Izuna (Naruto Fanfiction)

Chapter One: Beginnings

Coal eyes blinked up at Mikoto. She giggled at the bundle in her arms, cooing at the baby's awed expression.

"Look, Fugaku," She turned to face the stoic man. Her eyes met Itachi's, the toddler hiding behind his father's leg. "You too, Itachi-chan," he stumbled over, peering down at the baby, "This is Izuna, your new baby brother. Be sure to look after him okay?"

—

What the fuck.

Izuna stared up at the giants hovering over him. He jostled as he was passed into the arms of a taller man.

Is this some sort of genjutsu? He made an effort to bring his arms up to break the jutsu but was met with a limp fumbling. His eyes darted down and he cursed at the fabric binding him. He felt for his chakra next but it wouldn't respond, in fact he could barely feel it. His reserves felt like a drop in the ocean of what he remembered.

A wave of fatigue washed over him, a single thought lingering as everything faded to black.

Madara-nii.

–

The next few months were a blur of the same falling in and out of consciousness, his baby brain as he'd come to understand it not able to keep his mature mind at the forefront constantly. The most notable memories he gathered were his own rebirth, and that he had an older brother, again. He swore to himself in those fading moments that he'd stay by his brother's side this time around, nothing would stop him.

–

"Ma-nii," He couldn't correct himself before it slipped out, calling out to the toddler sitting a few steps away from him. He mentally cursed but the adults in the room simply laughed.

"No, no, Izuna-chan," Mikoto lightly scolded, she kneeled down beside Itachi, beckoning for Izuna to crawl towards her, "I'm mama, okay? Itachi-chan is Nii-san."

The toddler in question simply smiled at the baby. Izuna still couldn't take his eyes off his new older brother, not that he would ever take the place of Madara, but a second chance like this was not one he would give up. There were already a few similarities he could draw between the boy in front of him and his beloved older brother, though some might say he was just clutching at straws. There was already talk over the dinner table of Itachi's prodigious development and suggestions thrown for Itachi to accompany Fugaku on some safer missions, much to Mikoto's reluctance.

He went still, focusing his attention on his legs and in one swift motion stood up... well that's what he was aiming for. Izuna instead found himself leapfrogging towards the toddler. The red haired woman burst into laughter at his efforts, Mikoto merely sighing and shaking her head softly.

Itachi giggled, wrapping small arms around Izuna as he jumped into him, knocking them both back.

"He's certainly a lively one," Kushina commented between breaths, "Takes after you more then Fugaku, I'd say." Izuna felt a sense of satisfaction in that. It wasn't that he didn't like his father, it was just that he felt that this one and his last were rather similar. His mother however wasn't someone he'd gotten to know well in his last life. Safe to say he was going to grow up a mother's boy.