Chapter 76: Chapter 74: How to awaken sharingan? Beats me! I don’t have a Bff.

On a certain windy day, two boys wearing hunting gear were walking around the forest near the west of Konoha's center.

The tallest of the 2 boys was dragging something heavy with the help of a rope; with an apathetic look plastered on his face.

The younger-looking boy was casually walking next to the one dragging the prey they had caught while putting his hands behind his head.

Although his posture seemed relaxed, he actually had quite an annoyed look on his face.

Those two boys were none other than Uchiha Takao and Homura. However, to Takao, Homura was known as Uchiha Itsuki. Which was an alter ego Homura had created for himself in order to avoid being found out.

Although he wished to reveal himself as an Uchiha, in order to gain benefits due to his lineage, truth be told at this point in time; he couldn't really care any less.

In fact, Homura was still saddened by what had occurred between him and Uryuu.

He wondered if he was a bad person who used others and discarded them when he no longer needed them.

The same for everyone in the orphanage.

He told himself that it was for their own good, that his decision in cutting those bonds as soon as possible would be so that no one could ever use them against him; was ultimately for their sake.

However, was that the truth?

Was he wrong?

Was he simply trying to justify his sh*tty behavior?

He never truly thought of himself as a bad person because he never wanted to hurt anyone, but that did not make him a good person either.

He had gained a second chance at life and all he could think of was gaining more power, there was a logical reason why he wanted to become stronger.

This world was dangerous.

However, this wasn't it... at least it was one truth.

After meeting Naruto and Sasuke, Homura felt jealous. Mainly of the Uchiha's patriarch son... he had everything he could wish for.

A house, loving parents, talent, recognition from others, and a loving older brother.

Homura felt like he had nothing.

And although, he knew what would happen in the near future; he couldn't help himself.

He wanted an identity, and although he knew where he belonged, he couldn't be part of it.

He had too many things to do and so much he wanted to protect he couldn't selfishly just do what he wanted.

His only wish now was to have been born 10 years earlier he thought if he had more time he could fix so much, and save everyone but that sadly was not an option at this point.

Being a powerless child was nothing short of a nightmare.

If he wanted to become stronger he needed to train and more time would pass, leaving less time to truly spend with the people he cared about, meaning he couldn't be there for them.

And as more time passed by, the less time he had to come up with ideas on how to save everyone, there simply was too much for him to handle on his own; he wanted to ask for help but no one could help him.

His only chance to become stronger lies in his ability to integrate the blood of others with his own; but he couldn't simply make that fact known to others or as for their cooperation.

Giving credence to the idea inside Homura's head that if he wanted to become stronger he needed to do it mostly on his own accord, and had to become far stronger than most in order to save everyone, a paradoxical conundrum that he could not escape no matter how hard he tried to.

The pursuit of strength would ultimately lead to his inevitable alienation from others, but if he didn't pursue that route, then how would he protect anyone?

He just did not have the time or the raw talent for such an endeavor.

He had to train extremely hard just to maintain the little advantage he had over the other children and yet that could only buy him at most a few moments of him being ahead of the curve.

- Hm!(Takao)

As Takao and Homura walked side by side Takao start to make an annoying sound.

-...(I have been catching or picking stuff or what small shop owner want me to get for them on the down low in order to get more income, but C told me that I could gain more if we learn how to fix apparel...If that is true then I will have to save to buy a book of general mechanics... though, I did learn something similar in my previous world. I wonder if it is the same thing here...I will have to invest in that too, huh? )

Takao seemed to have something he wanted to share but Homura paid no attention to him whatsoever.

He was so busy trying to make sense of everything happening in his life that he could not even begin to attempt to try to truly pay attention to Takao at this moment.

If it wasn't so quiet around them, he would have no idea that Takao was trying to get his attention.

- Hmmm!(Takao)

Though, Takao continued to make the same annoying noise once again.

-...(... Right, I almost forgot entirely about it but, when I was about to win the fight... I saw an image of Naruto wearing Guy-san's green tights...what was that about? Was that C's doing or did I just remember that?)

But Homura failed to respond, still busy and failing to put his life in order.

Thus the same scene that had occurred once before, happened once again.

Takao tried to capture Homura's attention once more while he purposely made noise with his throat, but Homura simply rolled his eyes at his pathetic attempts. He really did not want to have to deal with whatever was going on with the boy next to him.

He was not some type of sitter and according to the standards of this world, Takao should be mature enough to handle a lot of things on his own, so he couldn't care less about Takao's weird attempts at catching his attention.

- Itsuki!(Takao)

-...( I will have to ask C about that later, but I feel like I saw that before too...was that a game?)

With his fake name being called out, Homura, however just continued to walk without paying any attention.

Being deep in thought, he failed to associate the name being said out loud and himself.

After all, his name wasn't Itsuki.

He was so busy making plans for tomorrow morning since it was going to be Saturday. And it was the perfect day to earn extra cash by trying to do odd jobs.

- Hey, Itsuki!!!(Takao)

But finally, Takao's loud voice managed to take him out of his stupor.

- Hm? What the-! You're too loud! Are you trying to get the attention of a bear or something!? If anything like that shows up, I'm leaving you behind! (This area is classified as "safe" but it's not that safe!)

This area of the village was where they allowed some of the wildlife to roam free, it was deemed safe because nothing truly dangerous lived here such as 10 feet tall giant animals, but children weren't really supposed to come here without adults.

But they still sneaked in any way, since academy students and other ninjas often came for diverse reasons.

- jeez, thanks... Always nice to count on you.(Takao)

- I tell you like it is, you should be grateful. At least I am truthful.

- Eh, really? Like how you told me we were going to go hunting?(Takao)

- What!? We're here now!

- I asked you about doing this a year ago! I have already been called a liar so many times because of you!(Takao)

- It hasn't been a year (it has been almost a year). Stop exaggerating everything, besides we did just that... (kids these days are all ungrateful... this lazy b*stard, he's worse than Naruto.)

- Yeah, right.- said Takao while rolling his eyes.

Throughout the years, Takao, had heard many excuses from Homura already; especially when Homura didn't want to do something.

A mixture of getting older and repeated disappointment made it so that Takao didn't take Homura as seriously as he did in the past.

- (Oh, boy! I'm losing my grip on this kid, better say some soon.) W-well,  I mean we're here now, right? Besides, we caught something.

- A fish!- Said Takao pointing at the thing Homura was dragging with a rope.

Turns out what they had caught wasn't a wild animal but a fish.

They basically went fishing but instead of using fishing roads they used bows and arrows.

- ... At least it's a pretty big fish... We can eat it later, fish is good for building muscles, I think? (I'm not sure if that's true or not, but it has omega 3! Omega 3 is good for... whatever it does... but has to be something positive. Omega means power or something, right? Omega...Omega...! Omega beams!)

Homura tried to convince himself that he was right but a lack of general knowledge in a pretty much dead language and a mixture of bad comic books knowledge...he couldn't do it.

- How am I going to brag about hunting a fish? At least if it was a boar... (I could lie about its size...but a fish?)(Takao)

Takao was a happy boy, but his lack of strength and overall talent gave him a lot of self-esteem issues.

He was a lot like Homura, he had to train much harder to just keep up with his peers, but him being an Uchiha he had a lot of expectations put on him, and when he failed to deliver on those same expectations... he easily became depressed.

-...T-that's wrong...

- Ha!?(Takao)

- I think you catch fish, not hunt them. It's not like people can hunt underwater.(Maybe Kisame-sempai can...)

- Whatever! Like that matters!(Takao)

The reason as to why Homura chose to ultimately catch a fish rather than hunt, was that he was too lazy and not patient enough to spend an entire afternoon tracking a wild animal.

Rather, he made sure that they didn't get anywhere close to anything dangerous thanks to his super-computing skill.

It's crazy how useful this skill was, at the end of the day.

It can make calculations and run simulations on almost anything, though it had so far failed to do anything related to analyzing jutsus.

He was trying to find the best places to go fishing since he needed to make money after he accumulated so much debt as of late.

The Ichiraku incident was still very fresh in his mind, inviting Naruto in order to get back at him had failed.

Homura forgot that Ichiraku had a soft spot for Naruto.

He just thought he considered Naruto a good customer, but there was more than that at play it seemed.

Regardless, with his super-computer skill being active, he made sure to disguise where they were going to Takao who didn't know any better and simply thought that Homura did not try hard enough to find some prey to hunt.

That was indeed true.

However, at the end of the day, Takao was deceived completely. He was just too young and naive to not see what was going on.

He also lacked basic knowledge of how to track or follow patterns in order to find traces of wild animals; since he had no one to teach him and he had yet to go to the academy to learn such skills.

- Hey...- said Takao in a low tone almost inaudible, while looking down.

His hair covered his face, obstructing Homura from being able to see the look on his face, but regardless of that, he was slightly worried about the boy's emotional state.

He feared that Takao may have learned things that he did not want him to know, the boy was oddly sharp at times.

And overall a bit too sensitive.

Even this outing was also just to keep the boy's mind away from heading toward dark places. He had seen how he was slightly off as of late but since he didn't share with him any of his thoughts he didn't pursue it either.

After what happened between himself and Uryuu... Homura just doesn't know how to react to others anymore.

He was afraid to unintentionally hurt others too.

Especially Takao.

He was afraid that his current mood may be that he may have figured out something he didn't want him to know.

So it is with reluctance that Homura opened his mouth, and answered back to Takao.

-...What!? Ta-chan?

Homura now calls Takao by his grandmother's nickname.

Not because he thinks that they've gotten closer but because he thinks that it is pretty funny.

However, perhaps there's more to it than Homura cared to admit.

It has been so long since both Takao and Homura have known each other and became something much more but also much different from simple friends.

The trust and reliance Takao had for Homura were akin to a younger sibling looking up to his older brother.

However, for Homura being relied upon, wasn't anything new.

As he had to take care of the younger children at the orphanage like everyone else, so for him, Takao's behavior was nothing out of the norm.

But he did care for the knucklehead, he admired how he wished to become stronger, it was like looking into a mirror.

So every time Takao would pull off a move or a technique that Homura had taught him, he was d*mn proud of the boy.

Making him not want to fall behind in his training as well.

It made him believe that he could also escape his fate and could ultimately become much stronger.

Strong enough to achieve his goals.

And his goals were quite lofty, to say the least.

The people Homura wanted to scale to, were the reincarnations of the sage of six paths sons. Every time remembered how unbelievable it was; made him shudder at how pointless and unattainable his goals truly were.

But seeing someone like, Takao, who wasn't particularly gifted or smart, try time and time again without ever giving up.

Made Homura believe that he could not lose to his unofficial disciple.

Giving him a boost in confidence that he could one day become strong too.

Though such a change in Takao's mentality was a bit worrisome too.

The boy wasn't exactly like that prior, he was determined to achieve his goals indeed, but he wasn't exactly that devoted to getting stronger.

The whole affair made Homura slightly worried that the boy was rushing to get stronger way too fast.

So from now on, he had sworn to himself that he would be more careful with Takao in the future.

That's why the next sentence that would come out of Takao's mouth would surprise Homiura to no end.

-... Do you know how to awaken the Sharingan?

Homura was surprised but he didn't let it show on his face.

Takao talked about the sharingan prior, several times in the past even, but he never asked such a straightforward question before... and the answer to that question immediately gave Homura a bad aftertaste just from thinking about it.

The sharingan was both a curse and a gift.

Though many within the Uchiha clan wish to awaken it, some also dread it more than anything else.

It's a power usually awakened through pain and suffering, just the idea of it being the case for himself as well, Homura, was rather perturbed by the whole affair.

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Thus, not knowing how to properly answer this simple but complex question.

Homura defaulted, to what he did best.

- Ta-chan... I have to tell you the truth now, don't I?

- Huh- Takao looked at Homura with a slightly puzzled look; not understanding what he had just heard.

- ...There's no such thing as a sharingan; it's just Uchiha propaganda for dumb  Uchiha children who believe in fairy tales. - said Homura waving his left hand sideways from left to right to accentuate his denial; right in front of his face.

- Liar!- protested Takao immediately.

He almost felt stupid from almost taking Homura's seriously; since he knows how unreliable he can be at times.

-...*sigh* I am starting to think that there's something wrong with your head.(Takao)

- Hmm... (Just now? Still quite gullible... but I am right though... from a certain point of view. In the wise words from a past his prime j*di... It's like poetry they rhyme...No...wrong one... still, maybe I shouldn't have said that... I live my always trying to use misdirection to avoid dealing with others...but... maybe... maybe I shouldn't do that anymore. )- thought Homura while he remembered what happened between himself and Uryuu.

He didn't fully understand why Uryuu became so attached to him but as mature as Uryuu may seem... at the end o the day he was still just a child.

A child who had lost everything.

Even his own memories, so he could not even mourn the loss of his previous life or who he might have been; and who he lost.

A part of his new identity may have relied on Homura on some level, and when that said individual lost interest in him; it is likely that he was unable to process it well and ended up blaming and hating Homura.

Whatever may have been the case... he didn't want to repeat the same mistake once again.

Perhaps cutting his connections to others wasn't the solution to the root of his problems. Even if it ends up hurting both parties in the long run...is what Homura came to the conclusion after trying to understand himself a bit better.

But he was himself a child so he still struggled with the concept, even if he could rationalize it.

Homura was so pragmatic.

And saw the world in shades of simple give-and-take rhetoric.

Believing in the strength of bonds or shared burdens was so... alien to him.

He didn't know how to properly process it.

It was simply so different from what he believed in and his core values, but he was still willing to try regardless.

-...Why are you asking me that now?

-...(Takao)

However, instead of answering Homura. Takao remained silent but had a rather dangerous look on his face.

Throughout recent months, he saw Takao make that face many times.

Homura recognized that look very well, how could he not?

It was a look that most children that felt alone and angry at the world would often display in moments of extreme duress, and Homura had seen that look many times, from those he was close to; or children/adults he had met a few times around the village.

Sadly, Takao had the stare of someone who was angry at the world for being unfair or cursing his own lack of power.

He himself had felt the same way many times before, however, having memories from his previous life allowed him to reflect upon his own insecurities.

At the end of the day, humans are weak creatures. It didn't matter if they could breathe fire or crush a giant rock with their bare hand.

There simply was very little humans can do to change the world at large.

No amount of power could change that fact.

However, Takao was a bit different from himself or had the exact same insecurities as Homura... but regardless of the complex web and variety of emotions; ultimately the boy was having a hard time sharing his secret with Homura.

It was simply too personal.

He feared that Homura might react or fail to properly understand... but above all else, he didn't want to say it out loud.

Though Homura could easily guess what it was about.

Homura expected Takao would realize it one day as well; even if Takao was a headstrong individual one day or another... even he had to recognize reality for what it truly was.

Warm, and joyful but also cold and unexpected. 

For someone like Takao who lacked parents but still had people he shared close link, he never truly understood the severity of the world at large.

Their world was ultimately not a kind one.

Though it was pointless for him to try to hide anything from Homura.

Homura kept a close eyes on Takao at all times, there was very little Homura wasn't aware about the boy's personality or who or where he was most of the times.

Needless to say, but Homura was very well aware of what the secret Takao was hiding was truly about but chose to say nothing about it, and feigned ignorance.

...It was better than the alternative.

-*Sigh* Why do you ask me such weird questions?

-....-(Takao)

However, Takao refused to answer again.

Leaving Homura, with no other hope but to try to dissuade the boy from trying to dig too deep into how the Uchiha clan members were able to become stronger.

Unlike most people, the way the Uchiha mainly get stronger was not something he wished to talk about with someone this young and susceptible.

It was ultimately better to shift the topic to something else.

- It's too early for you to worry about such a thing... the Sharingan is not as great as you may think (... the cost is often too high...)- Said and thought, Homura while tightening his grip over the bow he was holding in his left hand.

- You don't know that! I want to be strong too! but... I am weak! If I were to be strong! I-I...- yelled Takao.

The boy's eyes were able clearly conveyed to Homura the anger hidden deep within the mind of the boy.

The outburst he just had directed at Homura made him drop the bow that he used to hunt on the ground and made him stop.

Seeing Takao's sudden shift in demeanor, Homura for the first time since he came to this world found himself truly relating to the boy next to him.

-... I'm sorry. I truly am... I am not trying to dissuade you from knowing how to awaken it yourself, I just don't think I can help you.

- Huh? What?!(Takao)

Takao not expecting Homura to so suddenly apologize to him could not hide his surprise.

In fact, he was dumbfounded by what just occurred. In all the time since he met Homura, he had never apologized to him.

He had done to Akane-oba-chan prior, but to himself... he never did. Causing him to become quite shocked.

- ...I'm weak too, you know?... There's so very little I can do. - said Homura in a disturbed voice. His voice was shaking with each sentence he was forcing himself to say.

He almost struggled to utter each word.

He feared that he could not ultimately save Takao from his fate.

For all the training he had endured, he was nowhere near the level he wanted to be at.

He had one more year at the academy to get stronger... but the risk that he would fail to alter fate was quickly weighing on him.

He wanted to save Takao at the very least.

He knew that Uchiha Akane, even if she were to be saved... Sadly, she wasn't long for this world.

Homura always thought that certain of her mannerism and forgetfulness were quite odd, but as of late it had gotten worse.

She sometimes would forget small inconsequential details overall and would get tired much easier than before but it wasn't anything worth panicking about.

However, Homura was a worrywart. 

Especially when it came to someone he deeply cared about.

Her state bugged him to no end.  

So much so, that he ran some diagnostics on a sample of her DNA and analyzed it, with the help of his own skill.

He could easily do that since Homura was able to detect and detoxify foreign substances from his bloodstream... but what he found was devastating.

With C running analysis inside his body on the molecular level, Homura was better at giving accurate diagnostics than most doctors or even machines out there, but Homura had no real interest in medicine or learning how to heal others.

Though, Homura was no doctor or had any prior level of knowledge pertaining to medicine to properly determine the entire scope of what his super-computing skill was able to identify from the sample. However, what he found was somewhat worrisome.

It wasn't anything that would cause her to end any day or put her life in immediate danger, but some type of problem that was linked to symptoms related to some sort of chronic disease.

The full scope of the entire matter wasn't clear to him, in order to identify what exactly she was suffering from. He needed a better sample or to examine her body directly, but it was clear that whatever treatment she needed to receive, she was not receiving or could not afford it for herself.

Which had clearly impacted her health throughout the years.

He could only guess as to why this tragedy happened. He could only speculate unless he asked her upfront.

However, it became clear to Homura that Takao had been somewhat blaming himself for not being able to help his grandmother.

How could he not? He was a child and she was his only family left, in his mind his whole world was starting to fall apart. 

She was its centerpiece, as to why he could keep a positive outlook no matter how harsh his life ultimately was.

It didn't matter if he was ridiculed, beaten down, or simply failed.

As long as she was there, he could keep getting back up and laugh about it without it affecting him too much.

But if she were to leave him, one could only imagine what the boy would go through.

For one, he could not keep his jovial attitude for much longer, not when he had started to blame himself.

That's why he wanted to become strong as fast as possible. Probably due to a childish way of thinking. Akin to thinking, that if he were able of earning large sums of money he would be able to save her.

But Homura could not simply tell the young boy otherwise, perhaps he was right even, but time was not on their side. So, he knew not what to say.

- Huh? N-no you're like really talented... I'm the one who should be apologizing you help me train all the time... and it takes me so much time to do it properly... I fail all the time... and I complain a lot too...(Takao)

- Still, I shouldn't have told you that it was too early for you...It's not my place to judge, simply there are things that I didn't want to tell you about but at the end of the day... You're an Uchiha too.

Takao was so different from most Uchiha that Homura knew, that he didn't think of him being bound by his pride or the pride of the clan like most usually are.

Not that the boy wasn't prideful but he did not wallow in his own sense of pride or the clan's but put his own effort, abilities, and willingness to learn above all else, making him different from most.

-Huh? Where did that come from? Of course, I am a Uchiha!(Takao)

-I know... but you know....

- Huh?(Takao)

-... you're kind of a dumb*ss!

- Hey! Not fair! I'm smart too! I've been told that I was very smart many times!(Takao)

- Sure. Anyway...

- Hey! Don't just ignore what I said!(Takao)

- ...You want to know how the sharingan is awakened don't you?

-... Yes- said a reluctant Takao,

- Then, don't interrupt me again.- said Homura in a twisted smile.

-...(jeez...he's back to his same bad mood, again.)(Takao)

- *Cough* *Cough*  you-our ancestor (some semi-alien crazy guy) passed down ( doomed us), some very special chakra that only awakens under very specific circumstances, such as due to someone or something important to you.

- Eh!? Special chakra? What's that?(Takao)

- I-I don't (f*cking) know! Just stop interrupting!  

 -...(Oh, boy.)(Takao)

- That SPECIAL CHAKRA that is laced into our brain is released and passed down to our eyes due to very intense emotions or high stress. Then you get a pair of sharingan! Done! Are you happy now?

- HOW?! What are intensive emotions, exactly, or high stress? Do I need to get emotional or highly stressed? Like coming back home after curfew? (Takao)

- you know... like when you really want to eat something really badly, but you can't because you don't have enough money so you get sad and angry...

- ... don't you mean hungry?(...is food that important to him?)(Takao)

- W-well, it's not a perfect science! And the mechanics are not the same for everyone, and that's why not all have it! And I heard that you need to have the potential to awaken it in the first place...but normally all Uchiha should be able to in theory. 

-...What does that mean?(Takao)

- If you are a talented or powerful shinobi the chances are you will awaken it faster or like at some point. 

- ...So I need to be talented...huh?(...that sucks... How do I become more talented?) (Takao)

- Not talented specifically but if you try hard and dedicate your time to becoming a shinobi you will awaken it sooner than most(...or so I've been told... It didn't work for me but nor am I talented or have been training for more than 2 years.)

- I see...(Takao)

- So any more questions?

Takao pondered for a few seconds before deciding on a follow-up question.

-...what happened to your fac-guoh!(Takao)

*boink*

- None of your d*mn business!

Before Takao had a chance to ask his follow-up question Homura had already hit him in the center of his head.

Thus, it soon became a rowdy trip home.

Chapter end.

Thanks for all the support Guys it is nice to be back and feeling a lot better... but this World cup is messing with my heart!

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