working by the time he graduates the academy.
After sorting out all the details and registering for the exams, Ken finally reached the apartment. "I'm home!" he called out.
No answer. Huh? Where the hell is Naruto?
"Naruto?" Still no answer.
Ken walked around, looking for his little brother in every single room and finally concluded he wasn't at home. Where could he possibly be? Ken thought. He turned his head to look at the window and it struck him. Of course, where else would he go when he's sad.
As Ken walked towards the Yondaime's head on the Hokage monument, he spotted the familiar little mop of blonde hair that he'd come to love over the years. Naruto was sitting on the Yondaime's head with his knees pulled up to his chest and arms wrapped around them. His head was half buried in his knees and he seemed to be in deep thought. Ken's heart utterly broke when he saw the expression on Naruto's face. No ten-year-old should look like that, shinobi or not.
Ken slowly sneaked behind Naruto and wrapped his arms around the blonde. "Nii-san!?" Naruto jumped, but Ken held him down, concentrating chakra in the soles of his shoes to stay stuck on the ground.
"What's wrong, Naruto?" Ken asked.
"N-Nothing! I was just looking out at the village." Naruto tried to wave Ken concern off.
"Naruto," Ken began in a soft voice. "I know I may not be the best brother, and you may not like me at times, but I want you to know that I'll walk through hell and back for you if it means keeping you safe. I want you to trust me, Naruto."
Naruto was wide-eyed. He whirled around and faced Ken. "What!? NO! You're the best brother anyone can possibly ask for Ken-nii-san. I love you! Always have! You're my most important person, Nii-san! And I… I do trust you. I've never not trusted you. It's just… I've seen how hard you work for us, and I can't even do that much. I feel… I don't know! I just don't like it! I want to do more! I want to help you, and I want you to rely on me. And I can't even help you with the small stuff. I can't even go out to help you with chores because the villagers hate me. Why, Nii-san?"
Naruto jumped forwards and hugged his brother tightly. He buried his face in Ken's shirt. "Why, Nii-san?" Naruto's voice cracked at the end. He sobbed into Ken's chest unceasingly, hands clutching at his shirt. He held him in silence, rocking him slowly as his tears soaked his chest. A tiny lapse let him pull away, blinking lashes heavy with tears, before he collapsed again, his howls of misery worsening. The pain must have come in waves, minutes of sobbing broken apart by short pauses for recovering breaths, before hurling him back into the outstretched arms of his grief. "Why do they hate me so much, Nii-san? Am I a monster? Did I do something bad?"
Ken had never in his life cried. Even when he used to be Ethan 'Neo' Hunt, the last time he had cried was maybe because of an injury when he was in grade 7. He was the very definition of apathy, bordering on completely emotionless, and he would have been, had it not been for two emotions that he did hold. Loyalty, and Love. Being born in this world had left him truly emotionless… until that night. That night when Naruto had called him 'Nii-san'. That was the first spark that ignited the tinder of love. But now, seeing the child he called his brother break down so badly was enough to spark the other emotion, Loyalty. Ken held Naruto even tighter and mentally swore. His loyalty was towards Naruto forever.
Eventually, the shaking had calmed down and Ken looked down to see Naruto fast asleep. He leaned down and planted a love filled kiss on Naruto's forehead. "Naruto," Ken pulled a Kunai from his back pocket. One he usually kept for protection in case someone decided to take chances with his brother. He pulled it up to his other hand and cut a deep slit into. He clenched the hand and let the blood drop on the sleeping boy's forehead, "on my blood, I take an oath. No matter when or where. No harm shall come to you under my watch."
Ken carried Naruto bridal style back to their home and put him to sleep.
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