With the clash of fists, the pair traded blows until one of them gave in to the pressure. It didn't help that Izuku was younger than Sasuke and thus a bit shorter. The young child would compete with the clan's newest patriarch till his fist bled red and arms swelled up.

Blocking the jab and returning it with his own. There was silence between the two. Neither would show a sign of weakness in front of each other in combat.

"Ugh!" Izuku grunted as his leg gave in to a powerful low kick to the side of his legs, his guard dropped and his chin exposed. Sasuke took the hit. It was clean as saliva and blood mixed shot up in the air and the sound of him hitting the dirt floor, Izuku groaned at the punch.

Sasuke stood with a busted lip and bruised cheek but victorious.

"Sasuke wins."

Izuku could feel the crowd surrounding them cheer for his clan leader's victory. Pushing himself up, Sasuke knelt and lifted his brethren to his level. The amount of pain and soreness that followed was enough to make Izuku regret coming back to the ninja academy with Sasuke.

"You are doing better," Sasuke says with Izuku nods in return.

"Alright, boys form the unity sign."

The two Uchihas turned and crossed their middle and index fingers with each other. As the two made their way to the sidelines, Sasuke was showered with love and praise from a lot of the females of the class while Izuku went over to lean against the wall to let his injuries heal.

Sasuke promptly ignored the girls so he could focus on Izuku. The older Uchiha by a year was ever more curious with his clansman than a bunch of girls who didn't mean anything to him.

Izuku caught his eyes. "Is there something wrong Sasuke?"

"No nothing at all." Sasuke leaned next to Izuku.

Sasuke knew of Izuku's displeasure about joining the academy. Before the massacre, Izuku was one of the children from a side family that held no significance in the clan. His father died in the third great ninja war at the end. Leaving a single mother of two. Izumi, who was in a sense a lover to his older brother and was an average Uchiha but Izuku being a defect from birth with no affinity for ninjutsu or genjutsu, was denied to become a ninja for it would bring shame to an oh so prideful clan.

However, the stakes were different, Izuku had to be a ninja no matter what. In the past few months since Izuku rejoined him at the academy, things were rough. Sasuke didn't associate with anyone, he rarely did so even before the massacre, but he was always there by Izuku's side. The younger Uchiha was different, he made friends with all the class in no time. It bothered Sasuke that his clansman would focus on such things as a friendship than the responsibilities of the clan.

Once the current class was done, there was a period of lunch. Izuku usually would spend his time getting to know the class. But to Sasuke's confusion, he was nowhere to be seen in the classroom.

"Sasuke-Kun!"

"Want to eat lunch with us?"

"You were amazing Sasuke!"

A bunch of girls swarmed his desk but he was not dealing with any of it.

"Move." He commanded the girls did so with hearts in their eyes. Once he left the classroom he went on a search for his younger brother in blood.

Meanwhile...

On the roof of the school, underneath the trees planted there lay a young girl with golden blonde hair with blue eyes, and sun-kissed skin. Izuku made his appearance in front of her.

"Izuku." She says warmly.

"Hey Naruko, mind if I join you?"

"Do you even need to ask?" She smiles brightly at him. Izuku took his place next to the blonde girl and shares his food with the girl.

"Wow! This is good!"

"Thanks. This time I made enough for both of us." Izuku smiles at the blonde indulging herself in his cooking.

"Yay!"

Naruko Uzumaki, Izuku met her some months back after he enrolled himself into the academy. When a bunch of thugs began harassing her in the street alleyways, the youngest Uchiha stepped in to help out another peer. To say he got a beating from three full-grown men would be an understatement, he went home with a bunch of bruises and a twisted ankle. His face swelled by the number of blows he received. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one who got the hits. Naruko followed along with a broken wrist and several cuts on her arms and legs.

That day, she crashed at his place with a nice warm meal and company along with it. The two became fast and good friends.

Izuku was cut off from his thoughts by the sounds of pouting. "What's the matter?"

"It's nice ya know. No one comes and stays with me."

"Well don't worry, we are friends and we can hang out as much as you like."

"Yes!"

Izuku smiled at the whiskered-marked girl. The two sat together with nothing but the sound of them eating their food. Once that was finished, Izuku noticed how Naruko wasn't as talkative anymore. Turning to his side he looked at a troubled girl. She wore her emotions on her sleeve one would see.

"Are you okay?"

A nervous chuckle came out of her voice.

"The graduation test...I want to pass it."

"Don't we all? What's got you so nervous?"

"Well, I already failed it once. It was the clone Jutsu. I could never get it right."

Izuku could understand that. He sucked at Genjutsu and Ninjutsu. Still, though, Naruko was young, a year older than him, and yet, she wanted to graduate sooner.

"You want to become Hokage that badly?"

"Of course! That way no one will ever disrespect me and all will accept me!" Her anxious behavior was quickly switched to righteous anger and determination.

"Well alright then," Izuku says with a conclusion.

"Huh?"

"I will help you." Izuku looks at the blonde girl.

"We will pass that test together."

"Really?" She says with excitement and some tears coming out.

"Yes."

For the next few days, Izuku and Naruko began to meet in secret. She was offered assistance from the youngest Uchiha and was given actual knowledge of the basics of Chakra.

"The reason as to why you can't do the Bushin no Jutsu is mainly due to the two issues," Izuku instructs as he writes in a scroll as Naruko listens to him.

"One is because your chakra control plays a big role. Considering we are using a Genjutsu, your control has to be precise with the right amount being channeled into the technique."

"Uh-huh! And the other reason?"

"Well we fall into my category, you don't have a natural attribute which means regardless of how well your chakra control will be, it will still be a disadvantage," Izuku instructs.

"So how do we fix that?"

"Let's get back to my place and I will show you how," Izuku says as both he and Naruko ditch the remaining of school to fix their solution.

In the classroom...

Sasuke grumbled to himself as he couldn't find his blood-brother and to hear Izuku and Naruko, not in class was already bothersome and annoying.

While he appreciated the effort that Izuku was looking to potential suitors, he was angered that he would pick the class clown. A loser.

"Damn Deku."

Deku was a nickname that Sasuke remembered before the clan massacre. Where his fellow Uchihas would berate Izuku for being a disgrace to the prideful clan. Having a lack of skill for any time of clan Jutsu was shameful. So other youngsters of the clan would come up with a nickname to forever brand Izuku.

While it got to him at first, Izuku soon accepted it as his worth. A worthless clan child who survived a massacre. Heh, who is the Dekus now? They surely weren't Sasuke and little Izuku.

Izuku's house...

"Make yourself at home." Izuku brings the Uzumaki into his home. Naruko smiled a bit less as she couldn't imagine the pain of what her little friend went through. Izuku had told her about the clan massacre. It created a somber feeling whenever she entered his home and bit scared to be honest, as she was afraid of ghosts.

The two soon went out to the backyard and soon begin the training. Izuku leads Naruko to a tree.

"We can start with this. Tree climbing."

"I know how to climb trees," Naruko grumbles.

"Not with your feet, you don't."

Naruko looked in amazement as Izuku performed a hand seal and started to walk a couple of paces up the tree and stayed in the middle.

"See now? During this exercise, control your chakra output and mark the spot you last were on, as a way to help keep track of progress. Here, you try." Izuku tosses a kunai at the blonde before doing a flip and landing next to her.

"Alright! I can do this!" Naruko channels her chakra. Paying close attention, Izuku watches her hold the hand sign for a small period before charging into the tree.

Once Naruko took the second step on the tree, the bark blasted and she went flying. Izuku, with quick reflexes, jumps and catches her. Both children tumble to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Izuku asks with an uncomfortable expression as she was on top of him. Her added weight and the force of the flight knocked the wind out of him.

"Yea. Man, what was that?" Naruko asks as she pushes herself up. Izuku followed suit.

Looking at the peeled bark. He concluded.

"Too much Chakra."

"What?"

"You either put too much into it or the control was not precise. Most likely the latter. Just keep practicing." Izuku says as he hands her another Kunai. The blonde girl gives a bright smile before taking the kunai and dashing towards the tree once more...

After school...

Sasuke grumbles at the fact that Izuku ditched class. Again.

He knew it was the blonde girl. The loser of their class. Naruko Uzumaki. Sasuke couldn't understand how Naruko got to him. Izuku was better than this. He didn't have time to go and have a play date with the class clown.

With all the pranks and annoyances offers to the world around her. Sasuke failed to see how his younger brother paid any attention to the blonde.

Walking down the street. He made his way towards his and Izuku's apartment. Provided by the Hokage himself. When not seeing him there, he went towards Izuku's house.

Seeing those walls always sends shivers down his spine. He just couldn't understand. Izuku should be feeling the same. Fear was a common emotion nowadays. The paranoia of the fact that he will come and finished the job on him and Izuku.

Heading towards Izuku's home. He heard the shouts and screams of a girl. Of course, she's here...

Heading into the backyard. Sasuke held an annoyed expression as he saw the blonde fall down from the tree and Izuku urging her to get up.

"What are you doing here?"

"Sasuke." Izuku greets before returning his attention to Naruko. The younger Uchiha still instructs the blonde girl.

"Izuku, what do you think you're doing? Why are you helping this clown?"

"Hey! What you say, duck-head?"

"Are you deaf too? Clown, you brainless moron."

Izuku sighs at the interaction between his close friend and brother. It was always the same thing. Sasuke gets annoyed at Naruko or anything relating to Naruko and insults said girl which leads to back and forth. Izuku was tired of playing the middle man, it was already old after the first time.

"Enough, both of you."

"Izuku, do you plan on wedding this moron, is that why you are so attached to her?"

Naruko blushes at the comment before becoming fuming at Sasuke insulting her once more. "What you say emo?!"

The blonde and dark-haired kids approached each other getting dangerously close to punching each other's lights out. But in a quick movement, a kunai flew past their close faces before looking at the younger Uchiha in shock.

"I didn't bring Naruko here so she can get insulted. I am helping her Sasuke. And you Naruko, keep letting others get to you will lead to a possible exploit of that weakness. You said you wanted to be Hokage? Well, you are going to need good composure for the job even as a regular ninja."

Naruko looked embarrassed by her behavior, being lectured by someone younger and smaller than her it was kinda hard to ignore that fact. Sasuke scoffs. "Who are you to lecture me Izuku? You don't have any standing against me."

"I don't need to be on the same level as you to lecture about compassion and consideration. Not everything revolves around you."

"There you go, that weak talk. As if compassion didn't kill your family and massacre our clan. Go on, preach it. It won't change the fact that you are still my branch member."

"More like your only member." Izuku corrects before stopping anymore bickering. "Come Naruko, we need to continue."

"Oh okay!"

Sasuke scoffs as he watches the pair for the rest of the evening. Training together, he found such a wasted effort on the class clown. Izuku on the other hand was considered a 'handicap' in Sasuke's eyes. The kid had no natural talent for anything only just some intelligence but that was it.

Once that was over, Izuku invited Naruko over to eat dinner. Sasuke was also invited but denied it and went back to his apartment outside of the Uchiha compounds.

Izuku led Naruko to his family's home. Turning on the lights in the kitchen and dining table. Izuku started preparing for dinner.

"Izuku, you're part of a clan right?"

"Was. Can hardly call this a clan anymore."

"How come you and Sasuke don't get along? I mean to me, he is just a jerk but when you two start getting into it. You two don't like each other's guts or something."

"We just have different goals in life. He wants to achieve his and I want to achieve mine."

"But you still stick around with him. Why?"

"I can relate to his pain. Give him comfort in the fact that he isn't alone in this. My family was killed too. My mother and sister did 't get them back. Nor will Sasuke with his parents and older brother."

"Sorry...I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."

"No, it's not an issue. You didn't know."

"Still do you miss them?"

"I...am not sure."

"Not sure? That's your family."

"Naruko...I didn't have the best relationship with my mother. Considering I was a defective Uchiha from the start and I look a lot like my father. She didn't want to be around me. My sister, on the other hand, had the value of being a ninja. Mother would always love her and care for her. But not me... not little old me" Izuku says as he finished setting up the table.
"My sister, she loved me. Cared for me, made sure I was fed. Read me stories about the old days of the ninja world. When she was killed, I felt something."

"And what happened to your dad? And how come your mom didn't want to be reminded of him because of you."

"He survived the war but came back home with life-threatening injuries. A little over a year later, my father passed away shortly after I was born. My mother, according to my sister, wasn't an Uchiha. Merely a daughter of a shepherd who moved to Konoha for a better life and soon met and married my father. When he died, my mother was left with a sadness that didn't end. Many of my fellow-clansman, especially the kunoichi, supported my mother but when I was found out to be defective, the clan shunned her for birthing a failure."

"That's horrible..."

"I bet it was for my mother and sister. I didn't realize it until a few months before the massacre. But it's in the past now. Nothing can be done or said about it. It's why I don't judge people Naruko. I don't know their struggles or their affiliation towards anything."

"Anyway let's eat," Izuku says ending the sensitive conversation at that moment. The two children ate while Naruko talked on and on as Izuku listened.

Later on at night, Izuku fixed Naruko her guest bed and too soon fell asleep...

For days it went on like this, both children would attend the academy then after school they would practice their Chakra control.

All that while Sasuke would come and watch. Disturbed by the idea that his clan member was helping a loser like Naruko. Yet at the same time, wondering if he can learn as well. It did seem promising training.

Eventually, after a month...

"Yes! Yes! I did it!" A clear cry of joy and satisfaction made Izuku smile.

Naruko eventually climbed the tree, her body had small cuts and dirt marks across her being.

"Great work!" Izuku shouts, the blonde girl nods before climbing down.

"So what now?"

"Try your clone Jutsu," Izuku suggests. "You couldn't even do one right?"

"Alright!" Naruko, now pumped up, brought her hands together to make a hand sign. "Clone Jutsu!"

In a puff of smoke came out a Genjutsu copy of herself.

"Yes! I did it!" Naruko cheers jumping for joy. Izuku smiles at her.  "Good job. That's one step done."

Naruko pauses at him. "What do you mean?"

"The next is water walking. From what I researched, it operates the same principle as the tree-climbing exercise but this time on a less dense and a liquid surface." Izuku explains as he looks at the pond just outside his backyard.

"I haven't finished this exercise so bear with me."

"Okay." Naruko looks at Izuku as he takes off his clothes leaving his underwear. She looks confused but doesn't question it.

Brings his hands into a sign. The chakra buildup was precise enough for now. Slowly he walks on water with a struggle. Holding out both his arms as if he was balancing on a wire.

"I don't get it, why are you doing this?" Naruko looks at the display with more confusion.

"T-This will help your control. It's harder than it looks..." Izuku stresses as his body begins to shake before his body sinks into the pond with a splash.

Coming out of the water, Izuku climbs out and shakes off the droplets from his hair.

"You try." His thumb points to the rippling water.

Going over to the pond. Naruko, with excitement from her previous victory, made her hand sign and channeled her chakra.

The second she stepped on the water, she sank like a rock.

Gasping for air, a familiar frustration took over.

"Are you serious? I spent a month doing this tree-climbing exercise. But the second I get in the water I sink? That's not fair!"

"Nothing is fair. Life isn't gonna give you a pass just because you are struggling. I thought you wanted to be Hokage?"

"I do!"

"Then suck it up and train. To be Hokage, you first need to be a powerful ninja that everyone respects. If you do not have the power to lead and protect your village and its people then you are not fit to be Hokage." Izuku lectures.

"Oh, what the hell do you know? You are not even a ninja yet." Naruko yells at him.

"I will have to be soon. Otherwise, they will put me or Sasuke under the Clan Restoration Act."

"What's that?"

"Is a population solution when clans are at the lowest numbers. Having members of said clan mate with other people to bring back the clan to its standard population."

"Is that a bad thing?"

Izuku narrows his eyes at Naruko. It was clear that the blonde did not know the fundamental political laws of the village.

"Let me put it into perspective. If you were the last surviving member of the clan or one of the last surviving, you would be forced to get impregnated by people you don't know, people who probably do not care about you, and people who only seek the clan benefits. Keep in mind you are a woman. Meaning that you would have to be impregnated again every year once you have given birth until the population had enough to continue a clan. In other words, you're career as a ninja is done until the CRA is fulfilled. But because I am male, I can impregnate multiple women at a time which makes rebuilding the clan easier." Izuku explains.

"So how is it bad for you then? You're a male, you don't have to give birth."

"No but I am responsible for those children Naruko," Izuku says with irritation.

"Children never asked to be born especially to their specific circumstances. That's why I have to be there for any future child of mine."

Naruko gave a thoughtful expression. She agreed with his first sentiment, she didn't ask to be born in an environment that hated her for the most part.

"I understand. I didn't know clan members had it rough."

"It's all stupid politics is that causes the problems. Anyway, get some rest and we will continue training." Izuku says as Naruko nods, this will be a long but fruitful friendship.

Authors Note: Goddamn it has been a long time. Sorry I was away for so long.