A conversation with an old friend.

Naruto didn't let any of his conflicting feelings show on his face.

Toru… hadn't changed that much, overall. Sure, he was fairly tall now — looking very much like his half-brother Shisui, with his curly dark hair — and had the typical Uchiha physique, being lithely built. He was wearing a black eye-patch over his right eye.

Naruto found his throat pretty dry.

"Toru, then? I'm Indra, nice to meet you." He bowed politely.

"Ah c'mon, don't be so polite, otherwise I'm going to feel I have to be, too. You're like a village leader, right?"

Naruto sighed. "Something like that."

Fucking Orochimaru.

They walked through the village.

"Are you familiar with Konoha's history, Indra?" Toru asked him. He would at least try his best to be polite. Man, they really should have asked Itach-… Nah, nevermind, his cousin was a bit too stiff.

Indra shrugged. "Just call me Indra. Also… Somewhat, yes. I know it was founded by Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, about half a century ago."

"Well, that's true." Toru conceded. "Madara left pretty soon after, though, and he's kinda infamous, especially in our clan."

"Because he left…?"

"Well, that and he tried to come back with the Nine-Tails to destroy it."

Indra suppressed a minute twitch of his lips. So the man had a sense of humor, if a dark one. "Ah, yes. That would likely do the trick."

"And he was pretty… difficult to deal with in general, according to our elders."

"Bad temper?"

"The worst."

"What happened to him, after that whole Nine-Tails thing?" Indra asked.

"He died fighting Senju Hashirama, our First Hokage."

Indra nodded. "That's the man on the mountain?" He pointed at the cliff.

"One of them, yes. The one on the left. We carved all five of our Hokage's faces into it, as a memorial."

"The Fifth is alive, though."

"…A living memorial." Toru amended.

"Kinda tacky."

Toru snorted. "Right?! But well, the clan's pretty happy that an Uchiha's finally Hokage, anyway."

"Why? Who were the others?"

"In order… After Senju Hashirama, we have his brother, Senju Tobirama, this one's student, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and his… grand-student, I guess..? Well, the student of his student."

"Sounds a lot like nepotism to me." Indra shrugged.

"Well… There's a reason our clan was a bit sour about it."

"So is the Fifth the Fourth's student or something…?"

Toru laughed. "No… No, he's actually a bit older than the Fourth, and they didn't have any particular relationship, I think."

"A little break in tradition, then?"

"Sure. There were some people who weren't too happy about it, at the time."

"They changed their minds?"

"Well, I sure hope so, since apparently even the Hokage can't get rid of the old guard so easily."

He let the sentence hang in the air. There was plenty to say about some of the elders, but Indra was an outsider. Toru continued.

"Aight, since we're already talking about ninja shi-… things, and the Kage, let me show you the memorial. It's not so gloomy, promise."

'It is, though. I remember going there for Kurenai's funeral.'

Indra just nodded. "Very well. Lead the way, Toru."

"Ah, there's just a little something I need to do before I go. Do you mind?"

"Not at all."

Indra followed him, probably wondering where he was leading him.

"Do you like living in Konoha, Toru?" Naruto asked.

Toru paused. "…You know, I'm not exactly an expert at this diplomacy thing, but even I know that saying no is a bad move here."

Naruto shrugged. "That's true, but you seem like the type of person who'd prefer speaking openly. I'm not trying to fish for village secrets here. Call it curiosity."

At least, that was the Toru he remembered.

He actually took the time to think. "Overall, I'd say yes. But that's a question that's hard to answer, anyway. If I were born in Iwa… Suna… Taki… Who's to say I wouldn't believe these places to be the best in the world, instead?"

Naruto nodded. He had thought the exact same thing. Still did, actually.

"Look, I know we live in a pretty… complicated era. I don't know if things were better in the past - well, before the whole clan wars thing… or even if they're going to get better in the future. Konoha is a good place, but it suffers from the same problems as every other village."

"Become strong or be at the mercy of the people who are?"

"Exactly." Toru nodded, not surprised the man would get his point. He had felt some sort of kinship there. "I don't know how civilians do it. It's more of a world problem than just a village one, though."

"Didn't want to be a ninja, then?" Naruto asked.

They had never actually talked about this, back then. Maybe there was something about him being a stranger to Toru that just encouraged the young man to talk.

"…To be blunt. No, not really. I wanted to…" Toru scratched his head. "Nah, it's stupid. I come from a clan of ninja, and I had some talent. Anything that's not related to the shinobi arts becomes a hobby, at most."

Naruto was curious, now. "I didn't want to become a shinobi, either. What did you want to be?"

Toru stared at him with his only eye. Was he… embarrassed?

"I… wanted to be a comic artist."

"Really?" Naruto blinked.

"Well, yeah. I used to love reading them as a kid, the foreign ones especially. Hot Water had some good stuff." He was looking away, now. "I started drawing my own, too, but then my clan kinda made me focus more on shinobi stuff."

"There's nothing to be ashamed of."

"No… Of course not. I'm not…" Toru tried. "Not ashamed. It's just… I don't know."

"Feels weird saying it out loud?"

"Yeah. Exactly that."

"I get that." Naruto thought. Did he ever mention his childhood ambition to Toru, in the past? Likely not. But Toru had told him now, so he felt it was fair to do the same.

"As for me… I learned how to use chakra when I was pretty young. You could say I fell in love at first sight. But people took notice, and I became a shinobi before I fully understood the implications."

A pretty vague explanation, but a true one.

"Ah." Toru said quietly. "I had a friend like this, back then."

"…" Maybe he had, then.

"He'd complain pretty often about some of the fucked up… Well. The more fucked up parts of being a shinobi. Of signing your life away when you were a kid. Killing people that may or may not have deserved it. Following orders, you may not agree with. Corruption. I didn't always agree, back then." Toru's face turned dark. "The more I grow up, the more I realize he had been right."

Naruto still said nothing. He was pretty sure Toru was talking about him.

Toru continued, a bit subdued. "I think you guys would have gotten along pretty well."

Man. This was going to be a bit harder than Naruto had thought.

'Why am I being so gloomy…? This is not like me.'

Toru thought. There was something about this guy that made him open up a bit too easily. He had checked for a jutsu discreetly, the kind he himself would use, to no avail. That was all him.

He tried to switch topics.

"Do you have any family, Indra?"

If Indra was surprised at the change in subject, he didn't let it show on his face. "If you mean blood family… No, I don't. Not anymore."

Toru winced. That was a risky question for a shinobi, maybe not his best move. Why didn't the Hokage wait for Shisui, instead…?

Indra noticed his discomfort. He chuckled. "Sorry for putting it so bluntly. It's not so bad, now. It happened years ago, I never met my parents, and I don't think I have any direct family either. What about you?"

Toru grabbed onto the extended lifeline. "Yeah, I do have a half-brother, we're very close." He glanced at Indra's face. "His name is Uchiha Shisui, you might have heard of him…?"

Indra seemed to think for a second. "Nah, never heard of him."

"…Really? Nothing about Shisui of the Body Flicker?"

"Nope."

"Shisui the Teleporter?"

"Nah."

"…Shisui of the Sharingan?"

"Nuh uh." He seemed amused.

Toru was mostly confused. Where was the man coming from, exactly…? It seemed as though everybody knew who Shisui was, usually.

Which came with its fair share of good and bad sides.

"Uh, yeah. Okay. Maybe you heard about my cousins, then?"

"What are their names?"

"Uchiha Itachi?"

"Nope."

"…Uchiha Sasuke?"

"Still no."

"…Never heard of the Living Flame?"

"Who's that? This Sasuke guy?"

"…Yeah. He's kinda making waves around the world right now. I mean, you're Orochimaru's apprentice, right? He's like… your counterpart."

"Ah. Nice, nice."

"Damn, man. Have you been living under a rock?"

Indra seemed to think. "No, technically, it was above it."

"Ah!" Toru started to laugh, punching the man in the shoulder. "You're fucking with me! I'm too gullible, really."

Indra kept his poker face on, but Toru saw his amusement. The blond started speaking.

"Oh, but I heard of you, though."

"…Oh yeah?! Really?…" Toru cleared his voice, trying not to seem too eager. "I mean. What did you hear?"

"That you're an up and coming A-rank shinobi. Uchiha Toru, the Mirage Blade, I think it was…?"

Toru rubbed his nose. He started nodding quickly. "That's me!"

"You use your blade as a focus to cast wide area Genjutsu, have been taught tracking by Hatake Kakashi, and use Fire jutsu, too."

"…Oookay, how do you know this?"

"I have my sources."

"It's kinda unfair that you know this much about me, while I know nothing about you, though."

Indra shrugged. "Should've done the research."

Not that there was anything about him to find.

"…Wanna go for a friendly spar?" Toru asked.

Indra snorted. "As if. I'm not dumb enough to get into a fight with a Konoha ninja who can copy my techniques with a glance. On my first day here, on top of it."

Naruto dodged under the flat side of the gleaming blade at the last second, striking Toru with a Gale Palm to the chest.

Toru disappeared, fading into nothing but air and wisps of chakra. As he had expected.

Naruto felt the Uchiha's chakra reappear on the edge of his awareness, and he put his left hand in the Bird seal, focusing another Wind jutsu.

"Wind Style: Cross Blade."

His chakra shaped the air into two razor-sharp blades that leaped toward Toru. None of the two were using their techniques to their fullest extent, as this was just a light spar. No one wanted to main anyone.

So apparently… yes. He was dumb enough.

A few minutes of friendly ribbing from Toru and he had followed him to the training grounds, figuring that as long as he didn't use Lightning Style, he wouldn't get recognized.

Still stupid.

Toru got hit by the technique, falling backwards. Having drawn the first blood, Naruto was the winner of the match.

Except he knew Toru better than this. The slight touch of Toru's chakra was hard to discern within his own network, but he knew what to look for. Also, he could feel Toru's chakra signature behind him.

Ah. Also inside him.

There. Around his optic nerve.

He dispelled the illusion, kicking back and up in a spinning motion, enshrouded in Wind. Toru managed to dodge again. At the top of his jump, Naruto made a kicking motion, sending yet another blade of wind toward him.

Toru weaved three hand seals.

"Fire Style: Scatterflame."

He unloaded a wide blast of fire in a cone. Naruto created a Wind Clone in the air, and both of them used the Gale Palm on each other's hand to get out of range, and back on the ground again.

Naruto was about to dash in again, but then he felt it.

'Damn. Another illusion…?'

It was a constant barrage of light, heavy, optical, auditory illusions. Any ninja who wasn't very familiar with the feeling of their own chakra would likely waste a ton more chakra dispelling illusions that were not even there.

Toru was using that time to prepare another jutsu.

Naruto was about to get a Fire Seal out of his pouch, when he felt another chakra enter the area.

"Hey!" A girl's voice shouted. "What are you doing on our dedicated training grounds?! Uchiha… Toru?! Again!"

"Ah, shit." Toru mumbled.

"What?" Naruto asked. "I thought these were Uchiha grounds!" He said accusingly.

"Ah." Toru said sheepishly. "No, they're not. But the Hyuuga rarely come here usually, really."

"What…?" The girl came into view, angry. She was not a girl, but a young woman, it turned out. Long brown hair, about their age, a swastika tattoo — a seal, not a tattoo, Naruto corrected — on her forehead. White eyes with a hint of lilac.

"I come here every day." She raged.

'Hinata's little sister? Hanako... or something? Isn't she part of the main branch?'

He couldn't remember much about her.

"Sorry, Hyuuga-san." Naruto started. "I didn't know."

"He definitely did." She said, arms folded.

"…" Toru said nothing.

"I suggest you go before I warn my father." Suggesting he'd be less nice about it.

Toru was already gone. Naruto gave her a short bow in apology, and left after him.

"Phew. She can be such a pain in the ass, this one." Toru laughed.

"…So you did know she would come." Indra said. He was trying to hide it, but Toru could see the hint of a smile pulling at his lip.

"…Yeah."

"Are you trying to get me in trouble or is it just coincidence until now?"

Toru laughed again. "It's a bit more complicated. Somebody has to pull her out of the funk she's in." At Indra's questioning look, Toru continued. "She's my cousin's girlfriend's sister."

"Cousin's girlfriend's sister." Indra was trying to make sense of the convoluted phrasing. "Itachi, if I remember well?"

Toru snorted. "Nah, Sasuke. Itachi doesn't really bother with relationships."

Anymore. Not after Izumi.

"All right, then."

"The girl we just met… Hanabi. She used to be a real firecracker, before. Now it only comes out if you provoke her a bit. So I do, from time to time."

"Something happened, then." Indra said.

Toru's face darkened. "You could say that. Long story, though, and it's not my place to tell."

Indra didn't question him any further.

"Ah, we're there." Toru said. They were on the way to the memorial, and had stopped at the place Toru had intended to go, before.

Indra stiffened suddenly. "I… think I'm going to wait for you outside." He said.

"Sure thing." Toru replied easily.

Maybe the man felt he was too macho for flowers? …Nah, he seemed too thoughtful for that.

Toru entered Yamanaka Flowers.

"Hey Ino."