Shinobi Isekai: Round Two

Ohana

Izuna had a problem.

It wasn't his problem, necessarily, and it was so easily ignored in favor of much happier things, like the new tanto his father gave him and Madara's new summoning contract, but every time something invariably reminded him of it the stone in the pit of his stomach grew ten pounds heavier.

The signs were obvious, now that he knew what he was looking for. He couldn't ignore them no matter how hard he tried. The dark circles under his cousin's wary eyes, the barely perceptible flinches in the face of raised voices, the way he immediately raised his arms to protect his head.

It all painted a horrible picture he wished he could unsee. Then, it would be easier to ignore the way his cousin regarded him with extra caution, the way he tried to avoid Izuna's gaze and scowled when he couldn't. That wasn't the way cousins were supposed to look at each other, wasn't the way Izuna's other cousins looked at him.

Before... Before, he'd interpreted those glares as proof of the superior attitude his father always claimed that family had, as proof that the Clan genius had let his reputation go to his head. Now...

Now, after following his littlest cousin around like an enemy nin, seeing the way he smiled at his grandmother and the elders and his mother, Izuna had no choice but to acknowledge a horrible, soul wrenching truth.

Kyou hated him.

It wasn't like he didn't have a reason to. Looking back, Izuna could recognize the bully he'd become—and all the other bullies he'd encouraged by association.

At first, he'd been indignant. If Kyou hadn't been so weird, he would have never bothered with him in the first place! Of course, that idea quickly proved hollow, since he knew Kyou had been born like that and there wasn't anything he could really do about it. Still, he didn't have to be such a jerk about it, going out of his way to upstage Izuna and Madara every chance he got!

Ah, but that was...probably not true, either. If what he'd seen last winter was a regular thing, then he probably had no choice...

When he'd brought up what he'd seen to his father, Tajima had simply pat his head and told him not to concern himself with that family's business. But...

Wasn't Kyou's family Izuna's family?

They were both Uchihas, weren't they? Sure, Kyou looked different from everyone else, but his mother was a civilian his father had brought into the Clan, so that made sense. He had a sharingan—as much as it hurt Izuna to admit it—and he fought aside the Clan—once, he'd been holed up in the archives ever since—so, why was Kyou's family that family?

Izuna looked down at his cousin from his perch in the tree, watching as he left the confines of the village in the company of the strange dog/bear/thing he'd formed a contract with. Izuna's father had been pleased with that development, as it meant Kyou could never sign the falcon scroll, reserving that honor for Madara.

Izuna would be lying if he said he wasn't jealous of his brother and cousin for their newfound animal companions, but he knew better than to get involved in Clan politics. Madara had a contract because he was father's son. Kyou had one because he was...Madara's rival?

Izuna wasn't too clear on that, to be honest, but he knew his parents hated it when Kyou did anything praiseworthy, always going off about how hard it was making Madara's life.

Izuna followed Kyou and his...companion silently, keeping to the trees as the duo headed to a shallow pond—in the summer heat, deep puddle was probably a better description. They settled on the bank, Kyou falling back to lay spread eagle on the grass while the large mammal beside him sat inelegantly, short back legs almost comical in their disproportion.