"Wakey wakey," the voices echoed through Hayato's head as he struggled to shake off the sleepiness. Rubbing his eyes, he tried to focus on the surroundings, but everything remained blurry. He remembered that he was in Shinobi History class and the topic being discussed was... well, completely irrelevant to him. Slowly, he lifted his head and met the gaze of the last person he wanted to see at that moment. Their teacher. A freak, to be precise, with his face heavily modified by cybernetics. A mask covered most of his face, while the only organic part visible was his forehead.
"Well, well, well, Uchiha Hayato."he spoke with a malicious, robotic voice and tapped at the scroll-screen in front of Hayato. A big, fat F was displayed on it.
" Looks like that you've fucked up... again.Another assignment of yours, filled with nothing but unrecognizable amalgamations of numbers, words and symbols.I've really started thinking that you're trolling at this point!" the teacher scolded him,as he kept his wide eyes nailed at him, eyes that bore creepy black sclera and yellow pupils.
Hayato, kept staring at him with his mouth still hanging, freshly awaken as he was. Well truth is, Hayato had already difficulty formulating thoughts into paper, due to his psychiatric condition. Nevertheless, Hayato kept his mouth shut, hoping that his silence would save him from the worst outcome possible.
"And to think that verbally you can legit answer to any question, that you can legit explain any theory in physics, it's literally unexplainable that an infant has better writing skills than you."and as the teacher continued his monologue, a loud sound interrupted him. A sound that seemed like the growl of a motorcycle engine, yet it wasn't anything close. In fact, it was a girl, snorting so loudly and profoundly that the teacher took this gesture as a direct insult to not only him but towards his subject as well.
Uhm, yeah, but..."Sayako retained her calm and nonchalant manner." Did you mention that I aced in Ninjutsu and Taijutsu classes. Or, did you mention that Hayato's jab reached 300 meters per second when we did the velocity test? Not mentioning he still had his weight jacket o-"
"LISTEN HERE YOU WASTE OF AIR, I'LL SAY THIS ONE LAST TIME.NOWADAYS THEORETICAL EDUCATION IS AS IMPORTANT AS PRACTICAL. MEANING THAT YOU CAN'T SUCCEED IN ONE FIELD AND FAIL ON ANOTHER AND EXPECT TO BECOME A FORMIDABLE NINJA."he interrupted Sayako and she, in an attempt to mock his breakdown, covered her ears to defend her hearing from his screeches?Ears? No. Sayako didn't posses human ears, yet circular cybernetic pads were on their places, with thin, triangular fin-like pieces that worked like antennas.
In fact, Sayako was the only pupil in the class that bore cybernetic parts, most notable the prosthetic piece of metal on the left side of her head.Hair,of course weren't growing on that part, so her neck-lengthed hair resembled an undercut. Her sleeveless puffer jacket revealed prosthetic arms as well that had the color of her skin, with the only indication of prosthetics being her left hand that was fully metallic black and a few screws and levers on the joints, while white bandages that covered her forearms, making their artificial nature less apparent.
Finally, she wore no sandals, as her feet were artificial as well and resembled ninja footwear.
"Yeah, 'ight." she replied monotonously.
"You know what, get out of my classroom. You and your brother!" Kobayashi pointed at the door.
"But what did I d-"Hayato attempted to talk back.
"Get out of my class right now!" he repeated and the Uchiha siblings rose from their seats and swiftly headed towards the exit. Sayako fixed her black beenie and put her hands in her baggy beige cargo pants, as a sign of disrespect. Hayato, scratched his eyes as he walked out, as he wished to sleep for at least an hour more.
"Also, now that your mother will be notified about today's incident" Kobayashi said.
And that's when the Uchiha siblings stopped at their tracks, their nervous system went numb, as if time itself froze. Sayako felt cold sweat streaming on her forehead,while Hayato's breath went out of tempo.
"Kill him, kill him. Surprise attack, aim at the neck" the voices inside Hayato's head spoke again, yet he ignored them as always. Both of them tried desperately to retain their composure and appear calm and exited the classroom.Hayato peered at his sister through the corner of his vision, but her attitude had been completely cut off by her teacher's statement.
The automatic door opened, leading to the Shinobi Academy's hall. They exited and when the shutting of the door resounded through the hall, Sayako let out a huge sigh while Hayato untied his black bandana and used it to wipe away the sweat on his face.
"You know, we can't head home today right? This is the 3rd report the schools is gonna make to mom right?" Sayako threw out rhetorical questions, her eyes widened just by thinking of the pandemonium that would occur in their house.
"You should've kept your mouth shut, idiot!" Hayato talked back, attempting to throw responsibility at his sister.
"Hey, you're the one who got caught first!"
"It was a matter of time before both of us getting caught."
Having no answer to give, Sayako sat cross-legged on the floor, letting out a sigh again in an attempt to cool.
"We should shelter at our grandparents for the day!" she proposed.
"Grandma Sakura could be eager to shelter you!" one of the voice in Hayato's head spoke, yet he had a completely different opinion.
"Ain't no way we going at Grandma Sakura. She'll throw a tantrum as well, just like mom will do."
"Well, we going old man Naruto, what choice to we have. I mean yeah, it's the third time we go to his place for the same reason, but we can't do otherwise.You know what, we going after school!" she declared determined,but something in her head told her that this time something will go completely wrong...
_________
After the classes, around 2 pm, the Uchiha siblings strolled towards their grandparent's residence. With their heads lowered and in complete silence, while avoiding public spaces and populated areas in fear of bumping into their mother (quite impossible), they found themselves in front of the Uzumaki residence. The house, even though it was old, it was pretty well maintained.
Sayako opened the squealing door that lead at the garden and entered first, Hayato following behind. She knocked the wooden door, since the doorbell was broken. After one, two three knocks, no one answered the door.
"Huh, weird. Grandma Hinata usually goes for the groceries early in the morning, so it's impossible for her to be absent."Sayako thought with a raised eyebrow. Hayato then peered through the window that lead to the living of room of the house. Unsurprisingly, a man in his middle 50s was snorting on the couch, so loudly that he could be heard from outside the house. Blonde and bearded, this man was none other than Naruto Uzumaki.
"Hey" Hayato shouted and knocked on the window.
"Smash the window, he can't hear you." a voice in his head adviced him.
"HEY" he screeched and slammed the window,finally waking Naruto up. With his mouth hanging and saliva streaming on his jaw,he slowly got up and threw a stare that displayed pure exhaustion. Naruto slowly marched towards the door and opened it.
"Oh, mornin'! Came for breakfast?" he asked in a sleepy tone.
"It's...it's 2 PM in the noon, grandad." Sayako replied with a straight face, yet slightly sarcastic attitude.
"Oh" Naruto scratched his head. "Hinata never mentioned you coming for launch, so why are you here?"
"Wait..." his eyes widened as the realization hit him. Well, Naruto was never bright, but he progressively got sharper through the years.
"They formed a report at school and sent it to Sarada? Well, I should've known from the start, y'know."he gave off a slight chuckle and grinned.Hayato lowered his head in shame, while Sayako nodded affirmatively with a straight face.
"Welp, come in, I guess." Naruto tilted his head inwards to his home and both of them walked in,in a manner as if they were death row convicts heading to the execution grounds. Naruto then headed towards the espresso machine and with a simple press of the button, it instantly poured coffee in the mug.
They sat on the living room, where noticeable were the pictures of Hayato's and Sayako's father. Even 10 years after his disappearance, Hinata still had the hope that he was alive.
"To be honest, my performance at the academy when I was at your age was crap, y'know. I mean, I didn't do anything else besides sleeping and causing ruckus." Naruto reminisced the old days, a chuckle slipped off.
"Yet look! My face is on the Monument!" he said in a joyful manner, referring to his reign as the 7 Hokage.
"Man, I hope you won't get a detention this time!" at the hearing of the world "detention", the Uchiha siblings froze mentally and physically at the spot.Ain't no way they could imagine the onslaught that would await them at their house if that scenario got true.
"Y-you don't seem to care a lot about our academic performance, don't you?" Sayako asked reluctant.
"Why the hell would I? Y'think I'm not aware of your capabilities? That I haven't heard about your scores in 'battle' classes. I mean, think logically, y'know. Do you think that I'd care if you two sleep in class, when Sayako sets records in ninjutsu and chakra control classes and Hayato's sheer speed and agility can only be compared with my father's scores. I mean, what was the indicator showing on the latest velocity test? Three hund-"
" 366 m/s. Armored jacket on. 150000 Joules total energy output."Hayato interrupted him and answered in a cold, monotonously way.
"Oh well, yeah, you're right, I guess." Sayako blushed and grinned upon the complement that they both received by her grandfather. However their mother had a completely different mindset, perhaps more modern , someone could say. "Now that we can't ignore the clearly existent presence of shinobi technology in the battlefield, we can't help but give extra weight to theoretical classes as well." her mother's resounded in her mind.
"Listen you two and don't say anything about this to your mom." Naruto warned with an unexpected serious tone.
"Sarada was a big nerd. Seriously. Legit the most hours of the day she had a book in front of her and as a toddler, she absorbed complex info that was impossible for kids to even comprehend. Also, don't even get me started on the fact that she, your mom, during the chunin exams, was the only one that knew the question that was presented at them during the first phase of the exam.I remember Shinobi history being her favorite subject."
"It's the absolute worst!" Hayato abruptly stated in the middle of his grandpa's speech. And at this current moment, as if Sarada herself overheard them, Sayako's mobile beeped as it received a message.Her heart skipped a beat upon hearing the beeping sound, as she could easily guess the sender of the message.
"Mom:You two back at the house, NOW!" Sayako read the message and gulped in terror,eyes wide opened upon the sighting of the word "now" written in big, fat capital letters.
"We... W-We gotta go" she said to Hayato's, whose terror was as intense as hers, yet better hidden.
"Damn she already found out. Well sorry, I can't help you two , y'know. I can only wish you good luck!"
_________
If someone could describe the atmosphere in the living room it would be...dread. The Uchiha siblings were sitting on the chairs of the dinner table, eyes nailed on the quartz table. They had no dare to gaze upon the woman who was sitting at the other side. Chills were send upon their spine, as they stared at the orange reflection of her ballistic glasses through the edge of their vision.
Her hands were on her table, fingers tapping on it nervously. The fact that she hadn't already taken off her gloves and headband meant that the first thing that Sarada did upon entering the home was to send Sayako the dreaded message. She grabbed her headband and her glasses and placed them on the table. Sarada pulled down the zipper from her white robe, the traditional Uchiha high-necked robes, a single piece of cloth that could make the enemies shit their pants upon witnessing it on the battlefield.
This robe , in fact, was the Hokage garment, which Sarada asked for it to be styled as the traditional Uchiha outfit. Lord Second is spinning in his grave because of this act alone.
She carefully carefully folded it, as it had great value for her, and place it at the chair besides. Underneath, Sarada wore a tight, sleeveless turtleneck shirt, made to withstand slashes and shrapnel,made from aramid fabric. This type of garment replaced the old chainmail shirts, as they were lighter and more efficient.
"Look at me."she said in a serious, cold tone. The Uchiha siblings didn't even raise their head, they simply panned their eyes at Sarada. They glanced upon her pitch-black, tired eyes, eyes that Hayato himself inherited.
" Do you have the assumption that I got the energy to deal with your constant shenanigans, after 2 days of nonstop work?" she genuinely asked, her cold tone remained unchanged.
"This time I will not even mention the sleeping in class part. It has gotten extremely tiring to get phone calls about you falling asleep theoretical classes."the collected attitude that she displayed in comparison to her usual rage bursts stroke a sense of uneasiness to the siblings. They definitely knew that the outcome of this family talk would be strikingly different.
" Your grades at theorerical classes have hit rock-bottom, you are barely able to pass them.I mean, Hayato is justified because of his condition but Sayako, you don't even try!" she panted her gaze towards her daughter.
"But, mama, y'know..." she tapped both of her point fingers nervously and took an expression of mercy that radiated extreme cuteness in an attempt to soften her mother's cold manner. "Grandpa Naruto was a total failure at school and he bec-"
"Different time periods, different -" and before Sarada could even finish her sentence, Sayako interrupted her in anger and irritation.
"Yeah, different conditions, we get it! You are not the first telling me this." and then, complete silence in the living room.
"Another thing that teachers mention about you is your overall rude attitude towards them and the illogical amounts of irony that your speech is infused with..."she paused briefly, yet her glance aimed at Sayako intensified.
"Do you actually think that, because you are the children of the Hokage, you are able to do however you please? Do you actually think that I will give different orders to you just because you are my children? That you are going to get better treatment, more comfortable positions?"the way of her speech sped up, a shift in the manner of her speech that the Uchiha siblings weren't familiar with, terrifying them.
" The answer is ABSOLUTELY not!If someone displays more potential and overall better abilities than both of you there is no way they won't find themselves at higher positions in Konoha's military!" her statement froze the Uchiha sibling's blood. Up until now, they had the impression that climbing through the shinobi ranks would be easier in comparison to the average person. But their mother's words suggested otherwise. None of the siblings replied, not even Sayako who had the balls to speak in difficult situations.
Sarada then got up from her chair and her hand instantly darted at her ninja tool pouch,becoming a blur, grabbed a shuriken and hurled it something near the wall. The shuriken dugged into the house's rooter, blowing it apart.
"No internet for at least a month."she grabbed her stuff, got up and entered the kitchen. Well, chicken breast and rice can't cook itself.
________
As their mother prepared their lunch, which surely would be a 10/10 since Sarada's cooking skills were top-notch even from an early age, the Uchiha siblings were still sitting on the table. Five minutes had already passed since the rooter got blown into pieces by a shuriken and none of them even let a word slip away and blankly stared at the wall.
"Do you have an appetite after this?" Hayato leaned towards his sister and whispered.
"No, but chicken contains viable protein, y'know.I gotta feed those things somehow" she replied and pointed at her flexed bicep. One of the several things that Sayako inherited from her mother was the ridiculous raw strength that stemmed from her grandmother's genes.
"Also, you know that we have to get a new rooter, right?" Hayato added.
"No way until we do something about our grades!"
The Uchiha sibling's stared each other in delight, as they attempted to find a way to get the internet back. Suddenly, Sayako's expression changed, her face lit, as she conceived of an idea.
"The Science Project at the Academy! Yes that's it! If we get perfect grade's on the science project, we can get the internet back!" she suggested as her eyes widened in pure joy.
"It's in 3 days isn't it?Have you prepared anything? I got some type of machinery, but...doubt they'll like it." Hayato said with in a very reluctant manner, contrary to his sister's positive and joyful attitude.
And upon hearing the word "machinery" Hayato recalled bad memories from last year's Science Project.It was truly known around not only in the Academy but around the whole military as well that Sayako displayed genius understanding of mechanics and robotics from an early age. Something that reinforced this was her project last year.
Everybody in the Academy remembered the day that Sayako barged in classroom at the Science Project presentation day with a goddamn arm cannon, with the ability to switch between her normal mechanical hand and this weapon. She inserted a a small ball made from paper bombs at a breech in her elbow, working as a fuse, and the ammo was a simple kunai. Upon detonation a gigantic blast was created, propelling the kunai in multiple mach speeds and essentially turning it into a legit artillery round.
Sayako's arm cannon genuinely impressed the students and the teachers, yet she was disqualified from the competition as military body modification were illegal for anyone bellow the chunin rank. This incident brought their mother into a difficult position, as her daughter committed her first crime at the age of 9,and completely devastated Sayako's mental health for several days. Hayato remembered that it was the only time that he saw Sayako crying.Thankfully, she was just ordered to destroy the arm and so she did...probably.
"This time, bring in something enough controversial to declare you a national terrorist" a voice mockingly spoke in Hayato's head.
"This year, I don't give a crap what will happen.I'll bring up an invention that weapon companies will fall on my knees to get a permit for mass production!"Sayako decal red with a wide grin, maniac could someone say. It's was truly unbelievable that a 10 years old would say something like this.
Hayato didn't answer and shrugged,got off the chair and awaited till lunch.
As he didn't have anything to waste his time on, now that the internet was gone, he decided to go in his room and meditated, an activity that's helped him manage his condition. This would go off relatively easily for him, he was probably going to slack off in his bed for the rest for the day, as the training session the next day would be fairly difficult.
______
He started his day at 7 am, jumped of his bed and instantly did 300 push-ups in a hasty manner, almost seeming like an engine piston going rapidly up and down. He terminated a 1000 jumping jacks and in this way he pretty much forced himself to got to get a shower, which would last 2 minutes max. After the quick shower, he put on his white , thick armored jacket, black cargo shorts, sandals, wrapped bandages around his legs and wore his black Before leaving for the training field he gulped down an oat bar and quietly left the home, as his mother and sister were still sleeping.
As he patiently awaited in the field, the squealing sound of metallic wheels sounded. A man in his middle 70s in a wheelchair approached, noticeable were his thick eyebrows and mustache, while he was attacking partially bald.He was dressed in a simple blue kimono.
"Yo Hayato! Ain't this a good day for training? Clear skies and a slight breeze!" the man spoke in an energetic manner, almost abnormally energetic for his age.
"Well, you can say that, Gai-sensei!" Hayato replied in his usual dull and monotonous tone.
"Come on! Let's get those arms and legs heated. Go show this boulder your might!" and with no hesitation, Hayato jumped in front of the boulder and started throwing swift and consecutive jabs and crosses at the boulder. His hands became a blur, a trait of his gifted agility and speed, while his punches turned chunks of the boulder into pebbles that shot here and there.
Gai then ordered him to switch to his legs and that's when the difference between his legs and arms showed. 2 consecutive spinning kicks were enough to crash the rest of the boulder into pieces.
And without getting a second of rest, Hayato was ordered to deflect another 2 falling boulders that were thrown by Gai in a matter of milliseconds,who not only balanced himself on a single foot but he also managed to lift two gigantic rocks and throw theme precisely.Hayato dashed at the sky, wrecked the first rock into pieces with a swiping kick and then, finding footing in the falling chunks of the first rock, he jumped to the other one and delivered a falling kick that chopped the boulder in half.
He landed smoothly on the ground, panting from the intense burst of adrenaline, while trails of swear had already appeared on his forehead.
"Hmm,yes. It appears that we have to work on your stamina more.The vast majority of your muscles are composed of fast twitch muscles, your loose joints and the state of physical relaxation that you can attain may indeed help you achieve ridiculous speeds, but these activities require amounts of stamina that you lack."Gai noted.
" Also, let's not forget that you are a total piece of shit, a failure to your bloodline, an Uchiha that struggles with basic ninjutsu, a genetic failure, you and Sayako. Hell, look how she is. If not for technology and shinobi-ware she'd be still a lump of blind, deaf, motionless flesh."and upon listening to this words from his sensei, Hayato widened his eyes, his shocked expression became visible, as he had never heard his Gai speaking so insultingly about him and his family. Something was wrong...
" Wha-, what did you just say? "He stuttered, not able to process what he heard.
Gai raised an eyebrow, as wasn't able to comprehend Hayato's confusion.
" Nothing, nothing at all."
"O-oh"Hayato monotonously replied, as he understood why he heard all those ridiculous things by Gai or...he thought he heard them.It was probably just a delusion.
" Well, okay, let's continue!You know, I though that we could do something different today! In fact we will learn today a new kunai throwing technique." he spoke in his usual enthusiastic tone and grabbed a kunai from his pouch. The fact that he was still standing meant that he would demonstrate the technique very shortly.
The hole at the back of the kunai was placed in his pointy finger and he spun it at the ridiculous velocity. The kunai broke through the sound barrier and the friction that was generated was so high that little flames were ignited in Gai's finger. Then he pulled back with his whole body, gained momentum and abruptly shot forward, all of that while balancing on just one foot. The kunai was hurled at multi-mach speeds, impacted on a gigantic boulder, which was completely pulverized by the ridiculous force that was created upon impact.The kunai continued it's way and ricocheted multiple times through the ground, creating craters upon every impact
"This is the slingshot technique.It's called that way because your body simulates the movement of a slingshot to achieve enough momentum to push the kunai st great speeds!"He then fell on his wheelchair and let a sigh of exhaustion, explaining thoroughly this technique.
" However, because the kunai is spinning very rapidly, you'll need great perceptive abilities in order to know when to release it. Well, you can achieve this through vigorous training or...you can use your Sharingan!" he added, noting a requirement for this technique.
" I don't have the Sharingan..."Hayato replied after an awkwardly long pause with, sulked his lips and opened and closed his eyes rapidly in a sarcastic way.
" Uhm... Yes! Yes! You're correct... Uhm... "Gai scratched his head awkwardly" You don't have the Sharingan...Yet!"he attempted to correct himself.
" Come on! "Gai-sensei continued, as he received no answer from his student" Let's start working on the technique! It will probably take a few months for you to learn it, providing that you're working on it everyday! "
Hayato worked relentlessly on the technique the whole day, worked constantly with very few breaks. Most of the times the kunai was launched at the wrong direction, while other times he burned his fingers from the intense friction, forcing him to wear a fireproof glove.Thankfully, other than a few small burns in his fingers, Hayato wasn't injured.
As the sun started to set, decorating the clear skies with a warm orange color, Gai and his student departed for Konoha. On the road, as they were chatting about different taijutsu and sojutsu techniques, Gai threw an odd question.
"Your ninjutsu. Have you made any progress?"
Hayato didn't reply immediately, surprised as he was. Gai-sensei never asked him about his ninjutsu skills, since he knew he completely sucked in this field in comparison to his sister, who excelled.
"Do you know about the Pocket Fireball Jutsu right? That E-rank jutsu that they teach in Elemental Classes in the Academy?" Hayato threw a question as well, earning an affirmative nod from his sensei.
"Well,I've finally mastered it!" he weaved 10 handsigns, even though the technique regularly requires only 2,held up his right palm and a small fireball, at the size of a tennis ball, slowly ignited on his palm. Gai sensei, however, noticed how his pupil clenched his lips in struggle. Yet, he still congratulated him for his effort.
"Finally, you did it! Your first elemental jutsu!" he celebrated in his usual energetic tone. Hayato nevertheless didn't share his excitement. A jutsu that usually takes a month to learn took him 3 whole years and he saw this technique as barely an achievement.
" I still think that kicking someone in the neck at supersonic speeds is still more efficient than this crap!" he joked and let a slight smirk. Gai widely smiled and chuckled as he had now achieved on his goals. And that was indoctrinating Hayato into believing that taijutsu and physical combat is superior to ninjutsu.
________
They both finally gazed upon Konohagakure, once a village, now a city. The walls that had once protected the city were demolished, as now more efficient methods of protecting Konoha had been adopted, such as chakra and heat detecting cameras,
scroll-controlled drones, regular patrols and crossbow snipers that were monitored and managed by the Yamanaka clan.The village's entrance was a torii gate were chakra-detecting camera's were attached on it.
"WELCOME TO KONOHA! THE PLACE WERE YOU CONNECT WITH NATURE!" a message that was displayed by a hologram sign on the gate.
A shinobi in a full-faced mask gazed at them with his bizarre goggles that were implanted on his face. Most noticeable were his legs, that had been replaced by bionic spring legs, perhaps boosting his speed. He nodded at the two and both of them entered.
The old city, the one that the Hokage faces gazed upon,had managed to mostly retain it's old-styled architecture, though neon and hologram signs were dispersed all over the place. Sarada inquired that green would still be prominent in the village and so, trees and all kinds of vegetation was present in a big scale. Small rivers flowed through the village that gave the opportunity for beautiful bridges to be constructed that mostly retained the old school japanese architecture.
Through it's neighborhoods, Konoha's tram system passed, allowing quick navigation through the village.
When entering the village, one could lift their head and glance upon the Hokage Monument, which had been completely rebuild. Between the heads, the newest addition being Sarada, waterfalls flowing from cracks on the mountain had been added using water style.
One could lift their head a bit higher and see the new city,we're megastructures from steel and glass were erected, mostly representing corporations and expensive residences.
_______
They walked through the asphalt-strewed road, filled with Konoha's residents. Shops, restaurants, clubs and many more were dispersed through the road. Upon looking at Konoha's residents someone could find many oddities on them, as cybernetic augmentation became a norm. Some deliberately cut off their limbs and replaced them with fancy bionic ones, others implanted bizarre looking eyes and all kinds of bionic pieces on different parts of their body. In terms of fashion, it mostly stayed the same.
Hayato left Gai at his residency and headed straight for his home. He strolled through the less populated areas, as he couldn't stand the stares from the bystanders that were nailed on him. Cold, unforgiving and infused with hatred and disgust, these stares weren't just another illusion but we're genuine.
This was because Hayato Uchiha and his sister were indeed Sarada Uchiha's children, but to the eyes of the world, their father, Boruto Uzumaki, wasn't the one who Hayato thought he was. To they eyes of world, he was just Boruto, an outsider, a traitor, a monster. This... alien that resided inside Boruto and slowly turned him into a monster led a lot people believing that his children weren't human, that their genetical makeup contained large portions of DNA from this alien. And all those rumors, those beliefs hurt the Uchiha Sibling's reputation a lot.
Hayato and Sayako could never confirm all those reputations about their father. They never met him nonetheless, as he dissappeared a few days after their birth. Most of them proclaimed him dead. For his parents and Sarada, he was still alive.
_____
He faced his house, a not-so big yet fairly modern, two-stored building with a garden. The camera on the automatic door that led to the garden scanned Hayato's face and retina, affirmatively bleeping and allowing access. An automated circular device was trimming the grass.
There was a long, tinted window on the ground floor, from which someone from the inside could see the whole garden, yet someone from the outside could see nothing. He entered the home, finding himself in the living room. The tv, thin as paper, was turned on and appeared to be the only light source in the room. Sayako was sitting on couch with a console controller on her hands, a rare sight indeed.
"You playin' video games?" Hayato asked her in his usual monotonous tone.
"Don't have anything better to do. Too bored to develop a new jutsu." she replied and shrugged, eyes nailed on the screen.
Hayato glanced to the tv and analyzed the game. It was a first person shooter, the player apparently had two cybernetic, mantis-like blades coming out of his arms and slashed everything on his path.
"Whats this?" Hayato asked curiously.
"It's called 'Cyberbug 2069" Sayako replied, not letting her eyes pan away from the screen. "I got it yesterday"
Hayato indifferently headed towards the stares that led to the bedrooms. Strategy games were his favorites, mainly because they helped him to exercise his cognitive functions and maintain focus.
______
Upon entering Hayato's room, one could notice how tidy it was. Not because Hayato was a cleaning maniac, quite the opposite to be precise , but because his mother made it up for him. He never even made his bed.
He took off his armored jacket and let it on the floor, jumped on the bed and let out a sigh."A failure to your bloodline" Gai's words echoed in him, even though he knew it was an illusion, it hit something sensitive in him.
Indeed, those words definitely have gravity. Hayato's chakra control was beyond shit, truly a disappointment compared to his ancestors, something that didn't go unnoticed by the villagers that very often critiqued him and his sister.
It was true, Hayato's chakra reserves were huge, but they were pretty useless as he couldn't utilize them. Inheriting a Kekkei Genkai? Not at all.
On the other hand, Sayako Uchiha was gifted to all of the above, yet mother nature took away a lot from her as well. All those prosthetic pieces on her body are not cosmetic, not even close, as cosmetic cybernetic enhancement required someone to be at least 18.Sayako wasn't able-bodied when she was born, in comparison to her brother. In fact she was born limbless, arms nonexisting from the deltoids and down, legs in a similar condition from the thighs and down. Not only that, up until the age of 5 she had never seen the light, as she was born completely blind, neither heard sound, as she was completely deaf as well. The left side of her cranium was weak, therefore even the simplest head injury could be lethal. Some of her organs, like her liver, were malfuctioning, therefore needing replacement.
At the time she exited her mother's womb, doctors gave Sayako 3 hours of life at best. "Practically a corpse"Sarada remembers those dreaded words from the
doctor.
However, thanks to science, Sayako managed to spent the first year of her life in a mechanical pod that kept her alive. Most biological implants were incompatible with her, therefore finding replacements for her malfunctioning parts of her body was a nuisance. Science though managed to replace most of Sayako's organs thanks to genetic engineering, except for her eyes and ears, as if nature insisted that she should remain in the darkness. Cybernetic implants were out of the question as it was too dangerous to implant then in a child that was barely a year old.
She left the pod at the second year of her life, walking and touching through wearable myoelectric prosthetic limbs and gained information through chakra communication, such as learning words. Sayako was around 5 years old when doctors decided that it was safe to implant cybernetic parts in her.And thus, the so-called "Pretty much a corpse" girl dominated the practical classes in the Shinobi Academy 10 years after her birth.
______
Hayato blankly started at the ceiling as black silhouettes appeared and dissappeared all around the room, yet he completely ignored them as he always did. They all abruptly dissappeared when the hologram device at his side beeped multiple times, indicating that he was getting a call.
"Who's it?" Hayato asked and simultaneously answered the call.The caller didn't reply immediately.
"Hey." a man's voice greeted him through the device. The caller's hologram appeared on the device. A man in his 50s, dark hair that covered half of his face,a black iris that radiated coldness stared at him. He also bore a beard that hid most of his cheeks that were sunken in his bones.
"Heyyy, if it ain't old man Sasuke!Why did you call? Being a mass of 0s and 1s must be pretty boring, right?" apparently Sasuke's call lit up Hayato's mood.
"I bringing news, important news regarding yourself" Hayato's eyebrow was raised.
"It's about your psychiatric condition. Your condition, schizophrenia, it's not specified. Or was... until now." dead silence occurred in the room. Hayato's black eyes that were illuminated by the lava lamp on the room were widened.
"It is? Finally" he asked in pure excitement "So I'll finally stop getting tasteless meditation? Meditating hours a day to retain my cognitive functions? Getting a hobby instead of fighting this thing all day and training?Finally managing my writing skills?" he's excitement was very apparent but he hastily and naively jumped into conclusions.
"I haven't finished. Apparently, according to the doctor's report, your condition is related to chakra rather than your brain itself. In fact several tenketsu on your brain seem to be functioning differently, otherworldly."
"Wait WHAT?" Hayato jumped of his bed. "How do we even treat this thing?"
"We don't" a voice whispered in his head.
"Apparently we have to head to the only neuroclonic that performs surgeries that are related to the chakra network. The head of the clinic is a Yamanaka clasnman, so we're in good ha-"
"Wait why are YOU telling me all of this? Why didn't mom say a thing?" he threw a other question in a very irritated manner.
"She's being talking with the Yamanaka doctor for the surgery. I got no info other than the fact that you'll have r stay for 3 days for examination."
"WHAT!"Hayato screeched from the top of his lungs, enough loudly to ache his throat." You're locking me up in a psych ward?"
"We are NOT locking you up in a psych ward!" Sasuke's tone got stricter as the hologramic projection of himself flickered. "It's a mere examination!"
"Anyway,I'm forgetting the fact that you're locking me up in a psych ward. What's about this surgery?"
"Apparently their gonna implant a device in your brain that uses fuinjutsu technology that'll rearrange the malfunctioning tenketsu in your brain, limiting, perhaps even completely vanishing, your psychotic episodes."
"I don't want any machinery inside me!"
"It's for medical purposes goddammit!" apparently, Sasuke's patience with Hayato's severe anti-cybernetic implantation dogma had been depleted. "Your sister, wouldn't even be able to utter a word, let alone see and hear, if not for medical technology!"
"And how do I know that they are not gonna implant some 'zombiefication' chip that'll make me their slave?" Hayato retorted back with a childish argument.Sasuke let out a sigh of irritation at those words and decided to halt the conversation there.
"Your mom's gonna tell more about the surgery. I think it's time for me to go." Sasuke hang up in a abrupt or, rather cold way.
Hayato fell back on his bed again, eyes nailed on the ceiling with his mouth hanging down in a stiff way. He heard voices echoing through the room, spitting words incomprehensible, a hallucination that occurred very often. The episode abruptly ended when the the sound of the opening of the automatic door sounded.
"Uhm Hayato? Heard you shouting all the way from the living room so I came to check."Sayako peered from the side of the door, her eyebrow raised and a tone of concern in her voice.
Hayato gave no immediate answer, thinking if it was good to inform his sister about both the surgery and his enclosure in the clinic. He hesitated at first but on the other hand, he really though that she should learn the truth.
"Grandpa Sasuke called..." he muttered in a cold, almost dead tone as he stared blankly at the floor.
"And?"
An awkward pause followed.
"They will lock me in psych ward. They say it is for examination."
"Wait what? Lock you up in a psych ward? For examination? Examination for what?" Sayako bursted into the room, shocked as she was.
"Surgery. They're going to implant me a device in my brain. They say they found the cause of my condition and this device will maybe completely cure it." Hayato retained his dead, unmotivated look. He didn't even lift his head to look his sister in the eyes.
" Well... "she went by his side and sat on his bed."That's great! That's totally amazing man, finally you're gonna live a life free if this schizo crap!" she said enthusiastically, yet Hayato didn't share her joy, something that didn't went unnoticed.
"Seriously, what's with that grumpy face? Is it because you are going to stay for a few days in a psych ward or because the implantation of the device is against your 'no shinobi-ware' crap?" her manner swifted, taking a serious turn.
"I don't want them to put anything inside my brain? Like, how do I know that they'll put something in my brain that's gonna control me or something?"
"Seriously? You're seriously saying this right now? You sound like an anti-vaxxer right -"
"Oh god Sayako stop spending so much time in the internet! What is an anti-vaxxer anyway ?" Hayato interrupted her, his annoyance apparent.
"Hayato, okay, like,look at me."she grabbed his head and stirred it in a way so she could look directly at her, as his gaze was still nailed at the ground.
" I got implants all over my body. Ears, eyes, legs, chakra conductors and replicators, this big-ass implant at the left side of my head that is destroying my haircut. Like, all of those are connected to my brain." she tapped at her head consecutively.
"Why haven't those that implanted them to me control me? Like I have almost everything. Strength? Check. Chakra control? Check.Inherited powers? Check. Stupidity that makes me perfect for control? Check. Like, I don't wanna brag but, common sense!" she placed her hands on his shoulder and swung him back and forth.
"I just don't want any implants, goddammit!" he swiped her arms away.
"But it's for medical reasons!" she retorted, persisted in her opinion.
Hayato, as he had no other arguments other than his personal views and opinions remained silent. Sayako sighed and got up from the bed,in a very bored and tired manner.
"Not going to talk about it anymore. Going to sleep." she simply stated, yet before leaving the room, Hayato abruptly turned and faced her.
"Why did grandpa Sasuke told me this instead of mom?"
"Cuz grandpa doesn't sugarcoat. He just says things exactly how they are." her reply was followed by the shut of the automatic door.
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Hayato didn't sleep at all that night, even though he was tired from the kunai training with Gai. He stared at the ceiling the whole night, his consciousness and concerns kept him awake.Even though his thoughts about this surgery might seemed completely delusional to another person, from him they were completely logical.
As the sun arose and Hayato's eyes couldn't hold themselves up any longer, he short off accepted that there was no other way to cure his condition.Nevertheless that didn't mean that his suspicion about the surgery calmed down at all. One would say that there shouldn't be any assumptions as it was too early, especially without having talked with doctor personally. Yet Hayato's intuition some times prevailed over his logical thinking.
"There is no reason to worry, my swear black-eyed child. Soon you will learn about the greatness you have inherited!" a voice spoke in Hayato's mind as he finally closed his eyes to sleep. Of course he didn't pay attention to the voice, as most of the times they formed illogical sentences, gibberish someone could say...
TO BE CONTINUED....