A life that I will change Book 1-3

With Mina, who had not received a proper education since childhood, Rakurei worked together on his own. Mina was clearly trying to be useful and noticeably did not want to become a burden to her older brothers and the rest of the future Shinobi, but in Naruto's opinion, her character was more calm than that of the same restless little Yumiko. The older girl was very economical, starting to do laundry after dinner and washing in the bathroom. Naruto, along with Sen and Taro, helped by kneading the communal laundry in a large tub (The old Japanese method of washing is when soaked laundry is beaten with sticks, or children jump.). Sasuke did not go to the sauna, staying with his brother to talk, and Naruto decided that joint work would help him make friends with other Uchiha faster.

Naruto-kun, what were you talking about with that neko-san who gave us this tub? Mina asked him first, pouring warm water. Sen and Taro also looked at him curiously, continuing to move their legs steadily, munching on the wet cloth. After a general wash, Mina collected everyone's clothes, but did not know where to wash them, and then Naruto came to the rescue, talking to a beautiful snow-white cat with blue eyes, who showed them everything in the bathhouse. Yukineko-san caught his attention at the very beginning, and Naruto asked the cat how to wash their clothes. The snow-white ninneko waved her paw and led her into some kind of utility room, which had everything she needed. The three of them and the younger guys rolled out an almost one-and-a-half-meter tub with low sides to do the laundry.

Shisui, who had left the bathhouse for some matters, returned and praised them for their quick thinking and resourcefulness.

"Yukineko-nyan said that nyako-ninjas don't like to do laundry, but they wear uniforms and some clothes," Naruto remembered. "That Nekomata-sama used to drink milk from this bowl, but then he was given a large, beautiful one decorated with stones and paintings, and this one was brought here."

"How big is this Nekomata-sama?" Seng whistled, looking around the container. "Probably just huge."

"Yes, I was surprised too and asked," Naruto nodded, "and Yukineko-nyan laughed and said that Nekomata-sama is the biggest and most beautiful cat in the whole wide world."

"I wish I could see him," Taro whispered dreamily and was embarrassed when everyone looked at him.

"Let's change the water," Mina ordered. They pulled out the laundry, poured out the cloudy liquid, rinsed the tub, poured new water and continued washing.

"And Yukineko-nyan also said," Naruto remembered, continuing to shuffle his feet. "Since nyako-ninjas do not like to wash, they fold or throw away many of their belongings and uniforms when buying new ones."

"That would be just great!" Mina beamed. "If we had at least a change of clothes, it would be easier. You can sleep in yukata, train and change clothes. Besides, winter is coming soon, and it's pretty cool here in the stone castle. Nyako the ninja has fluffy fur, but Natsumi can get sick... Oh," the girl was confused. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay, onee-san,( One-san is the respectful title of "elder sister," while the familiar one is "ane-san.")" Sen smiled.

Mina blushed and tugged her ponytail, hiding her eyes behind her slanting bangs.

"Thank you, Naruto," and awkwardly touched his shoulder, smiling. "Home is a place where people dear to you live," he recalled Shisui's words and smiled back, also embarrassed.

Part 1. Chapter 14. Shinobi Feelings

Sasuke was silent, watching his confused brother, with whom he was left alone in the room. Itachi thoughtfully touched his hair, and Sasuke panicked.

The clan has been taught to notice various little things and analyze them since childhood, developing memory and attentiveness in future Shinobi. In addition, for the genjutsu masters, for whom the Uchiha clan was famous, it was vital, since in order to create illusions, you need to have a very good imagination, a special type of thinking and be able to capture reality to imperceptibly distort it.

Sasuke knew his older brother and his habits very well. Shinobi may try to nullify them, but some gestures still remain. The same Naruto, with his eternal hand-waving and different smiles, was more difficult to "read" than Itachi, who always tried to hide his emotions. Touching his hair gave him away: Sasuke immediately realized that his older brother was depressed and feeling guilty about something.

"Sasuke..." Itachi sat down on the sofa and patted next to him.

It was eerily reminiscent of that last conversation with him brother at him parents' house at sunset. And I couldn't believe that only two days had passed since that time. Twenty-four hours ago, Sasuke was one of the students of the Shinobi Academy, an exemplary son of loving parents, a part of a large, powerful, close-knit clan, and now...

His heart ached with pain and the realization that everything was different now. They are now just a handful of kids led by two teenagers. Without a home. Without a family. Without parents. They are forced to hide. After Shisui and Itachi, Sasuke was the oldest, Mina can not be taken into account, she is just a civilian, which means that you need to take some responsibility for the rest. And if the brother really decides to leave them, then...

"Sasuke, I killed Mom and dad." immersed in gloomy thoughts, as if through a column of water, he heard Itachi's voice.

"What?" Sasuke asked, looking at his older brother in surprise. He was paler than usual: after enrolling in ANBU, Itachi constantly wore a mask and hardly tanned himself.

"I killed our parents," his brother repeated. Sasuke looked into the dark gray eyes, in which pain and despair splashed, and, after thinking, took Itachi by the hand. The older brother shuddered.

"You still think I'm a dumb kid, don't you?" burying his forehead in his native shoulder and inhaling the familiar smell from childhood, he whispered to Sasuke. "I've already figured that out. I don't want to talk about it. I can't do it yet."

He felt his brother's hand gently weave into his hair and pull him closer. A hot drop fell on the back of his hand.

"I'm sorry..." Itachi said in a strangled voice, squeezing even harder.

Sasuke hugged his quietly shuddering brother and tried his best not to burst into tears. Not because he didn't want to mourn his parents, but because it would have been even harder for Itachi. His throat tightened, and Sasuke felt a metallic taste mixed with bitterness and breathed through clenched teeth. Zen-level Shinobi are free to refuse orders, they were told this in the very first year of the Academy, but in reality this almost never happened. Theoretically, Itachi could have rejected the order, but practically...

"They didn't suffer, did they?" Sasuke asked softly, remembering the alternative Shisui had told him.

"No," Itachi exhaled, apparently calming down and pulling away from himself, but leaving his hand on Sasuke's shoulder.

"A stroke of mercy..." he said, turning away from his older brother.

"You've really grown up, Ototo..." Itachi's words sounded sad as he lightly squeezed his shoulder and got up from the couch. "Come on, we should wash up too," His brother dropped it quite calmly, as if there had been no conversation, and immediately, without turning around, left the room.

Sasuke followed him.

Naruto and the three older children were doing the laundry, and Mina took their clothes with her brother, giving them yukata.

"Sasuke!" his friend smiled at him. "Come on, wash up and join us!"

"Yeah," he nodded, looking at Itachi's naked, tense back, who disappeared into the steam mist.

* * *

It was a busy day, and after washing, everyone went to bed, unwrapping the futons in the "children's room". Sasuke felt strangely empty, and besides, after the "cat training", all his muscles were buzzing from the exertion. And after a few exercises with the awakened sharingan, which Shisui showed him, he felt a little dizzy and his eyes hurt.

Sasuke fell asleep promising himself that he would become stronger to protect what was left of his clan.

Strange sounds woke his up, forcing his to open his eyelids and stare at the gray ceiling with incomprehension. The moon was shining through the window, dispelling the gloom of the room. Sasuke realized that he was not at home, and for a few seconds he hung there, remembering how he got to this place, until reality crashed down on him with all its horror and indifferent truth. The clan is no more. There are no parents. They are alone.

The sounds that woke him up turned out to be Yumiko's soft sobs, she was lying next to him and crying almost soundlessly, biting the edge of her futon.

"Shinobi don't cry or show emotion," Sasuke remembered another lesson at the Academy. It was also not accepted in the clan to show their feelings, but this does not mean that Shinobi do not feel anything. It was as if his parents had appeared to him in reality. Mom seemed more thoughtful than usual at breakfast. She made him lunch for two, as she had been doing for the past two weeks, and allowed him to practice longer. Maybe she had a premonition of something? And when Sasuke left for the Academy, she smiled at him and kissed him quickly, which angered him at the time, because he was no longer small for such tenderness.

Tears welled up in his eyes, and he touched his cheek, which his mother's lips had briefly touched. He took a deep breath and held it. It always helped to calm down.

"Yumiko," Sasuke whispered.

The cousin shrank back and lay still, pretending to be asleep, apparently not wanting to show her weakness even to him. She didn't have a father, just a mom, but Sasuke didn't think that would change anything. Aunt Keiko, the mother of Shisui and Yumiko, was a good, kind woman, she came to visit them many times, and they often laughed while discussing something with Mikoto-kaa-san. His aunt had a very beautiful laugh.

The memories cut my heart with pain. Now they're gone. No mom, no dad, no Aunt Keiko, no Grandpa Sawada, no Aunt Nami, whom he found one of the first. He remembered the agreement that Shisui had announced. But would it be better to be all alone? And would Yumiko, Kazuki, Mina, Sena, and the rest of the little ones have been killed? What would have happened to Itachi? Would he have been executed? Such an order is carried out and... People are declared apostates, nukenins. They were once told in lessons about such things in other villages, but what would happen in Konoha? How could this happen? Would he have been deceived all his life? Would he have hated his own brother all his life?

"Sasuke, are you awake?" Naruto's voice whispered.

Sasuke turned to face his friend and shook his head.

"I can't sleep either," he whispered almost in his ear, having partially moved to his bed. "I think Mina was crying and woke me up. And the little ones, Renzo and Yui, had nightmares. I covered them with blankets, which they crucified, and they sort of calmed down."

"Let's go to sleep," Sasuke whispered in response, listening to the measured breathing of a really asleep Yumiko behind his back. "Otherwise, Itachi will come and put everyone to sleep with the help of a sharingan," he remembered his brother's ability, which he used on him when he was too overexcited and could not sleep.

Naruto crawled back and closed his eyes. A minute later, his measured snuffling was heard. Sasuke also listened to someone crying softly in his sleep, and fell into the darkness without dreams.

* * *

Sasuke heard the melodious humming and entered the kitchen, smelling the aroma of food. A black-haired woman was standing at the stove with her back to him, putting breakfast for four people into bowls.

"Sasuke, I'm so glad that you're friends with Naruto, I believed that this would be the case. I promised Kushina that you and her son would definitely become friends," Without turning around, the woman said and laughed softly. The clear, beautiful laughter sounded like a bell, resonating in his heart with a strange pain.

"Mom?" suddenly recognition came. The woman's shoulders shook, but she continued her work, now packing the food into a box. And Sasuke couldn't move, walk over, or hug her.

"I'm so glad you're not mad at Itachi. My poor son, it's so hard for him. Help your brother, okay, Sasuke?" Mikoto-kaa-san turned around with a smile, holding out the bundle, which Sasuke automatically took. And then, in passing, continuing to hum, she stroked his hair and left the kitchen. He clutched at the lunch his mother had given him, smelling the aroma of homemade food from there.

But when he looked back, he saw only an empty corridor and, stirring, suddenly woke up.

"Sasuke, Shisui is calling everyone to breakfast, are you getting too much sleep?" Naruto's face flashed by, and Sasuke felt that he was clutching his blanket until his knuckles turned white, and the aroma of food printed from a scroll was floating in the room.

Part 1. Chapter 15. The Guardian Angel

Psychology professor Kanagawa Toru, after saying goodbye to another patient, looked impatiently at his watch. There are fifty minutes left before the appointment of the most interesting case in his practice.

Nakomori Hiroshi, who lives two lives at the same time, was supposed to come to him after school, at six in the evening. When the guy told him who the other boy was, with whom Hiroshi shared his memories or dreams, the professor simply could not believe his ears. Uchiha Shisui! The same Uchiha Shisui from the manga by his famous classmate Kishimoto Masashi! Professor Kanagawa was also interested in the occult and believed that Nakomori Hiroshi's case lay somewhere at the intersection of psychology and exotericism (religious, philosophical, pseudoscientific, and publicly available mystical currents and practices. Explicit knowledge (for example, that a person has a soul) or determining fate by the lines on his hand, and so on. It is the opposite of esotericism, a "secret teaching" accessible only to initiates.). He himself, even during his master's degree, read this manga, and then watched the weekly anime releases with interest, and here is such a strange gift from fate. Nakomori Hiroshi, or rather Uchiha Shisui, survived, saved several children and fled with them from Konoha's political machine.

A month after his first treatment, Kanagawa firmly believed in the reality of what was happening in Hiroshi's dreams, because his sixteen-year-old patient could explain some of the points that were mentioned in the manga casually. But which fit perfectly into the logic and psychology of that world. Hiroshi could list almost everyone from the Uchiha clan by name and made some pretty clear sketches. The guy turned out to be a good draughtsman, and the professor's folder had accumulated a dozen sketches that were indeed somewhat different from the manga, they had more details and details.