13 Fugaku and Duy
Fugaku waited at the front of the academy for Duy to arrive. While he was waiting, waves among waves of students were walking towards the entrance of the academy. As Fugaku was scanning the crowd for his friend Duy, he saw a beam of light flash from near the back of the crowd and he knew that Duy was finally here. Fugaku began to jog over to where the beam of light had originated from. The crowds of people were getting in the way so Fugaku decided to do something that his brother would do. He jumped up to the heights of the crowd and began to walk on the heads and shoulders of his peers to get to his friend Duy.
Duy brushed himself off after fending off the attack of the bullies as well as helping the toddler named Teuchi up. Those bullies were trying to bully Teuchi when he decided to step in. The only problem was that those bullies were genin which made them much harder to fight off. Suddenly he felt a wave of killing intent and he turned to see Fugaku drop down after stepping on the heads and shoulders of some of the observers. Fugaku looked livid, his usual abnormally serious face was scrunched up while his glowed with the red glow of the sharingan.
"Who dares to harm the friend of Fugaku Uchiha, future clan head of the Uchiha clan!"
Duy quickly went to placate his friend, but Fugaku would not budge. According to him, it was not about the fact that Duy was slightly beat up, it was about the fact that he as a friend should have been present. Duy could only guess at what Fugaku meant with that as he was already happy that Fugaku cared enough to consider him a good friend.
Fugaku was feeling a burning shame that threatened to consume him from the inside as well as a mental crisis. 'Should I have waited at Duy's house instead of at the front of the academy? No, that would diminish from the image of the clans and make me look desperate. But what if he gets bullied again? Those scum would probably try to bully him again even though they might not win because they are just that stupid. It would seem a bit much to try and get guards outside his house. But his parents are civilians so it might be better to watch out for them.'
Unbeknownst to Fugaku, the bullies of Teuchi were scared off by his actions. Much of the crowd was also scared off as Fugaku seemed to resemble Jiro with his sharingan activated. As they slowly walked back to the academy along with Teuchi, Duy looked over to Fugaku to thank him, but he seemed to be deep in thought so Duy left him alone. All through the day, Duy peeked at Fugaku to see if he was alright, but Fugaku seemed to be in his own world at the moments Duy checked on him.
During lunch, Duy went up to Fugaku with Teuchi trailing along behind. As Duy strated to explain that he was helping out Teuchi in getting out of that sticky situation with the bullies, Fugaku's face started to cramp and the smile on his face started to become increasingly fake. Fugaku's smile looked very strained before he started to think again. Fugaku began to reflect on the thoughts he had within himself, but reflecting on himself led to so many questions that he started to get distracted.
As soon as class ended, Fugaku rushed out of the door of the classroom with a fire burning within his eyes. Duy and Teuchi looked at each other and shrugged in confusion. Duy and Teuchi went to get a snack before Duy dropped Teuchi off at his place. Meanwhile, Fugaku rushed towards his house wanting answers for the questions inside his heart.
Akane opened the door to her house to welcome Fugaku home. She was pleasantly surprised when he came rushing over. Sadly, the enthusiam was because Fugaku wanted answers, not because he missed his mother. Akane saw the burning questions Fugaku had within him so she quickly let him in and got some tea for both of them. Fugaku spent a couple of seconds to formulate the questions within his head before blurting out:
"How do I treat my friend?"
Akane knew at this moment that this would be a very important moment for Fugaku so she had to get all the information about what had happened earlier to make him think about his friend. Fugaku spent some time to explain how he had gotten overly worried about his friend Duy and he was wondering if it would be wrong to use his power to help his friend. Akane opened her mouth to give her advice to Fugaku.
"Fugaku, there is no such thing as worrying too much about a friend. If you want to help your friend go ahead. However, wielding the authority as future clan head was given to you by the clan so you should think about the clan before acting to use them."
Akane had hoped that her answer would clarify some things for Fugaku and it did, she could see his eyes slowly lose some hidden tension. Fugaku's shoulders also relaxed as he finally was relieved of some stress. While Fugaku was relaxing, a knock on the door alerted Akane of some guests at their house. She opened the door to the face of Teuchi and Duy.
Fugaku was out with his friend Duy and Teuchi who was probably going to be a friend. They got to know each other better, but all he knew for sure was that Teuchi's parents were talented cooks. While out, they decided to visit Teuchi's house so Duy and Fugaku received a treat in the form of a delicious meal which left them too full for dinner.