Nawaki used to be such a little, vulnerable boy in Akira's eyes. Perhaps that was how his parents saw him as when he was little. He still was, even as he stood in front of Akira, beaming with a hitai-ate on his forehead, and a large, goofy smile plastered over his face.
"Nii-chan! Aren't you proud of me? I finally graduated, I'll be able to take missions like you now!" Nawaki cheered, laughing happily as he stared up at his dazed older brother.
"Yes, yes, nii-chan is very proud of you. As an reward, I'll teach you that ninjutsu you've always been asking about," Akira laughed back and ruffled his hair.
"Hey! How many times do I have to tell you not to do that? I'm not a kid anymore!" The little cute boy puffed up his cheeks in silent indignation, but his eyes twinkled at the thought of the certain ninjutsu.
"Haha, you're still a kid in my eyes," he closed his eyes and only messed the brown tufts of hair up even more.
And though on the outside, he was smiling and teasing, inside, he had conflicted feelings.
Nawaki had graduated a year ahead of his classmates. As proud as he was of him doing this feat, Akira didn't want him to be in danger any time soon. He was still a small and defenseless baby in his eyes, after all.
It was also mostly because whenever he saw his forehead protector, he could only see the future events of when Nawaki eventually died in the Second Shinobi War.
But he didn't show it all to Nawaki, and instead cheered and talked with him as if it was any other normal day.
Today, it was only Akira taking him home, as both Tsunade and their parents were off on a mission.
Akira and Tsunade used to be alone in the house, but now they were taking missions along with their new squads, it was Nawaki often left home this time.
No one really minded though; both were understanding enough to not complain about being constantly alone.
It wasn't being mature. It was just knowing how the life of shinobi were.
And the lives are shinobi were far more tragic than simply always being alone in the house.
While other children might complain, neither Tsunade, nor Akira, or now Nawaki ever did.
After all, what was a little loneliness compared to the endless bloodshed and suffering on the battlefield?
Even if you haven't seen it first-hand, the stories and common sense would shut you up. And after Akira experienced the war himself, it proved him right indeed. He wanted peace, but who didn't? It was just a matter of whether he was strong enough or not.
Currently, he was barely a special jonin. If you truly wanted world peace, you needed at the very least kage-level strength, and not just a normal kage, someone of the legends, someone like his very own grandfather, Senju Hashirama.
Senju Hashirama, a name alone which was enough to make leaders of all nations tremble, his appearance on the battlefield alone which was enough to make them die before his actual attack. But in the end, war still broke out, and he eventually succumbed to who knows how many shinobi, or perhaps just a natural cause.
His death came first, then was Tobirama's. Akira didn't want a fourth. Yes, fourth. Uzumaki Mito's death was a fact he couldn't change, as even the legendary Sage of Six Paths perished due to old age, but he could at least save their parents and Nawaki.
He didn't want them to suffer, he didn't want Tsunade to suffer. If they truly faced the same fate as in the original, Akira truly didn't know if he would just add on to her long line of grief and suffering.
Despite it sounding cold and uncaring, Akira didn't really love his family equally. The person he really did care for the most? He cared for Tsunade the most. It didn't just come from a familial instinct, no, it came from something deeper. Something forged in steel and stone, something made not from birth, but from their experiences.
But after her, it was Nawaki.
They said that no one loved any harder than the Uchiha, but this particular Senju rivaled them. It wasn't pure obsession, but it was something that was dark, overwhelming. Sure enough, it would fade when they grew up and matured, it would still exist, but fade surely and steadily.
Akira would fight tooth and bone if it meant it was for Tsunade, or for Nawaki. It wasn't a severe sibling complex though, it was the sense of duty and contentment whenever he saw one of their cheeky smiles or bright and welcoming aura.
It was abnormal and strange that he had such immense feelings for someone who he had previously deemed as just a fictional character, a fantastical being. But he had a absolutely normal life on Earth, though his parents died, leaving him alone and grieving, with all other relatives dead already.
And it was Akira just wanting to prevent the new pillar in his life to fall into the grief he had previously been in. But he didn't even have it half as bad. It was sympathising at its finest and also mostly due to this inexplicable feeling he always felt whenever he saw them.
Because they weren't just characters from an anime or manga anymore. They were sentient, living people with very real emotions and thoughts.
He couldn't treat them as people he had felt sad for because of a tragic backstory anymore, that would be just wrong. Instead, he treated them as his siblings, the people he was so fond of.
But he was once again snapped back to reality after Nawaki, in all his cuteness and innocence, puffed out his cheeks and called out, half angrily and half amusedly.
"Hey, Akira-nii! Are you listening to me? You've always been so dazy but it's been getting worse lately!"
And indeed he had been spacing out far more than he should have.
"I'm sorry Nawaki. I've just been thinking about something lately."
"What is it? Is it more important than me?"
'Well how do I tell him about it? Should I start with 'it's about trying to prevent your very bloody and gruesome demise, which was actually really stupid on your part'?'
Of course he would never say that right to his face, though. Akira just had a lot of intrusive thoughts that should never, and I say never, be disclosed to anyone sane.
.
.
.
Tsunade swore, one of these days she was going to murder her 'beloved' older brother in his sleep.
He had taught Nawaki 'Raihimo'. Not just the original one, a crude application of his chakra, but the refined version, a completed jutsu which would only fully qualify for its B-rank, maybe even a lower A-rank. But this version was nothing like the original, whether in purpose or application. The only thing even remotely al
Teaching Nawaki, who was a prodigy, but nevertheless had a vastly different level of chakra control, was risky to say the least. His true talents were not in chakra control, unlike Akira, or Tsunade for that matter.
This version of 'Raihimo' was not one made for a direct fight, or surprise attack against lots of enemy shinobi and kunoichi. It was made for manipulation.
All you had to do was make sure you had a single strand of 'Raihimo' inflict even the smallest of cuts to your opponent before it took effect. Similar to genjutsu, it disrupted the chakra flow, and manipulated them to kill themself, or attack their own allies.
It was also nothing like genjutsu as well. It was really a mix of ninjutsu and genjutsu, as well as a plentiful selection other techniques, ranging from as far from the 'Mind Transfer Body Technique' of the Yamanaka clan, to puppeteering arts of Sunagakure.
There were some serious drawbacks and consequences if not trained properly, but just like the original, this jutsu could be used against countless enemies. Once you even graze a single one, the rest would follow suit, as if it were a highly contagious and lethal plague, spreading through the enemy troops.
Nawaki was a genius alright, he had the talent, bloodline, backing, diligence, but he didn't have this level of chakra control. It was hard from just listening to the basics. Imagine actually controlling such large quantities of people, all whom are trained.
If he could really master this, it would surely help if there was a future war. It was also for this reason that Akira wanted to teach him, despite all the warnings and dangers.
Perhaps it was asking too much of the boy, but then again, this jutsu was invented by Akira himself when he was not much older than Nawaki's current age.
But for now, if he truly couldn't do it, Akira had something else in stall for Nawaki...
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