My Little Brother (Hidan)

Chapter 12: Exams

A/N: So, just to clear something up. All names are written in the traditional Japanese form. The surname comes first before the first name.

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Today, August 13, was Mitsuki's twelfth birthday. It was the day his Onii-san had told him to open the other scroll he had left him with.

He was sitting cross-legged on top of the Hokage mountain, the scroll on his arms. With him was Naruto and, hidden from view but still there, Hyena. While he had indirectly told the old man not to waste manpower on him anymore through his own Anbu, Hyena hadn't stopped checking up on him at least once a week, flaring his chakra slightly as soon as he appears. It was proof that Hyena maybe the tiniest bit fond of him.

Mitsuki didn't know what to feel about that. What he did know, was that he did not want Hyena to stop. Besides, this way, Mitsuki would at least know that he was still alive and kicking, especially when Hyena leaves him notes stating that he was going on long-term high-risk missions and wouldn't be able to visit him.

"Are ya gonna open it?" Naruto asked after his best friend stared at the scroll in his hands a few seconds too long. He didn't know much about Mitsuki's older brother, just that he was a missing-nin, but he wasn't going to pry. Mitsuki didn't want him to and, although it was irrational and unlikely, he still feared that the other boy would leave him when he asked about his past.

Mitsuki exhaled loudly before nodding. Biting his thumb enough to draw blood, he swiped it down on the seal. After it dissolved, he unrolled the storage scroll and dropped it on the ground.

A sudden puff of smoke appeared, making Naruto and himself cough. Eventually, the smoke dissipated, revealing to them what had been stored inside the scroll for five years now. Naruto gasped, Hyena seemed surprised, and Mitsuki wiped a traitorous tear away.

On the middle of the open scroll, lay a scythe, the blade glinting in the sunlight. Mitsuki choked back the sobs threatening to escape.

It was nearly a foot taller than Mitsuki, coloured a vivid purple; on one end was a single blade which was a slightly paler shade than the rest, matching its new wielder's eyes. Near the other end was a pair of detachable cylinders, which Mitsuki guessed contained retractable blades.

"Onii-san," he whispered, reaching out a hand around the bandaged handle. Taking a deep breath, he gripped the weapon tightly before lifting it off the ground.

Mitsuki slowly stood up and stumbled a bit, nearly dropping the scythe. Damn, he really should've had expected the weight. He silently thanked Gai-sensei and his eccentric training.

Gesturing at Naruto to help him take off his weighted wrist bands. Almost instantly, Naruto had already taken them off, grimacing a bit as he did so. The blonde had half a mind to ask exactly how his best friend was able to carry all this added weight everyday.

Mitsuki sighed in relief as they fell down the ground, easily lifting the scythe above his head a moment later.

"Woah! That looks so cool!" Naruto exclaimed, starstruck. "I wanna try it!"

Mitsuki snorted, amused. "Unless you can wear those wrist bands 24/7, then I guess you can." He chuckled a broken sound at the dejected look Naruto was now sporting, throat still constricting.

He remembered Onii-san coming back home with his own three-bladed scythe, red as newly-spilled blood, given by the High Priest of Jashin-sama.

He remembered asking him if he would obtain his own scythe, remembered him nodding and feeling excitement course through him at the prospect. Onii-san had smiled at him before they left, promising to give him his own weapon in the near future.